BT engineer refused to attend fault

Summer5678

Hi Everyone,

My parents phone isn't working. They are over 70, fit and healthy, but not good with technology, but do have a PAYG mobile for emergencies. Contacted BT and an engineer was due yesterday, my mum gave her mobile number and my landline number. The advisor told her that they would attend, but would keep social distancing & may be in full protective outfit, so don't be alarmed. He didn't show up. I rang BT for them and was told the engineer had been to the exchange and deemed a fault between there and the property. He then felt it was unsafe given the Covid-19 to attend the property & that my parents were uncontactable as they only send a text (which he didn't do to my mum's mobile). He hadn't actually been to outside my parents house (he would have seen that they have a front garden where he could have rung the bell & retreated to the gate to talk to them & then been told the box is right by the front door, so they could have gone back into the house, closed the door & left him to it). I spoke to a rude advisor who told me that the next engineer slot would be 20th April (12 days time) & that they could refuse again & that he need to end the call to deal with more vulnerable customers, he also told me that it wasn't worth complaining as any solution was unrealistic & they wouldn't deal with a complaint for 3 months  - I will be complaining anyway. I live 200 miles away, they don't have the internet & I top up the credit on their mobile. The home phone is their lifeline - can BT (Openreach) refuse?

littleboo

Yes, they can refuse to enter the property, they are also priortising work for vulnerable customers, as you would expect.

Browntoa

Yes , unless they were registered as vulnerable .

Btopenreach has been quite open about this in the papers , no customer visits unless vulnerable , no broadband or new line installation.

Engineers have families , they have the right to refuse

[Deleted User]

Summer5678 said:he also told me that it wasn't worth complaining as any solution was unrealistic & they wouldn't deal with a complaint for 3 months  - I will be complaining anyway. 

Since there won't be any solution to your "predicament" any time soon, why bother? Your complaint will languish unread. 

Just top up their mobile phone remotely...

Hasbeen

Summer5678 said:

My parents phone isn't working. They are over 70, fit and healthy,

I rang BT for them and was told the engineer had been to the exchange and deemed a fault between there and the property. 

I will be complaining anyway. I live 200 miles away, they don't have the internet & I top up the credit on their mobile. The home phone is their lifeline - can BT (Openreach) refuse?

They are not vulnerable.

BT state that the fault is outside between exchange and property.  BT will try and repair they do not have to visit.

Complain at your leisure, they are dealing with more pressing matters.

Sorry perhaps not what you want to hear, but these are exceptional times. So keep you parents mobile topped up.

tehone

Make sure 
a) that you've got an adequate amount of credit on the mobile, bearing in mind that calls to 999/112 will be free if required, as well as 0800 numbers (and usually most other 1xx type numbers - e.g. 101, 105, 111). Some providers are currently also having free calls at various times (I think Tesco Mobile is one)
b) make sure that the mobile is charged all the time, in case of a power cut
c) if they are vulnerable (and your brief description doesn't seem to imply that they are) then make sure that you have registered them with the various utilities 

mwarby

Might also be worth looking at voxi and smarty, they both have unlimited calls in their base packages and no contract, at least that way they need not fear running out of credit