My second BT ordeal in six months - second attempt

Question

Oops.. I think I may have only posted the title of this message first time around.
Earlier this year, I made what I thought was a simple request to BT to upgrade my broadband from Option 1 to Option 3. This they did, but at the same time they cancelled the landline I have had for 25 years and replaced it with another number (without my knowledge or consent). It was only when friends said my line was dead that we realised something had gone wrong. The nightmare was finally sorted after several weeks, mostly with help from Patrick Boyle of the BT troubleshooting team.
I am sorry this message goes on a bit but I wanted to tell the whole story.
Now BT are doing it to me again. We have two landlines in our house - one, in the hallway, we have had for more than 25 years. The other, much more recent, is in an upstairs bedroom/office. I have no phone attached to the filter and the fact that we have two lines dates back to the dial-up days. We have both recently retired and my wife tells me it is too extravagant to waste money on two lines. I want to discontinue the hallway line and transfer the number to replace the broadband line upstaiirs, thus giving us phone and broadband from the same socket on only one line. I thought this would be simple.
At BT's suggestion, I called their Customer Options Team, who told me it wasn't them and referred me to Home Movers - who told me it wasn't them !  The woman in Home Movers told me it was a simple matter and then, after consulting with someone else, told me it wasn't a simple matter . It would, she said, have to be dealt with by another department (not sure which) as it was no longer "Customer Facing" and would have to go "offline"  Translated, I think that meant another set of hands to mess it up. Anyway, I explained what I wanted to the Home Movers woman and got her to read it back to me, so I coulld be sure my request had not been misunderstood. She said she would pass it on to the right people
To my horror, when my "order" appeared on My BT a couple of days later, it was completely wrong. BT proposed to switch my broadband line downstairs, thus making it impossible to use our broadband properly. A desk and monitor in our hallway !!    AAAGH !
I have spent the last couple of days trying to cancel this incorrect order and last night spoke to a woman in God knows where who didn't speak English well and I'm still not sure she understood what I was saying. I expect I will end up with no phone and no broadband.
I have now been told by someone else at BT (it's like some lunatic merry-go-round) that all of the above was irrelevant as I should have spoken to the Billing Dept and asked them to "Number Port" my downstairs line to become the broadband line, thus achieving what I wanted. Does anyone know if this latest version is correct? I have now explained what I want to about four or five different people !
Dealing with BT is like spreading a rash - the more people you speak to the worse it becomes. This morning I received a call (8.25am from India) thanking me for my request to change my email address. AAAGH !
No one seems to be able to give you a definitive answer about anything and you just get passed from department to department.  BT is a monster out of control. I don't trust anyone at BT (except Mr Boyle) to give me correct info
I am sick, sick, sick of BT's incompetence and my wife has implored me to leave things as they are (two landlines) in case we end up with no phone or broadband. Why should a paying customer have to put up with such appaling treatment? Can you imagine John Lewis or M&S treating their customers like this? What's Sky's number ?

Answer 1

Hi David,
I couldn't say for sure without looking at your account first but if we are able to do the cease and then transfer the number across it could take a day or two for the renumber order to complete. Your Broadband service shouldn't be interrupted during this. It does mean that the number currently active in your hall will be inactive for a few days until the renumber order completes.
The link in my profile is http://bt.custhelp.com/app/contact_email/c/4951 that should make it a bit easier to find 
Once I have those details I should be able to say for sure how long the hole process will take. I can totally understand your wife's frustration it does sound like you have been through a bit of a nightmare recently.
Thanks
Paddy
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