BT incompetence, lies, waffle, etc etc.

Widelats

Just thought i would stick my oar in on this forum as well, had my first ever phone/broadband installation experience and it was not nice....

Applied for BT basic since i have a bad credit history, and Virgin refused me any services, was accepted and got a boat load of reminders that installation would occur on 17th July, well ok....

Engineer turened up, messed about with the phone socket, went hunting round my property and the streets nearby, then to the phone exchange, then back to my property and said he could not connecct me, as there was a disconnection somewhere within 100 feet of my property, and that another engineer would have to be called out to lay another cable or fix the one already there, but not to worry as no more engineers need enter my property and the phone will connect on its own, same as broadband - so ok, no connection, no phone, but at least they knew the reason why i thought.

Waited all weekend for a call from BT which did not happen, so i decided to phone them - was told the cable had been laid and fixed and another engineer had to come to my property to connect it, i said ok and made appointment for Wednesday (Almost a week over due)

Wednesday came, engineer messed about with the socket, said "Weird man" a lot, and went on the hunt round my property and the streets nearby, i told him very clearly that a new cable had been laid and what he was doing was a repeat of what the previous engineer did, and i asked whats the problem, he told me he had no details whatsoever of any cable being laid and said "There is a disconnection somewhere in the street, so it must be tracked and a new cable laid to conncet it, but don't worry no more people need enter your property" at this i just laughed, i couldn't help it, i though what the hell, typical ill informed useless BT engineers, not qualified to do much and no progress at all.

So, i had been lied to by call centre staff, blatently, big time, and BT could not even connect a phone as they had no idea where the cable from my property went.

I phoned BT, cancelled the order, cancelled installation and now they want the hub back, so they can have it.

My first experience was that BT are a total waste of time, money and are incompetent, as well as very big liars. I hope i do get a installation off someone that goes without a hitch.

Cheers

cajef

Widelats wrote: »

I hope i do get a installation off someone that goes without a hitch.

Cheers

If you need a phone line for broadband whichever ISP you go with it will be BT that do the installation.

tomtontom

If Virgin won't have you, who else are you going to try that does not use BT (Openreach) infrastructure? What you have described is poor communication, but to accuse them of 'blatant, big time lies' is an exaggeration.

VisionMan

Widelats wrote: »

My first experience was that BT are a total waste of time, money and are incompetent, as well as very big liars. I hope i do get a installation off someone that goes without a hitch.

Cheers

Firstly, it wasn't BT you dealt with, it was Openreach. Its clear that there was poor communication in regard to your homes previously disconnected line problem. But 'Blatant lies?' Really? I think not.

But go to another DSL ISP. You never know, the visit may be by one of the same Openreach engineers you've already dealt with. Because they deal with them all.

Widelats

OK the call centre guy said cables had been laid, and ready to be connected, which they had not, so please tell me what was not a blatent lie there???

To everyone else reading this, this was my experience, i hope someone found it useful

Widelats

Well i was thinking of fibre broadband, with no phone line, does anyone know if someone like sky do this sort of stuff without a credit check????

cajef

Widelats wrote: »

Well i was thinking of fibre broadband, with no phone line, does anyone know if someone like sky do this sort of stuff without a credit check????

Fibre broadband still uses BT (Openreach) infrastructure so you still need a phone line and connection from the exchange to your property is done by them, you do not appear to have any idea how broadband is supplied.

macman

Widelats wrote: »

Well i was thinking of fibre broadband, with no phone line, does anyone know if someone like sky do this sort of stuff without a credit check????

Since any telcom service gives you potentially unlimited credit, no one is going to offer it without a credit check, including Sky.
As above, no line rental = no ADSL or FTTC broadband. VM cable is the only exception.

yangptangkipperbang

Widelats wrote: »

OK the call centre guy said cables had been laid, and ready to be connected, which they had not, so please tell me what was not a blatent lie there???

A blatAnt lie is when someone makes a statement which they KNOW to be untrue.

BT/OR are so shambolic that the person who told you that the cables had been laid almost certainly believed that the information he gave you was correct.

suse*

There are 3 phone networks in the uk (the people who own the cables to get it to your house). Virgin, bt (openreach) and Kingston Communications which is only in hull. So every other company eg sky, plusnet, talk talk etc etc all pay rent to bt to use the cables they have put in the street and rent space in the local exchanges.

To the best of my knowledge only virgin so far let you have broadband with no landline at all. So as the others have said as much as bt have messed you around, and someone made a mistake at the call centre - bad day maybe ticked the wrong box or something - you will still end up having to get the cable fixed unless you can get virgin or you live in hull.

suse*

Actually sorry I just thought you do have another option. You can get a dongle which plugs into your usb port which can be either on contract or payg. This is like 3g/ 4g on a phone though so the signal can vary depending where you live but then you are not going to need to have bt come back if that works for you.

http://www.uswitch.com/broadband/compare/pay_as_you_go_mobile_broadband/