Random appointments with BT engineers

I just moved into a new house and decided to get a BT landline installed, as there was no line into the house. I called BT on a Thursday (29th), paid the appropriate fees, and made an appointment for the following week. The next morning (30th) my mobile rang. The engineer was outside my house to put my phone line in without an appointment or prior notice.

I was already at work for the day, but went back home anyway (I have an amazingly flexible job). The engineer installed my line but since I hadnt purchased a phone, he plugged his handheld thing in and I heard a dial tone. He left and I went back to work, happy it was over with so fast. My husband and I bought a phone that evening and we noticed that the line was incredibly noisy so much so that you couldnt hear the other person talking. We tried three different phones to no avail. I called BTs fault line from my mobile and ended up making an appointment for an engineer to come out. The nearest appointment was Wednesday (5th) from 8-1. I used annual leave and booked the day off.

They promised to confirm the appointment...

A telephone pole I sat around in my living room waiting. And waiting. And waiting some more. Finally, at 12:30 I called BT. They said I didnt have an appointment that day and no one was coming. After about 2 hours on the phone, it was established that it was a technical fault and an appointment wasnt sent to the engineers. They apologized and offered to book another one for Friday (7th) afternoon. I said I wanted confirmation of the appointment the next day. No one called, so I called BT. I didnt have an appointment booked for Friday because of another technical glitch. I then booked one for Monday (10th) between 1-6pm.

They promised to confirm the appointment. It was confirmed later when I called them, so I booked Monday off. Again, I waited. And waited. And waited some more. By 4:45pm I was worried and called BT. The engineer had been held up at a job and wasnt coming. No one had contacted me to let me know. Needless to say, I was rather angry. I didnt swear or cry or anything silly like that, I was just mad. They offered yet another appointment, which I took for Wednesday (12th) (my third in a week) from 1-6pm again.

The morning before the appointment (Tuesday 11th) I got a phone call at work. It was the engineer and he was outside my house a full day and a half early. By this point I just wanted a usable phone line, so again I went home. It was a problem up the telephone pole, not something I could have fixed myself. I was grateful to have it sorted but mentioned the hassle Id went through.

Turns out, it was that engineer that hadnt shown up the day before! He didnt even seem sorry for it nor did he apologize. He wasnt at all bothered thatd hed phoned me without an appointment either. Frankly, he was a jerk. Glad to have it done, I went back to work. Over the next 30 mins, I got three calls from BT. One to confirm Wednesdays appointment (ha!), one to check the work had been done because I wasnt answering the land line, and a third from customer service asking how Id found the service. I lodged a complaint and was told that the only compensation I might get is 10 for each lost day of work (after I deal with all the forms).

The more I think about it the madder I get. How could a company treat someone like this? It was an error on so many different peoples parts that no one will get penalized. I'm not sure the best way forward now.

By: Mrs. A.

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Guys, it is simple as... If BT do not turn up for an appointment due to a 'BT error', not due to you missing the engineer or another reason that is your own fault then you ring BT and demand an immediate appointment (next day), the advisor will obviously offer the next available but an escalation to a manager (or that managers manager if he is not helpful) will get you one sooner. It may take a while but I gaurantee you will not go higher than the centre manager (Advisor -> coach -> manager -> centre manager) before getting full assistance!!

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Chris (used to work for BT) - 9-Sep-11 14:58

You too Mrs.A

Maybe we share the same engineer and he was at your house, when he should have been at mine, there can't be a vica-versa as I've yet to have any Engineer call. Or maybe he's the only Engineer BT have and he's battling his way down the M6 as I speak!! I stupidly upgraded to BT Infinity and as soon as the Engineer left, I noticied there was so much noise on my phone line that I couldn't hear my 83 year old house-bound Mother. I'm severley Disabled so need a land line 24/7 in case of collapse. I explained this when I called BT Calcutta, and was assured then and several other times over the next 3 days that I'd be visited by an Engineer being that this was an emergency situation, I even received 7 texts from BT

1 it wasn't fixed, was ongoing, and they'd be in touch-day 1
2 that the issue was fixed-day 1
3 it wasn't fixed but I hadn't to call BT-day 2
4 it was fixed-day 2
5 it wasn't fixed and I hadn't to call BT-day 3 (that was a voice mail on my Mobile)
6 The issue has been resloved-day 7. This one was from the complaints department ( I dared to email them in my exasperation. telling them to get it fixed or lose my account)

I am wondering that maybe I need a hearing aid, because when I picked the receiver up I still can't hear a dialling tone.

They now have 48 hours, then they lose my contract!

Miss B

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Bajer - 7-Nov-10 17:19

BT Openreach seem to be using/abusing customers apparently endless free time as a resource to ensure BT don't have to employ more than a bare minimum of engineers. If they can fit you in - great! Just have another try - its not like you have a choice. In my case BT have actually managed to attend 2 appointments, but missed 4 so far, with another opportunity to screw it up today. They are a joke and a disgrace.

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Mark - 20-Oct-10 06:53

BT / BT Openreach management are only interested in stats making sure the charts look pretty, Customer Service is bottom of the pile with them, as long as the stats are right.

-3

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Crimp & Run - 25-Aug-10 15:41

If you think Openreich (BT) treat their customers badly, you wanna try working for them! That's poor treatment on another level!

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me - 25-Aug-10 15:33

bt's customer service is absolutely dire, not only do they keep you on hold for the right person if you're luckey enough to get to speak to them, they have absolutely no care for their customers other than taking money for a very poor service! I too am very croos with them!

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kat - 20-Jul-10 14:08

My broadband stopped working on a Friday - booked an appointment with an engineer on the following Tuesday - he called but I didn't hear his knock - then the fun started trying to rearrange! It takes about 50 minutes to get through to BT to make a new appointment - then I had a new appointment on the Friday afternoon and from between 1-6 - I had to get neighbours to cover for me when I went to pick the kids up from school - I phoned BT at 4.45 to see if the engineers were still coming - which was confirmed - 6pm came and went - no engineer - when I phoned BT they said that the engineers office was closed until the following Monday - I phoned complaints who tried to sort my problem out remotely - which didn't work and they then assured me that an engineer would come out on Monday for the morning slot - by 11am I phoned BT to check if an engineer was coming - they had no record of an engineer coming that morning - In near tears of desperation - so the lady repeated the same remote testing and I assured her this had already been done and it wouldn't work - sure enough it didn't work - then this evening my broadband is working having been sorted out at the exchange by a BT engineer - they did not need access to my property - in the meantime 10 days without Broadband - failed engineer visits - nearly 2 hours spent trying to sort this out on the phone - it is shocking how long you are kept waiting on the phone - on hold, etc - telecoms is their business - I vowed to look elsewhere for my next contract but is anybody else any better?

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Ruth - 29-Mar-10 20:12

hey calm down , I just have been used to it. I made my first appointment for landline in November last year, since I had to go abroad, I delayed it to 15th December, but the engineer didnt come here. After 6pm, I called the BT's customer service, they said sorry and made me another appointment on 26th, no surprise, no one came here, actually I wasnt sure they would work on 26th Dec, but if they dnt work on that day, y they made it on 26th? I told myself is bcoz the heavy snow outside, dnt b mad. I called them after 6pm, and made one more appointment at 11th Jan, 2010, nobody showed up. I called again, they promised me the engineer will come here on 25th, and 2 hours after I hanging up the phone, I got a txt from bt about my appointment is delayed to 26th, exactly today, now is 5:23pm, still nobody hav contacted with me. Actually just 5 days ago, BT's engineer called me to comfirm they would come here on 26th, and I called them back to recomfirm it... I really don't understand that how a company like BT with such 'unique' customer services can survive until today

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lee - 26-Jan-10 17:27

From our experience with BT your story doesn't come as a surprise: BT seems to have a policy of treating customers with utter contempt. Since we had our BT line installed last summer we've had constant problems with the phone line. About 5-6 times the line has cut off, gone completely dead. Even when it was working there was constant interference on the line. Calling BT (very expensive if you're forced to use a mobile) usually takes the best part of an hour to get through to a human being, at which point they will tell you there's nothing wrong with the line and it must be your fault. Eventually (after having been put through to countless different people) they agree to send someone out to fix it.. but we're usually left without a working phone for a week, there is no apology or explanation for why the line was cut off I the first place, and no refund for the money they charged for the time they weren't supplying a service.
Anyway to cut a long story short, when our phone went dead again on Friday this time we decided we would just cancel the BT line and go with a different company. We had used BT for about 10 years in various homes, but our treatment over the last 12 months has left us determined to never use them again. My advice to anyone thinking of getting a phone line is to avoid BT at all costs.

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ashleaf - 6-Oct-09 07:51

I ordered BT Vision and got an appointment with an Engineer. I took day off work and he never turned up. Rang BT to re-arrange and was told 2 weeks time. Again, took day off work, engineer didn't turn up. So rang BT AGAIN, to be told the old order hadn't been cancelled, so wouldn't be able to have put another order thro in first place..... this person would cancel old order and re-book for 2 weeks time. Guess what, they STILL didn't turn up (got my Mum to wait this time). When I range AGAIN, was told the original order still hadn't been cancelled, but they would cancel and re-book. By this time, I told em 'No way, cancel it' 2 months later, got a bill for Vision that i'd never actually had!!!! Rang em up and told em and surprise surprise, the original order was still on my account!!!!!. Got it sorted in the end, but then to add insult to injury, they rang me 3 months later asking me if I was interested in ordering Vision cause there was a special offer on!!!

-5

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Red - 19-Feb-09 19:53

Phoned BT again and they now tell me the system canceled my order, no reason can be given and now I have to re-book. Next available appointment is two weeks times

This as cost me around £300 in loss of income and telephone bills. Their compensation is £10 (OFCOM regulation) appalling service and not once did they call me

-6

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KrisG - 17-Dec-08 20:18

BT are just terrible. I went to my empty new home for a Morning appointment. Engineer didn’t arrive so called BT and they told me it had been moved to afternoon appointment. No conformation or nothing. Engineer didn’t arrive in the afternoon so tried to call them again. First the auto answer system cut me off saying I don’t have a valid phone number. Called their sales team who put me through to customer services only to be told there computers had crashed and they would call me back

-1

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KrisG - 17-Dec-08 16:54

I had exactly the same problems with BT after 3 half days booked off work (they missed the first two altogether despite sending me a letter AND a text to confirm both!!) and they only offered me a paltry £10 per missed appointment. This is far less than even the minimum wage, so quite how it compensates anyone I'm not sure. I've now taken the complaint further to OTELO. I suggest you do the same. Its shoddy, its unfair and it shouldn't be happening.

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Mike, Caerdydd - 12-Nov-08 19:23

This is vintage BT. They are riddled with incompetence, stupidity and they basically don't care. I had an engineer booked for the weekend before last, he didn't turn up because BT had tested the line (externally) and decided it was working - it wasn't, obviously. So I re-booked the appointment and he turned up this weekend, stayed for about 15 minutes then left. When I asked him if everything was working, he said yes but refused to stay for me to test it. Obviously, this is BT, so it wasn't all working, only the line was, the internet was not. I've just called BT now and they've told me that they decided to cancel my broadband order because it had taken too long to resolve (?!?) they didn't tell me they were going to cancel it, of course. I've just spoken to another advisor who told me that they will call me tomorrow and try to resolve it. When I asked her to send me an e-mail to confirm what we had talked about and that someone would call me tomorrow, she told me she cannot because she doesn't have access to e-mails! Ridiculous, I thought but then I remembered that it was, afterall, BT I was calling so of course she didn't have e-mail access!

-3

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joinroe - 2-Jun-08 18:43

nope the problem was that anyone with 1/2 a brain cell (ie not last poster) would see that creating a patch to get the modem working is fine but making it so that you have to download it on the pc you want to get online is idiotic (can not download to another pc for some reason).

Would be useful and reasonable to expect saturday, or till 7pm for that part of the population that work 9-5 (ie most of us)

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BT=Bloody Terrible - 26-May-08 11:55

BT, lets get this straight. You built a new PC and couldn't get your modem to work. So that's the fault of a bt engineer not turning up when you want at 21:00 is it ? Why don't you just **** off to Virgin then, I'm sure that they would send an engineer round at a time convenient to yourself to sort out a problem that you have caused and of course it would be free of charge.

-9

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BT engineer. - 24-Mar-08 11:50

I'm never sure why I am with BT as there unreliable, unhelpfull and a number of words. There engineers turn up days late, if at all.

My favourite was when had built a new PC and installed a new OS. I was having trouble getting the BT modem working (BT services as well). I phoned up the technical help and when they had finished reading the script (eg change microfilters, try in main socket, usefull as modem works with other PC). After a line test and the threat of sending an engineer to look at the line when convenient (as long as between mon-fri 9-5 is convenient).

They finally told me that I had to download and install a patch direct to the PC with the problem and that it would get the modem to work. Got them to repeat this 3 times to be clear.

-8

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BT=Bloody Terrible - 23-Mar-08 18:01

I had problems with BT as well, I was away working in Africa for some months and didn't require my phone line whilst away so terminated it temporary untill I got back,. When I arrived back home I needed my phone line for my Internet connection but trying to speak to someone about this was trying to get blood from a stone, I waited nearly 3 hours to get through only to be passed from pillar to post by incompetent advisors, eventually my temper flared, I ended up speaking to operator services and getting the manager, I did my research and told the manager BT was acting outwith the Customer Charter and that I was losing money due to losing my Internet connection, and if my line was not active within 3 working days (The standard time they say 5 working days but in the customer charter it is 3 working days)i told them I would start seeking Legal Advice on Loss of Earnings, and trust me the attitudes changed then. My line was active within 48 hours so just got to show you have to be persistent with them, or any company like that. Honesty BT start taking Customer Service Hints from Prospective Companies like SKY who have the best Customer Service out there, otherwise your in the running of supplying the worst Customer Service like British Gas is now.

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Jonny - 29-Jan-08 00:07

Wrong Sid, Virgin Media and Kingston Communications also provide landlines but only in Hull or where they fancy it. BT no longer install or maintain landlines, it is done by openreach which is a division of bt that maintains the network on behalf of bt, talk talk, tiscali and others. It was OFCOM that decided on this. The very same OFCOM that was set up to help the consumer by the wonderful Thatcher government in the 80's who sold BT to all you mugs that already owned it. As for engineers going on strike, well I've worked for BT now Openreach for 20 years and we've never been on strike in that time.

-1

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Nick - 16-Jan-08 18:24

The problem is that Only BT, as far as I'm aware, have the authority to install landlines. You can't go somewhere else to get it done. BT was supposedly privatised in 1984 and here we are 24 years later still waiting for a simple service.

The simple service is missing, because they have simple management, who cannot organise their engineers without doing it so badly that the engineers go on strike!

It might be worth registering your complaint with The Regulator, Ofcom. But they don't take up individual cases. They will only investigate the company if they receive numerous complaints of a similar nature via their complaint monitoring service. Other than that The regulator is pretty pointless and hasn't achieved anything much. Just jobs for the boys.

-3

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Sid - 15-Jan-08 17:49

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