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Message 1 of 8

BT and disabled customers

I would be most grateful if someone could help me. I am a registered disabled 80 year old who cannot use any type of voice telephony due to severe hearing loss and hand subluxation.  I can only communicate via email.  Yes I do have a smartphone but I cannot physically use it:  it is entirely controlled by my laptop, which itself is linked to ergonomic keyboard and mouse.  

How can I get BT to send me voice mails which I cannot hear.  I have used BT Relay UK to contact BT and remind them of my disabilities. But this has  not produced any improvement.  

How can I contact a trained customer support  [not a chatbot] to discuss my disabilities as well as broadband and mobile contracts??

I really hope someone can help as there are millions of disabled customers who cannot use any form of "voice" communications.

 

Thank you

 

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Message 2 of 8

Re: BT and disabled customers

this may help  https://www.bt.com/help/here-for-you

are you registered here  https://www.bt.com/content/dam/bt/help/including-you/BT_Free_Priority_Fault_Repair_Scheme.pdf



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Message 3 of 8

Re: BT and disabled customers

Thank you for your swift response. Alas it does not cover the difficulties of communications with BT. I am registered for priority service, but this does not stop BT sending me voice mails which I cannot "hear" since I am near deaf. What BT should implement is a protected message service within its website. My previous experience of contacting BT via BT Relay UK was not that great as the intermediary operator found it difficult to relay the conversation.
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Message 4 of 8

Re: BT and disabled customers

Hi @Papageno 

Did you manage to find out what the purpose of the call from BT was?

There is a live chat service on the BT Contact us page. Have you used that before?

Sorry to hear that you had a problem with the Text Relay service. Is this something you use often? 

Helping you communicate | BT Help

Chris

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Message 5 of 8

Re: BT and disabled customers

Thanks for post, Christopher.  I have just logged into MY BT account but cannot see a live chat service anywhere...

As for BT Relay UK service:  this is an excellent service and I am really glad my local hospital  [at long last] decided to provide 3 special telephone numbers for disabled people who may need urgent communications.   This means that any one trying to abuse the system will be disconnected when the hospital admin realises the call is not from a BT Relay operator.

But the service cannot really help in certain communications with banks and financial services  [John Lewis card for instance].  The Operator does his/her very best to relay the message typed in by the disabled person but cannot really engage in discussions about poor service.   Which? magazine has published some excellent articles about the plight of the disabled but little effort is made to provide such with appropriate communications means.

As for my BT voice mail:  I will probably never know what it is about, nor who sent it in the first place.

Can you be more explicit as to location of Live Chat on MY  bt website??

Many thanks for your assistance

 

 

 

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Message 6 of 8

Re: BT and disabled customers

OK, thanks @Papageno 

Yes, of course. If you head to this BT Contact us page, hit the 'Message now' button, it'll connect you to live chat.

It sounds like the Text Relay service is still useful for account queries. There's also a complaint email address on Our complaints code of practice too, for any complaints that you have about your account or service.

Chris

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Message 7 of 8

Re: BT and disabled customers

Many thanks indeed  Chris.  The reason I could not see Message Now was because I always logged into My BT which does not include this functionality.   So I have just used it  [without logging in] and did manage to communicate with a human!  It seems that the BT voice mail was not sent by BT but was scam which is rather worrying.  Still,  thanks to you I have been able to communicate with BT.

Could we keep this link to further discuss the issue of disability and help other people.  It is rather cliche to state that the population is getting older...  and living with many impairments which make communications extremely difficult.  Millions cannot use a smartphone because: they cannot hear, have speech impediment, hand arthritis, other musculoskeletal problems, neuro divergence, Parkinson and other tremors...  Most are not aware that if they can use a key board  they can use a laptop  [or desktop/tower] to control the smartphone which does not have to be held, touched other than switching on and off.   I have come across people who think that the smartphone keyboard needs to be used in order to benefit from BT Relay UK.  This is not true, the laptop can control the Relay communication channel.    There is a huge awareness campaign to do, which, of course, would also benefit BT by increasing its customer base.

Incidentally, my laptop uses Microsoft operating system and the smartphone is a Samsung using Android OS. Both pair automatically.  This is also useful for anyone wanting to use the NHS App.

Thanks again for your help

 

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Message 8 of 8

Re: BT and disabled customers

You're welcome, @Papageno. I'm glad you were able to get in touch to clear up whether we contacted you or not.

This community page will stay live for quite a long time. 🙂

Chris

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