BT Priority Service Vulnerable Customer RANT

Robin9

My MIL's phone line is faulty - reported to BT this afternoon. Uses a Aid Call panic button system.

She is on their list as a Vulnerable Customer (she's 97, bedridden etc)

Offered repair date of next Tuesday 23rd.

My wife tried to get a better date - operator wanted MIL's full name, address, post code, phone number, dob, account number, maiden name. And my wife's full name etc, dob.

My wife could provide this but MIL's carers, neighbours would stand no chance.

Why not a simple phone number ?

And this is special service for a vulnerable customer !

Hopefully will be sorted tomorrow.

Browntoa

If no joy early today then straight onto the phone and say "complaints"

They should repair asap even if it means some other poor customer does not get their repair/installation ( I've been on the recieving end of that in the past)

Chino

Robin9 wrote: »

Hopefully will be sorted tomorrow.

So your MIL's line fault will be resolved within 24 hours of the fault being reported, yet you're complaining!
There really is no pleasing some people.

Robin9

Chino wrote: »

So your MIL's line fault will be resolved within 24 hours of the fault being reported, yet you're complaining!
There really is no pleasing some people.

Yes indeed - not about the service but the process. The line was repaired yesterday.

Image you hada neighbour - 97, bedridden, who relied on an Aid Call system that needed a phone line but that line failed.

You visit her and offer to help. Perhaps you try your own phone , you open the master socket and plug into the test facility.

You contact BT via their on line chat system. The operator asks :

Phone Number
Full name
dob
Address
Maiden Name
Account number

I knew the above - struggled to find the account number - would you have been able to do so ?

iniltous

TBH , it's not just BT that have to comply with data protection type rules to verify who they are speaking to, and with something like priority repair, it's not difficult to see why they require a reasonable amount of information before accepting that it is a priority case , after all there are plenty of people who although they are not priority cases would expect to get that level of 'service', if it were just a case of calling a number and saying you want a repair immediately