BT Complaint Forum - Customer Service Complaints | Tips | Advice

BT Customer Services are a disgrace!

2012-05-15T23:25:00.000+01:00

Dear BT Complaints, where do I begin? Every time I move house I get problems after problems about something that should be routine for BT Customer Services to sort.

Below is an outline of events of my last move.

Thankfully I detailed every conversation between BT and myself...some dates may be one or two days out. By the end I hope something is resolved to my satisfaction, in quick manner so I can start paying for the correct services.

Well here goes……….

Around 14^th march I called BT to advise then that I was moving house and wanted my broadband and phone line service stopping as from the 19^th march but still wanted to access my e-mail account. As I wanted to continue with BT I gave them my new address and the date I was moving in. On the same day I received an e-mail confirming new install address (which I will keep).

One letter sent by BT to my new address dated 14^th march advising me that the plan was to get me up and running by midnight 02/04/2012 but this might change after a few more checks.

Two more letters sent by BT to my new address dated 15^th march advising me that the plan was to get me up and running by midnight 02/04/2012 but this might change after a few more checks.

On 16^th march I received an e-mail from BT with details of my move of address involving the telephone numbers required.

Some point between 20/03/2012 and 02/04/2012 a new hub arrived at my address which I found a little strange as I already had a business hub. I signed for it and kept it boxed.

02/04/2012 the planned date of an engineer. A new line from the house to the outside pole was installed along with a open reach box inside, filters, the connection of the delivered hub and a new phone number is all up and running.

A bill dated 04/04/2012 arrived through my door for £165.19 (rental charges of £52.66, one off charges of £85.00 and vat of £27.53)

The one off charges of £79.00 for new hub and £6.00 for delivery of said hub.

After receiving this bill I called BT to question the charges for the hub and was given two options, either pay for the hub or a jiffy bag will be sent for me to return it. I opted to return it as I already had a BT business hub.

Shortly after the conversation I received a customer satisfaction survey on my mobile number, which required me to rate my experience of satisfaction that I had just received, I filled each question and sent them back by text.

On the same day as the survey or the day after I had a call on my mobile from BT who wanted some feed back the answers I gave in the survey. I told them the story regarding the hub and told her that at no point did I ask for the hub or I was advised a hub was being sent to me or I was going to be charged for a new hub or for its delivery. They told me that I should never been given the option of sending the hub back and for the mix up they would arrange a credit of £100.00 to my account and a revised bill would be sent. BT customer service representative also gave me their direct number and asked me to call them if I had any more problems.

Wow thing every thing is sorted…..How wrong I was…..

Bill dated 20/04/2012 came with the £100.00 credit applied. But a balance brought forward of £116.71 on it. I couldn’t understand this charge as my last bill dated 02/01/2012 was paid. I called BT to question this charge and after around an hour on the phone I got nowhere.

The same day or the day after I called again as I wanted to know what this charge was for, it was found that it was for bill dated 03/04/2012 after trying to make the BT customer services advisor that I hadn’t received that bill it came to light that it was sent to my old address. I questioned why as I had moved address and had conformation of move of address and the fact that I had my new line installed on the 02/04/2012 (the day before the bill date).

The next thing that I questioned was the recurring charges figures never been consistent from the bill dated 02/02/2012 to the bill dated 29/04/2012. I was given no explanation.

Again after another phone call to try and get to the bottom of this I finally spoke to someone English other than the rep I spoke to previously. It was found that in the charge of £116.71 I was paying for two broadband accounts (my new one and the one I asked to be stopped on 19/03/2012). He advised me to call the cancellations department on 0800800152 option 4, letting the advisor know that I wanted the broadband cancelling from 19/03/2012. I did this and got a reference number. The gentleman who told me I was paying for two broadband accounts told me he would look out to make sure of the cancellation and send a revised bill.

Job sorted...Not a chance!

30^th April I received a phone call from BT telling me that I had an overdue account and I was going to be cut off. (AT THIS STAGE I AM GETTING VERY P**SED OFF). During my shouting and screaming at her down the phone I told her the whole story and how frustrated with BT I was and I was waiting for a revised bill. After over half an hour the BT customer services rep told me she would find out who I had spoken to from the first call back in march and would get back to me.

Also 30^th April I received an e-mail confirming my old broadband on line number would be stopped on 07/05/2012

P.S I hope when I finally get a bill I won’t be charged up to 07/05/2012 as I asked for it stopping on 19/03/2012.

Monday 7^th May, can’t access my e-mails (blood boiling now). I put 2 and 2 together and realised that as the last e-mail confirming the cancellation of my old broadband on 07/05/2012 that his affected my e-mail access. Called BT yet again, I explained the situation and within 2 seconds me e-mail was back working (yet another English sounding person). During the conversation with the gentleman who took this call I mentioned the cock up with the hub sent to me and I mentioned the previous BT advisor I had talked with, the advisor claimed her knew her, I asked him if he could get in touch with her and ask her to phone me on the number she had done previously. The told me she wasn’t working (May bank holiday) but he would e-mail her my contact details and ask for her to contact me. The advisor suggested it could be as soon as Tuesday 8^th May.

Tuesday 8^th May. Whilst looking on the internet a message came that my account was suspended, the screen prompted me to close the browser and re-open, I did this and got a message stating overdue account and a box in the right hand corner with the words continue browsing, which I clicked on. Once again I called BT and spoke to another foreign person who claimed to be called “Sarah” (my arse). Once again I had to go through the whole story and yet again I was told she would find out some more details and get back to me.

I am still waiting……………………………………………………

I will not be very happy if I get cut off till this matter is resolved, I am not trying to avoid paying my bill, I just want to pay for services I asked for and not ones that I asked to be cancelled sometime ago.

£500 fee in 8 months for going over broadband allowance

2012-03-02T13:26:00.000Z

This recent BT complaint about broadband allowance charges is terrible. Terrible in the fact that because this customer had chosen not to have paper billing and thus do their bit to save the environment, in doing so cost them £500 of fees as they did not receive emails informing them of charges for going over their broadband allowance due to a mistake on their email address setup.

Dear BT Complaint

I've gone over my broadband allowance for 8 months but BT have never notified me so i've paid £500 on top of my normal bill!

I'm completely gutted. We are a large family and this has hit us hard. We chose not to have paper billing so did not see the bills mounting and the email that I should have received from BT to say we had reached our limit did not have my correct email address on it so I wasn't aware of the direct debts that they were taking until I started running short of money in my account.

I have spoken to someone from BT today and he said it was all my fault as the incorrect email address was on the account!

Strange as I have been receiving emails from BT for all other correspondence but they said the dot (.) was missing from my address when I set up the broadband.

So I have decided to end my contract, close the phoneline and the kids will now have to go round to friends to go on the internet as we have had enough!

It would not have been so bad if BT had met me half way with some of the £500 but it fell on deaf ears.

Sad as i've been a loyal customer for 25 years. Well you learn the hard way sometimes. Just another example of how easy it is to lose a large sum of money by a . going missing from an email address.

10 years of needless payments for 2 phonelines

2012-03-02T13:16:00.000Z

Dear BT Complaints

We've been with BT for over 10 years and have always been happy with the service until this January when we found out that we've been provided with a service that was not necessary and have paid a monthly rental on a phone line that was not needed!

We originally set up a separate phone line as we were under the misconception that we needed this line so that any internet use would not stop us being contacted by phone. For your records the phone line was 01226xxxxxx and the separate line number was 01226xxxxxx. At this stage we were not informed that this was not necessary.

Over the years we have rung and questioned a number of your operators as to why we have phone packages attached to the line (291xxx), for example Unlimited Evening and Weekend Plan when the line is only used for the internet. Not once have any of your employees told us that we do not need a line for the internet. I am also sure that they can see that we have never made any calls from this line which has cost us £13.90 per month.

We are both well educated professionals but neither my husband nor myself are good at anything technical to do with broadband so we have trusted that BT would advise us correctly. Imagine our shock when we found out that we did not need two lines!

We rang to close our account and put in a complaint on February 2nd 2012. We were informed that our complaint would be dealt with and we would be contacted within 5 working days. The phone call came after seven working days on Monday 13th February when one of your employees offered us a pathetic six months rental for over 10 years of deceit. We refused and were told that someone else would contact us within 5 working days. That was 14 days ago!

We are assuming that now we are no longer with BT that our complaint is very low on the priority list, however we are willing to take this further if it is not dealt with promptly and have decided to put the complaint in writing in order that we have a paper trail.

We are expecting your call within the next 5 working days.

Yours sincerely

Sue and Gary Cooper

Early Termination Charges

2012-03-02T13:04:00.000Z

Dear BTcomplaint.com, due to BT’s high prices, tying customers into long contracts with hefty termination charges, and often very poor level of customer service, I was pleased to read some small print at the bottom of a recent email regarding BT increasing their early termination charges.

I quote *If as a result of this change you decide to terminate your service(s), you may do so without incurring the early termination charge that may otherwise be payable if you are terminating within the minimum term of your contract. If you wish to exercise this right you must contact us within 10 days of receiving this notification. You will still be liable for service charges up to the date of termination’.

Sounds good to me. So I telephoned BT same day to let them know that I wanted to exercise my right to terminate my services. I had to spend a long time on the phone and forwarded the email to 2 BT employees who had no idea of this policy, however one of them finally agreed that I could go ahead and switch providers without incurring termination charges. I even made sure that this was recorded against my account notes.

A few weeks later my broadband had switched and I phoned BT just to enquire about when the phone would be switching, and whether I would have any loss of service. I was informed at this point that I would face termination charges. I was asked to forward the email (for the third time) so that she could have a look.

I then received this response:-

I have looked through the email that you have sent and my manager has also confirmed that you will be held to term on the package that you have if you wish to cancel. The email you have received from BT, informs you that the held to term charges would be increasing, not that you can cancel with no charges.

I replied politely saying that I don’t think she had read the same small print that I had, and could she confirm, but alas I have had no reply

BT, you’ve seriously annoyed me now, I have spent around £1,500 with you over the last 4 years, without a single late payment.

I have now cancelled my direct debits, I have lodged a complaint. I refuse absolutely to pay any cancellation charges. I will NEVER use BT ever again (I have a long memory). And I will ensure that I publicise my poor BT customer service experience at every opportunity

Will M

Paying for broadband service which is just not there!

2012-02-23T20:33:00.000Z

Dear BT Complaints, why am I paying for a broadband service which is only useable for 3 or 4 hours a day? I can be in the middle of something important and suddenly the screen tells me there is no broadband connection- when I look at the hub, broadband is showing as connected.

I then have no broadband for anything up to two DAYS. Alternately, I am working and suddenly the blue connection light goes off, and I have no broadband; nothing has been touched or altered, I am just cut off with no explanation. I keep being told I need new filters; I can assure you I do not, and am certainly not going to pour good money after bad buying something I do not need.

The broadband service is so s.l.o.w. that I frequently just switch the computer off; I don't have an hour to wait while the service gets going.

I asked about having this looked into, and was told I would have to pay an engineer £96.00!!!!! I live on a State pension, and in any case, I am already paying you for a service which is slow, inadequate and overcharged.

How about refunds for all the times I cannot use my computer because your so-called “service” is no service at all? Once my contract is up, you have definitely lost another customer (plus the ones I have already warned about your appalling provision.

Nuisance and Abusive calls from Telephone number 0843 684 6142

2012-02-23T20:30:00.000Z

Dear sir / madam,

I am repeatedly have these unsolicited selling / nuisance calls from some company called Accident Claim Line etc. etc. or something like this (I think I am correct) telephone number 0843 684 6142

I have these calls everyday and few times a day from different people claiming to be
Accident Claim etc. etc. and I keep on telling them that I am not interested but no change.

Today I had a couple of calls which I ignored by saying the same thing “not interested, thank you”. BUT the last call which I had around 16.24 or so was from a person who said that his name was IMRAN, I repeated the same thing by saying that I was not interested and further more I said, “Do not call me anymore as I keep on getting these calls again and again”.

IMRAN (the guy on phone) replied “SHUT UP YOU IDIOT” and put the phone down.
My Telephone Number is 0121 554 5351

Can you take some strict action immediately without fail, because we are fed up of these people and if possible disconnect these ill mannered abusive people/company making unsolicited nuisance calls all day and everyday. I find out that a lot of people are fed up and have complained but no action has been taken just because BT is more interested in making money rather than disconnecting companies like this immediately, do I need to complain OFCOM.

I look forward to your early response.
Regards.

Ajay Kapur.

Exceed your BT broadband usage allowance and you'll be charged £5 per 5gb

2012-02-22T14:13:00.000Z

Complaints are flooding in about BT broadband monthly allowance usage charge. Depending on your package (if you have unlimited broadband you will be fine) you will be charged a fee of £5 for every 5gb of usage that you exceed you allowance.

Here's a recent complaint about this. Please leave a comment below this complaint if you feel these broadband usage charges are unfair or any other experiences you have had with broadband usage fees.

Dear Sir,

I have just received notification that I will be charged £5.00 for exceeding my monthly bandwidth usage by 3GB. Having been a loyal BT customer for over eight years, this is the first time, maybe second time, that I have exceeded my allowance by a couple of GB's.

Fair enough, I understand that exceeding your bandwidth policy will incur extra charges, I also understand that, this is to prevent customers using excessive bandwidth which they have not paid for.

However, there are many hundreds of times where I have not used up my monthly allowance. Are you willing to reimburse me for the many hundreds of Gigabytes that remain unused? I think not!

In my opinion, this is penny pinching on your part; it is not the way to treat your loyal customers, and when my contract with you expires later this year, I am seriously considering moving to another ISP.

Yours sincerely

M Winwood

Who keeps ringing me?

2012-02-22T13:44:00.000Z

Another BT customer complaining about unwanted annoying sales calls. We are getting increasing numbers of complaints saying "Who the hell keeps ringing me!" In this particular complaint, the telephone number is 02031671196.

Dear BTcomplaint.com

I've had at least 14 calls over the last 2 weeks, once a day around midday every weekdays plus once in the evening.

I have not got a reply and when I rang the number it was not possible to get through. The telephone number is 002031671196

It must be obvious to whoever is calling I don't want them to call and I'm worried as to their intensions with all you hear about the fraudulant use of numbers.

I rang the nuisance call department on 13/1/2012 to ask for help and was asked to keep a log of the phone calls. this I did and rang back today (1/2/2012 ). I was told nothing could be done unless I paid for an extra service to stop unwanted calls. I was under the impression I already had this service at no cost.

I am an elderly person and cannot afford to pay any more money out. These calls are really worrying me as to their unknown intensions and if there is no way you can stop them I will have to find another company who provide a more secure and thoughtful service.

T.Tharme

Intermitent Broadband Connection

2012-02-22T13:38:00.000Z

Dear BT Complaints

I've been having problems with intermitent broadband connections for over two weeks now. The broadband connection can go off for up to anything up to 6 hours at a time then seem to work well for a couple of hours before losing the broadband again. I phoned up BT Customer Services helpline yesterday morning and spoke to a gentleman who said I would be getting a from phone call from technical support between 5am and 7am that evening no phone call came.

This morning I phoned up again and was apologised to and then put through to another number where I was on hold for over an hour before giving up .I am sending this e-mail at a time that my broadband is actually working. Is it possible to actually speak to someone without being passed from pillar to post. I would appreciate a reply or phone call to resolve this problem.

No Broadband for 22 days

2012-02-13T21:26:00.000Z

Dear BT Complaints

At least your website has given me some “mental therapy” in knowing I am not alone; when trying to contact BT and explain issues, you can end up feeling totally alone and not knowing where to turn or how to deal with the stress invoked by hours of trying to communicate with multiple, faceless call centre operatives based in India.

You can’t even shout at the individual people as they know nothing of your problem and are not personally responsible. The following is the text of my e-mail communication to BT. Pending the scheduled engineer visit on 15th February, I still have no broadband service in my new home and, hence, cannot live there.

“My complaint is to do with the level of customer service received from BT and the fact I have had no broadband now for 22 days and counting, due to a BT employee error.

Timeline of events:

1. My new Total Broadband service was activated on 6th January & I was very happy with it.

2. On or around 18th January, someone called Hussain 'from BT' telephoned to advise me I was being given free evening & weekend calls. I said I already had this as part of my BT package, but he said I definitely did not & he would sign me up for it.

3. On 23rd January, I noticed the broadband light on the hub had turned amber & initially thought this was a technical 'blip'. I left it overnight.

4. 24th January when I was due to work from home, I got up early to check the internet connection & found it still not working. I then spent the whole morning on the phone to various BT employees who initially told me I had cancelled my own contract & they would charge me over £200 for doing this.

After being passed around several departments, the Order Management team confirmed a BT employee had cancelled the contract in error, putting through the package for free weekend/evening calls which I indeed already had. They said despite it taking 5 seconds to push the cancel button, it would take 5 working days to reactivate the account. When I explained none of this was my fault and I relied on my connection for work, I received a call back to say the activation would be fast-tracked and reactivated within 48 hours.

Meanwhile, I lost an entire day at work and had to subsequently work on my day off to make up for it. I also had to relocate from my home to an alternative location, at my own expense, in order to continue working from the next day onwards. Despite the assurance my order would be fast-tracked, my connection was not reactivated until the full 5 days at midnight on 31st January.

5. 1st February I received an email informing me the broadband was reactivated but I could not risk being unable to work, so did not travel back home until 7th February. On return, I found no change to my hub status & it was not possible to connect to the internet. I spent a further 2 hours on the phone to different BT call centre operatives, who told me they had no reference to my previous issues because their notes were archived after 5 days.

I therefore had to go through the whole sorry story again, before being told I would need to be sent a new hub, which would take 2-3 days to arrive. I explained it would have to be sent to an alternative address as I would have to travel away from home again in order to continue working. I spent at least 15 minutes going through the alternative delivery details with the operative who repeated everything back to me twice, having obtained permission to do this from his supervisor.

6. On the same day, I also spoke to the billing services department to ensure I would not be charged the cancellation fee and that I would receive a rebate for the period of service unavailable. I also stated I wished to make a complaint as I did not consider a simple rebate for days when broadband was unavailable was acceptable. I was given a reference number VOL01141504721 & told someone would contact me within 7 working days regarding the complaint. To date, I have heard nothing.

7. For the next few days, I worked from the alternative location and awaited delivery of the replacement hub. This did not arrive, but I did receive an email confirming the order was completed. However, the mail quoted the original home address. Thus, my instructions were ignored and the package delivered to an address where I knew I would not be present due to lack of internet. By pure good chance, gardeners were present at the time of delivery and put the packages somewhere safe.

8. To try and resolve the BT problems, I cancelled a flight that was non-refundable in order to return home and arrived on Sunday 15th February. I installed the new hub, but the result was no different to all the above trials. I spent a further hour on the phone to various BT employees, being escalated to 'Priority Care'.

After a repeat of diagnostic tests, most of which I had already done with the first person & one of which involved unscrewing the phone socket box from the wall (!!), it was decided an engineer would need to be called. An appointment was booked for Wednesday, 18th Feb and I will have to take a second day off work to travel back and be there for the appointment, which should take place between 1pm and 6pm.

9. To date, I have had to make four separate round trips of 136 miles (544 miles) with the associated petrol costs and four toll charges (£24). My cancelled flights totalled £60. I've taken two days off work, been forced to continue paying £23 per month to O2 for a broadband connection that does work, despite having moved in December; have endured countless hours of telephone calls to BT, all thanks to the mistake of one BT employee.

I am now at the end of my tether, still do not have broadband working and am fast losing patience with BT as a service provider. Very soon I will be reliant on BT 100% and this experience does not leave me with any confidence I should continue to receive services from them.

10. As stated in my telephone complaint which has been 100% ignored, in addition to a fully working telephone and broadband service, I expect BT to make suitable reparation and compensation to me for the appalling and unacceptable service I have been subjected to, causing considerable inconvenience and stress to me personally, all based on factors totally outside my control.

11. I look forward to hearing your response.”

Best regards,
Alison

BT Customer Services Department Complaint

2012-02-08T21:54:00.000Z

Dear BT Complaints, I'd like to share with you my compaint about BT customer services department and my complaint is as follows:

I paid £130 for line connection this was done with no test to the line as if it had it would have found a fault on the line. I had dial tone but broadband was .56 of a Mbit!

I telephoned on the 7th of feb and after going through all the scrips and checks I was told after approx a hour that there was a fault on the line and that the technical desk would ring me on the 8th of feb at five o'clock this never happened.

I rang them and waited 15 minutes to speak to someone when I did get through we started to through the same script and checks as the night before, I was told to take the front plate off which meant we would be cut off when this happened I was called back but each time I answered I was cut off at this stage I lost all hope in getting help.

Questions:

1. If you could not get through to me on landline why not try mobile which he had.
2. Why was the line not checked when connected I did wait in house all day for this to happen.
3. I paid £130 for this connection which is not to the standard expected.

If you can not provide the service that is expected I will cancel all services with Bt and use an alternative provider who can provide the service required.

No Broadband For 19 Days

2012-02-07T12:55:00.000Z

Dear BT Complaints, I can honestly say that my recent experience of BT Broadband Technical Support has been the worst Customer Service experience of my whole life! This is a potted version of events.

I lost my BT Broadband service on Friday 13th January.
The service was eventually restored on Thursday 2nd Feb.
I made over a dozen calls from to BT’s Broadband Technical Support.
I was eventually contacted by nice man in BT’s Leeds 161 office who got things moving.
The key issue was that during the process, ‘someone’ cancelled my broadband account, which meant the local engineer could not change the faulty part, even though he knew it was faulty!
This issue was known to me on 16th Jan when I was called by an engineer who was at the local exchange, poised and ready to fix my problem. So, I asked him to restore the broadband service to my number, only to be told that I had to do it. (WHY I hear you ask!??)
So I rang broadband support on 16th Jan and asked for it to be done.
Rang again and again during the week.
At some point my problem was escalated to ‘level 2’ support, which sounds promising but still didn’t get anything done.
On 23rd Jan I am rung again from the local exchange to be told there is still no broadband service on the number.
I ring broadband technical support again, explain the problem, ask them to reinstate the broadband service, and get very angry.
I repeat this process for the next four to five days.
I am contacted by the Leeds band of BT guardian angels who take me under their wing.
Thursday 2nd Feb, and we are finally back online!

Summary of BT Failings

They terminated my broadband service so that the fault would not interfere with the land line service. However, I have another landline which we use almost exclusively for voice, and the original broadband fault caused me minimal disruption because it was cured by simply rebooting the router. So, they took away my broadband altogether to give me a voice service that I didn’t need! Nice one!
BT’s Broadband Technical support desk is manned by very well meaning people. However, they do not speak directly to the local broadband engineers and have to rely on notes left on the fault log. This means that I usually knew more about the problem than they did. They also did not seem to grasp that the problem was because the broadband service needed to be restored to my line. (Unless they did know, but didn’t want to tell me that I had been put into a long queue of people waiting for the same thing to be done, or maybe even behind setting up new customers’ accounts??)
Each time you call the helpdesk you have to go through:
Select the options.
Listen to someone telling me to try rebooting my router.
Security questions.
Re-explain the problem.
And then, after I became a ‘level 2’ issue,
Hold while transferred to ‘level 2’, followed by:
Security questions.
Re-explain the problem.
This can easily take 20 mins and several cycles through the ‘eine kleine nachtmusik’.

Voicemail Stopped Working

2012-02-07T12:50:00.000Z

Dear BT Complaints, last December I moved my phone billing back to BT to take advantage of their pre-payment discount and fixed monthly all-in tariff together with services such as the 1571 voicemail facility which I already had with previous company.

About a month ago 1571 stopped working. Callers get the message that it is not "enabled". I get the message that I am "not subscribed to the service" despite confirmation from BT and the last 2 call centre "engineers" saying they understood the problem which would be fixed in "3 working days"

31st January came and went with no fix; as has today (6th.February).

I need the 1571 service as I often fail the hear the phone and bought a new BT phone with a 1571 button that flashes if a message has been left.

I can't face another wait to get through to BT Customer Services on 0800 800 151 only to have to restate my problem and be given another date when it will be fixed.

Help!

Mike Perrett

BT Infinity - Super Fast Broadband Complaint

2012-02-02T22:52:00.000Z

Here's a recent BT complaint sent in about BT's super fast broadband service BT Infinity.

Dear sirs,

At the beginning of January a letter from BT came through my door stating that BT infinity superfast broadband had arrived in my area!! As the normal broadband speed is very slow ( 1-2 mb ) in my area I was excited to think that super fast broadband was coming!! The lady on the phone said yes I could have it and my speed would increase to 21.9mb. I was delighted with this news and signed up for BT infinity.

The engineer called on the 18th of January to connect BT infinity but could not get the speed I was told! He said the overhead lines to my house were badly degraded and need sorting out! He did not have the skills to climb poles and fix this so he said he would tell control and another engineer would call to sort the overhead lines.

On the 2nd of February another engineer called but had no idea about sorting the overhead lines and thought he was just doing a standard installation, needless to say he could not achieve the promised speed and left my house leaving behind a second hub box? Wires and mess and no working broadband at all!! After about an hour of telephone calls to BT I have been told that BT have no intention of sorting out the degraded overhead lines and I would only be able to have a max speed of 12mb!! I have cancelled BT infinity as I am not paying for super fast broadband that is slower than standard broadband!!

I still have no working broadband and after another hour long conversation I have been told an engineer will call to my house in the next 24 hours to sort this!

I am appalled at the very poor service from BT and can inform you that at least 6 potential customers in my village will not be signing up for BT infinity as I have told them about lack of care and interest shown by BT. I have also put a warning on the village website advising potential customers of BT not to bother!

I doubt I will get any response from " customer services " as nobody seems to care. Now I have informed you of this I take you will not be offering BT infinity in this area or if you do customers will be told before they sign up that super fast broadband is very slow broadband and is not worth the extra money!!

A very upset and disillusioned customer.

Karl Oxley

Switched Telephone and Broadband Provider - Not Good!

2012-01-25T13:39:00.000Z

An angry customer who switched telephone and broadband provider to join BT complains about pretty much everything! Not a good case study for anyone thinking about switching to BT services.

Dear BT

I‘m writing to tell you the tale of woe that your company has brought upon myself and my partner. I will quickly go through the whole experience has it happened:

Had a phone call from a BT sales adviser in October 2010, he asked me what I was currently paying my Sky and Virgin packages and worked it out that BT would be cheaper and my phone bill would work out a lot cheaper. I explained that I currently pay between £25 to £35 on my monthly phone bill for Virgin which includes the broadband.

He convinced me to buy the whole BT package, BT Vision, Internet, Phone and WiFi, even said we didn’t have to do anything because BT would take care of everything. Sounded like a good deal? He said it would take a couple of days to reconnect us at a minimum cost, I mentioned at the time that we had already got all the BT connection already around the house. Then it would take a few weeks to get the TV and Internet sorted and that BT would contact us. Again I asked if we needed to do anything and the answer was no BT would take care of cancelling all the other contacts.

BT customer services did get in touch with us within a couple of days and Tracey my partner arranged for them to come and do the reconnection. When he came it took him 5 minuets to do the reconnecting if that.
We then were still waiting for someone to ring about the TV and Internet, then the first bill came £127 reconnection fee and 3 months upfront payment on the unlimited anytime plan at £55.80. (nobody ever mentioned this and £127 for 5 minutes work, ridiculous!!)

I then made contact with your call centre abroad somewhere, and got nowhere trying to explain what had happened to a Asian guy on the phone who in the end advised me to write a letter of complaint. That was in December.

Throughout Christmas and the New Year and January still no word or call from BT regarding TV and internet.
Get another bill from BT for £56.02. Worked out the monthly average at £44.8, which is way over the costs we had which Virgin which included the broadband.

Ear ache from my partner eventually made me ring your phone call centre again this week, explained in detail the whole story, at one point I thought the guy from the call centre had nodded off because of the long pause, but he said he couldn’t do anything and would ask his supervisor to ring back within the hour ( I rung at 5-15pm ). I waited until 10-45pm last night before giving up and going to bed.

Lastly and not least, we were promised that BT would contact Virgin and sort out the phone, WELL YOU DIDN’T and we have still the standing order going off our bank account.

Can someone please give me an explanation on what’s going on, I feel sick on going back to BT, this has already cost me over £150 extra in payments than just keeping everything as it was. Your call centre is inefficient and the people don’t know how to deal with conflict, and you have salesman that tell customers a pack of lie’s!

Yours Sincerely, A very disgruntled customer

Andy Hallas

Broadband Complaint and Compensation Claim

2012-01-25T13:30:00.000Z

Here is another BT broadband complaint about troubles switching broadband provider and refund requested.

Dear Sirs

I recently moved my personal phone and broad band services form BT to Sky - due to huge cost savings available. Shortly afterwards a BT sales person contacted me to ensure that BT kept by business lines and Broadband with BT. He offered to reduce my broad band costs from £95 per quarter to £30 per quarter . I agreed to this and an order was set up.

The sales person insisted however that I needed to move by broadband from line 01452xxxxxx to another line of 01452xxxxxxx. As we have 2 lines with this number I asked which line our IT support people should use for connecting the ADSL router. he informed me either lines will work.

The work was scheduled for 19/01/2012. I booked our support company AL Networks to carry out the changeover in our offices on that date. BT then wrote the day before to cancel this date and gave me a new date of 24/01/2012. I rebooked AL Networks to attend on the 25th to carry out the network changes, router set up , new passwords, software etc (as per BT correspondences).

On the 25th, Al Networks attended. After an hour, they were struggling to access internet services given all the details that BT had provided and concluded that the ADSL line could not be working. On contacting BT , I was told that the order was live but not yet actioned. I then received a call back after around 30 minutes to say that the lines 01452xxxxxxx were not compatible with broad band. As my son in law is a BT broadband specialist I queried this with him. He confirmed within 10 minutes that the lines were fine for broadband. Further calls to and from BT disclosed the fact that I did not need to change lines at all and that I had been sold a limited usage broad band service - all this despite the fact that this is a business account.

Finally BT Reading called and confirmed that I should switch back to my old number to get broad band as the old line had not yet been turned off. He confirmed that it was not being turned off. Once Al Networks had reconfigured everything to the original set up we were able to start working again now that our broad band was working. Harminder confirmed that he could offer me a new price of £54 per quarter for broad band which I accepted at this time just to get the broad band working.

My complaint covers the fact that I was approached by BT to sign up for a new contract at lower price. The result has been that I now have to pay for 2 hours on site for Al Networking (£75/hr plus callout fee = total £225) just because BT is a disorganised shambles. We lost 2 hours of work (we are an on line retailer) which equated to around £500 of lost sales. Further we are now paying £24 per month more than quoted by BT for broad band per quarter. Over 2 years (the contract length this will cost me an additional £192.00. Finally my own time of 2 hours that would have been charged out at £75 per hour = £150

My total out of pocket costs for BT's inability to organise themselves is £1067.00 plus Vat.

At this time I would ask you to put me in funds to this value either by cheque or credit to our account. Failure to respond to this request or e-mail will result in an invoice being issued. Failure to pay within a reasonable time or to acknowledge the the invoice will result in the debt being handed over for collection.

The whole episode shows how poorly organised BT is.

I look forward to an immediate response.

Kind Regards
Vivian Blick

BT - What don't you understand? My house burnt down!

2012-01-24T19:20:00.000Z

This BT customer services complaint clearly highlights the fact that BT do not listen to their customers. This poor customer had their house burnt down so on top of the stress and worry of this, they had BT to contend with! Here is their complaint.

Dear BTcomplaint.com

On January 1st 2012 my house unfortunately burnt down. As soon as the Bank Holiday was over, I contacted BT and explained the situation. I asked for the phone line and broadband package to be set up in the rental accommodation I moved to. I explained that I needed to be able to communicate with a range of people involved in.insuring my home.

The woman I spoke to said that I was on the wrong package and that if I agreed to take BT Vision I would not incur any charges, although I was changing the contract. I was extremely stressed and distressed at this point and when I realised that BT Vision was not for me – I don’t watch that amount of TV to justify it, I telephoned BT the day after and said that I wished to cancel the BT Vision package and that I was thinking of moving to another, cheaper provider.

The operative I spoke to said that inn that case I would be charged £160 cancellation fee because I would be cancelling my original contract. Because I really could not afford this, I agreed to stay with BT. The operative told me that the original order for the phone and Broadband package, due to be installed on Jan. 18th would be cancelled and they gave me a new date – 23rd. January.

On January 18th the cancelled order appeared to have been filled as the phone line was working with the number the operative had given me and a home hub was delivered. Unfortunately, the Broadband would not connect. We contacted the helpline, which I believe is located in India. They allegedly made several checks on the line and assured us that the Broadband would be working within 48 hours – needless to say it wasn’t. We were then bombarded with texts to say a home hub would be delivered on the 23rd and that an engineer would call.

We waited AGAIN and on the 23rd. an engineer did in fact arrive, as did a second home hub (which I expect I have been charged again for) It then transpired that the number we had been given by BT and which was working, was in fact incorrect. We were then given another number (Of course we had advised everyone of the number we were first given). Eventually, 2 hours after the engineers visit, we were connected to Broadband.

Today, when I visited the remains of my gutted home, I found a letter from BT welcoming the new occupier!

This is after repeatedly telling BT that the house is inhabitable! BTs advertising campaign says ‘It’s good to talk’ – perhaps they should try to LISTEN a little more.

Mrs. J.W. Granger

Complaint to BT - Moving House - No Broadband!

2012-01-20T19:40:00.000Z

Yet another broadband BT customer services complaint about problems moving house. Why can't BT do the simple things right!

Dear BTcomplaint.com

Last month we telephoned BT to let them know we would be moving house on the 21st December 2011. We wished to continue using the services of BT at our new address. The lady on the end of the telephone assured us that everything would be fine. We would receive an email confirming as much. She explained the email would not mention Broadband but not to worry as she would sort that separately. We were given a date in January for an engineer to come tour new address and connect us.

The original date was cancelled, we were given a new later date of 11th January 2012, for an engineer to come out.

We were sent a BT message by text prior to 11th Jan telling us, the engineer appointment was cancelled as our phone line was now working. It was NOT working, so I had to re-instate the engineers appointment.

On the 11th, the engineer came out (a pleasant young man), he went to sort out the green phone box on our estate I believe, then about an hour later he came back and our telephone was working. I asked about our Broadband Internet connection, he said he didn't do that but it would just come on now the line was connected. However the Internet connection was not working. We received a message to say the Internet would start working after midnight. We waited up it did not.

The next day my husband telephoned BT, BT told us they do not do BT in the area! Bizarre as our old address is just 50yards away. We had BT Broadband there no problem. (We thought the problem here might be that our new house is a new build.) However our neighbours have had no problems.

So we decided to telephone SKY and see if they could off or us broadband.Sky told us our landline was with TalkTalk and not BT, even though a BT had recently visited the house to set up out BT phone line. Sky said it was definitely TalkTalk (we have never had any dealings with TalkTalk and have never even approached them) so be told that was bizarre.

On a separate note I have appeared to make contacting BT sound easy, when it was not. It involved lenghty waiting, being put on hold, transferred and being told to dial other numbers. As I write this apparently the people we need to speak to are not open until Monday!

We are still without Internet.We do have a line, but goodness knows who it's with. The most annoying thing is we have no person/point of contact at BT who we can speak to sort it out. No one at BT who we can speak to to sort it out. No one at BT so far will take up our issue so we're passed from pillar to post!

You will agree we have not received to date good service. Please would you contact us with regard to this matter asap. We are still without Broadband. We have a land line that BT connected but no idea who it is with.

Yours faithfully
Rachel Akathiotis

Waste Of Time - BT Customer Services

2012-01-20T19:29:00.000Z

I wish to submit this BT complaint having just spent another 40 mins on the phone to your broadband help desk. This now brings the total to over 5 hours! Every time I get told 'I'm an expert and will fix the problem once and for all'....yet again not done!

But the main problem is one of your BT engineers deleted my internet operating system saying I didnt need it anymore. I do need it as I cant use my laptop anywhere else apart from home any more. Which totally is the reason for a laptop to use away from home. In the last call I asked for over 20 minutes of how to complain to be told there is no number to complain you can only speak to a supervisor. As it was a supervisor who deleted my operating system. All I kept being told was "there is no other way to make a complaint" I said I have looked it up now and told dont bother it does not work! So I hope it does.

I have also been told to take my computer to a local engineer and get it re installed GEE THANKS.
I want to know what will be done and why i have to phone every other day with the same problem!! to be told its ok its fixed now!

But I would be able to do it myself if the system had not been deleted. Please will someone call me after 6pm tomorrow to resolve this matter if not will have to take it further.

G Kirkham

No Broadband - Help!

2012-01-20T19:13:00.000Z

Yet another complaint from an unhappy BT customer complaining about no broadband. Sound familiar?

Dear BT Complaint.com

My broadband starting playing up on Saturday. I contacted BT on Sunday afternoon because the hub signal keep going to orange then blue then orange.

I was told there was a billing issue which I know is not the case as my BT bill is up to date I spent over 1 hour on the phone to 3different people and the last a manager told me there was nothing wrong with the bill and billing would phone me between 10am &11am on Monday 16/1/2012 no call came what a shock I rang when I got in from work around 16-30 and once again I was told it was a billing issue after 45 minutes of hanging on the phone I was told there was no problem with my account.

I was told by a BT advisor they would keep an eye on my account for 24 hours and call me back Tuesday 17/1/2012 at 5pm what a surprise no phone call and still my Bt hub was showing orange I rang 150 again to complain about the service and treatment from Bt over 1 hour again being bounced from pillar to post and being cut off twice someone agreed with myself there was a problem with my hub.

They couldn't get onto the page they needed to get me a engineer out but assured me that I would get a call from that department this morning to get an engineer out ASAP it's now 12-45 in the afternoon of 18/1/2012 and yes you have guest it no call again I'm sick of being passed from person to person and I feel they don't really care about me having no broadband which I'm paying for I've spent over 3 hours speaking to different people and if it's not sorted out within the next 48 hours I'm moving to another company because I've had enough of Bt and their lack of service.

Stevie G.

Keep Telephone Number When Moving House - Easy Enough? Nope!

2012-01-20T19:00:00.000Z

I write to complain about what I see as appalling service from B.T. Customer Services. I am not confident that what I have been told is going to happen such is the information I have received from B.T. to date.

There are costs involved that I would claim should not be paid by me and other consequential costs that I believe should be covered by you as some degree of compensation such has been the upsetting and frustrating nature of dealings with you.

Let me set the picture for you:

• After 37 years living at this house and having the same (except for updating changes) no. for this time, my wife and I have decided to move home. My provider TalkTalk was contacted but informed me that they could not provide the same telephone number at my new home despite our new home being only ½ mile away.

• My choice therefore was to move with TalkTalk, change the phone number but at least I would keep one item of contact with us i.e. our e-mail address.

• Having discussed this my wife and we decided to go with the other alternative, namely, switching provider to B.T. in order to protect the telephone number and change our e-mail address.

• I therefore proceeded to cancel my TalkTalk contract and was told by them that this could be done but I would have to pay a cancellation fee as I had an 18 month contract with them. I must stress at this time that we have been very happy with the talktalk service for many years and would have preferred to have them provide the phone and internet service at our new hom.

• I placed an order with B.T. therefore with the express condition that the phone number would move with us.

• I then chose to have a new e-mail address but have since preferred to use another one.

• Eventually I received a phone call from your Home Moving department to inform me that in order to provide the service, I required BT would need to provide the service to our present home and then request that the BT service be moved WITH THE SAME NUMBE. to our new home at Glaslyn.

I remember this phone call very well as the lady had to call me back when I enquired what the cost would be. She informed me that there would not be any charge for the interim service and that the date for this service was December 6th 2011. I agreed to proceed and we have enjoyed the B.T. Internet and phone services since then as we have not yet moved but own our new home at Glaslyn.

• It has been so important to my wife and I that the service we needed was implemented that I checked on several occasions that all was as we had ordered. I was assured that all was well.

• On 19th December 2011 I received correspondence AT GLASLYN from B.T. stating: ‘We’ve ordered the transfer of your number(s) back to B.T., as you requested

• When I referred to this letter recently to one of your staff said that it didn’t mean that I would be keeping the same telephone number! When I asked what on earth it did mean, if not what it stated, I did not receive an explanation. Perhaps you can interpret for me? I also received a letter of the same date confirming the order and confirming our Direct Debit details.

• On 6th January I received an e-mail from BT to my old email address stating ‘GOOD NEWS your home phone no is 0292xxxxxxx

• I received a phone message on my mobile 07917xxxxxx stating that B.T. was ready to move my service with the same no. to ‘Glaslyn’. I was given a no. to call 0116xxxxxx and discovered this was Balfour Beatty who confirmed they were handling the order for B.T.

Previously I had received a ‘phone call from a B.T. Home Moving who transferred me to Portability Dept who stated that the number was on a different exchange and could not be moved with us. He did however state that he felt that if he spoke to the engineers directly he was pretty sure that this could be done. He said he would take a personal interest in this and call me back that day (he finished at 4pm) or certainly the next day. This was 9th Jan but nothing has been heard from him. You will understand therefore that I had to start my own investigations to see what was happening.

• My initial enquiries led me to believe that B.T. had cancelled the order and I would have to start all over again to place a new order!

• My explanation above has been long but I had to repeat the facts to: your Infinity dept, your Investigation dept, Home Movers dept, Portability dept and New Acct people.

• The latter was engaged because I was getting absolutely nowhere in knowing what was happening. I was allocated a new phone no at Glaslyn 029 xxxxxxx with a reference of 6017xxxxxx. I was also informed that once the service was set up I could apply to change the no. to 029 xxxxxxx !!!!! How can this be so if, as I was told, the different exchanges made this impossible.

• Yesterday I received an e-mail stating that the BT service at Glaslyn (which is not yet activated) would STOP. I telephoned again to be told that it didn’t mean that – it really meant that the new service would be provided on 9th February – I have no confidence left.

• I think that at that time my patience and exasperation reached their maximum. Presumably you can access these e-mails and fully understand how I now feel?

I would also like to inform you that my wife Jill Edwards MBE is a National and International President of an important sporting body who is halfway through her 2-year term. It is important therefore to advise a very large list of contacts what her contact no’s and e-mail addresses will be. I cannot yet do that can I?

I apologise for the length of this letter but I do not think you would appreciate the position without a full explanation.

Please let us know what is to happen and when before you address the position of covering our costs and providing compensation.

I will also try to send this by e-mail as well as by post I note you attempt to reply within 2 days if this is done.

I have asked that at a cost of £30.60 that calls are forwarded to our new address but this may not be necessary – depending what you have to state.

Yours faithfully

Alan M. Edwards

A Complaint to BT Customer Services

2012-01-20T18:43:00.000Z

This is BT complaint was recently sent to BT Customer Services and ourselves to publish here on btcomplaint.com

Dear BT

In March of last year (2011) I “returned to BT” I wish I could say this was a happy return, but unfortunately I did not find it so. I was constantly telephoned by BT Sales personal asking me to “come back”, I eventually said I would if BT could match what I was being charged by Talk Talk (with whom I had never had any problems); my bills at that time were around £33-35 per month. I required free evening & weekend calls, unlimited broadband and BT Vision. This was agreed. This is where the problems started.

I was told that I would be contacted by sales to confirm the order, no-one rang, I contacted BT and was told that no-way could I have the package I was promised, it did not exist and I was offered a more expensive option.

I eventually after quite a few ‘phone calls by me I spoke to a rather nice young man in BT Customer Services who shall remain anonymous in this complaint. He confirmed that BT would in fact honour what I was quoted, because of the problems I had encountered I would have my BT box free of charge and the one-off connection fee would be waived. I was told that when I received my initial letter it would state a higher charge but he would alter this for me (he could not do this prior the start date). I accepted this in good faith.

Unfortunately at that time I did not follow my order through as closely as I should have for personal reasons; for this I apologise.

The first time I noticed that something was wrong was when I was contacted by my Bank saying that my payment for BT had been returned. This I eventually found out was because the monthly payment was coming out of my account at different times of the month. I was expecting my monthly payment (the same each month) to come out on the same date each month, when the money would be available. This obviously was not happening.

I emailed the young man straight away (several times in fact but he never returned my emails.

I then spoke directly to BT and I was told that I had left it too late to complain about my new account and I was lucky to have a package for £42. I agreed (grudgingly to pay £55 (a rounded up figure) each month and for this payment to correspond with my salary.

The young man in BT Customer Services was sent an email and asked to contact me to discuss my account direct from BT, again no contact was forthcoming.

I again thought all was well until I became aware that BT had begun taking £89 each month, exactly why I am not sure. I again contact BT and spoke to someone in India. I again expressed my concern and anger at this and said that I was only prepared to pay £55 which was agreed earlier that year. The direct debit was then changed accordingly.

On going through my bills for 2011 it has been pointed out to me that I am in fact being charged for ESPN & BT Vision Gold Pack, both of which I do not require, have never used as you can see from my account, and which I never agreed to pay for.

The package that I agreed to pay for back in March 2011 was for:

• TV Essential
• Unlimited Broadband
• Free evening & weekend calls
• The cost for this is £43.60

I am constantly bombarded with letters being offering me a great deal to go back to BT along with seeing numerous adverts on the TV, all offering great deals i.e. money off for the first three months. I was not nothing offered or received any incentive.

I would therefore be grateful if you would look into this for me as a matter of urgency.

I am therefore requesting that BT:

• Amend my account accordingly
• Remove BT Vision Gold Pack & ESPN
• Refund my account with the amount that I have been overcharged since moving back to BT in 2011 plus my bank charges

I have since rung BT (Saturday 14.01.12) and after waiting in a queue (volume of calls) I spoke to two very pleasant members of staff who tried to put me through to the cancellation line, I was cut off four times. This again was not good customer relations. I was assured that the line was being staffed but was not able to speak to anyone regarding the above.

I look forward to hearing from regarding the above as a matter of urgency.

Yours faithfully

W.A. Barnes

BT VIsion Package nightmare

2012-01-04T13:50:00.000Z

We ordered a BT Vision Box and it was activated on 6 Dec. We also paid a fee for an engineer to come and install the box, and the only slot available for that was on 22 Dec. When he arrived, he could not install the box as there was no aerial socket in the room, just one in the kitchen.

Having spoken to BT today, as far as they are concerned, this order is complete. Yet we have been paying for the service for almost a month, but the box is still not installed. Not to mention the £35 fee for the engineer visit.

I have checked our contract and the BT website, and there is nowhere stated that we need to have an aerial for this product to work. The fee for an aerial to be installed is over £100, which we cannot afford at the moment.

BT have agreed to amend their website in the near future to add the aerial socket as a requirement for the package, but have offered me no compensation or advice on how to handle this. They will only talk to me after I have paid someone to come and install the aerial socket.

A disgrace!!!

Christmas and New Year with no Internet

2012-01-03T19:41:00.014Z

I'm writing to relay my utter disgust in BT broadband and BT customer service having ruining mine and my families Christmas and New Year.

We've had your BT total Broadband service installed at our home for a few months compromising of your phone and broadband package.

On the 21st December we lost our telephone line and broadband service. I have reported the fault immediately. I was then promised that fault would be fixed before Christmas. Unfortunately, we didn’t receive feedback or a call on the update.

I called from my mobile phone more the 20 times and the staff were totally incompetent as they gave me false promises. After calling every single day I was finally told on Christmas Eve that the fault would be fixed on the 28th of December. I have asked to speak to the manager but were told that there is no one senior available.

Me, my wife and our two daughters have spent the Christmas in Central London in the 21st century totally cut from the rest of the world, thanks to BT.

Our agony didn’t stop there after further number of calls to BT call centre, we got our telephone line back after nine dates, but not the broadband. We were told that our broadband will be fully re-instated within the 24 hours. Again this was big lie and a false promise. Finally after 10 days I was able to speak to the manager in the call centre.

To our horror, he didn’t have a clue about our problem and told us that BT is short of engineers. We were told that they would fix our problem on the 3rd of January.

Due to the BT incompetence, my daughters couldn’t study without internet; we couldn’t check our Christmas deliveries and couldn’t order presents online, even worst we couldn’t contact our families to wish them a Merry Christmas.

Their customer service call centres are a disgrace to BT brand and a direct insult to your paying customers whom, once locked into a contracts with you - have to suffer.

Mr D Portic

BT 'On Demand' Misnomer - Sporadic Service

2012-01-03T13:13:00.000Z

On demand is a misnomer. It's more a 'watch what you like when BT feel like it' service!

I've had at best a sporadic service which usually ends up with a discussion with someone in New Delhi who wants me to run up and down stairs switching off, unplugging, plugging back in again, with the end result of having still to wait a day or two for 'normal' service to resume.

They have excelled this time by ensuring, over the Christmas period, where I get the rare opportunity to veg in front of the TV, that my on demand fails - again! They first told me it was a fault at their end - I managed to watch one film - then hey presto, it was gone again - and remains firmly gone.

Further conversations with New Delhi resident and they say they are going to send an engineer out - 'why would this be' I ask as they had already told me it was a fault at their end!!!

I hate BT - my husband hates it even more... I can't express how frustrating it is to see all these films I could be watching but instead sit motionless on the sofa with phone in hand listening to sychophantic BT tech staff telling me how sorry they are.

I've gone through to the executive BT complaints department and had minor success there, but short lived and now the lady I was dealing with refuses to respond to my emails = no surprise there!!!!