Help....I'm tearing my hair out with BT's cutomer ...

Question

If you think you have heard everything on this forum…read this sorry tale of bad customer service! [Sorry for the length of the article, but I could not put the whole thing into less words!]
We moved house about 8 months ago, and had our phone line/broadband and BT Vision service moved to our new address. Everything went like clockwork, and BT did exactly as promised.
We moved again 2 weeks ago, and again everything went without a hitch, all our BT services were moved as promised on the right day, and I was telling everyone how great BT were …..but then it all went wrong!
Two days after the move I received an e mail from BT saying they understood I had decided to go with another provider, and they were therefore cutting my services off that day. I immediately got on the phone to BT and explained that I had not spoken to any other provider, had been a BT customer for over 40 years, and was very happy with their service. After been passed around from pillar to post, from the UK to India, back to the UK, back to India and then back to the UK, [after 1 hour and 50 minutes on the phone!!] I eventually got through to someone at their Newcastle office, and when I explained everything to him, for the fifth time!, he said he did not know how this could have happened, and could not tell me who this other provider was, but would pass this case on to someone to investigate as it appeared that my address listed with them was the one I had before the previous move 8 months ago, and in the meantime he said he would cancel the order so as not to disconnect my services. It appeared to me as though someone at BT had never updated my details after my original house move, but as everything seemed to be working perfectly at our new address, I was not unduly concerned….after all BT had been sending me a paperless bill for the last 8 months, which I had been paying, and indeed on the day of my phone call I had just received the bill for the next month’s charges in advance. They had also sent letters through the post to me previously at the two previous addresses, and my new address, to confirm the house moves, so I could not understand why they would not have my new address, as they had just written to me there!
I decided to send an e mail to BT Customer Services, just to confirm in writing everything that had gone on, and was promised a reply within 24 hours.
Four days later, I got a phone call from BT staff in India, saying he was responding to my e mail. He  then tried to sell me a new BT phone/broadband and TV package as he again said I had gone with another provider, and quoted a much higher price than I am currently paying!!. I explained again what had happened, that my line rental was paid in advance for 12 months, and my broadband and TV account was paid up to date, everything on my account [phone line, broadband and BT Vision] was all working without a problem and that I had never spoken to any other provider because I was happy with the service from BT. After another 30 minute conversation, he obviously could not get his head around my situation, so suggested that I contact the other provider, and tell them that I wished to cancel the contract with them. I asked him who this other provider was, and he said he did not know. I then asked how he expected me to contact them if neither he nor I know who this was. This seemed to leave him speechless, as he had not come across a situation such as mine before and obviously had no script sheet to deal with this problem. He could not offer any further assistance
As everything was continuing to work without problems, I did not pursue the matter further.
Today, I decided to order a BT Sport Card for my Vision Box  and went on line to order it  because the phone number given to me, said they were so busy with new business that they could not take any calls, and it was therefore necessary to order it on line. When I tried to do this, guess what happened…..I was told I did not have a phone line with BT!!! ….even though I was using their broadband to contact them!!!
After calming down for a couple of days, I decided to ring BT on their dedicated Sport phone line, and got hold of a very helpful girl in the UK, who tried to process my order, but came up with the same problem….they had no record of me having a BT phone line. When I explained to the girl that I was actually speaking to her on their BT line, she went away to talk to someone and after a few minutes came back and said she could not process my order for a card, and an investigation would have to be made to find out exactly why I was showing on their records as not a BT customer. She promised that the investigation would be dealt with within a week.
A week later, [13/8 ] after hearing nothing further, I contact the BT Sport phone number again, and relayed everything that had gone on previously. After looking at my file again, they now decided I that my account slammed [this is the term apparently, when another provider takes over your phone account, without your permission] He said that my account could be reinstated with BT if I wished, but that it would take till 22/8 before this could be actioned for some reason. He also found that I now had 2 accounts with them….one in my name at my current address for BT Vision, and another account in someone else’s name at the address I lived at two houses ago in someone else’s name for the phone line and broadband. As everything was working at my end, I had to accept this. I did ask why, if another provider had taken over as he suggested, why had I no knowledge of this, having not spoken to anyone else or had correspondence from anyone else….and what therefore did another provider have to gain?.....he could not give an explanation . I asked for confirmation by e mail, that my account would be reinstated on 22/8 on the same terms as I had previously had, and he agreed to do this within 24 hours. [ of course no e mail has arrived!]
Also I forgot to ask BT, if another provider had taken over my account, why were BT not asking me for compensation to cover the eight months of my 12 month contact with them which still had to run, which I understand would be about £225?...which leads me to think that this problem is nothing to do with another provider taking over my service, but much more likely a c!!k up within BT own set-up.
As I said earlier in this piece, I have been a loyal BT customer for over 40 years. I have always stuck with BT, despite the fact that their price is one of the highest, and that more attractive offers keep coming through my letter box and through the media all this time. I am now wondering where I go from here. I do not want to spend more hours on the phone, being past from one department to another, without the matter being resolved. I cannot believe that a company such as BT which is all about communication can be so difficult to communicate with….and as for their customer services set up….who can afford to spend hours on the phone these days!.
BT take notice, you need to have more staff, who are better trained in product knowledge on your customer service phones, so that customers are not just past from one department to another, spending hours on the phone getting nowhere!
As a final insult….today, the 23rd August, I have just gone on line to see if my phone line is shown as active with BT for the purpose of obtaining a BT Sport Card, as promised…..you guessed it….still showing that I do not have a line with BT even though everything is working correctly at my end!
 I will certainly be looking around this time when my 12 month contact expires.
Solved!
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Answer 1

I just thought I should post this comment, to say my long running problem has finally....FINALLY been sorted out!
It was actually really fixed at the end of September, but I have waited till now, until I received my first proper bill to feel confident enough to say it is finally sorted out.....but what a long winded process!...it took over a month to sort this out, with endless hours on the phone, and endless promises not kept.
The problem with BT's customer service is the fact that going through normal channels, no one person can sort a problem out. You get passed from pillar to post, with every department saying that it is someone else's area of responsibility and then it takes hours on the phone with various deparments in different countries, to get a commitment to sort it out, and then nothing happens!
It was only after posting my final desperate plea on this forum, for all the world to see, that I finally got one of the Moderators to take up my case, and sort the problem out, although it took him over a month to get through all the treacle of BT's admin before a solution was found.
I am very greatful to the Mods for dealing with my problem, which was not of my making, but was due to something going wrong with BT's system.
There is however something fundamentally wrong with BT's Customer Service set up, where no one person seems to take responsibilty for a CXXk-up on their part, and seems unable to have the authority to sort it out.
Once again, Thank you Mods for your help.