BT Openworld a word of warning -*Resolved*-

[bhoggett]

@bloodline

It's no so much BT Openworld as BT in general. Their staff are told to automatically assume that the customer is mistaken and that no mistake was made at the BT end. I had problems with them earlier this year and it took me ages to sort it out. When I'd finally convince one operator that I was right and they were wrong, they would assure me things would get sorted or else they'd pass me on to someone else. Then nothing would happen or the line would go dead and I would have to start from scratch again.

First, make use of their complaints procedure and take the name of the operators you speak to. Second, do not pay the rest of your contract, since it is up to them to prove that you have breached your contract. Counteract by telling them that their evidence is wrong and you will be claiming compensation for any restriction of service, and demand that they provide you with documentary evidence of their claim. As I've found out, BT like to bully you and the only way to deal with them is to bully them back. Go on the offensive and don't take "no" for an answer.

[bhoggett]

@NitrousB

Demon Broadband still uses BT's service, and they can still make life hell for you as I found out to my cost (even though my broadband was never with Openworld as such)

They cut off my service - entirely their mistake - but it took me a week to discover what happened, persuade them they were wrong, and then get my service reconnected. Even though it was BT's fault, I had to go back to my provider and ask them to get me reconnected despite the fact that it wasn't their fault at all, and then they had to chase BT up so that the idiots would get me reconnected. Of course, it was days before BT told me I had to do this, as they kept saying they would be fixing the problem and then ignoring me.

[bhoggett]

@Wilse

Really? I must've been off that day.   Do you have a copy of this "BT in general" staff directive? I'd love to see it.  

Well, I don't know that there is an official directive to that effect, but since every single operator I spoke to was trying to persuade me that I was wrong and BT were right, despite the fact that provided all the evidence to back me up and apparently conviced each operator in turn (after 15-20 minutes of debate each time), what else can I assume?  Why the details of what was concluded in my conversation with the first operator were not entered into the system is beyond my understanding.

I certainly found it totally unacceptable that my broadband service was cut off for an entire week despite the fact that the fault lay with BT in the first place and they admitted this from the start (after persuasion and my presenting the relevant evidence).

@mikeymike

BT won't have their contract facts wrong, but they do get customer account details wrong. It is possible that Matt's "change of name" was due to a mistake by someone at BT.

[bhoggett]

@Wilse

Various things? Incompetence on the part of the operators springs to mind. Saying staff, in general, are told to behave this way is a rather sweeping accusation that, if made against a firm in the amiga marketplace - with the same lack of proof, would be condemned as FUD and rightly so. You didn't mention that it was only your opinion, based on personal experience or not.  Incompetence is one thing. A company policy of deliberately pissing off your customers is quite another.  

Quite. Yet I must have spoken to at least a dozen different operators over the span of a few days, and every single one spent the first five minutes trying to tell me I was mistaken. If this is down to operator incompetence, it sounds pretty widespread, wouldn't you say?

I'm not actually blaming the operators. I blame the system, specifically the likely bad design of the software on which the automated account management is done. All it takes is one mistake and everything goes down the pan, but since there is no reason for an operator to assume the data they have on their screen is wrong they assume the customer is simply confused and angry and needs the facts explaining to him. This works fine with customers who really are confused, but irritates the hell out of people who ring up and actually know what they are talking about.