BT Broadband account not recognised Forums

mauramac

Hi everyone

I don't know where to start with this topic at all but I have just spent a whole day on the phone talking to about 30 different BT people concerning my account with them. I am so confused and stressed and fed up.

Our telephone line developed a fault on Sunday and so we had no PC connection either. They sent an engineer out first thing Monday morning (brilliant service at this point) and he found a frayed cable outside (due to horrendous weather) and repaired it. All good so far. He left here 10 am but failed to 'close down' the job until the end of the day which meant it was showing as a job still pending all day -not so good.

When I telephoned BT technical help to ask why my phone was now working following repair but my Broadband connection was still down they informed me I had no Broadband account with them - I was listed as 'narrow band' and I would need to phone that department for help.

Thus followed an exhausting, demoralising, frustrating, stressful series of phone calls, being on hold for 20 minutes at a time, repeating my name address post code, account number, mothers maiden name to every single member of BT staff. I spoke to call centres in India, Scotland, Newcastle, Wales and eventually Watford! I struggled to understand the vast majority due to the poor quality of the line and the really strong accents. They all passed my call on to someone else, I was cut off 4 times, no-one really wanted to look into the problem, they all disagreed on what type of customer I was, no matter I had validation e-mails and order codes going back to 2003. They were equally divided as to whether I was Broadband or not.

Two of the departments said I had been receiving Broadband and not paying for it and I was disconnected in December Shocked

I pointed out my Bank would disagree as I had paid by Direct Debit for years and had statements to prove it + I was still using it fine up till last Saturday when line was damaged.

Eventually at 4pm I was given a phone number for the Order Management dept and spoke to a Scottish guy who miraculously seemed to understand my problem. He advised me that I was categorised as an 'Unaligned Customer' which meant that as I paid for my BB connection separately to my phone bill (thats how BT requested it) the accounts people couldn't actually 'see' the payments being made. This all goes back to when BT bought out Yahoo and offered all previous Dial Up customers an update to Broadband - me being one of them. The fact that this offer was made online also adds to the confusion. The BT Telephone sales dept doesn't seem to recognise your order number etc when it's done online. If you place an order online they offer you incentives like a free router which normally costs £25. However online sales dont always tally up with telephone sales.

Hats off to Ozy the Scottish chap who has been really helpful and tied to work out my problem. He still cant understand totally what has happened but I am sure it is something to do with BT and Yahoo sort of going their separate ways at some stage and my money seems to be going to Yahoo....but none of that is my fault and I think I have been treated appallingly and with little or no recourse.

End Result: I have had to cancel my DD with BT Yahoo Billing Dept and re-order my BT Broadband package with a new 18 month contract and £25 for a new Router. I have little or no connection at the moment and am sitting here waiting for a courier to arrive with a new Router and other equipment to re-establish my account. I was on the phone all day Monday mostly to 0870 numbers and have lost almost 3 days usage. It seems very likely that the connection I had previously was just a 'faster' line but in fact was not Broadband. For this I was paying £16.99 every month for best part of 4 years (got £1 per month discount for paying by DD).

Do I feel conned...YES
Do I feel I will get any satisfactory response from BT....No

Will I be writing to complain anyway.........you better believe it Evil or Very Mad

Mrs Angry from Kent

Grizzly

Why am I not surprised at your account mauramac ? Because it happens all too often, that's why. We seem to have the remarkable ability in UK.co to make a major drama out of a small glitch. Whenever I phone any UK based company to make a request or a complaint I automatically expect things to be complicated, no-one to have kept records, no-one to understand what is going on and no-one to know their job. I'm seldom proved wrong.

You have my sympathy for what it's worth. Been there done that got the T shirt with Fiat, NTL- Virgin, HSBC bank , Nationwide and numerous others.
I'm always a model of calm and reasonableness which is probably why it is so stressful. If I actually shouted and screamed the way I feel justified in doing so then it would be easier !

I do take copious notes of names and who exactly said what to whom however.

Good luck and hope you are connected soon.

G

mauramac

Hi Grizzly

You are so right about it being a common story - I have to deal with this sort of thing all the time at work. I always take notes on all calls of this nature, I write down time of call, who I speak to, get a name or ask for ref number if possible. I note down how long on hold etc etc. When I tell them the details - like you are the 10th person I have been put through to and I have now been on hold for 20 minutes etc they all say how sorry they are then do exactly the same thing to you. I rarely lose my temper or become rude or abusive - not my way of doing things but all of this happened on Monday 14th and it's still largely unresolved. When I was cut off for the 4th time I found myself actually screaming NOOOOOOOOOO very loudly to no one just a dead line. It didn't get me anywhere but sort of helped relieve some of the stress Rolling Eyes

At work my boss (dentist) has paid out £101,000 to a UK company to design, supply and fit out 2 dental surgeries. They promise the very best state of the art equipment and design skills using manufacturers from Germany and Italy. They are the largest dental design and equipment supplier in the UK.

3 months on and having paid in full - and in advance the problems started. Now 12 months on and with none of the problems resolved they have started to become abusive in their responses - blaming the dentist or the staff for the failing equipment. The frustrations are enormous. They say it's his fault for choosing this type of stool, or his fault for choosing laminate work tops etc etc. They offered a choice and sold it to him but when it fails to do the job intended it seems it was his bad choice not faulty goods. I could go on but it's boring and not relevant to the topic exactly but right now I am at an all time low with UK suppliers treating their customers like idiots and ripping them off.

I think retirement is not just beckoning but shouting at me right now ....as is emigration Wink

grumpyman

Can I make a suggestion when the next Bill is due complain about the poor service and in your case lose of service. The department that deal with the Bills find it oh so easy simply to give you a reduction in your bill to get rid of you. I had £21 of my last as I had been paying for a service I no longer used and told them as far as I was concerned they were quick to always suggest new services I should consider and pay for and so I felt they should be quick to tell me when I was paying for one I no longer used. Wink

Patchworkqueen

Hi
I utterly understand your frustration with your loss of connection.
What I can't understand is why you are continuing with BT.
There are better and cheaper providers available. Take a look at adslguide.org
and use the compare providers facility. You can see the ratings that users give their broadband providers.

I have been with plusnet for years and though they are not the cheapest they are reliable and the customer support is very good. It has to be as I am a female pensioner and have noone else to help me if I get a problem.

mauramac

mauramac