Returning to BT

[Mike_Jones]

I recently came back to BT for the Fibrebroadband 500 offer and digital phone line offer

Whilst the broadband was installed on the agreed date by a contractor from Quinns, I did not retain my original phone number and knew I had to call and arrange a number change back to my original number, which I have had for 45 years.

That's where things have gone wrong. I was told I would have to wait for the lead time of 10 days for the change to happen.  I was not happy about this, but I assumed that it would be sorted out.  That was very naive of me to say the least.  The order was closed but no renumber. I called and raised a complaint and the advisor I spoke to raised another renumber order, and guess what, it would take ten days.  The complaint was closed without anybody contacting me, and the order failed again.  I had to call and get it reopened but they set up a new renumber order with again a 10 day lead time

That failed, and  I finally got through to executive complaints who placed a new order, which, you guessed it, failed, but left me with OGO (Outgoing Only ) service, but it was at least from my original number.  A new renumber order was placed by somebody at 14.16 today without anybody contacting me, which is unsurprising.  I am now waiting for a promised callback on Monday from Executive Complaints and they are going to be having a bad day...

 I worked for BT  from 1974  until 2015, starting as an Apprentice engineer on Exchange Maintenance and ending up as a Business Improvement Consultant, so I am aware of how Oneview works and that lead times are hypothetical and there is no reason that work cannot be completed sooner, but it is a process and a policy.

To make matters worse, mobile reception here is hit and miss at best, and we rely on a landline. My wife's brother recently died, and we have been dealing with probate and selling his house. The Solicitors and the Estate Agent have been unable to contact us, as when they call, all they get is a message saying the number does not exist, so we have to frequently go to them in person to make progress.

 To say I am unhappy about this is not even touching the level of anger that this has caused me. I am contacting the Ombudsman next week.

[imjolly]

You haven't said if you requested to port your number from your previous provider when you placed your order with BT

If you are dealing with ELC now then there really  nothing anyone here can help with while ELC are handling your problem

[Ali_A]

HI @Mike_Jones 

Firstly, my condolences to your wife and family for the loss of her brother. I can appreciate it can be a difficult time without worrying about anything else. 

I'm sorry to hear of your experience with joining our services. It's certainly not the experience we'd want to expect for any user joining BT, it appears there must be some other compelling reason for the order failing each time. 

I'm glad to hear that your case is being handled by our Executive team and they have arranged to call you back tomorrow. I'm confident they'll be able to get to the root of the reason why it's taken longer than usual for your number to be transferred successfully, and get this resolved for you. 

We don't have account access here in the Community Forums, but please keep us updated with the progress once the team contact you tomorrow. 

Ali 

[Mike_Jones]

After investigating the orders raised, they are all for renumbering except the first, which was to port Broadband. It appears no number port was raised, and I  have been able to access the landline account with 1p mobile.  I will pass the account details to ELC when they call so that a number port order can be raised. Which should have been done in the first place, but I do not understand why, as it is a common thing to change providers and retain your number

[imjolly]

@Mike_Jones 

It is just as common now to set up broadband only contract and do away with the landline phone capability saving £3/5 per month