over six months and BT still can't get it right...

[bigpimp347]

So this all started in May 2024

My mum and dad 78 and 82 respectively were sorting out finances,

they have been with BT over 30 years.

but were paying for broadband they never used, a mobile phone which have NEVER been activated and a home phone.

£80 a month..!!

so in May, the broadband was cancelled, as was the mobile phone which for over five years of being paid for was never activated or used.

Any way £30 a month for unlimited phone and they were sorted..

so we thought.

june, bill included broadband and mobile phone.

july, broadband and mobile phone

august yup, guess what ?

september, and again..

so i took over to manage the account.

in the mean time the old analogue phone was switched off in favour of digital voice, 

it never worked, was never switched on.

we were told and told again, the broadband was needed for digital voice and mobile was cancelled (never been activated)

then the analogue phone started to work again and digital voice just said 'sorry this phone isn't working'

come october to be told the analogue phone will be off and digital will be working by the 6th.

guess what ??  nope..

analogue phone was on, no digital and internet still on, oh and a bill for a mobile device that has been cancelled and never activated.

comes nearly ten complaints, cancellations, packages cancelled and then the cancellation cancelled (i kid you not)

to find it's an IT fault (they couldn't do a software switch)

having openreach out to say everything is 100% working when it clearly wasn't.

so have a BT complaints department person say 'we have no record of you ever having digital voice' 

to the mobile that was never activated still being billed for,

broadband still on..

to in the end i escalated it to a complaints department kick up the **bleep** complaint, and i managed to get a lovely woman who saw all the **bleep** ups refunded nearly £400 of over payments, cancelled the broadband, passed me to a lad in mobile to cancel the mobile once and for all..

and to start a whole new 'contract' where my parents keep their number (as this was claimed to be changed to digital that never worked although since the 6th of october it was still working perfectly find on analogue)

so end of contract on the 25th no disruption to service, all new account set up, one bill..

£12 line rental

£12 unlimited calls

£3 paper bill..

BARGAIN..as the near £400 refund in credit will mean free service for a year.

and today....guess what ??

yup, the phone will only dial out, there is no incoming ring or any connection tones.

so contact a guide and guess what she said ??

your line has been 'ceased' 

i'm like WTF..!! what do you mean ceased ? she says as of today the 2nd of december the line has been switched off..

HOW..!!!

then she checks all the history, the orders, the complaints,  tries the phone herself, yup it's off, to then get told 'the line is still on'

so after an hour and a half on the phone she PROMISED to phone me back before 6.30pm  and of course she hasn't.

she has raised a complaint..

but now my mum and dad have a phone they can dial out on, no incoming calls accepted, no broad band and i hope no mobile..

i check the BT dashboard and check my mums packages and guess what ??

she has a house phone showing as on the system and a MOBILE PHONE..!!!!!

but no broadband 🙂

i have so many words of disgust, frustration and anger i can post up here but i won't.

the communications ombudsmen will be informed, 

this is a joke..

all they want is a telephone that works..

they want analogue as it works

they want their own number which they have held for over 25 years at this address and from a previous address..

and this is how they treat loyal customers who they have been ripping off for years.

over the years my mum got conned in to a 'youview' TV box, never once set it up.

a mobile phone, still boxed, never activated the battery won't charge.

broad band she once used when she had a windows millennium laptop (yes it was that long ago)

to now just wanting a working house phone with no issues.

 lets hope a representative is still awake after reading this and can contact me,

i will gladly give the account number and let someone brave enough try to figure out the mess they have caused over the past six months.

if they didn't want to keep their phone number they would have cancelled their account ages ago and gone with VirginMedia.!!

[gg30340]

This is a BT residential customer to customer forum. Your post does not go to BT. The only BT staff are the forum moderators who do not necessarily read all the posts.

If you are wanting to get the Ombudsman involved you will first have to make a formal complaint to BT and give them the opportunity to "fix" the issues.  

If it does not get fixed and either after eight weeks have passed since the start of the complaint or you have received a "Deadlock" letter you can then complain to the Ombudsman.

See Link.

https://www.commsombudsman.org/

Because of the litany of problems you have had it may be that the Ombudsman will get involved right away but it could be that your latest problem would be classed as a new problem and the above procedure would need to be followed. A call to the Ombudsman would be able to advise you regarding that.

[Peter_W]

Hi @bigpimp347, thanks for stopping by the BT Community.

Thanks for taking the time to explain everything that's happened here too; with the amount of times you've had to get in contact for this to go unresolved, I really appreciate why you'll be so frustrated.

The details @gg30340 has mentioned here about our complaints process is absolutely right, and if they were unable to get things resolved for you then this is when it would be taken to deadlock for referral to the Ombudsman. 

Have you heard anything further from the Guide that you most recently spoke with?

What date was it that you were told that the mobile would be cancelled too?

Peter

[bigpimp347]

i spoke to a guide on the 2nd (yesterday) she hasn't phoned back as promised.

i have a complaint number initiated yesterday.

The previous guide who i assume was complaints manager or pretty high up was really good.

she had done all she said, called back when said and as the order goes did as requested,

the last contact with her was the 28th November.

The mobile was to be cancelled end on May this year.

VOL013-86050180****

Regrade of broadband and phone
Cease of Mobile SIM and Mobile handset.

the order also says 'complete'

then in July we had to do it again as nothing was cancelled.

VOL013-86849770****

Regrade of broadband and phone
Cease of Mobile SIM and Mobile handset.

this order somehow got cancelled..

then again in August

VOL013-88170347****

Regrade of broadband and phone
Cease of Mobile SIM and Mobile handset

Again, order was completed..!!

so far i have twenty orders,

many were either cancelled or 'auto ceased' 

a couple of regrades,

and a few more auto ceased..

the last guide i spoke with regards the mobile (a lad called Ethan) said it is now 100% cancelled,

this was on the 28th November.

All we want for my mum and dad is a bloody home phone that works 😄 😄 

Although the guide i spoke with on the 28th managed a refund dating back to May for the broadband and mobile phone, this is a credit which is fine,

but even then once the credit was initiated 17th November there was still a charge for a mobile phone on the months bill..!!

honestly you can't make this up.

[bigpimp347]

*UPDATE* 

Just on the off chance after sending my reply i thought i'd try the phone..

and it's working..!!

so was it just temporarily off while there was nothing to do and admin had to type a few bits ?

has the previous guide rectified the issue ??

am i going mad ??

My dad who's 82 tried it last night he said and it was back on then, of course he didn't tell me (i don't live with my parents as you can gather)

so it would have been nice to have had a courtesy call either myself or my parents to say it was back on and working again.

[gg30340]

Please remove the order reference numbers from your post as they are unique to your account. Also do not post any personal information as this is a public forum.

You should respond to the moderator's request to contact them in message 3 above.

[bigpimp347]

Sorted.