BT and online help

I concur, Nandalot. On the couple of occasions when I have used my mobile to complain that I have no internet, eventually an engineer was agreed, and a broken link was fixed.
Not before, of course, I had been on the phone for some time, following copious instructions - to no avail.
Exasperatingly, whilst on hold (!) , a soothing voice told me, endlessly, that problems were best resolved by going to the website and....but, dear lady, I am ringing to tell you that I have no internet..
Is anyone familiar with the song "There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza"?

Have you considered changing providers?

£80 a month sounds very high to me.

Locked in until May next year, I’m afraid. Our fault for not shopping around but I always thought BT gave the best service until now.

Are you actually speaking to BT or EE?

The latter has taken over BT’s business.

I did have cause to call them recently over a billing issue and it wasn’t easy. EE call staff are charged with trying to sell extra services before they will deal with the customer’s query. I was passed to four different people who all tried to sell me a mobile phone. Nobody seemed qualified to deal with what was a simple billing query, an overlapping quarterly to monthly billing when BT admin was rank over by EE so I was charged twice for one month. Simple, eh? Nope. All they wanted to do was sell me a phone. When I grumbled about just wanting someone to deal with my query I was told they must try to sell or they are penalised my management. What a racket. I’ll be switching too when my contract is up.

Line maintenance all comes under Open Reach anyway, BT, Sky, TalkTalk, EE, Plusnet, Vodafone etc.

Depending on you age you could or should be on a register that gives priority to older customers.

Well I think it was BT as I reached the helpline via the BT web pages and his chat responses had BT at the top or bottom, I can’t remember which.

TBH I don’t know what’s going on.

I thought it was BT who had taken over EE but I read that ...

BT’s consumer division is rebranding to EE, making EE the flagship brand for BT Group’s broadband, TV, and mobile services. While BT still exists as a company, services like BT TV are now EE TV, and BT broadband customers are being moved to EE which sounds like an ongoing process. You may see changes in branding, but the underlying network remains the same.

I only became aware of this late last year when I saw the overlapping payments in my bank statement.

Don’t feel they have taken pity on you as you have every right to ask that Open Reach come out to assist. It may be something they can fix in minutes.

Whoever the provider, signals all come down the same cables and, as I said, it’s all under the umbrella of Open Reach which is owned by BT but the company is legally required to treat all service providers equally.

Every time I have used BT helpline, I am connected to India and after the call have had a flurry of scammers on the landline trying to convince me to turn on my computer as there are issues and they need access to it to fix. I expect it now.

We had a problem with our internet last Saturday. We have a 5G Hub and our provider is EE

I cannot speak too highly of the EE staff, 4 in total, all in the UK, all endlessly helpful. It took two hours in all to sort it out. DH did most of the talking but I took over if he got breathless.

The problem, in the end proved trivial. Our Hub is registered at our current home, but we also have an EE dongle, bought 5 or more years ago and not used recently - that was still registered to our old address.

However what really caused problems was trying to read back to EE staff, numbers printed on our SIM card. Tiny SIM card minute numbers, mid grey on pale grey and also eually small print on labels stuck on to euipment. In the end we had to take a photo and enlarge it to be able to read them.

I wish I could speak highly of BT. We had our ‘engineer’ visit yestedday. He was a sub-contractor. He decided the problem was with the hub so has ordered us a new one. BT fault checkers on phone had said hub was fine it was the position of the booster dishes and that is what he was meant to sort. Anyway since he left we now have a fault with the landline even when phine connected directly into hub. Apparently no fault with the line so will have to wait till new hub arrives to see if that sorts it. What a pain!

Oh for the good old days when you could speak to a breathing human being. Automated this, that and the other may be the way things are done now but it isn't an improvement. As for the bots. Arrgh!!!

Sarnia

Oh for the good old days when you could speak to a breathing human being. Automated this, that and the other may be the way things are done now but it isn't an improvement. As for the bots. Arrgh!!!

I have spoken to 4 real humans at BT this year. They all want to improve on my deal. The one who rang yesterday got an earful because - like the others - he had not looked at my account. I had just signed a new contract. What a waste of everyone's time.

We have been with Zen ISP for donkey's years. They have been in the best category on Which? annual survey for ages too. This year Zen topped the list of the three best suppliers in the country. We pay £42 a month for an excellent service indeed. Highly recommended by our family. I have always managed to speak to an actual human being - rare these days!

BT, consumer division, is transitioning to EE the leading brand for broadband, media and TV services. I have been with BT for 18 years now and yes there have been problems from time to time. When not resolved quickly enough I make a formal written complaint- and in fairness they have then resolved.

Renegotiated broad band and TV package yesterday in fact- £43.99 per month for broad band Full fibre 150 and EE Entertainment TV package which includes includes BT box to record + Sky Now, Discovery channel and Netflix- price only goes up in second year of 24 month contract on 1/2/27. £80 a month does seem a very high price in comparison?

Yes, it does indeed ‘Lemonjam*. Also despite installing new hub and repositioning booster discs, the broadband is up to its old tricks again and was absolutely dreadful yesterday. DGC both had trouble accessing their virtual lessons and DGD lost connection in the middle of a live assessment. Both are autistic and found the situation very distressing. Stealing myself up to phoning them today. No plans for full fibre in our area either.

In the past BT sent out an excellent young man who set everything up and wouldnt leave until we were happy. Full marks.
Now we've had to transition to EE everything is now OK. They did send a man to set it all up but he wasnt as good as the BT one.
Answer. Get them to send a man. Play all the poor old soul tricks you have to. You shouldnt have to but needs must.

We did get a man who said we needed a new hub which is now installed, but he wasn’t a BT man just a sub contractor. Apart from ordering the new hub he managed to mess up our phone line which had worked perfectly in the morning.

Nightmare! Hope it's all sorted soon. It's so stressful.

I would happily vote BT as the provider with the worst customer service in the history of customer service.

When I moved, it took over 5 months to get me up and running. Countless people came and dug up my garden. They drilled holes in my exterior walls, didn't come with any equipment to clear up with and broke MY hoover and a long handled dutpan and brush. Rarely showed up when they were supposed to.

I think I worked out I had spent over 36 hours on the phone to them.

I got so much credit on my bill for them not fixing all the faults and carrying out the work in the allotted time that
I didn't have to pay a bill for 14 months! (They even got the amount of credit wrong -to their benefit of course. But I soon put them right ).

Today 17 March after 45 continuous years as a BT customer - first with a landline, followed some years later with broadband and finally mobile - my divorce from them becomes final.

Loyalty means nothing these days and their prices are higher than any other . When I rang last month (out of contract) to negotiate a lower price (fibre unavailable despite living within touching distance of Canary Wharf and my speeds are just 2 and 3 !!!) ) not only were they not willing to negotiate but when I said "that's it - I've had enough" - the response was "it's a month's notice, you must return the router or we will charge you and as you have a BT email and wish to continue accessing it via Outlook the charge is £7.50 pcm".
I have no more words!!!!!

A few years ago, when I was treasurer for a local organisation, I found dealing with BT was a nightmare. But a month ago, my broadband contract came to an end and it seemed that BT would be the best provider, so I changed to them.
I have to say, it's been a breeze, with knowledgeable, helpful people in Britain on the end of the phone during the changeover.
I initially thought I'd not pay for a home phone, but changed my mind after I nearly left my mobile on the train. I panicked, thinking that without any phone I'd be cut off, so I called and asked for the home phone to be reinstated. This happened the same day, and a week later I got my old phone number back too.
Well done and thank you, BT.

They don't really want to help you at all and just wish you would do away with Customer Service once the they have got you money

This seems par for the course for many companies nowadays.

I think this type of service is a National Disgrace and there should be a real person who you can speak to.

We've had no broadband since January 8th in Cornwall since the big storm brought down a tree a couple of miles away that broke all the overhead wires. My OH has been onto them constantly and his new best friend seems to be the lovely lady in Newcastle who updates him daily with progress (or mostly, lack of it). Finally we have internet back again but it's been a long haul. In order that he can work there properly, we're going to sign up and get the Starling think. Expensive (and I hate Musk who owns it all) but in remote areas I think it'll be worth it.

Well. Don’t go to Virgin.
I can’t get anyone out to resolve my t.v.
It keeps,switching itself of and we have no idea why.
They want you to do all the work by giving instructions over the phone.
Did all that and the problem is still there.
When my contract expires,I will be going over to EE.

Calendargirl

Have you considered changing providers?

£80 a month sounds very high to me.

I am with PlusNet which sits on BT service. I get the highspeed line for £27, and if I want a phone line it is £19 extra. So yes BT does seem a bit high. Do you have TV as well?