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BT Suck.

I have got a phone line in my house, but its never been activated. So me and dave have deided that our office has run its course, and that we will be better off working from home. So, i have decided to get the phone lines activated, and internet installed in my house.

I first tried to ring BT and arrange for this to happen, last week. I was on the phone twice, both times in a queue, and neither times could i get through. Dave managed to get through by dialing 150 from our BT line in the office, and passed the phone to me.

At the time, their systems were down, so he took my details and told me that id be contacted once the order had been put through, and that he’d sort it. I tried to call back earlyer on today, and was on hold for 30 minutes, i got cut off. I rang again, in queues for 45 minues, and got cut off.

Now by this stage my blood had reached boiling point, and the urge to smash ones phone was growing stronger, and stronger. I dialled the number again, and spoke to some clown who told me he would sit on hold with me until i spoke to someone. And sure enough, he did, and after another 30 minutes of queueing, spoke to someone who could help me.

He told me that someone had been booked to visit my house on the 27th, between 1 and  6 when was i going to be told this? Was this going to beamed to my brain by some kind of subsonic radar gun?

And to top it all off, i had just been transferred to some other department, to discuss the costs involved with setting up a landline, and after another 50 mins of being on hold, i hung up.

So roughly 300 minutes on the phone, and all i know is that “someone” is coming to my house between 1 and 6 on the 27th. I dont no what they are coming for, i dont no who they are, and i still do not know how much this is going to cost me.

What i do know, is that BT are a fucking bunch of pricks and should not be allowed to own so much of this countries telephone infrastructure.

For anyone bothered, here is a alternative number to 0800 800 150 – 0207 555 0037

As calls to 0800 numbers from mobiles are not free.

in conclusion, on the 27th, when someone visits my house to do something, im going to tell them to switch the line on, and then fuck off. Im not paying them a cent, they can give ME money as i have probably been charged a shit load from when i didnt have the alternative number for BT.

6 replies on “BT Suck.”

There is no need to use that alternate contact number posted to call from a mobile as BT have realised many customers call from mobiles.

0330 1234 150 = 0800 800 150 (Service)
0330 1234 151 = 0800 800 151 (Faults)
0330 1234 567 = 0800 111 4567 (Broadband)

All 0330 numbers when called from a mobile count as an 01 or 02 number and will be included as inclusive minutes on a mobile package.

Hope this helps.

I got angry and wrote them a letter:

Dearest BT,

I am not happy. I am usually quite a happy some say optimistic person. Then I started dealing with you.
I’ve dealt with incompetent businesses before, I’ve been let down by companies before, I’ve even felt the need to complain before. But never before have I felt so let down and utterly dumbstruck by incompetence that I’ve wanted to cancel a service before it’s even been provided.

Below is a chronology my dealings with yourselves. Shakespeare himself couldn’t have dreamt up such a tragedy. Enjoy.

Catalogue of Errors

21.02 – Order optimistically placed for BT phone line and Infinity. Informed that an engineer is booked to install both services on the PM slot of 07.03.

04.03 – Magically informed Infinity appointment moved to 15.03 AM but phone line install remains the same date.

07.03 – Date of PM line install appointment. Took the afternoon off work and eagerly waited in from 1pm. No news until 5.15 when a chap calls to inform me the engineer “can’t make it today”. Bless him, he must be a busy engineer, oh well, that’s only one afternoon wasted. Given a new appointment in 7 days time.

14.03 – New line install date arrived, take morning off work and as I’m given an AM (8am – 1pm) slot by BT as stated online and via SMS. The weird uncle of BT that is Openreach who actually manage the engineers have it as a PM appointment. No one told me that but then I’m only the customer. A friendly engineer shows at 3pm.
All credit to him, after sweating and tutting a bit the line is connected but with the wrong number so he waddles off to the exchange to change it to the number on my account.

15.03 – An AM Infinity appointment. Great, I’ve got a working phone line so I though. Now for the superfast interweb bit. Well no. BT seem to think there’s a fault on the line. Quite what the fault is and where it came from no one know, magic. But you neglect to tell me this so I wait until 2pm then call BT to be told no engineer today. What, why? A nice Indian lady informs me “We are working to fix the fault” What fault? “There maybe an engineer visiting on Saturday, they will call you”. Brilliant, I love it best when you’re vague, it makes we want you more.
That evening I got a callback for the complaint email stating I’d wasted 1.5 days waiting in for you. My reward? Offered £10 x 2 for missed appointments. Lovely, thanks.

16.03 – Saturday passes. No news or visit from anyone in the UK or India.

18.03 – I call you as I start to think you don’t love me anymore to be told call back on Wednesday for an update on the mysterious fault which should be fixed by then. There might even be a possible engineer visit on 22.03. Oh goody.

21.03 – Still nothing from you so rather than let love go cold I call for a chat.
I’m informed that I need to check the phoneline myself now. How strange, why was I not told this on Monday?
I don’t have a phone to plug in so had to borrow the unsuspecting neighbor’s phone and check the line myself. Low and behold it’s working, a dial tone and everything but we knew this anyway.
I called you back to inform you it’s working and has been since it was installed several days ago. I’m told we now have to wait for the engineering team to ‘resolve’ the issue as it was ‘stuck’ in their system. Ouch. How did it get stuck? Where? Who’s system? It was all fine and dandy after the line install.
Now I’m left waiting for someone to call with new appointment. I’m told it will be escalated, not sure what it means but it sounds exciting. Turns out it means nothing. It’s just something you like to say to imply action that’s not actually taken.
I calculated that was 1hr total on calls with BT today. I’m beginning to think you like me.

25.03 – A day of confusion as a new appointment is magically booked for an Infinity engineer to visit on 27.03 and then moved before sunset.

At 11.55am John left voicemail informing me of a new 27.03 AM appointment, go John.
There’s also an SMS from 21230001 to confirm the above AM appointment, nice touch BT.
Followed shortly by an SMS from 64364 at 12.02 PM to confirm a different new appointment booked for 07.03, which is remarkable as that was 18 days ago, you tease.

At 6.07pm a voicemail left, I hate missing your calls but love is tough sometimes. You inform me of a shiny new PM appointment on 04.04. This is being confirmed at 6.10pm by an SMS. What a wicked beat you are. Another 10 day wait.

26.03 – I called you to try and claw back my earlier appointment. I was told that John had been naughty and since told off for booking the 27.03 appointment. Poor John. You called through to the wonderful Openreach to try and move it back, I’m told should be possible and they will call be before 2pm to make new appointment. Another glorious 30mins on call to BT.

No call by 2pm as promised so called at 2.40pm. Told another email sent to Openreach to escalate the issue. On how you love the escalation. Finally got a voicemail in the evening for an apologetic man informing me it’s near impossible to move appointments. Which is funny as you seem to manage doing it really well. No joy, I’ll just have to wait a little longer for something ‘superfast’.

04.04 – Infinity engineer day. I waited in for another no show for the PM appointment. I called you at 4pm to be told the engineer was on the way. The automatic message on your system says there’s an issue with my order. Your staff said there wasn’t. Who do you believe, a person or a machine? It depends which films you watched as a kid maybe. I called again at 6pm to be told an engineer can materialise anytime up until 8pm.
The short of it being, they didn’t.
The online account now says 18.04 for an engineer to not show up.

05.04 – Well done. You’ve beaten me. After 3 days of waiting in and countless hours on the phone waiting in a queue I give in. I cancelled my Infinity order. I will play your games no more.

So there you have it, the story of my BT experience. Did you enjoy that? I certainly didn’t.

I really don’t know what annoys me more, there’s plenty to choose from. The general incompetence, the lack of communication, the loss of earnings, the broken promises or the fact that you are still responsible for the UK’s communication infrastructure and profit from it.

That’s just my story and I know with one quick search online there are thousands more, equally as bad if not worse.

So my questions to you BT are:
What are you going to do to compensate me properly?
Why did this happen?
What are you going to do to stop it happening to others?

One thing’s for sure, we know why you call it Infinity. The problems go on for ever.

Yours
Charlie

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