Hello I need help! and thanks in advance for reading this long post. For almost a year I’ve been trying to resolve the telephone problems of my elderly aunt in the UK who is vulnerable/at-risk, has certain challenges, and has no family members nearby to help, since we all live in another country. I have spent many hours online and on the phone with BT trying to remedy her telephone issues that began in August 2023, when she was assisted or induced to switch her former landline telephone service to BT. My aunt has never had a computer or mobile phone. Up until last year, she has depended for communication on what we assume was a traditional copper landline, although she may also for years have been paying for a broadband service she never used.
In August 2023 her telephone service was switched to BT as “digital home phone service with number import” and that’s when the problems began. Her phone stopped receiving calls and then stopped working altogether. We have now been unable to speak with her for almost a year, as she has had no working landline since then.
My aunt struggled with the more complex BT digital technology and equipment, and for unknown reasons did not pay her mailed paper bills. She received no help with paying her BT bills, or with setting up direct debit, despite her family’s numerous written requests to those purportedly helping her. Ultimately her BT phone service was terminated for non-payment. I was able to find this out only via several calls to BT from my country in late 2023 when I fortunately connected with a couple of kind and helpful agents, although they were limited in the information they were allowed to give me.
At the end of 2023 I and two others were appointed as Deputies by the UK Court of Protection to manage my aunt’s affairs, but it then took several months more to process the court order. With that finally in hand, I recently called BT again and despite giving them my aunt’s name, address and former phone number, they apparently have no record of her account. We don’t have her former account number, and we also don’t know the name of her telephone service provider previous to BT.
I realize that PSTN copper landlines are being phased out in the UK, but am trying to find out if anyone could please clarify:
1. Whether traditional analog copper landlines are still available for vulnerable elderly users like my aunt who struggle with digital technology and have always depended on an ordinary landline for communication.
2. Which UK companies, if any, still provide a copper landline service in the northwest.
3. Whether her (assumed) former copper landline service would have been removed or disabled in August 2023 when her account was switched to BT.
4. Whether a copper landline would be required to be reinstated had my aunt been induced/coerced into switching to BT’s digital service, which is what we believe happened.
Attempting to remedy the situation by calling BT from another country is unwieldy and impractical. BT does not appear to be reachable by email unless one has an account. After much searching I found a complaint email address, not that it helped in any way since my communications to that address in November 2023 went unanswered. Therefore I would very much appreciate any help or insight.
