Amazed by BT install process (the state of customer service)

JackieR2

[FONT=&quot]Virgin broadband was dropping too much in our area so we decided to move to BT, we kept a log of all the Virgin issues and it was dropping 100s of times a day. Im not sure what was going on but we made the call and agreed to move to BT on the 3rd of this month.

The setup has been a farce.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]3rd - we agreed to move to BT and that an engineer would visit, my oh needs an ethernet connection in a certain room in order to do what he does. Engineer was to come out on Friday 12th [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]We were sent an email saying we would not need an engineer on the 5th[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]We ignored the email above as we were sent 4 texts and called by a robot saying that the engineer would be here on the 12th as originally planned[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The appointment was for between 8am-1pm but something came up and we needed to go out at exactly 1pm latest, because of this we offered to let him in but said we might have to leave him to it BUT BT said that was no good and we needed to be in (which is fine), we changed the appointment[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]We then had another phonecall from the robot voice again saying the engineer would be coming on the 12th so contacted live chat and they said they could not move the appointment and just to miss it. We decided to chance the appointment because the engineer could arrive between 8-12,30 and that would be fine.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
We had a text on the 11th confirming the engineer was coming the next day but he didnt show up

On the 12th we had a text saying the service was ready.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]This is where it gets bad, we need to use the old BT socket, we called up and explained the old socket was not in a usable place, it was located where it is now something like 30 years ago and there has since been a new wall built around it. There is also no AC plug socket there.

BT refused to send out an engineer to move the socket when I called them saying that they realised one was not needed,
I stressed one was needed and the old socket was not usable and there was no plug near to it,
They said they could send an engineer for >£100 who could move it
We talked at length and they said there was no way to get someone to move the socket without paying them

I regrouped and called back again asking about moving this socket and was placed on hold, the person I spoke to said she had been to review our options but there was no way we could get an engineer out without paying the fee. I asked about the engineer who did not show up the day before but they did not care.

I asked to cancel as I was within my 14 day cooling off period but was told I could not (it was day 13) as the order had not processed fully and when the order is not processed it cannot be cancelled. This went on for a while, there was no way they would cancel it, it was not in the power of the person I was speaking to as the system just would not allow it.

I found the BT forum online and posted everything that had happened and then had a reply from a BT rep who said that he could help me with this and was keen to take the discussion offline as quickly as possible (sent me a private message etc) so I contacted them privately but continued to post the discussion publicly.

The latest post on the thread from them reads
"You should not need to pay if you are a new customer, and the issue has been reported within 28 days of your activation date."

What I am amazed about is the state of customer service today where you can call up and you are treated badly but when you complain publicly people seem to be more helpful. I had a bad experience with another brand a few months ago and ended up making a twitter account to complain to them as they call centre staff were not helpful, when I started to ask them on twitter everything was resolved and I was given a free flight.

Is this whats its coming to, where you need to start publicly shaming brands to just get an acceptable reaction from their customer service? It feels like brands are so reactive to anything done publicly that they subsidise it by been unreasonable and useless when they are contacted in private!

[/FONT]

phillw

JackieR2 wrote: »

What I am amazed about is the state of customer service today where you can call up and you are treated badly but when you complain publicly people seem to be more helpful.

The difference is that in the old days we just accepted what customer service told us, as we didn't have an easy way of finding out what they should be telling us. Ignorance was bliss.

I'm not sure what is worse, when customer service agents follow a script or when they go rogue and make stuff up.

onomatopoeia99

Moving the master socket is chargeable by Openreach to the provider (BT in your case). You have tried to get the provider to do it for free and failed - that's fine and it's not poor customer service, the provider is going to have to pay the fee to Openreach to move it no matter how much you argue with the customer service rep on the telephone.

You can just cancel the contract in the 14 day period and go back to Virgin. You might find an ISP that supplies over a BT line that will swallow the cost of moving the master socket, but given how many of them compete on price nowadays it's unlikely many will throw in an extra service that costs them a significant amount for free.

Or you can use an extension lead to bring mains power to the modem / router.

JackieR2

100% wrong.

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

Moving the master socket is chargeable by Openreach to the provider (BT in your case). You have tried to get the provider to do it for free and failed - that's fine and it's not poor customer service, the provider is going to have to pay the fee to Openreach to move it no matter how much you argue with the customer service rep on the telephone.

• If you see above we discussed on the sales call initially that we would need an ethernet cable in another room, we talked about a direct connection and the position of the socket so were initially mislead which is bad customer service and possibly illegal
• Sending a text telling me an engineer going to come to my house in a few days between 8am-1pm and not turning up is bad customer service
• Sending a text telling me an engineer going to come to my house tomorrow between 8am-1pm and not turning up is bad customer service
• Not turning up at an appoinment is bad customer service
• Getting a robot to call me up and tell me that the engineer will be coming to my house confirming the details of the text is bad customer service
• Assuming a socket that was installed 30 years ago is in a place where it can be used today is bad customer service, the wall has had damp, been knocked down and even had an infestation when the house was empty for a few years

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

You can just cancel the contract in the 14 day period and go back to Virgin.

We tried this but could not because "computer says no" - we called on the 13th day of the cooling off period and requested they cancel the setup but were told to call back on the following day but when we did that "computer said no" again. I am fairly sure this is illegal. They peson I spoke to on both days made a note on their crm system that I had tried to cancel and could not.

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

You might find an ISP that supplies over a BT line that will swallow the cost of moving the master socket, but given how many of them compete on price nowadays it's unlikely many will throw in an extra service that costs them a significant amount for free.

Ive learned this the hard way, they seem to no show at appointments in order to keep costs down. If I had a normal job and taken a day off work I would be even more annoyed.

Ive cancelled the direct debit (computer will say no to them when they try to take the money) and told them I do not accept the service as working because it is not usable in the current state and it will not be plugged in.

Too many people are accepting of getting bullied by these type of companies I find.

JJ_Egan

<Ive cancelled the direct debit (computer will say no to them when they try to take the money) and told them I do not accept the service as working because it is not usable in the current state and it will not be plugged in. >>


I would send in writing by recorded delivery a letter stating you are refusing payment due to whatever your reasons are .
Cancel DD not pay the contract and the debt may be passed to recovery and your credit record trashed .

If as you say so much is illegal i would be contacted the Citizens Advice or a Solicitor .Though as far as i am aware bad customer service is not illegal .

JackieR2

JJ_Egan wrote: »

<Ive cancelled the direct debit (computer will say no to them when they try to take the money) and told them I do not accept the service as working because it is not usable in the current state and it will not be plugged in. >>


I would send in writing by recorded delivery a letter stating you are refusing payment due to whatever your reasons are .
Cancel DD not pay the contract and the debt may be passed to recovery and your credit record trashed .

If as you say so much is illegal i would be contacted the Citizens Advice or a Solicitor .Though as far as i am aware bad customer service is not illegal .

Ive sent a message online basically stating the above regarding payment and also made a public post on their forum to that effect but am hoping it doesnt come to that. I would rather they just got everything working as I need it.

Im in the fortunate position of having my house paid for and a second rental property + no debt with or need for a credit once my inheritance comes through so they are welcome to destroy my credit for all I care, I a not even sure I have credit so to speak as I am not on the electrol roll..... I am just interested in making sure the right thing happens and not allowing them to push me around.

With regard to the illegal aspect, just to clarify I think the illegal aspect here is not allowing me to cancel in the 14 day cooling off period. I suspect but need to check that the cooling off period is a legal requirement of some sort, there is a bit of info on it at the broadband dot co dot uk website but I am not able to link to it from my post.

I have not looked in detail, I am still just hopeful that they sort it out and we dont get into all of this.

I think the thread has been gone a little off the point of why I started it, basically I was saying that I was treated deadfully, lied to and messed about but when I called them several times they were no use at all, however, as soon as a discussion started on a public forum they decided they should do everything to help - its not about your complaint its about the noise you make online..... this just seems wrong to me.

JackieR2

Today the engineer came out at not cost and moved the master socket, they also agreed to not charge me up until today because the service was not fit for purpose until today proving making noise online seems to really help with getting to the people who know what they are doing

kwikbreaks

I doubt that is is possible to shame any ISP by complaining about them online as the web is already chockablock with ISP complaints. Phoning them and having a sensible discussion about the problem is, imo at least, a better way to get problems resolved. Cancelling DDs is the way to get a collection agency on your back and a trashed credit record.