Why do BT staff lie and think that they can get aw...

Question

My telephone line was disconnected last Monday (one week ago) for 'non-payment of bills'.  This was very odd as the last letter that I had received from BT informed me that I was £10 in credit.  When I phoned to check what was going on, it turns out that my telephone number and account number were linked to two addresses (my old and current address) and that my current address details were actually wrong.  I corrected the information and offered to pay the bill over the telephone and was told that this was not necessary, BT were at fault as the address was entered incorrectly by BT themselves and the new bill would arrive in the next few days and that I could pay then.  BT were apologetic, polite, agreed that it should be sorted out within the 30 minute time-frame that I had requested and I thought that everything was sorted out.  The call was cut-off before all of the details were finalised by the BT agent and I had to call back, which was an inconvenience but once more round the story, more apologies were made and I was assured that I would be on-line again within 24 hours and "normally within four or five hours" (direct quote).
On Tuesday morning I had to call back, as the service was still disconnected.  I was apologised to profusely and told that "for some reason, the order has not been placed".  This wasn't good enough, in truth.  The order was placed, verified and confirmed to me while I was on the telephone.  Job done, surely?
On Wednesday, I had to call back and spoke to a MANAGER who said that, once again, the order had not been placed or progressed and apologised over and over, said that he understood my frustration, stayed on the line while I spoke with a member of the technical team who basically told me that it was appalling that it had not been done, that she was in the actual department that made the new connection, apologised that it would take 24 hours (also said that whoever had told me on Monday that the reconnection would take 30 minutes was talking nonsense and that it was rare for the 4 - 5 hour timeframe to be seen ever as well).  Back to the manager for another apology, confirmation that the order had been placed and the promise of compensation once everything was back up and running.
Thursday was a day of rest for me as I had to go into my office but on returning home on Thursday evening, still no phone line.  Yet another day of being lied to.
Friday morning, another call to another MANAGER who says that they cannot understand why this has not been done.  I make another offer to pay the outstanding bill over the phone if it will speed things along.  This is refused and I am kept waiting on the phone, at my expense, for another 30 minutes while the new manager contact goes off, checks things, apologises on behalf of BT and assures me that the three people that I have previously spoken to John , Daurav and Karthiki, would be disciplined as they had not done what they promised to do and he had now PERSONALLY overseen the new connection and that I had nothing to worry about.  I explained that I had been told all of this before and that I was now fairly unsure that this would happen.  Definitely no need to worry, I was told, the chap had very kindly taken care of this personally and personally guaranteed that I would have service by the time I woke up on Saturday.
Saturday afternoon, back on the phone to another BT manager in India who took my telephone number (as the previous two people that I had spoken to had) and PROMISED to call me back later that day to confirm that everything had been sorted out.  No phone call.  No service.  More blatant lies.  More breaches of a legally binding verbal contract between and employee of BT an myself.
I have now been on the telephone for 40 minutes on a Monday morning simply trying to be put through to the High Level Complaints department.  I have made this clear SEVEN times now and am still talking to the same customer service representative in India, for Christ's sake!!  Does BT simply not listen or are they trying to upset their customers deliberately?  According to the representative that I am speaking with (at great length, despite me insistence that I want to speak to someone at a higher level), my address details are still at my old address, my account is showing as closed, there is no order to re-connect my line and the High Level Complaints department does not have a telephone line in it (for a telecoms company?!?!??).  Having been mostly on hold for 40 minutes, I am now being told that nothing can be done as I don't have proof of my OLD address and Postcode, which I left 6 MONTHS AGO.  This is ludicrous.
The upshot of this is that:
I have lost several HUNDREDS of pounds in income.
I have outlaid, now, £50 on a wireless dongle and airtime.
I have been calling BT for HOURS at my expense.
I have no service, despite all of this.
I have no offer of compensation.
My broadband provider have disconnected my service, are charging ME early disconnection fees and want £150 to reconnect my broadband THIS WEEK!
BT has lied to me.  These are not mistakes, these are flat-out lies.  How on EARTH can a company expect to treat their customers like this EVER??!?

Answer 1

Hi,
Yes I did and have had two emails since.  The last told me that the job completeion order stated the 2nd of November (Wednesday) when the people that I spoke to on onday and confirmed that everything had been done promised me that it woulld take no longer than 5 days and would definitely be expedited and would therefore be completed by Friday, which is simply not true.  I only have so much tolerance for being lied ot and messed around and this passed on Friday, so if BT are unable to sort their own affairs out, then I have no option but to file an official complain and take the matter to court.  If the company I work for promised to deliver something 8 times and it still wasn't delivered, there would be serious repurcussions and I would have lost my job by now.  There are certain minimum standards and honesty and not lying to customers are two of them.
I think that Stuart and his team may be different to those that I have been dealing with.  If the order date is the 2nd, as Stuart says, then why am I am being told that it is days earlier WITHOUT and expedite?  Why am I being promised delivery by last Frdiay, after seven previous broken prmises if it cannot be delivered?  It is simply THE WORST customer service ever and is in breach of many codes of practice and trading standards.  I am furious with being lied to by a company THAT I PAY for the privelidge.