Stuck in a blackhole of no service

Hi all.

I recently went through the upgrade process after my previous contract had come to and end, and basically since the switch over I have had no service what so ever. This has been going on for 8 days now and I have been through a fair few hours on the phone with BT customer service. The issue seems to be that their distribution/warehousing equivalent have messed something up in the background and that has left me without internet and no apparent fix for it either.

BT have promised to send me out a 4G hub, yet have failed to actually put the order in. They have also promised me several times that I would be re-connected 'soon', but when questioned, they don't actually know when 'soon' is.

My issue is that I am running my business from home, requiring a good internet service due to file sizes that I am required to send & receive. I am struggling with this as I can only tether to my mobile in order to get internet, which isn't ideal as I have a limit on my data.

What I am wondering is what I can do from here? How do I go about getting a service again? how do I get compensation from BT for the hardship and stress I am under due to failing to meet work deadlines due to data limits? What are my options here?

Thanks in advance

Upgrade from what to what, and both with BT or previously with a different supplier?

You say your business needs a reliable high throughput. Are you talking about a BT Business connection, or a BT Consumer connection? There's a bit difference in what you get for your money.

Depending on your answers there there's also a difference in the answers to your question. At the moment you haven't really given us any useful information.

Edits: For clarity.

Edited by pluralist (Fri 01-Apr-22 16:52:51)

Hi, thanks for your reply.

I see my lack of detail in hindsight, my apologies.

- I am on a BT consumer connection, as I'm a sole trader working from home.

- My previous contract was on BT Fibre 1. Towards the end of the contract, I received the standard upgrade/continuation e-mail from BT, I opted for BT Fibre 2, as it was essentially like for like. Staying on the existing package meant an £8pm price hike, I believe to sway customers towards a new package & 24 months further custom.

-Since the 'swap' I have been without connection and all customer service members, despite their attempts, have not been able to resolve the issue. As of now I am stuck without service and without solution, hence my frustrations at what I can do from this point forward.

Thanks

Good luck getting any compensation.

Running a business on a consumer service - that really is good business sense.

What I am wondering is what I can do from here? How do I go about getting a service again? how do I get compensation from BT for the hardship and stress I am under due to failing to meet work deadlines due to data limits? What are my options here?

Can you get compensation. You should be able to as BT has signed up to Ofcom "Automatic Compensation Payments". The rates of compensation change on 01/04/2022

Type | Old | New
More 2 days for repaire (per day) | £8.06 | £8.40
Missed appointments | £25.18 | £26.24
Delay start service (per day) | £5.04 | £5.25

https://www.bt.com/help/account-and-billing/automati...

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-interne...

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2022/04/ofcom-...

Thanks for the input, real useful.

Seeing as clearly you have such a great understanding of situations for others:
'Halo' for business is the only service offered in my area, of which is double the price for a load of things I do not need, nor want. Unless we should encourage more hording of plastic devices and electronics by all? Further, I have been on a 24 month contract, working from home for less than 24 months, which for pedantic minds, means the business came after the contract. The service I received up until the 'switch' was fantastic, so why would I need the other service? The 'switch' is the root problem here, not the service. So, thanks again, truly, Sensai.

In reply to a post by asdfgasdfg:

how do I get compensation from BT for the hardship and stress I am under due to failing to meet work deadlines due to data limits?

You won't get compensation for hardship or stress, speak to your provider (BT) about 'Automatic Compensation Payments' for the period you was without service. Going forward if your broadband is critical to your business consider looking at contingency options should your broadband go down for any reason in the future and seriously think of moving to a business level service.

Edited by deleted (Sat 02-Apr-22 22:52:53)

As you will or should already be fully aware, a residential service does not have any service level agreements, its a best effort service and will be fixed as and when if it breaks (normally within a few days).

A business service will cost you more yes, but that will also come with a service level agreement normally and fix times you'll never get on a residential service. So not only does the Halo service you say come with extra bits of plastic, if you read the small print you'd probably discover it came with a whole lot more, but as you said, you don't need or want these.

I guess it all depends how important your broadband connection is to you and how much you need it. You get what you pay for as they say....

As dect had pointed out you are entitled to automatic compensation as BT are signatories of the OFCOM Automatic Compensation Scheme.

It's £8.40 per calendar day that the service is not repaired, if the service stopped working and it is not fully fixed after two full working days.

or...

£5.25 for each calendar day of delay, including the missed start date, when a provider promises to start a new service on a particular date, but fails to do so.

With you upgrading I'm not sure if you fall in to the service stopped working or the failed to start a new service category.
You don't need to claim this. BT pay it automatically. Though personally I would be confirming with customer service that it will indeed be issued and would chase it up if it wasn't.

You won't be entitled to anything for loss of business or for additional data usage, or anything else.

They have 30 days to pay you from the day your service is restored, or started, depending on what category you qualify for.
You wouldn't have been entitled to compensation if you were with BT Business.

Edited by j0hn83 (Sun 03-Apr-22 04:19:32)