I was hoping someone could give me some advice on where to go from here...
Last Thursday (1 Oct) two engineers (Mr. C and Mr. Junior) turned up to connect me to FTTP, at 345pm. They checked the pole, took the reference nr and input it into a handheld device. They came inside and had a quick look around, Mr C says “I don’t think we can finish it today because it can take 3.5 hrs to complete”.
I remained positive and suggested we have a crack at it. He mounts the modem, and pulls the optical cable from the modem to the splice box outside the house. This took about 30mins (4:20pm). At this point MrJunior receives a call and leaves the site. Mr C remarks “Thanks a lot mate”.
Mr C proceeds to his van, takes a hammer and starts hitting the bottom of the pole for about a minute. He makes a phone call within earshot of me. He’s calling for a “hoist”. He tells me he thinks the pole might be rotten.
He goes back to the pole and aggressively hits it some more. One one side he is hitting it with the sharp end of the hammer, causing visible damage (I have taken photos). He returns saying it’s definitely rotten and can’t be climbed. He makes another call within earshot reporting the rotten pole, nails a warning label to the pole and, at 4.40pm climbs into his van. He’s on the phone for 18 minutes (presume personal call as not within earshot). At precisely 4.58pm he climbs out to tell me there’s nothing more he can do until they verify if the pole is rotten. He leaves.
At 7pm my service with my previous provider, EE is cut off.
I call BT, they inform me that because the pole is now a “hazard” it has to be checked before they can do anything else (takes 5 days apparently). They offer me ADSL in the meantime, but can’t connect me until the 9th of Oct. 8 days without service. That is rubbish. My wife and I are working from home, and cannot do so now for an entire week.
I also simply do not believe the pole is rotten. In May 2020, an engineer came out to check my ADSL speed, as part of that he climbed the pole and replaced the copper wire.
This summer, all the poles on our street have been made ready for FTTP. The poles would have been inspected again. That’s two inspections in the last 6 months.
I simply do not buy that the thing has become a hazard in 2 months.
I am absolutely livid with the situation, the behaviour of the engineer and BT’s response to leave me without service for at least a week. I have never made a complaint in my life.
How and where should I report the engineer?
Any other thoughts greatly appreciated.
