Why I put my head in a cold compress, BT
It's as if the authors of the two previous letters about BT had been in my house this week. My broadband problem met with similar response to that already outlined yesterday, but with a quirky little twist. During the (third) hour-long call to India, I left my adviser to work remotely while I had my dinner. Twenty minutes later I returned to the phone and followed instructions for a further five. Then the computer crashed and India cut me off. I spent the rest of the evening with my head wrapped in a cold compress.
Even better, I recently called customer services to point out that my entry in the phone book had suddenly begun to cause confusion. It took two days to get it sorted. Customer services told me I'd need to contact customer services but that they were unable to transfer me. Bearing with them on this one, I was eventually transferred - to a voicemail telling me customer services closed at 5pm.
All this after the phone book entries section had told me they were not the right people to help.
Come on BT, which is it - customer care or pest control?
Noirin Blackie,
1 Byre Court,
East Saltoun, East Lothian.
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Posted by: Robert Clark, London on 10:50pm Wed 14 May 08
I sympathise, Noirin. Your experience of BT Broadband is broadly similar to mine - "Heidache City".
It began when I had inexplicable problems logging into Broadband. After negotiating the usual 20 automated questions on the touchphone, I ended up speaking with their call centre in India, who are (according to the voice message and plinky-plonky music, "committed to a positive broadband experience").
With all due respect to the Indian staff, who are polite to the nth degree, they don't always speak the clearest English, they are forced to follow silly scripts and they seem to be operating in the dark regarding the situation in BT's UK network.
Three times I called, over the space of a fortnight, and each time they made me dismantle the hardware connections, insisting that the problem lay in my hardware (cables) but the logging-in problem persisted. Finally, on the fourth call, suffering from acute deja vu, I refused to do any more disconnecting of wires and insisted that they check the server or send out an engineer. Reluctantly, they agreed to the latter. A weekday time slot was booked (because they don't do home visits at weekends, apparently) and my wife took an afternoon off work to await the engineer's visit.
You'll be unsurprised to learn that the engineer finally phoned at 3.40pm to say he'd arrive "within the hour". Then nothing further was heard so I phoned BT (India, of course) at 7pm to find out where he'd disappeared to. India called back 10 minutes later to advise that the root problem had been at the local (London) exchange after all, only the engineer hadn't seen fit to tell us that he'd gone there and fixed it!
In other words, the problem was BT's fault and could have been sorted out without us spending nearly two hours on the phone to India and wasting precious holiday entitlement.
BT's latest TV ad shows a stressed-out worker suffering from "Gremlins" but saved, ultimately, by their "support services".
It's a blatant breach of the Trade Descriptions Act.
I'd switch to Carphone Warehouse, Sky or Heath Robinson, but I'm sure it'd be a case of "out of the frying pan, into the fire" in terms of customer service!
I sympathise, Noirin. Your experience of BT Broadband is broadly similar to mine - "Heidache City".
It began when I had inexplicable problems logging into Broadband. After negotiating the usual 20 automated questions on the touchphone, I ended up speaking with their call centre in India, who are (according to the voice message and plinky-plonky music, "committed to a positive broadband experience").
With all due respect to the Indian staff, who are polite to the nth degree, they don't always speak the clearest English, they are forced to follow silly scripts and they seem to be operating in the dark regarding the situation in BT's UK network.
Three times I called, over the space of a fortnight, and each time they made me dismantle the hardware connections, insisting that the problem lay in my hardware (cables) but the logging-in problem persisted. Finally, on the fourth call, suffering from acute deja vu, I refused to do any more disconnecting of wires and insisted that they check the server or send out an engineer. Reluctantly, they agreed to the latter. A weekday time slot was booked (because they don't do home visits at weekends, apparently) and my wife took an afternoon off work to await the engineer's visit.
You'll be unsurprised to learn that the engineer finally phoned at 3.40pm to say he'd arrive "within the hour". Then nothing further was heard so I phoned BT (India, of course) at 7pm to find out where he'd disappeared to. India called back 10 minutes later to advise that the root problem had been at the local (London) exchange after all, only the engineer hadn't seen fit to tell us that he'd gone there and fixed it!
In other words, the problem was BT's fault and could have been sorted out without us spending nearly two hours on the phone to India and wasting precious holiday entitlement.
BT's latest TV ad shows a stressed-out worker suffering from "Gremlins" but saved, ultimately, by their "support services".
It's a blatant breach of the Trade Descriptions Act.
I'd switch to Carphone Warehouse, Sky or Heath Robinson, but I'm sure it'd be a case of "out of the frying pan, into the fire" in terms of customer service!
Posted by: Mister Campbell, jedburgh on 7:18am Thu 15 May 08
Hmmm. I'd recommend our ISP to you, but it wiould probably be construed as advertising. Been with them for over 10 years - call centre staffed by tech-savvy folk in London. Not cheap but you gets what you pays for. You could always email me on mrcampbell@clara.net and I'll tell you who they are!
Hmmm. I'd recommend our ISP to you, but it wiould probably be construed as advertising. Been with them for over 10 years - call centre staffed by tech-savvy folk in London. Not cheap but you gets what you pays for. You could always email me on mrcampbell@clara.net and I'll tell you who they are!
Posted by: Curious Yellow, Embra on 9:29am Thu 15 May 08
Mister Campbell - what's the problem with advertising? You're not the BBC, are you?
Mister Campbell - what's the problem with advertising? You're not the BBC, are you?
Posted by: Mister Campbell, jedburgh on 9:53am Thu 15 May 08
I'd thought that advertising would break their terms and conditions, but it doesn't seem to be amongst them. Our ISP (in case you didn't work it out) is Clara.net and is around £40 a month.
I'd thought that advertising would break their terms and conditions, but it doesn't seem to be amongst them. Our ISP (in case you didn't work it out) is Clara.net and is around £40 a month.
Posted by: Mark fae Partick, Glasgow on 1:01pm Thu 15 May 08
Swich to Sky - top tier price; £10 a month for up to 16 Mb, free wireless router, 12 months security and (so far) great customer service and technical support.
Swich to Sky - top tier price; £10 a month for up to 16 Mb, free wireless router, 12 months security and (so far) great customer service and technical support.
Posted by: sam, greenock on 3:50pm Thu 15 May 08
[quote][bold]Mark fae Partick[/bold] wrote:
Swich to Sky - top tier price; £10 a month for up to 16 Mb, free wireless router, 12 months security and (so far) great customer service and technical support. [/quote] [quote]great customer service and technical support.[/quote]
ha ha ha
That'll not last, treasure these memories
Mark fae Partick wrote:
Swich to Sky - top tier price; £10 a month for up to 16 Mb, free wireless router, 12 months security and (so far) great customer service and technical support.
great customer service and technical support.
ha ha ha
That'll not last, treasure these memories
Posted by: Doug Blaney, Glasgow on 6:57pm Thu 15 May 08
I have had Broadband/ telephone/TV package for nearly ten years now and have not had one single problem whatsoever. Oh I forgot to mention, its NTL/Virgin Media, does anyone think thats maybe why ?????????
I have had Broadband/ telephone/TV package for nearly ten years now and have not had one single problem whatsoever. Oh I forgot to mention, its NTL/Virgin Media, does anyone think thats maybe why ?????????
Posted by: jj, east lothian on 12:46am Tue 3 Jun 08
Can someone tell me if a person sells his services as a blacksmith and he doesn't have any training, takes your money upfront, does a botched half job refuses to pay back the money, and admits he cannot do the job, can Trades and Descriptions charge him for misleading people by advertising that he is a blacksmith? This is definately a Rogue Trader. Before engaging a blacksmiths at Boggs Holdings Pencaitland please don't give any money upfront and check his qualification! Buyers beware!
Can someone tell me if a person sells his services as a blacksmith and he doesn't have any training, takes your money upfront, does a botched half job refuses to pay back the money, and admits he cannot do the job, can Trades and Descriptions charge him for misleading people by advertising that he is a blacksmith? This is definately a Rogue Trader. Before engaging a blacksmiths at Boggs Holdings Pencaitland please don't give any money upfront and check his qualification! Buyers beware!
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