My first communication from BT arrived this morning. It was a reminder for a bill. A reminder. This is first thing they've sent me since they cut me off in error, hijacked my phone line, and forced me into a 12 month contract with them against my wishes.
This reminder had the wrong address on it, but reached me somehow (I live in a small town, and the posties are very good). No mention of the £50 deposit I already paid them, or of the compensation they'd promised me for having to drive a total of 250 miles just so that I could read my email and send documents and queries to my editor in order to meet my deadline (not to mention the £90 I spent on mobile phone calls to demand my phone line back, or the £30 I had already paid to my own phone company in advance fees.) I did not tell them that my grandmother died, and I didn't know to go to her hospital bedside that afternoon because my mobile had run out of charge, and my family couldn't reach me because BT had cut my phone line. The death of a family member was not something I was prepared to speak about with these people.
No. I simply made it abundantly clear how much they had inconvenienced me.
Now this "reminder" arrives, saying I owe them £165 or so.
£33 for three months line rental, payable in advance.
£0.14 for calls I made.
£4.50 for some spurious charge I incurred for paying BT money.
£124.99 BT reconnection fee.
Of course I called them up, and, after a mere 10 minutes, got straight through to their call centre in India.
(Paraphrasing)
Me: "I'm not paying this, you utter bastards. You can't disconnect me from another phone company just because you made a stupid mistake, then keep me on hold for over three hours each time I call to try and sort it out, then force me into a 12 month phone contract with yourselves, which I have to agree to if I want a phone, then promise me compensation and not cough up, then charge me £50 deposit to guarantee I get a connection back, while depriving me of a phone line for two and a half weeks, AND THEN CHARGE ME £125 FUCKING POUNDS FOR RECONNECTING ME."
Them: "The system says you need to pay this £125 because engineers were called round."
Me: "I don't care. You disconnected me. YOUR mistake. I'm not paying it."
Them: "I don't know about that. You have to pay because the system doesn't mention any of that other stuff."
Me: "Are you saying I'm wrong? ARE YOU SAYING I'M LYING ABOUT THIS? Or is robbery now BT's policy?"
Them: "Erm... Engineers... System... £125..."
Me: "This company is the greediest and most incompetent company I have ever dealt with. You could not possibly be more incompentent if you tried. It is simply impossible to be any worse."
Them: "The system says..."
Me: "LET ME SPEAK TO YOUR BOSS!!!!!!"
And now a second "complaints procedure" is underway. I have a new reference number and everything. But one thing's for sure. I have to get away from BT before I lose my mind. Even if it means no phone. Even if it means moving to a new house with a non-BT line. I have to get away from these idiots.
This reminder had the wrong address on it, but reached me somehow (I live in a small town, and the posties are very good). No mention of the £50 deposit I already paid them, or of the compensation they'd promised me for having to drive a total of 250 miles just so that I could read my email and send documents and queries to my editor in order to meet my deadline (not to mention the £90 I spent on mobile phone calls to demand my phone line back, or the £30 I had already paid to my own phone company in advance fees.) I did not tell them that my grandmother died, and I didn't know to go to her hospital bedside that afternoon because my mobile had run out of charge, and my family couldn't reach me because BT had cut my phone line. The death of a family member was not something I was prepared to speak about with these people.
No. I simply made it abundantly clear how much they had inconvenienced me.
Now this "reminder" arrives, saying I owe them £165 or so.
£33 for three months line rental, payable in advance.
£0.14 for calls I made.
£4.50 for some spurious charge I incurred for paying BT money.
£124.99 BT reconnection fee.
Of course I called them up, and, after a mere 10 minutes, got straight through to their call centre in India.
(Paraphrasing)
Me: "I'm not paying this, you utter bastards. You can't disconnect me from another phone company just because you made a stupid mistake, then keep me on hold for over three hours each time I call to try and sort it out, then force me into a 12 month phone contract with yourselves, which I have to agree to if I want a phone, then promise me compensation and not cough up, then charge me £50 deposit to guarantee I get a connection back, while depriving me of a phone line for two and a half weeks, AND THEN CHARGE ME £125 FUCKING POUNDS FOR RECONNECTING ME."
Them: "The system says you need to pay this £125 because engineers were called round."
Me: "I don't care. You disconnected me. YOUR mistake. I'm not paying it."
Them: "I don't know about that. You have to pay because the system doesn't mention any of that other stuff."
Me: "Are you saying I'm wrong? ARE YOU SAYING I'M LYING ABOUT THIS? Or is robbery now BT's policy?"
Them: "Erm... Engineers... System... £125..."
Me: "This company is the greediest and most incompetent company I have ever dealt with. You could not possibly be more incompentent if you tried. It is simply impossible to be any worse."
Them: "The system says..."
Me: "LET ME SPEAK TO YOUR BOSS!!!!!!"
And now a second "complaints procedure" is underway. I have a new reference number and everything. But one thing's for sure. I have to get away from BT before I lose my mind. Even if it means no phone. Even if it means moving to a new house with a non-BT line. I have to get away from these idiots.
posted by Alan Campbell | 9:09 PM
7 Comments:
I feel your pain, squire.
OFCOM, right now.
I know your pain. Just over new year they managed to give us a totally new phone number, without even asking us first.
Thank goodness for mobile phones.
BT must use the same call centre that my credit card provider does.
Them: Oh, I am so sorry sir.
Me: Look, I know you are not responsible for this because you are sitting in a call centre in Bangalore...
Them: Mumbai, sir.
Me: Sure, and I know your supervisor beats you with a stick if you don't clear your hourly quota...
Them: (muffled thwack)
Me: So all I want is for you to give me a name, or even an address local to me so I can, er, escalate this matter personally.
Them: Oh, I am so very sorry sir, but that I cannot do. (muffled thwack)
Me: Thank you for your time.
Yeah, go straight to Ofcom, Alan. You could try one of the BBC campaigning programs too, like You And Yours
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours/
Ooo. Much mirth. I can hear you banging your head on the desk from here!
This probably doesn't make you feel any better Alan, but I've had to deal with Telstra over here in Oz, and I do believe they are actually worse.
http://ianandmandy.blogspot.com/2008/01/addicted-to-baud-or-how-i-came-to-hate.html
This is only part one of the story, as after 5 weeks of waiting for a ADSL connection, I too was sent a bill for $200, a week before they installed it, even after they told me installation would be free.
I think that BT and Telstra are related, certainly have the same customer service trainers.
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