At least you have managed to get a contract, I can not even get a line with them, even though I have had one at the same address before, which was disconnected when I moved abroad, I am now back and they can not even manage to get line connected again, theres even a dial tone there.  With no cable services in my area looks like I am stuck with them, I was going to take broadband etc but they can stick that now, they are useless.

As I type I am yet again on hold which I have been for over an hour and I have already spoken to 3 people and once again I have been globe trotting, I think a flight to visit everyone of their call centres would be cheaper, as I have no landline the calls aren't free!!!

Does anyone know anyway I can not use them!! 

How about setting yourself up on a monthly payment plan transferring your direct debit from one account to another an then you recieve letters from your bank stating that BT has tried to withdraw money from your old account.

you ring BT and all they say is that you are on a monthly payment plan and that there are no problems.

3 months later you recieve a letter saying that there will be restricting your account because the bill hasnt been paid.

You ring them up and they "your on the monthly payment plan you have nothing to worry about".

 I am so fed up with them that I will be gong to court over this.

 

 

 

Just for my hapenny worth, I rang them on Saturday just to say have moved out how much is my final bill for the broadband?

An hour later I'd spoken to five people in varying locations with each passing person utterly unenlightened about who I was or what I was after.

One chap started chuntering about how you wouldn't take a car back to the showroom if it needed fixing... say what!?

Upon being placed on hold for the fifth time I decided to cease the whole hopeless process.

I await their correspondence with an apprehensive interest should I get anything at all!

BT customer service! Nightmare and more! Has anyone enquired for some legal actions against the BT CS as time and neurological damage do constitute serious harms to the clients / potential clients? Is there any way to find the contacts for the Head of BT Customer Service as the department is totally useless to get through and providing service. I am seriously looking for contact details as obvioulsy the head of departments are not aware how poor the service is.

My case: I am trying to get a new line installed in a new property :) since 16th of August, 2007. More than 30 hours spent on the phone and chasing different departments, 10 emails exchanged with the Customer Service department which assures me that I have a line and I will be charged on a quaterly basis :) and obviously I still don't have a number, no signal, no account number. The whole situation is ridiculous and it's more than clear that BT does not want new clients :) so I would like to hear from the top managers why everybody is so eager to prevent new acquisitions - have they headed for closing down the business?! :)

Any contact would be highly appreciated. ( I am still on the line with BT now, and managed to register in Moneysupermarket, write another email and go through the press for today: 10th of October).

 

 

 

 

Can also anyone advise me on how to get broadband service without using BT?

 

thanks,

G

 

I would suggest that you send them a notice to intention to serve a summons letter and give them 7 days to respond. I know this may be difficult right now with the post strike so add some days on top of that. If you havent recieved a letter in writing addressing your concerns by the due date. Go to https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/csmco2/index.jsp and issue a summons. it is likely that BT wont turn up. They cant be bothered... there will then be a judgement by default in your favour. This is exactly what I am doing. I have been to Oftel before and they are useless dont waste your time. Because it will take 3 months to get a reply from them and they will offer you a paltry 30 pounds. This doesnt cover your costs in time etc.....

Also remember to add interest to the amount you are claiming...

BT has the worst customer service i have ever endured. Even bulldog broadband were better and that is SAYING ALOT !!!

Thanks for the advice! After being on hold for 3 hours I managed to speak to some customer service operator called Nora Mills, that informed me that the order has been cancelled but they can't tell you a reason why as someone forgot to enter this information. In the meantime, I have received an email on 2 October:

=========================

Thank you for your e-mail regarding your query for engineer visit to your house.

Please accept my apologies for the delay in replying to you and for any inconvenience this may have caused.

I looked into your records and checked there is no engineer visit required on your property, however your services must be activated by now. The date fixed for your line activation was 26/09/07.

I can understand that there was a lot of delay in replying your mail, so please once again accept my appology.

If you should have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us again via e-mail.

Thank you for contacting BT.

Yours sincerely,

Abhishek Gaur

eContact Customer Service

-------------------------

and it turns out that the order has been cancelled :) This company is a joke... 

 

I know exactly what you mean. I had the same issues when I got my line installed a year ago.

I wrote 4 letters of complaint and they went to  the ombudsman.

The ombudsman adjudicated against BT and they got off lightly. I wont let that happen again.

The ombudsmans power is useless, its such a shame that BT chooses to abuse its customers using an offshore call centre.

I contacted BT about 3 weeks ago to get the BT account number and sort code to pay my bill and it took me 35 minutes this is a disgrace.

I decided that I cant put up with this abuse any longer and my phone will be cut off in the middle of next month. There is only so much you can take....

 

I am now connected, my Dad stayed at my house yesterday for the engineer to show up, no sign, was so angry I called BT head office switchboard, 0207 356 5000, my complaint was escalated to the Chairmans office and when I came home from the supermarket my line was working!!!  I still didn't get the call back I was promised but I have a line and thats all the matters. 

 I promptly called another provider last night, who answered the phone straight away, the adviser knew what he was talking about and we will switch over to the for calls and broadbank in 1 week.  I still have to pay line rental to BT, I don't have much choice about this as we don't have cable.

 This morning I woke up to find BT were putting up new telegraph poles and lines down my street, had blocked my drive but I didn't dare ask them to move for fear of being put on hold for hours!!!!!

 After 4 weeks of hell we are finally there, good luck to everyone else, you might need it :-)

19/10/2007...I would like to share my experience with all of you about BT.  I have BT mobile on contract since almost four years (or may be three), each year end I been renewing my contract and get new handset of my choice (like many of us do).  This year in Feb 2007 when I renewed my contract, I spoke to customer services in sale team who did not had mobile of my choice.  I was offered NOKIA SPORT which I was not sure if I would like it or not, but I was told that I can return it as long as I do this within 14 days of recieving it.  When I recieved mobile set second day, I knew straight away that it is never what I wish to use..I contacted customer services where I was told that I CANNOT  RETURN THIS MOBILE AT ALL AS RETURN POLICY IS ONLY FOR NEW CUSTOMERS NOT FOR CUSTOMER WHO RENEWED HIS CONTRACT...I said again and again that I was told I could change it within 14 days, I requested to speak to same guy who renewed my contract but I was told that he is gone on holidays..Per my request I was put to manager who was an IRISH person and he strictly gave me warning that if I cancel my contract I will have to pay 12 months money...I did not want to continue and decided to keep same handset but told them that coming year 2008 I will not renew my contract with them and business else where..BT mobile even never appreciated that I had three year history with them and that I never ever missed any month at all and paid my bill regular by direct debit...I was told those obligations are not countable at all...

Now please read what happened to me recently by BT...my home phone was always with NTL which is VM now.  I have internet and phone of VM.  Back in JULY07, I recieved phone call of BT offered me some home phone and broadband plan...I told them that I will think about it and then let them know. I looked on internet and BT had some intrusting broadband package, I contacted them through phone and asked for details, they told me I have to have BT land line to purchase broadband and that they can do immediate order to proceed..I told them that I never had BT phone at all and that my phone is with VM (NTL) and there is box of NTL outside my house where both cable for phone and internet is connected...I was told that still they can bring me over to BT and that as per my wish I can keep same phone number....(I even wrote name of person and time and date every time I spoke to them) After three weeks I was told over my mobile number that i will be finaly BT customer from AUGUST07....I waited and end August07 recieved bill from VM charging me advance (as they always charge month in advance)till OCTOBER07....I rang VM and than BT all day and after two days making several phone calls I established BT mistakely given me some different number,,,I was told that anyway I should have this number working with BT landaline, I again said I only have one socket at my house which is NTL and I dont have any cable coming elsewhere....person took my details and said they will ring me back which they never did....I got fed up of waiting and left it to that and continued with my direct debit of VM....After three weeks BT rang me on mobile and told me that my phone will be with them as from 08/10/2007 with same phone number, also I recieved call from VM confirming this....

On 08/10/2007 my phone went completely dead, I contacted BT where I was told that they will send engineer to check it.   Engineer cam and first questioned he asked was where is BT socket?  I goes what BT socket there is only one socket at my house...he went outside and after an hour he goes you have BT cable outside which is cutt off and left on roof and that if I bring inside house and fix socket, it will be charge of approximately £179....I nearly fainted and felt dizzy.  I contacted BT straight away where I had to wait an hour and half in qeue and than I was told that they can not do any about these charges at all...I went again and again that why did they transfer me from VM, specialy when I told them that there is only one socket of NTL....no one satisfied me with there answer and I was passed from one person to other person...After spoken to six different peoples I told them that I can not afford them charges and that I will contact VM to take me back (which is going through at the moment)...You wont believe what I was told that I will have to pay pnalty for this....when it is not even my fault...I dont know who cut that wire from outside?? I told them they will not get penny from me and I will take further action..

Now please note Saturday 13/10/2007 my own auntie passed away in Nottingham, because of all this I missed her funeral as I found out after her funeral and when her dead body was already taken to Pakistan...how sad....no one in my relations here has my mobile number as mobile is for limit and very personal use...so no one could get in touch with me re this..Since 08/10/2007 when my phone is disconnected I been using my mobile to contact my in laws abroad (Pakistan) which will be costing me some coming bill and also who ever I been ringing used my mobile...I would like to ask BT, are they going to pay my mobile bill for all that fuss they created??? Please never decide to go back to BT and if you have BT than change it as they are WORST.....WORST......WORSt

I am on hold with BT right now and I have been on hold for nearly 2 hours. For the second time today. I ordered a phone line and broadband. They messed up the order for the broadband due to a 'system error'. WHen I asked what this meant, the lady said, 'I don't know'. Then I asked what would be done about it and she said it would be 'reviewed' in 2 weeks. I asked what this meant and she said it meant that they would 'have a look at it' in 2 week to see if they could find out what the problem was. Apparently they wouldn't be fixing it at this stage, they would just be having a look! When I asked for more information, she just kept repeating these phrases over and over. So, I cancelled the broadband and ordered from SKy instead. When my sky broadband wasn't activated, I called them to ask why. They told me that BT hadn't cancelled my order properly and they were taking up the line. They can't even manage to cancel an order properly!! SO now I can't get broadband with anyone else either and I can't get through to BT to get them to (try) to sort it out. Moreover, they are rude and insolent, as if it's your fault they mess everything up! Don't go near them - ever ever ever.

I just ordered BT broadband and looks like it's the start of something really bad. They can't even deliver the broadband equipment. BT looks like it's big on outsourcing and for delivery of equipment, they use this company called Home Delivery Network. I missed the first delivery because like pretty much everybody else, I have work and I got a note from Home Delivery Network saying they will be back the next day around the same time. So I arranged my cousin to be home early and wait for the delivery but they came way earlier. Fine, so I called their call center to reschedule the delivery the next day - this time I'm staying for the day. They somehow managed to screw up their delivery and didn't have the package loaded onto the truck. I was told there was "an error on their system" - could it be an END USER PROBLEM?  Anyway, I tried to get some complaint fired up to BT because I was getting charged for a service I haven't been able to use (they left a gleeful message on the voice mail that my broadband is now activated). Unfortunately, like all BT customers I got into a maze of voice prompts and ended up wasting half an hour without having to speak to a BT agent!

The level of customer service here in the UK is really appaling, I don't know how you guys manage not to go homicidal. The bright side is I only signed up for a 12-month contract, hopefully if the service really stinks, I'll be able to get out of it relatively sooner.

The full text below of a letter I wrote to BT. What a bunch of f****** useless c****

URGENT: FOR THE ATTENTION OF A SUPERVISOR/ MANAGER

Landline account number: GB **** ****

Broadband account number: CL **** ****

Dear BT,

I am currently without any broadband service at all. Please urgently act on this letter and restore my broadband connection, as you are billing me for this service without providing it.

I ordered a new BT line and a broadband connection a few weeks ago. Previously, my telephone line and broadband service were provided by Bulldog. After my BT services were installed, BT ported over my old telephone number, 020 **** ****, to my new line. In the meantime, I used the number that BT gave me, 020 **** ****, and broadband services worked in conjunction with that number. My old number was ported over on 7^th January 2008.

Since that date, I have had no broadband service at all. My broadband account was not migrated over to telephone number 020 **** **** when that number was ported over, and broadband was no longer activated on my phone line. The ‘broadband’ and ‘internet’ lights on my BT home hub are off and the only light that is on is the ‘wireless’ light. My broadband account had still not been activated by 18^th January 2008. When I tried to access broadband, a BT error message appeared instructing me to call the technical helpdesk on 0845 600 7030. I contacted BT on this number on the evening of 18^th January 2008, and there began a sequence of the most abysmal level of customer service.

The first person I spoke to was Swaralipi in the technical helpdesk. She said that there was no broadband on my line and I needed to call sales. She gave me the number of the sales department, 0800 022 3089. I then spoke to Anand in sales. He told me that my problem was not a sales issue but a customer services issue and put me through to Chris in the broadband services team. Chris could not help me and transferred me to Anthony, who thereafter transferred me to Kashif. Kashif also could not help me and transferred me to Sayed. Sayed told me that my issue was a technical one and told me to call the technical helpdesk on 0845 600 7030. This was the same number and the same department I called at the outset of my call. I then spoke to Hindol in the technical helpdesk, who liaised with order management, before putting me through to Samer. Samer told me to call the sales department- the very same department I had previously been told to call by the technical helpdesk and who could not help me. I was being sent around in circles by your staff. I had wasted about two hours of my time by that stage and decided to call again the following day.

On Saturday 18^th January, I spoke to Warren in the broadband services team. He again liaised with order management. He gave me a CBUK number, which was CBUK******, and an ‘ECO’ number, which was 1-L*****. He told me that I needed to give these details to the technical helpdesk and they would activate my broadband account for me. I then spoke to Andy in the technical helpdesk. He had no idea what to do and put me on hold without telling me the reason why. I waited about half an hour and then spoke to Cheryl in broadband sales. She transferred me to the WLR3 department where I spoke to Nicky. Nicky told me that I needed to speak to the broadband services team. I then spoke to Nicky’s manager, Jim. He told me that my broadband connection would be restored by 8pm that evening and that I should contact the broadband services team to confirm this. I asked him to contact them directly to explain the problem to them. He then left me on hold for about 45 minutes, without giving me any indication that I would be left waiting for this length of time, before I eventually spoke to Usha in the broadband services team. She told me that she could not help me either and transferred me to the customer options team. I then spoke to Kyle in that team who hung up on me whilst I was trying to explain my problem. I tried calling the customer options team again but was put through to the technical helpdesk, where two individuals called Indra and Viji then put me through the unnecessary exercise of testing my broadband connection, when I tried to explain to them that there was no problem with the connection and the problem was that BT had not migrated my broadband account to my phone line when they ported my number over. I was told by Viji that an engineer would call me within 24 hours but I have not been contacted by an engineer.

From the above ordeal with BT, I am left in no doubt that your customer services structure is utterly atrocious and you have totally failed to meet the customer service promises you make in your Code of Practice. I believe this issue is so serious that I have copied this letter to Otelo, the Office of Telecommunications Ombudsman. You have deliberately chosen to outsource much of your customer service support to India, where your staff are poorly trained, read from a script, are unable to exercise any initiative, make no attempt to address the individual customer’s problem, and seem to see their role as to endlessly transfer the customer without making any attempt to resolve the customer’s issue. Your UK-based employees are little better and also seem to be unable to take any responsibility for resolving a problem. Your cost-cutting has resulted not only in poorly trained staff but you are chronically understaffed and therefore your customers frequently have to wait hours before they eventually get their concerns addressed. You are cost-cutting literally at the expense of customer service and this is an issue Otelo should take seriously. I believe Otelo would also be very concerned at the fact that you have continued to charge me for a service which you have not been providing.

Please could you now migrate my broadband account, CL **** ****, to my telephone number, 020 **** ****, and ensure that broadband is activated on my phone line so that I can use it. This is a simple issue and yet it was one that none of your seventeen employees who I spoke to over 18^th to 19^th January could resolve. I would also like to complain about the failures of each of the individuals named above and the collective failure of BT in providing such a dismal level of customer service.

At the very least, I now expect you to do the following:

1) Refund all the amounts you have charged me for broadband since 7^th January 2008, as it was from that date that you stopped providing me with a service.

2) Provide me with an assurance that you will not debit any further amounts from my account for the supply of broadband until you have restored and activated my broadband connection. If you fail to provide such an assurance within 7 days I will immediately cancel my direct debit mandate to you and will rely on the contents of this letter in any subsequent legal proceedings.

3) Refund the cost of the 5 hours of calls I made to BT on 18^th and 19^th January 2008 in a futile attempt to resolve the problem BT had itself created by failing to migrate my broadband account to my phone line when my phone number was ported over. You will be able to see from your own records just how much time I spent calling BT over these two days.

I look forward to your speedy response. Please call me on ***** ******

Yours faithfully,

**********

cc:

Otelo

PO Box 730

Wilderspool Park

Warrington WA4 6WU

B*******!!!!!!

Good luck. I sent a similar letter also threatening them with Otelo, etc, back in July. I never received a response.

Their customer service is non-existent. They simply don't care.

I wish you luck in sorting out your mess. But i wouldnt suggest that you involve Otelo or any other telephone regulatory authority.

The reason being they are completely useless.

All you will get from them is a £30 voucher. This wouldnt even begin to compensate you for your loss etc.

Otelo would take months to reply and when you complete your negotiation you will feel that its a complete waste of time. It happened to me :)

These days I just write numerous letters of complaint and if they are not resolved I issue County Court Summons.

I have 2 on the go at the moment and I believe this is the only way to get things sorted.

BT refuse to respond to my letters and they are not willing to negotiate on the sums I have requested for all the pain I have had to endure due to the incompetence and subterfuge they are inflicting on their customers.

I am suprised that they have any customers left....

I thought Virgin was bad but I have returned to them At least you can call someone if you have problems.

I should never have left them in the first place ....