Elderly, infirm parents left without phone by BT

TiddlyPom

My elderly parents (Dad - 87, Alzeimers, mobility problems, dicky heart, Stepmum - 78, blind in one eye, dreadful asthma) have been without a phone for 4/5 days due to a fault with BT's line. They were promised it would be fixed by today. This morning they have been told that an engineer will not now be out to look at the fault until 29th.
They have great difficulties using a mobile phone and I don't think it is acceptable to leave such vulnerable people without the ability to call on medical help if it is needed.

I live some 20 miles away and get over there as often as I can, but have health problems myself so am unable to call in every day to make sure they are OK.

Can anyone suggest a contact at BT for escalating this as a complaint to get the service reinstatement expedited?
Any suggestions welcome - am really worried about them being left like this.
Many thanks

duchy

Sounds like the problem is something that needs extensive dig work as that is an unusually long time for work to be scheduled even if permission is required to dig from the local council due to the location of the issue. A lot of areas took substantial damage to lines and cables in the recent rains and winds so OR are indeed overwhelmed at the moment as the work is quite specialist so it's not just a case of employing casual labour to deal with the backlog.

You can now buy very simple big button mobiles specifically designed for the elderly who neither want or need the bells and whistles most phones now have.

Heinz

Were (are) they registered as 'vulnerable' with BT? They have a free priority repair service for that group of people.

http://www.bt.com/includingyou/assets/downloads/FreePriorityFaultRepair.pdf

BT_company_representative

Hi TiddlyPom,

I am sorry to hear you parents have been left without service. I can take a look at this for you to see if anything can be done to speed up the repair.

Please send me in their details using the link found in my profile.

Thanks

Paddy

TiddlyPom

Heinz Many thanks for that - I had no idea about it but it's valuable info and I'll make sure the form is completed and returned. Seems they are a little out of date though in referring to being "Registered" disabled when there is no such thing.

BT Rep On my 5th phone call to BT today, I finally reached someone who was sympathetic and understanding and they are attempting to get a repair expedited. If this doesn't happen as promised, I will complete your contact form as you suggest.

macman

Heinz wrote: »

Were (are) they registered as 'vulnerable' with BT? They have a free priority repair service for that group of people.

http://www.bt.com/includingyou/assets/downloads/FreePriorityFaultRepair.pdf

Exactly. BT are not psychic-they do not know the age of state of health of their customers.
The BT qualification for the priority fault repair scheme is to fall into the category of 'chronically sick or disabled', outdated as that now is.
You can certainly be registered as disabled:
http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/2571.aspx