BT..terrible at customer service and service delivery:
*Sorry for the UK centric focus on this article, but perhaps US readers can swap BT for Verizon, Sprint etc etc …;)
Are you a BT customer, or have you ever been in an unfortunate relationship with this shower of shi*e?
If so, it would be interesting to hear how much pain you have had as a result of their unbelievable ineptitude in every single department.
Just how bad are BT?
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- In the past BT have created two accounts running under my name in error, and when I came to ask why every month I had a duplicate bill to pay, it took three-four months to work out what had happened and I still have no idea how it actually occurred, but the mess up cost me literally tens of hours of hell to sort out, and about 100 phone calls.
- They used the excuse of the summer riots to inform us that they would take 6-7 weeks to install a new line, even though we live nowhere near the riot locations.
- After deciding to give BT one last try this year, while moving house, they categorically mis-sold us a package on our first sales call, and when questioned, were told the phone recording had disappeared, and we were essentially lying about the details we had been informed of.
- It took us 2 weeks and 25 phone calls to get them to admit fault after the initial quote, and only really came about after we told them we were going to go with o2 (by god we wish we had done this), and this was final deal only a compromise. (and more costly than o2!)
- Since then, they have got our bill wrong every month, cut us off numerous times, and incorrectly charged us reconnection fees.
- You will find it nigh on impossible to speak to someone on customer service unless you are potentially buying a product.
- As a customer you will be treated with utter contempt at every point of contact.
- You will be guaranteed things by numerous people and assume all is well, then, after the fifth guarantee, you will find that the problem has morphed into something new and you start all over again.
- BT will never do anything correctly to help you, and will happily inform you of just how little they will help you at every point in your relationship with them.
- BT are usually expensive when compared to their competitors, with service levels way below these other companies. Indeed, not content with ripping you off, they will then happily, and fraudulently, take money out of your account for bills that are so way off the mark they are laughable, with no discernible reason as to how they get to the figure they charge.
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BT are Dinosaurs disguised as geeks:
We all hear about the good BT are doing for digital Britain, rolling this out and that out, and how the other networks were reluctant to join forces to enable FTTC and FTTH that would help increase the speed of our p*ss poor UK broadband connections, but I doubt it was all that simple with this company, who only a few years ago finally allowed competitors to deliver broadband in the LLU unbundling period.
BT are and will always be dirty, great, monopolistic, arrogant dinosaurs, who bring nothing of note to the table other than strife and hassle.
On the other hand, as serious reporters, we would love to hear unbiased views from the other side of the coin also, so please tell us you your own opinion of BT in the comments section.
UPDATE:
*Update, to add to the misery we have faced as six month old customers, I have just spent over one hour on the phone yet again, as they have cut our phone and broadband off 20 days earlier than they had stated and we had asked.
Yes, after wanting to leave early, and BT honouring our departure (Ombudsman still in process of dealing with the issue of compensation fro hours and hours of wasted time and incorrect bills, and use of mobile to call costly numbers, etc etc)
We finally gave them a date to be disconnected on the 10th of Feb, at last, an end in sight.
And having agreed to go with the much more flexible Post Office packages for our landline and o2 as our broadband provider who are giving insanely great deals currently for o2 mobile customers….both offering money back also!
We booked our new lines and broadband and told BT we were off, then we get two notices:
One email telling us thanks we are disconnecting you on the 10th Feb as planned, the other stating that they are disconnecting us on the 20th Jan.
After forgetting about this second email we rang up on the 18th Jan to check they were not going to cut us off on the 20th. They confirm that they were going to do this, but do not know why as they can see that the correct date was the 10th of Feb, we ask please do not inconvenience us anymore, make sure this does not go ahead; as dinosaurs of the communication industry they say; “we will do our best, but not sure if we have time to stop this action”
(2 days) need I say more.
Come the 20th of Jan at around 10.00 PM, we get cut off. With no BT office open until 9 am on Saturday morning, so we phone at 9.15 am, at 11.00 am we finish on the phone after this conversation:
Why have you cut us off?
Sorry sir, we made an error?
Ok, please reconnect us asap as this is now costing us money for a data connection for a service we are paying for.
Sorry sir, we can not do that it will take seven days as you will need a new line.
This must be possible to be do quicker than that surely?
Let me speak to a manager.
Manager:
Hi, sorry for the inconvenience we have yet again caused you.
Ok, please reconnect us ASAP.
Sorry sir, we will start a new contract, but must let you know that it will be Monday before we can get you up and running with phone and broadband…(told seven days originally)
Ponders….
Ok, (this gives me and my partner nearly two weeks of our broadband connection that we expected to have and need)……long process, waiting….then get asked for Direct Debit details.
Alarm bells ring (we paid initially on D/D only to be billed for £170+ on the first incorrect bill which should have been some £70+…this was part of our initial problems that just morphed (as you can see) into as many problems as humanly/mechanically possible.
After talking for a while and all agreeing that a D/D was not needed for a twenty day contract for this 18 month contract that would be needed to start and then cancelled on the 10th of Feb (yes about two + weeks old) we then get told that broadband would actually be about Thursday for reconnection.
My partner (now dealing with this as my face had turned blue) said “you just said Monday”. She apologises (BT are great at this), to which we replied there must be some way of this being done quicker, to which she replies, OK, I can escalate this matter.
At what point do you think we should not have been give a raised escalation considering the utter crap we have had to go through for six months.
Never ever take BT for gospel, they are natural born liars in ever sense.
Phone goes dead (no idea why) so we wait for a return call, nothing for 20+ minutes so we phone back after deciding that starting an 18 month new contract with BT for two weeks, as they were too incompetent to not cancel the cancellation that was incorrect would be like pulling teeth and we could see the issues mount yet again, and so we inform BT to cancel the reconnection as we will just carry on with the Ombudsman and bill BT for our expensive data we now have to pay for in the next 20 days or so……UNBELIEVABLE….I swear this will carry on somehow into another problem even after cancellation confirmation by email, you mark my words.
Another 1.5 hours wasted on our Saturday morning…STEER WELL CLEAR OF BT IF YOU VALUE YOUR SANITY!
Anthony Munns