Awful customer service - awful product - stay away

I have nothing good to say about BT as a customer for the last 10 years. Rip off merchants plain and simple.

If you have another option just avoid BT

Unbelievably poor customer service, ordered my BT phone line and broadband after speaking to BT and being assured that if I placed the order someone would contact me within 2 weeks, 2 weeks later no call - a problem with the exchange, given 9th May which was 6 weeks after the order placed but assured that the problem with the exchange would be fixed prior to this, 9th May, no show, promised call 10th May, promised call 11th May no show, promised exchange issue would be fixed by 13th May, computer glitch, 15th May promised that it would be done by 18th May, but that I would be called by 16th May ......guess what! text to say it would be 20th May followed within 10 mins to say it would be 24th May - bank holiday Friday and I live in a tourist area that will be packed not to mention really busy so I'll be wasting yet another day no doubt for them not to show.
I've been told innumerable lies, fobbed off, ignored, and finally one customer service rep plucked up the courage to tell me the truth that they couldn't even guarantee the 24th......pathetic.

IF YOU HAVE ANY CHOICE OF NOT USING THIS COMPANY THEN FIND THE ALTERNATIVE - I WISH I'D GONE WITH EXWAVIA - DEARER BUT AT LEAST THE BROADBAND WOULD BE ACTIVE BY NOW.

Avoid!!

Bt Vision box not working for well over a month and no solution offered. I have been given the run around by these Indian call centres who often do not speak English clearly and the lines are crackly. They speak from scripts and have no understanding of how to sort my problem. In fairness they did send out an engineer eventually ( on the wrong day initially) to check my box but as i predicted, this was not the problem. They will neither compensate me, nor let me out of the contract despite them not fulfilling their part of it.

Putting BT's atrocious treatment of customers and faulty usage metre in the news

This is short although my list of complaints is long, as BT have cut me off internet and phone due to the enormous bills for internet usage that I did not use, due to their faulty metre (123 GB in 48hrs is one instance of several such ) and there are many complaints about this on their own site as well as Martins Money Matters site.

I only get cut off or wait hours for no show supervisors or non returned phone calls or get a pacifying script response to emails no actual help with this which is now so serious.

So I contacted an ethical group of journalists. If you would like to add your story so that together we can make a difference please do contact me and be patient for response given I am cut off and mostly housebound.
( I can not even sort essentials like DR's appointments / visits with being cut off like this]

I saw one 77 year old they did this to, and the stress of their denial that it could be anyone but the customers fault, especially for such vulnerable people (who also may not know enough about computers to know that is an untruth), is obviously harmful to ones health, so a stand against this bully needs to be made together before it seriously harms someone.

I am new here so do not know if there are PM's etc . Please keep posting your experiences to help protect others here and wherever appropriate.

The worst company I've ever dealt with!!!!

I had just one year with BT due to the fact I was in a listed building and was unable to have sky, so you would think all I needed was a one year contract!! Not that simple because they must employ people that are trained to lie, put you off, don't answer, I am even on hold as we speak and have been for 48 minutes!!!!, I have. Been told something different ny so many "BT employees" they just frustrate you into paying somehow. My advice and its one i will use for life and that is!!!!!! I WOULD RATHER LIVE WITH NOTHING THAN HAVE "BT"(British telecom!!!!) utter rubbish.

DO NOT, DO NOT sign to BT

I signed up to BT Infinity early last December. They transferred my phone line and then booked an appointment early in January to connect Infinity in the meantime they insisted on putting me on BT total broadband (their most expensive package!) They then cancelled my appointment and booked another on for a week later saying there was problems at the exchange. They also cancelled that appointment and re-booked another - that engineer didn't even bother to turn up! Finally infinity was installed at the end of January. Unfortunately, it was not installed correctly as it kept disconnecting. I than had another engineer come to fix it mid February who told me that the original engineer had wired it wrong. It took 2 1/2 months from the original order to get infinity !!!
Since all this this I've had to call BT every month due to incorrect billing. Being charged for calls, even though i pay for anytime calls. Charging full price for infinity even though the first three months are half price. Charging for line rental even though i've paid a year in advance. And the offer of the sainsburys vouchers, i had to jump through hoops to get them.
The final nail in the coffin is now i am arguing about the £99 charge they have sent me for the second engineer to come out. Yes, even though the original engineer messed up the wiring i am being charged for it!!!
BT have got to be the WORST company i have ever dealt with. I honestly cant wait until my contract expires so i can go elsewhere.
DO NOT sign to BT dreadful customer service.

PS. I'm only giving one star because i have to

BT. Avoid at all costs

BEWARE: A despicable avaricious company who are (presumably) trying to make up for lost sales (due to their outmoded outlook, overpriced, substandard service and cheap, nasty products) by ripping off their existing customers in every way possible.
•Their calls are overpriced and the tariffs are tricksy - make sure you read the very small print (usually well-hidden on another page entirely).

•Their broadband is unreliable and – contrary to what those irritating adverts would have you believe – will frequently slow you down.

•BT Vision is just dreadful. ie. It frequently spends up to 15 minutes spontaneously rebooting itself mid-programme. The interface is a design disaster which is hellishly irritating to navigate – The TV guide jumps about all over the place and the additional services will have you repeatedly clicking-on like a mad thing in order to do something basic like play a recording! The choice of films are limited, antiquated and would only appeal to those who think that TOWIE is 'drama' .

In summary; they are a greedy, old fashioned company who are too dumb to realise that they are being outstripped in every way by their competitors.

Oh yes and... They are currently trying to charge me a cancellation fee for a contract that THEY have chosen to close prematurely.

Use BT? Never in a million years

This is truly the company from hell, Once bitten twice shy. They are offering 6months free internet but i cancelled and they charged me more than £120.00 cancellation fee and when i refused to pay they sent 2 debt collection agencies on me. Never again in my lifetime will these people have my business

So bad, that it became hilarious to deal with them!

Upgrading my BT Broadband to BT Infinity 2?

After having my letterbox regularly interfered with for over a year with sales information from BT attempting to persuade me to upgrade to BT Infinity (which I already have), several weeks ago, I received a telephone call from a jolly gentleman in BT’s sales team asking me if I wanted to upgrade to BT Infinity 2. Normally, when an unknown person introduces him/herself via a telephone call with: "hello, how are you today?", they don’t get to utter the next syllable, before being reverted back to the dial tone, but this time I listened and he told me triumphantly that the upgrade was “Free”. It was BT's precious gift to a loyal customer, similar to the technological equivalent of myrrh and frankincense.

As a result of signing up for Infinity 2, my broadband speed would go up to a dazzling 58.9 Mbps (not so dazzling considering that some countries around us have been rolling out standard 100Mbps networks for a while). Also, I would have absolute unlimited broadband......... yeah right!! The rule is: it is unlimited but, if you go beyond what BT deems to be fair, they come and squeeze your pipe (not your windpipe though). So Broadband is limited unlimited and telephone calls are unlimited limited (one hour) on evenings and weekends. Where is that telephone number for Trading Standards again?

After some hesitation, as I have over 30 years of experience with BT and their ability to display astounding levels of incompetence that makes George Osborne look like John Maynard Keynes (look him up), I decided to go ahead and ....................... absolutely nothing happened!.

Normally I would have left it there, but I have had problems with my BT router for some time and after various telephone calls with technical script readers in alien time zones, during which I was told to switch the bloody thing off and on (which it was already quite masterful at on its own) and remove and reconnect wires, resulting in as much improvement as I would have achieved by praying for the thing to work properly. In technical terms, the thing just proved to be beyond repair via telephone instruction.

I decided to call BT’s Sales Office to discuss getting a new Home Hub and when asking about my Infinity 2 upgrade from a few weeks ago, it was confirmed........ nobody knew anything about it. Not to worry though, I could get an upgrade right now to Infinity 2 and receive a new Router called a Hub 3.0. I immediately felt a cold hand around my heart: BT would have to take on two orders at the same time, but the sales lady said, BT could handle it. I admired her reckless pluckiness and we haggled over the price and agreed on a payment of a few quid for delivery and a reasonable reduction in monthly payments.

A few days later, I was told in rather condescending terms in a letter with lots of coloured blocks with large letters, big icons and references to 58.9 Mbps as 58.9 Mb that the new upgraded service was to start on the 18th of April and that on the same day the equipment would arrive and the service would be upgraded. I had to strictly wait with the self-installation of the kit until BT phoned or emailed to give me the go-ahead. The letter also said that it could be any time until midnight of the 18th that I would get that go-ahead call or email.

To my complete astonishment, on the morning of the 18th, the postman delivered a package containing the new Hub 3.0, which arrival on the agreed date was a absolute miracle akin to a blood crying statue of the virgin Mary or a potato resembling the face of Jesus. After gradually overcoming my surprise, I considered that the race was on: would they or would they not? I waited and waited and waited some more but no call or email emerged. Although I had low expectations, I still felt disappointed that BT had failed again.

BT has been in existence since Medieval times and nothing much has changed since then. BT is a male dominated organisation with a couple of token female non-exec directors and it is not likely that there may be a woman CEO or Chair in the next 200 years. The management structure is that of a neo-Ruritanian hierarchy and modelled on the British civil service in India circa 1850.

On the morning of Friday the 19th, I ventured into what can be called a rather risky exercise: to phone BT and find out what went wrong. With slight trepidation and resignation to the fact that much of this day would no longer be my own, I chose from a menu read out by a female voice in need of Strepsils and I was put through to a young man in a BT call centre who thought it excellent, brilliant and wonderful that I knew my own name and address and he verbally orgasmed that I was able to read out the order number.

He said it was all splendid and no problem. During our conversation, he decided to add my surname name to the end of every sentence, but after the 4th time, it started to fray and sounding rather different from what I call myself. But, lucky me, he said, he would sort it out by connecting me to the Order Management Department.

Order Management apparently does not reside in the UK. Order Management is chosen to maintain the historical connection with Britain’s colonial heritage and after two bars of holding music (shades of things to come), I was swiftly transferred to a representative located in the Indian subcontinent. I presume he must have had a PhD, as standards are high in that part of the world. The gentleman introduced himself by reading his name from a script, which, during our conversation, he stuck to like glue, as improvisation is severely frowned upon within BT and even the smallest deviation from his script had to be immediately discussed with a supervisors likely to reside in Kamchatka, the Faroe Islands or Manchuria, during which lengthy intervals, when I am sure they also chatted about last night's telly, the footy and the weather, I was put on hold and subjected to BT's holding music.

Now the BT holding music is BT’s punishment for anybody who has the temerity to contact the company by telephone. If we, clients, take that risk, we receive the holding music in revenge. The holding music manifests itself as a loop of around 45 bars of the Allegro, the first movement of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Serenade no.13 for Strings in G Major (K525) also known as Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, which Mozart must have composed when he’d been overindulging on Jaeger bombs. The piece should have been called Eine Grosse Scheisse Musik (Google Translate will help you out with that one).

Somebody within BT, who would probably pass the Sociopath test Cum Laude has decided that the caller should not just be tortured by a loop of only a small piece of this music, knowing full well that holding during communication with BT is always lengthy, but we should be forced to listen to a rendition played by Radio Azerbaijan’s Part Time Retired Amateur String Ensemble. Also, as an integral part of the punishment, the playback volume on BT’s holding music system is deliberately set too high, so what arrives in one's earhole, whilst waiting, is a nasty nauseatingly distorted short loop of a badly played piece of classical sh*t that makes you grab for a sick bag after about five repeats. After 15 minutes on hold, several of my senses moved to DEFCON 2 and I wanted to play Russian Roulette with a loaded bread knife. I have since called Guantanamo Bay’s Enhanced Interrogation Development Team with a tip.

For 43 minutes, I endured Mozart's soporific composition in reverse as well as my good friend from the Indian Subcontinent flicking backwards and forwards to his supervisors, putting me on hold and at one time threatening to connect me to the Engineering Department where, when it comes to sales orders, they have great difficulties distinguishing between their rectum and their olecranon process (look it up). He did his best to make sure I did not blame him for the mishap. He and I had started bonding via a naturally occurring process known as the Stockholm Syndrome. I did not blame him; he was just as much a victim as I was, so I wished him a good life, hung up and decided to take a different tack.

I have been here before with BT. I have on several occasions been confronted with their astounding levels of incompetence, which they should patent, as the coalition government is borrowing heavily from it at the moment. BT can afford it though, as they have a monopoly. Now from experience and because I am a sod, I know that if you go high enough up the BT food chain, you actually find people who are trained to find their way around this choas of gross incompetence and who, miraculously, do not directly contribute to it. In other words, they can, on a good day, sort you out.

I looked for the telephone number of BT Group PLC in London and found it via Google, who are a bit like God, omnipotently knowing all about me and making sure that wherever I go on the Internet, there will be a link to a video of a brace of sexually active voluptuous lesbians (only joking!). Those are the perils of when you are not a client of Google, you become the product. The number auntie Google gave me for BT Group PLC appeared not to be in use any longer; a bad omen!

I found other telephone numbers via more obscure websites and I managed to get through to the BT Group PLC switchboard where I encountered a bull terrier by the name of Paul, who refused to put me through to the Chairman’s Office because of procedures, policies and a whole lot of other flannel. I insisted, cajoled and almost threatened to pay the office a visit and personally insert a new shiny Home hub 3.0 into an organic cavity devoid of solar illumination. Finally, we agreed that Paul would send an email to the Chairman’s Office with a request that somebody would ring me back and solve the problem. I asked to be called back within 2 hours and he said, he would put that in the email and send it immediately. I asked to be copied on the email so that I had the Chair office’s email address, but he probably figured that one out too and he didn't. Nice try though!!!

Now within BT, it is part of corporate culture that nobody rings back. As part of a slow developing enlightening process, BT has succumbed to the fact that there is absolutely no use ringing the customer back as nobody has an inkling on how to solve their problems, so on pain of an instant P45 and a security escort from the premises whilst carrying your belongings in a cardboard box with a stylish BT logo (never missing a marketing trick), nobody calls you back.

Five hours later, in the afternoon, I decided to call the Group PLC office again to see what happened with the email. Fortunately the drunken Mozart tune has been eliminated from calls to the head office and after explaining why I called, I was almost immediately put through to a lady who has no other job title than: Working for the Chairman’s Office. She informed me that because of climate change, a new Pope and various other important things like washing her hair, I had not received a call from my new case manager by the name of Beverly, who was also graced with the job title: Working for the Chairman’s office although she doesn't work from his office, but a few miles away in Brentford, which nicely mixes it up in the job nomenclature.

Beverly did call me later as she is not constrained by the no-call back P45 threat. Beverly ignored my rant about incompetence and holding music torture, she must get that a lot as I could hear her yawn when I mentioned it.

Now Beverly came out with an astonishing stroke of genius, a bit like the reverse of Nigel Farage’s, (he of the political wing of the Flat Earth Society) vision of Britain's future. Beverly said: “sir, after looking into your complaint very thoroughly, I have found out that THE ORDER HAS FAILED”.

I was absolutely stunned, as that fact would have never occurred to me in a million years and I nearly cried because of feeling so blessed to witness such divine insightfulness at the outer regions of Homo Sapiens' ultimate powers of deduction.

As BT had now admitted culpability, I asked for compensation for my suffering and my time, but Beverly made it very clear that this was certainly not her first priority, “a bit of goodwill, yes”, she purred, still rather chuffed with having been able to find out that the order had failed, “but we need to get you a new order on Monday”. I asked if I could have it today, but she muttered things about BT Wholesale (whatever that is) and she proved to be completely incapable of even contemplating getting me sorted out today as that required a level of initiative that was way beyond Beverly’s pay grade as well as possibly her cognitive abilities, even if it only meant making a couple of internal calls to people in engineering who needed to flick a switch.

So, no Infinity 2 and no active Hub 3.0 yet, but a wonderful sojourn through BT Land where the sun never sets and life has a meaning of its own.

BT, a complete joke, but not a funny one.

We recently moved home, just 100 yards along the road. I notified BT in March online to transfer the phone line, BT Internet and BT vision on 8th April and I had various confirmations that this would be done. The phone line was transferred as requested but guess what, no internet or BT vision.

Between then and now I have made numerous calls and spent hours of wasted time on the phone to various BT know-nothings who have frankly lied about the reason for the problem and connection date. Excuses have been “your order got stuck in the system” and “there is a complicated technical problem at your exchange”. That’ll be the same exchange that I was on before the move and the one that I am connected through just now thanks to my helpful neighbour’s BT wifi. Thanks, Tom.

I have been given numerous dates for connection all have come and gone without a flicker of the little blue broadband light on my router. I have spent hours on the phone going through BTs automated system always to end up speaking to someone reading from a script card telling them how to deal with a frustrated customer (soon to be ex customer). Always the line “Yes, I can definitely help you with that problem today sir.” and then not actually doing anything. We have also lost the various tv series that we were watching. I have also been insulted by one person in a far flung call centre who insisted that I provided my full password rather than the normal random two characters to ensure that I gave the correct details.

I have never been called back to apologise or deal with the issue. Although BT have been keen to try to contact me regarding my cancelled direct debit and to tell me they will charge me a processing fee for not paying by direct debit. I’m not quite sure what I am supposed to be paying for as I prepaid my line rental and I’m not getting any other services.

Last connection date given as 19th April. Still no broadband on 21st April. The recorded message now says that it will be connected on 1st May. I am only persisting with BT because I use the BT Broadband Phone number as my business number and all my recently printed business cards etc. will need to be redone and contacts advised of the new number.

If you are thinking of BT. Don’t bother. Customer service is non-existent. They also clearly have no system to complain other than by letter. Although you can praise a member of BT staff on line. That gives me an idea, I’ll see what happens if I give negative praise. ;-)

Paul Davies found this review useful

Shocking Customer Service

Having bought my first home I decided on BT for home phone and broadband. The first problem was that my broadband was 3 days late going active.

when it finally went active i inserted the set-up cd into my computer as instructed and followed the on screen instructions. after a few pages the set-up froze. I was unable to eject the cd or turn off my computer as the set-up blocked this from happening.

I contacted the bt technical support number who repeatedly told me to "give it some time" despite the fact i had waited 45 mins before calling them. 4 long hours later i finally resolved the issue.

A short while later i contacted bt looking for compensation for my inconvenience, another 4-5 hours of being passed from pillar to post and still nothing. on top of this the 6 months free broadband i should have had wasnt added to my account, although they did resolve this without question.

I have gone to the length of writing directly to the chairman regarding the issue and hope for a more positive response as it appears i will be stuck with them for the remaining 17 months of my contract. Quite frankly i cant wait to leave, and i have only been a customer for 3 weeks

BT=Bad Tools

I was with BT because i live in a new build property and although all the wiring was already in a had to pay a connection charge. Normally this is around £140 but BT wrote to me to say they would wave the charge if i connected for 12 months. I had free evening and weekend calls and believe i was on a 40gb normal broadband account. I rarely used the phone and every month my bill was around £50, I thought this was expensive but had to pay it because i was in contract. I am a Sky customer for tv and have been for a long time before i moved into my apartment. In the past i had NTL (now Virgin Media but a believe all the staff are the same with the ridiculously rude people at the main call centre in Wythenshaw, Gtr Manchester) due to that id made my mind up never to have combined services) Whenever i had a problem with BT i always contacted them by email because i learnt a long time ago a phonecall doesn't mean zip because you can ne accused of saying something and they can claim they told something they did not. The turn around time on emails was disgusting, you'll be lucky if you get a reply within 28 days but i still think its invaluable as you've got everything in writing. My latest deal with Sky was coming to an end just as BTs contract was also (if you're out of contract with Sky and ring disconnections for best price you'll always get 25%,50%,75% or 100% discount for terms of 6 or 12 months which doesn't lock tough into another contract so if anyone's a Sky customer out of contract ring disconnections for best deals. Make sure it is disconnections you speak to as normal customer service cannot offer you anything else Thames what's on the sky website.) Sky asked who was providing my telephone service and broadband and i told them it was BT and i was out of contract they offered me 12 months totally free line rental for 1 year and unlimited broadband along with free McAffee anti virus software for £7.50. I honestly thought this was to good to be true cause all they needed me to do is keep the service for 12 months as they were providing a new router for equipment. I took them up on the deal and the speed is exactly the same as BT yet mega cheaper. I thought at the end of the 12 months the line rental would be £25+ cause theyve gotta pay their much more expensive staff (Sky mostly use a Scottish call centre at the Ibrox and only use India for email complaints unlike BT who use India and Manilla for near enough 100% of all internet related calls, the only time you'll speak to someone English is sales and normal telephone relates customer service because its not likely that anybody would buy from specially an Indian call centre as its been exposed multiple times they illegally copy records to flash drives and sell them to brokers because the wages are that low. With payment details things become darker with credit/debit cards hammered constantly until the company shuts them down, also bank details along with other sensitive information like birthdays are used for credit fraud many time with the victim nite discovering until they apply for credit and get turned down or a credit management company starts ringing them up) at the end of the 12 months my Sky line rental costs £14.50 per month bit as usual i got a better deal from disconnections, as Sky tv and telephone line and broadband are separate products you can get 2 deals at a time. Bare in mind my average BT bill was £50 per month and then the sky was a separate bill the total outlay was just over £60 per month. My current Sky bill with everything combined rarely reaches above £30. If id known how good sky were i wouldve just paid them the connection fee because although BT 'claimed' their connection was free they more than made it back with their blatant rip offs. Another thing they nearly caught me out with was quarterly billing, i called them when i received no bill after being connected for 2 weeks as with all companies you need to pay for the services in advance, if i hadn't had done this and requested to change to monthly billing i wouldve most likely been landed with a huge bill i couldn't pay in full and I've no doubt BT wouldve been straight on to Experian to get a default applied to my records. Its beggars belief how BT are still trading when their service charges are not £2-£3 per month more expensive than their rivals but £10-£15 more and instantly trying to push you into trouble by having default billing set to quarterly. I can honestly say out of all the Family silver Thatcher sold the deregulation of telecoms is the only thing that's gone in favour of the customers because unlike gas/electric with companies collaborating to keep prices artificially high to the point you've gotta give your kids coats to wear at home cause central heating is to expensive. BTs core customers are dying out by the day anyway cause they're the elderly customers who've been with BT for life, many paying £6+ per month for rental of a telephone from 1992 that theyve had since it was brand new with a more up to date one or a more suitable one with large buttons from the Asda for around £5 one off payment and it belongs to them forever. BT have been taking advantage of these people since deregulation but with thousands dying each year and their only new customers are for infinity but like numerous people have commented they can't turn it on and keep it on and ti be honest my normal broadband with sky never runs lower than 16mbs and can and does go to 20mbs when all the offices have closed. I don't see what advantage there is to go any faster? I. watch most things over the internet and only kept Sky tv cause its dirt cheap and its got the recording facilty. I experience no lag at all so if someone whos clues up on techy stuff could enlighten me why id need to go faster than that id be vertically interested. Id never go with BT again even if they were charging less than Sky cause unlike Sky when you ring or email to end your contract (always request a read receipt with BT cause they'll deny ever receiving it until you tell them you can prove they not just got it but read it to) they won't offer any discount to stay, saying that even if they did it wouldn't have changed my mind. My advise is go with Sky, not only fantastic products at fantastic prices but the customer service is superb too with email being answered often on the same day, at the latest 48 hours so no need to wait in a queue although customer service is free for all sky talk customers or wait by the phone all day waiting for a call back that never comes. BT doesn't even deserve 1star......!

Worst company I've dealt with. Ever.

Dearest BT,

I am not happy. I am usually quite a happy some say optimistic person. Then I started dealing with you.
I’ve dealt with incompetent businesses before, I’ve been let down by companies before, I’ve even felt the need to complain before. But never before have I felt so let down and utterly dumbstruck by incompetence that I’ve wanted to cancel a service before it’s even been provided.

Below is a chronology my dealings with yourselves. Shakespeare himself couldn’t have dreamt up such a tragedy. Enjoy.

Catalogue of Errors

21.02 - Order optimistically placed for BT phone line and Infinity. Informed that an engineer is booked to install both services on the PM slot of 07.03.

04.03 - Magically informed Infinity appointment moved to 15.03 AM but phone line install remains the same date.

07.03 - Date of PM line install appointment. Took the afternoon off work and eagerly waited in from 1pm. No news until 5.15 when a chap calls to inform me the engineer “can’t make it today”. Bless him, he must be a busy engineer, oh well, that’s only one afternoon wasted. Given a new appointment in 7 days time.

14.03 - New line install date arrived, take morning off work and as I’m given an AM (8am - 1pm) slot by BT as stated online and via SMS. The weird uncle of BT that is Openreach who actually manage the engineers have it as a PM appointment. No one told me that but then I’m only the customer. A friendly engineer shows at 3pm.
All credit to him, after sweating and tutting a bit the line is connected but with the wrong number so he waddles off to the exchange to change it to the number on my account.

15.03 - An AM Infinity appointment. Great, I’ve got a working phone line so I though. Now for the superfast interweb bit. Well no. BT seem to think there’s a fault on the line. Quite what the fault is and where it came from no one know, magic. But you neglect to tell me this so I wait until 2pm then call BT to be told no engineer today. What, why? A nice Indian lady informs me “We are working to fix the fault” What fault? “There maybe an engineer visiting on Saturday, they will call you”. Brilliant, I love it best when you’re vague, it makes we want you more.
That evening I got a callback for the complaint email stating I’d wasted 1.5 days waiting in for you. My reward? Offered £10 x 2 for missed appointments. Lovely, thanks.

16.03 - Saturday passes. No news or visit from anyone in the UK or India.

18.03 - I call you as I start to think you don’t love me anymore to be told call back on Wednesday for an update on the mysterious fault which should be fixed by then. There might even be a possible engineer visit on 22.03. Oh goody.

21.03 - Still nothing from you so rather than let love go cold I call for a chat.
I’m informed that I need to check the phoneline myself now. How strange, why was I not told this on Monday?
I don’t have a phone to plug in so had to borrow the unsuspecting neighbor's phone and check the line myself. Low and behold it’s working, a dial tone and everything but we knew this anyway.
I called you back to inform you it’s working and has been since it was installed several days ago. I’m told we now have to wait for the engineering team to ‘resolve’ the issue as it was ‘stuck’ in their system. Ouch. How did it get stuck? Where? Who’s system? It was all fine and dandy after the line install.
Now I’m left waiting for someone to call with new appointment. I’m told it will be escalated, not sure what it means but it sounds exciting. Turns out it means nothing. It’s just something you like to say to imply action that’s not actually taken.
I calculated that was 1hr total on calls with BT today. I’m beginning to think you like me.

25.03 - A day of confusion as a new appointment is magically booked for an Infinity engineer to visit on 27.03 and then moved before sunset.

At 11.55am John left voicemail informing me of a new 27.03 AM appointment, go John.
There’s also an SMS from 21230001 to confirm the above AM appointment, nice touch BT.
Followed shortly by an SMS from 64364 at 12.02 PM to confirm a different new appointment booked for 07.03, which is remarkable as that was 18 days ago, you tease.

At 6.07pm a voicemail left, I hate missing your calls but love is tough sometimes. You inform me of a shiny new PM appointment on 04.04. This is being confirmed at 6.10pm by an SMS. What a wicked beat you are. Another 10 day wait.

26.03 - I called you to try and claw back my earlier appointment. I was told that John had been naughty and since told off for booking the 27.03 appointment. Poor John. You called through to the wonderful Openreach to try and move it back, I’m told should be possible and they will call be before 2pm to make new appointment. Another glorious 30mins on call to BT.

No call by 2pm as promised so called at 2.40pm. Told another email sent to Openreach to escalate the issue. On how you love the escalation. Finally got a voicemail in the evening for an apologetic man informing me it’s near impossible to move appointments. Which is funny as you seem to manage doing it really well. No joy, I’ll just have to wait a little longer for something ‘superfast’.

04.04 - Infinity engineer day. I waited in for another no show for the PM appointment. I called you at 4pm to be told the engineer was on the way. The automatic message on your system says there’s an issue with my order. Your staff said there wasn’t. Who do you believe, a person or a machine? It depends which films you watched as a kid maybe. I called again at 6pm to be told an engineer can materialise anytime up until 8pm.
The short of it being, they didn’t.
The online account now says 18.04 for an engineer to not show up.

05.04 - Well done. You’ve beaten me. After 3 days of waiting in and countless hours on the phone waiting in a queue I give in. I cancelled my Infinity order. I will play your games no more.

So there you have it, the story of my BT experience. Did you enjoy that? I certainly didn’t.

I really don’t know what annoys me more, there’s plenty to choose from. The general incompetence, the lack of communication, the loss of earnings, the broken promises or the fact that you are still responsible for the UK’s communication infrastructure and profit from it.

That’s just my story and I know with one quick search online there are thousands more, equally as bad if not worse.

So my questions to you BT are:
What are you going to do to compensate me properly?
Why did this happen?
What are you going to do to stop it happening to others?

One thing's for sure, we know why you call it Infinity. The problems go on for ever.

Yours
C Stamp

Chris Randall found this review useful

Very bad – unacceptable experience

Really BAD EXPERIENCE!!!!!
I have moved to a new flat so I have requested than to transfer the service to a new flat, (from the first floor to the second floor), for some reason they could not go ahead because of a fault in the system and they could not explain me why.........then when I called back (6) they gave me a new order and a different date to transfer my connection. That did not happen and they still don't know what the problem was......

I did not have a connection for 3 weeks as my connection was still on in my old flat. When I have requested for a compensation for this 3 weeks the answer was.

Answer: No compensation what so ever!!!!!!!!!!!

terrible

i am disabled and moved to a new house but they did not call to let me know that the installation could not go ahead because of a fault then when i phoned they gave me another installation date of a week but i need homelink fitting and they just did not listen wish i would of stayed with sky . bt u disgust me

horrible -- charges after cancellation

Never, ever ever go with BT.
I switched my broadband to another provider on 25 January. BT continued to bill me until 24 March, claiming that there is a 30-day cancellation period. Never mind that I told them I was cancelling in January when I requested my Mac code. Never mind that I called them in February to say that the account was cancelled.
Outrageous behaviour from a giant corporation.
Avoid BT like the plague!

7 says to fix a phone line fault

Just been informed by a machine ( humans no longer answer phones at BT ) that BT " aim" to fix my dead phone line in 7 days , and I need to stay in in the next 7 days in case they need to gain access to my home , now I know it may be perfectly acceptable fo a BT exec to take 7 says off work , but back in the real world is sounds a bit like a spoof , unfortunately it is all true , I want to life in a first world country

UNBELIEVABLY BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Waited 3 weeks for the install date, advised them of exactly what had to happen they confirmed everything was in hand... Day of appointment engineer turned up and said he had to get someone else back later that day as the wires outside needing some work done. No one turned up later in the day so I chased up only to be told they were booking me a new install date for a weeks time. However, they had now turned my phone line and previous broadband off.... After several arguments they agreed to come around the next day, had a new appointment confirmation text. But yet again no-one turned up. When I chased again I was told they didn't know what had happened and they would call me back in 30 mins. Obviously no call back and im currwently sitting on hold to them with them saying they will arrange a call back for next Tuesday. It is Thursday today... This company are a complete shower of sh it and should be avoided at all costs or at least expect a bad service.

Worst Telecom provider ever encountered

I have been with BT since August 2012. Everything was fine till January 2013 where I noticed on my January bill two specific numbers being charged in repeat covering the entire bill. These numbers are 08702 416901-08702 416902. January bill was quite alot. February bill I fell of the sky as the total calls to these numbers were worth around 25 pounds and March bill around 6-7 pounds. I have called several times where waiting through the messaging service to direct me till I speak to someone and almost all calls where in the duration of 2-2.5 hours placing my complaint and trying to get a solution to my problem. The people on the other side were in some cases a bit rude besides one person with the name of Christine who was trying so hard to help me but could not get somewhere. In all calls I fault like a tennis ball from customer service to faults- to billing department and my problem still hasn't been solved. The only thing managed was to put the charges mentioned above to stay on the side so I can pay the rest of the bill as I refuse to pay for calls that I haven;t made. Forgot to mention that BT told me that these are fax numbers after they checked and they asked me if I have an alarm system which I don't. Its funny because these calls are constant lets say 13-14 calls one after the other in a time duration of 10 minutes. This happens almost every day a few times from what I viewed on my bills.I asked if these numbers can be blocked or my line can be checked and they said that the line is fine and I have done these calls(Yea right like I don't have anyhting better to do but to call midnighht or 6 in the morning 13 calls one after the other with the same call duration in a time frame of 10 minutes) I have decided not to continue wasting saliva anymore and time with BT as their aftersales support and focus to customer satisfaction is bellow zero rating for me. If they don't solve this matter in the next two weeks I will change provider immediately. Forgot to mention that I viewed my current usage and these calls continue to be charged on my bill. Next week is bill payday. From my experience with telecom companies in three different countries BT is the far worst ever company I have encountered.

Thank you BT for the lifetime unforgetable experience.

P.S. I tried to summarise the situation as I will not spend more time and patience as I done with calls to BT customer service. Start considering changing country base for you customer services because when it was in the UK in the past it was far more better and today due to the crisis situation competition started started to kick in and alot of customers will be lost.

Kind Refards
Your current dissapointed customer

Paul Davies and Leniana Koroleva found this review useful

Completely abysmal service.

At the end of the day you may well have no choice anyway, my phone line is held in a monopolist vice grip by the BT group of companies and yours is probably too. Yes, I can change my service provider but I can not take my line away from Openreach (part of BT group), no matter how poor their service is.

The service has been poor to say the very least, abysmal is a more fitting word. I have had no phone or broadband for the first 7 weeks of this year and all BT could do was lie through their teeth, coming up with pathetic excuses as to why it took so long to fix a simple fault. At first they told me the fault would be fixed within 10 days, later on I found out that they didn't even send out a surveyor to analyse what the problem was until 12 days after I reported the fault. Their favoured excuse was to blame the council for delays by saying that they needed permission tor traffic management, the council have told me - no such permission was needed.

BT even had the nerve to take money from my account for that time that I had no service.

BT are lying, thieving, incompetent scumbags.

I used to work for them, and would never take a service with them.

Urgh, this company only thinks about the needs of the business not their customers or their employees. We were told to sell Bt vision knowing that the boxes had a problem, and after when customers call in complaining their box isn't working techical help would refuse to do anything as there is a known fault. Other departments would refuse to help or take a call, even though you aren't trained and just don't have the system available to deal with the situation. Other departments, would not go into customers account (so you couldn't report them to their manager) and hang up on you, even though it could take 2-12 mins to get through and you have a customer on the other line waiting. Customers getting lied to, equipment was meant to arrive or an engineer booked and it hasn't, and you can't magically make it happen as royal mail can take a few days and openreach could take weeks. Pstn (line) repair team and thd lying by saying it's not their department and hanging up or they transfer you to another department. It once took me an hour and 20 mins and going through to 3 departments and at least 10 advisors (who I'd spend at least 5 mins explaining the situation to as they just don't understand!) basically openreach installed a line and the engineer left wires sticking out and the customer had a very small child, so obviously a danger and the install hadn't been done correctly. I can't book an engineer for repair, only pstn repair can, and several advisors refused to help. I was determined to get this sorted. It's all about targets (which most people don't meet) sales, sales, cht (call handling time) wrap (time between calls) basically take as many calls as possible, tell customers everything so they don't call back in and cost the business (£7 million a year). Bt love to boast that they are amazing, better than everyone-which is why they are so expensive £28 for unlimited non fibre broadband, which doesn't include line rental or calls during the day or line rental. Managers who don't take calls, office politics, bt are a joke! I'm with plusnet as they have uk based call centres for everything and cheaper than bt. Greedy, incompetent, useless, don't blame the advisors (they've been lied to and hate how it is as well!!) they are so cheap they wouldn't supply staff with plastic cups (to save loadsa money!)

Paul Davies found this review useful

BEWARE: BT reel you in with false promises, just to steal your money and they do not provide with services

I feel really furious that I got hooked up by a BT sales agent. He kept calling me day and night for four weeks continuously, which ofcourse I ignored in the first place. Then one day just to know what they have to offer talked to that person. He started giving me a big list of usual services amonge thouse five mobiles could be added free, 0800, 087 and 0845 numbers could be diald free even from mobiles and to inform my present provider for cancelation of services. I thought that was a good deal from a apparently big name. They did not even install the basic services properly. The Hub is not even conected with my desktop. I am told that its my problem to connect HUB with my desktop which is upstairs. The technician was not even aware that he is installing a BT connection. How pathetic is that. No mobile was added to the package. They did not inform Virgin for cancellation. And list goes on---. All was pack of lieesssss.Then straightaway they send you bill and have cheek to say that "pay now otherwise we will charge you for a late payment". While they have not even provided the even basic services properly. RUBBISH -----DO NOT JOIN BT

Paul Davies found this review useful

Poor Service and 150% Price Increase Without Notice

So, here's a brief copy of what happened to my bill when I was told by BT that the £9.99 deal was for life.... or 12 months in their world but they have conveniently NOT recorded the call.

Enjoy

So, how it all began.
In early May 2011 I called BT to tell them I was leaving as I was moving to Sky Broadband for £9 a month as it was then.
They told me not to worry and to stay with them on a £9.99 deal for package 3 (their Maximum discount apparently)
Wanting the easy life I agreed and asked if it was for life, or a short contract as I didn't want to have to call every year to plead my case.
This was confirmed and BT being the British institution it leads us to believe it is, I was happy.

UNTIL NOW
As I'm moving house I started the process of moving accounts only to find out they had been charging me £26 PCM from May 2012.
No Letter, No email< no nothing, they just started hiking up the price and the bills are email only and have only just become barely decipherable so I was none the wiser until now.

15th Feb
So on Feb 15th I called them at 09:31 and after being on hold for ten minutes they cut me off :(
I called back and held again and eventually got though to a call Center thousands of miles away, I asked for a manger and was told there they were all busy and when I pressed to be transferred they cut me off.......... instead I ended up at the Customer Options team who had no idea who I was or how I had got there.

Linda seemed very helpful and told me that I would get a call will call within 10 days, after they have listened to call that I made 2 years ago

I was given a reference number and bid them farewell....VOL 012-7319xxxxxxxx

Having a friend who works for BT (Open-reach) I mentioned it to him and he replied, as if by magic, they won't call, they never do.

4th March (after no call back as promised)

So on the 4th of March I called back to be told that the adviser had left the business so they could not listen to the call (utter lies)
They said that this was the decision and that the case had been closed.

I asked to raise the matter further to a manager (level 2) and they just transferred my call back to the call center thousand of miles away.
transferred through to India and had to give details again, not customer service team.

When I asked for a manager I was told 'There's a problem with the computer system, I can;t transfer you to a manager'
They did ask for my work and mobile number which I declined and said I would hold as it was important.

After 5 minutes of hold music and silence they reappeared and I asked for a manager again to the same lady who then told me
'All the managers are i a meeting right now' - when challenged, she decided to stick to the 2nd story of Made Up Meetings

Luckily, after getting nowhere at all, they put me on hold for 5 minutes and then promptly cut me off.................... again

8th March

Once again I though I would call and try to sort this out as it was leaving a rather nasty taste in my mouth.
So, at 12.52 I spoke with Rosemary on 150 called on who within seconds told me that a lady called Emma apparently took the original call. She found it in less than a minute but did say that she would have to investigate further and another ticket was raised vol - 012 - 739xxxxxxxx

Now told they don't record 100% of calls and staff leaving is irrelevant. mobile given for a call back which lead me to today

12th March

Rosemary called back as promised and said that the call was not recorded and that there was nothing she could do.

I asked for it to be escalated up the chain. to a Level 2 Manager - she has and I will get a call in the next 48 hours.

In short, customers are not to be believed and unless they can prove that BT lie to sell you stuff then your on your own and they don;t care.
Sadly the only evidence available is actually sat with BT so there is nothing I can do.

Asked to speak to a Level 2 manger and got a call Call at 11:00 on the 12th telling me that there is nothing they can do and they will not give me any money back as it was on the bill when it increased, no letter, no call and no email. Just a massively confusing bill of numerous pages that made no sense.

Most Appalling service ever.

Paul Davies found this review useful

One Bill - Just Rubbish

BT Service has "always" been rubbish. The whole BT Service model, is designed to make signing up simple and then everything else a waste of time. Weeks on the phone, shipped from one department to the other - from one country to the other. It is quite disgusting how they manage to consistently provide the worst service. Even paying a bill with the not so simple OneBillPlus seems impossible. Wasted another hour of my day, just trying to pay online. It is easier to leave a complaint here than to tell BT themselves.

Brett Ward found this review useful

Just appalling

All I want from this company is to do what they say they'll do. I want them to repay some money for overpaid line rental which they have agreed to do but simply won't make the repayment. Whenever I phone I try to speak to a supervisor but can't get past the front line people who are always polite and full of apologies and always tell me someone will phone back in 24-48 hours. They never do. This has been going on for three months.

What amounts to a simple transaction on their part has resulted in hours of wasted time simply trying to talk to someone who will actually do what they say they'll do. I have now written a formal complaint to their customer services director requiring my repayment to be made immediately and also claiming compensation for all the wasted time on the phone to them. Next step is the ombudsman.

Come on BT. Surely you can do better than this. Just look at all the bad reviews on this site. That should give you a clue that you've clearly got a broken business model but you seem to be doing absolutely nothing to fix it.

Paul Davies found this review useful

BT APALLING SERVICE

Months and months of billing problems and they are still charging me even after I have left BT and cancelled my service.

Shocking service - blaming my new provider and completety unhelpful. I am so annoyed and appaled by their faulty service, I did have BT Vision, Internet and calls through them - the equipment did not work. The hub only provided wireless range of about 2 metres - you had to sit at the closest end of the sofa and if you dared move down the other end there was no chance. My walls definitely have no lead in them and there is no reason why the hub should not work in my small flat other than shoddy equipment. We constantly had problems with the TV remote not responding or having to re-boot the BT vision box because it was not working properly. On top of the equipment not working the billing was shocking. There were no variances in the internet charges nor the ohone - we never got any films or any extra services and the line rental was fixed price yet still they kept on increasing the prices. So every month we would call and tell them to put it back down. When we asked why this happened they said it was "to keep us in credit"!! So it is just taken from our account for them to accrue interest - they are taking it with out asking. They increased our bills for no charges - so effectively stolr from us - and every month we had to call and reduce the amount they took from us to match what we had actually been charged for. the amounts each month were fixed for phone TV and broadband - we never went over the usage on these yet every month they tried to take more from our account because we were not on fixed direct debit and they had convinced us to be on variable direct debit even though there was nothing extra to charge us for. I left them at the beginning of February and I am still fighting with them now because they have charged me for the whole of February and the whole of March. I have had enough and cannot believe that they can operate this way.

Paul Davies found this review useful

Absolute rip-off merchants

I wish I could give BT MINUS 5 stars. Their customer service from day one has been APALLING - Every time I speak to to them I end up with a bitter feeling like they've ripped me off, from the promotional offer they used to get me to sign up which I was then told I didn't qualify for, to the REPEATED BILLING MONTHS AFTER I CLOSED MY ACCOUNT. (I've heard I'm not the only one they are doing this to.) They have been UNHELPFUL and RUDE - the service has been awful and EXPENSIVE. I'm getting a much better deal in every way from Plusnet now my contract has run out - worst 18 months of my life. BT don't care a jot about their customers, BT are expensive, greedy and the internet was slow. I am still waiting (countless phone calls to horrible customer service and three months later) for the 'final bill' they keep promising me with a cheque for the money they owe me - If I don't get it this month I'll be speaking to TRADING STANDARDS. Really can't tell you enough what an awful company BT is - Avoid like the plague. TOTAL NIGHTMARE.

DON'T BOTHER

I recently signed up to a broadband and phone package as had problems with sky. BT offered line rental at 15£ a month with broadband free for 6 months.then it becomes 18£. So 33£ together. I reconsidered after this and phoned to cancel. They offered me the same but broadband at 12£ and when fibre optic broadband goes live in August it would cost no more. So decided to stay. I asked as deal had changed, for BT to send me confirmation by email as my preference for contact. I recieved no email. After a week I phoned up and and found that my email address was nowhere near what I had told them.they even had a different name on my email address!! They asked ME what deal I was on!!!! Turns out that the 12£ broadband isn't unlimited.i was not made aware of this at the time I was offered new deal!! I got out on hold after I told them this wasn't on. I am self employed and would never have taken anything other than unlimited. After 30 mins on hold, I get told my broadband is £11.10. But I don't get 6 months free, has a capped usage and fibre optic broadband might cost me more when it goes live.So have to pay 11.10£ plus 15£ for my line rental from the start to end of 18 month contract. From start to finish BT has been a nightmare. Their customer service was next to useless. I have now gone back to sky who have been brilliant. I will never recommend BT and definately will never use them again. I am just greatful I found out how bad they are before I got connected and caught inside a contract.

Paul Davies found this review useful

Awful every time!!

I have had so many problems with BT, every time their customer service is a complete let down. I have lost track of the number of hours wasted...and thats just getting through to someone who speaks english. I have had mess up with orders, incorrect bills, charged for services already cancelled, misold products, it just goes on and on. Sort your act out BT!!!

Paul Davies found this review useful

Terrible customer service on the phone. Engineers that arrived didn't seem to care. The worst i've ever experienced

I signed up for BT Broadband based on their reputation, as well as their catchy TV ads and the fact i'd never had trouble with my BT landline, even though they weren't the cheapest. From the start things were bad. The Broadband came and went, and i was introduced to their utterly confusing Customer service set-up. I was passed about from one person to another. I'd talk to someone in Doncaster (i think), then someone in Asia and they never had the same information. In all 5 engineers visited my home but none really seemed interested. The last one to visit couldn't get any braodband signal at all but actually asked me "do you want me get someone else to give it a go?" - as i was paying for the service by direct debit each month i thought that would be self-explanatory!! Eventually i thought, enough is enough, and tried to get out of the contract. As five different engineers couldn't get it working (no broadband at all for around 2-months) i thought that would be easy. Talking to a chap in India he did a 5-minute check and said "your broadband is fine"!! The blue light was flashing & 5 engineers couldn't get it working, but here was a colleague of theirs in India telling me it was fine!! After several letters i did get out of the contract. They charged me a 'cancellation fee' but later refunded that, after yet another letter. In a nutshell, if things go well i've no doubt the product is fine, but if you do have problems ( i must basically be in a bad spot for broadband!) then it's trouble, trouble, trouble! i've cancelled my BT landline too and will never use them again. A terrible experience & i never got refunded for the time i was being charged but had no broadband - i'm not rich, but just can't stand the hassle.

Paul Davies found this review useful

worst customer service, very messy and unreliable

I have signed up with BT broadband. Neither my phone line or broadband working. They have tried to send 3 engineers, 2 of which didnt show up and 1 showed up at the wrong time. 1month in, neither my phone line or broadband working, however they are happily charged me for services that they havent provided! Very disappointed. Difficult to get through call center and all advisers have very strong Indian accent - difficult to understand what they are saying.

Paul Davies found this review useful

Shysters on a corporate scale

How sad to see 'BRITISH' associated with these fucking shysters.

I've waited 4 months for a phone to be installed. Lost £2560 in loss of earnings and frankly, you'd be better off giving your money to a Nigerian scam artist because then at least you know you've been screwed. With BT they don't even tell you when it's time to admit defeat.

Mike Lund found this review useful

Whenever BT are involved, think Disaster, Poor Service and Dodgy Integrity

BT persuaded me to move my broadband supply over to them from Orange. Said it would be really easy and top notch service. “Yes you pay a little more to be with BT but you will get first class service” How wrong he was.

I signed up for a fibre optic package. They emailed me a contract for the top standard broadband tariff? Not what I signed up for. I contacted them after spending up to 30 min in a queue, trying to talk to them is crazy, they can’t understand a word I say, and their English skills are very poor. I then gave up after several attempts and tried the cancellation option. This time if by magic went through to an English call centre. I explained my issue with the incorrect tariff. I was told there is nothing they can do, I have to enter a legally binding 18 contract that is incorrect before they can change to fibre optics after I have normal broadband connected. I asked them to put this in writing that I can change the package after connection. They said “no they can’t”. I was to just take their word for it. No chance, I am not prepared to enter a contract that is not the contract I have not ordered, as I would imagine they will claim my fault for signing before checking contract was correct. So I cancelled and went back to Orange. Never again BT.

Anyway, all going well so far the fibre optic upgrade with Orange. Until the day came when orange orders a BT engineer to come to my property to install the fibre optics. Guess what….BT did not turn up on the arranged day. No phone call no nothing. Again BT is to blame for yet another problem.

Goes to show - all goes well until BT get involved. Then it is just pure disaster, poor service and dodgy integrity.

UPDATE – 27th Feb 2013
Ok, BT said they did not turn up for the connection due to a technical problem on their computer??? But still no form of communication from BT to let anyone know on the day! And they say they are a communications company !! They now say it will take another week to fix the computer bug, and then another two weeks to get another booking. Ridiculous poor shabby service from a company too big for it’s boots.

UPDATE - TWO DAYS LATER 1st March
Was promised BT would resolve bt today. Guess what? No, Nothing again. Even Orange are fed up as they cannot get through to them or get a reply, Something should be done to pull this company down. Come on OFCOM.

UPDATE - THREE 4th March
Still BT have not fixed the issue and no sign of still getting anything booked in. Now you just won't beleive what has now happeded. Had an email from BT saiting my new BY line and broadband is going LIVE from tomorrow and my new BT router is being delivered tomorrow, !!!!! on a cancelled order ????? Orange can't beleive what they are seeing as I forwarded them the email. Called BT and they confirmed the order was cancelled two weeks ago but they failed to let the connection team know. WHAT A MESS BT..SORT IT OUT!!...to be continued................

5th March.. Orange BB disconnected on the morning without mine or Oranges permission and went live with BT Broadband. The BT BB has been set up at my home without a contract or permission. Probably why they have been stalling with Orange so they can connect me up fraudulently. Called BT in the morning again, was told the same, yes it is cancelled and no we wont connect you. Again a lie. I now have no internet access now at all as I am not going to link up to the BT one. Also checked with bank and they have set DD's up. I have kept logs of all calls and email so far, so have been advised by Orange to contact Ofcom, and I urge all others with issues to do the same. It now looks like it will be much longer now to get Orange Fibre set up as I now have to wait for BT to hand the BB back to Orange. Orange are handling this well, and are really concerned with the integrity of BT.

7th March. BT had promised to have the issue sorted today without fail. Guess, what? NO still not corrected, and Orange are still very puzzled. Serval calls later to BT being told what I want to hear but what gets promised, does not happen. BT are totally useless and really do not care.

8th March Called BT as they asked Orange for me to do so to get a MAC code for a wrongly set up account!. Called BT and they said account is not live so a MAC code would not exist. Gave me a ref code for the cancelled account. Also told me to ignore any bills as they have been closed down now. BT are saying one thing or Orange and the opposite to me. Orange now stuck and are again waiting for BT to get things sorted out. Still no internet. And no apology from BT for high jacking my Tag line unauthorised either.

Goes to show - all goes well until BT get involved. Then it is just pure disaster, poor service and dodgy integrity, A communications company that don’t communicate.

OMG and the check, to add insult to injury they have the balls to send me a Bill. They should be paying me ! (Complaint now in process)

They didn't even get off the ground

What a shabby company BT are, their customer service is appalling and to be frank they just do not care about new business.
I waited five weeks from ordering a BT phone and broadband installation, they sent numerous email and text reminders up until the day before their visit, I prepared everything as requested, my wife booked a day off work and waited for their visit which was meant to be between 8am and 1 pm. At 1:30 she called no visit and no news, 45 minutes of me chasing them on the phone got me the news that an engineer was now on his way. 3:30 wife phones again still no visit.
45 minutes I again chasing them on the phone again this time to be told that there would be no visit and that they would call back in 24 hours to 48 hours to rearrange another appointment time which could be up to 4 weeks away. None of the several people I spoke to seemed too concerned and none could give a reasonable explanation as to why my wife wasted a day and why no one in their organisation had the common decency to inform her that there would be no visit. I cancelled my order immediately and was told my advance payment would be refunded within 24 hours.
I wrote a letter of complaint and today received a standard sorry but it was all down to the weather reply, funny because the planned day of their visit and several days before were all clear and dry. They didn't even mention the non contact on their part. They did say that my advance payment would take 5 days from today, a week and five days after their original promise.
I have gone back to my old service and think I have actually had a lucky break not to be involved with BT if this is the way they run their operation.
I'll say it again a BT dealt with me on two counts in an unprofessional and shabby manner.

Paul Davies found this review useful

BT - Worst customer service ever received in my LIFE (even worse 3 Mobile)

I've been waiting on a refund for 5 months!

BT took £129 from me for landline rental for a year in advance in September 2013. They told me they were not able to install the phone line in the area I live in, after taking the money.

I have rang them over 25 times over the last 5 months to get the refund.

The indian call centre staff are useless.

They transfer you around, sometimes to the wrong departments, until and at some point or another you inevitably get cut-off whilst on hold - surely BT of all service centres should have installed robust telephone systems where customers aren't randomly cut-off?

Sales staff were extremely aggressive when I first signed up too.

I HATE BT !

Paul Davies found this review useful

You get a All Inclusive Call Package and they charge you for not making Chargeable Calls

Firstly with connection which I paid for they decided that the best place to put the phone/internet connection is a utility cupboard which has no power point which means if I want to make a call or use the internet I have to either sit in a dingy small room or have long power cords across the main floors for my child to trip over and play with.

When I contacted them about this they simply informed me that the engineer decided that this is the best place for the connections so that is where it is.

I only got the phone line for my broadband. When receiving the bill I noticed a MINIMUM CALL COMMITMENT CHARGE. I was shocked to read this. Again on the phone (getting through to someone at BT is an adventure) who inform that if I had read ALL the T&C's that there is a clause in them that if you do not make a certain chargeable phone calls you will be charged an additional fee.

This is even though you get a package that includes calls!

BT will never improve so after this 12 months I will not make the mistake again of using them and I hope they in their attempt to take on the TV companies.

Deteriorating

being big and old does not mean being good; rather means unorganised and weak. good things do come in small packages. looks likie thay have lost whatever sense of care they used to show in the past for their customers. I have had some issues with them in the past related to bills, line rental, broadband, direct debit etc which were usually sorted with little effort. But the recent one with our mobile became the most negatively memorable experience. So much that we decided to port to different provider where we are much happier.

WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE ( APART FROM 3 MOBILE)

Due to their fault and false promises, I've contacted the Customer Service department few times, and on each occasion I've been told different things re: their Policy, have been made a liar, the managers have been rude, arrogant, abrupt and most of times would not even listen to what I was telling them but would talk over me. One even said that the whole situation has been their fault and that I'd be refunded a line rental for the month they disconnected me, to then, when I received the bill and spoke to someone as to why they've not refunded me, be treated so appalling on the phone. I am now waiting to finish my contract with them and switch.

BT getting better

Did the telephone "resign up" with BT in January. Got a discount and not had any problems for a couple of years now. I must say I used to hate BT , the customer service being the worst part of their business. Spent 2 days in a row trying to get our business telephone line back. Things are looking much better now.

BT All the way for me ( so far )

I had been with AO hell (aol) for 16 years, since talk talk took over it was a nightmare. i was supposed to get approx 5.5mb download and peak times i was getting approx 0.38. so i finally changed to BT and so far its the best thing i have ever done, my speed never drops under 6.5 mb and typical speed is 7.06mbps. BT transfered the package for me without fuss and unlimited upto 16mb with evening and weekend calls all for £9 a month for the first year and £18 a month after that. with an 18 month contract,,.As BT are the only company that can offer me any good speed in my area, I am stuck with them, but they are great at the moment..