....... been abducted by Aliens. Though Aliens would have been a lot easier to deal with than the reason for my prolonged absence - BT. Their incompetence and inability to resolve a problem has been staggering! We have lived here for over ten years, with phone and broadband provided by BT. In December, the house next door changed hands and the new owners contacted BT asking for a phone line. Somehow, my services were cancelled instead of the original owner's services. Fortunately my phone was still working, but with the number allocated to the new neighbours, and the internet didn't work at all. A first I wasn't too concerned as I thought the problem would be quickly resolved. How foolish I was. I lost service on the 29th December, and only got it back yesterday. I have wasted hours almost every day trying to get something done, and have had different case handlers, who all helpfully gave me their direct line but who never actually answered the phone and never replied to my messages. Since December, I have had four different phone numbers and seven different account numbers. I always paid by Direct Debit, and have given my Bank details to three different people for a new Direct debit to be set up to whichever account number they had allocated to me at the time. This didn't stop them cutting off my phone at one stage because apparently I owed them money! I finally managed to speak to someone, who said that I had still been charged for broadband because although I wasn't getting it, the Accounts Department didn't know that. Thankfully they cancelled the charges and reconnected me! I shall now begin to try and catch up with all the messages I have missed! I do hope everyone is well.
Oh my ears and whiskers, what a performance. It is a wonder you still have your sanity - I think I would have gone round the bend without my internet - I panic if the power goes off for more than five minutes! Anyhow, having been really worried about you
Glad your ok Janet was wondering where you’d got to. Don’t get me started on BT, it is a never ending story that started when we applied for fiber broadband, basically it was a shambles, customer service was non existent. What really annoys me is that we are ‘stuck’ with them as no other company covers fiber in our area.
And...as I sit here and type, I am holding on waiting to speak to someone at BT as I have just had an automated call requesting payment of a bill to avoid disconnection. Only yesterday someone assured me that all connection charges etc had been cancelled. She also confirmed that a Direct Direct was in place. How can they talk about disconnecting me when a) they haven't sent me any request for payment, and b) they should have a Direct Debit anyway. Also, if I want to pay the bill over the phone as they request to avoid disconnection, I would need to quote my account number and I don't know it because since this started I have been allocated at least six different account numbers, none of which are valid. Yesterday I asked what the correct account number is, but they're not allowed to give it over the phone! Shambolic!
I am seriously thinking that the only way I can stop this is to move house and start again! Finally got to speak to someone this morning who has assured me that I won't be disconnected; that there is a Direct Debit, and I don't owe them any money. But again, she couldn't give me my current account number over the 'phone. I await tomorrow's development. Or perhaps even later today.
Always as for a manager and always tell them that you are recording calls. Tell them if they don't sort it out once and for all you will go public. It's call centres that are responsible for complaints these days and the customer service staff they have don't 'own' a complaint any more. They put notes on a computer that are never read and rarely dealt with until the problem is escalated. I used to work in a call centre at one point. Hell hole is about the best I can come up with to describe the working practices
I get what you are going through as we had similar scenario, went on for months, in the end I put in a ‘formal complaint’ and we were reimbursed quite a bit but they managed to wiggle out of some of it, rather than pursue it further we let it go.
I decided that I wanted to move from BT to Plusnet last year, so I synchonised our line rental and broadband start dates, and set up a deal with Plusnet, (which is a BT subsidiary). I then got an email from BT, saying that one of my contracts was for 18 months, not 12, and they would find me over £200 if I proceeded to leave. Plusnet were excellent, and cancelled all my dealings with them without a quibble. I am mystified how, without losing a lot of money, I will ever get out of my BT contract. A contract which appears to let them increase charges at will, despite being supposedly paid in full for 12 months in advance. I also find the router is inefficient, and I can lose my connection several times during a day. Of course BT can always remedy this by selling you another piece of equipment!
And, yet again, I've had an automatic call saying my bill is overdue and I should pay immediately to avoid loss of services. Just off the phone to them - they can't explain why I'm getting requests for payments when they have a Direct Debit set up. I need to go and have a lie down. Their system is chaotic! An example - at one stage, they said the only way to resolve the issue was to have a new phone line installed. The engineer came at 8am (the only efficient service I've had), installed the new line and left. Two hours later I got a text message saying 'Colin, your BT engineer, is on his way and will be at your property shortly.' I was a bit puzzled - was he coming back? Two hours after that message, I got another one saying 'Your BT engineer today is Colin. We will let you know when he is on his way to your property.' So completely back to front!
One of the reasons I do not give my mobile number to organisations is to make sure I do not get text messages, which would, of course, be in Ivrit. That is why I keep my landline. If someone needs to contact me they call my landline. I know that now there are cheaper telephone and internet companies but I have stuck with my original telephone company for over 30 years now - when it was the only telephone company in Israel - and my internet is provided by them. Sort of. The telephone company is Bezeq and my internet is Bezeq International, which does need Bezeq for the telephone line and the router. Incidentally, if the router does a whoopsie Bezeq replace it free of charge. The advantages for me is that Bezeq International have a 24/7 service with techies who speak fluent English. If I call them because of a problem and it is a problem with Bezeq, the techies at Bezeq International will do a three-way call to get it sorted straight away, so it is worth paying the extra for a guaranteed service. @Janet - I do not know how you have kept your sanity during this whole balagan - I would have been carted off wearing one of those special jackets long before now!
I don't know how you are keeping your sanity Janet. It isn't surprising that so many young people are giving up their landlines and sticking to mobile contracts.
Carole, am I correct in thinking that the smart phones all young people seem to have also act as computers? My mobile, which is not a smart phone, can get the internet, not that I know how or want it, as it is is really only used for a telephone when I am not in my home, and only for emergencies.
In the end I complained to the Communications ombudsman, you can also use the free complaints tool Resolver. At bottom of page. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/bills-and-utilities/phone/bt-make-customer-services-listen-complaint/
