BT Customer Services Complaints

BT Customer Service Complaint

2008-08-18T10:00:00.002+01:00

Another major BT customer service complaint is found here. Like so many others I have received, it shows BT total lack of customer service skills and helping customers with their problems.

Dear Sir,
On May 22nd, I rang BT to see if we could have a phone line connected to our new flat. They told me I needed a new phone line installed costing £124.99. At the time I told the lady, I didn't get her name, that I couldn't afford it outright so she gave me the option to pay the £124.99 over 6 months by direct debit.

On this basis I agreed to have the phone line fitted and requested monthly billing, on direct, and for our number to be ex-directory. I then gave them my bank details and told them which day to take the payment. I was expecting a letter of confirmation but it never arrived so I rang them the day before our original installation date (6th June) to which they said they had never received an order from us and had no record of my call.

I was furious as we had already waited 3 weeks for the line to be fitted and they could not tell me why the order had been cancelled even though I had been giving an order number. they also demanded that I pay the £25 deposit again, to which I refused, eventually they agreed to use the £25 from the original order

Anyway, I reordered the phone line provided it was under the same conditions as the previous order, i.e. ex-directory, monthly billing & the £124.99 split over the 6 months. I was promised this would be the case by Richard, we we're also told we could have £30 compensation added to the account due to the inconvenience. I was assured that the engineer would come after 3 pm as I don't finish work until 2pm.

When I arrived home there was a note under the door saying "Your BT engineer came today at 2pm but you were not home". At this point I had given up hope with BT so decided I wouldn't ring them to re-order the line.

Then I received a text with a new date for the installation., the 21st June. I then decided not to cancel the line as they had finally got it together so my partner waited for the engineer who did a brilliant job and fitted the line with me thinking "finally BT standing by their promise" but I was wrong. I have since had a bill for £164.99. I was horrified by this bill, I am 22 and my partner and I have just moved to Torbay so haven't got the funds to pay the bill.

I rang BT immediately to find out if there had been a mistake, suprise suprise, they had no record of my previous conversation with Richard and were no longer offering to split bill over 6 months. Nor were we on monthly billing and we were not ex-directory, so basically, not the product I had ordered at all.

They demanded that I pay £75 over the phone and they would then split the rest of the bill over 3 months by direct debit. I refused to pay the £75 on the basis that I only agreed to the phone line being fitted if I could pay it over 6 months.

After an hour on the phone and arguments about who was in the wrong I eventually got to speak to a manager who agreed to allow me to pay the bill over 6 months and change our account to monthly billing and ex-directory.

1 week later I receive a final notice letter demanding payment within 7 days, so again I called BT to see if there was a mistake, and again, they had no record of any of my conversations, nor had our account been changed to ex-directory or monthly billing. By this point I had really lost my temper and told them to take the phone line out. They then demanded payment of £56 over the phone and then 4 monthly payments of £36, which would have meant me paying them £240 in total, so obviously I refused and asked to speak to the manager again. He then agreed the original terms, AGAIN, and this time promised the following things:

1) a credit of £30 on the account
2) to change our account to ex-directory
3) that no late payment fees would be charged to the account
4) that we would be on a monthly billing plan
and finally 5) that the direct debit team would call me in 3-4 days to set-up our direct debit.

At the time I was also told that only the direct debit team can set up direct debits, which is concerning as on the first phone call to BT I was able to do it with the same person I placed the order with and on the same phone call, without waiting for someone to call me back or being transferred to another department.

At the time I told them, quite clearly, that this would be the last time I would ring them and that if they didn't take note of my phone call this time then I would see them in court. This was 3 weeks ago and I have still had no phone call but I have had a letter notifying me of a late payment fee. I have a complaint number given to me by BT and a reference number to quote my phone call. I am now at the stage where the stress is causing me to not sleep and worry that I'm going to have bailiffs at my door.

I have never had any intention to not pay BT what I owe them but I am only prepared to pay them on the conditions that were offered to me at the time I placed my order, that the bill be split over 6 months. I refuse to ring BT again as I feel i will be wasting my time but don't know what to do next. I'm concerned that I have such a large debt to my name and that the company of whom I owe the debt are completely ignorant to "treating customers fairly" regulation from the FSA. I

really need some advise on what to do next because although I will go to court if it comes to it, I would prefer for this situation to be sorted without that stress too. I understand that they have fitted the line and therefore have supplied me with the product I ordered, but the credit conditions upon which I ordered the line have been completely ignored. If I bought a car on finance I wouldn't expect a bill 2 weeks later for the full amount!!!

The things that worry me most is:

1) they took my bank details over the phone and then have no record of my call, being a victim of card fraud, I go out of my way to prevent my bank details being given unless it's a trusted company, and feel they have let me down, if there is no record of my call, who has my bank details? and

2) that I can't afford to pay this bill outright and it seems to be the only option they are offering to me unless I pay £75 more than what the bill was originally.

Please help me. Add your comments below with any advice you may have.

BT problem after problem

2008-06-23T15:58:00.002+01:00

Dear BT Complaint Blog,

I have had a problem since March 2008 when I returned to BT. My telephone has interference. BT told me the line was OK. We have since purchased 3 new telephones, all have the same interference, same story from BT, they do nothing.

I have also had a problem with my Broadband, around 5 weeks ago they the so called technical department of BT which of course is India. They cannot speak English that you can understand and I cannot understand them.

I have spent approx 35 hrs on the telephone trying to get the problem solved WITHOUT SUCCESS. They have lost (India) all my emails dating back to 2003 which included all myself and my wife's previous hospital appointments and the future ones, we are both disabled and pensioners, also very important emails were lost.

NO ONE CAN FIX THE PROBLEM WHICH THEY THEMSELVES CAUSED.

I was told by Trading Standards to contact the complaints of BT In Durham, STILL NO FIX.

We should never have gone back to BT,I was also told by the sales of BT Vision that I would be able to get previous programmes that had been aired through my contract free. Now I am told this changed in May and you now have to pay.

I explained that I was told a very different story. I was told it does not matter what I was told!

Disgusted
Mr M Ferguson

BT's Line Takeover are a sham

2008-06-14T17:57:00.001+01:00

Having had a a lot of Grief with BT recently I found your website. It is intriguing that the first article on the page, by a Majella Foley, is both so similar and yet the complete opposite of my problem.

I have just moved to a new address and the previous occupants seem to have done a runner and left the country without paying any bills. I have unpaid notices and bailiff letters from them. They also never canceled their BT line.

Now I'm there, and I want to use the line. So I place an order with BTfor the new line. Line currently active at that address, they say. So it will take 11 working days while they attempt to contact the current BT account holders to ask them if it's OK to take the line over.

They will do this, I am sure, by either (a) attempting to phone them, on the line which is active at my flat or (b) writing to them, at my address.

Nobody will respond, and so BT after waiting 11 working days will determine they're actually not there anymore, and reallocate the line to a new account holder, namely me, at the same address.

When I point out the futility of this, and additionally point out that they were chinese students and have left the country (I'm 99% sure of this, seeing as they did a runner without paying bills), ask to speak to someone else, get transferred all around the houses i'm eventually
put through to someone who promises that it will take just 3 working days to transfer the line.

When nothing happens 4 working days later, I phone up to check on theorder progress. The Order doesn't exist, they have no record of my previous call, the Order reference number they gave me over the phone previously 'doesn't exist', and they have to start again. Another 11 working days, after 4 have already passed.

The following day (today) they phoned me up to confirm that this means it will take 11 working days, from today. Which now means that it will take until the 30th, when previously
promised for the 27th, and before that the 19th. I've been in the flat since the 1st and the previous occupants left well over 2 months ago. BT's Line Takeover policies and procedures are a Sham.

Gillian Lewis is made up person

2008-06-13T20:51:00.003+01:00

All BT Complainers. I recently had contact with a ex BT employee who informed me that Gillian Lewis is a made up character.

He said "Its company policy to offloads complaints to India"

A Typical BT Complaint

2008-06-03T13:47:00.002+01:00

I was so happy to see your BT problems website. I was actually looking to see if I could somehow get the head of customer services of BT to write him/her a letter. I have already contacted BBC watchdog and below is my letter explaining my situation.

I hope you can add this to your BT complaints page and put foward to offtel or whoever can help us out here. Here is my BT Complaint letter:

Hi,

BT sent me a letter saying someone was interested in my phone number and if I haven't contacted them by April 24th they would disconnect me.

I called (in disbelief) saying that I do need it, so they said fine they will cancel the cancellation request. They didn’t and so my line was disconnected.

A lot of expensive calls(was on hold for ages) from my mobile phone were made and eventually I was put onto a woman called Barbara who apologised, organised for the activity of the line the following day and said my old number will be back within the week. All this time my sky broadband was cancelled because of no active line.

It’s the 3rd June and I still don’t have my old phone number back. I do have service but as everyone has the old number they can’t contact me.

To add to insult I received a bill a few days ago for £41.

I was offered 1 months free rental and £10 as a gesture of goodwill for the following:

disconnecting my phone line without my permission
A mth of no broadband which they argue isn’t their fault
massive mobile phone bills calling BT and being put on hold
constant promises from people in foreign countries that all will be sorted and then nothing ?
continuously calling BT as in the 1st few weeks no-one bothered to call me to review the situation?
costs of my visits to the internet cafe as I am in the middle of organising a wedding and have to do it out of office hours
Over a month of missing calls as everyone has our proper phone number
The stress I have suffered in the last month because of the incompetence of BT.

If I don’t pay this bill I will receive a CCJ yet nothing happens to BT for the lack of service.

They boast that the last thing they do is disconnect landlines after non payment of bills so there are a lot of unpaid debts with a phone line yet they disconnected a bill paying customer and caused all this bother and stress.

I am looking into other landline providers as we speak but would appreciate your response on this.

Sincerely

Majella Foley

11,000 Visitors to btcomplaints.com

2008-05-27T13:03:00.006+01:00

Hello Everyone.
Firstly, I want to say a big thank you for everyone who has contributed to the BT complaints site.

Secondly, the site has received over 11,000 visitors since October 2007 with many of you leaving a complaint about the terrible service you are receiving from BT.

A report will be produced over the coming months which will detail every BT complaint received via the two websites and sent for investigation:
BT Complaints Blog
Send Your BT Complaint

Finally to say you are not alone in your struggle with BT as you can see from the vast amount of complaints varying from customer service to connection speeds.

Below is an example of just one of the many complaints we have received over the past 8 months.

BT Cold Calling Complaint
"I run eight houses which accommodate adults with enduring mental illness. We recently had a cold caller from BT, who spoke to one of our residents to ask if he wanted broadband installed.

He was pressured into saying yes, although the contract is in my name.

When I rang BT to query the broadband charges, I was told it was an 18-month contract and that we would have to pay to cancel.

We then received a bill for £438.48. I am disputing this, but am frustrated at every turn by BT — one of the many people I spoke to denied that a complaint had even been lodged. At one stage our phones were cut off, too. P. J., Birmingham

Margaret Stone, Money Mail's Money Doctor, replies: I think BT's treatment of you and your residents was appalling. Once you had explained to BT that it had made the agreement with a resident who had neither the authority nor the mental capacity to deal with a pushy sales person, the contract should have been cancelled immediately.

But it appears that there was no one in BT prepared or willing to help. It was not until you got in touch with Money Mail that action was taken.

Within days, the matter was resolved. The contract is cancelled. The account balance is now £339.90 and these charges — which I can only describe as spurious — have been cancelled and thus cleared.

In addition, BT has sent a hamper of chocolates to the resident who inadvertently triggered this sorry saga. I think this is a wholly inadequate gesture given the appalling way you have been treated.

Meanwhile, a warning note has been put on all the accounts in your houses, advising that you are the only person who can make a decision about them.

0870 cost will fall after complaints

2008-05-06T12:36:00.002+01:00

Plans to cut the price of calls to 0870 numbers and to introduce tighter regulations for 0871 lines have been announced after complaints about price clarity.

The communications watchdog Ofcom wants calls to 0870 numbers to cost no more than calls to geographic numbers.

On average, calls to 0870 numbers cost between 6p and 10p per minute in the daytime, from a BT landline, and 1p to 5p at other times. Ofcom wants this to be reduced to about 3.5p a minute in the day and 1p to 1.5p a minute at other times.

Ofcom's proposals also include improving protection for customers calling 0871 lines, which cost anything from 5p to 10p per minute, by bringing them under the remit of premium-rate services regulator PhonepayPlus.

The plans are part of Ofcom's wider review of "non-geographic" telephone numbers, after complaints over the lack of transparency about the cost of calls.

Many businesses and organisations use 0870 numbers to provide information including road traffic advice, customer service and financial advice.

Calls to 0870 numbers are currently priced in a way that allows organisations to share the revenue generated by per minute call charges. Ofcom's proposals would effectively end this.

Businesses that wanted to charge higher rates for 0870 calls would have to make sure their customers knew the costs. PhonepayPlus would also be able to investigate complaints about excessively long call queuing times. Ofcom said it hoped to have the proposed changes in place by autumn.

BT Complaints Pirate FM

2008-04-23T10:10:00.002+01:00

Hello everyone, this is the web master of this blog.

This morning I heard a the debate on my local radio station Pirate FM in Cornwall. I moved to Ponsanooth in Cornwall last year and tried to get BT to fit a new line to our house. Simple yes? No way was this simple!

I'm not one for complaining but after 6 months of problems including 3 separate bills for £300 for one phone line, total lack of communication with BT customer service reps, the list goes on, I decided to set up a BT complaints blog on the web where people like me could submit there BT Complaint online.

The idea behind this is to put all BT complaints received into a report and send off for investigation from Offcom, Watchdog and such like. So far I have had almost 10,000 people visit this BT Complaints blog in 6 months with hundreds of complaints received.

Join me and together we can get some action to put right this terrible service we are receiving.

Thanks for all your complaints so far - They will all be going into the report so we can get some answers

BT named worst home phone provider

2008-04-08T15:07:00.001+01:00

BT has been voted the worst telephony provider for the first time ever in a poll to gauge customer satisfaction.

In a survey conducted by uSwitch.com, BT - the largest home phone company in the UK - finished last in nine out 11 categories, including value for money.

Among the sample of its customers, 30 per cent described themselves as not satisfied with the service they receive - equating to some three million people.

The top-performing provider was revealed to be Sky, which came top in seven of the 11 categories and boasts a customer satisfaction rate of 85 per cent.

Commenting on the figures, Tim Wolfenden, head of home Services at uSwitch.com, urged consumers who are unsatisfied to vote with their feet and switch provider.

He said: "The key point is that loyalty does not pay, and it's now up to the 7.5 million customers who have never switched to make competition work for them and vote with their feet.

"Switching home phone is a very simple process and by shopping around for the best deal, consumers could save up to £200 a year."

Trackback URL

BT Complaint Help page

2008-04-03T14:04:00.003+01:00

I recently did a search for 'BT Complaints' on the net and finally found a dedicated BT webpage to help their customers at number 1 position in Google. This is the address: http://bt.custhelp.com

I hope their customer service improves as much as their website but I am very doubtful at this stage!

See what you think and comment on this post below if you have feedback.

Did it help you?
If it did, which information was useful?
If no help comment on this BT Complaints page

BT Customer Service - Nightmare still unresolved!

2008-04-03T13:53:00.003+01:00

This is a complaint I received about an anonymous person who is obviously very angry and upset with BT Customer Service. Just one of many BT Complaints I have received over the past 6 months. This will go into the report I will send to BT and complaint companies later this year for investigation including Watchdog.

Dear Sir or Madam,
I’m writing to try and clear up an outstanding issue with BT that goes back to 2004.
Despite attempts in the past, I feel as if I’ve been fobbed off and a cursory look at the issue has not resolved it.

I was a BT customer during 2004 and a little before that when I moved back to Edinburgh from the Hebrides. I was waiting to move into a house in April 2004 and knew I would have to have the phone transferred to the new flat across town.

I gave BT several phonecalls, months in advance to make sure that there would be not loss of service. I checked that the new flat had a working BT landline and no fault was detected on it.

I was simply moving area by about two miles. This did mean having a new number but I was assured on several occasions that my new service would go on within an hour of leaving the first flat. Certainly, the same day. I checked to make sure that this would happen as told.

This was vitally important to me as I was having a life threatening operation and living alone, my close family were all living in Australia, and the only one normally resident in England, my mother was also in Australia for several months to help assist my sister with childcare.

The day for the telephone allocation to change to new flat came and there was no service. I was then hospitalised for my operation. When I came out of hospital I was extremely weak and was to rest with lots of bed rest for minimum three months. I could not leave the flat nor walk about in the flat because I had lost several expected pints of blood and would pass out frequently.

I was lucky to have someone – a volunteer to check on me every couple of days during workdays and although not in their remit they brought me in some groceries.
Normally I am a young fit woman. But without the access to the phone I would have starved and possibly died from an accident in the house, without the help of a volunteer charity organisation.

Before they started the few weeks support on my first morning in the new flat I tried to get up to answer an unexpected call from workmen – who should not have been trying to work on my flat at that time. I tried to get out of bed and blacked out fell off the end of the bed – cos I was disorientated and then unconscious and almost broke my collar bone, I gashed my arm, cut and bruised my face and cut and bruised my shoulder landing on a bare floor.

For three months I had no phone service, then someone tried to charge £190 to me for an engineer call that was not needed and never happened.

The distress of these months was so bad that instead of recovering from the operation within three months I did not heal up and was physically unwell for fourteen months and am now need counselling for depression brought on by my experience in 2004.

At first I was unable to talk and was too tired to sit up for long with postoperative pain & fatigue. I did not have the volunteer for long but for the first eight weeks of living in the new flat the volunteer tried to phone using a mobile phone on my behalf. Usually with me next to him.

He would try and get through for the hours allocated to help me (6 per week) without any success. And when he was connected to customer services they refused to deal with anyone other than the “bill payer” – even though he was authorised to do so by me and at one point several weeks in – I said so down the phone. But still my phone was not connected.

I was due to get the phone and broadband – because in the previous flat the BT dial up internet service was appalling and I was constantly cut off by poor signal whilst web browsing. And physically had my service terminated on several occasions EVEN THOUGH I PAID MY BILLS IN ADVANCE BY DIRECT DEBIT AND WAS IN CREDIT. I had to check several times with my bank that the direct debit was operating properly but they checked thoroughly and said EVER TIME the fault was at the recipients end – BT.

I had moved into the new flat that needed many repairs to be carried out and though they were to take place when it was convenient for me – I had no way of phoning and booking the work. So without the phone I had NO GAS SUPPLY for COOKING, HEATING and HOT WATER and as I had lost so much blood I was incapable of maintaining a warm core temperature, it was freezing in the flat even in summer – colder than outside without heating as there is not a lot of direct sunlight. On the property.

My Mother was absolutely frantic in Australia because apart from a brief call to me in the hospital she had heard nothing from me for three months and was starting to think that I might have died.

I was angry, frustrated and very frightened that I had no way to contact anyone – not even a doctor or nurse in case of problems and the stress caused me to be rehospitalised for a few days only a week after the operation. I did know how I would be able to eat.

The water supply to the toilet was faulty so half the water was off until it was repaired meaning I had no flushing loo for 6 weeks (this POST OP from abdominal surgery) a pipe and radiator was also leaking. But I couldn’t chase the repairs up without access to a phone and only having a volunteer by chance, who used his work mobile phone to try and help. But the time he was meant to assist me he had to spend on the mobile phone trying to get through to BT customer care to get my phoneline connected.

To top it all I was billed for three months line rental, without ever being connected. And when I requested that this be reimbursed to me on other occasions I was told that I was “in credit” and so would not pay the next quarter. This is absolute rubbish because my line rental always is deducted from my bank account by direct debit and I have never had the money refunded to me – rather than someone juggling figures and saying I’ve not paid in advance when I have!!

When the phone was eventually put on after dozens and dozens of mobile calls to BT, the line that existed already was perfectly fine and there was no special work needed. The engineer said it could have in fact been connected the day I originally requested it to be live and he couldn’t understand why it was not.

I have never got over the intense fear and isolation and worry about feeding myself and getting help that I went through the first three months of my new flat in 2004 without a phone to reach the outside world. I had indeed worried that my line would not be connected and so had asked for assurances and checked that everything would go ahead as scheduled but this didn’t happen.

My family was also put through an ordeal being 14,000 miles away and not knowing if I was alive or dead. The lack of contact with anyone at this time even emergency services ruined my health and recovery and brought on severe and lasting depression.

I ask again once and for all to take notice of the serious consequences that poor management or whatever cock-up (certainly not technical) caused me to have to go through this ordeal without the support of a voluntary charity (whose remit was just to help me move in! not health related in any way) I would have possibly died from complication, accidental injury or neglect and starvation for want of a phone – that I’d even paid for in advance.

I feel that the result is not just the “missing” first quarter line rental taken under false pretences from my account but the injury and long-term effects of stress and consequences this unnecessary situation had on my health and long term wellbeing. I have never in my life suffered from anxiety. Pre op I was a robust camera woman working in the film industry and Alpine Ski Leader, I made documentaries and films in remote locations such as Ben Nevis and the Mid Atlantic I combined my creative and technical training with outdoor skills self taught and self financed. I was due to go to Antarctica in the last four years but have never regained the confidence I had before this fiasco in 2004.

My mother had a similar operation a few years before me and was sailing in Sydney Harbour three months after her operation. It was expected I would do well after my operation because I was younger and extremely fit and looked 15 years younger than 39. I’m now 43 and live like my late octogenarian grandmother having stopped going out at all and have remained confined to the house. Even though the almost forty years prior to that I was someone who preferred living outdoors, such is now my lack of confidence and outlook from being robbed of communication and help and the knock effect it has had. So much so that it has taken me a long time to face writing this letter, although it is the second I have sent on the matter and made several phonecalls 2005/6.

The tardiness in connecting my line also meant a delay in email for when I was stronger to not only contact family in Australia but restart my search and self promotion/networking for commissioned work self employed to my cost.

From Anonymous

Funny BT Customer Service Video

2008-03-28T20:57:00.004Z

For all those of you who have been put on hold for hours by BT Customer Service, you are not alone! This video beautifully sums up our feelings towards BT Customer Service:

BT Customer Service representatives, if you watch this, this is genuinly what is happening now, and has been happening for the past few years. Please can something be done!

Pensioner Woman sues BT for extra charges

2008-03-28T11:06:00.002Z

28 March 2008, A woman is suing BT after she was charged extra for paying her bill in cash.

Solicitor Ros Fernihough, 62, has been a BT customer since 1964 and pays her bill over the counter in her local bank. In May last year, BT introduced the £4.50 charge to cover administration costs of processing bills not paid by direct debit.

The move has been highly criticised as a 'stealth charge' that targets the company's poorest customers. Around 2.9 million customers pay by means other than direct debit and Mrs Fernihough's action could affect them.

The grandmother-of-seven claims the telephone company is unfairly penalising its cash-paying customers and is making her case at Walsall County Court.

Mrs Fernihough said: "£4.50 may not be much to someone who is working with a reasonable job but if you are on a state pension it is crucial."

Read hundreds of BT Customer Service Complaints

See Channel 4 News report

BT Help

2008-03-26T12:27:00.004Z

Here's two more recent BT Complaints made to BT customer service and there are many more just like this on the send your BT complaint page.

"Why has BT set up a separate payment department for which I am paying for ie £4-50.
I do not trust BT to take the correct variable amount out of my bank account as it is.
It is bad enough that you have to pay £5-00 if they consider your payment to have been late but to have to pay an extra £9-50 for the privilege of paying by check is a B......... Liberty.
I always pay my bill, have never defaulted, have been with BT for..... forever.
Considering leaving now.Very disappointed".
Miss L Callaway

"I've just bought a new second home and need a phone line. My wife called BT and they said we'd need an engineer, even though the previous owners had a BT line. They have now missed four separate confirmed appointments without ever once warning me they would not be attending.
I have wasted so much time waiting for engineers and in BT's endless phone queues (50 minutes was my longest wait).
No-one I've spoken to has any idea what's going wrong and all they do is offer a new appointment which the engineers then miss again. The last manager I spoke to said we didn't even need an engineer and the line would be activated within 48 hours from the exchange.
It wasn't. We've just called BT to confirm the latest appointment to be told it's been concealed for some unknown reason and they won't be coming".
Malcolm Lochhead

Change ISP's from BT to Tiscali

2008-03-18T12:33:00.002Z

BT Complaint: I asked BT for the code I need so I can change ISP's from BT to Tiscali. First they told me that it would cost £270 to leave BT before the end of my contract. I asked for the code anyway, but its been over a month now and I still haven't received it. I heard that legally they have to give it to you within 5 working days. I would like to take them to court but I don't have the time, money or the know how. By Tom Brown

BT Complaint: I have written some BT complaint advice which should help you. If anyone has experienced this problem with BT then please comment to help Tom.

Complaint Advice to BT

2008-03-14T10:35:00.001Z

My advice when complaining is:

a) Contact BT using email rather than over the phone, as this means you have a record of correspondence and also that you don't have to wait on hold.

b) Explain yourself clearly and concisely and be specific about the action you would like BT to take. Always be polite.

c) If your complaint has not been dealt with (and it is reasonable) then begin following BT's complaint escalation guide

Do not keep using their basic complaints service.

BT Call Centre of Death

2008-03-12T12:30:00.002Z

Today I received an interesting email which I would like to share with everyone regarding BT Complaints:

"I recently visited your very impressive BT complaint website. I thought I would offer you the option of sharing a little gem that I recently came across in the fight against BT and their ‘Call Centre of Death’.

Without going in to massive detail I was the victim of a spectacular and sadly all too common BT cock up. The resultant billing error was so ridiculous that I was barely able to comprehend the stupidity required to make this error in the first instance, let alone comprehend a solution.

It was then that my brainwave struck me…Instead of even picking up the phone I decided to write; not to complain about stupidity but instead to approach the problem from a more interesting angle…Fraud!

I was obviously aware that the origins of my billing error were not related to fraud or criminal activity; naturally it came down to the hopeless attitude that a BT Goblin in the ‘Call Centre of Death’ had demonstrated to me months earlier. However, it was precisely the inefficiency as displayed by the ‘Call Centre of Death’ that made me try my alternative solution.

I sent a letter by recorded mail that simply stated that my account had been fraudulently accessed and my BT account had been amended possibly for a criminal purpose. I further stated that this ‘criminal’ activity had resulted in the compromise of my personal data and that I wanted a full investigation in to the matter. As an add on, I mentioned that my quarterly bill was also incorrect and I trusted once a full investigation in to the suspected fraud was done my bill would be amended accordingly.

The results were interesting, I received a call three days later from a lady stating she was in the presidents office at BT. She informed me that I could sleep easy, it was not fraud, but in fact had been employee error that had caused the problem. (No Sh*t!) She refunded my bill and gave me three months free line rental, also saying that my future bills would reflect my ‘line rental only’ option.

I was delighted by this until last week, when I received a promotional letter that effectively stated my account was still set up on the incorrect price plan …. Another letter complaining of suspected fraud (attached) has now been issued and I await the response with baited breath.

The moral of the story as far as I can see is that if everyone with a billing error wrote and made a complaint of fraud / illegal activity BT have a much greater obligation to investigate and get it right. In my case this has been far more efficient that having to queue on the phone for over two hours to then be frustrated by further call centre incompetence.

I have a small but dedicated Facebook group imaginatively entitled ‘BT Are Rubbish’ where I bitch about these things as they occur. Feel free to look us up / join or use any material you find on there!

Best regards
Richard Burnell

Some BT Complaints

2008-03-01T10:22:00.003Z

This is an update on BT Complaints in February 2008. Thanks very much for sending all your BT complaints in. The complaint submission page has received 5420 total views so far in 7 months. In February alone there has been 1404 BT Complaint visitors so feel rest assured you are not alone in your plight!

It seems that BT Customer Service is getting worse rather than improving.

View a full list of BT Complaints

Below are just a few of the BT Complaints received so far. All of these complaints will be produced into a report format and sent to the necessary organisations to investigate and also to BT Customer Services.

Follow this link if you wish to send a BT complaint

BT Complaint example 1:
Just wanted to say well done for being pro active. My only complaint about BT are the charges for of £4 50 for those who choose to pay manually and the working days & notice given to pay it! I sent them an email to ask when the next bill would be coming over 2008 to avoid going on holiday!! as then they slap on additional charges for late payment. But then thats been well covered in the Guardian moneys and Ofcom simply aren't interested in the plight of customers. Janice Stanway

BT Complaint example 2:
I have not been able to get anyone at BT who can sort out my billing enquries. I have been charge £456 for line rental and no amount of phone calls has been able to resolve my issues. I have now cancelled my standing order and have informed them that I am willing to pay what I owe but not until this matter has been resolved I have contacted BBC watchdog and raised this with them so i need help as this matter is causing me a lot of stress and this has been going on since last October, BT are the pits as far as I am concerned.
Anonymous

View a full list of BT Complaints

Funny quote from a previous BT employee

2008-02-06T14:34:00.000Z

I recently had a BT employee contact me with a funny quote i'd like to share with you all. He who shall not be named actually used to work for BT last year.

He told me that an 'in joke' in his office was that BT stood for "Bull***t and Transfer" hence being tranferred to different people

He basically couldn't put up with it and quit as it was all about the figures. Apparently BT employees have 3 minutes per customer or they would be warned about their statistics.

This explains a lot as I am sure you will all agree!!!

Virgin Media to leave BT trailing in its wake

2008-01-29T12:49:00.000Z

The paucity of BT's next-generation broadband speeds are being exposed by Virgin Media, which says it will roll out 50Mb/sec connections to nine million homes by the end of the year.

BT's 21CN network - which is starting to be installed across the country - will offer maximum ADSL speeds of 24Mb/sec. However, BT admits that many customers will not come close to reaching that theoretical maximum, and the network rollout isn't scheduled to be completed until 2011.

Virgin, on the other hand, claims that nine million of its customers will have access to 50Mb/sec lines by the end of 2008, following successful trials in Kent. The company already offers 20Mb/sec connections, which are only slightly slower than BT's 21CN highs.

Worryingly for BT and its customers in non-cable areas, Virgin says it's not even close to reaching its network's full potential.

"We've barely scratched the surface of what's possible with our cable network, and we will continue to look for new ways to satisfy the growing demand for even faster broadband in the UK," says Neil Berkett, acting CEO of Virgin Media. "We're proud to be leading the country's superfast broadband revolution."

However, Virgin isn't quite at the forefront of broadband speeds. Last week, we revealed how H20 plans to offer 100Mb/sec broadband connections by running fibre cable through Britain's sewer network.

BT's sluggishness will give further food for thought for Competitiveness Minister, Stephen Timms, who late last year summoned Britain's telecoms chiefs to discuss the bottlenecks in Britain's broadband network, but offered no concrete solutions.

Timms had floated the idea of public investment in a nationwide fibre-to-the-home rollout, which BT has repeatedly stated it cannot make a business case for. But with the economic climate turning, the chances of the government making such a multi-billion investment seem ever more remote.

167 BT complaints so far!

2008-01-23T17:00:00.001Z

Thank you to everyone who has submitted a BT complaint

So far I have received 167 complaints and these will all be put into a report and sent to BT for comment later this year (2008). I will publish the response I get back from BT (if I get one!) on this blog.

Please keep your complaints coming!

Here is just one of the recent BT complaints I have had:

"My phone has recently ceased working. I get no incoming calls and even though I can dial out the line is so scratchy I can't hear anything and have to terminate the call. This had gone on over a week

I called the BT fault line and was told by a recording that due to high volume they cannot receive any calls. I emailed them to which I eventually got a reply.

In the reply I was told the fault was raised with engineers but that I better make sure the fault is the line and not my phone because if it IS my phone the engineer will charge me A MINIMUM OF £99 plus VAT.

This is extortion!!!!!!!!!!! I worked at a telecommunications company in another country and as far as I know it is the telecommunications supplier's job to identify why you are not getting a phone service. This is what we pay them for!!!!!!!!!!! You don't get charged for a qualified person to figure out what is wrong!!!!!!!!!! I am completely fed up with the highway robbery that goes on in this country!!!!!!!

Read many more and submit your BT Complaint

Tips for Complaining

2008-01-14T10:40:00.000Z

For people, particularly those sensitive to certain situations, things to complain about can appear around every corner. From a dirty fork at a restaurant to less than stellar customer service from BT, from late airplane flights to dirty hotel rooms, all kinds of things can warrant complaining. It is, after all, some people's favourite pastime.

Still, there is a right way and a wrong way to mumble and grumble. Criticising things or people too often, or without any tact, may worsen a situation dramatically, giving the complainer something to really complain about.

Keeping the following tips in mind, however, may help you to complain efficiently and, more importantly, effectively.

Don't Go Over Heads, at Least Not Immediately:
"Can I speak to your supervisor?" is often the complainer's personal mantra; after all, summonsing the supervisor is the surest way to get things remedied and get your complaint taken seriously. Occasionally, speaking to a supervisor or manager may be needed, but most of the time, people who are lower on the corporate ladder can help you just the same. Instead of going over their heads, and possibly getting them in trouble or even fired, try going to the person at the source of the problem. If they can't or won't help you, then, and only then, ask for someone else.

Remember that Less is More:
There is nothing that will take away the validity of a complaint faster than a person who complains every chance they get. If you have "the boy who cried wolf" complex - and complain about things that don't warrant criticism - you will never have your complaints taken seriously. Instead, you will simply be written off as a "complainer," a label that labels you worthy of being ignored.

Be Honest:
Sometimes people may look for reasons to complain, hoping that they can use their complaint to get a better hotel room, a complimentary meal, or a free airline ticket. Looking for things to complain about, however, is really just looking for trouble. If you have nothing to justifiably criticize - or need to look through a proverbial microscope to find something - then your complaint may be bordering on dishonesty. Your complaint might also leave you playing with Karma. Instead of filing a non-existent complaint, try something else and offer a compliment. The staff might react just as favorably.

Don't be Unreasonable:
Whenever a person complains, they most likely want their problem fixed, they want to be compensated for their inconvenience, or they simply want to blow off steam. Whatever it is that's being sought, it's important to keep in mind that reason is the key. Not only do you need to be reasonable with what you choose to complain about - complaining about rough weather on an airline flight will get you nowhere - but you also need to be reasonable in what you expect someone to do in return. If you complain about something that is relatively minimal, then assume that the remedy - or the reimbursement - will be relatively minimal as well.

Complaint Tips

2008-01-07T21:38:00.000Z

How to make a BT Complaint

From the outset, I recommend you voice your BT complaint at the earliest opportunity. Unfortunately, they are very difficult to get hold of as many of you have experienced with some users being put on hold for 2 hours. Having recently appeared on Watchdog for the complaints received in October and November 2007, it looks like BT may well be forced to make changes sooner rather than later.

As contacting BT by telephone is so difficult and frustrating, try writing a letter to BT or submitting your complaint online via the BT website.

If you do hear back from BT within a fortnight, send another letter or submit online again.

If you do not get a satisfactory response after this, you may wish to consider complaining to OFCOM, the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries.

You can find out more about escalating your complaint through the OFCOM website.

Keep Track of Your Calls to BT

A good idea is to keep a log of any calls you make regarding your. This will assist you in formulating a complaint to the regulator and referring to previous calls when speaking to BT may assist them in resolving your issue.

BT appears on Watchdog for its complaints

2008-01-02T13:23:00.000Z

BT yet again appear on Watchdog in December 2007 for their poor customer service for new customers. View further details here on the BBC website

On 10 October, the BBC reported that BT had kept customers waiting months for new phone lines and even when someone had no line, it didn't stop them sending bills.

BT blamed the delays on teething problems with its new IT system and promised things would improve. However, since October scores of you have contacted BBC Watchdog to say that your lines haven't been connected either.

There are also many more BT Complaints on this BT complaints submission page from a variety of BT customers wanting to complain about the service they are receiving.

BT yet again apologise for inconvenience to customers and blames problems on the IT system it has installed to comply with commitments to the regulator, Ofcom. But the company insists it has reduced the amount of time it takes to resolve problems and significantly cut the number of people still waiting.

It has now installed lines for the cases we've told them about. But if you're still waiting, let BT know by clicking here

NTL Customer

2007-12-02T18:19:00.001Z

Dear Cretins,

I have been an NTL customer since 9th July 2001, when I signed up for your 3-in-one deal for cable TV, cable modem, and telephone. During this three-month period I have encountered inadequacy of service which I had not previously considered possible, as well as ignorance and stupidity of monolithic proportions.

Please allow me to provide specific details, so that you can either pursue your professional prerogative, and seek to rectify these difficulties -- or more likely (I suspect) so that you can have some entertaining reading material as you while away the working day smoking B&H and drinking vendor-coffee on the bog in your office:

My initial installation was cancelled without warning, resulting in my spending an entire Saturday sitting on my fat arse waiting for your technician to arrive. When he did not arrive, I spent a further 57 minutes listening to your infuriating hold music, and the even more annoying Scottish robot woman telling me to look at your helpful website.... HOW? I alleviated the boredom by playing with my testicles for a few minutes - an activity at which you are no-doubt both familiar and highly adept.

The rescheduled installation then took place some two weeks later, although the technician did forget to bring a number of vital tools - such as a drill-bit, and his cerebrum. Two weeks later, my cable modem had still not arrived. After 15 telephone calls over 4 weeks my modem arrived... six weeks after I had requested it, and begun to pay for it. I estimate your internet servers downtime is roughly 35%... hours between about 6pm-midnight, Mon-Fri, and most of the weekend.

I am still waiting for my telephone connection. I have made 9 calls on my mobile to your no-help line, and have been unhelpfully transferred to a variety of disinterested individuals, who are it seems also highly skilled bollock jugglers. I have been informed that a telephone line is available (and someone will call me back); that I will be transferred to someone who knows whether or not a telephone line is available (and then been cut off); that I will be transferred to someone (and then been redirected to an answer machine informing me that your office is closed); that I will be transferred to someone and then been redirected to the irritating Scottish robot woman...and several other variations on this theme.

Doubtless you are no-longer reading this letter, as you have at least a thousand other dissatisfied customers to ignore, and also another one of those crucially important testicle-moments to attend to. Frankly I don't care, it's far more satisfying as a customer to voice my frustrations in print than to shout them at your unending hold music. Forgive me, therefore, if I continue.

I thought BT were shit, that they had attained the holy piss-pot of god-awful customer relations, that no one, anywhere, ever, could be more disinterested, less helpful or more obstructive to delivering service to their customers. That's why I chose NTL, and because, well, there isn't anyone else is there? How surprised I therefore was, when I discovered to my considerable dissatisfaction and disappointment what a useless shower of bastards you truly are. You are sputum-filled pieces of distended rectum -- incompetents of the highest order.

British Telecom -- wankers though they are -- shine like brilliant beacons of success, in the filthy puss-filled mire of your seemingly limitless inadequacy. Suffice to say that I have now given up on my futile and foolhardy quest to receive any kind of service from you. I suggest that you cease any potential future attempts to extort payment from me for the services which you have so pointedly and catastrophically failed to deliver -- any such activity will be greeted initially with hilarity and disbelief -- quickly be replaced by derision, and even perhaps bemused rage.

I enclose two small deposits, selected with great care from my cats litter tray, as an expression of my utter and complete contempt for both you and your pointless company. I sincerely hope that they have not become desiccated during transit -- they were satisfyingly moist at the time of posting, and I would feel considerable disappointment if you did not experience both their rich aroma and delicate texture.

Consider them the very embodiment of my feelings towards NTL, and its worthless employees.

Have a nice day -- may it be the last in your miserable short life, you irritatingly incompetent and infuriatingly unhelpful bunch of twats.