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What do you think about BT

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miami

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From a business point of view I've had two disapointing failures from them recently, one from BT Global, one from BT Openreach. My main contract is with another division of BT entirely, who are very frustrated.

BT have many different companies, it's all a mess, like all large companies, but on the whole they deliver a reliable service for a reasonable price. I use BT at home with a FTTP delivery and have no complaints.
 
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yorksrob

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They'd have to be going somthing to be worse than Virgin Media. I keep ketting communications about how 'super fast' their broadband is, yet it falls over at least once a week.

'Utter pile of crap' would be a more accurate name for them.
 

jumble

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Having worked for BT for over ten years I can assure you that is not the norm. If there really is a network issue then they would never charge early termination fees - in addition, shortly before I left the company Ofcom had introduced minimum guaranteed access line speeds (I think that's the right term for it) which means that if the broadband download speed is less than you were advised at point of sale then you could also terminate without penalty.

ETCs are only supposed to be raised when the customer chooses to end the contract early.

Ho Hum
As a supplier of telecoms I have on a few occasions found BT Business to not be behaving very ethically with regard to charges
4 Examples
BT Local Business falsely signed up a customer for a contract renewal on a rather expensive set of ISDN lines (cost 7K )
Neither BT Local Business nor BT Business could produce any evidence that this renewal had been agreed by the customer
Escalated to BT Exec office who told the customer that they would be held to contract as their accounts would have received an invoice that would have said 5 year contract in tiny letters on a bill and this meant that the customer had accepted
Retracted this when I said I would be reporting what I believe was fraudulent behaviour from BT Local Business to Action Fraud and Ofcom

In our old office the line which was supplied by the landlord was ceased which in turn ceased the broadband
We had ETC of £900 which was waived if we took out a new 12 month contract which we did
This did not stop BT from carrying on harasssing us about the £900 non existant debt
A polite email to Gavin Patterson the CEO at the time asking if he was aware of FERGUSON V BRITISH GAS TRADING LT got the harassment stopped and 6 month free broadband

Last week we have a number port going through
BT write to customer to confirm that the port is ligit.
When customer calls BT to confirm BT tell the customer that someone has cancelled the port but are unwilling to supply any details of who or when
The number is still not ported



A customer had ADSL and wanted to upgrade to FTTC mid term
I spoke to 4 reps
3 said it was a 2 year minimum contract
1 said it was 12 months which turned out to be true
(So a porkie telling rate of 3 out of 4 in BTs favour !)

On the plus side
They are getting better as other posters have confirmed
They gave me 2 years of FTTC for £8.00 per month
They have always been fair on compensation when they have messed up
They are still many times better than Talk Talk
 

najaB

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BT Local Business...
Well there's your problem. BTLB aren't BT and when I worked for BT we had as many complaints about them as customers did! More than once the idea was mooted of giving them the old heave-ho but it would have been more expensive to get rid of them than it was to fix the messes they created.
 

trainmania100

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If it's low cost broadband your after then they're fine but the internet speeds aren't fab, but I get away with GTA online without much trouble.
The TV box is rubbish , my one only accepts aerial input and the channels break up. Sky or another one with satellite would be better if you're choosing tv
 

jumble

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Well there's your problem. BTLB aren't BT and when I worked for BT we had as many complaints about them as customers did! More than once the idea was mooted of giving them the old heave-ho but it would have been more expensive to get rid of them than it was to fix the messes they created.

I bet you did
This does not change the fact that BT Business tried to take advantage of what I believe to be fraudulent behaviour by their agants
( This example was the only one that involved BT Local the other 3 sited were BT Business )
These fools are capable of signing up the same customer to two different BT Local business companies
 

najaB

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I bet you did
This does not change the fact that BT Business tried to take advantage of what I believe to be fraudulent behaviour by their agants
( This example was the only one that involved BT Local the other 3 sited were BT Business )
These fools are capable of signing up the same customer to two different BT Local business companies
Well, you mentioned number ports - they do get cancelled all the time for no apparent reason, and BT Business is in the same situation as any other CP, they have to go by the info on BT Wholesale's website which normally doesn't tell you anything useful.

The non-existent debt collection thing was pretty poor showing.

The term on a ADSL to FTTC conversion *can* be either x, 12 or 24 months depending on what exactly is being requested (things may well have changed since I left but at the time you could do an upgrade in which case you wouldn't get a new router or equipment just a faceplate/filters in the post which would continue the existing term, or sign a new contract with new router and engineer installation which would be 12 or 24 months), so it's difficult to comment. Especially since the new contract would likely include discounts or offers that aren't included in a ADSL/FTTC conversion.
 

trainophile

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I call BT Bl**dy Thieves. When I had their 15GB plan in our little flat they were always emailing me with panicky messages saying I had used 60% of my monthly allowance already and why not change to Unlimited fibre. I used their usage monitor to check, and found that although they only had entries for days I was actually there, sometimes they were showing 4GB used when I knew I'd not sat down until 7:00pm and only surfed the net for an hour, just reading forums like this one, no downloads or films etc. I switched the laptop off every night when I went to bed, so even if someone was piggybacking (and I don't think so) they would have to go some to use all that in an hour or so. I knew this couldn't be right as I was on my mobile more than on my laptop and never racked up more than about 3GB in a whole month.

On the plus side I always got really nice helpful (usually Irish!) customer services staff when I rang with any problems, including finally getting disconnected at the end of an annual contract. They would not admit they skewed the usage information to make people upgrade, but I have seen other complaints about the same thing on other websites.

I now have a £22 a month Three hub, doesn't need a landline and I get 100GB a month for that. If I'd bought it a couple of days later it would be unlimited, but 100GB would last me a couple of years as I'm only in the flat a few days a month, so I'm not worried.
 

NoMorePacers

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BT? Doesn't exist - it is merely a lie propagated by the rest of the country in order to put down the Humber territory.
 

HTR

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I have given up with BT (Bangalore Telecom). Sick to death of trying to get a persistent internet failure resolved and on hold with various call centres whilst repeating the same information every time. Others in my village have switched to 3 4G hubs for £20 a month unlimited with good results. Time to junk the landline and monthly rental.
 

PG

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I have given up with BT (Bangalore Telecom). Sick to death of trying to get a persistent internet failure resolved and on hold with various call centres whilst repeating the same information every time. Others in my village have switched to 3 4G hubs for £20 a month unlimited with good results. Time to junk the landline and monthly rental.
At this moment in time I'm holding off phoning about my poor landline and broadband as I think BTs resources will be stretched somewhat in terms of people able to come out and investigate roadside.

I looked into a 3 hub after reading about it (upthread IIRC) but unfortunately they don't have coverage in my location otherwise I'd be very tempted!
 

bussnapperwm

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Apart from having one dodgy router which was quickly replaced when I reported it (and a payment card which will only be keyed in, not swiped, at the post office) I've had no problem with them (especially as they have the rights to WWE and British Speedway)

Now Virmin Media (and their predecessor Telewest) on the other hand. Trying to cancel my late grandfather's contract was like hitting a brick wall and the fact my mother refuses to use them as they accused her of not paying her bill (even though she had proof of payment!!)
 

Tetchytyke

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I've never had any big issues with BT, but you only really test customer service when things go wrong. The Indian call centres are a big problem (it'dul usually be more productive to howl at the moon), but with the right words you do get routed to Newcastle.

Virgin Media, on the other hand? Charged me £50 for not returning a remote control- which I had returned, but obviously couldn't prove it as I'd sent it back. I wouldn't touch them again if they were the only broadband supplier left. I don't know why all Virgin businesses are scum-sucking parasites, after all Virgin's owner* is as honest and ethical as the day is long.

Still, could be worse. I got to leave, unlike the wife of "John Bull" of London Reconnections fame!

(*I know Virgin Media just licence the name, don't @ me)
 

najaB

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The Indian call centres are a big problem (it'dul usually be more productive to howl at the moon), but with the right words you do get routed to Newcastle.
Nice to know that the Newcastle escalation team is still operational. I happen to have delivered the initial training for the first cohort of recruits for that team. :D
 
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Tetchytyke

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Nice to know that the Newcastle escalation team is still operational. I happen to have delivered the initial training for the first cohort of recruits for that team. :D

They are and if you can get to them they're very helpful.

The secret Citizens Advice number we have does help!
 

stevetay3

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Just spoke to this awful lot with regards to suspending BT sport for now.There response the sport is only postponed and next month things may change we are only able to give a refund for one month.Surely we have the right to postpone payments until things get better. Will not be next month I do not think, maybe more like next year
 

najaB

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Just spoke to this awful lot with regards to suspending BT sport for now.There response the sport is only postponed and next month things may change we are only able to give a refund for one month.Surely we have the right to postpone payments until things get better. Will not be next month I do not think, maybe more like next year
If you're in a multi-month contract then I don't really know what you expect - you signed a contract to get a sports channel, the channel is available and broadcasting what sport is available.
 

stevetay3

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I am in a.long contract forced upon me. I signed up for live sport live cricket, not endless re runs.I can no longer get an online shopping slot but the supermarket are not still charging me for my shopping
 

najaB

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I am in a.long contract forced upon me. I signed up for live sport live cricket, not endless re runs.I can no longer get an online shopping slot but the supermarket are not still charging me for my shopping
You signed up for a TV channel that broadcasts the live sport that is being played. They are broadcasting the live sport that is being played.

I agree it would be nice of them to give you a credit as a gesture of goodwill, but they aren't under any obligation to do so.

The supermarket delivery analogy really doesn't work unless you had signed up to a subscription service to which promised x number of delivery slots in advance?
 

stevetay3

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1 Sky are showing some live sports that is being played without charge

2 I have a 6 month sainsburys delivery pass paid in advance
 

EssexGonzo

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I'm not sure if it's an industry thing, but I'm currently in a 30-day "break my contract" period because PlusNet (owned by BT) hasn't been able to deliver the guaranteed minimum speed I signed up to. I'm only 3 months into an 18 month contract and for the next 30 days, I can leave without penalty.

If I do, I'll be choosing one of the slightly more expensive smaller outfits - if you subscribe, have a look at this month's Which? report on exactly this topic. The Big 4 do not come out well.
 

najaB

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I'm not sure if it's an industry thing, but I'm currently in a 30-day "break my contract" period because PlusNet (owned by BT) hasn't been able to deliver the guaranteed minimum speed I signed up to.
It is an industry thing - Minimum Guaranteed Access Line Speed (MGALS) - it was brought in by OFCOM about three years ago.
 

najaB

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1 Sky are showing some live sports that is being played without charge
Which is a commercial decision that they have made, not an entitlement.
I have a 6 month sainsburys delivery pass paid in advance
Then yes, it is correct that they should give you a rebate/discount since they aren't able to deliver the service you've paid for.
 

ainsworth74

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I think we're done here now. Everyone has had more than enough chance to express their feelings on BT.
 
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