Help! BT are being a nightmare!

[Furrybootsyecomfy]

Hello all, I was hoping somebody would give me some help me figure out the next steps to take in an ongoing dispute I’ve had with BT. I’ll try to keep it short-
I signed up to get fibre optic broadband via EE at the end of September. EE apparently deliver this via BT. Grand, no problem.
The first engineer visit was cancelled because the router went missing en route to my house- ok, these things happen. Not another engineer appointment until the end of October- take a day off work for that.
My existing service with EE is cut off on the 27th of October, as thats when BT should have taken over. No internet for a week. By this point I’m in touch with customer relations. To their credit, they do provide complimentary bog standard broadband from then.
The next appointment goes ahead but fails because nobody has thought to check with my downstairs neighbours about putting a box on their wall. My address is clearly a “flat” address, and I live in an area which is about 60% tenements. BT say there was no way of knowing this would be an issue until the day of the appointment. I feel that if they had flagged this issue, I could have checked with my neighbours.
Appointment rebooked for 25th November, despite customer relations saying the 24th. This wasn’t really a problem as I had taken a whole week of work, but doesn’t fill me with confidence.
On the 25th the engineer turns up and immediately says “sorry, BT have told us not to install FO on multiple occupancy residences”.
Speak to customer relations person again, she says she’s “shocked” he said that. I get another text saying that the engineer has been rebooked for the 10th, but by this point I feel it’s unfair for me to keep taking days off work for something that keeps failing. I speak to BT to cancel the 10th appointment and suggest that I get a normal broadband contract just now and we could maybe revise fibre optic in the new year. Not a problem, says customer relations lady.
I get home and THEY’VE CUT EVERYTHING OFF!! My phone line and my broadband. Plus two emails saying I’m going to be charged by BT for several hundred pounds for ending the contract- I feel that BT have failed to fulfill the contract!
After an hour on hold they are reinstating my phone line and the woman I spoke to assures me that I won’t get charged, but I have so little faith in them. I don’t know what to do, I don’t have several hundred pounds to give them, nobody mentioned any of this on the phone. I don’t know what to do!

[Furrybootsyecomfy]

Sorry, if anybody makes it through that wall of text you’re a saint- I just wanted to try and get the detail in.

[prh47bridge]

I don't see that you owe them anything at the moment. If anything, they owe you money for failing to provide the service for which you have paid (assuming you've paid the fibre optic rate for some months). At this stage you keep pursuing them to sort it out. If a bill arrives for several hundred pounds ignore it.

[TooTrueToBeGood]

BT are the most shockingly incompetent company on the planet. My mum got stuck in an almost infinite loop when she tried to transfer the phone line that had been in my dad's name until he died. They couldn't just transfer the account to her. They had to cancel my dad's account and set up a new one for her, fair enough I guess. Then she would get a letter saying her order was being cancelled as the line was already leased by another customer. So she would call them up, they'd apologise and raise a new order and again she'd get a letter saying the line was leased to another customer. Each time they did this, despite my mother's warnings, they would dispatch a new broadband router. She ended up with 16 routers before the circus finally ended. She tried to get them to take them back but even that was a farce as the only option they seemed to have was for her to send them back at her own expense so they eventually went to the council recycling centre.

[Daphnise]

BT are a nightmare to deal with- utterly incompetent- and the call centres..... The rubbish they tell you, incorrect information, broken promises, lies.

There is no way out except never to deal with them.

[Furrybootsyecomfy]

Hi there, thank you all for replying.
They have now dispatched another router, and apparently an engineer appointment has been booked for Christmas Eve! No correspondence from BT, I found this out by checking my customer account. I’ll have to phone them again today to say I have plans on CE- I don’t understand why I need yet another appointment when I have a phone line etc.
I am utterly appalled by their carry-on. How are they still in business ?

[elastamum]

They are the most incompetent people on the planet. When I cancelled my contract with them, after months of arguing they threatened to take me to court for money I didn't owe, then the following week out of the blue refunded me money that they owed me! Never going back to them.

[slipperywhensparticus]

They tried taking me to court over my final bill I was moving back into a virgin media area and decided to switch to there much cheaper service i was on a rolling contract with bt so I ended it before we moved and paid the final bill all good i moved they sent me letters at my new address begging me to come back etc etc then a bill arrived from my old house threatening court action for non payment of my final bill I rang excuse me ive paid? They said I hadn't I proved I had they said it was for February I pointed out I had moved then and my final bill was paid in January well you still owe for February, why when I paid my final bill in Jan WHY would I need to pay a SECOND FINAL BILL

they eventually dropped it as a "courtesy"

[Clutterbugsmum]

They are the most incompetent people on the planet. So true.

They took a company to court I was working for once, for non payment of an invoice. They look really incompetent along with their legal department when in court we proved that not only did we pay the invoice they had partially allocated the money to other invoices.

[slipperywhensparticus]

They also cocked up my friends instalation her and her neighbours were a new build so they booked them in on the same day for the fitting first time they ran out of time second time they forgot third time she is chasing the van up the street

[LemonNLime]

I know BT are the one's doing all the work etc.. however you mentioned signing up with EE at the start.. was the contract you signed between yourself and EE or BT?

It'll make a difference on how to handle the situation

[Furrybootsyecomfy]

@LemonNLime that’s a good question- I was a EE broadband customer (along with my phone) and signed up at an appointment in a branch of EE. I was told it was an upgrade (wasn’t told about the charge for ending my contract etc ). Since then all my dealings have been with BT and EE have stated it’s very much not their problem now but BTs.

[Furrybootsyecomfy]

Sorry- should clarify. EE told me that they did their broadband via BT now. I don’t think it was made clear at the appointment that I was signing up to an entirely new company, although that is partially to do with my ignorance around stuff like this.

[Letsnotargue]

After a disastrous run with BT I will never use them again. Phantom appointments that disappeared before they were due, complete lack of service, no sensible way of communicating with them. It was a 6 month nightmare and we changed provider as soon as we possibly could.

[SenorFrog]

BT own EE, same company although at customer service level they have different systems and call centres.

[LemonNLime]

BT bills in advance, so have you been paying for Fibre all this time too?

Providing your on their standard Broadband terms and conditions they shouldn't be charging you for their failed engineer visits.

It may also be worth looking at their clause 14a and quoting this back to them, when they fetch up said charges.

[MrsBobDylan]

I had almost the exact same scenario op - I eventually took to ringing BT and crying and eventually it worked.

Sorry, no useful advice, but I can't 100% sympathise!

[MrsBobDylan]

I can sympathise!!