Better training for BT help staff

Question

Recently I needed to 'phone the BT help because our Broadband had failed. We have four devices connected to the router and all could see the router but none could connect to the Internet.
I used the testing function on the router and found that the router could not connect to the DNS server.
The man on the help desk was very helpful, but despite me telling him that all the devices could see the router but none could connect to the Internet he went through a number of questions and asked me to try a number of different things that were clearly attempting to correct a fault in just my PC connected.
The phone conversation lasted over 30min and although it is an 0800 number and therefore, "free", I suspect BT recoup the cost through the normal cost of BT Broadband.
When none of the attempts to get my PC reconnected succeeded he tested the line and found that work was being done which had interrupted the broadband connection.
A lot his and my time could have been saved by a few questions at the beginning of the conversation, eg
"How many PC/laptops/other devices do you have connected to your router?"
"Are any of these devices able to connect to the Internet?"
Where there are multiple devices but none can connect to the Internet, a more widespread problem is likely and a line test should be done.
A top down, rather than bottom up approach must be better - little point in spending time trying to get an individual PC setup properly if the line isn't working.
Had the above questions been asked and the line tested occurred I telephoned, my enquiry would have lasted about 1 minute (it took less than 30 seconds for him to find out there was work on the line) instead of about 30.
This must be more efficient.
Dave

Answer 1

Tringa wrote:
Thanks for the quick reply.
The BB is fine now; it came back up later the same evening, I assume after the work was finished.
I got the impression there was a script involved.
Is there any way that a BT customer can check for work on the line? If I could have done this a couple of days ago and had found out work was being done, I would have just left it for a while and not have called the Help Desk.
Dave
If there is work that is affecting a number of customers, BT generate a fault number for every user, which can be viewed by logging in to your online account, and viewing faults.
These fault numbers stay on the system for a couple of days, so yours may still be there.
Major service failures can be seen here http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/15036/~/service-update
I hope that helps.
Please return here again if you need any help
There are some useful help pages here, for BT Broadband customers only, on my personal website.
BT Broadband customers - help with broadband, WiFi, networking, e-mail and phones.