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We moved last year to a house that had previously been used as an office, so there were numerous phone and Internet sockets throughout the house, several of which were external. I rang BT in September 2008 and asked for a phone line to be reconnected. I was told that no line existed at my address and I would have to pay the full fee for a new line, £150 at the time, as opposed to the £25 reconnection fee.
Despite some doubt over this I agreed and set up a monthly direct debit. I also enquired about broadband and was told it wasn't available in my area. I set up an appointment for an engineer to attend and install the new line the following week.
The appointment came and went with no sign of an engineer and no call to say he wouldn't make it. My partner who is self employed lost a days work waiting for him. I had two further appointments for both of which nobody turned up and had also debited my account for £270 for installing a line and calls! Although how we made them on a phone that didn't work I don't know!
I was told a line couldn't be connected as they'd run out of space at my local exchange
I was told a line couldn't be connected as they'd run out of space at my local exchange When I complained I was told a line couldn't be connected as they'd run out of space at my local exchange and would get my money back. I was just glad I got my money back, so cancelled the account and gave up on it just before Christmas 2008.
In January 2009 my partner decided to have another go. He was told there was an existing line which just had to be reconnected (now £30 fee) and broadband was available. When we received our phone number it didn't even have the correct area code, they have given us a new one. But despite almost weekly calls to say our phone still isn't working, nothing has been done. Both my partner and I have been left on hold for hours and eventually cut off because they cannot come up with a solution.
So far it has cost us a fortune in mobile phone charges and we have decided to give up trying, especially as there is nowhere else we can go to get a landline installed or reconnected. It's really unfair that BT can treat us like this and they have no competition that we can turn to!
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They should be picking up our unanswered recording the voice mail and then sending the voicemail message as an MP3 to a nominated mailbox via email. Braindead BT don't do this.
My advice - hold firm if you're confident there was an old BT line in there, don't let any sarcastic or condescending salesperson try and tell you (and get you to pay)otherwise, try and find the old number from the previous occupant, don't call 150 and write directly to the chairmans office (politely) demanding service - last time I looked they still had to provide service to all households as part of their operating contract
Like everything to do with BT I wish their monopoly of the local link was destroyed completely and utterly.
Come back to BT? No way Jose.
If you want some depressing reading, try http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/btsupplier/3201865-haydon-wick-migration-part-3.html?page=15&view=collapsed - part 3 of a long saga, this part has nearly 300 posts alone! This forum could be of use to you anyway.
Don't forget that BT Broadband, BT Wholesale, and BT OpenReach are independent companies and they do NOT talk to each other. Perhaps their phones don't work?
Oh, and I can't get anything other than BT Broadband because BT OpenReach's information says I'm still connected to the old exchange and that that exchange doesn't have LLU for BeBroadband (which is true, but the new exchange does - and that's the one I am connected to).
Surprisingly, emailing cceo@bt.com usually results in a human response, normally of British origin.
The worst bit for me was that the Chairmans office eventually admitted that if I had said nothing they would NEVER have been able to trace that I had an active, free of charge (both line rental and call cost) phone line. I would never have had to pay again. I guess my honesty has cost me this time but I don't really mind as I am receiving the service. It would have been nice though :-)
Moneysaver