Signification Line Installation Delays and appalli...

Question

We are moving home on 3rd October but as we run our business from home as well we have been trying to relocate both our home line and business line to our new address.
On 10th September we rang the business move team to arrange the move of our business line that has the broadband on. This is the most critical aspect to us. On the phone, everything seemed fine - was verbally told it could take up to 4 weeks. At the time we were 3 weeks away from moving so this didn't seem too bad. On 12th September we were then given an installation date of 29th October, an incredible 7 weeks after my call! I immediately rang up to complain and was told that a request would be put in to have the date brought forward. I was told I would be contacted by 12 noon the following day - this came and went. I received a call at 3.30pm and was informed that they were still waiting for a response and I would receive a call definitely by 6pm. Again this came and went. I eventually received a call back on the 18th.
In the meantime, on Tues 11th September we rang the residential home move team to arrange for the home phone line to be moved. There is an existing TalkTalk line in the place we are moving to so presumed there would be no issues. On the phone, everything seemed fine. The following day, I was phoned to say that the connection would not be free and we would have to pay £130. At this point, we had now been given the ridiculous installation date for the business line and broadband. I therefore said that we would have to wait as we were having problems in relation to the business line and I suspected we might have to add the broadband to the residential line to continue operating our business. At this stage, there was no mention of engineers having to visit to install the residential line.
On 13th September I rang BT regarding the residential line and was told that the order was cancelled due to an OpenReach failure (?) and that I would have to wait 24hrs for the system to be updated before I could place a new order. Again, there was no mention of an engineer having to visit to install the residential line. So I waited and kept checking my online account for any progress. There wasn't any. 
I rang back Saturday 15th Sept and was told that the order was going through as cancelled and the lady was ensuring it was actioned by a "back office team". I explained that we now needed to add the broadband to the residential line due to installation delays with the business line. When I asked if having two orders open at the same time (one for business and one for residential) could be causing a problem, the lady agreed. I therefore said that I would cancel the business order, have the broadband added to the residential line and then have the business phone line installed when this was sorted out. I was told to ring back Monday 17th Sept to place the new order. Again, there was no mention of needing an engineer visit for the residential line.
I dutifully rang back on the Monday and was then told to wait another 24hrs! I immediately refused and said this wasn't acceptable as I had already been told this twice. I asked to speak to a manager/supervisor but he said he would try to sort it out. I was placed on hold for over 10 minutes and was on the phone for 33 minutes in total but no resolution. I asked that someone call me back as I wasn't prepared to stay on hold any longer.
I then received a call back. I placed a new order for the residential phone line move adding on the broadband. Again, there was no mention of an engineer needing to visit and everything seemed ok for the 3rd October. I therefore rang the Business team and cancelled my order for the business phone line move and broadband the same day (17th September). It is then the following day after this that I receive my call back from my Business Move 'Service Manager' saying it is noted that I cancelled my order and they're very sorry that they couldn't get a sooner installation date although this 'Service Manager' hadn't even bothered to ring me back when he said he would.
On the 20th September, I checked my online account as I had not received an order email as I had when I first placed the residential move order. To my astonishment it said that my order would complete on the 9th November as an engineer visit was required. I immediately rang BT to complain. I was informed that my order was only placed that morning (how can that be when I rang 3 days earlier?). I explained the whole situation again to the operator who eventually deliberately hung up the phone on me! I immediately rang back to speak to the Complaints Team and was told there isn't one and a manager would have to ring me back within 4 hours. I received the call and explained everything all over again. I was told that all they could do was put in a request for a sooner engineer visit and that they would call me back.
It's no surprise that I received that call today to say that there are no sooner dates although they would try in a couple of days.
I find it incredible that BT think it is acceptable to treat their customers like this. It took 9 days from me placing my residential order to receiving a residential engineer date thereby extending my installation considerably to the 9th November. Having given up a business installation date of the 29th October, this is a very bitter pill to swallow. I have still not received a satisfactory explanation as to why an engineer visit is needed to a property with an existing TalkTalk phone line. The effects on our business are immeasurable. In this day and age who can run their business with these sort of lead times? Could BT? Even waiting this long for a home phone line is crazy - we therefore have to wait until after 9th November to have Sky installed at the new property.
Ringing BT has been an absolute disaster - they have no idea what customer service means. The lack of an independent complaints team really does say it all about the value that they place on it.

Answer 1

Hi andyroo13,
The installation/activation of the line is done by Openreach and not BT Retail ( a communication provider/ISP).
Openreach have had a backlog of work due to bad weather conditions over the last few months, this has caused installation and repairs to take much longer than normal to complete. There may also be other reasons as to why it has taken so long, eg technical problems.
Openreach is part of the BTplc group but run under their own policies and protocols under OFCOM rules to prevent BT Retail (a communication provider/ISP) from getting any priority over other communication provider/ISP.
The UK's telecommunication lines are maintained, installed and fixed by Openreach for all communication provider/ISP.
This link explains who Openreach are in more detail: http://www.expect.openreach.co.uk/faqs/
You can contact the BT Care Team by clicking on the link below.
Contact BT Care Team
The BT Care Team are a BT UK Based specialist team who have a good reputation for solving customer problems.
Once contacting them they will reply either by phone or email within 3 working days, however you will be given a tracking number immediately after sending the request. Please take note of this.
Hope that helps,
Cheers 
jac_95 | BT.com Help Site | BT Service Status
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