BT business alternatives?

marleyd

Help! I am at my wits end with BT, and don't know what else to do, or what alternatives there are.

An appointed BT business representative came out to see me, and quoted for a new phone system. We currently have a Vodafone OneNet System, but because we are in portacabins, the phone quality is not good, hence changing to BT landlines.
I ordered installation of 4 lines, with a complete system, leased over 5years, and was told the lead time is 4-6 weeks. A series of missed engineer appointments, miscommunications, and incorrect orders, has lead to no system installed to date, despite constant chasing. I clearly expressed the urgency of this at the time of the order, and no one at BT seems to know what the other person is doing! I have literally spent hours trying to sort this out, and the last call i had, yesterday, i was advised that i have the wrong system, and the revised order was wrong, and that installation probably won't be until FEBRUARY
I don't know what to do! I have today sent an email to the rep and told him to cancel the order and pick the box up. I don't actually want to cancel it, but I don't know what else to do. My business is suffering because of this. I am in need of renewing my mobile contract, which ran out in september, but am unable to do so without having the landlines in place first. To my disgust, i have had bills from BT charging me for the rentals on a line and system i haven't even got yet!
I have spoken to many many people but keep get referred back to the same numpties that keep telling me the same thing!
:mad::mad::mad:
Any ideas would be gratefully welcome.....!
Thank you

marleyd

Forgot to mention, I placed the order at the end Sept!!

Pennywise

Yep, I feel your pain. I had a long running battle with BT too and it was only resolved when I sent recorded delivery letters to the managing director and chairman, together with notice of court proceedings. Suddenly, I got lots of phone calls from various people within BT and things were rapidly put right. Their customer service dept is a shambles and you need to by-pass it and get people at Board level involved.

paddyrg

As it's a business to business agreement, you're bound by the terms and so check the contract about non performance, cancellation and payments, just in case you are still on the hook either way - in which case, bully them for free months, an extra line, whatever as compo.

You could also look at hand-rolling a SIP network with someone like Sipgate. It can be non-intuitive, but if you put the work in, all you need is a broadband connection and the rest of the network management for phones is done in a browser and handled off site. Not as reliable, potentially poorer call quality, but extremely cheap and flexible