Moving home and BT's astounding level of incompete...

Question

I'm posting on here in the hope that one of the mods can please intervene and help me with what I hoped would be the simplest request I'd ever make of any service provider, but BT have managed to turn it into an entirely insurmountable challenge.
On 13th August I used the BT website to place a Home Move order to transfer my phone service and Infinity to the home I was moving into on 22nd August. Same exchange, same number, same services. All seemed very straigtforward although I wasn't particularly happy that the first engineer appointment I could get was today, 28th August but the phone line would be transferred on 23rd August and I figured I'd be busy over the bank holiday anyway. The order details, including engineers appointment was confirmed in an email.
On 14th August I receive a phone call from BT advising me that the order had been cancelled as there was a line in the property through another provider (TalkTalk). I advised that I was aware of this, that TalkTalk had been confirmed to the then owner of the property that the service would cease on the 22nd August. Eventually I persuaded the 3rd individual I spoke to that there was a cease order on the line (I thought I had anyway) and he committed to me I would receive a phone call on my mobile on 23rd August to confirm the line transfer and engineers appointment.
As of 1930 on the 23rd I hadn't received the promised call so I rang BT. After navigating the interminable automated options I spoke with some who after a long explanation and having spoken to a couple of departments told me that there was a delay, but that the line would be live soon and she would "personally monitor this and see it through to a conclusion". I would also receive a phone call on the Tuesday (27th) to confirm the line was up and running and the engineers appointment would take place as scheduled on the 28th.
On Monday 26th (bank holiday) I received a text message advising that BT had tried to contact me without success and that the line was further delayed. I know that this statement was false as I had no missed call or voicemail on my mobile and had been in all day unpacking boxes. Prior to the text I had no calls, but made and received a number of calls throughout the day afterwards.
On Tuesday 27th at 0555 I received an email from BT confirming my engineer appointment for the 28th. At around 0825 (again, after navigating the automated selection and spending 20 mins on hold) I spoke with another member of the BT team who simply said that there "seemed to be a problem" with the order as it had been cancelled. I was getting nowhere with that individual who didn't seem to understand the situation at all, and was passed through to "Mustafa" who advised me he was a floor manager.
Mustafa actioned a cancellation of the apparently faulty order and promised to get back to me but told me that the cancellation could take "24 hours", his explanation however that this was due to competition law and BT not having unfair advantage was baffling. He did, around 11am to confirm that the cancellation had been confirmed and a new order placed. He would confirm to me when he had confirmation that that order was going through. Around 4pm he called back and left me a voicemail advising that the line would be live by mid-night and at that point he could "fast-track" the engineer appointment.
It's worth pointing out that between Mustafa's 11am and 4pm calls I received 2 text messages from BT reminding me about my engineers appointment on the 28th between 1pm-6pm.
On waking this morning I checked the phone line. Still nothing. I called BT again, eventually managing to speak to someone, but being cut off that I was out on hold. Again, I got through to someone who told me that my line was "on track" to be live on the 3rd September and the engineer out "as scheduled" on 4th September. When I advised that that was unacceptable I was told that "it is simple, my hands are tied". I asked to speak to a line manager and was told that it would do no good. When I insisted I was told to "just listen to my explanation". Again I insisted (politely, emphasising my understand that the individual was not responsible for setting the parameters of what they are allowed to do) and the individual simply disconnected the call.
I spoke with someone else, ran through the whole story again, was told the same as the previous individual had told me and that it was down to "another department". When I asked to speak to that department I was told that I couldn't. Wen I asked for the number of that department I was told they couldn't be called. When I expressed my scepticism that people working in that department did not have phones i was told they didn't. I asked again if I was just being refused the opportunity to speak to them and was again told that hey didn't have phones. At this point did advise the individual that I believed he was lying, i was put on hold. again, disconnected. Again I navigated through the automated selection, this time getting through to "Steven". Steven at least sounded quite empathetic and went off to speak to someone. Line was then disconnected.
Again, I went through the automated system, eventually speaking to "Christine" who is the only vaguely useful person I have managed to speak to. Unfortunately when she rang me back I was on another call, but she confirmed that she had managed to arrange for the "exchange engineers to get the phone line live before 8pm this evening". Whilst this was a step forward, it didn't address the Infinity install.
After ringing again (usual automated selection, usual 10 mins wait) and speaking to "Carla" I was put back on hold. Again, line disconnected.
Eventually I got through again and was pleased to once again be speaking to Christine. Once again Christine gave the impression of genuinely wanting to help. She reiterated that the phone line would be live today by 8pm and advising that the only way to escalate the delay in the engineer appointment was to cancel the Infinity order and place a new one. Again, this involves a 24 hour wait. So, apparently someone will get in touch on Friday (30th, 17 days after I placed my order). Christine took note of the fact that I can take time off work this week but am not able to next week Monday so the install needs to be done by Saturday, but she was honest enough to say that she didn't think "they" would do it that quickly.
It's not past 11pm on the 3rd day that I have been promised my phone line would be live. It still isn't. I am still none the wiser as to when I will receive my Infinity service. I have taken a day off work. I have spent what I believe to be more than 4 hours cumulatively on the phone with BT, at my expense as obviously I am calling from a mobile as BT have left me without a landline. I have been lied to on at least 4 occasions.
I appreciate that it's highly unlikely any mod will have read this far, I appreciate its a drawn out tale that you would get fed up reading. I have genuinely tried to be as concise as possible, so you can imagine how utterly fed up I am right now.
As I say, please can someone help me? I just want my phone line live and a BT engineer to visit my property this week to install Infinity. If BT are either unwilling or unable to provide me a service then I do wish someone would have the courtesy to just tell me and I will go and source an alternative provider (who will ironically have to deal with the same shambles to get BT to do the install service for them....).
Many thanks

Answer 1

Hi LJ50
I am terribly sorry that you have had so much trouble with this.  It really shouldn't be this difficult for you to get services active in your new address.  I'll be happy to have a closer look and find out whats happening and make sure that we stay in touch with you so you know whats going on.
Could you drop me in an email please? Use the 'contact us' form in my forum profile under the 'about me' section. You can find it by clicking on my username.
Thx
Craig
BTCare Community Mod
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