Switched Telephone and Broadband Provider - Not Good!

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

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Broadband Complaint and Compensation Claim

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

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

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

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Complaint to BT - Moving House - No Broadband!

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

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Waste Of Time - BT Customer Services

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

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No Broadband - Help!

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.

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

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

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A Complaint to BT Customer Services

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

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BT VIsion Package nightmare

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!!!

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