Advice please

I ordered Infinity 2 on 17 September via Internet and had an activation date early October. This date came and went without contact with BT. Throughout the autumn I had new dates pretty much each month until the end of the year. All these came and went without a telephone call or a visit except from a surveyor who came to look at my house to see where the cable would be attached and what the ground is like around the property. He explained to me that they would have to lay cable underground from the road into my garden to bring it into the house where the job will be completed by an engineer. Just before Christmas I had a call to say that I would be getting a telegraph pole close to the property in a few days and would probably notice the work taking place this would be a replacement for the underground work which the surveyor had spoken about in November! The pole did not appear until early February. This morning two engineers arrived to look at the pole and assess where the wires would run. I had noticed that the pole had been placed immediately between my property and a tree and any wires would run through the branches and (eventually) through leaves etc. Obviously this was not possible and would only cause further. They were also concerned that the line would have to run through other trees on its way to the pole outside my house. They had to ring their boss to explain that the easy way to do the job would be to run cable underground would which would be much cheaper than the poll option and could be achieved much more speedily. However, they do not know how long it will take to get somebody along (the subcontractor) to do the work - it could be tomorrow it might be in the month or so is!! Given that the original order was placed back in September and my 1st activation date was 1st week in October do you feel I am due any recompense? The only things that have gone well and to time thus far are the switching on of BT sport and the arrival of the HH5. My preferential rate was due to run for 3 months I think this should be extended by at least 6 further months; what do other people think? With thanks in anticipation.

Matt

It is possible that BT could, if the difficulties continue to mount, ask you to pay towards the installation. They have a Universal Service Obligation to provide a telephone line but they only have to pay the first £3400 of the cost. If the cost is more than that then they can charge the individual - it is possible they went for the pole route to try and avoid these costs.

BT have clearly got it wrong with their surveying. What I'm not sure about is if there are any specific requirements for BT to provide a line within a specific timescale. I can't find anything obvious that says how quickly they must install.

Do you have no copper telephone line at the moment or is this an FTTP installation.

Our copper line is in armoured cable and so there is no ducting. We were destined for FTTP. I first ordered in March 2014 and the install was finally completed 2 weeks ago. Like you we had numerous previous install dates that were missed. I only started to pay for the Infinity 2 once the work was completed and therefore the 3 months preferential rate stats now. I am not sure that I should be due any compensation for having to wait. I did have an ADSL service that worked perfectly well through PlusNet and phone with BT. Now all is with BT.

I'm pretty sure the OP must be referring to an FTTP install as you've suggested.

It appears from their signature that they already have a Zen ADSL account and an ADSL modem. I suppose that might have been from a previous house.

Thank you for the comments so far. Initially, before I placed the order, I spoke to a customer services representative who explained my options with regard to BT superfast broadband. She she advised me that the Exeter exchange was equipped to provide the fastest level of service possible and that my address and postcode could also receive the equivalent of infinity 4. During our discussion I was given the impression that I would receive a cable to premises service in order to receive infinity 2. My order which I subsequently placed online confirms this.

I currently have ADSL broadband with Zen. This is working effectively and have no complaint at all with the company. I'm only looking for increased speed. I've had several apologies from BT for the delays in my installation and the guys who came yesterday were very apologetic about the delays (as everybody has been so far) and explained that the process they were recommending (putting the cable underground to the house) would be cheaper than the pole.

Others, clearly, have waited longer than myself but it is very distracting to set aside days to be present when nobody turns up and without any notice. Also I have been getting so many conflicting messages about what I will be getting and how I will be getting it. At one point last week it was made quite clear to me that there was no need for poles or underground cables as everything could be done at the exchange!? However, the open reach staff are quite clear about what I'm getting and how it will be delivered; the message seems to get lost somewhere along the way.

I have requested an extension to my concessionary rate to reflect the time I've been with waiting. I will have to see if this yield any kind of positive outcome.

With many thanks

Matt

That description fits in with your address being service by WBC FTTP network.

So yes there is extra work to get this fibre from the point in the street onto a small box on the outside wall of your home, and then subsequently inside your home.

You are pretty rare, only around 170,000 premises in the UK with your speed options, and around 25,000 are actually connected, i.e. have gone through what you are seeing now, though for many it was probably a lot simpler.

In reply to a post by hamgard:

... and the guys who came yesterday were very apologetic about the delays (as everybody has been so far) and explained that the process they were recommending (putting the cable underground to the house) would be cheaper than the pole.

Except the pole has already been installed (so that cost incurred) and could service other properties as well.

I wonder if they will remove it once your underground feed is in place, or whether it will stay there unused for ever. Or, even be used for others!

FTTP is still a very niche product, even within BT. The product is only supported by one team in Dundee but there is no way that I am aware of that you can contact them directly if you have a problem after deployment.

I had a minor problem with the Fibre Home Phone activation which took me a while to get resolved because you need to access the standard support route but then no one knows what you are talking about. Hopefully this will either improve or I will have no further need to contact support.

By way of update since my last post - I received 6 e-mails last week, 3 saying that my installation date had been put back indefinitely and 3 confirming that installation would take place on the 11th as previously indicated on the website! I didn't really expect that the installation would take place and I telephoned the day before to check just what was happening. I contacted the cancellations department as it always seems to be the easiest way to get to speak to somebody without sitting in a queue. I was advised by a very pleasant young guy who spent a lot of time checking with others in different departments that my activation would indeed take place the following day (11 March). At 8 AM on the 11th a BT open reach worker arrived, checked out the pole, took a photograph, opened up a hatch in the pavement, took a photograph and drove away. That was the only sighting of anybody from BT. Today I've had a phone call to say that my installation will take place externally on 2 April and internally on 7 April. I think, I feel a bit more positive about it this time but this might be a triumph of hope over experience! I did get the young guy in the cancellations department to agree to refund my recently renewed quarterly charge to Zen which was activated on 6 of March. He agreed it was in unnecessary expense incurred due to the fault of BT; he gave me an e-mail address to forward the invoice e-mail to as and when I was happy with the installation of the new package. I very much hope this is an end to the matter but maybe not...

By way of further update: yesterday morning two workers arrived with a mini digger, various barriers and cones to cordon off the area around the pole outside the house and after 30 min of frantic action and digging on the pavement they disappeared. I then received confirmation e-mails to say that my internal and external dates of 2nd and 7th April still stand! So, it looks like this might actually happen after nearly 7 months' waiting!!

A different enquiry - what will happen on the day of activation? When the engineer comes to do the installation what is the actually install about other than linking the external cable indoors and linking it to my main BT socket? Does he install the HH5 and set it up? As I use Apple Mac will he be able to cope with that?

Many thanks

Matt