BT Complaint Help - Share Complaints

Rachel Castle  says:
2 years ago

I recently moved and had the same problem as you. Lack of customer service at the heart of it and no idea of how to resolve the problem. I also has to wait up to 1 hour to get through to speak to someone. Totally unacceptable.

Mary Berridge  says:
2 years ago

What a hollow reassurance to read all these complaints about BT - my nightmare has just begun I have been trying to get a line to my new address and have spent a total of 5 hours (logged) trying to get through to someone, I am either cut off or put back in the loop - their customer service is APPALLING. I have to plug Virgin Media here who i have been with for two years and would love them to supply my new address as they are helpful, efficient, and when i ring up i always get my problem solved. I am slowly going insane how dare BT treat its customers like this?

born4thesurf  says:
2 years ago

My 4 month BT nightmare began in June 2007. We just moved into a new build house in Cornwall and simply wanted the new phone line set up and activated. Simple? No. In no way was this simple. We had had one engineer simply not turn up. Another turned up in Durham the other side of the country.

Last night I was on the phone for 6pm to 8pm listening to 'we are currently very busy'!!!! for 2 hours!!! I got passed around 6 people who cancelled my order, set up a new one, cancelled again, credit check, booking engineer etc. Finally I spoke a very helpful and polite lady, the first polite person have spoke to from BT (I even had one person when I asked I wanted to set up a new line say - "You what?") and then when I finally thought I was getting somewhere I got cut off

Even better, this morning I got a BT bill for £370 for my new address, the address with no telephone line. This is payment for the engineer that didn't turn up and the engineer that turned up in Durham plus 2 BT Packages. You can begin to understand my frustration i'm sure! I have written a letter of complaint mid September to Head of Customer Services and have had no reply.

I can't bear to get on the phone to them again. I cannot believe how poor their customer service has been, their operations management and their total lack of support for BT telephone customers. I was told of the problems they are having are because of the new systems in place for BT Broadband customers.

Why this should effect me not having a telephone line for 4 months is a joke.

Please submit your comments on this page so I can write a report to the necessary organisation to have this service investigated.

Elizabeth Hojlund  says:
2 years ago

I have owned aproperty, which is a holiday bungalow, since 2001. In the autumn of 2002 a telephone line was installed in the property. In September 2005 the phone line was de-activated at my request. In July 2006 the line was re-activated free of charge by BT. In December 2006 the line was again, at my request, de-activated. I was told that I could have the line re-activated at any time FREE OF CHARGE. No changes have been made to the phone connection by me or any one else at the property. The telephone was simply unplugged and removed, when the line was de-activated by BT less than a year ago. All bills have been paid promptly. I wished to have the phone line re-activated for the new tenant who was moving into the property for 8 months on 29/9/07. She suffers from a chronic disease and will be living alone in the bungalow, so she needs to have a reliable telephone connection.

I have now been told that I will be charged £130 to have the line re-connected! I consider it completely unreasonable to suddenly decide to charge an exorbitant fee to reconnect the line. I have received no explanation at all as to why it should be necessary to charge me for this. If the line had been in use when the fault on the line occurred I would not have been charged for the engineer to restore the connection, so why should I be charged for this just because I was not using the line at the time?

Luke Alexander  says:
2 years ago

I have been waiting seven weeks for a BT Direct Connect service at my business. Now I have been waiting two weeks for a phone line that was promised to be activated within 48 hours at my home. Not a single person has has been able to help me in any way. These guys are as bad as anyone could possibly imagine.

Mark  says:
2 years ago

I have a horrible feeling my nightmare has only just started. Moved house at weekend and had ordered new line 10 days before and now being told (after spending £20 on a prepay mobile) that I have to now wait another 11 working days before being connected. There is a dial tone so it only needs somebody to press a button on a computer somewhere.

Richard George  says:
2 years ago

I had a BT line connected; at the time I was told the number - so I pass the info round our contacts. On connecting the first phone, it looked like I had a line fault(!) ... turned out it was the phone, BUT - on getting through (a novelty for BT) to the fault centre, I'm told 'mmm. That's not the number on the account! - and as you're ex-directory, we can't tell you what it is!!

Can't -ever- get through to cust.serv. (joke), but cancelled DD so they haven't been paid. Got through a couple of times, only to be redirected ... to reception - where the occupants of the offices dealing with new accounts don't take incoming calls!!! Registered a complaint with one cs rep (helpful!) and notified she that my DD had been cancelled and would not be reinstated until I spoken to someone. Found out the number allocated using 1471 from a mobile, and received a bill with said number on thanking me for paying by DD.

*What* a company! How are they still in business?

Damon McLeod-Castles  says:
2 years ago

BT are the worst 'company' EVER! They are that bad I think the government should intervene and take out that stupid BT tower! Bring on Virgin....or anyone!!!

H & O Stubbs  says:
2 years ago

We recently moved abroad and left our daughter living in our house. About 6 weeks ago she phoned BT to change the entry in the next phone book - same surname but different initial. She made sure that she told BT tha she didn't want the number changed. We've had the same number for 25 years!!!!! For some reason, only known to BT, the number was changed, but my daughter wasn't infomed. She only found out by accident. She's spent over 15 hours on the phone to Customer Services (what a joke) most of that time was either spent on hold, being redirected or, surprise, cut-off!!!! We have also sent several e-mails. In one reply BT actually specified a solution to the problem within approximately 2 working days - it's now been 8 and still no sloution in sight. The problem we have is that all our legal contacts etc have our original number. We've lost phone calls, costing us money, and our son also uses the number as a back-up number for his business. How difficut can it be to just give back the number we had. And just for luck, when we phone BT they tell us that our new number doesn't even exist. Now that is strang considering that we've already had a bill for it!!!!! We're totally p****d off with the whole situation.

Carol Seabrook  says:
2 years ago

I contacted BT in Sept 07 advising i am moving to a temporary address whilst my home was modenised and that i required to move my land line to, no problem as the home i was going to had a line etc and would be active the day i moved in. Moved in no dial tone, after several phone calls and spekaing to an enginner it was a fault in the house, So i had my land line diverted to my mobile so i could pick up any calls. I sat and thought well i dont need it and could save the line rental i will cancel and reconnect when i move back to my previous address. I cancelled my BT account ( Been with BT 8 Years ) and sat waiting for my final bill. It came today and i was shocked to see a one off charge of £70 for stopping BT service before minimum term expired? How can they do this all i did was move my line/number to another address temporary! I am fuming, spoke to customer services who's system was down they made notes and i got a call back 2 hours later, The lady who sounded so miserable advised that if i go back to BT they will refund the charge! I didnt let her explain fully i was fuming. So i have written a letter to Durham,doubtful now reading above i will get a reply. But i have also complained to Oftel too. There is no way i am paying for a charge for wanting my land line at temporary address! Sorry to ramble on but i am so mad.

Darren Harris  says:
2 years ago

I ordered a new line from BT over the email beginning of October and after not receiving any notification I rang them. After 2 hours holding I got through to a

person who asked me the a phone number and as I havn't got one they could help me

Finally found a VOL order number but gave them all the correct details ie mobile number. Engineer would arrive 9 November p.m.

I phoned on 9.11.07 am to ensure engineer was coming as I took the day off at my expense and the answer they gave me what order the engineer had tried to call but not to the number i gave them. I complained and spoke to BT oFcom

who told me the re schedule engineer was on 14.11.07 pm. Today I again called

at 9.00 hrs to be told what order. In fact I ring everyday and get different answers

I called this morning and spoke to Aileen McCormack at BT Ofcom who informed me that her staff had the incorrect training and should not have told me 14.11.07

Is this my problem. I should have got a call from a manager about my complaint

who rang me Monday to say that he will call be back MONDAY evening. No chance

In fact his phone line has been engaged for the last 48 Hours. I have now lodged more complaints to BT but no one actually listens to what I am saying.

If I ran a group of people like that I would sack them . Thier office must be like

a battery chicken shed. Waste of taxpayers money. My order is now the 20th

and I bet you !!!!

person who

DIANE DORAN  says:
2 years ago

WAITED 3 MONTHS+ FOR A CONNECTION. MADE AROUND 4 ORDERS - ALL GET PUT INTO A PENDING FILE THEN ARE CANCELLED BECAUSE THE POST CODER THAT BT USES IS INACCURATE AND CANNOT FIND MY ADDRESS. MY SISTER IN LAW HAS A HOUSE IN MY GROUNDS AND HAS BEEN ABLE TO GET CONNECTED. SHE HAS WORKED ON THIS FULL TIME - WE HAVE COLLECTIVELY SPENT AROUND 65 HOURS ON HOLD AND STILL HAVE NO PHONE LINE. WHEN YOU DO GET THROUGH THEY INSIST ON TRANSFERRING YOU TO ANOTHER DEPARTMENT WHO TELL YOU THAT THIS IS NOT THE RIGHT DEPARTMENT. I HAVE COMPLAINED BY EMAIL AND HAD SOMEONE CONTACT ME FROM INDIA. THEY WERE TO CALL BACK, DIDN'T AND WHEN I TOLD THE NEXT BT OPERATOR SHE SAID THAT THERE AREN'T ANY INDIAN CALL CENTRES. I HAVE GIVEN UP AND WE HAVE ALL GOT NEW MOBILE PHONES. THE BIG PROBLEM IS THAT THERE IS NO ALTERNATIVE - THIS IS A POLITICAL ISSUE SURELY - A MONOPOLY THAT IS TAKING THE MICKEY OUT OF CUSTOMERS WHO ARE POWERLESS TO AFFECT CHANGE?

DIANE DORAN

Jade  says:
2 years ago

I am glad to see that it isnt just me who has experienced absolutley apalling service from BT!!! Not only am I on hold for a min of 60 min per call but once my call is answered I get passed around to incompetant people who have no idea what is going on! Also while trying to get a BT line installed the day they were supposed to show up they didnt and didnt bother to call! after 2.5 hours of calls we got hung up on!! and now I have recieved my bill for the connection fee! I have refused to pay it as I am now out of pocket 2 days work due the there mess up. I wrote to this Gillian it has been 2 months and still no reply. I am on hold as I write this and if i head "we are very busy your call is very important to us we will be with you as soon as possible" I am going to through my phone through the window! your so busy GET MORE STAFF there is no was a business should be allowed to keep customers on hold for that amount of time AND charge them a premium call! Anyone knows anyhting I can do about this please email me I have had enough... Ps have been on hold 35min and counting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

alan bailey  says:
2 years ago

Dear Sir I have been trying to contact someone at BT to deal with my problem for several days.I have spent a total of five hours listening to a telephone ring been subjected to the BT shuffle between various call centres and continents been promised return calls which dont happen have been told one thing by one person which is then denied by another. The sad thing is I wanted a BT line and this whole thing could have been sorted if someone had said sorry that shouldnt have happened.Am posting a copy of this to BT CEO Ben Verwaayen at email address ben.verwaayen@bt.com

Jane Barff  says:
2 years ago

Thank goodness I'm not alone!!!

After spending hours trying to sort out my broadband, I come off the phone and just want to hit someone - preferably the BT CEO. Does anyone know where he lives???

How can a huge company like BT just cut people off? Do they think we are stupid and treat us accordingly?

Can we sue them? Has anyone done this and how did they do it?

Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holly  says:
2 years ago

Well after moving into our new home we have had disaster after disaster, after receiving a call from Virgin to say they were unable to provide our broadband due to BT having the postcode wrong i rung them, this took over half an hour to get someone to ammend the 1 letter needed after arguing it was done due to him being lazy and saying it would be done in due course etc i wasn't having any of it. Then our line died, after paying the £126-99 connection fee i wasn't impressed and spent my week off ringing them off my mobile to a cost of over £100 with no one but 1 person willing to ring me back (after id'e ended up in tears!) the line beign cut happened twice and 2 engineers came out after threatning me that id'e have to pay £150 if it was my phone that was wrong? err yeah didnt think to check that out..the last straw was when the second engineer came out and was due between say 12 and 4 (can't remember now) and turned up at 11, by luck my partner was at home ill and answered the door but the man said he wouldnt have come back? the cheek when he was an hour early! i wish i could get my line rental from somone else, they are dire really dire!

VICKI  says:
2 years ago

To my shame, BT has actually reduced this strong, independent woman to tears. Underneath all the hassles and sheer open mouthed amazement that any company could behave like this, is a very unsettling feeling that we are charging towards some sort of horrible 1984 scenario where everything starts to collapse and there is no where to turn...and no one to talk to...

Of the many attempts I have made to get a response (or even an answer) - most memorably this includes a 3 hour epic on hold (ever tried cradling a phone handset while having a bath?) - this is my latest, a letter to the Sunday Times Question of Money dispute section - which has been inundated with similar letters, but I am running out of options. (The oct 28th edition had a complaint from a poor soul who had spent 13 hours on hold and experienced all kinds of misery. The Times got him £200 compensation and...a bunch of flowers from BT!! Yes, it's getting surreal...

If someone can post up the current address of someone who can help - please please do.

As we all know, letters to BT don't work, phone calls as you all know, require a week off work and round the clock waiting on hold (if I just wait a few more seconds I am sure someone will answer!!) until you collapse in a jibbering heap and meanwhile...the big brother computers clock up day after day of extra charges for late payments of wildly inaccurate bills you have no intention of paying... So this is the letter I wrote and yes, I have told BT I have written to the Sunday Times and no, it hasn't been of any interest to them. As I am a freelance writer myself, I will have to do something more direct I think. If anyone has a human interest kind of angle (someone disabled who has been tortured by the system, or someone who has really suffered or something) let me know and I will try to get it in print. I can't see any other way but still have some fighting spirit left...

Anyway: The latest letter:

Dear Diana

I am SURE you won't be able to get involved in yet another BT horror story but since I actually burst in tears when trying to get help from a rather stunned young man in a BT call centre in India yesterday, I think I need to get it off my chest if I am to remain sane. And if only we could get something done about these ..well let's just say the letter B and T appear in the word I am aiming for... It's a long read - but bear with it! I had the usual several hours worth of being on hold before getting a phone line transferred to me at the place I live, at the end of August. The lady told me that they had a very good deal called Option 2 which was a special offer right now that everyone was taking up because it meant free evening and weekend calls. Please note that is all she said. so of course I said that was the option I would go for.I then explained that I would need broadband as well. She said not to worry too much about the cost of using dial up for the internet for now as with this special deal I would only be paying very little and the internet connection would be free in the evening and at weekends....in the meantime I could think about it and ring back later. How I wished I had insisted she sign me up there and then. After a day researching other phone and broadband providers I found that a: Yippee they answer the phone within a few minutes and b: they actually offer a cheaper deal on line rental and broadband than BT. However, transferring the line can be lengthy and I needed broadband a s a p. (I have just started working from home). And it would surely be easier to stay with just one provider? Surely? So back to the BT phone line to try anD BUY THEIR BROADBAND PACKAGE. I rang and I rang. I tried first thing when the lines have been open for seconds, I tried last thing at night, I tried Sundays (amazing that they can be "VERY busy with other callers") one second after opening the lines up! I probably went way over the time spent in pursuit by your reader in the Oct 28 edition of Question of Money - most memorably a 3 hour epic in which I was determined not to give in - having a bath (not easy, phone gets slippery) cooking lunch (nearly dropped the phone in the saucepan) and trying to talk to a visitor with the hynotic drone of "We are VERY busy at the moment" drilling away in my ear. I gave up on that one eventually in a fit of rage with bad stabbing pains in my neck. After a week of this I had no option but to sign up with another company. It took time, but it was sorted. The new company, Tiscali told me to ignore anything from BT as they would handle the changeover for me and all I had to to was wait for a final bill. Oct 15th was the date the transfer was due to take place. By last Thursday ( Nov 8) all I had received was a bill for £64.16 for JUST 6 days of use (Aug 30 to Sep 5)- £40 of which was advance charges for the option 1/2 thing until December. I also noted that the internet dial up charges were ferocious (sometimes £3 an hour) and clearly not covered by the free calls bonus I had been told about. I wrote to BT with my own calculations, explaining I would pay service charges up to Oct 15th and the calls. I sent a cheque for £34.69. On Saturday I got the long awaited final bill. Only dated from Sep 7 to Oct 15. (JUST FIVE WEEKS!) It was for £434.97. I felt seriously sick Diana. £261 was as "one off charge" for cancelling the option 2 package "before term of expiry" which terms I can assure you, I was never told about, received nothing in the post, was told nothing about when they signed me up and was not even aware was a contract. The call charges just made me stare in disbelief. Far from being charged at normal rates, the internet dial up was nearly at £100 with wildly varying rates - one connection of 50 minutes was 80p while one of 29 minutes was £1.25. After an hour on hold on Saturrday in which I just gave in and started crying, I got up early on Sunday to make sure I was first in line to call. After a mere 45 minutes wait I got through to a sweet voiced person in India who agreed to pass me on to his manager. This manager listened patiently and just repeated that I had to pay the charges as I had cancelled my term early. I explained that as someone on a perilously low income, just starting up work from home, I would certainly not have cancelled had I known there was any charge involved - (not would I have agreed to this option in the first place) and also that we would not be having this conversation (and I presumably, would not be facing more than £125 worth of call charges as I would have been on broadband) had I ever been able to get BT on the phone. He finally agreed to fill in a request for the "Dispute Team" to call me, but did not hold out much hope. As he typed in the request he asked me "And if we sort this out will you come back to BT!" What a hideous dilemma! If I answer no, will they punish me further? I told him I had never wanted to leave BT in the first place (though I will move heaven and earth to avoid anything to do with them ever again now) but I don't think he understood. The last question I croaked out before finally dissolving into tears was whether BT had received my cheque for £34.69. They had he told me, and my bill was now £428 instead of £434. How can a cheque for more than £34 pounds have resulted in them taking off just £6 I bleated. He said he didn't know but "The Team" would tell me. With images of my poor self huddled over the phone for weeks on end flashing through my brain, I asked him when the "Team" would be calling. He assured me it would be sometime in the next 24 hours. Diana - why I am so surprised that I have not heard from them yet? (Update..I ha

Gary  says:
2 years ago

Here is a copy of a letter recently sent to BT Complaints after the appalling service we have received in trying to secure a new phone line. Needless to say the complaint has not been answered and all we received back was an automated email stating that due to high number of emails received it may take some time - A high number of complaint emails, I can't possibly think why!

I now intend to take up my threat of writing directly to the BT MD.

Dear Sir / Madam,

We have tried to place a new order for the connection of a BT phone line at a new address.

The address is a new build on a new build estate.

The order was placed on the 24th October at which time a price and approx. connection date of 2 weeks was given. To place this order i had to wait a total of 1 and 1/2 hours on the phone for a customer advisor to answer and then passing between 3 separate personnel. This call was made at 6:30pm.

On the 1st November I made a follow up call to check progress. Realising the long wait times in the evenings to your Customer Service, I made the call from my work at 2pm on 0800 800 150. I waited 58 minutes listening to how important my call was to you before be being answered. Giving a brief summary of the details, your colleague informed me that the call was 'on hold' with no obvious reason. I was put on hold again whilst enquiries were made. Unfortunately between your system crashing, and various back room enquiries a total of 1 hour and 45 minutes had elapsed since initial dial. I was told an email had been sent to another department to chase - the reason given was that our new address could not be found on the system and therefore they could not find an exchange to connect us to. This is despite the fact that Houses 1, 2 and 3 in the Road were on your system and happen to be the houses directly in front of ours, some 40 feet door to door. When this was raised it didn't seem to help and I was told 6 to 12 working days for installation. We were promised a call back again on a contact mobile held by you on the order, to advise of progress.

On the 9th November having received no return call as to progress I made another call on 0800 800 150 at approx. 5pm. After 45 minutes the phone was answered and I was asked for account details and existing number. It transpired I was in ‘Billing’, the advisor put me on hold for another department - 20 minutes later this was answered. Further conversation took place and I went on hold again, eventually ending up back at ‘Billing’ After complaining how poor your customer service was to the advisor I suddenly found myself in a department where the advisor could help. In fact it turned out to be deja vu because I then had exactly the same conversation as at the 1st November. I was promised a further email had immediately been sent to engineering and that a call would be returned to our recorded mobile number as soon as the order was taken off ‘pending’

On the 10th November we did receive a call from BT to ask if this was a new housing development? We had told you on the 24th October at initial placement, and on the 1st Nov, and 9th Nov and your excuse had been that as it was a new development it was pending processing. Please explain then why the call on the 10th asked this question again as if you didn’t know? Either the previous statements you were making were false or your advisors are totally incompetent. We advised you again that it was a new development and the advisor stated that a ‘survey’ would have to be undertaken. Were the emails sent to the engineers on both the 1st and 9th not to request a survey for a new property as advised? Let alone the original order on the 24th October. This advisor promised a return call yet again and also gave us a new number to use, 0800 022 3089.

Today, the 13th November I made another call to BT on 0800 022 3089, because again we have not received an update call as promised. This time the call was answered in only 5 minutes - this has to be a record for your Customer Services. I soon found out why. The first question I was asked was for my Account number. ‘No I don’t have one this is a new order.’ ‘Ok sir can we have your telephone number.’ ‘No, I don’t have one, this call is about an order trying to obtain one.’ ‘Well sorry sir I need these details so an advisor can phone you back.’ ‘Are you not going to deal with this query?’ ‘Oh no sir, we are a front office reception. We take down some details and then pass to the back office to call you back.’ At this point I was somewhat frustrated as your company hasn’t once made good it’s promise to phone us back. I asked to speak to a manager, this was denied on the grounds that it wouldn’t help. A further conversation ensued and then I asked to speak to a manager again, the manager was now suddenly in a meeting. I hung up. Why give us this new number to call?

I telephoned again on the 0800 800 150 number and 15 minutes later an advisor answered. A summary of the details took place and this time the advisor stated that the order was going ahead and the connection would take place on the 28th November. I asked why a return call hadn’t been made to inform us of this. An apology was all I received. Probably the apologies now run into double figures over this order.

You would not process our order before we took possession of the house which is fair enough. But the debacle that has taken place since and the unkept promises, poor customer service and what at times appear misleading statements makes the 28th November a totally unacceptable date for connection.

Whilst not your direct concern we have no Television service we currently pay for because we are a Sky customer moving from rented accommodation, and Sky will not process our move without a BT telephone number. We also have no Broadband because we have no BT telephone for the ADSL connection. I would happily go with a cable competitor for all our services at this point. Unfortunately BT has the monopoly in our area. Perhaps this accounts for your poor service? - no competition.

We were even offered BT Home Hub / Vision at the time of order placement. I am so glad we did not give you this business, and at this rate BT Broadband is looking decidedly shaky.

So this is our complaint. We are disappointed that we have had to keep a record of this poor service.

What I expect from BT now, is not more platitudes and excuses, but to say you are bringing forward the installation date to take place by the 18th November. Since you already have 3 customers in our road and the delays your poor service has introduced into this order, I think this is a reasonable request. Alternatively I will be forwarding this complaint directly to your Managing Director.

born4thesurf  says:
2 years ago

Hi all, just to say a quick thank you for all your BT Complaints so far and sorry to hear about all your troubles. Something must be done and my report will hopefully go some way to achieving actions. Keep them coming in...the more the weight we have against them.

AndyF  says:
2 years ago

I emailed the CEO tonight after 3 days of 2 hours a night on hold trying to get thorugh to 150 with my complaint about service and mistake on bill, i got a reply from the director BT Billing within 30mins and he has promised someone will investigate and get back to me tomorrow. Seems to work emailing these people and best of all they understand what you are saying unlike the poor fellas stuck on the other end of the phone

Michael  says:
2 years ago

I have recently moved in the new flat and asked BT to re-connect my landline. My new flat has a landline socket and phone wiring, the previous tenant of this flat had a landline (apparently other than BT). Nevertheless, BT informed me that they will charge me £124.99 for re-connection!!! What a dishonest business they are making robbing every new tenant of £125 for "re-connection", BT abuses its monopoly on landline connection! What does antimonopoly law says about this shit?!

Faye Chandler  says:
2 years ago

I moved into a new build propery in September this year. I called BT to find out what a connection charge would be to the exchange and was informed that their current fee is £124.00. By ordering this service I would automatically be contracted into and an account with BT for 12 months before I could change provider. Having dealt with BT both through business and personnally over the years, the last thing I wanted was to enter any agreement with them but it seems that there would be no choice. At the time, I couldn't set up an account anyway because the new build property I had moved into didn't have a post code and this is a requirement when setting up an account. I decided that I would make do with my mobile seeing as I was only renting and therefore didn't contact BT again. A week later, I received a call froma BT engineer asking me when he could come and set up the connection. I obvioulsy told him that I hadn't placed an order for any service from BT and he apologised and hung up. I subsequently have received 5 other calls from engineers requesting the same appointment to which I gave the same reply!! 2 weeks ago I received a bill from BT for £172.52 which is a cancellation fee???? I have spent about 4 hours on the phone trying to sort this out, typically being put through to the wrong department time and time again. I could cry with frustration! I decided that the only thing to do would be to write a letter. I posted and e-mailed the letter and had a call from someone who I could not understand and who could not understand me regarding, I think, my letter.....we got nowhere.. This morning I received a reminder bill! I am not sure what I should do now but I am absolutely certain that I won't be paying this bill. I HOPE THAT SOMEONE FROM BT IS READING THIS AND ALL THE OTHER RIDICULOUS SITUATIONS THAT HAVE COME ABOUT BY BT'S TOTAL INCOMPETANCE! WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO???????

Tracy Davies  says:
2 years ago

BT have just sent me a bill for £245.85 for moving to a new supplier. i only called bt to activate the exsisiting line in my new house. the guy on the phone was as much help as a chocolate fire guard. he said i would have to have the lowest package of £12 a month which i paid for the first month then i changed supplier because bt broadband is not only really expensive but slow. then i recieve this bill i think i must have sobbed for an hour i just couldnt believe it i tried to call them numerous times all i got was the ringing tone nobody ever awnsered. i have never recieved any paperwork from bt other than the bill to say they were direct debiting my account of the £12. i never agreed to or signed any contract to bt ,, so how the hell can they charge me this ... does anyone know what i can do or are they in the right to charge me ,, i just dont know ....

Frances Smith  says:
2 years ago

I have been trying since getting my online bill last week to sort it out. I have spent hours on the phone to the Broadband call centre, they keep promising to sort it out but do not ring back.Basically my problem is I signed up to reduce my broadband from 17.99 per month to 14.99 a saving of £3.00 per month, I was so shocked when I opened my bill and found it was for over £304.75 - I only usually pay a very small amount for calls (in this bill they totalled £3.69), my line rental and my broadband. When I looked at the service charges I could not believe it, there is another order number there BNV608 with all sorts of astronomical charges added. I only wanted to save money, by my calculation I shoud be billed this quarter for around £73.00 as I am due a reduction for part of the last quarter because of the cheaper broadband. I have since spent hours on the phone with umpteen promises to get this sorted and am getting no where.

.  says:
2 years ago

I have, of course, not received any response to the following letter.

BT Correspondence CentreDurhamDH98 1BTDear Sir or Madam,I moved into the above address (I sent this on headed notepaper) on 1st July. As there is already a BT line installed, but not activated, I attempted to contact BT with regards to activation. Thus began a sorry week of spending all my free time in phone boxes, calling BT customer disservice. Most calls involved listening to music which I did not fancy until I ran out of time, occasionally speaking to an agent who would offer to put me through to the relevant department, only to resume the onslaught of unending hold music. On one occasion, even your busker gave up, and my call was abruptly disconnected. On another occasion, the agent asked what is was that I wanted, and when I requested line activation, he hung up. Perhaps he wished to spare me the futile agony of BT's hold service.On 5th July, your system was considerate enough to offer a call back. The agent who called took my details, requested permission for a credit check, and promised a call back within five working days from the relevant department. I have not heard from you since, despite the agreed period having elapsed three days ago. I cannot say that I am surprised.On 15th July, I resumed my regular pilgrimage to the phone box. Following a mostly irrelevant dialogue in some vaguely incomprehensible blend of English, and a language native to the Indian subcontinent, he routed my call through to the relevant department. After a few minutes on hold, your busker tired of tormenting me and dropped the line.I immediately called back and asked for the complaints department. Your operator routed me through to the faults department; perhaps BT's policy is that anyone complaining about their service must be faulty. The fault operator, like his colleague earlier, was not familiar with the English language (what does the B in BT stand for?), and I had immense difficulties explaining to him that I do not have a phone line to report as faulty. Having surmounted the formidable language barrier, he explained to me that BT's complaints department cannot be contacted by telephone (perhaps they couldn't get a line installed), and that I must write to your correspondence address. Thus, I obediently made a written complaint to this address.Not having received any acknowledgement of my complaint (or a phone line), I again trespassed upon the inner sanctum of a phone box on 31st July. I explained my predicament to the operator; after several minutes on hold, he put me through to the broadband department. After several further minutes on hold, the broadband department put me through to the foreign languages department; not sharing a common dialect, and communicating through a medium which does not support gesticulation, he was able to convey nothing more informative than that I was through to the wrong department. After several more minutes on hold, the music stopped with the out-of hours department, who told me to call back during normal business hours (which it was when the game started). He also told me that there is no direct number for the in-hours department; pass-the-customer-parcel is BT's favourite game, and I have no right to deprive them of their only joy in life. It may be noted that callers are greeted with a recorded message advising them to call between 8pm and 10pm, when lines are less busy.On 1st August, I dutifully called back during business hours. Again, after requesting that the line in my new address be activated, I was inexplicably routed to the broadband department. The agent who (eventually) answered the call offered to put me through to the sales department; after a minute's subsequent silence, I got the wrong number tone.I immediately called back, went through the same automated menu choices as before, and amazingly, was answered by the sales department. Your agent took the same details as the agent who called me on 5th July, and made the same promise about a call back within five working days.Despite changes in Government regulation, BT still has a monopoly over the provision of new domestic telephone lines, except in a small minority of areas served by cable. Knowing this, you tie new customers into a full year's contract. In common with other abusive monopolies, you also treat (prospective) customers like dirt, knowing that despite your appalling service, they have no one else to go. What do you further require before condescending to grant me a phone line, which I cannot obtain elsewhere? A sacrifice of lambs? My blood on the cross?I look forward to a prompt resolution.Yours Sincerely,

Frazer Jarvis  says:
2 years ago

I live and work (usually) in Sheffield, but am spending some time in Bristol on secondment this year. My wife is mostly remaining in Sheffield.

I moved into a new rented flat in Bristol and had a working phone line. I called Customer Services to register my details, and was told that they had been about to cut it off, but we agreed this was no longer necessary. A few days later, the line was disconnected, and I discovered later that the order had not been correctly placed.

After several abortive attempts and several hours in queues to get through to the Customer "Services" team, I finally got through, and placed an order for a new line in Bristol. I was told that my new number would be "0114...", before I cut in, and pointed out that was the Sheffield code. She apologised, having entered the wrong details in the wrong place. She deleted that order and got the order placed for the Bristol line, saying that it would be activated two days later. It wasn't. I placed a formal complaint on the website, as well as a second fault report. Neither received a non-automated response. But sometime at the start of November, the line started working.

However, I returned to Sheffield last week from a two week stay working in Bristol to find a letter from Jillian Lewis, Customer "Service" Director, starting "We understand that you no longer live at the above address and so I'm writing to let you know that we will be disconnecting the telephone service..."; I found this letter the evening before my home phone was cut off.

After making another formal complaint, and another hour spent in queues and on the telephone with a Customer "Service" representative, I was told that there was a problem with the line and that they couldn't just turn the number back on - there was an order on the line (yes, the order from late October - it hadn't been deleted, just ignored!), and so I would have to have a new number. I'm wondering whether it will be easier to try to get my number back, or whether it would be easier to contact everyone on our contact lists to let them know that we have a new number. One good thing has come out of this - I have discovered mobile broadband. It does't use landlines, and therefore bypasses BT!

alan staniland  says:
2 years ago

I too have had a nightmare experience of getting BT to move a phone line when I moved house at the end of July. Spent hours on the phone and lots of money on mobiles ((0800 are not free from mobile) Wasted 2 working days for engineers who did not turn up and then subjected to incredible harrassment from BT's third party debt collecting thugs -SCS. Eventually got a line and transferred everything to Talk Talk. BT are now trying to bill me for advance services that I won't be taking from them. They owe me substantial compensation for lost wages whilst awaiting their engineers (I did have order numbers). The company is just totally incapable of answering a telehone in a reasonable time and they are totally inept at responding to the written word. They are a total commercial disgrace and are totally corrupt with incompetence yet enjoy a legalised monoply situation in a so called free trade environment. Ofcom and Oftel are another set of useless toothless tigers - a complete waste of public money because they have no powers at all that helps the consumer.

Good luck with your quest

Nicola Roberts  says:
2 years ago

I recently decided (and wish that I hadn't bothered!) to change phone and broadband service from Virgin to BT. Placing the initial order was easy, I was told that I could not transfer my virgin number until the BT line had been installed and the virgin line had been terminated. As this could not take place on the same day I was given a temporay number from BT and was told that when the Virgin line was switched off I could apply for the number to moved, and that this would take 48 hours. I contacted them as requested but nothing happened. It took almost 2 weeks to contact BT to find out what had gone wrong, after being placed on hold more times than I care to remember, I was told that my original order had not been placed properly and no-one had requested for my original number to be transferred over, the result of this was that the temporay line I had to be cancelled and a new order would be placed. I was then given a date on which the line would be reactived and the number transferred over. The activation date was 2 weeks ago and everytime I contact BT for an update I get either transferred or told that "I do not have access to that part of the system". This episode has not been ongoing for over 3 months and I have been without a telephone line at home for almost a month. I now wish that I had remained with Virgin ! I have registered two complaints on the web site but too date have only received automated responses.

dondilly  says:
2 years ago

I sent an email yesterday to BTs CEO regarding my complaint posted earlier here, still waiting for a reply.

One tactic I am considering, rather than esculting the complaint via Itello is to safeguard my line by writing a letter to BT with a cheque for the disputed amount. However the letter would ive notice that while the cheque if an offer of payment, were the cheque to be cashed I would recover the money via the small claims court.

One other thing I am sorely tempted to do regarding BT charging £4.50 for bill processing and £7.50 late payment penalties. If anyone is up for a fight and is witholding a disputed payment from BT.

First, deduct the £4.50 and any subsequent penalty charges from future payments.

Not only that but turn the figures they consider fair and reasonable against them

All the time you withhold payment due to an unresolved complaint charge them £4.50 for processing their bill and having to recalculate and keep doing so while the matter remains unresolved Then on subsequent bills charge them a further £7.50 for late resolution of your complaint.

Then send your payment, cheque and a letter Itemising the deductions by post to BT Billing.

Jacky Lawrence  says:
2 years ago

I felt so much better after reading everyone else's complaints. I'm at the end of my tether with BT and have emailed Mr V in the hope of some sort of positive response. Who knows but if it evokes a response, then great. My story has gone on for about 2 years and compares to everybody's on this site. You poor things! I only wish there was a way to get rid, or split them into manageable sections, or convince them to re-construct what they have into a well-oiled machine with a conscientious and organised staff base. Please. Don't they care? I suppose when you have a fair sized customer base who're reasonably satisfied, the rest of us can go spin...... Good luck to everyone who's still waiting for a solution!

Daniel Hope  says:
2 years ago

Well, I am so glad to hear that i'm not the only one with a BT complaint. Just got off the phone to BT at 6pm. Took 1 hour 25 minutes to resolve my simple probelm of getting a phoneline installed in my new house. This webpage along with the blog are excellent resources for anybody who has <a href='http://www.btcomplaint.com'>BT Complaints</a>. Keep up the good work and good luck everybody with resolving your problems. Look forward to seeing BT's response to your report.

Louise   says:
2 years ago

My BT nightmare began 2 months ago and like the rest of you I've spent hours and hours in customer service queues or speaking to half wits that tell you a complete load of rubbish. To cut a long story short when I rang up back in September for a simple line connection, BT decided to put me on an option I didn't choose. I spent hours trying to tell them this and racked up a huge mobile bill in the process! After receiving such appalling customer service and reading blogs from fellow sufferers, I decided to switch to Talk Talk (who incidentally have been fantastic). Since then BT have had the audacity to send we a wapping great big final bill for cancelling all these options (options I didn't choose). I have been told by countless people at BT not to pay because it's mis-selling but I never actually managed to speak to anyone in any position of authority. Having said that I did speak, supposedly to a manager called Ramesh in India, who tried bartering with me ... how professional! Eventually after speaking to Ofcom I spoke to someone in the BT High Level Complaints team who told me that in light of all the problems I'd had with BT she was cancelling the bill entirely and I would be receiving a credit note in the post to that effect. Instead of a credit note, I received another bill for half the amount!! So angry I could scream. I spent another hour on hold to High Level Complaints only to be told the person who said she'd cancelled the bill for me was out of the office today but her manager, Aileen McCormack would call me back. As usual I'm still waiting for the call and quite frankly having been told 4 times before I would be called back by someone at BT and never once getting a call, I seriously don't hold much hope!! Slowly going insane!

dondilly  says:
2 years ago

I know many of you are going to find this incredulous but posted on the BT PLC site is a story 'BT Voted number one for customer service'

stephen reed  says:
2 years ago

How can a business move go so wrong we have moved 100 mt being served my the same exchange to move 5 lines including bt broadband and redcare.....

9 weeks and 14 bt sorry openreach engineers later and the job has still not been finished and you cannot find anybody to take the problem on board to resolve it

so where do I go from here

jake horsley  says:
2 years ago

I had been using my BT soft phone for several months to call the US when i noticed on a recent bill that I had been charged over 30 pounds for calls to the US. (It is possible that I hadn't noticed before becoz the calls I had made were too short to amount to much.) I called and discovered that - despite having been informed months ago that my softphone no. was activated and all i needed to do was plug in the phone line to the Home Hub and make a call (i was getting the different dial tone when i did so) - for some reason the calls were all registered as landline calls and I was charged for such. Technical help have apparently found a way for me to switch from softphone to landline without changing the point of plug-in, tho I won't know for sure until i check my billing. Once this was resolved, I was told i would get a refund, and transferred to billing dept. Billing said only technical dept could provide a refund, and transferred me back again. At tech dept i was told I would not get a refund but given no satisfactory explanation why not. I asked to speak to a supervsior, and spoke to one Danny Johnson, who was no help whatsoever. When I asked to speak to someone higher up, Mr. Johnson at first refused, then promised a callback within 24 hours. This has has not occurred. I would also like to complain about Mr. Johnson complete lack of assistance.

Peter Stephens  says:
2 years ago

Received a response from Ben Verwaayen. the same day I posted.

Have been getting excellent support from his Compliant Management team.

Am now receiving the kind of service that gets them awards.

Don't have our second BT line (yet) but with daily monitoring by the Chairman's office, I feel confident we are now in good shape.

The Chairman seemed to expect to be e-mailed !

Jonathan Parsons  says:
2 years ago

Here's a copy of the email I posted to ben.verwaayan@bt.com which I gather has prompted responses in the past:

"Below is a copy of a letter I sent to BT at the beginning of October. I have now received a letter threatening me with court action unless I pay BT whatever they say. It is impossible to talk to anyone who can do anything at the BT call centres so it seems that I have to pay whatever BT like regardless of whether I have received a service, signed a contract or tried to explain the situation.

I have now sent a cheque for the amount demanded to avoid any further hassle from you.

I will, of course complain to Ofcom and if I have a few spare minutes will contribute to any consumer web-sites etc that I come across so that as wide an audience as possible will know how BT treats people with threats while ignoring their justified complaints.

Yours furiously and £255 pounds poorer

Jon Parsons

Dear Sir or Madam:

Complaint number 070928-005224

I have received a bill for a service that is not connected: Acc. No. SW14056738.

This service is not connected (ring the number if you want to check!). Although I started the connection process I was later informed of additional charges that I don’t want to pay at this time. Because it is not possible to investigate the feasibility of a new connection without paying first the site was not investigated before the engineer arrived to make the connection.

Nothing during the ordering process suggested that the price would be higher than the standard fee or even that it could be and I was assured by one of your anonymous call centre staff that there was one price which did not vary.

There was no opportunity given by BT to discuss if there would be additional charges before paying for a connection. The property is some distance from a telegraph pole so it was obvious that it would need more poles erecting before the connection could be completed.

I don’t mind paying for work done and accept that there may be an additional charge in the case of this property.

However given that BT didn’t bother to survey the site before charging me a standard fee I feel entitled to decide not to pay additional charges until I am ready.

I certainly will not pay a line/service charge as there is no line or service.

I have cancelled the direct debit for this account in the hope that I will get someone to ring me up who can both understand the situation and act appropriately to alter the bill.

The alternative which I have experienced this evening of being deliberately cut off by BT call centre staff and on a second call having to explain at great length about my situation to three separate people before being passed back to the department I started with is not acceptable service.

Please alter the bill to reflect:

Yours sincerely,

Jonathan Parsons"

G Kumorek  says:
2 years ago

I ordered phone and broadband on 14th September and set up direct debit, which is being taken out. Have been sent bills ever since, now all cut off and another bill for £108 because they said I stopped service. When I ring them everyone says they cannot deal with GB accounts. Puzzled and very angry, GK.

Emily  says:
2 years ago

BT are so annoying!I ordered basic line rental in September (lowest cost package of £10.50 per month) as I just needed an internet connection.  Since then they have tried to charge me for a more expensive package and when I refused to pay as I didn't order this (after several 2 hour phone calls and about 10 emails!), they added a cancellation charge of £168.74!  For a service I neither wanted nor asked for!Does anyone know what I can do about this?  Is it worth contacting Ofcom or trading standards?  Surely it is against trading regulations to charge someone for something when there is no proof that the ordered it!Thank you in advance for any advice you can give me.

KK  says:
2 years ago

BT won an award for customer service. You have got to be joking!! I have never come across a more arrogant non customer focused organisation in my whole life. I am presently in dispute with them and will take it as far as I can. Honestly I do not want to go into the issue on here.

When it got too hot for the "personal assistant to the CEO and chairman" he simply declared "as far as BT is concerned the matter is now closed". Well that's all right then!! Unfortunately without the efforts of things like this BT will ride rough shod. They are a disgrace - more power to your elbow and good luck.

KK

Emily  says:
2 years ago

Thanks so much for your advice Louise. I was just about to spend the night with BT's number on handsfree! I will wait until they send me a reminder then call Ofcom as you suggest.

It's comforting to know that BT don't always get away with their amoral practices but is still so infuriating that we loyal paying customers are forced to spend hours of our precious time trying to fix their stupid mistakes.

Wayne  says:
2 years ago

My complaint is similar to Karen's above. Having originally set out to change provider I decided to cancel installation of BT line with appropriate notice given. They are now charging me for an installation that didn't occur and have gone on to charge me for cancelling a contract which I did not enter into. Because I refuse to pay them £80.00 they are threatening me with a debt collection agency. They will not respond to my e-mails and I have spent numerous hours on the phone speaking to nothing but idiots in the UK and abroad. HELP!!!! Can anyone offer any advice?

Oliver Jones  says:
2 years ago

Arranged to transfer current number and contract from bulldog/pipex on 7th Sept 2007. Transfer scheduled with BT for 8th Oct 2007.

Never happened. Now following almost 40 calls to BT and various faults being fixed and then re-occurring. 2 temporary numbers allocated and then dropped. I am still without service on my own telephone number. Ultimately I don't even use the landline - I simply need it in order to get broadband!

Today is the 4th Dec 2007 = 57 days and counting... losing will to live.

Complaint number KMM39527234I24871L0KM still outstanding - no reply since 9th of November...

L W Owen  says:
2 years ago

I had an XLN Business A/c and wanted to change back to BT residential. I asked BT to do this buy they explained I would have to change back to business, wait a couple of weeks and then phone again and ask for the line to be changed to residential. I phoned Business a couple of weeks later and put in my request and was then transferred to Residential. A date was agreed for the changeover in October 2007. Each time I phoned it was taking up to an hour to speak to someone.

The day arrived for the changeover and found that BT had cut off the line. Me and my partner spent the next 3 days trying to get through and when we did speak to someone, whether Business or Residential they passed us on to someone else.

Eventually somebody decided to help only to say the number we had could not be used anymore so we would have to have a new line which could only be done in two weeks time.

We then received a bill from BT Business for nearly £400 for terminating the contract and another one from BT Residential for £140 for installation. I've written to them to complain to say I shouldn't have to pay for their incompetence but so far have not received a reply. It seemed such a simple request in the beginning but I never dreamed it would cause such chaos.

Mrs Harris  says:
2 years ago

I dont know that I dare complain now I have read some people have been at the mercy of BT's awful customer service for far longer than me! We moved just over a week ago and have now been promised FIVE times that they would turn our phone line on (there is already one in the house, it just needs turning on - i.e. the click of a button on a pc no doubt) and have spent (I am counting also!) 275 minutes trying to get this sorted, most of that on hold. It is the most disgusting service I have ever heard of, and cant believe they can get away with this, and there are clearly people on here had far more problems than mine and BT just dont seem to care. I have lodged my complaint on the watchdog website, but if everyone does this then maybe they will look into it. BT are rubbish and its even worse that we dont have a choice but to use them.

Sarah Jones  says:
2 years ago

I first contacted BT over a year aho when i first moved into my house regarding them being my phone and internet supplier. However they told me that it was going to cost me around £120 to set up a new line as the old one was 'damaged' so I backed out as I didnt want to pay that. Anyway, a year later I decided I would pay this fee so rang them up to organise an appointment with an engineer to reconnect the line. Big Mistake!

Thhe call centre person I got through to said that he had checked my line using hsi computers and could see that there was no problem with the line to my house, no reconnection was needed and that the phoneline could be set up within 24 hours. I was pretty unsure about this but he seemed to know what he was talking about so I went ahead and set the account up. the next day i checked my phone to see if it was working and ofcourse it was not! I got onto the phone to chase the matter up and in the space of two hours I spoke to over 36 people. I was repeatedly hung up on, transferred blind so i had to repeat my story over and over. Noone seemed to know who I needed to speak to! When I eventually got through to the right person he told me that the number I had been given as my new BT number was actually already in use by a national bank based in Leeds! My god it was a disgrace. This guy then promptly hung up on me! I was so exhausted I decided to put my complaint in writing to BT to see what would happen. Whilst I was waiting for a reply I was charged for a service I had not received via direct debit! I was fuming.

After waiting around three weeks I sent in another letter this time saying that I wanted to close the account due to the complete incompetence I had experienced. At this point someone contacted me by phone trying to get me to stay as a customer, which I refused so I was told that I would recieve a credit to my bank account off the money they had taken from me within three days. Two weeks later I recieved a cheque addressed to someone completely different! It was hilarious. I had to laugh or I would have cried.

So I sent the cheque back with yet another letter, and am still to hear back. The best is yet come however. Around a week ago I receieved a letter saying that I owe BT around £15 and that if I dont pay it within 10 days they will transfer it to their debt collection agency! I could not believe it. How can I owe them money!! I rang the number on this letter to explain but ofcourse they had no idea what I was talking about.

so Ive sent a letter to the managing director to see if they can sort the mess out. Its ridiculous!

Carol T.  says:
2 years ago

Have been trying for over 6 months to get an answer from BT about their habit of taking direct debit payments for my Broadband account as and when they feel like it, rather than once a month as agreed. Complaints via email and letter (registered post) to Durham were largely ignored. Complaints to Ofcom and Otelo met with the repsonse that, a), not within their jurisdiction, b) couldn't do anything until I had exhausted the BT complaints procedure. Exactly how you do that when they ignore you, or send an acknowledgement, then fail to do anything, is beyond me.

Finally sent an extremely rude email to "Chris" at the compliance department, who in turn handed me on to the Complaints Management team. I am now dealing with a seemingly intelligent lady called Karen, but she seems to have no more luck at finding anyone at BT Billing with a functioning brain than I have! All I want is for them to honour our contract by taking their payment once a month, on or around the 6th, to help me balance my accounts. Countless other organisations have mastered this feat, why can't they? And why do I now have an inbox full of emails from people who have no idea what the original complaint is, or flatly deny that I either have a direct debit with them, or that they frequently take two payments within a couple of weeks of each other?

born4thesurf  says:
2 years ago

Thanks Andrew, that just proves how completely useless and untrustworthy they currently are.

steve leavey  says:
2 years ago

my problem started yesterday evening.i can not log on to my bt yahoo email plus.i stated phoning bt at 11:15 7 dec 07 i have not reseived any positive help or answers it is now 15:27 please send me details i would like to put a more official complante i would also defy anyone to get a answer from this line 08702414567

Mr Fryman  says:
2 years ago

Took BT SErvices up when i moved address took them 2 months to connect my phone line up and gave me various excuses for reason why it tooks o long. then when i wanted to talk to a BT customer services it took an hour to get someone to answer, a couple of people tryed for me with same problem too. recently i owed £130 a asian person answered and said that i needed to pay my bill, told them i could only afford £80 so paid that over phone and was told i have nothing to worry about has long has i pay the left over in my next bill. 3 days later my contract is terminated plus ive lost my broadband and other services from Sky . i did try to ring and pay the reminder but again a asian person answered and said i had to ring 0800 800 150 which i was already talking to them on. asked to speak to a supervisor another asian person get calling me Mr my first name and said same thing i need to put phone down and ring the number they gave me but like i say i had used this number already to speak to them?.

P Farrar  says:
2 years ago

I have spent 7 hours on the phone trying to exchange a ohone which is not as specified please help I am 77 and need this exchanging s a p I have done all I can to no avail the telephone service is appalling please send a label for returning one i HAVE

Jan Pope  says:
2 years ago

My parents want a BT phone connected in their new flat and to take their old Virgin number with them - remember that it is 'easy to come back to BT' !!!!!!

Dad is 87, has a pacemaker, partially deaf, going blind with macular degeneration and has a history of epilepsy.

Problem 1 - different information depending on who you speak to - cost of transferring the number £149.99 or is it £149.00 to change the old address to BT and then transfer the number to new address £149.99 X 2

Problem 2 - appointment made for 29 November 2007 but engineer didn't turn up - no contact from BT at all

Problem 3 - many hours of calls to BT but I specifically asked if it was free (I am not on a BT line) I was told it was 'toll free' - not an expression used in England - was I calling India? As this was a premium number am I going to be billed for my calls to the 'non-help line'?

Problem 4 - told that the order of 29th November had 'failed' but we seem unable to get another set up

Problem 5 - told 'might' get installed AM on 28th December but no engineer order number given. Told again that transferring the number cost extra (I thought we had cleared that up!)

I can never speak to the same person twice and emails just get an automated answer - what can you do?

Laura  says:
2 years ago

We'd had no problems with BT for years til we moved into a new home out in the sticks (so our own fault really) and were told by an engineer that we couldn't get broadband due to the distance we were away from the signal box (this is after 5 whole days spent on the phone to call centres in Timbuktu going round in circles and spending most of the time on hold while they have a teabreak).

We gave up and went with Sky - who are fantastic btw - BT then sent us a MASSIVE bill for £260, which includes:

connection fee to the broadband service we could not use

set up fee for the broadband service we could not use and

set up fee for the talk service which was pretty pointless without the broadband service we could not use!

So I went through the old rigmerole of calling, holding, speaking to someone who really couldn't care less and then finally having a mini nervous breakdown, whilst remaining in the same situation as I started out.

I moved into my new house on October 19th, it's now almost 2 months later, BT have cut my phone off becuase we haven't paid the £136 that we do not owe and I have just printed out my formal complaint letter which will be winging it's way to customer services by tonight.

Wish me luck....

Tim Pryce  says:
2 years ago

I have a similar story- I ordered a new landline in June and have now been without a land line for 6 months. BT eventually agreed to "disconnect" me, but charged me £70 for the privilege. I have also been charged for someone else's calls. I took my complaint to Otelo who have written back to tell me that I am liable for the disconnection charge and the outgoing calls! This despite the fact that I've never been able to place any outgoing calls on my line, and the numbers listed on the bill are for companies that I've never even heard of.

Tom Hill  says:
2 years ago

I am at my wits end with BT. I asked for a phone line to be connected to my house, but knowing we were to be there for only a couple of months before we were due to rent rooms to our grown up children, I made it clear that I only wanted the line for a few weeks. i was told that there was no minimum contract on line rental. The guy in the Indian call centrethen asked me if i wanted free evening and weekwend calls for a nominal sum. I agreed. The line wasn't connected. After two days of 7 hours (sic) each day on hold, plus dozens of shorter calls, the phone was eventually connected and all seemed well.

But then I rang and told them that my partners grown up children wished to take over the line. They disconnected the line, and sent me two bills for £172 and £61 respectively for early termination of service. I wrote explaining that I had been told there was no minimum contract but they refuse to reply to letters or e-mails. i have got my £172 back through the direct debit guarantee scheme at the bank, but now they are sending me reminders again.They eventually phoned me on my mobile (after about two months) as I am now travelling abroad. They verbally agreed to waive all the bills, but they are still now sending reminders again.There seems to be no end to their incompetence.

Jodie Marshall  says:
2 years ago

I am a new (unwise) BT customer, I called last week to arrange to have a BT line activated in my new flat, the engineer was supposed to arrive yesterday morning (the 11th Dec) but didn't turn up. I had no missed appointment card, and no calls to my mobile.

I rang BT that afternoon to find out what had happened and rearrange the installation, and after being kept on hold for 28 minutes was told that their systems were down and I would get a call back within 24hrs.

Suprise suprise I did not get a call back. So I rang them again this morning at 10 am approx, was kept on hold for 36 minutes only to be told that the line was indeed activated, and the engineer hadn't needed to enter the property to do so (So a morning off of work for nothing). When I queried this I was told they could test my line to be sure and transferred me to the faults dept. Another wait of 23 minutes and I was told testing would take about 2 hours and they'd call to update me.

By 2.30pm I had heard nothing so decided to call them back, I wrangled my way through to the faults dept and was on hold for 45 minutes, as I am at work I got fed up and hang up, looked on their site and found a different number to call, I was put through to a polite young man who gave me this number for their service centre: 0800 022 3089. I got through to this number pretty quickly (only 11 minutes on hold! RECORD!) only to be told that I should just plug a phone in to test it. This despite me already telling them I was not in the property but at work.

So that concludes (Or perhaps this is just the beginning) of my BT ordeal....

Fred Hause  says:
2 years ago

If you have a dynamic IP address then every time your modem is repowered or there is some other service disruption then you are allocated a new IP address (which uniquely identifies your modem). I have done this 8 times in the last week to see what would happen. EVERY IP address that BT allocated was blacklisted on 24-25 blacklists.

justin h.  says:
2 years ago

I F#####G HATE BT WITH ALL MY HEART AND SOUL!!! They have robbed me and my partner at least 20 hours of our lives over the past few weeks and still, all of this waiting on hold, being passed to LOTS of different departments and being cut off, it is to no avail, the robdogs still havent resolved our problem! we were charged a £70 cancellation fee for changing our provider and not only that being extortionate, we were charged £159.42 for the rest of the years line rental even though our new provider are paying our BT line rental anyway!

we eventually backed down after numerous 'customer service' advisors couldnt understand plain english and receiving threatening letters, we asked if we could pay BT in installments being as though xmas is round the corner and they basically told us no way.

we then went on to pay the balance on the automated service just so that we didnt have to be cut off or speak to yet another person that couldnt help us..............and then that told us that our number is not recognised and that we needed to call ANOTHER number!

.....................we called another number and they say that we dont have an account with them and so there is no outstanding bill!

we will call again tomorrow, thats if we have a line connection, and possibly no tv and setee!

Billy  says:
2 years ago

I originally ordered bt vision off of these mugs and instead recieved just the total broadband option 3 package.

I then had to move home and requested for my service to be transferred to my other address. The phone line had been transferred and was told that the broadband would be back on the following thursday 48 hours after the phone had been activated.

It is now the following Friday after which i've had to reorder the broadband and spend countless hours on the phone and am still on it now being passed from one gimp to the next and still no closer to getting my broadband.

I haven't had the account with BT for more than three weeks and have also been sent a bill £313.80 for a service that these jokers fail to supply me with. It also isn't entirely clear why this bill amounts to this much.

this is just the brief version not including my numerous trips to the public phone and the fact they have charged me £50 for some kind of 'deposit'

It's astonishing that these fuckwitts get away with the treatment of customers like this. the only reason they take the piss like they do is because A) they own all the phone lines & B) we let them

so stop going to bt, don't use their phone boxes and burn out their vans and chase off the guy screaming profanity at him

On a more serious note it would be nice to see action taken to relieve BT of their power over communications in britain and should have the phonelines seized from them and used publicly by any company that wishes to compete with BT. The Bastards.

P.S. sorry for my profanity but i'm still on the phone waiting for the next nincompoop to forward me to yet another dimlow who will in turn forward me to a shitbag of some descript and the circles increase ever larger.....

it iis now 20:45 i started this phone call at 17:20

and this isn't the first time, wankers.

bob  says:
2 years ago

Letter/Email to ben.verwaayen@bt.com

Sorry, it's long, but it has to be. Check out the false names and numbers offered. Beware. If you can, when offered a phone number or a name, check it.

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

Dear Mr Verwaayen

I would like to make a complaint (upon a previous complaint) of the strongest nature to you regarding the service (or lack thereof) and the handling of my account.

Back in October, I had two telephone numbers at my, both on the same account number: 020 8*** 9476 and 020 8*** 2905, the former for my freelance work and the latter my home number. On notification of the move, I called BT to cancel the second line (2905), order a new line at my new address and requested that my main working line (9476) forward to my new number.

Simple, one would think.

However two weeks later, alerted by a friend, I discovered that the call forwarding service was applied thus: 020 8*** 2905 > 020 8*** 2621, NOT what I had requested at all. What is worse, I am unsure of how many calls I may have missed.

So in addition to the written notification, I called my clients to inform them of the number change just in case, albeit two weeks after the event. Two clients did not see the change of details and tried to call me on a dead line! How embarrassing. Do you not provide Caller Redirect for this very reason?

So, on 1st November at 14:00, I spoke with Shapish (who refused to offer a surname), who promised to call me back with a resolution within one hour. THIS DID NOT HAPPEN.

At 15:30, I called (on hold for 23 minutes) and I was put through to "Redirect Dept" where I heard only "Is that Mr D". The line went dead. I hoped that someone would call me back in such a case. THIS DID NOT HAPPEN.

At 15:32, I called again and was on hold for 20mins but had to go out for a meeting so I gave in.

At 17:53, I called again and spoke with Gurshee Singh, who could not assist but put me on hold for 40 minutes then transferred me to Sanjay, who said that due to a technical problem, the transfer failed.

Seeking to track the issue back to Sales, I spoke with James, who put me though to Melissa who then put me though to Mr John Gibbons, a Sales Dept Supervisor. He said he would deal with the issue and offered me the telephone number 01324 445 6007. THIS NUMBER IS NOT RECOGNISED.

On 5th November, I spoke again with Ingrid Stanley in Sales to track Mr Gibbons but unable to do so but did offer a number for him; 01324 458 532. THIS NUMBER IS NOT RECOGNISED. But shortly after that, the line went dead. Under the circumstances, I did expect a return call. THIS DID NOT TAKE PLACE.

I called again (duration 1hr 4 mins) and spoke with Stephanie Brady who put me though to Linda. On explaining my problem (and not being able to reach people that can help resolve this) Linda apologised and said "It can be difficult as we are a big company", an understatement no doubt. I was put though to Mr Gary Donnelly (Inbound sales) and when I escalated the issue into a formal complaint, I was put through to Simon Ponsford in Exeter.

On explaining the issue, he proposed £40 compensation and that my Caller Redirect service charges (both the one I had asked for and the one I didn’t) would be provided free of charge. I accepted, hoping that was the end of it and on good faith, duly ordered my second line via Michelle in Sales. The line was installed on time and without incident.

ON the 20th November, I received two bills for two call redirect services - one I did order and was put into place THREE WEEKS after it was meant to take effect (therefore not much use) and one for the Redirect Service that wasn't ordered.

Further, on the 29th November, I received a letter informing me that £40 had been credited to my account. I called to query this and spoke with Claire Morrison in Lancaster at 11:59. She informed me that £40 was being credited to the account - the Redirect Service I didn't request.

As she did this, I alerted her as to this disingenuous action (meaning my compensation of £40 would be mainly consumed in charges that I was not liable for). On realising the problem, she informed me that she corrected the problem and when I stated that I did not make payment by Direct Debit, she informed me that I would receive a cheque in approximately 5 working days. THIS DID NOT HAPPEN.

12th December at 20:15, Kruti (who refused a surname despite having mine and the rest of my data) informed me that indeed my refund was applied to the bill that I should never have received, virtue of the fact that it was a service placed in error.

I attempted to explain the agreement made by Mr Ponsford and when I asked if she was in a position to assist, she could not and said that a Manager would call me within an hour. THIS DID NOT HAPPEN.

On 13th December at 18:10 I spoke with Customer Services again and asked where my telephone call didn't happen. I was informed, "No call back was offered"! I was passed to a '1st Line Manager' called Praven Prabhakar (he spelled it for me). I explained the history of the problem (again) and he apologised and said he'd "take responsibility for the issue".

He also informed me that if I call Customer Services and ask for him by name, there would be "no problem" in getting through to him. He asked for an email address that he could post me a confirmation, pressed as to when, I was told that by midnight at the latest, I would receive it. THIS DID NOT HAPPEN.

On 15th December at 11:15, I called and asked Customer Services to speak with Line Manager Mr Prabhakar and I WAS INFORMED THAT HE DID NOT EXIST and no email was offered! On pressing for an explanation, I was put through to Mr Ashish Verma who told me that while I was on hold, he'd "spoken to Mr Prabhakar and even though he could speak with him, when I asked to, it was refused on the basis that I couldn't be transferred.

I asked Mr Ashish Verma if Mr Prabhakar offered any explanation for not sending my confirmation email as promised and he said that he "didn't actually speak with him", but asked him to recall having said just that. I also asked why I was informed that Prabhakar didn't exist. I was offered no explanation.

Further, as compensation was offered by means of cheque that would arrive between 5 and 20 days (from the date 29th Nov), I asked him why my BT account was being credited and that the said cheque was now not being posted and that I’d receive it as credit on my next bill – IN JANUARY 2008 – two months after it was offered. I asked Mr Verma if that in case of the issue not being resolved, could contact him again just as Mr Prabhakar had suggested, to which he replied "no". He has raised an investigation, which means I might hear from someone in 7-10 days (bang in the middle of Christmas!).

Merry Christmas.

In my experience, all 150 calls are filtered into the Indian call centres UNLESS IT BE FOR SALES, which I do not object to, but what I do object to is being lied to, misinformed and lied to by staff that are either becoming disenchanted in having to deal with rightly irate customers, or simply unable to provide a service that we pay for. And when one does call, first we are informed "We are very busy at the moment, did you know you can blah blah self help number, Sunday between blah and blah - in fact every message sends one AWAY FROM THE ASSISTANCE WE NEED IN THE FIRST PLACE.

I've been a loyal customer of BT for many years, often with two phone lines and since my move in October, I have had services applied to which I did not request, have services that were requested not applied and been recompensed on an account that was wrongly sent.

But worse is that I have been systematically misled, lied to, placed in a black hole of unaccountability and or redress and what is more, I hear that BT w

e moses  says:
2 years ago

for a whole weekend now i have been trying to get reconnected back to bt..after receiving a bill back end of oct i called a customer service agent to explain that i would not be able to pay the bill in full at that time. the customer service rep told me to pay as much as i could i just received a bill this week however for £154 as they said that i had ternminated my contract. until this letter came through the post i had no corro from bt and could'nt believe this was happening as i'd just paid £50 towards clearing my intial bill. i called and spoke to and agent (from their call centre in India) who informed me that they would re-emburse me the cancelation fee and instead of £154 i would only pay £104 which i did....i was told on paying this fee i would be reconnected. However this wasnt the case and i was told that i was now on a 'new' systerm and would be treated like a new customer...well if this how they treat new customers then hell im in the wrong job!!... after being put through to Another Agent i was required to go over all personal details again and then told i would now be subjected to a credtit check...because of the cancelation that had taken place ( note that the bt rep had rembursed me this fee as it had been a fault on their end) i was now being told that i had failed this credit check and would have to pay a £50 'security' fee that would be given back to me in 6 months time either via a check or being taken off a bt bill.....this was on fri...its now sun this week alone ive given bt....£50 to clearing my bill another £104 for their 'final bill' and and will be giving them a further £50 to have my phone reconnected even though i never requested to terminate my contract in the first place...im so angry i cant describe i've spoken to more customer service reps than you can imagine..my partner is now dealing with them on my behalf and is having the same problems....how they get away with this its un real.

Julie  says:
2 years ago

Please can you tell me why BT will not disconnect my dead uncles phone line straight away? We have been told it takes 14 days for this to happen, yet if he'd run up a dept BT could have switch him off in an instant. Why must we pay for an extra 2 weeks worth of unless line rental?

niclak  says:
2 years ago

Our nightmare with BT began in June 2007, when we ordered a line for our newbuild house. Amidst hours and hours hanging on the phone, trying to get through to somebody, we placed an order 4 times, took time off work to wait for an engineer 4 times and not once did we get not even a courtesy call to warn us that they weren't able to fulfill our order or apologise for the fact that nobody had showed up. It was 4 days holidays plus the costs of having to use our mobile phones for everything, the inconvenience of not being able to do our grocery shopping etc online and everyone having to ring us on our mobile numbers. Not an apology, not a single reply to our complaints. Then, one day in October (!!!), out of the blue, we picked up the handset and realised that we had a line! We knew the BT engineer that had come to our house in June to install my work line had left the box set up for us so it was just a question of making it live in the exchange and we explained this to BT every time we rang them - they don't take notes of anything, do they? You have to repeat the same thing every time. And also note that they had no problems sending somebody to connect my work line! Then, a few days later, our first bill came through - amazing how they were suddenly able to write to us! Well, as it goes, they wanted to charge us for the line rental from 8th October even though we never even knew we had a phone until 18th October - they never wrote to us to inform that the line was going to be connected, they never even provided us with our telephone number! So I queried that and also queried the one-off connection charge and the line had been connected without us having to be there so for all we know (and I have been told this by a BT employee), they probably connected it remotely - therefore, no justification for the charge - and there has been no attempt from BT to reimburse us for the losses we incurred when we took all that time off to wait for their engineer, not to mention the calls, etc. I have now paid for the calls made to date and for the line rental although I'm sure they haven't really re-calculated anything. The people on the other end of the line are being trained to lie through their teeth as well - one moment, you get told that they've refunded payment charges, next thing you know it's all back to square one. They've even gone as far as to suggest that I pay for it and then the amount will be re-credited to my bill - do I believe that? No way! They lie, lie and lie and I'm just so, so sick of it.

Nigel Reed  says:
2 years ago

I have just sent this email to the CEO of BT after 3 months of problems with them. The story is contained in the email

Dear Ben Sorry to have to email you, but you are the last resort before I take my complaint to OFCOM. I moved my internet and phone to Tiscali at the beginning of September. BT took money out of my account for BT Yahoo Surftime in October and November. At least twice I have telephoned BT and have waited 40 minutes before speaking to someone, who has reasurred me that I will be compensated and the service has been cancelled. This never happened and I recevved a bill at the beginning of December. I cancelled my direct debit because BT have been illegally taking money from me and I have now been sent a red bill. I have emailed complaints to BT 4 times in the last 3 months (ref numbers KMM40510950I24871L0KM and KMM40015780I24871L0KM) - none of my complaints have been answered (I have just received the automated acknowlegement). I believe I am owed nearly £50 off BT in money they have taken illegally. And I want this sorted out. When I have mailed Talk Talk or Tisacali the problem has been resolved in two days. This problem has caused me a lot of hassle and stress. I will never come back to using BT and a lot of my friends are now considering transferring. There are also several online blogs and groups on Facebook where peope are speaking of similar problems with BT. I noticed BT were on Watchdog last week and if this matter isn't resolved in the next couple of weeks I shall be in touch with them as well as OFCOM. Regards

Robert Wilson  says:
2 years ago

My BT Nightmate,

I joined BT last week. When i called them i was told by the sales person that i would receive Option 3 Package and included is a free BT Vision box at no EXTRA charge.

I received my Hub and HUB phone but no BT VISION Box. I then decided to call up BT. O what a mistake that was. Last night i spent over 2.5 hours on the phone to them. In the end i got transferred to a queue which i was on hold for 45mins and i decided to terminate the call and ring back. The queue i was transferred to was closed and there was no-one there. Now i'm starting to really get frustrated.

Called them again this morning. I was told i need to pay £30 for the box and £10 a month for the BT VISION on top of what i'm paying and if i want to cancel the whole package i will have to pay up front the full 18month contract.

I then asked them to listen to the call i originally made. Again on hold for another 30mins.

Unfortunately i do not have the time to be on hold for 1hour at a time.

The customer service is discusting. I work in Customer Service and i'm sure that if they have SLA's they will not have met them once.

My sister who ordered the same package as me the day before has also had exactly the same problem.

BT seem to be an absolutely TERRIBLE company. I thought Tiscali was bad. This is the worst service i have ever had from a company and surely there must be some legal issues here.

Abdullah  says:
2 years ago

I recently reconnected to BT on 6 December 2007. Although my property had a BT box etc, I was informed that I would have to pay a reconnection charge and thus made arrangements (time off work) for a telephone engineer to come out on 12th December between 1 and 6pm. On 9th December I realised that my line had been activated (possibly activated before the 9th) and I could make and receive phone-calls. When I phoned customer services (took me over 30 minutes to get through and had to speak to several people totalling 95mins) on 10th December (daytime) to inform them that my line was active I was told that I might be reimbursed the reconnection cost if an engineer did not have to come. I phoned again in the evening to cancel the engineer (yet again took me over 30 minutes to get through and had to speak to several people – customer services and faults- totalling 140 mins) and after speaking to several people and getting conflicting messages, I was told that I would get a call back by customer services on 11th December. Unfortunately, this never happened. On 12th November I phoned again, and was told that an engineer had to come out and I would not be reimbursed the reconnection cost. After waiting several hours for a telephone engineer, no one turned up. So yet again I phoned BT billing and services to inform them that the engineer had not arrived. After explaining to BT billing about what had happened I was told that they could not assist then transferred to BT services (took over 80 minutes to get through). After speaking to Deepak (at a call centre in India) and explaining my predicament, as noted above, he was reluctant to resolve my issue of reconnections, numerous telephone calls to BT and time wasted for an absent telephone engineer. I was then transferred to Panjali (the coach), who was slightly more understanding. She acknowledged that the line had been activated before 9th December and it was not necessary for an engineer to come to the property and apologised for the time wasted etc. Finally, I was informed that I would be credited with £10 pounds and my discounted reconnection charge (i.e. £62.50 for a 18 month contract) would be waived. On 12th December I received a bill and had not been refunded or credited in any form. So I phoned BT again (a call centre in India) on 18th December and went through the same process as above (no record of reconnection charge been waived). The advisor informed me that he could not do anything as he did not have the authority and was told that I be would contacted by the appropriate department 24 hours. As expected this never happened. Again I phoned up on 19th December and was promised I would receive a call back the next day. Again this never happened. So I phoned again on the 21st, I was told that the advisor could not do anything etc so I demanded to speak to someone more senior. After much hesitation and reluctance (threatened to cancel) I was put through to Japinder (the coach). Encountered the same obstacles as before but after giving an ultimatum as before, I was credited with £60. In all honesty I would have declined this offer, but I got fed up of dealing with the call centre in India and a BT line was necessary for an internet connection (no cable in my area and need it for work).

Gill  says:
2 years ago

I have been a customer of BT for over 33+ years but have only just realised that I have to pay a 6p set up charge for every call made during the day, irrelevant of how much time you spend on the call. Everyone I have spoken to about this assures me that they were not aware of this "hidden extra" I am told that charges are 5p up to an hour in the evenings and at weekends and 3p per minute in the day for National numbers for Option 1. Why havent they added AND 6p for setting up these calls. No-one has ever told me about this charge although I have found that if you click on Option 1 a drop down box informs you of this. How convenient!! How many people are aware of this???

Babushka  says:
2 years ago

I shan't even attmept to start typing out ALL of my complaints about BT, I came back to them on 13 Dec after being with talktalk for 18 months, my main reason for going back to BT was to get the 8 megs speed THEY advertisded... & talktalk could not do, because they refused to do any upgrade work on my exchange..Also I wanted to take advantage of the BT VISION offered with Option3...

I live in a small village with just eight houses, and the exchange IS in this village, I can throw a stone & hit that exchange from my house, yet I still can't get anywhere near the 8megs they sold me, because there excuse is, I am too far away from the exchange, I guess being an almost next door neighbour doesn't work with BT.....

As for my BT Vison, well as of today, 29th Dec ..It still is not set-up, after DAYS of continually calling their helpline, spekaking to ELEVEN different people in his time, spending HOURS a day ON the paid for phone line...repeating the same procedure to get the supplied line adapters to work and them (NEVER working) yet, being told by each Individual that HE/SHE will get this box up & running, that IS what they are there for after all.....lol lol .....I have now been told that the adpaters ARE faulty, so replacements will be sent out, WHEN? I have no idea, Also...as my own landline phone disconnects me from my HUB phone whenever my landline phone rings, I had also been trying to get help from BT TALK..Who again had me go over and over a procedure to find out where the fault might lie there, yesterday, I was told it was Obviously the FILTERS ..Both adpaters & filters supplied by BT (of course) Neither which work.......

A phone bill since the 13th Dec that has exceeded what my FULL month Broadband& phone package was with talktalk, with constanly being put on hold, or into a queue, and to even get there, to go through the LONGEST animated voice list I have ever heard to get a department to asnwer....I find this is disgusting that a company that serves most of the UK can be so BAD......

And worse, getting away with it.......

mark & trish  says:
2 years ago

What a horrible company bt is, will never deal with them ever again, moved house just before xmas, took 4 hours on the phone to have the old service diconected,22nd dec, which they did'nt do, then they were supposed to reconnect at new house thursday just gone, 27th dec, which they did'nt do, spent another 5 & half hours on the phone being passed from pillar to post on the 28th dec, they said vol number did not exist though had been given this on the 22nd, got sick of being cut off, so my mum phoned for us on the 29th & gave them a mouth full (no swearing) she eventually gave up after two hours of being shunted all over the country & being put in contact with the welcome back to bt team, no chance, bt you can stuff your service & all the hours of hanging on the phone, my mum rang virgin who she has been with for years, tell you what guys, she was on the phone for 21 minutes ( not hours ) & they are coming on the 9th jan to set us up with the full package & a £30 bonus for mum as she recommended us, not bad eh, BT ROT IN HELL< WILL NEVER RECOMMEND YOU EVER> thank you for this site i feel so much better now. mark & trish

Joel Barnhurst  says:
2 years ago

I've just finished writing a letter outlining the experience, I think it's best to paste it here.

In the first week of October 2007, I purchased an eshop with BT. Having grown dramatically in the eleven months of trading I was hoping to find a service that would more readily expand with the business than my current eshop provider, EKM Powershop. I sampled a few different providers, all of which offered a free trial before one committed to a service, and eventually found their eshop package online. Their software package looked impressive and capable of holding many more items and categories than what I had previously seen, so I gave it a go.

The first warning sign was we received no confirmation, automated or otherwise, that our order was received. I phoned the number listed on the support page, and the representative that picked up after an hour in the queue didn’t know BT offered an eshop service. After being transferred from one department to the next for at least an hour and a half, somebody finally was able to tell me that we should be able to just log on. They couldn’t offer any explanation as to why we hadn’t received any confirmation, but they walked us through the log on process and made sure it worked before we finished the call. Of course, logging on meant we automatically committed ourselves to a 12 month contract, site unseen!

Two and a half hours on the phone just to find out how to log on isn’t good enough. One of the major issues that complicated the problem was we were not existing BT customers of any sort and never have been, so their employees didn’t know what to do with us when we told them we bought a service but were not broadband or landline customers. I got the impression that the service wasn’t really meant for people without BT broadband because clearly there was no procedure for dealing with customers who didn’t have any other BT services. One of the myriad representatives I spoke to actually commented on how it was strange that it even took my order because I wasn’t an existing customer, which, coupled with the fact that I had not received confirmation of the order and as such were given no reference or account numbers, meant I couldn’t be found on the system.

The service was, in a word, diabolical. The software, while powerful, was not very easy to use and it took me at least four days of down time to get the site where I felt I could host it, which is unacceptable, especially in view of the fact that the other providers all offered a free trial period where you could set up the shop without switching your domain and then make the switch if you were satisfied, offering virtually no down time at all. Further, I had four separate technical questions about how to use the software that were never answered. I submitted the questions by email and, when I didn’t receive a punctual reply, I phoned the number given by the support website.

And there is when the real nightmare began. I would like to point out that BT's eshop service is almost double the cost of most other providers we’ve encountered, some of which use almost identical templates to theirs. Their inventory software is much more powerful and you have promises of excellent service teams available round the clock, 365 days a year. Perhaps they do, but I never managed to get one on the phone. With my first two queries, my wife actually managed to solve the problems simply by finding other solutions which were considerably less efficient than we would have liked in the time I spent waiting in the queue to be answered. The third question I got through to a person using the number offered on their support site, but again they didn’t know who I was or that an eshop service existed, and I was bounced from department to department yet again for another two hours. This process was complicated even further because I still hadn’t received any correspondence about our order and so had no account number to give the representatives as they answered.

When I finally did get through to someone who knew what the eshop service was, I was determined to close the account and walk away from BT for good. I challenge you to find a company that would do any less for an angry customer after four days of down time, a total of over six hours on hold, and a string of customer service representatives that didn’t even know what the service you supposedly bought was and with no way to find out or even verify that you existed in their system. Actually, I think BT is the only one to have any reservations about cancelling an account regardless of the reason why. Every other one I’ve found offers a free trial period or an opt out period, but evidently not only do you not offer an opt out period but you also can’t even trial it to see what you’re getting for BT’s exorbitant fee without consigning yourself to twelve months of it, like it or not. My experience leads me to think it’s the only way your company manages to keep any customers at all.

The representative I finally did get on the phone, Jennifer Adcock in your Customer Options Team, managed to remain reasonably polite after bearing the full brunt of my frustration, and told me that she’ll see what she can do about this “before we started to fight about it.” I sat on hold for a few minutes. When she came back, she told me that in light of the exceptional circumstances of the situation, she had authorization by her supervisor to delete our account and call it even this one time. However, because I was never given a confirmation email with an account number and I was not an existing BT customer, she wouldn’t be able to do it right then and there. She asked for my email address and, after some hiccups, she sent me a test email. I was instructed to please send her an email with a short reminder of the situation if I ever did get any correspondence about the account and she would do as she promised and delete the service. That was on October 8th, 2007, not one full week after we started trying to use the service. Our domain was transferred out a couple of days before that, and the eshop was online for less than two days in total.

On the 4th of December, we received a bill for £146.87, itemized as “rental charges.” As we are not BT customers, it could only be for the eshop and I emailed Jennifer with a short reminder and my account number as instructed, asking her to please delete the service and remove the charges as agreed. I received an automated reply saying she was out of the office and no other word.

Shortly after Christmas, I received an overdue notice for the £146.87. I wrote to Jennifer again asking her to please do as was agreed. When I received no reply, I got back on the phone yesterday (2nd January, 2008) and, armed with Jennifer’s name, I managed to get through to the Customer Options Team after a mere forty minutes on hold and one transfer.

Unfortunately the representative, who later identified himself as John H, told me that Jennifer actually worked in a different building and he couldn’t transfer me to her line. John then said that he would email Jennifer’s supervisor and she would call me back later that day. I told him that this was unacceptable, that I had been waiting for a reply to my emails for four weeks and I didn’t see why they would reply to his any more readily. I told him that I had no faith that any representative from BT would return any of my messages after the treatment I’d received, and I asked him what we were going to do about it. He put me on hold. He came back and repeated himself. I realized that I wasn’t going to get anywhere, so I gave him my home telephone and told him that if I didn’t have word from his company with a resolution to this, I would be writing a letter to their head office outlining my experiences.

I’m sure you fig

Katie Payne  says:
18 months ago

I have just submitted a complaint to BT about their appalling service. I have been kept on hold for about four hours of my life and this has had to be on days off from work or during my lunch break. Even though everywhere on the bill says that they are open until 8pm they are not! My partner and I have tried every number and every option possible and no one is there after 6pm.

We need our land line as my partner is a dialysis patiend waiting for a kidney transplant. We are expecting a call at any time to say they have a kidney. However we just don't want to keep giving money to this awful company. We tried to break our contract but was told that it would cost £70! We pay a small fortune every three months for terrible service and then have to pay them to leave! I have tried to set up direct debit, friends and family, resolve issues with the bill etc but have waited and waited, been hung up on twice when I wasn't irate and then spoke to some sniffing person who I couldn't understand and who clearly couldn't understand me.

Ever waiting....

New Site  says:
18 months ago

Here is a new site which you can use (as well as this one!) to have a good old rant about BT.

http://www.complainaboutbt.com/

Shilps  says:
18 months ago

I think we should boycott payment for services not rendered against it's own tems and conditions and also collectively serve a winding up order if that is possible. Such is my frustration.

Erica  says:
18 months ago

Dear Sir,

I too have a major bone to pick with BT. They constantly change service agreements and terms without the knowledge of the consumer or a letter to the consumer to let them know they are changing the billing payments.

I pay BT on a quarterly scheme and just finished paying a bill in December for £241.00, which I made an overpayment as well. Now BT sent me a bill at the end of the month stating I owe them another £38.00 for call charges called an 'L' bill. This is not another quarterly bill but for calls alone. I called them and received a call back from a manager named Sharon and she stated that it was in my service agreement that they first sent back to me in Feb 07. I have the service agreement and no where does it state that they will be sending me an 'L' bill if I exceed my calls.

I think they are awful and I refuse to pay until my quarterly bill arrives. I strongly recommend to people find another alternative to BT. They are a waste of time and their call centres aren't even in the UK. I am constantly transfered overseas.

I wish you the best of luck and to everyone else on this board.

Wendy  says:
18 months ago

Reassuring to find that I'm not the only one that BT treats this way!

I had BT for 4 months with few problems untill I moved house. I moved from a remote village, to the center of a city. BT eventually came an installed my line (After not turning up when they said they would twice). My phone line eventually worked, but by broadband did not. Several hours of calls later (the usual, on hold, cut off etc) I was told they couldn't provide broadband where I lived.

They then told me that not only would I have to pay for the remainder of the contract, but that they had acidentally opened a new account when I moved house so I would have to pay a full 12 month contract for services I cannot receive, as well as £125 for line installation!

Needless to say I was less than happy. This has been ongoing since October 12th and as yet is unresolved. I phone BT on a daily basis, repeat the same story to a different person every time. I am pased to various different department, cut off and await return calls that never come.

After reading some of the comments here I will now be sending an email to BT chairman. It can't do any harm! Wil let you all know how I get on...

ANDY9466  says:
18 months ago

bt 8mb broadband is sh@t, every day at 1 pm they start to throttle the broadband speed and carry on doing so every 30 mins. till around 4pm then its at its lowest and will stay that way until after midnight! you will never get 8mb, Im only 1 mile from exchange and struggle to get 4mb (at 4am in the morning). im downloading a song at the moment(11pm) and can only reach 3.2kbs. I just ran seven different speedtests and the results are less than dial-up!I have complained to bt several times and gone through their "script"including removing the front off my bt socket and plugging directly into the test socket and monitoring the speeds for 14 days!!.Im now looking for a cable isp as im so f@@cked off with bt!

Lizzy  says:
18 months ago

Having moaned on this blog 5 days ago about the appalling service and ongoing concerns regards my account, I thought its only right and fair to update and perhaps offer a glimmer of hope to the many others that suffer at the hands of BT !!

After only 2 written complaints I did in fact receive a call (yes they called me) . Not only did I receive a call but I also received an apology and a promise of a full refund following charges imposed on services never ordred, and Yes all of this happnened before the complaint was even sent to the chairman or ofcom!

Accountability was the last thing I thought I would see considering the problems I have had and I am still agahast that it has been resolved so promptly.

So there you go, dont despair, they may be some hope of a resolution for others caught in the BT communications black hole..............perhaps the complaints dept have started reading this blog !!!!!

Peter Edelsten  says:
18 months ago

I emailed complaints@btbroadbandoffice.com and received the response ...

"Thank you for contacting BT Business Help and Support team. Your message has been received. Your incident number is 080107-000991 ... This is an automatically-generated email. Unfortunately this mailbox does not accept incoming messages."

I sent another complaint complaining that if the email address does not receive emails why did it respond?

Has anyone ever received a response from their complaints email address?

Selina Evans  says:
18 months ago

I am one of several business people in my area who have had exceptional poor service from Bt, my case ssems to be extreme, and no one at Bt seems to be interested in puting things right. I have done everything from write to Sir Christopher Bland, the Chairman, to get a response almost a month later from someone else who hadn't actually read my letter or knew anything about my problems! Every department is a complete joke.

Sir Christopher Bland

Chairman.

British Telecom plc.

BT Centre

81 Newgate Street

London

EC1A 7AJ.

30th July 2007

Dear Sir Bland,

I am forwarding this letter of complaint for your personal attention regarding my experiences with British Telecom as a business user. My complaint centres around problems experienced with these main numbers listed above and also all other associated telephone numbers under these accounts. So far, my loss of earnings and costs to my company are approximately £36,000 I am having full quotes, accounts etc drawn up and see this figure rising and am not happy with the responses of the people in the chairman’s office or any of your staff to date.

I have tried dealing with practically every department in BT and found them all to be inconsistent, one department doesn’t seem to know what’s happening in another, all seem pretty good at telling you that you need to deal with someone else. I say this with the exception of two members of staff whom I have taken the contact details of who were excellent, honest, straight to the point, easy to deal with, (spoke clear English which is a good start for a telecommunications company one would think) and should in my opinion be promoted, you’d have a better business.

April 17th 2007: I placed an order with BT for two feature lines to be installed at ************ These lines cost £50 connection per line and a rental charge of £40.95 per quarter plus £112 per line per quarter as I wanted a diversion from two numbers at our main site as BT seemed to think they couldn’t move the numbers to the new address we would pay for a divert on 01952 272627 and 01952 272744. The date of installation would be Monday 21st May, over a month away, plenty of time to get it sorted having heard nightmare stories about other companies in my building having problems moving due to BT. I explained we had to be out of the building then as I’d given notice to the council who were demolishing the building.

Monday 14th May. Lots of messages from clients and candidates complaining main phone line dead, was not in office, and seemed back on when I checked the following day.

Friday 18th May. During the afternoon, I received a phone call from BT regarding my installation on Monday morning. They would not be able to install feature lines. I explained that I placed the order over a month ago, and with no working days in between notification and installation, it was a bit late for me to look into service provision from anyone else or to see what I could do as we’d already started relocating the office. I asked the person to at least offer me an alternative. I was told, we can either cancel the order altogether, or fit two standard lines. I replied well I have no choice in this mater do I so that will have to be it, fit two lines, I need phone lines, my whole business is conducted via the telephone and internet so I need something and to keep my numbers on. I was then told the standard lines cost more than double the price of the feature lines to which I was accustomed to using and had been promised, I argued the point it isn’t my fault you’ve taken a month to do this to me I am not paying for them, to which effect I received a call from someone in an overseas call centre later that afternoon to tell me the cost would be waived, having had to explain the whole problem to her again.

Monday 21st May 2007. Installation day. Waited at ****** for BT engineers to arrive, had a phone call late morning to say they were running late and would come in the afternoon. Waited, waited, had a phone call in afternoon to say they weren’t coming and my number was ‘with planning’. I was livid having taken a day off to ensure this went smoothly, having half the office piled high in stacker boxes until after the engineers visit to organise the office. Left ****** to go to our main office at *******where at 4pm I found all our phone lines had been cut off. I contacted BT to explain they seemed to have made some mistake, hadn’t turned up at secondary location and switched all lines off at main site. Within 10minutes the problem was rectified and all lines were switched back on, lots of angry calls from clients and candidates complaining they could not get through. Called BT to ask when they were going to resolve the installation problem, they said they’d get back to me in a few days.

Tuesday 22nd May. Out of office all day. Thought diversion on line to company mobile very quite, very unusual.

Wednesday 23rd May. Phone lines in office off, rang BT to complain and discuss problems regarding installation. Lots more angry messages via email from Clients and candidates getting fed up of this lack of communication with us recently. Asked BT to at least switch Main number back on 01952 272627, the number by which we are known and everyone contacts us. Was called back in afternoon to say someone would be out to install lines tomorrow and would sort issue of main line out once installation had been done. Other lines seemed to be working. Was due at Retail Consultancies Forum at hotel in London, cancelled to ensure BT installation tomorrow goes ahead with no problems.

Thursday 24th May. Waited at ****** all day having cancelled Retail Consultancies Forum for BT. BT failed to turn up. Called them and was told first of all they knew nothing about a call to say they would be there. Then was told later the job only came through after 4pm today so they couldn’t get out today but would be along tomorrow. Sent out apologies to clients and candidates, in particular new client in London, big new account, very embarrassed explained problem would definitely be rectified tomorrow and they could call my mobile in the meantime. Lots more emails complaining.

Friday 25th May. BT turned up a promised. Did not come to the house itself, someone told me they were digging up the lane and the drive so I spoke to them and one came and knocked the door when I was promised they would definitely have my lines in and on by end of the day. The BT van disappeared in the afternoon with no word to me. I thought initially they may have gone up the lane to do some work or gone to have a break and will be back, by 6.pm that evening I gathered they weren’t coming back. My main business line is still off, a dead tone to callers.

Saturday 26th May. I telephoned BT this morning to see what happened yesterday and when they intend on coming back, will they be arriving on Monday, my line is dead, it will be a Bank Holiday and myself and my clients do still work on Bank Holidays in retail. I am told they are scheduled to return on the 6th of June! I complained that who ever went out to a job, left half way through without telling the customer and thinks its ok to return 12 days later (without telling the customer), in the meantime my line is still off and as I was promised it would be switched on when they installed my lines I demand as it’s going to take so long it be put on now. There seems to be a problem as usual and I am told by Marilyn at BT that she will call me b

vrs  says:
18 months ago

I have had so many problems with Bt it's unbelievable. They have almost put me out of business and so far are doing nothing to address this. Today was the final straw, having filed a court case against them which they did not defend, the judge filing against them, when I called to chase for payment...well, read my lettersto the chairman, and now the Chief Executive to get soje background to this thing...

Sir Christopher Bland

Chairman.

British Telecom plc.

BT Centre

81 Newgate Street

London

EC1A 7AJ.

30th July 2007

Dear Sir Bland,

RE: 01952 ****27, 01952 ****44, 01952 ****30, 01952 ****72, 01952 ****75 and all associated telephone numbers.

I am forwarding this letter of complaint for your personal attention regarding my experiences with British Telecom as a business user. My complaint centres around problems experienced with these main numbers listed above and also all other associated telephone numbers under these accounts. So far, my loss of earnings and costs to my company are approximately £36,000 I am having full quotes, accounts etc drawn up and see this figure rising and am not happy with the responses of the people in the chairman’s office or any of your staff to date.

I have tried dealing with practically every department in BT and found them all to be inconsistent, one department doesn’t seem to know what’s happening in another, all seem pretty good at telling you that you need to deal with someone else. I say this with the exception of two members of staff whom I have taken the contact details of who were excellent, honest, straight to the point, easy to deal with, (spoke clear English which is a good start for a telecommunications company one would think) and should in my opinion be promoted, you’d have a better business.

April 17th 2007: I placed an order with BT for two feature lines to be installed at *****************. These lines cost £50 connection per line and a rental charge of £40.95 per quarter plus £112 per line per quarter as I wanted a diversion from two numbers at our main site as BT seemed to think they couldn’t move the numbers to the new address we would pay for a divert on 01952 ****27 and 01952 ****44. The date of installation would be Monday 21st May, over a month away, plenty of time to get it sorted having heard nightmare stories about other companies in my building having problems moving due to BT. I explained we had to be out of the building then as I’d given notice to the council who were demolishing the building.

Monday 14th May. Lots of messages from clients and candidates complaining main phone line dead, was not in office, and seemed back on when I checked the following day.

Friday 18th May. During the afternoon, I received a phone call from BT regarding my installation on Monday morning. They would not be able to install feature lines. I explained that I placed the order over a month ago, and with no working days in between notification and installation, it was a bit late for me to look into service provision from anyone else or to see what I could do as we’d already started relocating the office. I asked the person to at least offer me an alternative. I was told, we can either cancel the order altogether, or fit two standard lines. I replied well I have no choice in this mater do I so that will have to be it, fit two lines, I need phone lines, my whole business is conducted via the telephone and internet so I need something and to keep my numbers on. I was then told the standard lines cost more than double the price of the feature lines to which I was accustomed to using and had been promised, I argued the point it isn’t my fault you’ve taken a month to do this to me I am not paying for them, to which effect I received a call from someone in an overseas call centre later that afternoon to tell me the cost would be waived, having had to explain the whole problem to her again.

Monday 21st May 2007. Installation day. Waited at ********** for BT engineers to arrive, had a phone call late morning to say they were running late and would come in the afternoon. Waited, waited, had a phone call in afternoon to say they weren’t coming and my number was ‘with planning’. I was livid having taken a day off to ensure this went smoothly, having half the office piled high in stacker boxes until after the engineers visit to organise the office. Left ********* to go to our main office at ********* where at 4pm I found all our phone lines had been cut off. I contacted BT to explain they seemed to have made some mistake, hadn’t turned up at secondary location and switched all lines off at main site. Within 10minutes the problem was rectified and all lines were switched back on, lots of angry calls from clients and candidates complaining they could not get through. Called BT to ask when they were going to resolve the installation problem, they said they’d get back to me in a few days.

Tuesday 22nd May. Out of office all day. Thought diversion on line to company mobile very quite, very unusual.

Wednesday 23rd May. Phone lines in office off, rang BT to complain and discuss problems regarding installation. Lots more angry messages via email from Clients and candidates getting fed up of this lack of communication with us recently. Asked BT to at least switch Main number back on 01952 ****27, the number by which we are known and everyone contacts us. Was called back in afternoon to say someone would be out to install lines tomorrow and would sort issue of main line out once installation had been done. Other lines seemed to be working. Was due at Retail Consultancies Forum at hotel in London, cancelled to ensure BT installation tomorrow goes ahead with no problems.

Thursday 24th May. Waited at **********all day having cancelled Retail Consultancies Forum for BT. BT failed to turn up. Called them and was told first of all they knew nothing about a call to say they would be there. Then was told later the job only came through after 4pm today so they couldn’t get out today but would be along tomorrow. Sent out apologies to clients and candidates, in particular new client in London, big new account, very embarrassed explained problem would definitely be rectified tomorrow and they could call my mobile in the meantime. Lots more emails complaining.

Friday 25th May. BT turned up a promised. Did not come to the house itself, someone told me they were digging up the lane and the drive so I spoke to them and one came and knocked the door when I was promised they would definitely have my lines in and on by end of the day. The BT van disappeared in the afternoon with no word to me. I thought initially they may have gone up the lane to do some work or gone to have a break and will be back, by 6.pm that evening I gathered they weren’t coming back. My main business line is still off, a dead tone to callers.

Saturday 26th May. I telephoned BT this morning to see what happened yesterday and when they intend on coming back, will they be arriving on Monday, my line is dead, it will be a Bank Holiday and myself and my clients do still work on Bank Holidays in retail. I am told they are scheduled to return on the 6th of June! I complained that who ever went out to a job, left half way through without telling the customer and thinks its ok to return 12 days later (without telling the customer), in the meantime my line is still off and as I was promised it would be switched on when they installed my lines I demand as it’s going to ta

BARBARA MCINTYRE  says:
18 months ago

I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO CONTACT BT FOR SEVERAL MONTHS RE. BROADBAND. I HAVE BEEN PAYING FOR THIS SINCE MAY 07 BUT CANNOT GET CONNECTED. ITS A WASTE OF TIME PHONING AS I CANNOT GET THROUGH THE SYSTEM. I PHONED 3 DAYS AGO & WAS TOLD BY THE TELEPHONE VOICE THAT IF I PRESSED RING BACKI WOULD BE PHONED BACK IN 1 HOUR - WHICH OF COURSE DID NOT HAPPEN. I JUST WANT TO CONTACT BT & GET BROADBANK UP & RUNNING. 01387 265919 (barbaramcintyre@nhs.net)

Janice  says:
18 months ago

Just wanted to say well done for being pro active. My only complaint about bt are the charges for of £4 50 for those who choose to pay manually and the working days & notice given to pay it! I sent them an email to ask when the next bill would be coming over 2008 to avoid going on holiday!! as then they slap on additional charges for late payment. But then thats been well covered in the Guardian moneys and ofcom simply arent interested in the plight of customers.

Alex Mason  says:
18 months ago

In July, I moved to a new apartment. BT are the only telephone company who supply here, so I had no choice but to go to them. I spent a fortune on my mobile phone trying to get through to them. I was on hold for over two hours several times, and one day, after being on hold since 7:50pm, I was cut off at 9:55pm, with a recorded message saying that they were now closed! Eventually one day I got through to them, but the woman I got was rude and also quite stupid. She kept asking me over and over again for the same information, and wasn't at all bothered when I told her about the bill I was acrrueing for the call on my mobile phone. I was halfway through giving her my bank details, when she cut me off, after spending half the call fiddling with her headset.

I called back and after only an hour on hold, I got through to a man. I informed him about the previous call and gave him the account number, but he told me that he couldn't access it, because there were two different computer systems for residential customers, and each call centre only had access to one of these! He said that at the end of the call, he would call the other call centre and completely cancel the other account, so I reluctantly agreed to start the process all over again. I was given a new account number with different letters at the start of it. Bizarrely, he only wanted a £25 deposit this time 'as insurance I would pay my bills as I was a new customer', even though the previous woman had taken a

Alex Mason  says:
18 months ago

Regarding the £4.50 payment processing charge, I have not come across any other company which charge it. However, I think I know exactly why they do. They realise that many customers avoid paying BT by direct debit, because the risk of BT stealing money out of their bank account for telephone lines which they have not installed, or for packages which the customer is not on, is so likely. So they came up with the £4.50 fee idea as a way of financially benefiting from this, which is disgraceful. I have had nothing but problems with BT. Their customer service is diabolical, most of their staff are incompetent across all departments, and the computer systems are obviously not adequate. I am sick to death of them, and once I get my money back, I am never dealing with them again. By the way, for customers who can't get Virgin Media, if you become a Sky TV customer, you can also get Broadband, and pay both your telephone line rental and for your telephone calls through them, removing BT from the picture completely. Sky Broadband is free for 2mb, £5 for 8mb and £10 for 16mb. The broadband helpdesk, in my experience, is not like BT's. They are polite, and they don't cut you off because they are too incompetent to help you with your problem, which is what BT tend to do. Sky Talk is not costing me much either. I pay £5 a month for free calls to landlines round the clock, and I think I get free calls to USA, Australia and Canada thrown in. My line rental is £10.00 per month. No more BT. Hurrah. And you can get hold of Sky 24 hours a day and their customer service is good quality. You might be on hold for 40 minutes, but that is very rare; I am usually on hold for an average of 10 minutes, to BT'S two hours! I recommend Sky over BT any day.

Sharmilla Kampfer  says:
18 months ago

My phone has recently ceased working. I get no incoming calls and even though I can dial out the line is so scratchy I can't hear anything and have to terminate the call. This had gone on over a week

I called the BT fault line and was told by a recording that due to high volume they cannot receive any calls. I emailed them to which I eventually got a reply.

In the reply I was told the fault was raised with engineers but that I better make sure the fault is the line and not my phone because if it IS my phone the engineer will charge me A MINIMUM OF £99 plus VAT.

This is extortion!!!!!!!!!!! I worked at a telecommunications company in another country and as far as I know it is the telecommunications supplier's job to identify why you are not getting a phone service. This is what we pay them for!!!!!!!!!!! You don't get charged for a qualified person to figure out what is wrong!!!!!!!!!! I am completely fed up with the highway robbery that goes on in this country!!!!!!!

Richard H  says:
17 months ago

Hope you can bear with me on this story. Moved into rented accomodation and was forced to deal with BT to reconnect phone for a charge of GBP 130 or so. Despite fact phone line was there. Told them at the time I would be moving to Talk Talk as soon as it was reconnected however they confirmed I would be able to pay this by Direct Debit.

Without any notice they promptly cancelled my direct debit and demanded full payment just after Christmas. After hours of waiting I managed to get through to someone and agreed I could pay over three instalments.

This morning I get a letter telling me they will be taking me to court if I do not pay. I called the number on the letter which led me to an Indian call centre but they could not help me and gave me another number to queue up in. This turned out to be the wrong number and I am queuing yet again.

And as a footnote been on the Ofcom site to complain but they have no facility to leave an email. Why not.

Viva the revolution we should not have to put up with such poor service.

elCesar  says:
17 months ago

BT is th worst company, how can they get away with extorsionate cancellation fees? According to them their fees are clear when you sign in, to me it was first news when I called to cancel their phone service due to their poor service. BT sucks!

Bob  says:
17 months ago

An update to my earlier post, if only to be courteous and fair.

That email address works! Within an hour, I recieved a response and a couple of days later, a call from Jason Campbell, who promptly resolved the somewhat over-complicated cumulative and complicated issues that arose from ineptitude in the overseas Customer Services and local Sales Departments.

He did so with courtesy with a level of professionalism that we expect. I openly commend him for his efforts.

mrs g cooper  says:
17 months ago

I cant believe how bad B.T customer services are.I've had an ongoing problem coming up for 3 months now.Back in October i noticed that i had 28 international calls showing against my number so called to say there must be a mistake as i havent and dont make internetional calls.After speaking to 4 different people, being past to one dept to another, being put on hold then cut off. I called back went through the same rigmarole i was told to call back on the 16 Dec as that was when my bill was due.SO i called back again i explained I DID NOT MAKE THESE CALLS nor did anyone in my home.I also explained that some of the dates that calls were made we were on holiday and the house was locked and secure and no-one had access to my home.I asked for a block to be put on all internetional calls which was done.After a few weeks i checked my online billing again and guess what THERES STILL INTERNETIONAL CALLS SHOWING AGAINST MY NUMBER.I called B.T and was told that the calls are coming from inside the house again i said NO THEY ARE NOT as i have a block in place.I was asked if i had children as they probably made the calls so that means when we were all on holiday my 11 year must have took a 4 hour plane journey back to the uk, drove from the airport to our home, deactivated the house alarm, plugged everything in, made phone calls then done the return journey. STRANGE.Today i got a call from an engineer asking loads of questions.I felt as if he was trying to catch me out i was furious. Then the icing on the cake came from someone from the investigation team who said i have international calls showing against my number and the investigation was now complete BUT as a good will gesture they will credit my bill by £20. WOW.Still hasnt solved the problem as even though a block is in place international calls are still showing against my number.I would love to hear from anyone with the same problem.

PaperShuffler  says:
17 months ago

I have an ongoing problem with BT that started in January 07 with the installation of broadband. Firstly the equipment failed shortly into the contract. However after some small problem an oprative agreed to replace the hub but this would constitute a new contract being started. I pointed out that in fact this was in breach of the law to no avail and indeed received the new hub.

Following this I was contacted to adopt paper free billing, good idea thought I. Not.

After being contacted by email to inform me i could view my email bill on line i tried to do so. Guess what I could not.

After many attempts and emails to resolve the issue and an automated call to inform me I had also been hit with a late payment charge, I exploded.

Eventually after being in contact with BT the techs admitted they could not understand why it did not work and the solution was to discontinue this service to me.

I was then chased for payment and services curtailed despite never receiving a bill.

When I did eventually convince BT to send me a bill it was totally incorrect. Despite promises late payment charges were still showing, international call incorrectly billed and so on.

I have even requested to terminate the service but it seem even this cannot be done.

I have been in contact with India Ireland and the UK in an effort to resolve this matter.

Countless phone calls and i guess in excess of 90 emails sent, all to no avail.

The straw's that have broken the camels back are;

I contacted BT to request information so that I could email the Complaint Review Service in Durham with both a copy of all the emails and other information. (I could not print them all off and send them by post as I am sure it would go against BT's attempts at reducing the use of paper)

The call was answered by a very nice lady at an indian call centre who told me such a service did not exist, i pointed out that it did and confirmed I had the address but reqiuired an email address due to the quantity of information I needed to send.

RESULT she terminated the call.

I followed this up today by calling the number listed for the complaint review service. I was informed by a guy called Dave that I needed to outline the issues of the complaint so he could forward me to the correct dept. He pointed out that they were in fact just like the indian call centres and only forwarded information.

OK WHAT MUST I DO

Phone 0800 085 6161 they will be able to help.

At Last thinks I, maybe just maybe light at the end of the tunnel.

Not so having gone through the usual automated rubbish the call is terminated with a redirection to

Guess Where?

150

back to the very start one year later.

I have requested meetings have asked for advice I cannot talk to one single human who understands the issues.

HOW IN GODS NAME DO I RESOLVE THIS?

If anyone can forward me an email address for the Complaint review service that would be fantastic.

But if you can dont try emailing afterwards for a day or two. My email will block the system for ages.

Pete Flannery  says:
17 months ago

I recently changed my bank account; by new bank informed BT of the new Direct Debit details; BT send me 2 separate (but identical) confirmation letters with my new details included (for me to check for accuracy). 2 months later my bank informs me that BT have yet to take their payment; my bank phoned and BT said everything was fine, it did not matter that the bank said all was not well. The bank then suggested I telephone. After waiting for 50 minutes and then being cut off, I had to wait another 45 minutes to be put through. I then relayed the details to the call centre; they then confirmed that I had not set up a direct debit; I said that I was in receipt of 2 identical letters saying that I had set the debit up. They were very insistant that I had not, I then mentioned the banks intervention to which I was told that they had no records of such a call - ho hum. All of this so that I can actually give BT money, it was enough to make me weep. They then said (after setting up the debit) was I happy with the service BT offer? I warned the call centre person that this was not personal and then had a rant (the answer was therefrore no). I have great difficulty with BT who seem to think that a blizzard of (crap) advertising will hide the fact that the BT brand is a pile of Shi*, and they always increase this cobblers when they increase their charges. Their current run of advertising on the TV trying to sell their product as a lifestyle choice in the so called 'noughties' (recently divorced with kids) simply makes me nauseous. Oh and by the way should you get through to a call centre abroad do not expect your problem to be understood any time soon. BT truly are a despicable brand and I can just picture the meetings that they have (probably every Monday) where at least one of the thrusting management nobs must come up with a way to fleece the customers and then make it look as though they are giving us something. Once the meeting is over watch them laugh into their Starbucks (and then be thankful that they still have a job).

bert wilson  says:
17 months ago

I've been reading all this shite on here about BT being a monopoly on lines.

last year BT divided into distinct and seperate businesses, BT retail and Openreach.

BT retail provide phone and broadband services to the general public.

Openreach provide line rental and adsl services to Telephone providers like Talk Talk, Sky, Bulldog AND BT Retail who then sell them onto the general public. all treated to the same terms and conditions so that there is fair competition available.

However this seems to gone totallly up shit creek.

BT retail can connect a line if you take out a 12 month contract for services with them. they will place the order with Openreach to connect the line and BT retail will pay rental to Openreach for the privilige.

Now that there should be fair competition between all the different phone providers ANY company should be able to do the same!

HOWEVER try asking Talk Talk or Sky to connect up a line for you and they will tell you to get "BT" to connect the line first. this is BULLSHIT!

now that ofcom have agreed these competition rules (the reason Openreach was created) there is Nothing to stop other phone providers placing an order with Openreach for you, it will cost them though as openreach will charge Talk Talk or SKy the same price as they would charge BT retail as there is NO LONGER a monopoly on phone lines.

Phone companies like talk talk or sky for example would rather NOT be paying Openreach to connect a line so take the easy way out and expect BT retail to pay Openreach as it costs far less to takeover and existing BT retail provided line that a line that is not connected.

SO next time you are hit with a bill for connecting then cancelling a BT retail service because you only wanted the line to get another provider I'd be right on to the new provider asking them why you had to go to a competitor (BT retail) to get a line connected when under the new rules as laid down by ofcom they could have done it themselves.

If I want to buy my shopping out of tesco they dont tell me to go to asda first to get a shopping trolley! other companies are using BT Retail to get out of paying the going rate to Openreach for services they want to provide.

Susan Hedges  says:
17 months ago

I thought that I would just add a few comments of my own against BT Broadband. I am so angry, which isn't like me at all.

I have had a problem with broadband for a week. I rang on 1st February 2008 to the technical support people. They fluffed about for 2 and half hours, couldn't find anything wrong with my computer. I repeatedly told them that it was not my computer, has I have another three in the house, with which I also couldn't access broadband. This seemed to rile them,mainly because I think that they knew that I knew something about the solutions they were trying and had tried.

Anyway after this they said they would get someone to ring back. Off course, they didn't. I rang again, repeated yet again my problem. They insisted that they tried again, for another 2 hours. I had now spoken on an 0845 number for 4-5 hours. They still didn't resovle the problem.

I asked neighbours if they had braodband, of ocurse they hadn't, their system was down as well. They had also been trying to get an answer to the prblem.

I rang aagin on Saturday, this time I spoke to someone who mentioned that their was fault in certain areas but thought that my area had been cleared. So he tried the system, yet again, no luck. This was another one and half horus wasted. Soemone would get back to me. THEY DID NOT.

I rang, yet again, on Monday, I could face Sunday, so I didn;t bother. Hoping that someone somewhere would plug in something!!!!!! NO SUCH LUCK. Monday, yet again, another two hours on the phone, PLEASE BEAR IN MIND THESE WERE NOT FREE CALLS. Same process again.

Tuesday, yet again, I ring. This time I was not calm and pleasant, they again tried everything, they are no help at all. They do not want to listen to you, either they couldn't hear me, or I couldn't tell what they were saying. Anyway, after all this time, I sugegsted that I wanted to speak to someone else about cancelling my broadband. That didn't work, they cut me off. Rang back, had to go through all the stupid questions again, on the threat that if I didn't they would hang up. Still no joy.

Finally, I said that they should check the exchange in the next village to me, because other houses on the road, still hadn't got their broadband. They said they would ring me back, once again, they didn't, ha, ha ,ha.

Well would you believe it, Wednesday morning it was up and working, and this being Thursday, it is still going strong.

Maybe they finally flicked the switch.

I was fuming stil though, because I didn't see why I should have to stand the cost of the telephone hours I had spent trying to

Mick O'sullivan  says:
17 months ago

I cancelled all my BT services in October 2007 & they were duly disconected on 17th November 2007. One months notice as required. Since then I have had many demands for payments from Bt despite my account fully settled. They are now demanding payment for broadband & their latest letter saying that my bt broadband is suspended on JAN 25th 2008. I have written a complaint to BT sent by signed for delivery on 24th Jan 2008. This letter came back to me to-day, BT would not even SIGN FOR IT! They are now threatening legal action for money they are not owed. WASTE of time ringing BT. They Just give the runaround.

Lucy Jopling  says:
17 months ago

I have moved into a house of my own for the first time in May, I joined BT for my line rental. The first time I spoke to them, they couldn't even get the right eara code. They gave me the wrong number, they said they needed my bank details and would ring me back with the right number. I have had nothing but trouble from BT, I have been billed for 6 months for someone else's bill. As well as my own! I have called them 6 times, the first few times they said they would close the account and give me my money back. We live on a low income, at Christmas my 10 month old daughter had to with out because they took

the last of my money. I have since got my solicitors to write to them as they are taking money that isn't theres. The last time I called them (Safe to say I was very upset!) they pretty much said it was fault they messed up I have just got a letter from them this morning, to comfirm the cancellation on my direct debit, to the account that isn't even mine! Now they are telling me I will receive quarterly invoices in the future. They would like to draw my attention to the £11.00 presently outstanding on the account THAT ISN'T MINE! If I do not pay it immediately this could result in my telephone service being restricted without further notice! Are they kidding me?! NO, taking the piss is what they are doing!

It's bad enough that we have to put up with their mistakes which cost us money, let alone them being rude to us over the phone and not having any idea what there jobs are.

J. Pep1inski  says:
17 months ago

I have been exchanging emails with BT regularly. While they admit fault with my complaint, they do nothing to make ammends. Here is my initial email:

> 124.99 on Nov 13 for "New Charges for exchange line Standard Connection". > What does this mean? I was at no time advised that I would be charged this> fee.> > We were visited by a technician, who told us that there was no charge for> his visit, and that his visit was totally unnecessary, as it was only a> phone number swap. We were told that his supervisors seemed to be unable> to appreciate that. > > I have attempted to contact BT via the helpline, with no luck. I have held> for 90 minutes, 40 minutes, 25 minutes, and again for 20 minutes. How can> you explain this? It is purely ridiculous that the "phone company" is> unable to handle its calls. > > As a new customer to BT, my initial impressions are poor.

James Fair  says:
17 months ago

My complaint has rattled on for months regarding their useless BT Fusion package, but has turned into a giant illustration as to their incompetence on a grander scale. Put simply, they couldn't arrange a simple collection of their dodgy products so they have tried to trump up contract cancellation charges and referred me to creditors, despite there being a dialogue with their complaints team in place. It is hideously farcical. I've spent numerous HOURS on phone lines and had soppy emails that never result in any action. They really are the worse provider around.

Gulshan Rafiq-Williams  says:
17 months ago

Right form the start I have had problems with BT. Thought ending my contract with Virgin was a good idea, now come to think of it WHY THE HELL DID I DO IT. At least with virgin you got what they offered and no hidden charges. I joined BT in Aug 07. The problems started before I even received the products. BT had set me up on 2 reference numbers I only asked for one account to be set up and this was the Option 3 with the black unlimited Hub. One account was set up on a separate line rental that charged me for calls & the other ref number for the actual product that I went for. I was offered the caller ID which was not activated till 3 months after. I then tried to make a complaint via phone and this is the stress it caused me. Complaint Email:- on the 07/10/07 To the Customer Services Manager I would like to bring to your attention the experiences I have been through whilst trying to set up an account with BT. On the 16th August I rang to get my line activated with BT and to order option 3 package. My 1st call was made at around 11 am and I was on hold for 45 mins then to be told that I needed my phone number from customer care to complete the order. So I rang customer care was on hold for 25mins, long but acceptable. Once I was given my number I got put through to BT Broadband to make the order. After being on hold for further 1 and half hours, I got put through to someone who said "I am sorry the system is down, I???ll put you through to my colleague". I was waiting a further 45mins and got put through to an Indian lady who could not understand me. I asked if she could hold so I could get the address where to send the hub to, she said yes, came back and she put the phone down on me. That really annoyed me as I spent my whole afternoon chasing BT advisors to sort my package out. I decided to ring customer care to make a complaint and asked to speak to a supervisor. I was told that a supervisor cannot come to the phone and was asked to go back to option 3. I then said to her I want to speak with your manager and when the manager came on the phone he did not listen to my complaint, was very rude and said I had to go back to option 3 to raise my grievances. I then decided to give up and write you a letter. I am disappointed in the service I have received thus far from BT. I had anticipated a vast improvement from my previous provided Virgin, however I???m sorry to say there is very little separating you both at this point. As I am not in a contract with you for 18 months I do hope that your service will vastly improve in order to make me stay on as a customer although at this point it is very unlikely. Please feedback to your customer service manager that the current process for new customers is substandard and a long way away from achieving World class customer service. I would like assurances that issues with your transfer processes are being addressed and that your escalation process aims to resolve a customers query not antagonise the situation and leave issues unresolved. The response I got back did not resolve my query so I wrote another email, till this date has never been resolved and its over the 12 weeks complaint period. NO ONE HAS GOT BACK TO ME, and their still charging me for 2 accounts and internet usage?????? Then I received a bill including admin charge…. This puzzled me as I thought I had the one account, was not aware of 2 accounts. This prompted me to make them a call as I was getting so angry and upset about this. Spoke to a member of staff who said that he has sorted this out????? Till this date I am still paying for 2 accounts. I don’t think this is fair…. I want compensation for all the stress and wasting time this has cased us. BT are rubbish the worse provider to be with. I cannot wait to leave their service. And THERE’S A LOT MORE, IT DOES NOT END HERE.…..Any ideas on what we can do???

Vickee  says:
17 months ago

Hi! I have had various problems with BT over the last 6 months. Its all started when we were going to move ove to TalkTalk, but decided not to. We made BT and TalkTalk aware of this, yet BT still allowed TalkTalk to take over our phone line without telling us. Our phone line then got cancelled, then our broadband went down, and it took about 4-6 weeks to get them set back up. During this time, we ordered BTVision, which had to be ordered 3 times before we finally got it delivered. After our phone and broadband began working, we started recieving bills which were not ours (BT had compensated us about £130 after the troubles previously). These bills were for telphone numbers we didn't have, and area codes I've never heard of! We were also getting letters from debt recovery agencies. When calling BT to ask them to cancel this debt, they seem to have cancelled our phone lines (again!) and now we have no phone or broadband, and our BTVision has gone down as well. We wrote to BT, asking them to respond and correct the problem within 14 days, or we would take legal action. We have now decided to move over to Sky, but don't want to risk phoning BT as we know we will end up wasting a couple of hours of our lives! I'm not really sure where I stand now - can only use the net at work, and really don't want to waste time on the phone... Does anyone have any idea if writing will work? Or if going down the legal route is a good idea? I've been told that going to the small claims courts can make a difference! Help!

Phil schofield  says:
17 months ago

How come BT charges extra for paying a bill by cheque at the post office, this is nothing more than blackmail and intimidation, trying to get customers to sign up to a direct debit. Its about time something was done about this disgusting practice, letting another provider supply an identical service. It can't come soon enough for me.

susan  says:
17 months ago

First off, for anyone having problems with BT and who is in a cable area, I wholeheartedly recommend Virgin Media. After 18 days of getting nowhere with BT in our quest to take over the phone line in a flat we've moved in to, we called Virgin Media on Monday 18th Feb to see how fast we could get connected. Today (Wed 20th) an engineer came to check our cable connection, which apparently hasn't been used for a few years. The set-top box and modem arrived a few hours later. We plugged everything in, made an activation call to a freephone number. We are now set up with a phone, fast internet and TV.

Best of all, we will never have to deal with BT again (for as long as we're here anyway - I hope).

My partner and I moved in to a new flat on 1st Feb. I called BT to have the phone line put into our name. Took half an hour on the phone but all seemed to go well. "That's it done," said the BT guy "call your mobile when you move in on the 1st and get your number."

Ten days later, we thought everything was fine until we tried to set up broadband and were told by BT Wholesale that the phone line hadn't been transferred into our name after all (we were making calls on the previous resident's bill - hoorah). The line was then stopped so we had no landline.

Were promised activation would happen on the 14th. It didn't. Then the 18th. It didn't. Hours wasted on the phone to customer services. False promises. Lies. Continuous transfers to other departments. Blame aportioned to Openreach (subsidary of BT Group - think the engineers are employed by them). Similar story to those which people have been telling on this blog. Don't have the energy to elaborate on the details.

We had to cancel a broadband order we'd placed with an ADSL provider. So they have lost out due to BT's incompetence. Doesn't say much for competition, but it's good news for Virgin Media - especially if they keep playing their cards right.

When I called BT today to tell them to cancel our request for an account, I felt elated, but the mere act of calling them again sent my blood pressure right up... :)

good work on this blog.I had exactly the same idea to gather in complaints and present them in a oner. Maybe you could film the great handover to BT (make the trip to HQ in person) once you've put them all together. I'll spread the word with others who i know have had huge problems getting new lines installed and suchlike (two of my immediate close friends).

In the meantime, go Virgin Media!!! And BT employees - I recommend you switch too.

Chris Goulding  says:
17 months ago

I originally left BT to join Carohone Warehouse several years ago (due to BTs extremely poor customer service), but have recently returned to BT as I needed a BT line to take up a new offer with AOL. Over the last few weeks I have discovered that nothing has changed.

I spent over 3 hours on the phone in 1 week attempting to sign up for BT Option 1 (line Rental only). I only want line rental as I have committed to a 24 month contract with AOL Talk Unlimitted as part of my Broadband Package.

Everytime I phoned BT I would be transferred numerous times and on every occasion was eventually cut-off. Of the 15 or so people I spoke to only 1 person appeared to know what they were doing. Out of frustration I then decided to sign up online. However, after completing the online form I found out I had signed up to BT Option 2 - Option 1 is not available to sign up for online.

As Carphone warehouse had put a ceas order on my telephone service I was advised by BT I would have to wait for my phone line to become inactive, then phone up BT to reconnect with a new number, I was also told my online order had not been processed and that there was no record of it.

My phone line never became inactive, but I did recieve an Email from Jacqui Kamara at BT asking me to cal 0800 800030 to arrange reconnection? I didn't call. Then I recieved a welcome letter for BT Option 2.

I have since been trying to contact Jillian G Lewis - the person whose name appears on the welcome letter. The welcome letter gives no reply address - very unprofessional - so I sent an Email to Jacqui Kamara asking for Jillian G Lewis' Email or postal address - however she is unable to help.

I'm no expert on communications but as BT are a telecommunications company I am amazed at how poor they are. Their operators are very unhelpful - and from experience useless. At my place of work we have Lotus Notes (not exactly cuttin edge software) but this allows me to find the contact details of anyone working for my company - something BT appear to be uncapable of.

I have registered 2 complaints now, both with no reply. It appears that I won't get anywhere trying to resolve this issue so I am now considering with-holding any payments now until BT agree to provide the service I want.

For now I will send both an Email and a written letter to Jillian G Lewis but I expect it will join her pile of unanswered letters.

How can BT survuve with such poor customer service - because their position is virtually uncontested. In a so called free market where competition is encouraged BT have been allowed to keep far too much control. It's about time OFtel stepped in and split BT up.

Kevin POTTS  says:
17 months ago

I Contacted BT after my line started showing lots of interferance and crackling. Strangely at the same time as I took on BT broadband. An engineer called and said that the line running under my tiles in the kitchen was damaged. I had no way of confirming or denying this as it was buried under the tiles. I hadn't had any previous problems with the line. Anyway.... The very helpful engineer said "Don't worry, I'll just run this external line along your skirting board and problem solved". My faith in BT restored. He took about 10 minutes, got the line working but severed the other line to my phone in the hallway (which I haven't bothered to complain about). i have now received my BT bill and have been invoiced £184.00 for his services. AT NO TIME DID HE SAY, I WOULD BE BILLED.... I have a telecommunications background and could have run the line myself if I'd have known that I would be billed. I then phoned BT in order to complaint, only to be told that their systems were down and phone back in 3 hours..... PLEASE HELP... AM I JUST NIAVE OR ARE BT TRYING TO FLEECE ME.

Mr H Sharda  says:
17 months ago

BT Stole my number

We had been with BT over 5 years, paid all bills on time with out fail.

Over six months ago while trying to call home found no one was answering, upon investigation found my home number had changed. Called BT, they advised the had sold it in error and there was nothing they could do now. Had been given a temporary number, which seemed to change every few weeks, always without notice. Have raised mulitle complaints, been on hold number of time for hours, and passed to every department there is.

Forced to take legal action now

Email: Hsharda@hotmail.co.uk

Jeremy Smallwood  says:
16 months ago

It takes a while... sorry. But we're not alone! I have recently been without telephone or internet connection for 20 days, due solely to the incompetence of BT. Please consider the following: Wednesday 6th February: nearby BT excavations began and my telephone connection promptly vanished. I was not pre-warned of any disruption, offered any apology, nor advised of possibility of line severance or of the expected duration of time-out. Good project management and demonstration of excellent customer relations, an unfortunate accident augmented by poor communication, or simply the limp beginnings of an exhibition of impressive and cavalier incompetence? (Read on...)Monday 11 February: fault reported as soon as discovered, when I returned home from a week away. Further communication from BT was then limited to automated updates and automated apologies... (How can an update be of any use if all it tells me is that there is ‘no further progress’? And where is the sincerity behind an automated apology?)The automated prompt suggested I went on-line for updates... this was particularly difficult as there was no line. BT may care to look at the logic involved in this statement. Monday 18th February, 13 days later. Out of mounting desperation, I trapped a passing BT engineer, explaining my predicament to the first contact with an actual person from BT. He confirmed a fault and suggested a colleague would arrive that afternoon. (But no one appeared.)Another technician visited the following day, reconfirming the fault and suggesting necessary installation of ducting for a replacement line. “I would be hearing from the excavators very soon... (I did not.)19th: Telephoned by BT: “Diggers will be with you 08.30 tomorrow, 20th”. 20th: Diggers (II) did arrive but only to tarmac another BT hole, nothing at all to do with my problem. Diggers (III) arrived later that day. Excitement steadily mounted... this team filled in gaps between the same paving stones that would have to be removed anyway by my ducting squad. (Synchronised industry is such a difficult concept to grasp...) Having waited in thrilling anticipation all day, I phoned BT at 15.20 for signs of detectable life. “Excavators should be out some time this afternoon, before 5pm...”I know this will come as a shock to BT, but would you believe nobody appeared? (Anyhow, all was not lost; it was yet another opportunity to spend contemplating the toothless plight of the poor British customer when set against the disinterested incompetence of a Multi-National dinosaur.) 21st February 08.00. i) An engineer arrived to complete cabling, but was powerless through incomplete duct-work, even though his records confirmed otherwise... ii) 08.10 this engineer left to speak with the excavation ‘organisation’ (sic). “I will phone when I have further news...” iii) 08.20 an automated voice called, telling me that this same engineer was now on his way to my house... (Magic.)10.00 return call, from same time-travelling engineer: “Contractors will probably do the duct work tomorrow”13.30 I rang BT for confirmation. Operative had no records of anything, but rang back after 5 minutes with: “I think they will be coming tomorrow...”I again phoned BT later that day:” Notes not yet up to date. No further information. Will ring back.” (But of course, no one did...)22 February 09.00. BT Fault Line was unable to update on anything, holding with irritating music for 13 minutes before I rang off in now-familiar frustration. (Round 1 to BT.) Operative II later assured me that “duct work will be completed today...”Yet another BT van and engineer arrived around 13.00 (#5 so far...) to finish the cabling through what, his records showed, was completed duct-work. (But of course there is no duct work...) Much phoning around before he left, with hopes of “something happening this afternoon”. (I believe BT is vaguely linked with communications? You’d never credit it, reading these chronicles of wasted time....) As he drove off, an automated text arrived telling me to expect his arrival. Matters were dangerously starting to get eerily similar to Dr Who... “Spooky BT conquers Time Travel”.... (Honestly: you just couldn’t make it up!) 14.30. My excitement was difficult to bear... The Duct Team had landed. Did the job. Left site in excellent order. Same universe.I phoned BT Fault Line at 16.00 for next stage advice. Operator would “Ring back in the next few minutes...”And guess what happened next, Tarquin? Yup... no-one called...(In case you’re dozing off, it is now the 18th day without a BT line.)23 February 09.10 update call to BT: “Work will take place anytime between now and 5pm on Monday 25th. The engineers may need access to your premises”. (So. I was now effectively under house arrest for the next three days, as the moment I left the place a shiny BT van was, by Sod’s Law, destined to arrive...) 09.50 I tried another operator on BT’s efficient help-line. “Please ring Monday morning for more information”.09.55; yet another operator, damply lurking somewhere in Wales: “I’ll call the engineer with this problem, and ring you back”......and, most unusually, did return the call: “Unable to locate an engineer so cannot be of further help. I’m sorry”. (It was the last two words that really threw me, as so rarely a part of BT’s vocabulary...)25 February. 08.30 call to BT:”Anytime between now and Tuesday 26 February at 5pm” (House arrest now extended a further two days... Becoming just a little angry... Leant on bell of local telephone exchange until a real human answered. Courteous and understanding – as are the majority of the poor individuals working for this ‘organisation’ - this individual managed to push the right buttons, and...A little later...An engineer arrived to complete the connections. (I had to sit down for a while, as the room was swimming.) With hindsight, why was “work” started in the first place if BT was unable to complete their original task, with minimal customer disruption, in as short a time as possible? Why not simply source the required materials, detail a work-force, schedule the job, inform affected customers, and get on with it? Why have 4 separate teams of diggers and a further 6 separate BT units employed on such a simple job? That’s fourteen men and ten vehicles over 20 days; merely to join a few broken wires back together that BT cut off in the first place! I’m fairly certain that this sorry mess is by no means unique to your experience, so no doubt BT will have suitable processes already in place... (If I change my existing ISP to BT, as I’m presently contemplating, will this standard of management become the norm? Is it really worth proceeding, in the light of the above farce? Persuade me. Please.) I would be grateful if the person whose turn it is to field customer complaints this week could spare a few moments to write a sensible reply. Not an automated whine and not an anodyne response from a disinterested pimple, but proper words from an actual person who can offer mature advice. Are you there?

Pete Flannery  says:
16 months ago

Re: Jeremy Smallwood ordeal; for goodness sake do not change your ISP to BT - they are every bit as awfull as your above experience. All of the time and effort spent on your easy to repair difficulty and they still manage to make massive profits. I wonder if they can imagine a world when they become efficient and customer friendly and then further imagine the massive profits they would then rake in. Still, I suppose it is easier to rip the customers off and watch the cash roll in with the minimum of effort. Nice work if you can get it... BT are (one of the) most despicable utility providers - as voted for by its customers although their advertising would have us believe otherwise. Still - happy days eh... I no longer have any service from them (other than line rental); I would urge you to do the same.

cerys  says:
16 months ago

on the phone to BT as i write this losing the will to live!!!!!!!! been 3 hours on hold so far!!!! aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! was 5 yesterday!!

Miss Lucy Willett  says:
16 months ago

i hate BT!!!!!!!!!!!! I really cant stand them! they are too big, too many people not knowing how to deal with your problem. I moved house, and for some reason they cant seem to understand that I HAVE MOVED!!!!!!!!! They wont stop sending letters to my old address, all my bills, they havent changed my address on their computer, but my broadband had been changed. the first payment i made to BT was for £200 but this isnt showing up for some reason!! i have made so many complaints to BT its getting stupid, and they never respond and they wont respond now so dont know why i'm wasting my time writing this. I have asked again and again and again for itemised phone bills but guess what!!!!! no itemised phone bills have been sent to me! it took them 2 months to set up my broadband! i have been living in my new address for over 3 months now and they still havent changed the address! they are now saying that i'm going to be cut off for not paying my telephone bills!! for one - i have never received a bill as they have been sending t to the wrong address!!! 2 - i made a payment of £200!!!!!!!!! which they said they can see when i phoned them up (after being on hold for over an hour!!!!!!) but its not showing up on my account! so they need to fix this! and i'm supposed to be on some sort of option 3 plan but my phone bill is nearly £400!!!! um................... i dont think i'll be paying that some how!!!!!!!!! i hate BT!! I have been hung up on 2 times! the waiting time is stupid, i have been on hold for over an hour before, people dont know what they are talking about, "i'm not authorised" is all i hear!!

Matthew Winyard  says:
16 months ago

Ordered a BT Line for the house I just moved into, the people that occupied the property before me was with "Talk Talk" and so for me this became a problem as this was not a "BT LINE" according to BT and there was no line on the house, I repeatedly told them there was a line to the house but I gave in and agreed with them and they dispatched an engineer to my house to install a line on Moday 4th March, so I booked the day off work to see what was going to be done, they also advised someone be at the property incase they need access to install components. 4th March came round and I was waiting all day for an Engineer. Later I tried the so called "Talk Talk" line to find it worked. So now I have to pay £130 for a line that already existed, I lost one of my company days holiday.

I contacted BT and said I had no engineer come to my house and they said sometimes the engineer does not have to be present to make a house visit they can do it all at the exchange.

In no way I will be going Direct Debit with them, but oh wait they will charge me £1.50 more a month if I don't...

I cannot wait till I can come out of my 12 month fixed contract to go with a different provider not because of all this messing about but when I call customer service I wish to speak to someone that can speak English.

Michael Barley  says:
16 months ago

I've been put on restricted speed for downloading too much on an apparently unlimited download account. I've contacted BT about half a dozen times to receive general emails about downloading which was obviously copy and pasted from a web page. A page that I had already read. I asked for a real response and was given a phone number to call, which is only available between 8am and 5pm Monday to Friday. Hmm, that's when I'm at work, and we're not allowed to make personal phone calls. I've tried to explain this to BT and have asked (politely at first) that they give me guidance on their recommended acceptable download limit for my account, so that I can keep check of it myself and try to be fair. I've had no response, just the usual copy and pasted replies and a link to the phone number. It seems that whoever receives these emails just don't know what to do with them, or don't have the power to do anything. I've contacted the complaints department twice but had no reply. I did get a reply to my question of how long my contract is however, and it seems that I can't break it without a penalty, even though in my opinion BT have already broken it, supplying me with an appalling service.

I pay £25 a month for 8Mb broadband. Last week I was getting 500k download speed, a couple of days ago it was down to 250k, and now this evening it's at an all time low of just 75k!! I've checked the BT Hub, and it's fine.

I'm appalled at BT's lack of interest in their customers. I hope that people vote with their wallets and leave BT in droves. They deserve it.

Michael

Jack Koumi  says:
16 months ago

It is now 3 weeks that our telephone 01788 543 643 has been out of order, which means we’ve had no broadband either. And according to various staff we have talked to (after interminable delays on 0800 800 151) it is the ISP, btinternet, that is to blame. We have been told that the job keeps being closed ready for BT Wholesale to do their bit (BT Wholesale are the engineers or the equipment suppliers for btinternet), but that bit never gets done!! It is those "tie - pairs" or whatever they call them that need replacing. The engineer that came yesterday thought he could sort it, & I was hopeful for once..... then he phoned & explained everything to my wife in detail, even the exact place where the fault lies, but, guess what, he can't touch that bit because it belongs to BT Wholesale.

The situation is so exasperating. My blood pressure has reached epic heights!

How can BT possibly justify this situation? It is absolutely disgraceful. Surely there is someone with the authority to order someone to DO SOMETHING.

PaulBri  says:
16 months ago

This is what happened to me

1} 22/feb have tried 3 times to order BT vision, every time the order as been cancelled internally by BT, spent ages on the phone trying to find out why! have waited weeks for delivery that is not going to happen. Not one person on the phone at bt knows why the orders were cancelled, and they will not let me talk to anyone in charge at bt vision, looks like i have come to a dead end. wish I had not taken out total broad band for another year, will be going back to sky for TV but another year for sky broadband, after being duped in to going with BT.

Can anyone help at BT? I must be joking

2}29th feb BT are Re-ordering for the six time, got to wait until the 10th march for box, don’t think i will get it. One of the bt staff told me to go back to sky! and that was one of the btvision staff. Its just unbelievable no one to help me. will just keep waiting.

Keep seeing BT vision adverts on TV,

3} 8th march. Just been on the phone to BT again my seventh order for BT vision as been canceled again, I have given up on BT vision, customer service in total Kr***p, one lady gave me a parcel tracking number for delivery on the 10th March when i checked the number it did not exist, rang BT back and found out that the lady made up the tracking number, its totally beyond any understanding, I have now given up anymore phoning of BT vision, now spent about 90 minutes phoning, no one can tell me why or can be bothered to phone me back. one lady that worked for Bt vision said i would be better using sky TV and that is the staff.

janet   says:
16 months ago

ive been with bt now six months... everything was goin well unitll marchs bill!! my bill was for 89 pound!! well wen i 1st signed up to BT i had to pay a charge of 50 pound which i was told i wud get back at the end of six months!! i asked them to take this 50 off my 89 and i wud pay the difference with giro check!! anyway BT told me they wud ring me back within 24 to 72 hours... which they never!! they cut me off the phone and sent my 50 back in post!! now im without a landline and they are tellin me i need a engineer sent back out again because the not pickin up my line!! they r tellin me i need to pay a fee of 125 pound once again!!!!!

Jim Morrell  says:
16 months ago

5 weeks i have been trying to get through to bt about sorting my ridiculously slow broadband speed and crackly line.. Its there duty as a service in which I PAY FOR!!!!! to come out and fix. I am not allowed to touch the cable which is outside my house which i know for a fact is the problem and I am constantly getting emails back explaining i am being capped.. well if im being capped 24 hours a day then jesus I must be downlaoding a lot which ahrdly seems possible when im only receiving less 0.5mb/s connection!!! I hate Bt with a passion and i will win this even if it goes to court!

M O'Byrne  says:
16 months ago

I closed my BT telephone account, moved overseas and gave them my address. Bill took 14 days in the mail, I sent back a cheque for two pounds 35 pence!. BT did not take into account the time it takes to pay bills and I received a letter from a debt collection agency. I checked that BT had cashed the cheque, which they had. What a bunch of thugs. i take solace in the fact that it probably cost them more than my measly final bill. hurray!

Hung  says:
16 months ago

Reading your inputs above, I genuinly share your frustrations and am feeling sorry for you all.

I had a situation with BT last November. When I 1st moved to my new home, I contacted BT for connection, and was told (after checked on their system) that my address has no line therefore I need to pay £157.99 connection charge.

A date was set for this, but no engineer turned up at the time they should be, I called BT again and this time I was told that there's no need for an engineer to call as I have a line already and hence the number was active there and then, They also confirmed that there will be NO connection charge at all.

2 days later, I received a telephone call from BT asking me for an appointment so that they can send an engineer down to connect my line. I explained and the person on the phone apologised and confirmed to me that she will cancel the booking.

Some 4 weeks later, I received 2 bills 1 for the current number which I recognised, and the other, charging me £157.99 for connection fee , and on it it shows a completely strange telephone number. I quickly checked my bank statement and found that they had already took money from my DD account.

I was furious, I called Customer Service and was passed around between department like a bloody football.No one seemed able to help me, and it was a total waste of time. I got fed up and decided to write to their complaint review service in Durham. I threatened to take legal action unless I receive a full refund + £25 for my letter.

I sent this on 18/02/2008, and until this morning , nothing happened!!!

I was so frustrated every time I thought about it. I search and found this site , after reading some of your guys' stories, I got hold of the CEO contact address:

ben.verwaayen@bt.com , I wrote to him at 11.27 and 4 minutes later he replied with a message :

June Lee  says:
16 months ago

This is simply unfair contract, the despotism of the conglomerate.

I have two stories. please help me.

Last autumn, I paid my bill lately. So BT disconnected my phone and broadband with one-year charge of the line rental. I reconnected the phone line with extra charge.

This winter, I've chaged my phone and broadband to Tiscalli from BT. Tiscalli said that they can handle everything and only one thing I can do is just relaxed.

I was surprised couple of days ago that the BT sent me a bill of cancellation charge.

I think I spent almost 300 quid for this extra. because I'm student, this money is something big to me.

BT's customer survice is just a henpecking hen. Always same neverending story.

I think this is unfair trade. Anybody has similar experience or any advise, please send yours to me at freemanjunelee@hotmail.com

Cheers,

Gary Thorpe  says:
16 months ago

What an absolute farce, BT have proved to me to be just about the most incompetent company I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with. It would take way too long to write my whole sorry story, however, suffice to say it is not dissimilar to the above complaints. Our problem started over six months ago, with a problem with our internet, which was never resolved. We then moved house about 5months ago and unwittingly requested BT services at our new address. So for the past 5 months we have had nothing but trouble. This is internet, BT vision, pricing, etc, etc, So the ordeal continues to no avail and this week after around 20 phone calls and equally as many promises to resolve our problems we are still awaiting the remote control for our BT Vision Box, which we have had for a month now, (and no doubt still being billed for) It would appear that this item has been sent out 4 times now but to our OLD address.......oddly enough we have never had a problem with a bill arriving at our new address. The biggest frustration is that no one listens and no one cares. Afterall BT Profits are up and we are a minority.......OR ARE WE???????

Olga and Anastasia  says:
16 months ago

This letter is explaining the situation happened in regards with BT services.

Dear Sir or Madam

pamela armitage  says:
16 months ago

19th march 08 Pamela Armitage

Its just discusting the service ive got from bt. First signed up in october 2007 for broadband package at 8.95 amonth, which as i was told by the extremely young sounding sales girl would include my phone line too. i thought it was too good to be true, and it is too good to be true. 5 months later they tell me its too seperate accounts and 17.99 a month after 6 months for broadband the girl said 8.95 for 18 months and 17.99 after 18 months, she lied just to get me to sign up and being a pensioner who is disabled too, i cant afford it all. they should sort there staff out and get some better advicers on these cases. ill be damned if im going to pay all that.

eddie  says:
16 months ago

1.taken a £50 deposit & given my at that time a order no "VOL011894518****" along with a phone number "01642******" & verbal assurance that my line would be working with 48hrs. 2.subsequently cancelled my order without telling me (despite them having a mobile contact phone number from me) 3.at this time of writing failed to refund my £50 deposit in full 4. failed to give me any reason as to why this order was cancelled after a £50 deposit was taken. 5.would have charged me £125 + £13 admin fee for a new line, despite there already being a bt line currently installed at my home.

and spent +2hrs in cold payphone box, being passed around differant departments, dispite telling staff am disabled, worst customer service staff i have ever spoken too

tracey  says:
16 months ago

hi i was disgusted at the treatment i received from bt.I had rang up and said i was moving house and wanted to transfer the phone line to my new address they said that this was not a problem and asked when we wanted it in by, my partner said Friday would be the best as we knew we would be living at new address by then and it was all agreed for then. It came to Friday and we didn't get line connected not only that but we had our bank details and sorts codes etc sent to old house so we wernt amused to start with and it came along with a letter saying it wont be connected till 17th so we rang up and we spoke to someone that didn't have a clue all they could do was apologise and say the systems are down and that's why it hadn't been done, we asked to speak to manager and they refused three times to speak to manager. my partner was that angry she hung up. SO i rang back and i explained the situation again as it was someone different she said that she had our new address so no letters would go to old address and that she is sorry and it will be up and running by Monday at the latest, IT came to Monday and it wasn't connected so we rang up again bearing in mind this was all on mobile as we had no other way of contacted them and we got someone else on phone that didn't know what was going on,we said we received letter saying 17th and its still not on they we putting us on hold and transferring us to every department so we wernt happy, we asked to speak to manager again and we got told there was no manger to speak to again at there convenience so i raised voice and said i want to speak to someone higher and i got the attitude there's no one higher eventually he put me through to someone else we then again explained situation he said that they had mucked up and that they tried to connect our new address before disconnected old address so as you can tell its not professional at all, All they have is there big company name but they haven't clue what they are doing even 3year olds could run it better, i guess bt stands for basic tripe thanks Tracey

m.thomas   says:
16 months ago

hello ,firstly great site a!its just great to see that im not going mad and that bt ,and bt customer service are really so bad ,my problem started when i closed my bt line down ,told all was ok ,but guess what still getting charged loads ,then to get my money back i must have travelled all around the world ,New delhi,stoke on trent ,every where and all to the expense of my phone bill ,and ten hours of my life telling different representitives of this company ,please can bt be put on hold by ofcom,PLEASE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Malcolm Lochhead  says:
16 months ago

I've just bought a new second home and need a phone line. My wife called BT and they said we'd need an engineer, even though the previous owners had a BT line.

They have now missed four separate confirmed appointments without ever once warning me they would not be attending. I have wasted so much time waiting for engineers and in BT's endless phone queues (50 minutes was my longest wait). No-one I've spokend to has any idea what's goin wrong and all they do is offer a new appoitnment which the engineers then miss again.

The last manager I spoke to said we didn't even need an engineer and the line woudl be activated within 48 hours from the exchange. It wasn't. We've just called BT to confirm the latest appointment to be told it's been concelled for some unknown reason and they won't be coming.

J.Shah  says:
16 months ago

My neighbour's telephone was out of order and he asked BT to investigate. BT blamed us without ant evidence stated that it was third party damage. Our telephone lines were o.k. BT were told several years ago when they installed the cable that it should be in proper tubes and then put in underground. BT chose to put the cable attached to a wall which was subject to all sorts of weather. Somehow our heighbours line was down but we had no problem althugh we share the same cable from the front. How can they blame us for the third party damage. How can they justify one of charge of £ 360.00 plus 13.70 repaired / replacement equipment and VAT on the top. BT needs some commonsense !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you leave your cable outside, then they are subject to cold, hot and damp waether. Life span of a exposed cable cannot be more than 15 - 20 years.

Jax  says:
15 months ago

What are BT doing? Without notice, they've just made some fundamental changes to their security system which has stopped me sending any email. No email to tell me they were making changes, no letter, no notice on their website, no training for their barely intelligible tech support people. Nothing Nada. Apparently, they've decide to stop people relaying emails via their server. So it's ok to forward emails, download them to the BT server, then send them on to my PC, but not to relay them - which is much more efficient (and more secure surely?) I want to use a proper email address not a 'BT' one.

I'm halfway through an 18 month contract, so I can't change ISPs without incurring a wopping great penalty But BT think it is entirely reasonable to change how and what they deliver!

Thankfully my domain host, Fasthosts, do have people who know what they're doing and have provided me with a temporary fix. They only found out what BT had done yesterday.

Andy Wood  says:
15 months ago

I have recently been stung 2 months in a row with a £1.75 charge for caller display even though I signed up for FREE BT Privacy at Home. I am informed this is because I have not made the requisite 2 calls a month using my landline. I understand this is their little way of penalising people who sign with another provider but in my case this does not apply and I simply do not use the phone very often. I complained that there was no warning about this charge when I signed up for this apparently FREE service (not even an asterisk referring me to the small print) but so far I am going round in circles as they just keep reminding me that it applies and have even suggested I type "BT Privacy at Home" into their search box so that the T&Cs are displayed (!) which to me simply highlights how well hidden they are. Next stop Otelo.

Laura Purcell  says:
15 months ago

To whom it may concern,

I got a BT phone line installed on 17th March. I was under the impression I was getting it for free but i've received a bill dated 24th March informing me i have to pay a half price line connection charge of £62.50. I was unaware of any charges until i received my bill.

On the evening of the 17th March (day of connection) i had no line. I thought it was possibly the house phone so i bought a new one, it still did not work. I called up your staff a day later and they arranged for an engieneer to come by. In the mean time they said I would have all calls diverted to my mobile and this would be free of charge. At no time did they mention that i would be paying for this service. On recieving the bill dated 24th March, i see that i am in fact being charged for these calls.

I called today, 27th march to sort this out, i was left holding for a total of 50 minutes and passed round to several departments. One of the gentleman that i spoke to, said a lot of peple had said that they were unaware of the connection charge also. i found your staff rude and unhelpful, with one of them stating that ' i'd recieved all my free stuff, and at the end of the day he had nothing more to say about the matter.' With BT being such a long standing company i would have expected a better service.

I do not feel that i should be paying for this line charge (£62.50), nor the calls diverted to the mobile.

i hope we can resolve this matter

thankyou,

Laura Purcell.

Tel: 0208 348 2795

ACCOUNT NUMBER: GB03906140

BILL NUMBER: Q0010S

SUE EDDY  says:
15 months ago

NOVEMBER 2007, MY DAUGHTER AND HUSBAND MOVE IN, THEY NEED INTERNET ACCESS. I WAS WITH 'TALK TALK' AND WAS DISSATISFIED WITH THEIR SERVICE (ANOTHER STORY). I THOUGHT GOING BACK TO BT WOULD BE THE EASIEST SOLUTION AND MY DAUGHTER COULD CONTINUE HER INTERNET ACCOUNT. NEARLY 5 MONTHS LATER I HAVE A BT CONNECTION IN WHICH I HAVE TO PRESS 1280 WHENEVER I MAKE A CALL. SOMETIMES IT WILL LET ME CALL MOBILE NUMBERS SOMETIMES I AM NOT AUTHORIASED. 2 LETTERS OF COMPLAINT, NIL RESPONSE, NUMEROUS TELEPHONE CALLS TO CUSTOMER SERVICE WAITING ON AVERAGE 20 MINUTES TO SPEAK TO SOMEBODY, WHO THEN TRANSFERS YOU TO THE CORRECT DEPARTMENT, WHO THEN TRANSFERS YOU TO THE CORRECT DEPARTMENT ETC ETC...BT BLAME MY OLD ACCOUNT WITH TALK TALK, TALK TALK BLAME BT AND STATE THERE IS NO ACCOUNT AND CONNECTION WITH THEM ANY MORE.I RECEIVE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES AND A £50 CHEQUE AS COMPENSATION FROM BT..SORRY FOR ANY INCONVIENCE. MY LATEST BILL (WHICH IS DIFFERNT TO THE ONE THEY QUOTED ORIGNALLY) INCLUDES THE £50 CHEQUE THEY GAVE ME!!!!!SO TO SUMMERISE I STILL HAVE TO TYPE 1280 WHEN I MAKE A CALL, MY BILL IS INACCURATE AND THE MONEY HAS BEEN TAKEN FROM MY ACCOUNT WHICH INCLUDES THE COMPENSATION THEY GAVE ME!!I CANT STAND MUCH MORE. THE OMBUDSMEN 'OTELO'I CONTACTED HAVE GIVEN ME A LEAFLET ON HOW TO COMPLAIN AND TELLS ME I HAVE TO WAIT 12 WEEKS... EVEN THOUGH IN MY LETTER TO THEM I STATED THIS NIGHTMARE BEGUN IN NOVEMBER 2007.WHAT ON EARTH AM I TO DO ??

sheen  says:
15 months ago

I moved house and was given a connection date and confirmation that my direct debit was set up. No phone on connection date. Then spent two weeks phoning every day, being passed around, but totally lost it when I was told that my order had been cancelled because BT COULD NOT SUPPLY A PHONE LINE IN DORSET!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Got given another phone number, new account number and eventually a working phone line. Called Bt to move direct debit to new number and was told that they couldnt do this and worse still could not cancel the direct debit on an account which was no longer mine. Told I would have to wait until money was removed from my bank account to pay someone elses bill then I would have to complain and they would then investigate.

Alistair  says:
15 months ago

I recently moved address and decided to move my phone and broadband with me. They say with 1 call they can organise this for you! What they mean is that it takes 20 calls over 3 weeks to get it organised. Then after having it all sorted after 1 month I recieve a bill through to my old address for the name Alyson and they have charged me a £430 cancelation fee on a new broadband service I apparently set up and canceled. This was taken from my bank before I got the bill.... (as it was sent to an address I no longer use). I have called them and after a few heated phone calls they agreed to send me the money back via cheque withing 5 days to my new address. I wonder how long it is actually going to take, if they indeed have sent it in the 1st place.

adrian  says:
15 months ago

I had problems with my line. As per their website, I checked if it was the phone etc to avoid a charge but they were ok and so called them out. They repaired their own junction box which was faulty and I thought well I wont be charged, I then received a bill for £184 for half an hours work to their own equipment. usual threats to cut me off if I didnt pay so how do you argue other than taking them to court

john buswell  says:
15 months ago

my computor has contracted a virus athough i have bt security.and trying to get the bt help desk is not possible although they claim to be 24 7,i keep getting pop ups from america telling me my computor is in infected with spy ware what ever that and they will solve it for a price.i thought bt security was to protect my computor.i have tried to contact the bthelp desk but am told its not available,so i am going to cancel my direct debit to bt as no one seems to bother or give a toss

jon  says:
15 months ago

Just contacted my mobile phone provider to query a large bill, it has transpired that on Feb the 22nd at 15:24 i phoned 118/247 (correct). Apparently my <1 minute call was recorded at lasting 19 minutes and 28 seconds, and i have been charged by BT £16.54 my mobile phone provider is unable to refuse payment for this obvious travesty by BT.

Kathryn Foster  says:
15 months ago

Last month BT cut off my phone line for no apparent reason. Well their reason was that i hadn't paid my bill - actually i had paid it! It took over 2 weeks for them to reconnect my phone after admitting their mistake.. When it was reconnected i had a different phone number!

To add to this - i then got a letter from Sky who provide my broadband to say that they are sorry that I was leaving them. As they had been informed by BT i had cancelled my phone line.

Also to get BT to reconnect my phone i had to phone them from my mobile.... This has cost me over £25. When i asked BT to compensate me for this - they said i should of used a public phone! What??? I don't even know where the nearest one is! And i am not going to spend 30 minutes on hold stood in a public phone box on an evening.

How on earth do BT get away with treating their customers like this?

If only i was in a cable area... i would be changing to another provider in a flash!

J Scott  says:
15 months ago

BT cut my broadband off today with no warning. I had cancelled my contract with BT from end May due to huge bills of about £260 a quarter despite not making a lot of calls. 10 days ago I got an extra bill for the accumulated shortfall in the direct debits which I had not yet paid. My contract has a further two months to run. BT did not give any warning. They just cut me off. I have paid my BT bills on time for as long as BT has existed.

The Mitchells  says:
15 months ago

When we had to move house very urgently because of subsidence of the property we were living in I called BT as soon as i found out where we would be moving to and asked firstly for them to activate our line at new property and secondly for an engineer to come out to put in an extension line for our BT home hub in our office room. I was told that the engineer would call out on the following tuesday to fit the extension and our new home would have an active phone line from that same Tuesday morning, Tuesday morning came and went , no phoneline no engineer , my partner phoned up to ask where the engineer was only to be told they had no record of my phone call , BUT surprise surprise our phone number (which we were taking with us to new property) was inactive from that date , so if they didnt receive my call how did they know to stop the line at the old property ????? we were then told we couldnt have an engineer out to fit an extension line until we had an active line and they couldnt book an engineer till AFTER the line was active. So we had to wait 2 days before they activated our new line, as soon as they did i called up to get an engineer out , i was then told that i would have to wait another week before an engineer could come out and the cost for the extension would be £167. which is more than if you want a brand new line fitted.We eventually got our phone line but once we put the BT home hub on the phone stopped working and we could no longer be online at the same time as receiving phone calls , my partner again phoned BT went through all those silly options you get and waited 30 mins before being put through, only to be told he had to phone a different number , which he did ,went through all the options again , waited 40 mins to be put through only to be told yet again he was connected to the wrong department and to call another number , this went on and on for over 4 hours being passed from pillar to post , number to number , operator to operator and still the problem persisted . Even as im typing this my partner is now on the phone with a customer service person being played the most boring music as he holds on to find out if they can fix the problem we are having . All in all moving our BT line to the new house has cost us over £70 in costs for using a mobile while we had no phone connections, and numberous hours wasted being passed from person to person and having nothing resolved.

We are now convinced that BT stands for Bloody Terrible. And once we can get out of our contract with them we are going to leave and find a better service ANYWHERE ELSE.

Carl Stevenson  says:
15 months ago

I ordered broadband in Sept 2007. I still haven't got it. The customer care has been appalling. People from different departments phone me up with conflicting information. Nobody is able to tell me what is going on except for giving new review dates every 4 weeks.Hopeless.

I'm embarressed that they are "British"

David  says:
15 months ago

Referring to my last complaint posted here, I would like to thank the person who shared twith all of us here the email address of the BT CEO. My problem is FINALLY over..phew! I advise the others who still having issues with BT to contact the CEO as the matter would be dealt with by his assistance efficiently and most importantly quickly.

Now..after reading some of the complaints here, I realised that some of the problems seems too familiar (not of the same issue with my complaint though). I still remember the first time I moved to the UK and signed up with BT..I plug in my phone one day and there was a dial tone (just to highlight, the previous tenants never had BT line at all). So I called that "special" number (sorry can't remember..but it's 3-4 digit no.) to know our the number, got the number, use the line as usual. But then, there had been several occasions where I called my wife at home and she said the phone didn't even rang. So I called here while on the phone with her on the other line on her cellphone..and true enough, the home phone did rang at all. And another occasion where my wife received a phone call, and the caller seemed to be surprised to hear her voice. She told him he got the wrong no. And the guys asked "isn't that xxxxxxxxx"? And my wife replied "Yeah it is". And the caller replied "Well that's MY home number". My wife of course replied "it's our number which was given by BT" and she was sleepy then..so she somehow managed to end the conversation. But she admit the caller sounded genuine and was not playing a prank. Few days later, the phone line was not in service anymore. We made an enquiry to BT and was told there was NO BT line installed at all on this flat so we need an installation. Of course we told them, if there's none, howcome the phone line seemed to be working for 2 weeks? To cut it short, they scheduled for someone to come and "installed" the line. It took several weeks until we realised there was a dial tone again on the phone. I called BT to confirm if this that was really our line and they said yeah, our line was already active now. I asked them I thought we were told there was NO BT line at all installed in this flat and we had one scheduled in few days time. This time BT told us that we need no installation cos there existing one in the flat (???). It was full of confusions but we didn't want to think about all that as we were new in the country and we just wanted to have our landline soon! But during all this problem, I had thought that maybe the construction work on my bulding must have caused all this problems with the phone line(phone line interrcepted?). But reading some of the complaints here, I realised that it was obviously BT fault.

BT is the main phone provider in the UK? Aren't they going to do something about the bad quality and service?? What a shame! One thing for sure, sould I return again to the UK, BT would definitely not be our no.1 choice!

Cynthia  says:
15 months ago

I phoned to cancel service on my second phone line and was told that it would take 14 days for this to happen. Meanwhile, I am being billed. If I had asked for additional service, I doubt it would have take so long. All it takes is a flip of a switch.I object to being charged for two additional weeks of service, which is clearly an outrageous scheme to squeeze extra money from consumers. I plan to go to OFTEL about it.

Peter Lemer  says:
15 months ago

BT engineers dug a hole next door to our let to repair that telephone line and disconnected ours.

The earliest they will come to repair it is 10 days later!

There is no formal way to complain other than by writing a letter to the BT Correspondence Centre, which of course will take roughly 5 days to turn around.

Meanwhile 6 tenants are without access to the internet.

I think this is an appalling response to a mistake made by BT Engineers

peter

GONUTZ  says:
15 months ago

This is a copy of an email I sent to BT regarding my complaint..........

I BOOKED A BT ENGINEER TO COME LAST THURSDAY 3RD APRIL & INSTALL A BT LINE. THIS WAS SO I COULD CHANGED MY LINE OVER FROM VIRGIN MEDIA. THE ENGINEER DID THE NECESSARY WIRING AND ASKED ME TO LEAVE IT A COUPLE OF HOURS FOR VIRGIN TO RELEASE MY PHONE NUMBER OVER TO YOU AT BT. THE ENGINEER SIAD VIRGIN WERE NOT THE QUICKEST TO DO THIS. I TESTED THE LINE ON & OFF ALL AFTERNOON BUT THE LINE REMAINED WITH VIRGIN MEDIA.I HAD THE BT LINE FITTED SO I COULD HAVE USE OF MY SKY+ . I WAS GIVEN THE IMPRESSION THAT THE CHANGE OVER WOULD BE NO HASSLE ??!!I CONTINUED TO TEST THE PHONE LINE ON & OFF ALL DAY FRIDAY 4TH APRIL BUT IT STILL REMAINED WITH VIRIGN MEDIA. I RANG & SPOKE TO SOMEONE AT BT & THEY ASSURED ME THAT IT WOULD CHANGED OVER BY 6PM FRIDAY AFTERNOON.ON SATURDAY 5TH APRIL THE PHONE LINE STILL REMAINED WITH VIRGIN MEDIA. I RANG BT WHO INFORMED ME THAT MY ORDER VOL0118844371813 HAD BEEN CANCELLED ???. (BY BT) BT SAID THEY COULD RECTIFY IT & PUT ME THROUHG TO SALES WHO PROCEEDED TO SET UP ANOTHER ORDER VOL0119340319960 & DIRECT DEBIT BUT WAS TOLD I COULD NOT KEEP MY ORIGINAL PHONE NUMBER AND THAT THE PHONE NOW WOULD NOT CHANGED OVER FROM VIRGIN MEDIA TO YOURSELVES UNTIL THE 22ND APRIL ! I WAS NOT HAPPY ABOUT THIS HAVING BEEN ON THE PHONE TO BT NOW FOR 45 MINUTES ! SO SALES PUT ME THROUGH TO ANOTHER DEPARTMENT WHO SAID BT WOULD GIVE ME MY ORIGINAL NUMBER BUT HAD TO SET UP ANOTHER ORDER VOL0119341068701 & DIRECT DEBIT (3RD) BUT STILL THE LINE WOULD NOT GO OVER TO BT UNTIL THE 22ND APRIL & COULD NOT BE DEALT WITH URGENTLY. AS BT HAS LET ME DOWN I THOUGHT THE LEAST YOU COULD DO WAS PUT THE MATTER RIGHT A.S.A.P.I AM VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH THE SERVICE AS I HAD SKY+ INSTALLED ON THE 3RD PRESUMING THE HAND OVER OF LINE FROM VIRGIN MEDIA TO YOURSELVES WOULD NOT BE A PROBLEM.I NOW HAVE SKY+ INSTALLED BUT I AM UNABLE TO USE IT FULLY BECAUSE BT HAVE LET ME DOWN. IT HAS ALSO DELAYED ME GETTING MY BROADBAND INSTALLED. HAVING ALREADY INFORMED VIRGIN MEDIA THAT I WISH TO CANCEL MY ACCOUNT (W.E.F 13TH APRIL) WITH THEM I AM NOW GOING TO BE WITHOUT BROADBAND FOR A WHILE. I WOULD LIKE TO THINK THAT YOU CHANGE QUITE A FEW LINES OVER IN A DAY AND DREAD TO THINK HOW OFTEN IT GOES WRONG.I AM CERTAINLY NOT IMPRESSED WITH THIS SERVICE SO FAR AS I WAS NOT GIVEN A REASON AS TO WHY BT CANCELLED MY ORDER ? AN EXPLANATION WOULD BE APPRECIATED AS TO WHY THIS WENT VERY WRONG.

This was the e mail reply I got from BT........

Thank you for your e-mail dated 07/04/08 about the BT line.I would like to confirm you that your order for the BT line has been cancelled. However I have place a new order for the BT line.I am delighted to receive your request for BT telephone service at your property. I have placed the order for your telephone service at address: [give customers address] Your Order Number is VOL011-............... (please quote this on any contact with us). I have arranged for an engineer to visit your property on 22 April 2008 between 0800 and 1300 to connect your service. Please see the full details of your order below:There is a connection charge of £124.99 (including VAT). * Your line rental has a minimum 12 month term. Please note that if you cancel your service within this time there will be a charge added to your account. * The telephone number is 0.......... Please note that I cannot guarantee this number until your line is connected. Please note that this is a provisional order as all orders are subject to an engineering survey. All prices include VAT and you can cancel this order up until 12 Midday the day before your line is connected without incurring any charges. We provide telephone service subject to our standard residential terms and conditions. You can read them at www.bt.com/termsYou will receive your initial bill within 10 working days of your line being connected. This will include some rental in advance before you go onto your regular billing period. For information about viewing your bill online, please visit www.bt.com/youraccount. Thank you for choosing BT. If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact me again via e-mail.Thank you for contacting BT.Yours sincerely,Preeti WadhawaneContact Customer ServiceRef: 16553865

I think my problems have only just begun !!!!! Bearing in mind that I have already paid for the connnection charge of £124.99 and they have already taken out my first line rental payment of £11.00 for a line thats not connected !

j.shunta  says:
15 months ago

I am so angry & fed up with the service i have been receiving from bt, i have been a customer with them for many years and my problems started since october last year when i opted for bt broadband option 3. Everything was fine when i rang up to get the broadband service, they took all my details and gave me my connection & delivery date for my bt home hub equipment. The equipment did not come so i gave it a few more days until i had to call up to find out what was going on & was told that the order will be with me within 24 hours which it didnt so i rang back & was told that the stuff had never been ordered and that they will courier it out to me within 48 hours so i should stay in and wait for it as it requires a signiture, 48 hours passed & still nothing the weekend came in between so i called them back a few days later & was told the exact same thing that it will be couriered out to me via special delivery and that they will give me 7 days of free broadband for the inconvenience & then a few more days passed so i rang back to be told the same garbage so i demanded that i speak to a manager, i explained to him that i was fed up of being on hold for hours on end & being transferred to different department & being told different things/lies & fed up of the false promises made to me, he then assured me that he was going to definately sort it out & he will courier it out to me via special delivery & he will give me one months free broadband. Days passed and still nothing arrived so i made another call to bt & was put through to the order department and finally the guy i spoke to sorted it out for me and by this time a month had passed and i finally received my equipment and thought my problems with bt had finally come to a end but how wrong was i, i still could not connect to the internet at all so i had to make calls to their technical department everysingle day to get them to connect me, each call took a hour and it was not a free number so it was costing me, the advisor would assure me that i will not lose connection again but it kept happening on a daily basis so every day i was having to phone them and spend an hour each day. Finally about 2-3 weeks later the connection problem got better but i still lose connection on a daily basis but it comes back a little while later not like before where it would go all day. I contacted bt regarding my problems and they never replied back to me, i also contacted them regarding my free 1month & 1 week free broadband they promised me but they just ignored me like usual & said that there was nothing on the system to say that..another false promise made by them. I asked if i could have all my call charges made to the technical helpdesk refunded to me & thier answer was no which i feel is so unfair as i was not receiving the service i was paying for so why should i still have to pay! I could not believe that a company like bt would treat their customers so badly. Today i spent a further 2 1/2hours on the phone to bt as my home hub phone has not been working since yesterday and again they kept transferring me department to department and then was given another number to call & when i rang the number it was dead so my problem was not resolved. I was so angry that i couldn't call back as i know i would just be on hold for hours on end & just be going round in circles. I cannot believe bt can treat their customers so bad and get away with it they need to be shut down. They are all nice when they sell you a service or product but as soon as you have a problem thats it they don't want to know. I've had enough with bt i'm fed up with being on hold for about an hour just to speak to someone & then when you do get through to them they either cut you off or transfer you so your on hold for another hour or they make you false promises and tell you bare faced lies, then they have call centres in india where the staff don't seem to have a clue about anything, most times it seems like i'm solving the problems for them, & you cant hear or understand them properly. I'm an indian person and even i cannot understand them properly so i feel sorry for people who have to call and speak to them. Bt are using cheap labour and fleecing their customers and lining their pockets and at the end of the day we are the ones losing out we need to get bt to sort themselves out and start listening and addressing the problems we the consumers have. I AM SO ANGRY I HAVE STARTED LOOKING FOR ANOTHER SERVICE PROVIDER FOR MY PHONE AND BROADBAND AND I WILL TELL ANYBODY WHO LISTENS NOT TO GO WITH BT, THEY ARE A BUNCH OF TIME & MONEY WASTERS. I FEEL SORRY FOR ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE PROBLEMS WITH BT!!

nell gordon  says:
15 months ago

for 1 year I have never been so dis satisfied with any product as I have with BT broad band as well as my phone line with BT. Every time I come to use my computer BT are up grading something and this is affecting my use of the computer. They cut off what I am doing with their upgrades. It can be at any time of the day but as soon as I turn on the computer and start doing something , that is it! They start interfering with what I am doing with their upgrades. i don't ask for the upgrades. I wold like the broadband to work for my benefit not for BT's. I would like to have the broad band removed as soon as possible. I am bound by BT,s contract but I want out of it as I feel that BT has not fulfilled their part. This being the case I think I am well within my rights to get a refund as my broad band has been at fault all through this year and even at 22.13 hrs there are still upgrades being put on my computer. This is not acceptable practice for such a big company.

Michael Beard  says:
15 months ago

Dear MargaretTried to call but was greeted by an answer phone.What do I have to do to get ANY service from BT. I have two lines not functioning and BT are prohibiting us from transfering to an alternative service provider.It cant get any worse but somehow BT manage to make it so. I have made a simple and generous suggestion. Ten days on it still has not been responded to.Kind regards, Michael Beard----- Original Message ----- From: retail.service.office@bt.com To: michaelbeard@thecarrierpigeoncompany.com Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2008 10:43 AMSubject: FW: 12 months disrupted service VP64952370...........HELPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!....................URGENTMr BeardCould I take this opportunity to acknowledge receipt of your email in this office, myself or one of my colleagues will be back in touch with you within the next 5 working daysIf you wish to speak to us direct before then please call 0131 448 6552 quoting reference CM 31259834RegardsMargaret SmythService Office.From: Michael Beard [mailto:michaelbeard@thecarrierpigeoncompany.com] Sent: 01 April 2008 17:01To: CFB ONEBILL COLLECTIONS GSubject: 12 months disrupted service VP64952370...........HELPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!....................URGENTDear Sir / MadamFollowing another hour on the phone to BT the situation with our account VP64952370 is still after 12 months unresolved and still we do have only partial use of the services which you demand incorrect and excess payment for.It will take me days to give you full account so I hope in the first instance the following synopsis will be sufficient. Please remember that the problems I am about to relay follow previous experience with BT where it took me 2.5 years to get successful settlement of the over payments that BT took through direct debits.The situation on this account VP64952370 has now gone on for 12 months and started when BT without my permission, and after I personally phoned in an attempt to stop this action, allowed another operator or provider Midland TLM to take over our lines, 01926 811822, 01926 811823, and Broadband. Due to the quarterly billing regime the error did not come to my notice until three months later when I received a bill from this company. BT would not take any action over their error and illegal action and I was left to pay Midland TLM in order to get the telephones back with BT. I was encouraged by one of your business IT divisions and naively put my faith back with BT. In this process it was recommended I go to One Billing. In the transfer to and and from Midland TLM I paid and had duplicated costs by BT which I was told I could claim back. I was told that if I put everything on to the one bill then it would be easier to make a claim for refunds. My first application last summer was responded to and suprise suprise I got not one billing account but two! After more days wasted on the phone I eventually got the two accounts on to one! Progress?, unfortunately not as one telephone line 01926 817180 was left off the new account.So I get another account the current one, but meanwhile through means outside of our control the 01926 817180 is suspended as we are told some other operator has acquired it. BT cannot tell us who, so for the past five weeks we have not been able to use this number and still cannot. About the time this problem arose I got my first ONE BILL and could not get sense from this complex and incorrect bill.I had 20 queries with errors on the bill, so I called the appropriate line and was told that I can only have two of these answered????!!!!! The two I was allowed to query were for approximately £200 of equipment I did not need and had not been sent. I was told a new bill would be issued and until then and the other billing issues were resolved BT would not press for payment. So why is one line currently barred, another not useable..........and another issue in the midst of all this the Broadband line failed being faulty and it took BT over a week to fix the problem. During that time alone I spend over 20 hours on the phone.........this is ridiculous and totally unnecessary.So I am happy to pay what is owed which is a fraction of the £700 plus requested by BT but I genuinely believe the balance owed is significantly in my favour. The reasons for this centre around but are not exclusively, the following issues BT allowed my accounts to go without permission to undeclared third party service providers on two separate occasions over the last 12 months.In the first transition and reinstatement I was obliged to duplicate payments which have not been reimbursed.BT representatives advised me on more than one occassion that we are due compensation.In the second and more recent transition we have been charged and denied use of one line.My business broadband was out of action for several days and you seek payment for such.Your erroneous, duplicated, protracted and delayed attempts to ONE BILL these accounts has denied me resolution of most issues todate.The one and only bill you are seeking payment against is riddled with errors.I and my wife have spent not only hours but accumulatively days on the phone over the past year with no progress at all in resolving the issues.Mobile phones have had to be used excessively.I believe the situation is now so complex as to take disproportionate resources to resolve. I recommend that both parties draw a line as from 1st April 2008, today, with us withdrawing all claims as long as BT have all lines working and our account goes to zero balance and we start paying from today onwards. Though this does not anywhere cover our claims and costs.I would not relish court action, but 12 months patiently waiting for BT to do resolve outstanding issues without success is indication that this may be the only alternative and if taken our claims will be substantial. Oh! and one other action was to contact my local BT business manager who agreed a one to one meeting could resolve all. Promised a 48 hour response and still waiting three weeks on...............there is more.I do really believe my proposal is fair and the most effective for all of us. I would appreciate immediate response as this dispute is detrimental to my business, private life and health.Yours faithfully, Michael BeardDear MargaretTried to call but was greeted by an answer phone.What do I have to do to get ANY service from BT. I have two lines not functioning and BT are prohibiting us from transfering to an alternative service provider.It cant get any worse but somehow BT manage to make it so. I have made a simple and generous suggestion. Ten days on it still has not been responded to.Kind regards, Michael Beard----- Original Message ----- From: retail.service.office@bt.com To: michaelbeard@thecarrierpigeoncompany.com Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2008 10:43 AMSubject: FW: 12 months disrupted service VP64952370...........HELPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!....................URGENTMr BeardCould I take this opportunity to acknowledge receipt of your email in this office, myself or one of my colleagues will be back in touch with you within the next 5 working daysIf you wish to speak to us direct before then please call 0131 448 6552 quoting reference CM 31259834RegardsMargaret SmythService Office.From: Michael Beard [mailto:michaelbeard@thecarrierpigeoncompany.com] Sent: 01 April 2008 17:01To: CFB ONEBILL COLLECTIONS GSubject: 12 months disrupted service VP64952370...........HELPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!....................URGENTDear Sir / MadamFollowing another hour on the phone to BT the situation with our account VP64952370 is still after 12 months unresolved and still we do have only partial use of the services which you demand incorrect and excess payment for.It will take me days to give you full account so I hope in the first instance the following synopsis will be sufficient. Please remember that the problems I am about to relay follow previous experience with BT where it took me 2.5 years to get successf

OGGY STOOP  says:
15 months ago

BT HAVE REDUCED MY BROADBAND CONNECTION FROM A HEALTHY 6 MBPS TO A MEASLY 2MBPS - AFTE I PAID FOR OPTION 3 AN THEIR BEST SERVICES I FIND IM IN A POSITION NO BETTER THAN OPTION 1 CUSTOMERS - ONLY IM PAYING MORE FOR IT!!!

Tony Quinlan  says:
15 months ago

I am absolutely sick to death of BT Broadband. It is so slow I cannot watch live streaming and downloads take ages.

I am paying £25 a month for Option 3 Broadband and yet when I go to www.speedtest.net I find my download stream is around 600kbps!!

This is a disgrace......when I complain by email they say an engineer will ring me....do I need tell you nobody ever has despite 4 complaints in the last fortnight.

I want out of my agreement with them as soon as possible. They never told me my speed would be this slow.

The place is run by people who are not up to the job.

Ken Townend  says:
15 months ago

This is a copy of latest letter to BT. 5 Months now trying to sort it out.

Ken Townend BEM Mobile No 07733156530 if not at home.

Elaine  says:
15 months ago

I find BT a joke, i recieved a phone bill for 107 pounds when i had switched to AOL as my talk provider, i have agreed this is for some calls before the switch over, waited untill the remind came in and informed BT i would have diffuculty paying at the moment she gave me a few weeks to pay. The next week i cant call out phone BT to find i have been disconnected, pay 40 pounds and set up a direct debit for the other 67 to be taken out over 2 mths,

Had to wait 3 days to be reconnected instead of 12 hours. Today discover they have cut me off again, i cant call out no one can call me and i cant even dial 150, phoned from my friends they apparently do not have my dd instuctions when i gave it to 3 people, the man was suppose to call me back and hasnt, this company is a joke and i plan on finding someone else to rent a line from.

ruth saphier  says:
15 months ago

i have had the hub package since november 2007 and have not beeen able to make a single phone call out going, on the new number given 0161 309 0226 people have been able to ring in. i have made several phones to 150 and 151 from my mobile phone which has cost me a lot of money and time. 99 per cent of the time i wqs left holding on and passed from person to person only to be cut off.i have sent several letters to customer complaints which i have had a response which i replied back today. only to find when i got home today 15/4/08 i coule dial out on this phone line but nobody can dial in i used this number to phone the number on my computer spoke to an advisor who told me to ring 150 which i did but got cut off again. when i tried to ring back i can no longer dial out but people can dial in.so hence this email. mrs r saphier not a happy bt customer at all .please reply to iansaph@hotmail.com

Charlotte Caldwell  says:
15 months ago

It is so good to not feel alone! I was encourage by this site to wrie the enclosed email. Thjanks!

Mr Verwaayen,Our story with BT started last year when we bought a home in Scotland and tried to get phone service. We live most of the year abroad and naively thought we could be connected immediately, as it does here in the US. How wrong we were. After three months of 5 missed appointments we eventually got service, for one week, and then we were disconnected.I have tried with little success to get some response from BT regarding our situation; we have now been informed we were disconnected because of non payment of our bill, despite being set up for direct debit and money being withdrawn from our account. This was done with no warning or explanation. You are aware I am sure of how long it takes to speak with someone in customer service - hours in some instances.. Each time, times, when we finally got through, we were cut off in the middle of the conversation and then we had to start again. I have spent literally hours and many pounds of mobile calls on this fruitless quest. When I eventually spoke with someone in billing who seemed to know what had happened, she added insult to injury by telling us, we were charged 70 pounds for an early cancellation fee and that we we would have to pay a further 124 pounds for being reconnected - with a new number. I asked that our original installation fee be refunded. She said a supervisor would call me back, but when I said I was in the US, she told me BT employees could only call the UK! And this from a communications company? What about all these calls we make that get answered in India?.I cannot express my frustration in dealing with BT. I cannot imagine how you are able to stay in business. Like many people, I look forward to the day when I can get VOIP in the UK, as I do in the US. Until then, my mobile will have to do, as I cannot get another landline without a BT line rental. How crazy is that.Please take these complaints seriously. This is gotcha capitalism at its worst.Charlotte Caldwell

Yvette   says:
15 months ago

I just want to correct my surname that was spelled wrong on my account details when I opened the account over the phone. After 7 phone calls speaking to customer services that can't understand english I still don't have any luck!