Are BT always causing problems for businesses?

[inthesky]

Hi all,

Sorry for the email, which may seem a little obscure.

This is a new business with new lines being installed.

We ordered some ISDN lines with BT (digital). We received several confirmations for installation today (17/06/2013) between 0800 - 1300 which said if we were unavailable we would be fined £110+VAT. The emails kept confirming up to and including the previous working day.

Today after chasing, we have been told they decided to move the date to 25/06/2013 (although we are supposed to open for business before then!). No notice, no acceptance etc.

We have spent £1,000 on staff, professional phone system installs etc which has been higher than projected due to this delay.

BT don't really care and after 8 phone calls asking what is happening, they have basically said 'we don't know' or 'we escalated your issue as your previous escalation was done incorrectly'.

I am sick and tired of this already and I am really concerned. Has anyone ever had this kind of experience with BT? Is it normal? And what is the best approach to get this resolved, as we are set to open on Friday but with this issue it seems very unlikely.

Thanks in advance - every stressed so any help would be great!

 

[Sparx]

Email??

Yes it's normal of BT.

Send them an invoice of £110+VAT for being unavailable.

Then ditch BT and go VoIP.

 

[Claire Dymond]

BT have one purpose, that's to make money, in my experience everything else goes out of the window. We had a fault twice which the guy had to go down the road to the street box, he put on his form that he advised us about our router and BT then charged £150 plus VAT, they did this twice, if you complain they ring back three months later to say you still have to pay.

I would advise if you really have to go with BT to record everything said during any interaction with them on the phone or personal visit.

Along with British Gas the worst behavior I've received in 28 years of business, fortunately other energy suppliers are available but were stuck with BT as they have a monopoly here.

 

[Paul Norman]

Your experience of BT is utterly normal, sadly.

Normal phone calls will get zero impact. The only way to get their attention is on twitter. They will respond to that.

Of course, it will not get you your phone lines installed any more swiftly, but you can demand (and may well receive) a significant period free of charge. At the absolute earliest opportunity, find an alternative solution.

 

[alwaysinamess]

Cant you pay extra, we paid £140 to have our fibre fastrracked and installed next day, otherwise it would have been over a month at the time.

 

[helmuc]

humm... a lesson to learn :?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Berkshire Business]

I always hear problems about BT so it doesn't surprise me. I agree with what's been mentioned above, switch while you can.

 

[CommanderKeen]

What you need to do it locate your local "BT Local business" place and give them a phone. Don't use the standard BT contacts.

Once you have someone you know on the BT Local business team, they are usually happy to give you their direct dial number, and if you need anything sorted - they will sort it for you. Really is night and day between these folk, and the standard BT business team.

Unfortunately I am unable to post URLs, however if you google BT local business it comes up with a page that lets you pop in your postcode, and then find your local 'bt local business' centre.

Give them a call.

 

[Vrs_Ltd]

Nothing but problems with Bt for me. We currently have 3 account numbers and recieve 3 different bills (all different amounts) for 1 landline.

Have been with them for 9 months ands its been going on since the start............

 

[mconridge]

We've moved premises three times in the last seven years and EVERY time BT completely cocked everything up.

First time they blamed us so the second time I recorded all calls. They cocked it up again, blamed us. We then proved it was their fault and they backtracked.

Moved for the third time and due to an internal issue had to use BT. Exactly the same again but worse, Broadband and Telephone, numerous installation issues.

They are a shambles of a company and one I'd tell anybody who'd listen to not use.

 

[LMDServicesUK]

Members

This is 2013 you all have a choice BT Retail is but one provider, there are lots of other very competent B2B network services providers you could go with, and get better pricing services and support.

Remember the last mile will nearly always be done by BT OpenReach, but you do not have to use BT Retail, some providers have far better working relationships with BTOR than BT Retail do..

And others have said go Fibre/VoIP ISDN is very expensive these days, and restrictive compared with what else is now available to Businesses especially small ones..

Good luck

Mark

 

[My Owl 1]

WE use BT Openreach team for our instals and have noticed that they have a lot of independent engineers working for them. Presently we seem to have a good relationship with them and they do tend to stick to the agreed appointment times.
If you decide to move elsewhere let me know. We provide SME's with no contract telephony services which are very competitive and certainly cheaper than BT.

Best wishes
Avril
Saving businesses money on all their utilities.

 

[warnie]

1, They messed up our transfer
2, they send us incorrect bills always charged more! for 14months bills consecutively.
3, They tied us into another 3 year contract without us even knowing about it.
4, Like has been said before, calling them makes no difference. They will admit they got it wrong eventually, then put everything right so you think it's sorted, then cock it up again so you have to go through it all again with a different person. I could not tell you the amount of time, money and heartache BT have caused our business.

Never, ever have anything to do with BT Business...

 

[Davek0974]

I could not tell you the amount of time, money and heartache BT have caused our business.

This is 100% typical of BT unfortunately, we have had very similar problems as the OP as well when we had our first system installed, ended up running off of temporary lines and standard home phones so no transferring or internal calls etc.

Basically, BT suck.