BT Did NOT turn up! The GPO Faceplate SAGA goes on!

Some of you might remember the Saga I had trying to find out if my mother could get her GPO blanking plate replaced to an NTE5 free of charge.
After BT finally agreed the old GPO plate could be replaced FOC an appointment was made for today 21-01-10 between 1300-1800hrs, this was also confirmed to me this week by BT's voice/text service.

My mother has moved stuff around so that the engineer could get better access and now she's moving it all back. She's been in all afternoon and there's been no sign of Openreach at all. Moreover neither my mother or myself has been called to say the job was cancelled or the engineer was running late or whatever.

I would have contacted the BT team by Private Message, but I'm livid to say the least, hence my post.

I remember it well - BT_Care seemed a bit confused on how much a new NTE5 would cost(!), so I'm not that surprised to hear your news...

EDIT: Perhaps you should remove the bit about your mum moving stuff around in case BT decide it should be billed for after all

Edited by b4dger (Thu 21-Jan-10 18:56:00)

I'd send them a bill for having to take half a day off work

Disgraceful and entirely predictable

In reply to a post by gbhxu:

I'd send them a bill for having to take half a day off work

My mother is retired (in her 70's), nevertheless she does a lot for the family and her grand kids as no doubt most grandparents do.
What annoys me more than anything about this, is that there was no call from BT to inform her (or me) that there was a problem.

I received a quite robotic voice/text from BT saying the appointment date and time, with the option to change the appointment before noon on the 20th (ie the day before). The message was very bland and something like a pro txt speak person might send, which to others might leave some ambiguity. It was so robotic you really had to listen carefully when the postcode was stated. I have to be honest, the system BT is using is the worst I've heard.
Not only is the format of the message dire, which probably most kids could do a better job with, but the robotic female sound throws you back to the 80's. Does BT pay for this?

Edited by Vorlon (Thu 21-Jan-10 22:36:52)

In reply to a post by b4dger:

I remember it well - BT_Care seemed a bit confused on how much a new NTE5 would cost(!), so I'm not that surprised to hear your news...

EDIT: Perhaps you should remove the bit about your mum moving stuff around in case BT decide it should be billed for after all

I know what you are saying B4dger, but my mother still does her best despite her age, but she does have limitations, hence my enquiry to BT (Initially) here on this forum..
If it can't be done FOC then it'll be left as it is. In fact my mother noticed today the cable that I assume is BT's, ie outside fixed to the brickwork is armoured and the outer pvc is falling off.

Edited by Vorlon (Thu 21-Jan-10 22:38:11)

Sorry to heear that vorlon Typical lazy BT behaviour. My advice would be buy the faceplate and fit it yourself for dear old mum, its not a difficult job.

I too remember it well. What an utter disgrace.

Let us hope someone at BT Care picks up on this and deals with it properly. At the very least they should do the job properly at no cost and provide a bunch of flowers to your mum for the inconvenience.

Are you listening Donna or others?

In reply to a post by CARPETBURN:

Sorry to heear that vorlon Typical lazy BT behaviour. My advice would be buy the faceplate and fit it yourself for dear old mum, its not a difficult job.

Trouble is it would be changing the demarcation point, so it should be down to BT really. I'm just a little shocked that after all this sorting out, that even when the job was properly booked and confirmed, that nobody turned up.
Say for some reason they couldn't find the address, which I'd be surprised, you would have assumed they would have phoned.

Does this sort of thing happen often with BT Open Reach? Perhaps all the engineers are camped out along the route of Zeb's line

In reply to a post by Vorlon:

In reply to a post by CARPETBURN:

Sorry to heear that vorlon Typical lazy BT behaviour. My advice would be buy the faceplate and fit it yourself for dear old mum, its not a difficult job.

Trouble is it would be changing the demarcation point, so it should be down to BT really. I'm just a little shocked that after all this sorting out, that even when the job was properly booked and confirmed, that nobody turned up.
Say for some reason they couldn't find the address, which I'd be surprised, you would have assumed they would have phoned.

Does this sort of thing happen often with BT Open Reach? Perhaps all the engineers are camped out along the route of Zeb's line

Vorlon, there's only one way to make BT sit up and listen, and that is to email the chairman (politely) and tell him that if this is not the way that elderly people who have been loyal customers for years should be treated, and now you are going to be speaking to the local press and radio about it. The email address is ian.livingstonATbt.com (replace the AT with an @ obviously).

Edited by deleted (Fri 22-Jan-10 09:45:16)