BT... Arrrrrgh!!
Discussion
Are these guys unaccountable for their ineptitude?
Staff arrive to find phone system flashing like an Xmas tree.
BT called and asked to test our ISDN line. Line tested and we are told "the line is fine so it must be your end."
Staff ask BT to put a line divert on to channel incoming calls to office mobile. BT agree to do so.
We reboot our system, but no change.
Just before we start ringing our maintenance contractor (who will charge us per job as he's not on retainer) the system springs back in to life and all lines are available again....succes.
Staff call BT to cancel the line divert and are told..."Yes, we have rectified the fault at our end and will cancel the divert you asked us to set up just 10 mins ago." (Yes, you read it correctly, a different BT customer service rep tells us the fault was theirs all along)
Fast forward 24 hours and customers are telling us our phones are on divert!!!!!
I call BT and yes....they are in fact on divert to the office mobile. When I ask why I'me told "it can take up to 24 hours to activate a divert." (What good what that be when all calls over the last 24 hours hit a dead line?)
BT cancel the divert within some 4 mins (it seems canceling diverts is much easier) and all is now good...but its not. I ask why did this happen at all to be told "We don't know but its fixed now."
I ask how do I complain to be told "Well I can do that for you now." She proceeds to make notes (probably to appease me) and tells me it will be looked in to.
I ask what happens to my complaint? "It will be looked in to and our service improved." Err...no feed back, explanation or apology?
In all my years dealing with companies of various size and nature BT have to be the worst on every level. They refuse to accept responsibility for their faults, in actions and failures, but because they operate in a closed market manage to get away with it all.
Rant over.
Staff arrive to find phone system flashing like an Xmas tree.
BT called and asked to test our ISDN line. Line tested and we are told "the line is fine so it must be your end."
Staff ask BT to put a line divert on to channel incoming calls to office mobile. BT agree to do so.
We reboot our system, but no change.
Just before we start ringing our maintenance contractor (who will charge us per job as he's not on retainer) the system springs back in to life and all lines are available again....succes.
Staff call BT to cancel the line divert and are told..."Yes, we have rectified the fault at our end and will cancel the divert you asked us to set up just 10 mins ago." (Yes, you read it correctly, a different BT customer service rep tells us the fault was theirs all along)
Fast forward 24 hours and customers are telling us our phones are on divert!!!!!
I call BT and yes....they are in fact on divert to the office mobile. When I ask why I'me told "it can take up to 24 hours to activate a divert." (What good what that be when all calls over the last 24 hours hit a dead line?)
BT cancel the divert within some 4 mins (it seems canceling diverts is much easier) and all is now good...but its not. I ask why did this happen at all to be told "We don't know but its fixed now."
I ask how do I complain to be told "Well I can do that for you now." She proceeds to make notes (probably to appease me) and tells me it will be looked in to.
I ask what happens to my complaint? "It will be looked in to and our service improved." Err...no feed back, explanation or apology?
In all my years dealing with companies of various size and nature BT have to be the worst on every level. They refuse to accept responsibility for their faults, in actions and failures, but because they operate in a closed market manage to get away with it all.
Rant over.
The problem is that BT as an entity is so big that they have to trade as separate divisions, which is why you end up with different people telling you different things!
Your best option is to find out who is in charge of the business unit you're dealing with (at director level) and contact them directly. You shouldn't have to do this, I know, but it should help.
Your best option is to find out who is in charge of the business unit you're dealing with (at director level) and contact them directly. You shouldn't have to do this, I know, but it should help.
LordGrover said:
Most small businesses still run ISDN2 or ISDN30 for telephony, no?
In my experience, yup. Although many SME have both ISDN2/30 and SIP. We've seen the migration from ISDN as the primary trunk with SIP as backup, over to SIP as the primary with ISDN as the backup over the past 12-18 months.Back in my field PBX tech days BT were always a nightmare in the OP's scenario but, although a pain, they were the best of a bad bunch when compared to other service providers. Been out of the reseller side of things for 10 years now so not sure how much worse they have got.
TheExcession said:
I - Installed
S - Still
D - Does
N - Nothing
Told to me by a BT Exec a long long time ago.
Are people really still using ISDN in this day and age of glorious 4G coverage and Fibre-Power Internet?
ISDN2E and ISDN30 tend to be pretty stable and work without many issues, 4g and fibre aren't quite as reliable yet. S - Still
D - Does
N - Nothing
Told to me by a BT Exec a long long time ago.
Are people really still using ISDN in this day and age of glorious 4G coverage and Fibre-Power Internet?
BTnet & sip will probably take over from isdn30 soon, fibre/bb and voip from isdn2e.
Amazing how many businesses rely on BB/Fibre etc for everything but have no back up plan for when it goes down.
Ah BT,
Having suffered with their s
t service for years we decided we would move to SKY. Everything was set up and at midnight our BB went dead. The next day we were up and running on SKY. Simples one would think. Think again
One week later we receive an email and E-Bill ‘Thank you for signing up with BT BB’ I phoned them to advise them of their error. OK Sir we will cancel it. I even corrected them-it’s NOT a cancelation.
The following month they billed us another month-more phone calls. They managed to cancel it this time but levied £30 fee to cancel it.
I must have spoken to them 20 times by phone, always promised resolution but never getting anywhere. The worst company I have ever dealt with. I hate them with a passion.
Having suffered with their s
t service for years we decided we would move to SKY. Everything was set up and at midnight our BB went dead. The next day we were up and running on SKY. Simples one would think. Think againOne week later we receive an email and E-Bill ‘Thank you for signing up with BT BB’ I phoned them to advise them of their error. OK Sir we will cancel it. I even corrected them-it’s NOT a cancelation.
The following month they billed us another month-more phone calls. They managed to cancel it this time but levied £30 fee to cancel it.
I must have spoken to them 20 times by phone, always promised resolution but never getting anywhere. The worst company I have ever dealt with. I hate them with a passion.
soad said:
BT? They've paid me ~£150 in compensation! No telephone service for days on end (faulty cable outdoors - not my fault). Kerching! 
(This was in 1999-2000).
you wouldnt get that now though. The rotten sods have a policy that if they fix the fault within the time given then zero compo. They simply say ok 3 weeks to sort that problem out and fix it in 20 (badly).(This was in 1999-2000).
ooo000ooo said:
ISDN2E and ISDN30 tend to be pretty stable and work without many issues, 4g and fibre aren't quite as reliable yet.
BTnet & sip will probably take over from isdn30 soon, fibre/bb and voip from isdn2e.
Amazing how many businesses rely on BB/Fibre etc for everything but have no back up plan for when it goes down.
We still have ISDN30 at HQ and many ISDN2 at branches but use SIP for inter-company calls. Seamless and reliable for the last seven years. I'd like to switch to SIP at some point, but it's not ready yet.BTnet & sip will probably take over from isdn30 soon, fibre/bb and voip from isdn2e.
Amazing how many businesses rely on BB/Fibre etc for everything but have no back up plan for when it goes down.
LordGrover said:
We still have ISDN30 at HQ and many ISDN2 at branches but use SIP for inter-company calls. Seamless and reliable for the last seven years. I'd like to switch to SIP at some point, but it's not ready yet.
If you use an Enterprise carrier and proper hardware (which people often don't do) SIP is perfectly fine. We run Entanet links with fibre both ends, and decent Mikrotik routers using traffic prioritising. SIP offers many more benefits over traditional fixed lines - with instant divert easy and changes in seconds via a control panel. Offices connect to each other using FreePBX/Asterisk based systems - everyone can call internally without fuss, SIP lines take up to 10 incoming calls each. We have regular BT PSTN lines into the PBX too using Sangoma POTS interfaces, it just becomes another line out, next to the SIP. We can set up rules to decide which line to use. It can accept Fax to email etc. We still get to use decent Cisco IP phones, etc. Using 3G/4G I can connect to my phone extension using my mobile phone and take calls anywhere.
Wouldn't swap it for anything else now.
Burwood said:
soad said:
BT? They've paid me ~£150 in compensation! No telephone service for days on end (faulty cable outdoors - not my fault). Kerching!
(This was in 1999-2000).
you wouldnt get that now though. The rotten sods have a policy that if they fix the fault within the time given then zero compo. They simply say ok 3 weeks to sort that problem out and fix it in 20 (badly).(This was in 1999-2000).
LordGrover said:
Hah! Wait till you need to involve OpenReach and/or one of their subbies.
Then you'll have something to moan about. Feckless incompetents.
Next week we are going to be getting (in theory...) two BT lines installed into one of our site cabins. BT don't think it necessary to do a survey beforehand, despite me warning them that the nearest Openreach infrastructure may well be some distance from our cabin.Then you'll have something to moan about. Feckless incompetents.
We've been quoted £115 per line for installation.
If we get the lines installed when they state and don't get charged any extra I'll wax my ball-sack!
matchmaker said:
Next week we are going to be getting (in theory...) two BT lines installed into one of our site cabins. BT don't think it necessary to do a survey beforehand, despite me warning them that the nearest Openreach infrastructure may well be some distance from our cabin.
We've been quoted £115 per line for installation.
If we get the lines installed when they state and don't get charged any extra I'll wax my ball-sack!
LOL someone's made a balls, site huts are classed as temporary lines and attract lots of extra charges as standard never mind the excess construction charges. Survey is a basic requirement. We've been quoted £115 per line for installation.
If we get the lines installed when they state and don't get charged any extra I'll wax my ball-sack!
The engineer will turn up, probably refuse or be unable to do the work and cancel it.
Whoever placed the order on the system has fudged the address to make it match with an existing address, it'll be routed to a different DP, possibly even cabinet and if they've bodged it properly, the wrong exchange.
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