In reply to a post by b4dger:

And I'm not sure if being a frail 90 year old will 'be enough' but hopefully it is.

It's worth pushing it. Had a problem with my Mum who is 88 - electrics blew on a Friday and told someone would come on Tuesday to fix it. Rang electricity co. and told them it was an emergency as she had not hot water or heating (and this was late November). They backed down and it was fixed by the next day.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

The retailer should be earning their profit by taking the call off your hands once account checks are complete and liaising with Openreach who are the wholesaler.

FYI This has shown it's more than just 'taking the call off my hands' - all the Open Reach call can achieve is getting lines/poles/cabinets/etc. made "safe" and won't help getting service restored!

In reply to a post by b4dger:

FYI This has shown it's more than just 'taking the call off my hands' - all the Open Reach call can achieve is getting lines/poles/cabinets/etc. made "safe" and won't help getting service restored!

Openreach are the ones who will fix the fault/restore servce - but they need the Post Office to properly lodge it first - which is effectively all they needed to do.

You should never have been told or needed to call Openreach who don't deal with members of the public - unless there is a safety/health issue involved - hence they making the line safe.

You can't blame the OR engineer for only doing his job, if he had spoken to your parents and fixed their line, he would be breaching the rules (imposed by the regulators) as well as doing something he had not been tasked to do.

Openreach did recently suggest that they would be more willing to deal directly with members of the public rather than just the communication providers (who are their customers) but some of the CP's objected.

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.

The response you have got from the Post Office imho is that they are still not escalating your case sufficently as I imagine there are ways they can escalate the fault with Openreach rather than just waiting for a ticket to be updated (perhaps the PO picking up the phone to speak to them etc.)

I'm aware of how the Post Office 'should' have dealt with my first call - I did all I could to tell them that me phoning Open Reach can't be the correct advice...

In reply to a post by gt94sss2:

You can't blame the OR engineer for only doing his job, if he had spoken to your parents and fixed their line, he would be breaching the rules (imposed by the regulators) as well as doing something he had not been tasked to do.

I DO blame him for not calling at the house which is in the middle of no-where and after I had told him my 90 year old dad depends on this phone line and that there is no other means of communication with the outside world!

The least he could have done was spend two minutes explaining to them that the phone line that crosses the road to their house is broken, but gone on to explain how it will be fixed. He was a 'jobs worth'

Regarding the PO escalating the fault - I can assure you I've tried/pleaded for them to do more!!!

Edited by b4dger (Sun 03-Jan-16 17:46:42)

I DO blame him for not calling at the house which is in the middle of no-where and after I had told him my 90 year old dad depends on this phone line and that there is no other means of communication with the outside world!

Sorry but you did not tell him anything at all ! You told someone in a call centre so you can not know want he had on his job notes . As for just being a jobsworth well thats the way OR works .

He phoned me when looking for the location, I had the chance then to tell him some details...

Ok thanks , lets hope it gets sorted asap would be nice if you get some good news on Monday .

(damage report other)

Damage Report Overhead surely Bert ? As in DRU damage report underground.

This weeks updates - 90 year old dad still without a phone line!

Even though the PO have this marked as a "high priory welfare case" the only updates I've received are by me phoning them up each day...

4/1/16
Line should be fixed by the 7th. OR have acknowledged the fault.

5/1/16
OR tried phoning my parents mobile - they have no mobile signal where they live as explained previously.
All calls should be coming to me. On the 4th OR have updated the fault saying a hoist is required (the line crosses a road) and one isn't currently available.
I asked why I haven't had any updates - the PO notice that my parents account is marked as high priority but the actual open fault hadn't been - he's changed that.

6/1/16
I chased the PO for today's update. Again I received apologies for the way this has been dealt with. I said I have apologies every day but no actual action. He volunteered to contact OR directly for an update and get back to me. When I had previously asked the PO to do this I was told they couldn't. He phoned me back as promised. OR are due to visit the site tomorrow and the PO have promised to update me.

I've posted a letter (first class) so my parents are aware they haven't been abandoned

The PO called me for an update today - first time that's happened!

BT OR turned up today and have reported that some tree work is required and also traffic control will be needed to cross the road. They have given a date of the 14th for this work. Another week...

BT OR have been on site twice before so it's a shame that wasn't picked up earlier either on New Years Eve or the engineer visit on the 4th.

I asked the PO to find out (as it wasn't clear in the notes) whether BT had knocked on my parents door to update them.
The PO called BT OR for me and were told that as the fault wasn't within the property they wouldn't have tried contacting them!
This was after all parties have been made aware this is for a 90 year old couple with no other means of communication with the outside world...

Terrific customer service! I've posted another letter today to explain to my parents how their 'service providers' are getting on