BT support sending BT TV Now users back to Now for support

[Midnight_Voice]

On the Now Community, which is user to user (and boy, do we envy the support you give here) we get the occasional BT TV user reporting that BT support have just tried to send them back to Now support.

Here’s the most recent example:-

https://community.nowtv.com/t5/Other-Apps/Unexpected-Error-on-iPhone/m-p/611361/highlight/true#M4203

My understanding is that BT should never do this; if there’s a problem BT support can’t solve, they should take it back to Now on their customer’s behalf and solve it that way, but should never knock the user back to Now.

What’s your understanding here? Is some retraining needed?

[stereohaven]

I agree, in an ideal world, BT CS would take ownership and have an internal process which would enable them to refer queries like this to NOW and then report back to the customer.

Meanwhile, NOW should have a cascade process in place to proactively tell BT CS that if they get any iOS queries, there is a defect and a hotfix is inbound ASAP. 

[zulu17]

This is only an opinion based upon researching the various Terms and conditions 

If you are having problems with your NOW on the BT TV platform, you should contact BT on 0800 800 150

otherwise

How do I contact NOW if something goes wrong?
You can contact us for any customer service reasons using the contact details set out on the NOW website. General email: customerservices@nowtv.com.

[Midnight_Voice]

@zulu17 

Did you get that last quote from BT documentation? If so, where please?

[zulu17]

Information  from Now  not BT.

[Midnight_Voice]

@zulu17 

Ah, thought it might be that.

I think that is for direct Now customers, and those who have the ‘passive’ subscriptions via Apple, Amazon, or what have you, while for the ‘active’ suppliers, BT and TalkTalk, their customers should go through them.

Certainly, the Now Help routes BT subscribers to BT help, not Now help.

[zulu17]

I am pretty sure that BT T&C  define

NOW  – a third-party service you can subscribe to as part of your TV package or as an add-on

so whereas billing/account/activation and issues on the BT TV platform would be in BT domain , the experience and issues using the NOW memberships on other platforms and devices would not.

One gray area is the NOW app on BT platform boxes as under Youview T&Cs that would be down to NOW.

[Midnight_Voice]

@zulu17 

I’ve just read a raft of T&Cs, and come to no clear conclusion. So you think BT’s responsibility should begin and end with the Now channels in the EPG? I can see why. And I can see why not supporting the Now app on the YouView box would go over like a lead balloon, what with BT forcing the BT Now account details onto the box at every turn.

But having your BT account Now supported only by Now themselves on other devices? Interesting….

If Curry’s sell you a TV made by Sony, they have to stand behind it, and can’t push the responsibility onto Sony; that’s the law, and the same law applies to services.

And BT sell Now, and BT get the revenue, so logically, it seems that BT should get the kicks in return for the ha’pence.  But my difficulty with that view is that Apple will sell you a Now subscription, and so will Amazon; and nobody expects either of those to support it.

So they are what- agents? - something that support responsibilities don’t devolve onto, anyway. So what are BT in all this? Just a selling agent like Apple? Or the retailer of a third party service, just like Curry’s are the retailer of third party products like Sony TVs?

One for the lawyers to fight over, certainly. I wonder what Now’s view of all this is? Certainly billing and account maintenance devolved to BT, and support for the Now channels in the EPG, but beyond that, silence.

Somebody better tell their Now subscribers where support devolves back from BT on the telephone to the tender mercies of Now Live Chat.

And unless someone from BT TV wants to correct any of the above, revise what we’ve been telling BT TV customers who fetch up on the Now Community 😢

[zulu17]

Well from NOW T&Cs

“we provide NOW services to you via your BT TV platform and other approved NOW devices.

If you are having problems with your NOW on the BT TV platform, you should contact BT on 0800 800 150”

From Now How to contact Us

“Are you a BT or TalkTalk customer?

If you pay for your NOW Membership through BT or TalkTalk, you'll need to contact them with any queries about your account or payments.”

So seemingly clear on account/payment and issues on BT TV Platform .

This leaves the support for using an active Now membership on Other devices … No specific mention of different support/contact points is mentioned for BT billed members in the  BT specific  NOW T&Cs   …BUT there is is a reference back to the general NOW terms which apply in addition to those specifics listed for BT billed members. So in the absence of anything different being stated on NOW [BT Billed)  terms the standard NOW terms would apply.

it seems perfectly reasonable for all NOW members and prospective NOW members to be part of  and be welcomed into the NOW community and be able to ask questions or make points and  ask for assistance. 

[Midnight_Voice]

@zulu17 

They can, and we do, but the Now Community is customer to customer, without any of the Mod support seen on this Community. So it’s what happens if we suggest BT TV customers get in touch with either BT by phone, or Now via Live Chat.

As what you quote seems to cover the BT platform, with no distinction between the Now live channels and the Now app, I think we might agree that anything on the YouView box should be covered by BT.

That makes for a nice clean distinction.

We’ll see how it goes….