BT lost my landline number during Broadband switch. How can such poor service be possible? Anyon

[BrianKiln]

A move of home less than hundred yards was a real mess up due to BT and Open Reach  incompetence. The original property had copper circuit with BT and a broadband connection with all the BT bits of kit. The new property had a phone line but it had been disconnected as we were buying an unoccupied house. The move was discussed with BT well up front but we were told it could happen more or less as soon as we moved in. Then came the problems. BT could not use copper now so we had to re-negotiate our deal with them. Agreed to go fibre told we could keep our old number but the option would be a Halo package with a new router, a extension disc, an EE thing and a couple of their latest digital phones. The cost was significantly higher but again, told this was the best option and a good deal. This deal was agreed. A months later we were still waiting for a connection and finally with the help of a neighbour we managed to get an urgent connection to fibre. That took another couple of weeks and then some as although the broadband was connected after Open Reach left, the digital phone didn't. This problem meant that we were not contactable for hospital appointments and doctor contact even though one of us needed cancer care. Eventually we were told by BT that our original number was lost and they allocated a new number. Neighbour came to our help again to raise the problem and raise a complaint about the whole process. Then we were told that our original number would be re-installed. Eventually, that happened and it works but only it seems from another subscriber who is also on digital. The catch here is that local to local requires the area code prefix now. (So we were told). Where we still have a problem is with out of area calls from friends using a non digital phone and even though they automatically enter our area code prefix do not get a connection and cannot call us on our digital phone. Is this common or have we got a fault. Is it something that BT but not their telephone advisors know about as getting the call centre to understand the problem never gets answered, it isn't  on their script. Any ideas.

[BrianKiln]

At the moment, the only solution I can see, would be to move your phone service back to copper, but you could not use the new digital voice handsets.

Sorry, that does not work. BT quite clearly told us that once we had fibre, there was no way possible that a new copper connection would be installed. Checkmate I'm afraid.

[imjolly]

I moved your posts to start your own thread so any replies refer to your problem and are not confused with the originator of previous thread.

If you go to hub manager - enter 192.168.1.254 I to your address bar do you see your phone number on the left?

[BrianKiln]

Sorry about the delay, I typed in the hub manager code and the box on the left shows Not connected or something similar. The strange thing about this was that at least the VoI was connected but it seemed to be only accessible from a mobile. There have been messages passed again from us to BT but now, the line is dead and we cannot call out on the internet phone nor receive any incoming calls at all. The BT support has promised to have us up and running by pm today. These BT promises do not work but to ensure that the subject is still alive we have sent the person who made the promise an email telling him/her what has happened in the past. We have been in the new property for over three months and are still without a landline service. Shocking customer service so far.

[BrianKiln]

The last straw, Bt have written to us and said that they are working hard on the problem but they have suggested we contact the Ombudsman regarding our complaint. We think we will do this as it's a bit of a joke really. They say that they will accept the Ombudsman's  decision. If they do have to accept the decision, will that get our number connected on the VoI that we have been paying for if so why not do that in the beginning. I wonder what the next step is. Do Bt have a problem with VoI, there seem to be a lot of people not getting the service.?

[BrianKiln]

You moved my post from a similar set of posts to my own discreet post. Was there any reason for this other than to deflect the question from BT. I answered the questions asked of me and now the subject appears to be closed. I wonder why that is. I'm not a conspiracy theorist but it does seem a little strange. Perhaps you could reassure me.

[licquorice]

The answer was given in message 3, so that your question gets discrete attention rather than lost in somebody else's problem. 

As this is a customer to customer self help forum, no attention is deflected from BT.

[BrianKiln]

Please do not patronise me. I am capable of reading what was posted but saw no reason why this was placed somewhere else.  I see little point in this forum as from what I can see, the moderators or tech savvy people who answer on here rarely answer the question in simple terms and offer no advice how to deal with BT. The forum operates with the BT logo so who in BT takes any notice of the posts.

[imjolly]

has BT issued you with a deadlock letter so you can now go to ombudsman?

if not have you tried writing to BT CEO and get executive level complaints involved.  you can get email address from google as not permitted to post on forum.

[BrianKiln]

has BT issued you with a deadlock letter so you can now go to ombudsman?

if not have you tried writing to BT CEO and get executive level complaints involved.  you can get email address from google as not permitted to post on forum.

Yes a  letter advising contacting the ombudsman has been received although it doesn't mention deadlock.

That comprehensive letter to the Ombudsman has been sent as of Monday.

No, we haven't written to the CEO, with all the personnel getting paid to man help desks one would assume that there would be some upward correspondence within those services. Problem is that they, the foreign help desks,  seem to work to a script and anything that is outside that is lost in translation.  Despite requests to talk to a manager or supervisor, nothing gets passed on. The hope is that because BT is such a large empire it will get lost forever with no comeback. 

However, my assumption here is that this forum is toothless and serves for people to waste time writing their stories. Then a few people called distinguished sage or some other nonsensical title get to post all sorts of knowledgeable rubbish with multitudes of acronyms that only they understand or ask stupid questions like the one above. Why is this forum under the heading of BT if we are not to know who is answering our queries. 

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