BT Customer Service Nightmare/"Warren's rabbit Run"

[Desyduk]

A Home Move Order for landline, broadband and TV was placed with BT on 30th October 2013 by my partner, let me call her Mrs Desyduk living in Newcastle Upon Tyne, on behalf of her severely dyslexic daughter xxxxxxxx xxxxxx now aged 25 and living in London.

Yes this is the same lovely, thoughtful, kind and independantly minded daughter who had the problem with another Telecoms supplier detailed in the thread “Phones4U/T-Mobile/BCW Hell”.

In late October 2013 our daughter had just moved flat from one North London address to another thus requiring immediate termination of services at the old address, and, as the new address is served by a different telephone exchange, BT confirmed 25th November 2013 as the earliest date to complete the Order.

The order was crystal clear, BT confirmed the order in writing to Mrs Desyduk; two London addresses and two London landline numbers and our Newcastle Upon Tyne home number as the contact point.

What follows is an absolute BT Customer Service Nightmare cutting the legs off Managing Director of BT Customer Service Warren Buckley’s allegation that BT “deliver a seamless multi-channel approach” to Customer Service, http://www.mycustomer.com/topic/warr...service/158207. BT certainly delivered a multi-channel approach in this case but with yawning chasms between the channels.

At the root of this fiasco was BT erroneously terminating our Newcastle Upon Tyne home landline, given to them as the contact number for the London Home Move Order by Mrs Desyduk, as well as our Infinity 2 Broadband services on 1st November 2013.

It took me 6 weeks, 29 telephone conversations with 17 named (first names only) and very nice BT agents in 10 different BT teams in India and around the UK, 9 emails and 1 letter to Warren Buckley, who tellingly did not reply or take action on the matter, to unravel the mess and persuade BT to carry out the simple act of restoring our Newcastle Upon Tyne BT services and to compensate us for the loss of enjoyment, peace of mind about the service and costs incurred.

However professional, pleasant, patient and sympathetic BT’s agents are, and they are, BT’s “multi-channel” processes confounded and prevented their intelligent application of common sense at every twist and turn to reinstate the service.

I call it ‘Warren’s Rabbit Run’ and the following posts in this thread recall the events......

[odetter]

Re: BT Customer Service Nightmare/&quotarren's rabbit Run"

BT are the Ryanair of the Telecommunications industry.
All they care about is spending £2 Billion on their sport channel.
You as a customer are irrelevant to their business plan.
State Monopoly now a Private Monopoly.

[Desyduk]

Re: BT Customer Service Nightmare/&quotarren's Rabbit Run"

Xx xxxxxxxxx Road

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

Newcastle Upon Tyne

NEX XXX

0191 xxx xxxx

9th November 2013

Warren Buckley
British Telecommunications plc
BT Centre
81 Newgate Street
London
EC1 A7AJ

Dear Warren Buckley,

A Complaint Re: Erroneous Disconnection of 0191 xxx xxxx and Services

Account number: NE2044xxxxx

You disconnected our home phone and Infinity broadband in error on 1^st November 2013.

Nine days later, after countless telephone conversations with 15 or 20 of your staff in 7 or 8 different teams, many hours hanging on the phone, several broken promises of reconnection, several failures to call back, we today finally have the prospect of being reconnected latest by 19^th November 2013.

Your inability to correct your error efficiently and swiftly has caused us frustration, severe inconvenience and loss. Living in a remote village outside of Newcastle there is no alternative free Wi-Fi connection available nearby and we have had to drive each day with our laptop to a McDonald’s, 3 miles away in Xxxxxxxxx, especially to check work related emails and without the ability to do work related research due to battery life limitations.

This letter is confirmation of our complaint logged with your staff.

We would ask you to read the details of the unacceptable and frustrating processes we have had to go through, set out below in conjunction with your own staff notes, to achieve resolution of your error, review your processes to learn and simplify them where possible for your customers, amend your charges to me to reflect the downtime and inconvenience caused and compensate us for the loss of use of your services, cost of mobile telephone calls and cost of time and travel to connect via McDonald’s free Wi-Fi.

This is what has happened:

On 30^th October 2013 I placed a home move order to transfer telephone 0207 722 xxxx with services from 33 Xxxxxxx Road, London NW to Flat 6, 41 Xxxxxxx Gardens, London NW for and on behalf of my daughter Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxx.

You confirmed that the new address was served by a different exchange and therefore the 0207 722 xxxx number could not be transferred but the new number would be0207 449 xxxx. You also confirmed the 0207 722 xxxx line and services would be disconnected at the old NW address a.s.a.p. and the new line and services could not be installed at the new NW address straight away but at the earliest on 25^th November 2013 from 8am. See VOL012-835972xxxx.

At noon on 1^st November 2013, in error, you disconnected my own home telephone and Infinity broadband service, telephone number 0191 xxx xxxxx, at XX xxxxxxxx Road, Xxxxxxxxx, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE.

I rang your 0800 800 150 number early afternoon on 1st November 2013, from my mobile 0758858xxxx, to report our home number and Infinity Broadband service had been disconnected; I left a call back request when I couldn’t get through, you did not call me back.

My partner Desyduk then rang your number continuously from mid afternoon on 1st November 2013, from his mobile 0777xxxxxxx, getting through around 4pm, your call centre connected him through to your broadband service, who answered after a very long wait, but they couldn’t help. Your broadband service connected him through to your Infinity service and after another very long wait they couldn’t help either and they connected him through to your phone line fault service who answered, yet again after another long wait, they couldn’t help him either but recommended the order team.

He stayed on the phone for the next 20 minutes or so eventually your order team answered and said they could re-instate our 0191 xxx xxxx number within 24 hours, but they could not deal with your error on the 0207 722 xxxx home move order which appears to be the cause of the problem. With regard to the latter they did attempt to connect him through to your customer options team whereupon he was disconnected after being on his mobile phone continuously between approximately 4.15pm to 6.10pm.

At about 10.45am on Saturday 2^nd November 2013, my partner received a courtesy call from BT to confirm our home phone had been reconnected, but, with a different number 0191 xxx xxxx and without Infinity broadband! He told the young lady who rang that he didn’t understand what is going on and that he wanted broadband and our old number 0191 xxx xxxx back, which he explained we have had for about 12 years and which is the only home number colleagues, family and friends know; the young lady hung up, he felt because she wasn’t sufficiently confident or knowledgeable to respond to his requests.

He rang BT back on 2^nd November, after the call that morning, eventually getting through to one of your UK call centres. He spoke to Jemma to make a complaint. Jemma gave him her departments direct dial number 01324452504 in the event he had any further difficulties getting through to BT. She said she had arranged for our old number 0191 xxx xxxx to be reinstated on Monday 4^th November and reassured him that our broadband would be reconnected too. He also explained that the home move order is no longer required as following Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxx’s move to the new NW address she had discovered the flat is served by Virgin cable services.

Jemma consulted offline and then offered to terminate the 0207 722 xxxx number without charge as a gesture of goodwill.

On 4^th November my old number had not been reconnected. About 3pm my partner Desyduk rang again and this time a nice young man called Omar answered telling him the changeover was due on 25^th November next. Desduk explained all the above. Omar said he would fast track the date and Desyduk complained and asked to speak to a manager, none was available but Omar said he would arrange for Desyduk to be called back by his manager on his mobile 0777xxxxxxx by 8pm. No return call has been received from Omar’s manager at the time of writing.

About 8pm on 4^th November my partner rang again and as with every other call he had made he recounted the saga and was assured that the reconnection of 0191 xxx xxxx with broadband would be expedited by 7^th November. Your agent confirmed after reading all the internal notes relating to the original home move order that the error was made by BT and there is no explanation why Omar’s manager hadn’t called me back.

Nothing happened by 7^th November. About 1 pm on 7^th November Desyduk rang again and spoke to Adam who put him through to Jess in your order management team, who confirmed the order was due to be completed on 25^th November! Desyduk explained your error to Jess again and events through to 4^th November. Jess read the notes and got what had happened, after some internal dialogue and calls she managed to arrange for our old number 0191 xxx xxxx to be reconnected. She explained that our broadband would be reconnected by midnight 8^th November but first Desyduk would need to cancel the existing order VOL012-835972xxxxx relating to the 0207 London NW house move therefore......

Jess connected him to your cancellations department; Desyduk explained the whole thing again, at length, to the nice young lady to cancel the home move order, who said the 0207 722 xxxx number would be disconnected on 11^th November next?

Meanwhile Halleluiah! My old phone number had been reconnected by Jess within minutes after Desyduk had finished talking to cancellations dept..

Shortly after speaking to Jess and the cancellations dept. on 7^th November at 1.25pm, Desyduk received a call from a BT line 08000285085, to his mobile, it was a nice lady called Cath, she confirmed on behalf of the engineers that our broadband would be reinstated by midnight of 8^th November. Desyduk asked Cath if there was any possibility to reconnect on 7^th as we use the service for work and it had been disconnected in error by BT, she would check and ring back?

Cath rang Desyduk back at 1.36pm and said it had been given priority and broadband would be reinstated by midnight on 7^th November and that Desyduk would receive a courtesy call on 8^th November to confirm it had been done.

It was not reconnected. At 1pm on 8^th November Desyduk rang 0800 800 150 again, as your 08000285085 number doesn’t accept incoming calls, and spoke to Michael, a young man with an American accent. He confirmed broadband was to be activated on 25^th November! Desyduk explained it all again through to the two phone calls the day before with Cath. Michael read notes while Desyduk waited and when up to speed Michael said he would cancel the home move order. Desyduk asked but what about our home broadband connection? Michael said he would need to look at that and talk to someone else and would call me back in 5 minutes on 0191 xxx xxxx. He didn’t’ call back.

At 2.05pm 8^th November Desduk called BT again and spoke to a very personable and bright young man called Ahmed. Ahmed read the notes and offered apologies again, as most others have, and said he needs to cancel the home move order first, which due to process won’t allow for a reconnection of the broadband to 0191 xxx xxxx to proceed until that is done. Desyduk was informed that he must ring the sales team on 9^th November after the home move order cancellation has completed on 8th and place a new order for broadband for 0191 xxx xxxx which should be connected in 5 to 7 days from order date, Ahmed was very empathetic and said this is the process that must be followed! Desyduk agreed to do that and he asked Ahmed if he could complain to a manager in the meantime. Ahmed kindly noted the outline of the complaint assuring Desyduk that he would be called about the complaint in the next couple of days.

At 9.10am on 9^th November, Desyduk spoke to Suzanne in the Sales Team who read the notes and checked the address and line number with him, as a different address popped up on another screen for the account as she researched the issue; she connected Desyduk to Sri of the order management team. Sri confirmed he would place an order for reconnecting broadband on 19^th November, however requesting on the order for it to be expedited to Monday 11th or Tuesday 12th November as disconnection had been BT’s error. Reference: 8401502xxxx.

The above describes the position so far as our notes recall at the time of writing. I’m sure we have made other calls to you but short of requesting a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act to obtain all your notes to determine that I feel sure this is sufficient to enlighten you that something is seriously wrong.

I look forward to your earliest response.

Yours sincerely,


Mrs Desyduk

PS Although our line 0191 xxx xxxx has been reconnected it no longer displays incoming call numbers and the line no longer has a call answering service (1571). According to your Suzanne this morning it also does not provide its number to those called. Please fix this without further disruption.

[cymruambyth]

Re: BT Customer Service Nightmare/&quotarren's rabbit Run"

Every time I have had problems with BT I have sent an email to the CEO, within a few days I have had a response from a Chairman and CEO business specialist who has promptly sorted the problem!

BT themselves are totally useless!

[odetter]

Re: BT Customer Service Nightmare/&quotarren's rabbit Run"

They are just too big to be manageable.
It's about customer care.
You're a customer and they don't care.

[Desyduk]

Re: BT Customer Service Nightmare/&quotarren's rabbit Run"

Do you think BT’s Director of Customer Service, Warren Buckley’s allegation to deliver a “seamless multi-channel approach” is an oxymoron?

[Desyduk]

Re: BT Customer Service Nightmare/&quotarren's Rabbit Run"


Notes Of My Conversation With Raf On 11th November 2013 I rang BT on 0800800150 and spoke to Raf in the Order Management Team between 12.50 and 1.25pm.


Raf confirmed Infinity Broadband is scheduled for re-connection 19th November 2013.


I explained BT’s error in disconnecting the service on 1^st November, so asked Raf to please expedite reconnection plus our since reconnected telephone 0191 xxx xxxx doesn’t send or receive displayed call numbers.


Raf checked and saw that our number did not display. He put me on hold and talked to engineers he then asked me to agree an appointment date the engineers can visit to install the equipment and explain how it works?


I explained again that we have the equipment have had it a couple of years and we know how it works. All we need is for BT to reconnect us to Infinity Broadband and sort out our telephone number display.


Raf confirmed BT still needs an engineer to call. I explained this is a waste of time and resource as I will just say hello and goodbye to an engineer, we just want the line reconnected at the exchange.


Raf confirmed a call will be made to me on Wednesday or Thursday after reconnection.


I asked to speak to a manager, Raf said they were all at a meeting and he says he sees his supervisor is on another call but confirms I will receive a call before 8pm tonight. I explained I had been promised this last week and it has not happened.


He apologised and I thanked him.


-----------

Notes Of My Conversation With Mark On 11th November 2013 I rang again at 1.50pm spoke to Mark 01324452504, he spoke to order management team, they are waiting for home move order to be deleted from system and then after 24 hours broadband will be switched back on, offline team are aware it doesn’t require an engineer to visit and it could take up to 8pm 12^th November 2013 before I will be called on my mobile.


Thank you, know where I stand, what about call display and 1571, Mark said call back when internet up and running then its a simple matter.


---------

Notes Of My Conversation With Bal On 12th November 2013 BT a lady called Bal 08003289393, called from Broadband at 2.59pm. Due for connection 19^th November which she said is literally only next week, their suppliers engineers need to come to the address to reset the cabinet, must have a home visit, will offer 3 dates when calling back on Thursday 14^th November 2013 when she will attempt to fast track it maybe to this coming Saturday as she is just now in receipt of the order.


She asked and was told that our line is connected, she will inform telephone line colleagues that our home line has been reconnected at the old address, different team, as they appear to think our line is not connected and are waiting for an order.


I Informed Bal that this is not the old address it is the same address, the home move order she referred to relates to two London addresses. This is the BT error and I have requested a manager call back at least twice, last time yesterday to Raf and Mark, and not received it yet. Told her we had been given the dates of 7^th November by Cath on behalf of engineers which was missed and then by last night by Mark in the order management team, yesterday, obviously missed again.


Bal said as she has now heard me say I have requested a manager call back so she must arrange a manager to call me by 8pm and I was to ensure my phone 0777xxxxxxx, she checked the number was correct, it was charged and I kept it with me to receive the call.


---------


Notes Of My Conversation With Asma On 12th November 2013 Asma rang about 7pm to my mobile, she is a supervisor ringing in lieu of a manager, her manger (he) she said asked her to call me, told her we had previously asked for 2 or 3 manager call-backs that have not happened, she said there had been an engineering issue but she will call me back tomorrow with hopefully an expedited date say Friday.


Asked Asma if she was saying that our internet would not be working anyway, even if it had not been disconnected in error by BT, because of this engineering issue? No! Asma replied I’m not saying that but that is what I am told and can see on my screen. Allison told Asma that our neighbours use BT and they are working. Asma said this matter is now being dealt with by Supervisors she will call me again tomorrow on 0777xxxxxxx to arrange 3 slots for an engineer to call.


----------

13 November 2013, no call received from Asma to my mobile, dialled 1471 on home phone
early evening to hear 08003289393 had called our landline 0191 xxx xxxx today at 12.45pm?


----------

Notes Of My Conversation With Helen On 13th November 2013 Rang Infinity Broadband at 7.45pm spoke to Helen, told her I had not received a call from Asma today to my mobile, as Asma promised yesterday, but had dialled 1471 this evening and heard there had been a call from BT at 12.45pm but I was not at home.


Helen checked Asma’s notes on our account and an earlier date than 19^th November 2013 for reconnection is not noted. Helen read the notes and said she saw that BT had confused the London Home Move order with our Newcastle telephone number.


Told Helen that Asma said reconnection was in the hands of supervisors now but it does not appear to have moved on and requested Helen to send Asma an email that I had called as I had not heard from her on my mobile as she and her colleague Bal said I would. Helen said she did not know what shift Asma is on but was sending the email to her straight away. Helen meanwhile confirmed no slots for attendance to our Newcastle address had been arranged.


Helen explained that engineer would have to attend the green box in the street, the cabinet, to re-enable broadband as well as my home and she offered me 3 slots Friday 15^th November am or pm or Saturday 16^th am for engineers to call. I agreed I would make myself available for any of the 3.

Helen confirmed I would receive a call tomorrow to confirm which slot would be the appointment.


Thanked her for her help.


----------

14 November 2013 Helen sent text to my mobile confirming engineer will visit on Friday 15 November. Broadband will be re-connected pm 15/11/2013.

Broadband Reconnected pm 15^th November 2013


-----------


Notes Of My Conversation With Ismail On 19th November 2013 Ismail rang, reinstated caller display and 1571 service, 2 accounts running, not seen Mrs Desyduk’s complaint letter. Offered 1 month free line rental and broadband as goodwill for inconvenience, turned it down, asked for a manager to call. Ran through costs, now infinity 1 instead of 2, £23 instead of £26, asked why it’s changed, Ismail confirmed that I can’t get a better speed in my area so it’s the best broadband for us.


-------

Notes Of My Conversation With Ash On 21st November 2013 BT Manager Ash called, Asma works for him as Supervisor, asked if he had read our complaint letter, he hadn’t and couldn’t find it on the system, gave him date posted address sent to etc... He offered 3 months free broadband, explained he needs to read the letter and what we’ve been through from customer’s perspective so they can learn. Explained costs incurred by us, loss of enjoyment of the service inconvenience and have been paying for Infinity 2 service up to 1^st November 2013 when we can’t get better than an Infinity 1 service where we live.


Also now 2 accounts (1 broadband online and 1 phone by post, possibly no DD for postal account) whereas we had 1 online account before. Asked Ash to research the procedural difficulty and recombine into 1 online account by monthly DD, read our letter and then talk to me.


--------

Never heard from Ash again!

[The Tech Clerk]

Re: BT Customer Service Nightmare/&quotarren's rabbit Run"

Same here- wait 2 weeks for phone to be connected new location, on 30th Dec 2013 - sorry fault outside somewhere, engineer locate next day, = no broadband NOW 9th January still no broadband , promised to-morrrow, had to bt dongle wi-fi unit ,keep cutting off.

so many phone calls to them incl 2 hours couple of days ago, which I went around the world call centres 3 times and directed to one department 4 times to be sent to another for the 6 =th time, then a sensible chap came on and stated he will deal himself and did. but await outcome to-morrow, telecom from BT woman offered refund of wi-fi unit I had to purchase, and no broadband charges until co=nnected

[odetter]

Re: BT Customer Service Nightmare/&quotarren's rabbit Run"

Nobody needs to write a 2000 word essay on why BT are crap.
They just are.

[Desyduk]

Re: BT Customer Service Nightmare/&quotarren's rabbit Run"

Odetter you counted!

Well I need not only to detail the "crap", which is cathartic to me in the telling as your opinions are to you in the expressing, but also by the time I've finished this thread it may give an insight to others into obtaining fair compensation, in this case 6 months free services for the "crap" I've had to put up with. xx

[odetter]

Re: BT Customer Service Nightmare/&quotarren's rabbit Run"

Love your work.
If we'd been at school together I'd have paid you to do my homework.
Such diligence.
Respect.
BT have broken me, you can carry the torch.
Lhx

[Desyduk]

Re: BT Customer Service Nightmare/&quotarren's rabbit Run"

Bless You Odetter!

[Desyduk]

Re: BT Customer Service Nightmare/&quotarren's rabbit Run"

Maybe we were at the convent school together.

[Desyduk]

Re: BT Customer Service Nightmare/&quotarren's Rabbit Run"



Finally Ahmed called me on behalf of Ash and after he read my letter to Warren Buckley and my notes following an exchange of emails this is how Ahmed brought the complaint to a satisfactory conclusion.






Thu, Dec 5, 2013 at 12:05 PM

Dec 5, 2013
Message starred
RE: Complaint re: 0191xxxxxxx and broadband
from ahmed.xxxxxxx@bt.com to you Show Details

Mr Desyduk

Firstly let me apologise for not getting back to you yesterday, this was due to an extension to my cover which I advised you of below.

I have read through your initial letter and the diary of events below and I was embarrassed to be working with colleagues who have no regard for a speedy complaint resolution and going above and beyond to put things right which we messed up in the first place.

I would like to reassure you that I have taken the necessary steps of putting in place coaching action for every individual that has let you down to ensure that what you went through is not repeated in the future. I will also be discussing this complaint on a weekly call which I attend regarding written complaints we have into our department to put actions in place so that we learn from your appalling experience and once again ensure we do not repeat this kind of performance for any other customer.

With regards to compensation, the maximum we normally credit a customer on a residential account is 3 months rental for the service which we have failed to provide. However after reading your ordeal, I would like to offer you a credit of £230.70 which equates to 6 months rental for your line and broadband service.
Please advise me of your decision and on acceptance I will arrange the necessary credits.

Kind Regards,


Ahmed

[zhen]

Re: BT Customer Service Nightmare/&quotarren's Rabbit Run"

Finally Ahmed called me on behalf of Ash and after he read my letter to Warren Buckley and my notes following an exchange of emails this is how Ahmed brought the complaint to a satisfactory conclusion.






Thu, Dec 5, 2013 at 12:05 PM

Dec 5, 2013
Message starred
RE: Complaint re: 0191xxxxxxx and broadband
from ahmed.xxxxxxx@bt.com to you Show Details

Mr Desyduk

Firstly let me apologise for not getting back to you yesterday, this was due to an extension to my cover which I advised you of below.

I have read through your initial letter and the diary of events below and I was embarrassed to be working with colleagues who have no regard for a speedy complaint resolution and going above and beyond to put things right which we messed up in the first place.

I would like to reassure you that I have taken the necessary steps of putting in place coaching action for every individual that has let you down to ensure that what you went through is not repeated in the future. I will also be discussing this complaint on a weekly call which I attend regarding written complaints we have into our department to put actions in place so that we learn from your appalling experience and once again ensure we do not repeat this kind of performance for any other customer.

With regards to compensation, the maximum we normally credit a customer on a residential account is 3 months rental for the service which we have failed to provide. However after reading your ordeal, I would like to offer you a credit of £230.70 which equates to 6 months rental for your line and broadband service.
Please advise me of your decision and on acceptance I will arrange the necessary credits.

Kind Regards,


Ahmed

Ditto thanx Desyduk and check this out, too! So Ahmed sez: "once again ensure we do not repeat this kind of performance for any other customer." OK wot about this, then?!!! It's a pretty self-explanatory eMail I sent to Warren B last night:
"Dear Warren

You might recall a couple of years ago you were very helpful when I had a sustained problem with my broadband connection here in this very rural area of East Sussex.

Once you had received a letter from my doctor detailing my medical dependency on a reliable connection because my chronic health condition makes it impossible for me to go out shopping, you sent me an eMail confirming that BT would from then class me as a "vulnerable person," and assure that any BT faults with my broadband would be dealt with as a matter of priority. You were also very understanding about my need to assure streamed films because I am one of the people in the UK who is an official voter for the BAFTA film and television awards.

At the time you suggested that I upgrade to BT Unlimited Extra so that my broadband connection would be more reliable.

The two separate visits from BT OpenReach engineers confirmed that the connection coming into my flat were faulty, and they worked very hard to repair and replace everything. I also took your suggestion and upgraded to BT Unlimited Extra. I also now pay my line rental a year in advance. That was in 2012 and up until just over a month ago, everything has been working very well.

However, over the past weeks, I have noticed a degradation of my broadband connection. Please note I am NOT referring to the speed I'm getting - but solely to the fact that my broadband connection simply drops out every 1-2 hours. This occurs whether I have used my broadband or not. Before contacting BT support I downloaded and used the BT Desktop Help facility. It was not able to help.

Sometimes, my machine is on for my offline work, but then when I try to check my eMail, my connection has dropped and I must re-boot my machine. This happens in every possible situation you can imagine, including in the middle of my streaming a film for voting purposes, or in the middle of ordering items - which is the only way I can buy anything - all food and supplies I must get delivered.

I have been through the various levels of your India-based support staff, some of whom have been very helpful, while others have not seemed to grasp the urgency of my situation. I have explained your previous intervention about my vulnerable status. Two replacement home hubs were sent, the first apparently being "faulty" - although I later learned that was not actually true.

Eventually, I was able to have two OpenReach engineers attend my flat. They worked here for about four hours, both inside and tracking cabling to the closest relay station. They assured me that nothing in my flat, no equipment of mine or BT's, was faulty. They said their hand-held device proved that the diagnosis made from India was not accurate, and that there were faults in BT's network cabling.

They claimed that they had located one fault and repaired it. They said I probably would not notice a difference in dropped broadband connection for about a week. They said that BT would resist replacing all the cabling from this area to the relay station - DSLAM - because it would be too costly.

Warren, not only have I not noticed any improvement, but the problem has become worse. My broadband connection is now dropping about every hour and a half. That is true even if I just turn my computer on and don't use it. As I said, it's not speed that I care about, but the facility to have the "unlimited" broadband usage that I'm paying for.

The latest India customer service manager on Level 3 has suggested that no one in India can authorise further cable replacement or investigation. Yet he also confirmed that I cannot myself contact BT OpenReach to take further action. When I suggested that meant that this ongoing cabling fault could therefore never be addressed, he said he'd get back to me.

Coincidentally one of my neighbours rang me to say they were off abroad to see their grandchildren over Christmas. They also mentioned that their broadband connection had been dropping out, and that another neighbour had called out BT to replace some phone cabling. We all live on a private estate which extends for about 10 acres, and which is directly across the main road from the nearest BT relay station. My neighbour said they had not reported their broadband fault because they don't use their connection as much as I do, and are certainly not dependent on it, as I am. I said I was going to write to you and would mention their problem as well.

I have been checking several of the forums that deal with BT issues, and there seems to be similar problems experienced recently by many other people. They have been through similar processes to myself: contacting the Indian based customer service; being told it is their equipment at fault; later being told it was not their equipment at fault; receiving a visit from OpenReach - all of which has failed to solve the issue of broadband dropping its connection.

So, let's be clear. When the connection drops it can be resurrected by re-booting the machine. But let's also be clear that it not the "unlimited" service being paid for, nor is it ideal when using the connection to order vital items online or to view streaming content.

I believe I've been entirely patient. Even when, because of my medical condition I have requested that no one from BT rings me at certain times, and yet I have been rung at those times. I have been patient when I suggested that in light of my situation that the case be escalated - and was told that it would be "better" for the customer service operative if it were not - even though I insisted it would be "better for me" if it were! I have been more than patient when I have been accused of having faulty equipment, when that was not true. I have been patient when I was told untruths about the qualifications of customer service personnel - for example when I asked if the person I was talking to was an engineer, I was told yes, and then discovered that was in no way the case.

I have, of course, kept a record of these several communications.

Please, Warren, I congratulate you on your promotion, and hope in your current position you may find a helpful and prompt solution. I believe I have acted always in good faith, and I think the contract I signed for a specific service [actually suggested by you two years ago] is being breached, since I am now not getting that service.

I'd far rather have this problem completely resolved amicably. All I want is the service I've been enjoying up to about a month ago. I'm a pensioner with a chronic and severe heart condition and I have moral responsibilities as a lifetime member of BAFTA [not, you'll note, in a business capacity].

I've seen internet rumours that BT has been marginalising its wired broadband customers in favour of moves such as the multi-billion pound acquisition of the EE wireless network. I've heard rumours that BT is planning to phase out landlines in favour of mobile technology.

My health condition means I can rarely leave my flat.

I hope, especially during this season of good will to others, you might address my case and intervene to provide a happy solution.

Wishing you a well-connected Christmas.
Cheers"

Today I received the following:
I’m sorry to hear about the problems with your broadband. And that you’ve needed to write to Gavin about them. My team will be dealing with everything from now on. We’ll try to get the problems sorted as quickly as possible.

I’ve made some changes to improve the stability of the connection, they will take effect in the early hours of the morning. I’ll arrange for a case handler to conduct a full review what’s been happening. They’ll get in touch with you between 8am-8pm Tuesday to discuss the case. They’ll deal with everything from then on. Please let us know when would be best to call.

Contact us
We’re open Monday to Friday 8am until 8pm, Saturday 8am until 6pm Sunday and Bank Holidays 9am until 6pm you can reach us on 08000280619 with PIN 1823, we can also be contacted by email newcastle.technical.complaints@bt.com

Best wishes

Ed Dawson
Team Member- Executive Level Technical Complaints; BT Consumer.
E:mail: newcastle.technical.complaints@bt.com | www.bt.com

I will let you all know what happens.