Rubbish service - hate the fact I have to deal with BT! (BT)

Member Name: gayle04

Product:	BT
Date:	25/05/09 (37 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None

Disadvantages: Rip off, bad customer service, they have a monopoly on phone lines!

I haven't had very many positive experiences with BT so I thought it was about time I wrote a review to vent my anger, especially as recently I have had two problems with them! Well first of all, I hate the fact that all phone lines (unless you want virgin) are BT and only BT can fit them. It is like they have a monopoly and I don't think that is fair. You also HAVE to take out a 12 month contract with BT when they fit a new phone line or activate an old one which is just ridiculous - you're already paying £120 for the phone line so why on earth should you then have to take out a contract with them?

The fact that it costs £120 for them to activate a phone line is also scandalous. I always, without fail get stung with this cost when moving into a new place. I have moved about a bit in the past 3 years and have had to pay this charge three times. The last time, I was given an appointment and told to be in for the BT engineer arriving and he never showed up. My mum rang me that same night and my phone was working. I didn't understand how it was working when the engineer hadn't even shown up so I rang BT. They said that the work may have been carried out at the pole. Now, what I don't understand is why I should have to pay for them to fix something, or flick a switch or whatever it is they do on a pole?! It isn't my fault the phone line needed to be activated, I never asked for it to be inactivated so why should I have to pay for them to reactivate it? I also don't like the fact that I have no proof that the engineer came out at all. I didn't see him, he never called, I am just supposed to take their word that something was physically done to my phone line and maybe I am just cynical but I would bet my life savings on the fact that it wasn't £120 worth of work!
I also had a problem with my billing. I arranged to pay £20 a month for line rental and also to pay off the £120 activation cost rather than paying for it in one lump sum. A couple of days later I get a letter saying they have set up a direct debit of £38.50 a month! I was completely bamboozled as to where they had pulled this figure from. I rang up and the guy just casually said "Ok I'll get that changed for you". No explanation, no argument - so why did they send it in the first place!? Perhaps they were just hoping I wouldn't notice!

Their customer service line is appalling, especially if you don't know your phone number yet as it keeps asking you to enter your number. It takes forever to finally get through to where you want to get through to and then you get connected to a call centre in India. I have noticed however, that the sales line is a British call centre - obviously they want to give the impression to new customers that their customer services are based in the UK but they don't give a damn what their current customers think because they are already tied into a contact with them!

Overall, not a great experience and I would never, ever go with BT for any service unless I had to, which, unfortunately, I have for the past couple of years.

Summary: I wouldn't deal with BT if I didn't have to - absolute shambles