I work semi-frontline in these days of the epidemic on the railway, and my story starts on the 9th September when I got up and my bt hub was clicking over on the orange light and my white box in the corner of the room was still showing the regular 2 green lights, oh I have fibre connection to the house, better get that in.
I went through the procedure of the hub telling me through my browser to reset, and problem solve to no avail, so rang the 0800 number (which ended in 150. Important bit to this story for later). On hold for 40mins until a nice speaking lady answered and I told her my problem and that she booked an engineer for the 12th September (a Saturday) which I was happy with and in the meantime to keep me connected she will send out a mini-hub to use while we are waiting.
Mini-hub turned up the next day (shaped like one of them skimming stones you would throw across a lake...) anyway I connected and all seems fine, until about 20 mins later when the mini-hub lost connection, couldn’t reset the thing as it only had 1 button on it. So, took back off pulled out battery for a couple of mins then replaced and was connected again… until about 15mins later when it lost connection again… and so on and so on, haven’t skimmed it yet!
In the meantime, an email has arrived confirming my booking and the procedures that I must take to make sure of social distancing etc for the engineer to work in my property, fair enough. Just like to point out for this to work I had to completely move my work desk which is completely joined and covers one corner of my room to where the engineer can get to the hub and white box quite happily without any hassle... this took me a good 2 hours to clear and move and position this enormous bench desk (as I like to call it) into the middle of the room and re-connect up again so I could still go about my business
Saturday 12th comes and a bt open reach van arrives across the road from my house… Nothing!!
The driver sits in the van for a good 45mins chatting on his mobile looking up and down the pole while still sitting in his van… then buggers off!
No bt van turns up for remainder of that day. I leave it until the following Tuesday to make another call to say that no engineer has turned up and as I am on the hold to another 40min phone queue, A bt vans pulls up outside!! Makes you wonder if they were psychic!
He stands outside, rings the door (we will call him Tim) goes through usual procedure of what he will do etc, goes back and forth from van to pole to van… rings door and wants to check the hub etc... no problem! Checks the hub and white box, looks at the wiring and comments about how dodgy it looks (even tho it looks brand new!) Tim says that there’s nothing wrong this end, goes back outside, up and down the pole a few times while chatting now and then on mobile phone. Comes back and rings door and says that “ITS NOT HIS DEPARTMENT!” well why the hell are you here then wasting our time if its not your department? Tim then says that he will get his colleague who knows what the problem could be, to fix it, and should be here tomorrow (Wednesday), then goes!
Well I waited until the following Monday which is now the 21st September and after work I ring up to find that I’m in a 50min queue to be answered, just wondering if this helpline only has one 1 phone with only 1 operator working? I leave it until my day off which was the following Wednesday when I ring early… bang on 8am, I get answered after about 5mins, amazing!
I speak to a male person about the problem and story so far and puts me on hold for about 5mins then puts me through to an engineer, ok I thought, maybe some action now…. No! After a small discussion and a lengthy hold process of about 12mins he finally comes back to me and says “We are waiting for a hole to be dug!” I’m speechless… then hangs up!
By this time I’m starting the process of my story so far to the complaints department and in the mean time my work takes up a lot of my time with the mini-hub still being a pain in the backside with its disconnection issues every 20-30mins, surprised I haven’t skimmed that across a lake by now! This takes me up to the 30th when I get a phone call from an engineer who is coming to fix my problem… TAADAA!!
Luckily, I was just walking home from work when he rang about 4pm, (we will call this one George) George went through same procedures as the first engineer Tim… It’s almost identical when he comes to the same conclusion as Tim… “Sorry M8 Can’t do anything Its not in my department as yours is fibre to the property, il let them know” and goes!
I sat down in my living room with my head in my hands wondering if bt has ANYBODY who knows anything about Fibre to the property, do they just train these idiots up only on normal broadband connections and no further? So I’m back on the phone to discuss this issue with somebody but once I get down to about number 10 in the queue, I get disconnected!!
Next step was to the complaints department with a lengthy description about my story so far and by the time they got back to me we are now into the 12th October, its been over a month of being disconnected. I’m at work and I get a call about my complaint, I discuss about everything so far and he seems very apologetic and at the end he says “I’m going to give you a number which will be straight to the engineers involved in your problem” Ok I says… now you remember back to the beginning of this story I said the main number you ring up ends in 150? Well this one ends in 151! He then says that I can now close your complaint to which I tell him “you will close it when I say so after I’ve seen where this number takes me” to which he agreed.
Later that day I gets home from work I ring the 151 number “Sorry but we are currently busy at the moment with a” etc. queue number 43! (feels like I’ve been fobbed off here) after a lengthy wait I finally gets through to somebody who doesn’t have a clue… puts me on hold at one point for about 15mins, comes back “ we are waiting for a hole to be dug!” I threw my phone across the room, luckily it bounced off the sofa (thank god I was useless at cricket!)
I think that there is a rule book which all these engineers have, they must go through a check list and it all comes down to “Say, its not my department” or “we are waiting for a hole to be dug” when stomped.
Also, bt closed my complaint without my permission!
Friday 16th October… by this time I’m looking at getting the Ombudsman involved that was suggested by a friend. But anyway, I am in my room connecting up a 56k modem to my old windows 98 pc because I figure that may be faster than the skimming stone bt sent me, when there is a ring at my door bell with TWO bt engineers standing there, lets call them (harry and fred) saying that “I have a problem with my broadband!” (there was a pause) and I said “well let’s hope you two can fix it” with them saying “we will try our best” after my lengthy story… again!
Now harry and fred did not come into the room, oh I just like to point out that I put all my room back to the way it was after 4 weeks of having my long desk in the middle of the room connected up… had enough! So, Harry and fred looked up and down the pole for about 15 mins got a barrier out some tools, while walking back and forth to van, to pole while both on phone, then folded up barrier locked the vans… then both buggered off!!
No communication, no phone call explaining where they are or what’s happening, just went, didnt even return,
And that’s where we are now, the only difference in being that the white box that had 2 green lights, now has 1 red on the LOS connection and green on POWER since Friday after they visited.
Its now 6 WEEKS since i first reported this problem.
In the meantime, I would suggest on holding out for fibre optic to the property as, yes, it’s fast but a real pain in the rear to get fixed as there seems to be no engineers who know how to fix it!
