BT Cancellation due to no service

proximacentauri

Hey folks,

Im posting on behalf of my mum who recently had to create a BT contract in her name in order to retain the landline and BT services after my stepdad passed away, the contract was previously in his name. The services were BT broadband, tv, telephone and 2 mobiles. BT promised to transfer the existing phone line, mobile phone numbers (2 phone) and send a new router and BT tv box after cancelling down my stepdad's contract and taking a new contract under my mum's name going forward on the 4th of January. We specifically instructed BT that the phone lines would need to be retained, particularly at this delicate stage as my mum was expecting a lot of legal calls and messages of sympathy from family and friends. They promised 'a seamless' service with my mum not even noticing any disruption in service.

Well. That's not what happened AT ALL. Seamless being the OPPOSITE of what was promised.

What actually happened is that the phone lines were cut off. The internet switched off. The BT boxes not usable and defaulting to the default base channels (ie. BBC, ITV). BT sent a brand new box and router and connected the landline to a brand new number on the 4th of Jan and that's about it. The router does not work because the internet has been switched off and therefor the new tv box is useless. The mobiles were completely switched off for 2 weeks until BT sent a new sim for one of them and it was up and running again (however no text messaging!).

3 weeks have passed and the situation has not been resolved.

We have spent at least 20 hours on the phone to them over the last 3 weeks. It is a complete train wreck what they have done to my mum's account, particularly when we expressly told them the situation and every time we call them they have 2 default answers: it'll be fixed in 48 hours or 'we'll call you back this evening'. Eventually we got through to the Belfast head office and they promised it would be fixed by the 18th as they needed to cancel down the new order and begin an entirely new order from the date. Well that was 4 days ago and nothing happened as usual. The only reason the mobile was reconnected was because the mobile team are an entirely different and competent team, although text messaging is not possible for some reason...and they haven't even bothered with one of the mobile phones that was also meant to have been connected.

I sent them a letter a couple weeks ago dated 10 January:
10 January 2019

Notice of impending legal action

Required BT landline no: XXXXXXXXX
Required BT Mobile Numbers: XXXXXXXXX and XXXXXXXXX
My case reference: XXX at BT 0131XXXXXXX

On the 17th of December I asked for my husband (XXXXX of XXXXXXXXXX) existing BT contract to be transferred into my name as my husband had passed away from a sudden heart attack on the XX of December. I asked to reduce the broadband package as it was too expensive for me to afford myself. This was agreed over the phone on the 17th of December and I was guaranteed a ‘seamless transition’ on the 4th of January, retaining the existing landline and 2 mobile numbers.

Unfortunately and distressingly my phones were cut off on the 4th of January and have not been restored. My internet has been disconnected and my TV service has been affected too. If it weren’t for the new line that replaced my previous line I would effectively be cut off from everything. Trying to understand what happened we have come to discover that instead of retaining the existing lines BT assigned a new landline number (XXXXXX) and disconnected the mobile numbers entirely. I have called repeatedly for the last week trying to get somebody at BT to restore my service but I keep getting fobbed off with either of these two responses ‘We’ll get someone to call you’ or ‘it’ll be fixed in two days’ are the current default responses. Nobody has called and nobody has fixed the issues.

With the stress that I have been under since my husband’s recent death this really is the last thing I want to try and resolve right now, I am expecting many important calls as you can obviously imagine, it isn’t easy sorting out the affairs of someone who has passed and BT are making it impossible. Nobody can contact me at this sensitive time and this is not acceptable. I have explained this on the phone to you many times. Unfortunately, as it has become quite urgent that I be reconnected I have to ensure that the issue is resolved as soon as possible.

I need my landline number back and I need both mobile numbers reconnected ASAP. It has been over a week since I have lost service so I will try and give you another week, however if my service has not been restored back to the way it was before the transition by Thursday 17th of January I will consider taking whichever legal steps required to restore my service as a matter of urgency. If BT have not responded to my request by then I will take this as agreement to terminate services if I find a service provider who can reconnect my numbers as per my requirement from BT, whom have failed in this obligation and who have also failed to provide an agreed timeframe to resolve the issue.

Please do not hesitate to contact me as soon as possible to resolve this issue.
The number you can reach me on is: XXXXXXXXXXX

Please ignore this letter if the issue is resolved.



Yours sincerely
XXXXXXXXXXXX


So my question is: Can my mum legally and without contractual obligation find a new supplier for her broadband, TV, telephone and mobile services?
Any info appreciated.

Browntoa

Straight to the CEO executive team

Email directly here

gavin.e.patterson@bt.com

JJ_Egan

Or take your threatened legal action route whatever that is .

proximacentauri

After spending 20+ hours on the phone, speaking to 101 different people, all saying something different and all promising things which just dont happen I think my mum will be happy to just walk away and just join someone else who will have her up and running within a day or two. I just hope that letter is legal enough fallback for my mum if BT decide to take court action, even though that would be totally immoral, I am beginning to suspect that they would probably do that.
They have not provided anything in terms of a service, other than a landline which has a different number than the one we asked to be retained and a mobile number that cant send texts.

littleboo

Have you been dealing with the BT Bereavement team?

proximacentauri

Yes, initially we dealt with the Bereavement Team and then a new account for my mum was set up by the sales team who were specifically instructed to retain all the numbers and only downgrade the internet to standard level, and then it all went pear shaped on the transition day (the lines disconnected, the internet disconnected etc) and we are still trying to sort out the mess to this day. Tomorrow however I am working from home and will be spending probably another hour on the phone demanding that the contract be cancelled and that we will be shifting everything to a new supplier as per the letter I sent back on the 7th of Jan as they have not upheld the contract as agreed over the phone.

littleboo

If you want to retain the number, it might be worth persevering with BT.

onomatopoeia99

You can only move to another supplier without incurring early termination charges if BT agree to release you from your contractual obligations.

If you move to another provider, it is almost certain to move the new number and the old one will just disappear, never to return. Enough people have trouble with losing numbers on a straightforward move between suppliers, if you're in the middle of a dispute and the number you want is lost, starting up with someone else is going to add a whole new level of complication and potential for error.

Have you made a formal complaint via the BT website? There is a whole section ( https://www.bt.com/help/home/complaints.html )that allows you to do this and it starts a clock that gives them a certain amount of time to resolve it (and in my experience spurs them into fairly prompt action, in my case generating a call back from a UK based person the next day who resolved the issue I had).

iniltous

There is a forum similar to this just for BT customers, the Mods that patrol the site seem good at sorting stuff out, try registering and posting there
https://community.bt.com/

Bev_B

As BT have not supplied the services signed up to the contract is currently unenforceable and your mother is free to move, it may be worth a call to BT to ensure they haven't left a marker on her line to stop other ISPs taking it. If she is willing to wait it out make sure to read up on Ofcoms automatic compensation scheme due to roll out soon, this is automatic amounts and under these circumstances I would push for more.

proximacentauri

Browntoa wrote: »

Straight to the CEO executive team

Email directly here

gavin.e.patterson@bt.com

After back and forthing with no joy we mailed Gavin Patterson and he put us onto his executive resolutions team who over the course of around 2 weeks managed to cancel down the entire account free of charge, they couldn't reconnect the old line so my mum decided that 6 weeks without internet and tv was not acceptable and chose to cancel. They waived any fees as they actually still had the account in my late stepfather's name and hadn't changed it as we requested, so by default any debt was not enforceable anyway because we asked to create a new account and one was not created. SO in the end we have closed off BT and we got Virgin up and running within DAYS.

Thank you Browntoa.