Why can't we have a single point of contact who de...

Question

Three weeks ago our house was hit by lightning and our broadband connection went on the blitz (a Linnit technical term).
The telephone stopped working. I did an on-line check and the connection registered a fault. The on-line system logged the fault with the teachnical team. So far so good...
I received a call from the tech team advising an engineer was coming out to us, if the fault was with our equipment we would be charged. That's fair. Engineer called. My phones were fine, BUT the BT router was where the fault lay said the engineer. We would need to raise another fault report because he only dealt with telephone AND as he was a subcontractor he would bill for the work... He disconnected the router so the phone would work and left.
I work virtually, which means that I can work from my home, so I need the internet even more than my family want the telephone. I plugged the internet back in so that I could continue to work and called BT again from my mobile. Speaking to a very polite guy in Delhi I was asked to describe my phone socket, unplug the router from the office, carry it downstairs to the kitchen where the main socket is, plug the router in there, reconnect, try again, all sorts of stuff before finally being advised that it was probably just the 'microfilter' and that as they were very inexpensive it might be faster for me to go out and buy one and plug it in myself rather than have another engineer come out to us.
So I did just that. In fact, as the microfilters are less than a fiver, I got two... brought them home and plugged one in... didn't work.
Called Delhi again. Spoke to someone else who was, again, very polite. They tried to get me to unplug and plug things in and out again, but I politely declined this time explaining that now the poor internet connection that we did have was running so slowly I am having to commute in to work over Christmas. He sympathised and told us that he would escalate the issue. That was before Christmas. Since then I received a text on my phone on Christmas Day telling me they couldn't reach me!!! 
Today I called again to BEG someone to please come out and fix things for us. We aren't technical. We cannot act as pseudo engineers. We pay BT one bill each quarter for a service. Why on earth can't BT provide me with a single point of contact when I have an issue. And if that point of contact could understand me and explain things to me in words and phrases that I understand that would be perfect!
Last year I cancelled three mobile contracts that we'd had since the early 90's with O2 because they were so unhelpful.
BT aren't the cheapest broadband provider but we've stayed with them out of 20+ years loyalty and the understanding that we had a one-stop-shop. Now, it looks as though I'll be shopping around for another domestic broadband provider for 2012.

Answer 1

Thank you for being so helpful and constructive.
I tried to look at the ASDL settings, john46 but it's asking me for my HomeHub password... the only password I have is for our wireless network and that one doesn't work. 
I can't test the phone line right now because I'll have to disconnect the internet and I'm currently working on another computer whilst chatting on this one with you. However I will do that later. I'll also look at the RogerB link you provided. 
Truth is, we're pensioners who use the internet but we havent a grain of technical understanding between us. We're old fashioned enough to admit that we just want someone who knows what he's doing to come here and fix it for us. It's already cost us £130 for an engineer to come out from OpenReach to tell us the phone line is OK and it's the router causing the problem. Best case scenario is that another BT engineer who knows about broadband comes out and does it because the last BT person that I spoke to in Delhi did actually confirm that there is a fault on the BT side. I'm getting so frustrated right now I'll probably call out an independant I find in Yellow Pages and get charged an arm and a leg again and I'll then cancel with BT in a fit of pique.