I am so annoyed with BT - REALLY annoyed.
The arrangement made between husband and BT last Friday was that an engineer would come yesterday, Tuesday, between 08.00 and 13.00, and husband was told that the engineer would ring us 30 mins before he came. I was sceptical, to say the least, because of their previous track record.
At 11.45 husband rang BT to ask whether the engineer was definitely coming....he was told yes. Husband pointed out that our broadband was off, and had been for around 2 hours, coming on briefly for a few minutes (during which time I managed to post yesterday's blog) and then going off again. The BT operative on the phone told husband that the engineer most likely was working on our line in the exchange, hence our broadband being off. What?!?! Husband said it would have been nice to be informed of what was going on, rather than arbitrarily switching us off with no notice. The man on the phone apologised.
By 13.10 the engineer hadn't appeared, and we'd had no phone call from him. And our broadband was still off, although it had again come back on a couple of times, for just a few minutes at a time. And so husband rang again.....and there began a comedy farce of lies.
My husband expressed his displeasure that the engineer hadn't appeared, or phoned. After being put on hold for a while, the man (a different one to earlier) apologised and said due to an oversight on the part of the person who took husband's call last week, a fault report didn't get sent and the engineer from Openreach hadn't actually been booked....so we'd been waiting in all morning for an engineer who was never going to come! Husband was understandably annoyed and said so, at which point the BT man said....wait for it....that the fault had actually been repaired by Openreach the day before, on the Monday!! Oh really?! (said my husband)....So are they clairvoyant then? I mean, how could they repair a fault they didn't know was there as they hadn't actually been sent a fault report?!
Good point, the BT man quickly said, stating he was simply reading Openreach's report on his screen! (making things up as he went along, more like). And, said my husband, in any case, it's not been repaired as the damn broadband is actually OFF at the moment and has been all morning!
The upshot of this was that the BT man said we would be given £25 compensation for the engineer not turning up, he said it would be refunded direct to our bank account. Husband asked what about the £8 per day compensation they'd previously told us we'd be getting? The man ummed and ahhed and eventually said we would get it.....backdated to last Friday. Erm no, said my husband, we were told previously it would be from the date we first reported the fault, which was the 26 July to the best of our knowledge. The Scottish guy husband spoke to on that day did a few things then pronounced our broadband fixed - which it clearly wasn't as it went exceedingly slow and kept dropping out even more almost immediately after.
We then rang again on Weds 31 July and spoke to a very nice lady, she couldn't have been nicer, more apologetic or more helpful on the phone, she said she'd send us a new Hub which would arrive the following day (it did, amazingly), we'd get a text from the carrier before delivery (we didn't, not that it mattered as the Hub did arrive when she'd said it would), and that she herself would give us a courtesy call on Friday 2 August to check that everything was ok. She said to give the Hub a week or so to settle down, but that if things were no better, to ring them back and arrange for an engineer. She also said she would raise a complaint for us as the problem hadn't been fixed as the previous man had said it was, and it was she who told us we'd get compensation of £8 per day backdated to the first reporting of the fault.
Well, guess what - she didn't call back either....so much for me thinking she was so nice! And we've heard nothing about the so-called complaint she said she'd raise.
Yesterday's BT man (we did actually get his full name, although he was somewhat reluctant to give his surname.....Daniel Fellowes) said that we weren't entitled to compensation backdated to the first complaint, as....again, wait for it....the fact that they'd sent us a new Home Hub did away with the need for that!!! Again, WHAT?!?! But the new Hub HASN'T CURED THE PROBLEM!
By this time I was almost incandescent with rage, the BT man heard me shouting. Husband had opted to speak to them rather than me, as he does remain fairly calm, whereas I don't.
The current state of play is that another engineer has been booked to come on Thursday morning, and a BT Customer Service manager will be ringing to speak to us on Saturday. Quite frankly, I don't believe a word they say, as they LIE ALL THE TIME! Oh, and another thing.....astonishingly, we got an email from BT within half an hour of husband speaking to them, it said that, as discussed, £25 has been refunded to us. I checked - it has....to our BT phone account, not to our bank account as Daniel Fellowes said. And no sign of the £8 per day compensation, backdated to any date!
What a way to deal with customers, we finished with BT about 5 years ago, and are with Virgin Media, they have always treated us well, and if anything goes wrong(lets face it things do sometimes), they give us a bit of a refund and they stick to their word. Good luck with it all.
ReplyDeleteI get so angry when things like this happen!! When one person tells you one thing and another tells you a load of rubbish.Its as though they are trained just to fob us off..What Ive started doing is not only asking for their names,but also a reference number to every call that I make to them.I write the time and date down as well.Then I tell them to check back on that call.Every call made for anything like this should have a reference number to it.Good luck and I hope it gets sorted for you soon!,xx
ReplyDeleteAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
ReplyDeleteTry Googling the email of the Chief Exec - it was the only way we got results. Your experience is a virtual replica of our debacle. A disgrace. At least they are consistent, if nothing else.
ReplyDeleteHow frustrating and head-bangingly annoying for you. I see that Philip Jansen is the Group's Chief Executive and there is an email address: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/bills-and-utilities/phone/bt-make-customer-services-listen-complaint/
ReplyDeletePhilip Jansen has been in the post since 1 Feb 2019. Forgive me if you already know all this.
On a positive note, it's good to hear that your husband has had some good feedback and hopefully things will be moving along quicker for him now. One of my husband's ex bosses, who lives up the road, also has an enlarged prostate and he just had it reduced surgically again recently, apparently for him it has been successful.
Hope your tummy settles soon.
We have just had a similar thing with the Pensions people. When we finally got it sorted (after 3 hours of phone calls) I asked the lady on the phone why we had had so many conflicting instructions and was told that some of them were more experienced than others, can you believe it?
ReplyDeleteI think that they know that you will not get a good broadband because of where you live and are just stalling you. My son lives in the countryside in Scotland and has the same problem.
Briony
x
I don't understand their attitude at all and sympathise with your rage. I wish that there were some other company in your area. xx
ReplyDeleteDetails of the Chief Exec here if you follow the link:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=cheif+executive+officer+of+BT
What a ruddy farce Sooze. Such appalling service.
ReplyDeleteHugs to you and I hope it gets sorted out soon-x-
Utterly disgusting and BT shou;ld be totally ashamed of themseloves. Bet they're not though!
ReplyDeletexx
BT had bettered get in line pretty quick or I am afraid I will be reading a story in the world news of someone being bludgeoned to death with a computer from there. :) They have no idea you are going through other things that are stressing you and therefore will get a little more keyed up than usual. Poor fellows. Hugs.
ReplyDeleteLiving in Canada it is difficult to know whether my 2 cents worth will be of any benefit. It seems here that if someone is being treated as you are nothing is resolved until they contact a TV station or a newspaper. The companies hate the negative publicity so they miraculously find a solution. Do your tv stations or newspapers have consumer advocates? They seem to get results here, at least. It seems that BT are taking great advantage of the fact that you have no other provider you can go to! I hope things are resolved soon. On top of everything else you definitely don't need all this added stress.
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