Long running faults that BT refuse to fix - Am at ...

Question

Hi,
I have two faults that I can’t get resolved despite one of them being over 4 months old and I am at my wits end. Nobody seems to want to take ownership of my issues and I am becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of support.
I have an intermittent fault where I can’t dial out. Sometimes this will last a few minutes, other times it can be half an hour or more. It affects all numbers including 1471 & BT line test numbers and occurs with any handsets including a wired handset in the test socket. I get a dial tone, dial a number, it dials then either goes back to the dial tone or is silent (with background hiss). This can occur at any time of the day and can be either the first time I have dialled or can occur randomly after trying.
I have now had 9 engineers to the property and each one hasn’t been passed any previous notes by the faults team despite me insisting that it would really help if they could see the call history before they waste their journey.
I have had 3 new NTE5 boxes, had every D-side connector checked from here to the exchange, been put on to a different dropwire and even a different pair up to the Exchange. I have had my port swapped but still the problem occurs. Caveat – This is what I have been told, none of this may have actually occurred.
I have had two engineers present in the house while the fault occurred and they both confirmed with their test equipment that I had a fault.
This has been occurring since December the 26th 2011 and it is now April the 27th 2012.
My second fault which has been on-going for around 2 months now is that when I dial either 0800 800 150 or 151 I get an automated message saying that I am not a BT customer and then the line drops.
I have played recordings of this to the faults team but they just don’t understand. In fact there seems to be a total lack of comprehension from them on this issue and therefore any attempt to pass this up the chain for a resolution. In fact it seems that they just want to get rid of me as quickly as possibly after reading from their crib sheet and get on to the next call.
Here is a transcript of the latest recording I have
    Hello, thanks for calling BT. If you’re calling from the number you want to talk about press 1
    * I press 1
    Thanks I can see a fault was recently reported on this number. If you calling about this press 1
    * I press 1
    Please hold, please hold, rings, please hold while we check the details, please hold, please hold, rings, sorry, since you are not a BT customer you will need to discuss your request with your current telephone provider.
To get through I have to repeatedly press the # key until it bypasses the automated system. Upon talking to someone they always confirm that I am actually a customer, which I am quite aware of and so is my Bank.
Before these issues were reported I did have another problem whereby the line would not allow any incoming or outgoing calls. This was resolved fairly quickly at the Exchange by swapping my port and I was advised that my line was being interrupted every time the adjacent line was in use.
I do have ADSL form another provider and am running VOIP phones from this and one engineer even suggested this could be the cause of the fault but I and they have reproduced both these issues from the test socket on their test equipment which obviously removes any ancillary wiring or equipment from the equation.
As you can see I have been given a right run-around by BT and am now looking to escalate this and would appreciate it if anyone could offer any suggestions. It would really help if I could speak to a UK based team so we can remove the language barrier issues that seem to be causing a lot of my grief.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Answer 1

Sorry to drag this up but just had a similar problem that no-one at BT is interested in and spotted this thread.
I can dial a number, then it goes back to the dial tone, sometimes i get an hour of this, sometimes a minute, its intermittent, but it's very annoying but it's every day. After 3 engineers visits and many chats with the call centre's [located god knows where] after the last call they have given up, and i'm passed the point of wanting to go through it step by step yet again. I even used my old phone, [BT issue] even bought new ones, disconnected my extension, etc etc it made no difference, incoming calls on my answerphone often state "interupted" when there's been no one in.
I have asked Virgimedia to take over the BT number [i have had an unused but working line for about 10 years with them] as i said after Bulldog fiasco i had, that i would never leave BT ever again, well guess what.
On ringing them to inform BT, the guy said "unbelievable" "3 engineers ??? " "the call centre cancelled your 4th visit ??" etc etc.
Well i have had enough, they even asked how my Broadband was [which i dont have with BT], i was going to say better than my **bleep** phone line thanks.