DDA-
Allow me to tell you about the incompetence of BT.
Its not a story as long as yours but its from the same school of idiocy. About 4 weeks ago I called up BT (our telephne and internet provider) to tell them we are moving house. The advert tells me that its smooth, efficient and that it'll happen when you move. I speak to my first BT rep a week before we are about to move. I tell her the new address, she says its on the same switchboard. I say i'm not surprised because we're only moving 1 street over. She tells me it will all be arranged in time for the move next Friday. I say thank you and hang up. The following day as epected the phone and internet are cut off. So far so good.
We move into our new place the following Friday. Guess what. No phone line. Here we go. I call up BT and ask them wtf? The BT guy tells me i'm thru to sales dept and he'll transfer me. He transfers me (whilst being put on hold for 5 mins). I should mention at this point that the number used to contact BT is free from a landline and 50p a minute from a mobile. Of course, I dont have a landline yet so mobile it has to be.
I get thru to the correct dept who say 'I'm sorry sir, it seems that order hasnt been placed. I'll go ahead and put that in motion for you now. The whole process will take roughly a week for phone and an extra week for internet'. Fine, whatever just get it done I say. The tell me they'll call again tomorrow to confirm the order is placed. I think 'strange, why do you need to do that?' but I appreciate good customer service so say yes OK thank you.
Saturday comes. No call. That morning I call up and explain to only my 4th BT operator the situation. He tells me i'm thru to sales again (this time in Delhi- why is it always in Delhi?) and he transfers me to home movers. The home movers in turn transfer me to line maintenence. Home maintenence tell me i'm through to the wrong dept I need home movers and are about to transfer me back when I say STOP! WAIT! I've just been transferred from there and this is costing me 50p a minute. If you want me to go back there, i'll hold, you speak with them, explain the situation and THEN transfer me. Fine, he says and does so. I then speak to a lovely nice guy from Wales called Dafydd. He says- guess what- the order hasnt been placed. I say SON OF A B*&%$! and he goes ahead and orders the move. I give our new address and all details for only the third time. He says he'll get that all in motion and contact me that evening.
Saturday evening comes. No call. I call up BT (still 50p a minute) and have a guess. Have a WILD stab in the dark. 'I'm sorry sir, that order hasnt been placed. Do you want me to place that order now?' No I bloody well do not. Get me your supervisor now. Supervisor duly comes after a LENGTHY hold. I tell her the situation and remind her this is 50p a minute to me. She mercifully decides to call me back. She takes the order on herself and discovers that the problem lies in our address. Apparently it doesnt exist. Which is strange because we are living in the house. She tells me to call the local council office at the housing tax office department who will have the correct address. I tell her its Saturday, the council will be closed. She tells me do it and call back on Monday.
F*£@&!@ BT have been running me ragged but I duly call up the housing tax office on Monday. Guess what, the address is exactly the same as the one i've been giving. Here comes the belter. I then call up BT and explain the situation to... I forget how many i've spoken to now... she says yes thats right I see that address now. Only we have no record of ever having a BT line in there and the order hasnt been placed (i'm shocked). Do I want to go ahead with that? It'll cost me £150. What. The. Fook???? Yes apparently the work is needed to install the line and should she put me through to the engineers department to arrange a time they can come over. I tell her go to hell (in nice words) and that SWMBO holds the purse strings and i'll need to ask her. I put the phone down and start to cry.
Now SWMBO is even more of an internet junkie than I am and is also ****ed off at this news but is having withdrawl symptoms at not having the internet for nearly 2 and a half weeks now. She says hell with it go ahead and order it. The next time I get a chance to call wont be until the next Friday. Before then I meet with our new landlady and explain the situation. 'Strange' she says 'because there is a phone line at the flat. You just cant use it for calling as the line is disconnected. But there is a dial tone.' True enough I find the phone line that BT need to charge me £150 to install. I also find out a number which I can dial to find out the telephone number of the existing line. Bonus. I note down the number and call BT. When I do get through to the right department I speak to Sam.
Sam is the heroine of our story. She handles the situation like a pro and does everything exactly as it should have been done at the start. I explain the long and drawn out story to her. She apologizes profusely. She offers to call me back and does so immediately. She checks the record and guess what- the order hasnt been placed. She then puts me through to an engineer to discuss the problem of why it requires £150 but she stays on the line to hear the conversation and join in with it. She is on my side! Engineer says he has no idea why I was told that. The fact I have a telephone number means the line is there. No charge, I go back to speaking to Sam. She says I can keep my old number cos its on the same exchange (I tell her its 1 street down). She tells me the order HAS now been placed- she has done it herself. She gives me her name and a reference number for the job. This puts me at ease somewhat. I thank her and hang up.
A week later we get an automated call from BT to tell us that our phone is active and the following week the internet is active. It only took a month to do. The solution only came after SOMEBODY OWNED THE PROBLEM. It sounds like the same thing happened to you DDA. It wasnt until Chris took charge that things started to happen. Same here. When Sam started to do everything herself it kicked into gear. Finally!
As an afterthought, I got an automated message from BT yesterday. It told me my phone line had been connected and that my internet will be connected in a week.
Imbeciles.