?@$%£*!! BT

Taffycat

Taffycat

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Oh great! Our telephone landline has developed a fault - cannot dial out, terrible electronic humm on the line, etc.

This is only since the Openreach guy installed the fibre modem a couple of days ago... but we didn't discover the problem until we tried to make a call earlier.

Unfortunately, my mobile decided to break down too... I've been going to replace it, but just haven't got around to it. So, the only way of contacting BT was Skype. It worked fine, of course, but, the calls are now totally automated, so no actual chance of a conversation with someone.

This made it a bit difficult when they demanded a number to be able to text us with updates about the fault - oh yes, there IS an actual fault, that BT was able to detect when "testing" our line.

The voice said it would take up to 3 days to fix... :eek: Meanwhile, they would update us from the number on their file.... huh? If they mean the landline, it's not, er, working. If they mean my mobile... well neither is that! But no option of telling them to use my email. The voice also said that if an engineer needed to access our home, he would contact us........ er hello... how?

I really loathe BT.

We ordered the telephone package from Zen, at the time of ordering the FTTC, but the telephone switchover, is not scheduled to happen until early October. (I have no idea why it takes longer.)

Did I mention I loathe BT..? :wall:
 
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Oh bugger - that is a pain! At least your internet is working (could be worse!).

Good job BT are being switched out for Zen! We're with Sky for our calls, and although we had a run-in of problems after a lightening strike, we were at least able to chat to someone right away via mobile.
 
Hmm... about that... Do you think that the phone problem (which BT say is a problem "probably on their network") could mess-up the BB "training" period?

I know it will fluctuate speed-wise, over the next week or so, but I'm wondering whether the "readings" are going to be incorrect due to the line being screwed-up?
 
There isn't a training period on FTTC, ADSL/ADSL2 yes, VDSL no. :)

http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php?topic=10513.0

It may mess with the DLM though, so you might loose some speed for a few days, should come back up eventually though.


As for the hum on the line, sorry to say, but thats down to Openreach to fix. Good luck lol!
 
V_R - I probably didn't word that correctly, but I was really referring to this:

"Fluctuation in broadband speeds is expected to occur within the first 10 days of service whilst your line speed adapts to the maximum it can reliably support. "

on Zen's website. That's what prompted my query about whether the faulty line could cause any probs.

I'll be so glad when we no longer have to deal directly with B flippin' T. ;)
 
Ah yeah, thats referring to the DLM system. :)

Good luck with BT/OR they can be rather hard work....
 
I would post a link to a real chocolate teapot but V_R will not let me post Daily Mail Links.
And i am the one the Mail warned people about!!!:p

Good luck TC.
 
oh dear, poor BT, I dunno why people hate them so much. :lol:

hope yous get it sorted quickly. :)
 
nivrip said:
Tell me, TC, what do you think of BT? :D
Click to expand...
Ok Niv, as you've asked :lol:

Overly large, overly complacent. self agrandising, unhelpful bunch of........I'm sure you get my gist.

If ever you get to speak with an actual person, they can hardly wait to shove the "how did I do" questionnaire at you. Their website often takes one around in circles; and call-centres...? Don't let's get started on those.

The Openreach guy - for example - set-up the modem (i.e., he screwed on a new faceplate front, plugged-in the modem and placed it on a corner of our desk.) He then told me "You'll need to call your provider for instructions on setting up the router." Well no, I wouldn't have to do that at all, because I already had the instructions written down. But like the rest of BT, he didn't seem to hear that, and just repeated himself...and NO, I wasn't expecting him to do it. Didn't even ask.

Next thing, he was trying to get a tablet to work, on a dodgy connection. When he obtained a weak signal, he started to ask questions - such as "what would you call this room?" "Was the modem explained to you?" etc.

Interestingly, the modem obviously wasn't explained that well, because when he left, I found a pack of three AAA batteries, that were presumably supposed to have fitted into it somewhere.

After a bit more faffing around, he wanted us to "sign" the tablet... using a finger. He didn't have a stylus but wasn't happy for anything other than a finger to be used... despite the fact that nothing would come out. I tried, hubby tried...damn thing remained blank. So he "signed" it himself.

Minor stuff I know, but when you consider the vast enterprise, that is BT and all it's various departments, it suggests that they're not that good on the small stuff.

Most companies tend to offer guarantees of some kind, but here again, BT has executed some work, and afterwards, the customer's phone goes down. Maybe coincidence, maybe not, but I would have thought that having been to our property so very recently, it would have warranted a check to be made, just to rule out that the cause was down to the engineer.

Yeah, feeling pretty mad right now.
 
hmmm, not a very pestilent experience there TC. :(
 
Dear Ms Taffycat

Welcome to the 'I Hate BT' club :)

Your membership is confirmed and enclosed please find your personalised gold leaf membership certificate, exclusive members badge and BT Openreach Engineer Voodoo rag doll complete with six sharp hatpins for use with the doll.

Don't forget to read our booklet detailing how to earn extra membership points by carrying out tasks such as letting down the tyres on BT vans and sawing down telegraph poles - our members can have lots of fun whilst waiting weeks for the sighting of an Openreach 'engineer' to keep an arranged appointment :)

Be sure to read our monthly bulletin and please write to us detailing your exploits sabotaging all things BT.

Welcome!

Warmest Regards

Sidney Hiram Dialling Tone Jnr, IHBT President
 
Dear President Tone Jr.,

It was an honour to receive your letter of welcome to the IHBT Club. The certificate occupies a place of prominence in the lavatorium, where it is much admired by all who enter, to sit in contemplation.

Study of the lesser-known BT Openreach Engineer creature, is indeed a fascinating pastime. However, sightings are so rare, that in order to catch a glimpse of one, it is necessary to camp near habitats they are known to favour.

For example, the green, (or sometimes grey) metal street cabinets, are places where they commonly indulge in a behaviour known as "wire twiddling." Patience will often be repaid by a sighting.

The species is, of course, on the endangered list. Their decline is thought to be due to over-zealous use of the popular BT Openreach Voodoo doll, by those attempting to modify the creature's behaviour patterns and encourage productive activity. Indeed, it has recently become commonplace for officionados to use up to 9 sharp hatpins, rather than the recommended 6.

Interest in the IHBT has been growing locally, so in conclusion, we cordially invite you to attend our opening meeting. Mrs Blodwen Hughes-Pugh, (Akela) has generously offered to take her Cubs on an outing, so that we might use their Scout hut on the evening of Tuesday, 30th September.

Kindest regards,

Ms Taffycat
:D
 
Around 9:30-ish this morning, the internet went down. It was a brief outage of about 30 secs, before it came up again.

We guessed that it might have something to do with the phone being "fixed" because when I checked, the screetch had been replaced with total silence, and a message on our phone screens said "check your phoneline." Pretty good clue.

About ten minutes later, the cellphone rang (we purchased an urgent cheapie from Amazon, and were having calls diverted to it during the outage.) A voice announced that he was a BT Engineer. He confirmed the number of our house, then told me that the line had been fixed. The problem had been traced to... wait for it... one of the wires had been caught in the door of the street cabinet!

What the engineer didn't tell me, was that he intended to visit! A few minutes later, he suddenly turned-up and wanted to look at the wiring.

He carried out various checks at the faceplate, but then he said that his own equipment was faulty, so that he couldn't really carry out the checks properly. However, he felt there was a problem with our phone (something to do with a "loop?") He said "It will work ok, but you might want to think of getting another at some point."

Well not sure about that - the previous engineer had pronounced everything to be working fine - including the phone... Just for info, the phone is a 4 yr old Panasonic DECT (this one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001WAKSH2/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1) We've never had any problems, so a bit puzzled about that.

He again mentioned that the main problem had been the wires getting jammed in the cabinet door - so I asked whether there would be any charge for the visit he was making? "Oh I don't get involved with anything to do with charges, I just make my report and leave all that to them..." Oh, was there no end to this guy's helpfulness...? lol

One thing I found interesting, was that when the phone first went down, the internet speed also dropped, from 60+ Mbps, to 50 Mbps. Today, after the brief loss of internet, the speed was back up to 60+ so can't help wondering if it was influenced by the "trapped wiring."

So, it only took them 5 days, to come and open the cabinet door, and release the trapped wires... good thing it wasn't something major, wasn't it.... Doh! :rolleyes:
 
Well oddly enough bright and early this morning at 8am (Wot? Wot? eh?) I rose from my bed and scowled at the world then when I turned on my machine it was bereft of internet connection. So I wandered to the kitchen absently-mindedly scratching me bum (the way males do) made coffee, sighed a bit and waited for 09:00 hours to come around whereupon I phoned Zen.

They had a taped message saying there was a big outage across the UK and that they were doing all they could to put it right. Ho hum, ok. But when 13:00 hours came around and I was suffering Internet withdrawal symptoms I let my call to Zen connect and spoke to a fella who said he could see nothing wrong and he'd phone me back in ten minutes.

In that time I accessed my router and went through the connection procedure and noticed my router had lost my ISP user name and password so I re-entered them - and connected.

When chummy phoned back he advised me to do what I'd already done as this 'outage' caused some kind of surge (so he said) and scrambled some routers. I'm not sure if that's feasible or not but whatever, I'm back on line.

Glad you'red sorted TC :) I suspect there may be a secret training school, likely located in Worcestershire, where all potential BT engineer candidates go for special training that transforms them from reasonably intelligent and rational human beings into something resembling alien invaders from a 1956 Sci-Fi movie - agressive, ignorant of earth technology and a definite misunderstanding of human culture.
 
... and so it goes on;

Important changes to your BT services.

Hello,

We're changing some of our prices in December

From 1 December 2014 line rental will go up to £16.99 a month. We're also making changes to some of our other prices. Click here for details, and read on to find out about Line Rental Plus.

We're also introducing a new, enhanced line rental package

Our customers have been telling us what they think about the things we offer, which has helped us create a new, enhanced line rental package. It's called Line Rental Plus1 and it's coming on 1 December 2014. It comes with these handy extra features, which we'll tell you how to activate once you're on Line Rental Plus:

• Priority fault fixes – tell us about a problem on your phone line and we'll prioritise fixing it for you. We'll aim to fix it by the end of the next working day


• Call Barring to stop expensive calls – so no-one can dial international or premium rate numbers from your phone


• Choose to Refuse to block unwanted calls – stop calls from up to 10 numbers


• Bill updates by text – so you know when your bill is ready, when we've got your payment or if your payment's overdue.
Line Rental Plus simplifies your bill if you don't pay by Direct Debit

If you're not already paying by Direct Debit, then you're paying £15.99 a month for your line rental, plus a payment processing fee of £2 a month. That's a total of £17.99 a month. From 1 December this will become £18.99 a month (when line rental goes up by £1 for all BT customers). With Line Rental Plus, you'll still pay £18.99 a month. But you'll get the handy extra features on top (which would cost an extra £7 a month if you took them individually).

How to get Line Rental Plus

If you don't pay your bills by Direct Debit, then we'll aim to move you automatically on or around your first bill after 1 December, or as soon as we can afterwards. You don't need to change the way you pay, renew your contract or change any of your details. If your next bill arrives before we've managed to move you, you'll just pay for standard line rental until you're on Line Rental Plus (but you don't have to change the way that you currently pay).

If you don't want us to move you to Line Rental Plus, you'll need to switch to Direct Debit to pay your bills, before 23 November. To switch to Direct Debit or find out more, click here (you'll need your account number and bank details to hand). If you already pay by Direct Debit and want Line Rental Plus, visit bt.com/linerentalplus after 1 December.

You can find out about helpful ways to save money on your bill by giving us a call. If you want to leave BT because of these price changes, you need to call us within 30 days of getting this letter to give us 30 days' notice to avoid incurring early termination charges. The notice will start from the day you call, and we'll charge you as normal during that time.

Thanks for choosing BT.
Click to expand...

:rolleyes:
 
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