Tom Clarke · @tomclarke_enemy
4th Sep 2014 from TwitLonger
Complaint to BT in full
Since the beginning of 2014 I've been experiencing broadband dropout intermittently, sometimes this has been related to faulty Hub's sometime's it's been BT or Openreach's network that's failed.
Today called BT and tried to find out two simple things. My account number so I could complete this form fully (all my bills go to my accountants & are shredded) and I also wished to know how many times since becoming a BT customer in 2013 I've called up to report a fault with my service.
A manager called Marlene in the Belfast COT told the call handler that he was not able to furnish me with either of those pieces of information. The reason she provided was "because the technical team have a call back booked and I can't get involved with an issue being handled by another team".
So, in light of that, whilst on the phone I cancelled the call back. Now no teams were dealing with the complaint other than hers so her reason no longer stood right? Wrong. Still refused to furnish me with dates of my calls, even when I said I was requesting them on legal grounds of wishing to submit a data protection request for all the calls I was recorded on.
In light of the fact that I don't have that info now, I'll recount the last call I had with BT technical department.
I called up to report yet another broadband dropout fault having attempted the basic hub troubleshooting that I'm now very familiar with having been talked trough it many times by BT tech. Despite the fact that what I was clearly describing was a network or Hub fault (all wifi devices not working but wired was working slowly) the guy had me reconfigure the DNS settings on one wifi device (an iPad) and then proclaimed "there your internet is all working fine now problem is resolved". I had him stay on the line while i performed a speed test (the internet couldn't even load the page) which pretty conclusively showed the problem was not solved. He passed me to a somebody else on his team who concluded what I'd suggested over 40 minutes earlier which was that it wasn't a fault with my wifi device, but with the Hub or the BT network and passed me back to the original call handler.
He offered to send out a new Hub3. I said, considering the amount of faults we've experienced with the Hub3, and the amount of time I've spent on the phone to BT dealing with faults this year alone (all at my expense), I think it would be pretty reasonable to ask that BT provide a Hub5 to see if we get any less faults, but without me paying to upgrade.
The response I got was "no you'll have to pay". I said I didn't think that was good enough and then he said "if I send you a Hub5 out it won't work for a month anyway because that's how long it will take an engineer to make it work in your area". This is obviously a lie. To prove it I asked, "so if I pay for one today it won't work right?" Didn't really get a concise response having uncovered his lie. He transferred me to a UK call centre but before doing so said "you don't need to tell them anything I've said it's all on the notes". I asked the next person I spoke to if it was indeed "all on the notes" and of course it wasn't.
The new call handler said the previous one had given him no info and had just transferred the call so I set about explaining the whole thing again (I've now been on the phone for over an hour). This guy at least conceded that it would be reasonable to upgrade the Hub at BT expense to see if that resolved anything and dispatched a Hub5. I asked him if it would take a month for the engineers to make it work. He informed me (what I already knew) which is that is was plug and play. Then I asked him if that meant the previous guy had straight up lied to me? He agreed that he had.
Since the Hub5 has been here (about a week) I've experienced two faults already. One was a short time drop out which I reported and got a call back for a day later long after the fault had rectified itself. The other was last night. The broadband dropped out for well over an hour and when I called BT tech I got an automated message that said we're aware of a fault and our engineers are fixing it.
All I wanted when I called up today was to know the number of times since April 2013 that I've called to report a fault, so that I could demonstrate to you that it's an unacceptable level of interruptions to my service. I ended up on the phone for 47 minutes (once again at my expense) trying to prize that information out of the COT in belfast so that I could at least construct a whole complaint.
I am absolutely ready to walk away from BT, less because of the regularly interrupted broadband service and more because of todays and previously unforgivably poor customer service.
Dropout's where I've reported them are only the serious ones. I experience minor very short drop outs up to five times in one day sometimes, but because the fault rectifies itself fairly quickly I don't call the tech department.
When my internet works it's fantastic, I doubt another providers would be as quick, but at the moment it's like having a Ferrari that breaks down every day. I'd rather have a Focus that works all the time.
The most annoying thing though is the amount of my valuable time that I've spent on the phone to BT troubleshooting, or arguing about pointless details they don't want to supply me with for absolutely no fathomable reason.
Given all of the above, I am now at the stage where I'm ready to try another provider, I'll probably get a way cheaper rate anyway because I'll be a new customer which at the moment appears is more valuable to them than my renewed custom is to BT.
I look forward to seeing if you can offer a solution to the ongoing disappointments BT has delivered and if you can provide me with a good reason to stay a BT customer.
This email is being published publicly so potential BT customers can see how BT deal with customers who they've failed. Your responses will be published alongside it.
Thanks for your time.- Tom.