Why are BT's ordering systems soooo bad??

Question

After a truely horrendous home move experience that could easily have cost me my job through lack of internet access, I am finally inching towards having infinity installed in my new house.
My phone line was activated late on Tuesday 28th August, with broadband appearing earlier in that day (only 3 weeks later than originally agreed, but that is a whole other story that nearly reduces me to tears when I think about it). BT had to wait until Total Broadband was working before they could place an order on their system for an Infinity upgrade. Because of the mess around my home move, BT Retail had agreed to pay the extra to Wholesale to fast-track my inifinty engineer appointment, so it would be in a matter of days not weeks from now.
So, Total Broadband became active on the day they said it would - 28th August.
I called them (no call back though I had been promised one for the day after activation) on the 29th to make sure Infinity would be ordered immediately, and fast-tracked. Was told that on their ordering system Total Broadband hadn't registered as being activated, but that it would hit their systems "today" (the 29th). They couldn't place an order for Infinity until Broadband had registered with them... I was assured that the order would be placed in the morning (on the 30th) and I would be called before noon with confirmation.
Today - the 30th. No call by noon. I call them at 12.45pm. No order for Infinity had been placed, but the operator would place the order immediately. However, no date could be given yet for the engineer appointment as that order would have to hit the engineer's systems before a fast-track appointment could be made. That would happen tomorrow (the 30th)!
Even then, I was offered a callback tomorrow but that could come any time between 8am and 8pm! I declined and have said I will call them tomorrow at 9am to find out the date of my engineer appointment.
Why does it take 24 hours for one system to pass information to another system with BT, even if it is within different subsidiary companies???
Why can a provisonal engineer appointment not be booked under special circumstances when it is clear an order will be placed?
This has been a thoroughly unpleasant experience from the moment I found out that my home move order had been moved back 3 weeks, and I had to find that out for myself, I wasn't told that by BT.  It has caused me to lose my temper with operators who are trying their best but the systems they have to work with are woefuilly inadequate at handling the tasks they were designed to do.
Oh, and the compaint I made weeks ago has been roundly ignored, and when I chased it up, I was told they don't deal with complaints until after the issue has been resolved! Conveniently this allows time for the complainant's ire to cool and details to have been forgotten.
I detest how BT have made me feel and act over the last month. I just hope they try to bill me for the period when I've had no phone or email service....

Answer 1

It's typical, not only of BT but of pretty well all companies and public services that rely heavily on automation. The technology is by and large fast and efficient. On the other hand, when things don't follow the predetermined path, there is too often nobody left with the authority and nous to get things back on track. That would be expensive and play havoc with the financial model.
Look at the recent catastrophes at RBS and HMRC for example.   
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