PLEASE HELP - Service provider fault - how to get...

Question

We are at breaking point!!!!
My lovely 81 year old Dad has tried to switch to BT infinity. He had a regular BT service before, but as of the 30th April he was meant to have BT infinity. HOWEVER, this is not the case. I spent last weekend there to try to help, but after BT sending out a new Hub, there still is no connection. I spent near 4 hours on the phone to India where (very frustratingly) they went through the same tests each time, despite me telling them that they had already been done, and no one could fix the issue. It seems the hub is working but the 'service provider' is not. We can get through the first two set up stages but never get past the 3rd. We get a BT Wholesale page suggetion there are 5 different service provider problems. Poor Dad has tried again today to ask an engineer to come out and still they insist on doing the same tests and insist there is something wrong with the 'device' (computer). There clearly isn't as we have tried several other devices and none of them can connect, so what else could the problem be? I think it's an engineer problem but how the hell do you get an engineer out, there is no UK number to call. Has anyone else had this problem? If so did you manage to solve it and how?
It's enough to send you round the twist or leave BT!
Thanks in anticipation.

Answer 1

Thank you for your reply Neil, if we had known about the forum earlier we may have got further quicker.
Apparently the phone line is now down and the earliest we can expect an engineer is next Wednesday.
I have to say the customer service has been unbelievably atrocious. To think that they have had a problem for almost a fortnight and it has taken my Dad, my brother and myself 10 calls all lasting at least one hour, to be asked the same questions and to get absolutely nowhere. My Dad is hard of hearing but I found it difficult to understand the customer support rep and he found it difficult to understand me. I have no problem with Indian call centres but this was ridiculous. My elderly parents live in a small town 120miles from me and although they can live without broadband a phone line is pretty essential part of modern life. Yes, they have a mobile phone but they have paid for a service and they are simply not getting one. Trying to tell BT and get someone to do something about it has been enough to want to cancel altogether. It's such a shame BT has got such a terrible reputation for this, surely they can provide a better service than this? No doubt there won't be any compensation for the time we all have wasted trying to resolve this - how can you compensate for 10 hours of pure frustration?
If you wish to help you could raise this with your managers as an example of how to avoid this happening to someone else.