This is the transcript for an exisiting Complaint I am trying to resolve with BT after they disconnected my FTTC connection in an attempt to 'Upgrade' me after my 13 Year FTTC contract 'expired'. I have had FTTC for 13 years at this address after progressing from dial-up, to dual ISDN, to ADSL, and then to FTTC. I have worked as a SW Engineer from home for 20 years and this connectivity loss is now putting my employment in jeopardy. My FTTC connection up to 29 July '21 was good enough (around 60Mbs and a reasonable ping), I am now limited to a 4G Assure dongle which provides < 1Mbs and pings > 500ms.
The most frustrating thing is the lack of any coherent communication from BT, each time I have to go through the whole story from the start - frequently to several different people as I am transferred between departments. More often than not my calls (which are always over an hour by then) are dropped on transfer and I just haven't got the willpower to try and get through all over again.
It is in chronological order - most recent first. I have X'd out any identifying numbers. To get a full idea read from the bottom up...
COMPLAINT IMP-107053085 Concerning “Natus Nicolet UK” Account WMXXXXXX
I have now been downgraded (since 29th July) (without any permission from me) from my FTTC line (D/L Speed ~ 60 Mbs) to 4G Assure connection ONLY.
I work from home and have done for 20 years, I have had FTTC for 13 years.
This interruption to my connection is threatening my (and my wife’s) employment.
I NEED a timescale as to when this can be resolved!!!!
I can’t even begin to stress my disgust and frustration at the ‘service’ and ‘support’ you are providing.
August 10th (90 mins on phone to BT)
Texted “Sean XXXXX”again – still no response.
Phoned BT Cardiff – eventually transferred to “Navneet”
Navneet Investigates – another snippet of information – OpenReach have a ‘review’ of my cabinet on 16’th August.
Can’t resolve anything – he says my XXXXX number is ‘disconnected’ – it isn’t - because I can still receive/send calls on it.
He can’t explain why my BTHub6 is not connected and is using 4G only – he can’t even test it because the number is ‘disconnected’ (it isn’t).
Eventually (after 80 minutes on the phone) tries to transfer me to ‘Orders’.
Call is dropped. I wait for a callback – nothing!
August 9th
Texted “Sean XXXXX” for information, no reply. I had waited the 5 working days as requested.
Late (8pm) got notification from “Dipshika” BT Resolutions Team –
“Due to fibre ports being temporarily unavailable I am unable to upgrade your Broadband to fibre…”
I don’t need an “Upgrade” I just want it back to what I had before July 29th i.e FTTC @ ~60Mbs
August 2nd (2 hours on phone to BT)
Phoned BT again
“Chris” from Sales – can’t help – transfer to ‘faults’
“Sueham XXX” from Faults says there was FTTC for this address up to July, but is now inactive – transfer to ‘orders’
“Sean XXXX” from Orders says my FTTC line was “seized in error” and should not have happened.
He cannot place an order to reinstate FTTC because there is now none available at the cabinet.
He pledged to contact OpenReach and get back to me in 5 working days. “If FTTC cannot be resonated in a reasonable timeframe (5 days + 10 days) he will arrange an FTTP connection”
Received a text message from Sean on mobile, saying reply on this and he will get back to me.
July 30th (2 hours on phone to BT)
“Dan” phones me back – he is a Sales manager apparently – not sure why he dealing with this fault but ‘manager’ is good.
He said he cannot do anything while a ‘debt marker’ is on an account and I should phone Billing to sort that. He said he would Email me phone number for Billing and another to get back to him – Email never shows up.
Now I was previously told by BT not to allow my company accounts team to pay that bill because it would be paid via the refund for all the bills already paid for the services which were never connected.
Anyway - I phoned ‘Billing’ and Ethan (Emp Ref:XXXXXX) assured me the ‘debt marker’ would be cleared as there is an outstanding complaint on account. I will be “Reconnected” (even though I haven’t actually been disconnected).
I learnt from Ethan that “Samantha” was the last person to look at this complaint.
In the meantime I had a text from BT Resolutions Team (‘Dipsikha’) saying tried to contact me – ((s)he didn’t at least not be phone or email) – saying “Unable to place order to reactivate FTTC on ******** due to records issue” – whatever that means.
July 30th 2021 (2 hours on phone to BT)
Multiple calls to BT. I am told 3 times that people will phone me back, and once that they will Email. I do not receive anything.
July 29th 2021
I was notified of new BT order : GBTXXXXXX complete – I didn’t order it!!!
I have now LOST the FTTC connection and have a Broadband speed of < 1 Mbs.
Advanced Log on the BTHub6 states you disconnected me at 04:05 am July29
At this point I still had a good broadband (FTTC @ 60Mbs) connection and phone XXXXX XXXXXX still worked. I had no other connections.
July 2021
I was notified of new BT order : GBTXXXXXX. I didn’t place this order – I phoned to query it and was told it was to sort my services as originally planned.
I stressed that I could not lose my FTTC BandBand connection as it would put my job at risk - and I was assured that I would not.
June, July 2021
I started chasing BT Business Cardiff as to whether anything had been sorted.
I spoke to several BT people (Martin XXXX, Amanda XXXX, Joanne XXXX, Matthew XXXX, ‘Callum’, ‘Lindsay’, ‘Dan’ were some of the names I wrote down).
“it was getting sorted”
June 2021
Yet another bill arrived. Total bills for 2021 now amount to £943.65. My contract was for £34.95 a month – so should have been £209.70 total.
May 2021
After a series of phone calls to BT it was realised that we were being charged for services that were NOT connected to the premises.
Complaint IMP-XXXXXXX was raised.
“Avik” - BT Business OMD – initially dealt with the complaint.
He was going to sort the accounts and services into a single Phone & Broadband contract – what I had signed up for originally.
Feb to May 2021
My employer started receiving a lot of BT Bills, eventually they started querying them to me.
At this point I still had a good broadband (FTTC @ 60Mbs) connection and phone XXXXX XXXXXX still worked. I had no other connections.
December 1 2020
A contracted engineer arrived at my premises. He was to install the new service.
In course of conversation he told me I would be on a copper connection from now on.
I told him that was NOT what I had contracted for and that I did not want him to do the installation.
At my urging he ‘put everything back’ to what it was before he arrived.
I got an email notification that BTXXXXX was complete.
November 2020
Set up a new set of contracts with Chris XXXfrom BT Business Cardiff OID-XXXX – this is the last contract I have signed for - £34.95/ month for phone and broadband (FTTC).
Chris assured me I would keep my FTTC contract and corresponding connection speeds.
I was sent details of the connection which stated that the BB speed would by max 3Mbs, I queried this with this Chris and he again assured me that I would keep my old speeds.
BT order number was: BTXXXXXXX
2019-2020
Nothing happened despite repeated calls by me to find out. Apparently, you were waiting for something to happen at the local exchange.
October 2019
I set up new BT service contract with Alexander XXXXXX from BT Business Cardiff. This was for a digital phone line and included the existing FTTC Broadband contract.
I was emailed and electronically signed contracts.
