BT - My Own Experience Of Using Them And Their Abismal Customer Service (BT)

Member Name: andrew_dav

Product:	BT
Date:	10/10/09 (12 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Products For Landlines

Disadvantages: The Worst Customer Service I Have Ever Witnessed, unrealistic Broadband Speeds

I used BT for a brief while when I was in a flat that had no Virgin Media cabled down the street. Part of me wished I'd dug the road up myself to get it, or not been held to ransom by a monopoly and stuck to using a mobile.

The service they provide is very good, it's crystal clear quality on the phone and very fast to connect. Called ID is handy to let you know who's calling and the tariffs that they provide are very competitive in allowing you lots of benefits such as free weekend calls, free evening calls and so on for a very competitive price. I was on a tariff that allowed free evening and weekend calls for £10.50 a month but I'm fairly sure that would be outdated by now.

Their broadband service is pretty good and allows fast speeds down the phone line though. I did find their BT Homehub completely useless and just kept resetting itself over and over again and spent more time not having a service than having one. If you can avoid it, just get the basic modem off of them and sort the whole wireless thing out yourself with a more established provider, it sounds tedious but it's worth the bit more effort in the long run.

their broadband tariffs aren't really that competitive. I paid about £20 a month for unlimited access and an 8mb speed. I think in reality the speed never really crept above 2mb despite BT argueing otherwise. I think with the broadband market being what it is you can probably get something a lot faster and a lot more competitive in price cheaper.

Where BT really comes apart and is shocking in service though lies with its call centres and customer service departments. It really is akin to a playground with headless chickens as schoolteachers and it's all done in a very immature fashion. If you do decide to go for BT just pray you never have to call them. I'll back this up with a short example rather than just tell you its bad:

My line was connected, disconnected and reconnected by accident and broadband took a month to connect. Although I only ever saw this as a connection I had a termination fee for £150 and taken by direct debit. I eventually got it back after 8 months but it really was the effort in getting it.

Staff blaming computer systems, either that it's being migrated so I don't have your information to hand and/or stating that they dont have access to that system so "ill transfer you accross" and then cutting you off. Or better still the person saying "dont know why they transferred you here mate". Being blind transferred was the best insult and having to explain your story for the 3rd time was particularly tedious especially when the story gets longer with each call. The letters don't seem to get opened either.

I really could go on for ages about the customer service but I won't. All I need to say is it really is the worst I have ever encountered and it's nothing short of a joke to experience. I'm fairly sure that they're aware of it as it's pretty renowned for it but I can't see it being sorted out anytime soon as nothing ever seems to change with it. If you've read my reviews before then you'll know I'm easily pleased and not a lot upsets me with a product, so you can imagine what this must be like

Overall the products are fantastic and they are pretty conpetitive, but it really is let down by some shocking call centres and a level of immaturity at dealing with queries and complaints as if peoples problems don't seem to count or matter. I'd reccomend the service, but only if I knew there was no chace that you'd ever need to call them and just be happy with a bill each month.

Summary: Steer Well Clear of Their Customer Services