I've got my right hand back!!!...

[Raffles]

No smutty remarks please!

A week ago I was happily online when broadband died. OK, not a problem, I'm used to it by now... will be back soon. Not so, there was no line signal at all. It'll be back tomorrow, I thought. Nope, so I called the infamous BT fault line number (on the mobile), with trepidation from previous experiences.

Went through 10 mins of an automated service... press option 5 or whatever... will pass you to an advisor... rang out for a minute or so, then went dead. So tried again, having told me it will cost me £130 if the fault is on my property... very reassuring! Got through to 'John from India' (absolutely no disrespect to India)... but you spend half the time repeating or asking 'what'!

Engineer arrived this morning, luckily I was in, as no forewarning... but I thought there's £130 gone. Anyway it transipres the fault was from their 'box' up the road to the exchange, so hopefully no charge.

The point of this rant is... why can't BT, with all their profits, have a human on the other end, when you first ring, where you can explain your problem in 30 secs. Plus my 'mouse' hand had gone numb from inactivity!  

[Chrissie]

Engineer arrived this morning, luckily I was in, as no forewarning... but I thought there's £130 gone. Anyway it transipres the fault was from their 'box' up the road to the exchange, so hopefully no charge.

That must have been such a relief Raffles & I'm glad you are back online

[Pepperty]

Welcome back raffles missed you!

[Ripshod]

BT are not my favourites either. Took 2weeks for the first Engineer to call, then another 4 days to trace the fault to the cable between the box and my house. I mean come on, there's only 8 wires in the cable and only 2 of them are used for a single line. How hard is it to swap to another pair at both ends and retest. I've still got 5 months of the contract to go. Was thinking of leaving, but BT own all the lines round here and lease to the likes of TalkTalk and that. I'd still have to put up with the same engineers if there's another fault.

Raffles, you have my sympathy.

[clairea]

Don't forget to ask for compensation for the period you were without broadband and don't let them fob you off, or forget to add it to your bill.
Not a fan of BT, or their tech support you have to go through the same things with each person you speak to until they transfer you back to UK and if it was a fault in their box don't let them get away with charging you, though have to say it's the one good thing they don't usually charge you if its in their box.

[chykensa]

Ah, Raffles, thought it had gone a bit quiet from your neck o' the woods, welcome back my friend!

[PinkyPuff]

Welcome back Raffles

[Bobsbeer]

I just love they way they use the call out charge like a weapon. How dare you insinuate BT have a fault. It must be you. Anyway welcome back Raffles

[baron]

This makes me sooooo glad that over here in my Kingdom I am hitched up to our local ISP.

Longish story, but this is the hopefully shortened one.

If I have a problem, I phone them - for free - no blasted menu options to work through, someone picks up the phone in about a minute and answers my question, or if an account query puts me through to sales. If busy they arrange for someone to call me back, which they do anywhere between 5 - 20 minutes later.

Good service too.
1. My TV set box box went u/s a few years ago, so I phone them up to report it, and to save booking an engineer to come out to replace it, I drove over to their Office about 45 min's away, handed over the dud one for a replacement, and was back home in about an hour.

2. I moved house recently (Housing Assoc. place, the 'old' one suffering from subsidence for years), and luckily I am still on the same network, so for the engineer chappies came out on the appointed day and time to cable up from the pavement point to the upstairs 'man cave' (3rd bedroom), test connection etc. cost me £25 + VAT.

I was dreading having to move to another house not on their network and have to sign up with BT, Virgin or any of the other ISP mob's.

So it was easy, I kept the same phone number and email address, and already had their new AIO modem/WiFi/Router, so I was up and running a couple of hours later.
I kept them hydrated with mugs of tea/coffee in between humping boxes and stuff around on the day of the move.

I was so easy to arrange a date and time for the move, and all done with one phone call about two weeks before the move date, plus they allowed me to have the installation done on the day of the move.
We moved house during the morning, and they were booked for the afternoon, and all went smoothly.
The bonus of course, was that we only moved about 150 yards up the road...........

[Ripshod]

Next time I move, it'll be to the IoW if I want good service it seems

[phatfil]

fwiw ive been with sky for years, xpensive TV cheap as chips broadband n Phone.. the tv side is an indulgence the odd occasion ive needed tech support its a minor pita while the 1st line of defence work thru their script but its generally either sorted or 5-10 mins before the real engineers get put on..

[Q]

Apr 28, 2015 19:53:05 GMT Raffles said:

Got through to 'John from India' (absolutely no disrespect to India)... but you spend half the time repeating or asking 'what'!

You do realise (I was told this years ago and have tried it twice) that all the UK companies that use out of UK call centres have an obligation to also have a UK base for telephone enquiries, if you get 'John from India' or 'Pete from Pakistan' you can politely ask them to transfer you to the UK based helpdesk

[Deleted]

When i was with EE I always asked for Sanjay. Good guy and very helpful. Seemed to work 24/7 hours. He and I became best buddies until I ditched them for plusnet. Never had a problem since.

Nice to see you back Raffles

[Deleted]

Nice to see you back Raffles . The threat of the £130 charge is despicable. My mum, who is in her late eighties has had a lot of problems with her BT line recently. They would even consider coming round until she agreed she was liable if the fault was in the house (it wasn't of course). BT are a heartless organisation.