so I’ve heard a fair few people complaining about BT’s service over the years, but as most of you will know I just moved into a sweet little flat in Raynes Park, and top of my shopping list was a broadband connection.
As much as I wanted to go to VirginMedia (having always been with them at our family home, as far back as when they were NTL), I was advised by an employee, over the phone, that it would be cheaper and less hassle to go through BT, as they owned the line that already existed in my flat. Cool, at least he’s being honest, I thought. Well, he was wrong.
Dealing with BT has been the most hassle I’ve ever had to endure, much like fighting with a dog that just won’t give up its toy, or trying to stop a baby crying, or trying to play a hockey match with a dead leg. Combined.
I first made the call to BT in the first week of November. I didn’t make a note of the date, as I didn’t think it would be relevant (nor would I need a point of reference in a blog 1 and a half months down the line) but they assured me that depsite the fact that my address (a year-old build) didn’t seem to exist on the postal system, as there was an existing line into my flat, they should be able to make a connection quite easily. No sweat.
They said they would send out an engineer on the 24th November, much to the chagrin of my girlfriend, who spends a HUGE amount of time writing for one of the UK’s largest and best-respected beauty blogs, and has had to decamp to the local Starbucks on an alarmingly regular occasion simply to be able to do her work. I’m sure you can imagine she’d far rather do it from the comfort of her own, new, home.
Anyhow, the weeks passed and on the 23rd November, I received a text from BT (a text!!) simply saying that they would not need to send an engineer out the following day, as I could simply install the broadband gear myself, which they were going to post out anyway. Fair enough, thought I, being as I am something of a network wiz (I installed a full wired network in the offices for my dad’s business a few years ago, hand-crimping each wire myself), and thought nothing of it.
I received the package, got home from work and proceeded, in a very un-manly way, to follow all the instructions to the letter. It said that once the power, internet and broadband lights had all gone blue, that i should run the installation program on my laptop. I didn’t get that far however, as the broadband light never lit up. I checked online (on my phone) and the obvious answer was that it wasn’t yet midnight on my activation day, hence it wouldn’t connected. I went to bed, and retried in the morning. No change. Hmmm.
I went to and from work, then tried again, thinking that might solve the issue. A quick phone call to BT later, and their customer services rep uttered the immortal words, “Oh, what will have happened is that we need to send out an engineer to your flat.”
HEAD. WALL. The earliest they could send an engineer? December 7th. Frustrating. So a month after I initially ordered it, and I’m still waiting for working broadband. To his credit, the guy arrived at 8am sharp, just before I left for work. Despite being told on the phone that I could go to work and leave him to work in my flat, he was adamant to the contrary. Luckily, he didn’t have a long enough ladder so had to wait for a supervisor to come out and help him - fortunately, coinciding with my lunchbreak. I made myself some pasta while they drilled holes in walls, acted very professionally and then said, “We’ve done everything we need to in here, so what we’ll do is we’ll leave the cable coiled up outside, and get a line engineer out to connect it up to the network; he’ll come either today or tomorrow.”
Which was fair enough. Anyway. That was last Wednesday. It’s Tuesday now. Still not connected, I’ve spent way too much time on the phone repeating the same things over and over again and I am FUCKED OFF with it all. Another engineer is coming out on Thursday to finally fix that cabling, and if they haven’t, I’m probably going to firebomb the exchange.
IF I CAN’T HAVE INTERNET NOONE CAN.
Merry Xmas, BT.
