What follows is a tale of woe from a customer who experienced very poor service from BT. Their internet provider isn’t BT, but needed the telecoms giant to fix their broadband line so they could once again function. It’s told in their own words.
I reported very slow broadband speed to my provider on 26th June 2012.
After being asked various questions and having spoken to four different members of staff in Technical Support, my provider sent out a new router for me to try.
The router was received, but there was no change in broadband speed, so I returned it.
At that point, my provider arranged for BT ( Open Reach ) to call.
BT called and after trying various things, both at home and at the local distribution box, got the download speed up to 4MB/s, although I was told by the engineer it would be about 6 MB/s.
Considering what it had been like, I was more than happy with this.
That was until towards the end of August when it again became very slow.
I reported it to my provider on 29th August 11.15 am and spoke to Technical Support who said I “ might need a new filter and/ or a new ADSL cable.” After a few tests, they discovered a “high resistance imbalance on the line “ and advised they would look into this and ring me back. No call
At 5.30 pm I rang the provider and was told “ someone will definitely ring you back this evening “ They didn’t !
On 30th August I rang my provider at lunchtime, spoke to Technical Support who would get someone to ring me on his return from lunch. No joy
3.40 pm : Download speed .219 MB/s
At 3.50 pm I rang the provider again and spoke to Technical Support who said “ try a corded phone in the broadband socket and ring back.” ( I have different lines for phone and broadband) I did as requested and spoke to Technical Support again, who said they’d carry out a line check and ring back.
At 5.15 pm I rang the provider and spoke to Technical Support who said they would ask another member of Technical Support, who was aware of the situation, to ring me back.
After hearing nothing, I rang again and spoke to the person concerned (“ hooray” ) who confirmed that there was “definitely something wrong with the BT line. I’ll get date for BT to call and ring you back.”
On Tuesday 4th September at 1.15 pm I rang the provider and spoke to a member of Technical Support informing him that Iwe’d not had a call from BT. He said he would contact BT and ring me back.
After hearing nothing, at 3.40pm we rang the provider again and being unable to get through to Technical Support we spoke to a very pleasant young lady in Customer Service and told her of our difficulty and asked to be put through to the Technical Support manager. We were put on hold for Technical Support – – – – No reply !
Rang AGAIN and spoke to another equally pleasant lady on reception who gave me the mobile number of the Technical Support manager – unable to get reply.
At 4.00pm BT called, but they were expecting the fault to be a line fault, not a broadband fault. They had a look anyway.
4.45 pm Technical Support manager rang and I told him that BT were here at that time.
5th Sept. 9.10 am. No further forward so rang Technical Support manager and left message.
Broadband download still showing .234 MB/s.
Didn’t hear anything back, so rang provider again at 11.50 am and spoke to Technical Support who arranged a BT call for the next day.
Thursday 6th Sept. 8.15 am, BT called and after checking things out said “ There is nothing I can do. Your provider has capped your broadband at .288MB/s.”
9.10 am, put BT on the phone to Technical Support at my provider to sort things out.
9.25 Technical Support manager rang to say that they were in contact with BT and that they had NOT capped the line and that he’ll ring me back to let me know what has been agreed.
3.00pm Technical Support manager rang asking me to remove the front of the BT box and replace with a filter and requested that we leave it like that and BT will call Friday morning.
Friday 7th September, 10.45 am. BT called and identified a bad broadband signal and said “ There is a definite fault. “ Following an investigation the engineer was unable to get to the cause of the fault so moved us to a new line. A BT test showed 2.8 MB/s so we were reconnected. I was advised to keep a watch on things over the weekend as an occasional drop out was OK, but frequent drop outs were not.
6.30 pm, little improvement. Rang Technical Support manager who could see the problem and asked me to ring him in the office on Saturday morning.
Saturday 8th September 10.55am. Rang provider ( Technical Support manager) to say we were no further forward and left a message asking for a return call by midday as I had to go out. No call.
11.45 am. Rang manager again, no reply, so rang and spoke to Technical Support who confirmed that BT were still dealing with the matter and that the Technical Support manager would ring me later in the day. He didn’t.
Monday 10th September 9.15 am. Rang Technical Support manager. No reply so left message.
9.20 am rang provider and spoke to, – yes that’s right, Technical Support who said that BT are still carrying out tests and that the problem appears to be “quite involved. BT are working in the area and the work should be completed by Tues’ 11th Sept’.”
Tuesday 11th Sept. 1.30pm. Technical Support manager rang to say that they were still progressing this with BT and that we may get another call from BT tomorrow. He will ring later to confirm.
NO CALL.
Friday 14th September, 9.00am BT called. Two men this time! Connected test equipment to phone line but did nothing else.
I asked if they were not aware of the results of the last BT call on the 7th September and was told that “a week is much too soon for our records to be updated.” So I put them in the picture and they said they would arrange for traffic lights in order to check the junction elsewhere in the village.
Having informed me that Triage were dealing with this they left at 9.20 am.
9.30 am. Rang Technical Support manager who said he was on another call and that he would call me back in a second.
2.20pm. Rang Technical Support manager to say that I have to go out and as BT were not resolving the problem I would take matters further, i.e. inform “Watchdog” and “BBC Look East” on Friday 21st Sept.
3.20pm, Technical Support manager rang to say he is progressing this with BT and that he was in full agreement with my intent to make this silly situation public.
He is hoping to send me a cordless phone type router to try.
Subsequently rang to say that router is on the way.
15th Sept. Router arrived.
Monday 17th September, Router installed.
Tuesday 18th September, rang Technical Support manager and left message to update.
12.05pm. Received call from Technical Support with the following message – “ BT are scheduled to progress this issue on 19th September and although they will be working in the street they would appreciate access to your home.”
Wednesday, 19th September, 4.10pm. Rang Technical Support manager and left message to say “no call and no improvement.”
Thursday, 20th September 1.15pm. Rang Technical Support manager to ask where we are up to? For some reason he was not aware of the message I left on Wednesday, but he will contact BT and phone me back.
4.20pm, Technical Support manager rang to say that BT had changed time of job from the 19th am to the 20th pm. ( Might have helped if we’d been informed ! )
No call from BT. Did they do anything ?
Broadband speed still .234 MB/s
Friday 21st Sept. 9.00am. No change.
12.15 pm Rang Technical Support manager and left message.
2.15 pm, Technical Support manager rang and left message to say BT are still progressing and job should be completed by 6.00 pm.
Saturday 22nd Sept. 12.30 pm. Rang Technical Support manager to update on the fact that there was no change, and left message.
2.30 pm, Technical Support manager rang and left me a message to say that the problem could take up to three months to sort out!
Monday 24th September – 9.30 am. Rang Technical Support manager and left message. At 7.00pm rang again and left another message.
Tuesday, 25th September 9.50 am, rang provider to speak to Technical Support.
“ We apologise for keeping you waiting. We’ll answer your call just as soon as we can. Thanks for your patience” WHAT PATIENCE ? ! !
10.00 am. Rang again and spoke to member of Technical Support, then to the Technical Support manager, who asked if I could please send him photos of the BT line into our property.
Sent three photos to him at 10.40 am.
Friday 28th September, 4.10pm. Rang Technical Support manager as hadn’t heard anything. Left message.
Monday 31st September 5.20pm. Rang Technical Support manager who said he is proposing to run a new line into the house to see if things improve. Will ring me tomorrow to confirm.
No call.
Wednesday 3rd October, 9.15pm sent Technical Support manager an email saying that I hadn’t heard from him and that my neighbours are on 1.6MB/s and asking him what’s happening ?
He replied apologising and saying that they’d had a few ADSL issues their end. However, BT had planned to carry out work on the 21st October, and have applied for three way traffic lights. Also, he has requested a new line to be installed on the 24th October.
19th October, confirmed with Technical Support manager that BT are still on to check copper fault on the 21st.
“ Yes.”
Sunday 21st October, 8.30am. BT called to repair phone line. ( Hard to believe ! ) But the engineer said he didn’t know anything about broadband. He remade the connection in a terminal box but couldn’t do anything else.
What now ?
Monday 22nd October,10.15am rang Technical Support manager and left message.
He rang later and I requested a migration code as by now my patience was running on borrowed time.
He agreed that the BT call based on their report was an “ absolute joke”, but that he had arranged for them to install a new line on Thursday. Could I hold off until then ?
I checked the date with him as previously I’d been told Wednesday, but no, it was definitely going to be Thursday.
Wednesday 24th October, 10.50 am BT called to install new line ! Fortunately we were at home and the line was installed.
Since then broadband has been running at download speeds of between 6 and 7 MB/s. An incredible result, but why did it take so long for BT to identify what appears to be a straight forward line fault ?
While it appears that the main problem with my internet provider is a severe staff shortage, ( hence the repeated and incessant “ We apologise for keeping you waiting “ etc’) the same cannot be said of BT staff who, with very few exceptions, appear to lack communication, lack experience, lack knowledge and lack a general interest in resolving the problem.
I feel that not only should BT Wholesale pay for installing the new line, but that they should provide compensation to my provider and ourselves for wasting a considerable amount of time and for providing what can only be described as “an appalling service.”
Bad service or what?
What has been your experience of your broadband providers? Have you experienced good service or bad?
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