A shame he didn't have two minutes to knock on the door when working by a house in the middle of no-where. Also a shame that BT OR didn't provide him with notes to say this line belongs to vulnerable people as explained in my desperate call(s).

I've had a PM from a TBB regular who I won't name as I guess they PM'd for a reason...

"I know it is too late in this case however if there is a next time.
Consider moving your parents from PO back to BT. In situations like this it does become a lot easier to accept that it will be a little more expensive, but you would not have had all the hassle."

Is that right though?
I believe all dealings with Open Reach are 'supposed' to be the same whoever your provider is?
BT Retail would have just the same access to BT OR as the Post Office?

In reply to a post by b4dger:

I've had a PM from a TBB regular who I won't name as I guess they PM'd for a reason...

"I know it is too late in this case however if there is a next time.
Consider moving your parents from PO back to BT. In situations like this it does become a lot easier to accept that it will be a little more expensive, but you would not have had all the hassle."

Is that right though?
I believe all dealings with Open Reach are 'supposed' to be the same whoever your provider is?
BT Retail would have just the same access to BT OR as the Post Office?

The above is basically what I also suggested higher up in the thread.

The dealings with Openreach will be the same for all communication providers but I suspect that from reading the details/description of BT's Free Priority Fault Repair Scheme (i.e. "Under the scheme, we�ll give you priority over standard faults by dealing with them as soon as we can, every day of the year, including Christmas Day") is that if a customer qualifies BT Retail pay Openreach for a line to be covered by an enhanced SLA for faults - as their standard residential SLA does not cover public holidays etc. (see here for more details)

This differs from what the Post Office eventually told you about their support for elderly and vulnerable customers re: only making them focus a bit more on the outstanding fault rather than being able to escalate anything within BT OR.

There is also the question of training etc. for staff and if your first contact at BT Retail would have been better than the Post Office where you were effectively fobbed off the first time (you can also report faults online with BT Retail (and some other providers) rather than having to call them) which some may prefer.

Thats not to say BT Retail are perfect or that some other providers are not good at dealing with faults etc. but I have noticed some providers no longer offering 24/7 support to lodge faults (though the PO does I see)

I, along with many others have given up the the PO in times of problems. Their Customer Service is outsourced to Capita (I think) and all they do is read from the same old script every single time you call them and insist on doing the same test EVERY time (last year we called 23 times in 2 months). We had a problem on our line and they just did not want to help, then when a fault was found insisted - yes insisted we had to pay two lots of fees to have it fixed (we didn't and eventually after going to the ADR (disputes) we got the charge dropped - still awaiting an apology though).

They will not get OR out to fix faults unless they absolutely have to. When a neighbour had a squirrel (actually photographed) gnaw through their line the PO told them because they had a bird feeder out it was their fault for attracting the squirrel and would have to pay!! Needless to say they didnt!.
Oh and please don't expect a call back from a supervisor... look online and you will see thats what they always promise, but I've yet to see anyone who says they actually had a call back!

I believe all dealings with Open Reach are 'supposed' to be the same whoever your provider is?
BT Retail would have just the same access to BT OR as the Post Office?

Correct the difference however being that BT Retail would try and get the problem fixed whereas the Post Office don't appear to care for their customers as illustrated by your problems.

In reply to a post by b4dger:

I believe all dealings with Open Reach are 'supposed' to be the same whoever your provider is?

All providers have equal access to Openreach and all log their jobs via the same systems.

You have tried to circumvent a provider's fault reporting service by contacting Openreach directly and advising of an issue that is a matter of public health and safety. Openreach will respond quickly to issues such as cables or street furniture that poses a risk to health and they will make sure that the public are not at risk. This is not a fault reporting service.

I can tell you that the vast majority of people will tell you a myriad of reasons why they are a priority and why they need to jump the queue. Age, disability, running a business, children, urgent conference call, they are an MP, they are an alcoholic etc.

Providers offer products that offer tighter service levels. If the phone line is extremely important to people, then they need to look into these products.

Edited by deleted (Fri 01-Jan-16 21:53:37)

In reply to a post by partial:

You have tried to circumvent your provider's fault reporting service by contacting Openreach directly and advising of an issue that is a matter of public health and safety. Openreach will respond quickly to issues such as cables or street furniture that poses a risk to health and they will make sure that the public are not at risk. This is not a fault reporting service.

Please see early posts it was actually the Post Office who were insisting I should contact OR!
If I had believed their bad advice my parents line fault wouldn't even be in the queue.


Thanks for all the comments people it's all useful stuff.

Have the post office given a date for an engineer visit now?

Hi, I'm afraid not.
They are telling me the ticket is still waiting for OR to reply and has 2 days, 12 hours to run. I asked if that is normal for OR not to have given a date and he said it was and there was nothing that could be done until OR reply.

They confirmed that OR are aware that there is a network fault outstanding.

The Post Office have this marked as a 'welfare' case with high priority.

In reply to a post by gt94sss2:

The dealings with Openreach will be the same for all communication providers but I suspect that from reading the details/description of BT's Free Priority Fault Repair Scheme (i.e. "Under the scheme, we�ll give you priority over standard faults by dealing with them as soon as we can, every day of the year, including Christmas Day") is that if a customer qualifies BT Retail pay Openreach for a line to be covered by an enhanced SLA for faults...

Hi @gt94sss2,
I've been looking at the BT documentation you linked to earlier - thanks again for that.
...and thanks to ThinkBroadBand and all it's members for their help and suggestions as getting this sorted would be even more painful without this place!

I'll have to get through this current problem and then have a chat to my parents about their options.
I know I'll probably have some problems getting my independent parents to get their doctor to help them with the sign-up criteria though!
And I'm not sure if being a frail 90 year old will 'be enough' but hopefully it is.

BT
The Free Priority Fault Repair Scheme is available if your household includes someone at risk. They must meet the criteria below.
You can apply if you:
� rent your line from BT and you, or someone who lives with you, are:
� registered as Chronically Sick & Disabled by your local authority social services under the Chronically Sick & Disabled Persons Act (CSDPA) 1970
� incapacitated and therefore housebound, due to a chronic long-term illness or disability which prevents you leaving the house without the assistance of another person. For example, on the National Organ Transplant waiting list.

Here's a link to the Post Office's own version of this: http://www.postoffice.co.uk/broadband-mobile/vulnera...

Edited by b4dger (Sat 02-Jan-16 13:04:08)