Escalating a problem and complaint in BT

[bgarry]

Is there a way to escalate a problem beyond the agents that take calls and arrange engineers ? I've had an ongoing intermittent broadband problem for 8 weeks now. In that time I have spoken to 3 agents, all of whom promise me the top engineer will be assigned to my case. I've had a Cube Engineer (who managed to shove a paperclip in my hub and declare the problem not in property), and 4 Openreach Engineers who have randomly replaced line from house to telegraph pole, BT Broadband Box in house, changed cores back to Exchange, etc etc.  , each time coming into the property and running same tests again and again. Latest call last Saturday I was promised a call in 72 hours, no call.  Each time engineer visits fault gets logged as fixed, every compliant I raise gets closed.  Apart from the constant flow of people through my property in the middle of a pandemic and the risks that causes, the constant problems make it extremely difficult for me to work from home. Today, I risked sitting an exam with camera turned on and broadband dropped, $555 gone, immediate fail.

[bgarry]

You couldn't make this up, I just sat in a queue for 40 minutes. Agent put me on hold to review case, came back on, said hello twice as if she couldn't hear me then dropped. I awaited my phone to ring, surprise surprise it didn't, now back in the queue again.

[Matt-S]

Hi @bgarry,

Welcome to the Community and thanks for taking the time to post.

I'm sorry to hear about the problems you are experiencing trying to get your broadband fault fixed.  I've sent you a Private Message with details on how you can get in contact with the mod team.

Thanks

Matt

[bgarry]

Whilst awaiting my promised call. I see my fault has been closed yet again this morning.  Broadband dropped yet lunchtime today.

Fault fixed

Your Broadband problem has now been resolved and no further action is required. However, if you believe this not the case, please get in touch.

[bgarry]

Gave up waiting for a call and made another call again myself. Agent kept going back to whether I had a loose cable........ if I did then countless Openreach Engineers and a Cube Engineer failed to spot it...... I don't ! Also couldn't believe that case was closed stating the fault was in my property which totally contradicted everything Engineers had discussed with me.  I did ask to speak to a manager, but didn't push it for fear that the agent would just hang on on me like previous agents. I was denied that opportunity, but agent did say she would raise a complaint (that's yet another complaint).  What I do incredible is the fact that none of the history of the fault seemed to be available to the agent, every time I speak to someone its back for square 1. "What colour is the hub light when the drop takes place", "Does you BT box have one or two connections, one above the other or side by side", "do you have a smarthub"....... . Another engineer booked, same old Openreach Engineer, nothing left to change this time, we've done the HUB, the wall socket, the cable to telegraph pole, the cores back to the distribution box.........hair style (wouldn't be any less effective).

[imjolly]

Did you reply with the requested in formation to the forum mod?  If so they will get back to you and provide assistance but they are busy so could take a few days. The mods deal with all cases in order of receipt to ensure everyone is treated equally - everyone thinks there problem is a priority so when your email reaches top of inbox mods will contact you

[bgarry]

I did reply, I did provide details, nothing. Two scheduled callbacks regards complaint haven't happened. 

[imjolly]

I feel you replied to mods then as I said they are busy and when your reply reaches top of inbox the mods will contact you to help 

[RIC9380]

The theory is that the 150 agent can see the history of any problem on screen but the reality is some agents are better than others at recording stuff onto the system.  Even if the last agent spent an hour on the phone to you going through the standard checks and you were a couple of seconds away from resolving the problem but the line drops, when you phone back through the system makes you go through all the checks again.  You can't put the customer back to the previous agent.  We just had to go through all the checks again and if the previous agent just put "line dropped" you were completely in the dark and faced the wrath of the customer.  You won't believe how nasty and personal some customers can be.  

On a more positive note most of the agents are lovely and will go the extra mile for you.  Everyone (including BT call handlers) has had to deal with other Contact Centres so they know what it is like.  Failed call backs should not happen.  I know that sometimes they do but when you are trying to update the history screen and a new caller comes straight through there's only so much you can do.  And we did call people back but they often don't answer their phone or say that it is not convenient.  Then they forget that.  Sometimes you feel that you just can't win.

Engineer appointment no shows - a nightmare for you and us.  We really felt your pain and wanted it to work first time.

Want to complain to a Manager?  They didn't want to know (they are aged about 20 years old and have little or no life skills) and we're told to say that the matter is in hand at the highest level!

My recommendation would be to put your complaint in writing  to:  BT plc, PO Box 334, Sheffield, S98 1BT.  Remember to include your account number, day and evening contact number, name and address. 

Please don't think that I want to slag BT off altogether.  On the contrary, they have some great, helpful people working there and I'm very happy with my now (non employee) landline/mobile/BB/TV services.

I just remember that lots of colleagues used to cry a lot after abusive incoming calls.

On a personal note I've also had faults on the home landline closed off for no apparent reason too.  Frustrating I know but the matter was eventually sorted.

Goodnight 🙂 

**Edit** BT has changed our correspondence address, so I have updated the post with the new address details**

[bgarry]

For the record, "You won't believe how nasty and personal some customers can be. " or "abusive incoming calls".  I haven't been any of these things. So whilst I appreciate that agents may have difficult customers to deal with, I am talking only about my case and therefore am not pleased with inference. There are no excuses for the poor service and actions of BT agents with my case.  Hanging up on a customer, failing to update records,  broken promises to call back and to keep case open until customer agrees to close it etc etc. For the record at no time have I said that an engineer did not show. What I have complained about is the pointless visits of engineers who are no equipped to resolve the problem.

"Want to complain to a Manager?  They didn't want to know (they are aged about 20 years old and have little or no life skills) and we're told to say that the matter is in hand at the highest level!".  When I do get to discuss my complaint I'll mention this, when I called to discuss cancelling my BT account, I was told that agents had a responsibility to let me speak with a manager if requested.

BT Community now in touch, another Engineer planned for this week, lets see if experience this week is any better. Still no response from complaints team.