Line errors

[.Griff.]

Well what a wonderful afternoon that was!!

After waiting in all afternoon no one turned up. What really makes me angry is nobody had the common courtesy to call me and let me know what's happening. No phone call, no txt, no email and the fault page on their website still says the engineer will be here between 1pm and 6pm.

BT you're a joke!

[Rik]

Sadly, I bet no-one at BT has told IDNet either.

[esh]

Sadly, I bet no one at BT has told anyone at BT either.

[Rik]

You're probably right, esh. It's almost criminal what BT can get away with, isn't it. 

[.Griff.]

What an absolute farce of a company! I'm literally shaking with anger at the moment.

Tuesday 20th September

I call BT to report a line fault and arrangements are made for an engineer to visit on the following Thursday (22nd) between 1pm and 6pm.

Wednesday 21st September

I call BT again to double check the engineer visit. I'm assured all the relevant information has been passed onto Openreach and that he would attend the following day (22nd). Finally I'm told that someone from BT would call me later that evening to see how the visit went.

Thursday 22nd September

2pm engineer arrives, 2.06pm engineer leaves. He said he didn't have the correct equipment, training or knowledge to deal with the fault and another visit would need to take place. He assured me he would pass on the details to BT/OR and they would be in touch. No follow up call from BT as promised the previous day.

Friday 23rd September

I receive a txt saying the fault was outstanding and I would be updated in due course.

Saturday 24th September

No contact from BT/OR

Sunday 25th September 

No contact from BT/OR. Later that evening I check the "Fault page" on the BT website and a visit has been scheduled for Tuesday 27th AM slot without contacting me and without my consent. I change this appointment to Monday 26th PM slot and the visit is confirmed (see screenshot above)

Monday 26th September

No engineer arrives and I receive no contact from BT/OR at all.

6.10pm - I call BT and get through to a call center. I ask for the call to be transferred to the UK and I'm told this isn't possible. I then ask to make a complaint and outline everything above while the operator makes a note on the system. I'm given no apology at all and during the call "whooping" and "clapping" is heard in the background. Finally I'm given a reference number and the call is transferred to "BT faults".

6.22pm - Darren from BT faults answers the call. All of the above is relayed to him and he apologizes that no engineer turned up. He then contradicts himself by saying no visit is due to take place today and that I'm mistaken (see my screenshot above). He also informs me that there is a visit showing for tomorrow AM but nobody needs to enter my property as the previous engineer (the one without a JDSU/HAWK/EXFO and no training or knowledge of the issue) has deemed such a visit unnecessary. Darren then says he has no ability edit/amend the appointment. He's extremely polite and profusely apologizes but admits he doesn't know what to do about the mess.

I've now had two afternoons off work and I've no idea if an engineer is going to turn up tomorrow morning or not. Do I take the morning off work and hope an engineer with the correct equipment turns up or do I go into work and wait indefinitely for BR/OR to get in touch?

I'll finish by saying I'm a 34 year old male and no shrinking violet but after waiting in all afternoon and the two phone calls this evening nearly left me in tears. Partially because I'm so angry and partially because I can't believe what a farce it all is and no-one seems to be able to give me a straight answer.

[Simon]

My sympathies, Griff.  It seems there's no end to this company's poor treatment of customers. 

[esh]

That is pretty impressive but not out of the ordinary for BT. At least you made the effort to make a complaint. I was so disheartened and exhausted after the last (5 week) cock-up when the phone lines were initially being sorted out here that I never bothered. I can't really recommend anything other than persistence. The method of operation appears to be something, possibly a cat, behind a keyboard somewhere that presses random buttons in response to calls. Occasionally, eventually, this creature shall press the right key that is relevant to your problem, but the majority of the time not. Persistence will get you there... usually.

[joe]

griff,

I've found in the past with other companies, in my case not specifically BT, that a letter to the man/woman at the very top (Chairperson or whatever he/she is called) at least gets something done. Probably copied to the local MP. They get away with murder because they're allowed to. We're to readily fobbed off by the rank and file we normally have to deal with. If I were in your shoes I would go up the chain of command.

[Simon]

This might help, Griff:

http://www.idnetters.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,24951.0.html

[.Griff.]

Thanks Simon.

Dependent upon anyone turning up tomorrow morning I'll be emailing BT and OR tomorrow afternoon.

[zappaDPJ]

I can only commiserate. I had a similar experience a year or two ago when OpenReach engineers failed to turn up to so many appointments, I lost count.

[.Griff.]

Up far too early for my liking 

I'll update the thread at 1pm when hopefully someone has bothered to turn up.

[Rik]

Good luck, Griff, I understand your frustration - I'd be chewing door frames by this time. I think what gets to me most in these situations is that they demonstrate clearly that a company has absolutely no interest in you as a customer, iow they are telling you that you're of no consequence. The only way I've ever found to change that is to engage the CEO, or get the media interested.

[jezuk1]

Firstly the BT distribution point for the five apartments in under the stairs in a small cupboard along with the main electricity feed into the building and five electricity meters and all the associated cabling. Is that a potential issue?

Hello Griff

You're not alone on this one - take a look at these photos from my appartment. The telephone lines (in white) run up 3 floors inside each of these cupboards. Clearly in close proximity to a lot of electrical, sky TV and other lines!! For a long time I've suspected that some of the noise may be coming from here but I haven't yet verified this (the next option is to get an electrician in to run me a new telephone line down to the DP on the ground floor and keep it entirely clear of any other cables).

My line is about 1.5km in length and currently I'm seeing these stats:

Code Select Expand


Mode:                   ADSL2+ AnnexM EU-56
TPS-TC:                 ATM Mode
Trellis:                U:OFF /D:ON
Line Status:            No Defect
Training Status:        Showtime
                Down            Up
SNR (dB):        5.4             5.1
Attn(dB):        23.5            13.5
Pwr(dBm):        20.6            13.0

Upstream rate = 1680 Kbps, Downstream rate = 15285 Kbps

Since Link time = 1 days 6 hours 29 min 59 sec
FEC:            38724           675
CRC:            143             144
ES:             106             137
SES:            0               0
UAS:            0               0
LOS:            0               0
LOF:            0               0

In summary - I'm getting respectable speeds and very few significant errors at the moment . The speeds I'm getting are roughly in line with what you would expect from a 24db attenuation line of around 1.5km in length. So does this mean all the electrical wiring isn't really affecting my line? Perhaps it's not the source of really much noise at all. It's all a mystery! I am normally quite suspicious of anything like this but right now I'm finding it hard to point a finger at anything unusual.

In the past I have suffered from a load of noise and my line stats have been much lower/slower/worse than they are at the moment. The only thing I can verify that's remained constant is the wiring inside my building. Considering my line is running better at the moment than ever before again I can't suspect the internal wiring is the cause of any problems at all!

However.. it could be 
I suppose every installation is different and in your case perhaps that wiring is indeed causing some noise and errors 

Jez

[.Griff.]

Hi Jez..

My concerns about the electrical cables in my block being in very close proximity to the DP was dismissed straight away when I sent photos to my mate at Openreach. He said it was a standard new-build install and wouldn't in any way cause interference.

As far as today goes it's now 11.48am and no sign of an engineer.

[Rik]

Don't BT have to pay token compensation for failed appointments?

[.Griff.]

Don't BT have to pay token compensation for failed appointments?

I'm sure they'd find some excuse for not turning up.

However I must congratulate BT on inventing the time machine!!

[Rik]

Martlesham created it to explain the ever-slipping FTTC dates.

[.Griff.]

1.10pm..

Anyone think an engineer turned up or anyone contacted me?

[.Griff.]

Lengthy complaint email sent to Mr Livingston and Ms Garfield of BT and Openreach. 

[.Griff.]

You really couldn't make it up.

Just as I'm walking out of the door at 2pm an engineer turns up. Only problem is he's not been told anything and doesn't have the correct equipment or knowledge. I knew things weren't going well when he said "You know more about this stuff than me".

Apparently he's been informed to close the fault down and I need to start again from scratch.

So that's two afternoons and one morning off work just for two engineers to spend a combined total of 15 minutes telling me they've no knowledge or equipment necessary to investigate the fault and I'm back at square one.

Wonderful!

[esh]

Only problem is he's not been told anything and doesn't have the correct equipment or knowledge.

....

I'd write something else but I really don't think there's anything more to say. This is becoming spectacularly disastrous even for the most famed of customer-hostile telecomms companies.

[Simon]

Time to complain to Ofcom too?  Not that it would probably do much good, mind. 

[.Griff.]

Mr Griffiths,



Thank you for raising this with me, I will ensure my senior service team work with BT Retail to get matters addressed.

I apologise for the issues and appreciate you bringing these to my attention.



Regards

Olivia



Olivia Garfield

Chief Executive, Openreach 

At least she had the courtesy to reply personally to my email!

That's something at least.

[Simon]

People have had replies from Ian too.