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Bema Jinn
@co.uk
| BT complaint letter made available in the public domain.
The following is a letter i have sent to OTELO, OFCOM & BBC watchdog:
Dear Sir/madam at [ department ]
I am writing in regards to the “service” that BT (British Telecom) have “provided” to me (I used quotation marks as they are neither providing me with anything, nor giving me a service).
I have had problems with BT since day one of my (supposed) connection, when they claimed they were going to connect me on a certain day and failed to do so. I called one of their many numbers several times throughout the day and was numerously told it would be connected by the end of the day.
The next day, when I was still not connected, I contacted BT again and I was told there was no connection to my apartment and that an engineer would have to come out, for which I would be charged and would also cause me to have the day off work.
Whilst the engineer was in our apartment he told us that the problem was a fault on BT's behalf as the previous engineer, who had been called out before we resided there, had incorrectly installed the line.
While BT did not charge us for this call-out, our contract still started from the original supposed connection date, and we did not receive even an apology and it took several calls to BT to sort it out.
All the calls I made were from a mobile phone and ended up costing about £20 in calling credit due to trudging through their amounts of different numbers and menu selections then being transferred to and from various people who could barely speak English and kept asking me to repeat myself, adding more time onto an already expensive call.
After the line was finally repaired, I got kept getting strange calls in the middle of the night, which after answering, would continuously beep which I'm presuming is a fax machine. This happened several times a week, and as well as these, constantly getting calls asking if our business wanted to buy this product or that service. This is a home phone and I have never, nor do I intend to ever run a tanning salon! All this and my number were supposedly ex-directory! Not to mention the 1571 service I requested, and which never got activated.
When I subscribed to BT they were doing an offer of Phone and Broadband for £15 for the first three months, so naturally I was shocked when I received my first bill of £70+. I made more calls, ploughed through more menus, and got transferred to different people several times because it was both a Broadband and Phone problem. Neither Broadband office nor Phone office believed it was their fault so I kept getting bounced between the two. The people I did managed to speak to didn't understand even the simplest things I was telling them and kept feeding me stories about why I had received this bill, they each have a different explanation! For example, telling me I receive this ridiculously high bill the first month, and then I would be credited a little each month after (false advertising too, surely?).
Every time I called I received little help. I kept requesting to speak to a Manager or Supervisor, the call handler would put me on hold each time for approximately 5-10 minutes per call, and each time came back with excuses and more stories, not the authority figure I requested. I finally got through to the only pleasant person in the entirety of the company who quickly resolved the problem and sent out an amended bill.
Although all of the above was annoying to say the least, I put up with it. As apart from sporadic bills that seemed to arrive when they chose, constant disconnects and an appalling wireless range I didn't have any other problems. Until I came to move apartments.
After again trudging through numbers, menus and unpleasant and uncaring call handlers I finally got through to someone to change my address, except (according to them) there was no line connected to the apartment. This would cost me £120+ to get connected, even if it only means an engineer spending 5 minutes at the outside box and not even entering the premises. (Surely if it's something at the box, then it's a fault with BT and definitely not worthy of the £120+ charge). I asked if there being no line connected came under the part in the terms and conditions, which it state “if BT can't provide a service where I am moving then I can cleanly break the contract with no repercussions”. Apparently it doesn't. After biting my tongue I begrudgingly agreed to pay the fee on direct debit over a 6 month period. I informed BT of my new address, got a day for re-connection and arranged a day off work.
The day was getting later and later, and I still hadn't been connected. After the supposed arranged time had passed I decided to brave the menus and unhelpful call handlers (again on a mobile which cost around £30 to date, as I obviously had no landline). When I finally got through to someone I explained I hadn't been connected. They told me that the job had been cancelled. The call handler couldn't tell me why, and wouldn't put me through to anyone who could. He just kept telling me that they no longer had contact with the engineers. He wanted to arrange another day for connection but I refused as I'm not taking another leave day from work only to be stood up again. Frankly, at this point in the call, my anger was boiling so I hung up. I wasn't angry because of the fact that the job had been cancelled, but because I had waited in all day in case the engineer needed access to the property and no one had the decency to inform me that the job had mysteriously been cancelled and nobody knew why. And I can almost guarantee that the £120+ will still disappear from my account.
I know in their Terms and Conditions they have a part about “if they can't be connected then I can break the contract”, however I think they missed out the part about WON'T connect me. I would quite happily walk away from BT, if not for their £400 contract cancellation fee.
As it stands right now I have no broadband or telephone as I cannot bear to contact BT’s shoddy, unprofessional, uncaring and demeaning attitude towards their customers again. I am currently paying a temporary subscription for wireless internet with another company until I receive some satisfaction, with BT or otherwise.
The only reason I went with BT in the first place is because they appear to hold a monopoly with phone lines, and I laughably presumed it would be easier to get broadband with them too. I'm on the verge of blocking all future direct debits from BT, as the bailiffs would cause less aggravation than them!
My Requests are this:
I expect at the very least compensation for my mobile calls and missed days at work, and to finally be connected.
preferably I would like a free termination of my contract (and an end to the stress!) from both phone and broadband as they have not supplied the service they promised, hence breaking their end of the contract
Ideally an investigation into how BT handles its bills and customer service dept, as it's like a second job just trying to the simplest of information from them, and I have heard numerous complaints of the same nature from several people.
Yours Sincerely
Mr Benjamin Keeton.
This letter has also been copied to:
British Telecom
Office of the Telecommunications Ombudsman
BBC Watchdog
This letter, and any replies I may receive will be made available in the public domain and all future calls made or received from BT will be recorded and forwarded to the above. | |
comatose99
@ingdal.net |  perfect example of how not to write a letter of complaint. | |
Emigre
@lebarts.com | reply to Bema Jinn
"I" and "me" and "my" over 80 times. Bit too self-centred perhaps?
And way, way, too long and boring.
Being sarcastic at the start never, ever, helps!
2/10 | |
wonko3fc
Verbum sat sapienti
join:2001-06-02
UK | WoW! You actually read it!
I lost the will to live after the first two lines... | |
danielbath
@opaltelecom.net
| reply to Bema Jinn
I support this guy. Bosses at BT earn 100's of thousands of £ a year for being incompetent. I detest BT. They are useless on some many levels and for a telecommunications they are the poorest at communications than any other company I have dealt with.
The letter was well written although I agree about the sarcasm may have a negative affect.
People have to fight against nonsense. Dont put up with poor service! | |
USCustComps
@servershost.net
| I don't see how anyone could think that was well written. Sure thing the OP may have had a tough time and no one is saying "don't complain" but you need to complain the right way.
That doesn't do it, and its got several grammatical errors in it. | |
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