Sign in / up

BT engineers - missed appointments

Do tell us about your recent experiences with BT Openreach engineers and missed appointments. Have you waited in all day for someone to come and repair busted broadband kit and/or connections only to discover hours later that the engineer allocated to the job is a total no-show? Do you think a pattern is emerging with BT …

This topic was created by Kelly Fiveash .

COMMENTS

Post your comment
House rules Send corrections
Add to 'My topics' unstar *

Page:

  1. AJI

    No show that won't appear in statistics

    Just waited in all morning but no BT infinity install! Phoned them up, "the work hasn't been done at the exchange or in your cabinet yet, we'll call you in a week to arrange an appointment" . I asked politely why no one had bothered to tell me this, since I had all the paperwork confirming the appointment and my online order tracking still shows it as in progress and on target. "We tried to call you last week but you never answer your phone, it just rings and rings". I explained that I have an answerphone, and I had successful calls and/or messages left by other people every day, so that seems implausible, but the response was there must be something wrong with my phone. I also pointed out they have been sending me emails all week assuring me the order is on target, and my online tracking shows the appointment on track - they just changed the subject at this point.

    What's the betting this doesn't appear in BT statistics as a no-show?

    The helpful person on the line made a generous offer of £10 credit for my trouble - did I feel good about having my time valued at £2 an hour?? She also said there was no problem if I didn't have broadband, because they would let me have free minutes on BT Openzone! She seemed puzzled that my house might not be covered by openzone wifi.

    With a lot of persistence I got a VERY VERY reluctant agreement for a manager to call me back, but it won't be till next week, apparently they are all too busy with important calls - from which I deduce that mine doesn't fall into the "important" category. Should be an interesting call next week......

    0 0 Reply
    1. Corinne
      Reply Icon

      Re: No show that won't appear in statistics

      The reason why they didn't tell you that the exchange/cabinet work hadn't been done was because the department that does that work doesn't have a process for telling the installation department that the work has been rescheduled. So the people who call/email you have no idea that your install can't go ahead, and may only have found out themselves when the engineer goes to the cabinet that day.

      This is exactly what happened to me twice - engineer turns up at my house only to discover that the cabinet hasn't been upgraded. The second time it happened I was insistant that they didn't even schedule the third visit until they had confirmation that the work on the cabinet had already been carried out, yet I still got a call a couple of days before the cabinet work was due trying to insist I could make the appointment as the work was definitely going ahead. Guess what? It was rescheduled again to "some time 2013" (bearing in mind this was going on over a year ago).

      Like you I received a generous £10 per failed install and I had to argue for that as technically they HAD called, just not been able to carry out the work, which makes that payment discretionary!

      0 0 Reply
      1. AJI
        Reply Icon

        Re: No show that won't appear in statistics

        Actually that isn't the way it came across for me: they said they had known the week before the appointment that the work hadn't been done, but claimed they had been phoning me repeatedly to cancel the appointment. That was clearly not true, but they kept up the pretence, and just generously agreed to overlook the fact that I wasn't contactable.

        As of today, was promised exchange would be done Tuesday and I would be making an appointment today, however the story is now that was (another) mistake, and it is now due 9th April. I'm not holding my breath!

        0 0 Reply
        1. Corinne
          Reply Icon

          Re: No show that won't appear in statistics

          They may have TOLD you that, but I had a nice sympathetic engineer who told me the morning of the 2nd failed appointment, followed up by an even nicer guy at BT Dundee who confirmed that was what was happening,

          Just don't make another appointment until they confirm they have actually done the work - you may get pressured by a salesperson to make that appointment but hold firm.

          0 0 Reply
  2. Naadir Jeewa
    WTF?

    Right, OpenReach still haven't done the works to get our properties connected. Next update is on Day 162. I live in London. I can really see OpenReach rolling out FTTC to rural Scotland, can't you?

    0 0 Reply
    1. Skoorb
      Reply Icon

      For goodness sake, just make a formal complaint already and start the 8 week deadline rolling: http://www.ombudsman-services.org/complain-now-communications.html

      0 0 Reply
  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The work to upgrade the cabinet to allow your FTTC is completed 4 days before appointment so any issues can be fixed before engineer turns up so theres no excuse if they turn up and its not done.

    0 0 Reply
  4. sandyring
    WTF?

    abysmal

    Took half a day off today, sat in the lounge a few meters from the front door from 8am til 12:50, at 12:50 I got an email saying the BT engineer couldn't gain access to the property, another 2 hours spent on the phone trying to find out when he has turned up.

    Now 10 days without internet which I need for work.

    Absolutely abysmal, no one cares at all.

    0 0 Reply
    1. Phil W
      Reply Icon

      Re: abysmal

      Not excusing BT's poor service in any way, obviously crap response you've got.

      Just curious though, are you paying for a business package from an ISP? Or just using a normal home internet package?

      I wouldn't like to presume, but the majority of home workers that I hear complaining about their internet being off and needing it for work are paying cheap rates for home user connections instead of forking out business rates and getting SLAs from their ISP.

      0 0 Reply
  5. Poprocks84

    Been in new build since april 2013. Initially ordered phone and broadband with SKY. Between april and July 2013 had engineer no shows and nobody contacting us. Was advise there were faults on the line, no line laid by BT openreach ect, each time was told something different. With no active phone line we moved to try with BT in July 2013. As of today (16th sep 2013) we have had two failed engineer appointments, 3 cancelled orders for broadband and phone line and today BT cannot tell us when this will be done. They now say the engineer checked the phone line and there wasnt one laid to the poperty. Cannot speak to BT openreach. Been advised to check back in october. Nobody willing to take a complaint at BT and 6 months on , no phone line or internet!! I feel like screaming and crying!!!!

    0 0 Reply
  6. Suburban Inmate

    I'm finally shifting my lazy arse away from BeThere, but they have offered me 12 months half price (shit, I should have made the call when I first heard rumors of Sky) and now it just doesn't seem worth the hassle.

    Should I stick with half price BeSky or move over to Infinity unlimited?

    0 0 Reply
  7. hangell

    I took half a day off work and BT Openreach didnt turn up, TalkTalk have washed their hands of it and BT arent getting back to me. Allow other companies to work on the lines, with the correct training of course, having just OpenReach is clearly not working.

    0 0 Reply
  8. Zacherynuk
    Devil

    Openreach are to the infrastructure as G4S is to security. And, indeed alarm company ADT.

    They are a poor umbrella / management company with countless sub contracted individuals leaching off the name. I have noticed in London that they have run out of vans, even and sending joe bloggs and his crimping tool into establishments with only a 2x2 sticker on their C reg Astra van.

    They are a running joke, like BR was in the 80's. Thing is BT 'for real' aren't any better, the sales and account management is diabolical, especially in highly congested areas like Mayfair - I have seen 100+ grand sales (annum) for BT vaporise this year so far because they couldn't be arsed to get back.

    Openreach took nearly 3 months to connect my second line at my home office. 9 engineers. The issue was the overhead needed replacing, but that required work and they get paid a set fee per call out so would rather not do work. I was told, by one of them that geo-stationary satellites caused the interference and since I was so close to Gatwick flight path I was always going to have CRC errors. Despite another xdsl line in the house being fine.

    The short of it is that it is almost entirely at the discretion of the engineer as to whether he does his job or not. There is no peer review, there is no where else to go. there are no standards, due care or retribution.

    When I did my school work experience, aged 15 I spent 2 weeks sat in the back of a big yellow British Rail Lorry playing Gin Rummy and drinking tea. Apparently this was because they got paid triple time on weekends and so didn't want to clear any tickets. They still got paid though.

    Every single time. Every.Single. Time. Every single time a new line goes in at countless London clients sites, whether it be the Gherkin, a Regus officem a shared building or a wholly owned building of over 2000 people. EVERY SINGLE TIME a new line goes in the Openreach engineer will snip and use the nearest LLU line (easynet etc) since it doesn't have a dial tone - but is the neatest one and VERY CLEARLY MARKED. EVERY SINGLE TIME. He'll go away with an easy job, next engineer will come out and know what happened and have to put it right. I think it's a game they play. (Although I wouldn't be surprised if they charge the LLU's!)

    Openreach is clearly not working.

    0 0 Reply
  9. jds123456

    I havent personally experienced this but....

    My friends recently moved house and decided on BT broadband, however when BT didnt turn up they cancelled their order and went with virign media.

    0 0 Reply
    1. John P
      Reply Icon

      Re: I havent personally experienced this but....

      A friend of mine had the same issue recently when moving in to a brand new estate. There was no Virgin so BT was his only choice, they failed to turn up 3 times before they could be arsed to actually turn up and install his line. The first two times they cancelled the appointment but didn't tell him, the third time they just plain didn't bother to visit.

      Interestingly, according to the representative of the construction company that he spoke to, the reason BT was his only choice was because they'd made a deal with the construction company that wouldn't allow Virgin to lay their lines during construction and somehow actively prevents them from doing installations on site for X years after completion. How on earth can that be legal?

      1 0 Reply
  10. Cleary1981

    Disconnection Fee

    Not impressed with BT. I called at my mums to look at her BT bills. She has been on the same broadband package for years which has a 10GB allowance. Typically they were hitting 20GB per month. So I called BT to change package and was informed that they could have infinity for the same price she pays now but there was a £30 connection fee. I asked if it could be waived for a longstanding customer who has been hit with extra charges for over use. Not liking their response I asked about cancelling the contract which is long expired and was told she would have to pay a £30 fee to have it disconnected. This apparently is buried somewhere in the T&C's which would have appeared onscreen when she first setup her broadband. I find this completely underhand and I would love to know when this came into affect as she has had this package for some time. If anyone knows a way round this I would love to know. The money is not the issue I just hate caving to these scum.

    0 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Disconnection Fee

      Bascially if you cancel ADSL and don't move your service to someone else Openreach/BT have to send someone out to physically disconnect the ADSL and therefore they charge.

      If however you request a MAC code and move to another ISP they won't charge.

      0 0 Reply
  11. Lionel Baden
    Flame

    The day I saw Red

    I learnt the expression "Seeing Red" is a literal term. No Joke...

    New build property, 3.5 month to get phone and broadband. although paying full price for both

    Claims there were no cables laid to the property, I quite happily explained they were sticking up the side of the house just not connected.

    2.7 months into ordeal of phonecalls

    Crews working on other properties on the same estate wire up my property, they managed to get the paperwork after a month on needling their manager.

    Finally a Kelly engineer turns up, i have moved all the furniture for easy access, i laid out all the equipment for him. and he then states there is no broadband install ordered for my property (I saw red here) He then tries to put through a charge at a later date for £130 as there was already a phone line.

    So order broadband and end up paying for 2 phonelines, 2 phone packages and 2 broadband connections.

    i was offered £25 for my entire ordeal.

    I managed to get back around £500 for overpayment, lack of service, mobile dongle(no wifi spots), and data usage.

    It was the worst experience of my life with a company. I have never been treated so poorly.

    There is more to the story and more details i have skimped on, but to explain in full would require much to much time and would get rather monotonous.

    I have many positive experiences with BT, and their older engineers are of a class second to none. Who care about their work and the customer. I still believe they are the best choice for most consumers.

    I have had 2 problems with kelly's, mind you that they have only visited twice speaks volumes.

    I was a self employed IT Consultant who worked from home the entire time this happened.

    0 0 Reply
  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm in this loop now.

    Bt Openreach engineer working in roadside cabinet in January managed to screw my line, and it's now the middle of March. I still have a faulty line, and trying to get BT to do anything about it is just impossible. All you ever get is some call centre worker, who has no accountability or stake in being arsed about the problem, who sits and spews forth platitudes. I can't tell you the number of BT call centre employees who have told me "not to worry" apparently it's all in hand and "the problem will be fixed".

    I'm now sat here looking at the number for the disconnection department, because I've really, really had my fill of BT's utter incompetence. I know I should do it, but I wonder if it wouldn't be wise to find an alternative provider first, instead of letting my frustration and anger get the better of me.

    1 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Get the right BT engineer and your woes will fade away as he fixes the problem... it's how to get the right BT engineer which seems to be the problem :-)

      2 0 Reply
    2. rhydian
      Reply Icon

      If you value your phone number I'd hold off until the line is fixed. Getting another provider involved during a fault is a recipe for disaster.

      As said, the engineers themselves (unless they're a sub from Kelly's or similar) are usually fine blokes who know what they're doing. The problem is the layers of crap between you and them.

      0 0 Reply
      1. Alan Brown Silver badge
        Reply Icon

        "As said, the engineers themselves (unless they're a sub from Kelly's or similar) are usually fine blokes who know what they're doing."

        Over the last few years, BT has systematically employed ex-squaddies. Most seem to think the correct way to reboot a computer involves steel toecaps.

        Army boys may be good at following orders but they're not so good at analytical thinking or initiative.

        0 0 Reply
  13. Pbhana

    I recently ordered Sky and Sky broadband since I was moving into another flat. The broadband appointment was scheduled for the 7th July 2014. The booking was confirmed between 8:00 - 13:00 PM. I contacted Sky at 12:45 asking what the status of the engineer was and they told me that the engineer has missed the appointment. I was frustrated and left for work. The engineer called me at 15:45 asking me if I was at home (obviously at work by now). He complained to me about the amount of work he had to do.

    I later phoned Sky and they could only re-schedule the appointment for the 21st July 2014. I begged and pleaded and they were sympathetic yet assertive that they could not change the date since it had to do with the BT booking portal. On the 20th July, I received a text message notifying me that the appointment for the 21st July was now cancelled and the best they could offer me was the 4th August....

    I called Sky on numerous occasions and again, they guaranteed me that and engineer will connect my broadband on the 4th of August. I'm not sure what I should do. This has gone on for a full month. Does anyone out there know who I can contact to have my broadband connected??? Please help!!!

    0 0 Reply
  14. Edward Grefenstette

    BT/Openreach are incompetent

    I ordered an upgrade on BT line, to BT Infinity. My flat has a broken buzzer, and a big sign on the door that states this, and my phone number (to call, to be let in). To be safe, when booking the upgrade, I also added a note stating that the buzzer was broken and that a call needed to be made (indicating my number). No call was made on the day, and the engineer never showed up.

    I call BT support on the evening of the failed visit (a Monday), and they assured me that they were on my side and would advance an engineering visit to Thursday or Friday, and call on Tuesday to confirm. No one called on Tuesday, so on Wednesday I called BT again. This time, they stated that the engineering appointment couldn't be brought forward because "The engineer couldn't get access to the property" (no missed calls on my end!). I explained that I had given notice of how to access the property at the time of booking, and on the door to the property itself. The support chap said that he would arrange for an engineer to come on Thursday, Friday, or Monday. I had a chat with BT today, and it turns out the engineer is not coming any of those days, and will come at the end of the month "because they couldn't get access to the property".

    In short, Openreach lied that they couldn't get access to the property, because they didn't follow instructions, and BT has repeatedly lied to me that they would resolve the issue. Avoid these companies!!

    0 0 Reply
  15. Alan Brown Silver badge

    "I had a chat with BT today, and it turns out the engineer is not coming any of those days, and will come at the end of the month "because they couldn't get access to the property". "

    They tried this on me once. I offered to upload the CCTV footage showing they hadn't bothered turning up.

    On another occasion the Openbletch tech parked outside for 25 minutes, then drove off, trying to claim "noone was home". CCTV footage showed that lie up too.

    0 0 Reply
  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Beware MJ Quinn engineer

    Last year I ordered FTTC from an indepentent ISP. I had a PM appointment slot which I had to take a day off work for. The engineer was from MJ Quinn who rolled up 2 minutes before the end of the time slot and took one look and said, "sorry, your router is incompatible so I can't do the work". I argued with him as I knew my router was good, and even if it wasn't, he would've had to install an Openreach modem anyway, but he wouldn't hear of it, so he logged an abortive visit. I think his shift was ending and wanted to get home to have his tea so couldn't be bothered. The next day I complained and a Kelly Communications engineer turned up the day after and installed it with no problems.

    I work for a small IT company and have had many run-ins with incompetent BT/Openreach/Kelly/Quinn engineers, but also there are some that have had some common sense and broke BT's H&S rules to keep the customer happy.

    1 0 Reply
  17. David_Penson

    Can’t even fix a fault with their own equipment.

    i have had to take many days off work, and still the fault with their equipment is not fixed. they continue to take money for a service they are not providing, and as i have lost so much money sitting at home waiting for an engineer to visit if they actually turn up, they claim they have a photograph of my front door to prove they visited, this is contrary to 6 hrs of cctv footage. I may be forced to take them to court, as apparently a payment for a service that they can’t provide is non refundable.

    After the 3rd and final BT visit my connection speed is less than when I started to complain about it dropping out. and plusnet`s response is its fixed. I think not.

    Now they are blaming my cctv for REIN, however it complies with EMC directive 1999/5/EC.

    They made my internet worse, damaged my property (because clearly they are not trained to use drills), and now blaming unrelated equipment.

    0 0 Reply
  18. jamiep

    BT let me down

    Had an installation booked in on 27th August 2015 between 1-6. Nobody turned up rang or contacted me to inform me of this, spent 2 hours on hold waiting to speak to a manager. The following day I spent a further 2 hours on hold finally got through to a manager called kumar who lied a load of times to me and also informed me that there wasn't an engineer available for that slot. How is this even possible we had an appointment ready for the works what a waste of time and effort. They gave me another appointment a week later, BT openreach installed a phone line and waited for the other engineer to turn up. Spoke to customer services again who informed me that another appointment will have to be made, I am fuming how can this be aloud.

    0 0 Reply
    1. rhydian
      Reply Icon

      Re: BT let me down

      "also informed me that there wasn't an engineer available for that slot. How is this even possible we had an appointment ready"

      Usual answer is that they've "run out of resource" (also known as: run out of engineers).

      Also, many utilities are moving over to workers "picking up" jobs from a despatch system. Your appointment would be put on that list to be picked up by an engineer, however if they're all busy then no-one turns up, and you don't get to know anything.

      0 0 Reply
  19. auden12

    But properly maintained paper-insulated cable is a lot better for DSL performance than plastic insulated stuff.

    0 0 Reply
    1. rhydian
      Reply Icon

      The key word there is "properly maintained". Openreach have given up looking after external line plant in my area. Cables fallen from poles and left for years, crosstalk on lines never fixed..

      0 0 Reply
  20. auden12

    Turned up on time to install fibre router, called me before hand to check I was home and let me know he was sorting out settings at the exchange and street cabinet.

    0 0 Reply
  21. Bob H

    I got accused of missing an Openreach appointment recently where the engineer was supposed to install a new FTTC line, which was interesting because the bloke came fairly promptly, installed the line, it worked fine and he was on his way fairly quickly (a very satisfactory experience).

    I suspect someone failed to close the job correctly and I got blamed as a result.

    0 0 Reply
  22. cfisher1966

    Repeated Openreach cancellations

    I confirmed on appointment for today, 24th November, on Friday 20th November, arranged hotel to be there by 0800 and drove 130 miles. So, large expense and night away from the family. This morning I chase and am told that Openreach have moved the appointment until tomorrow. So another night in a Hotel away from my family, yet more cost.

    They did exactly the same to me on 25th August, as per the following complaint we sent them

    An appointment for an Engineer on-site visit was arranged back on 17th August. This appointment was for an engineer to turn up between 0800 and 1300 hours on 25th August to perform the upgrade. We were also advised that our external IP was changing which meant that technical support had to be on hand to minimise loss of business and reconfigure our external comms.

    In order to ensure that our technical staff would be there by 0800, our ICT administrator went to Market Harborough the day and spent the night in a hotel. His combined travel, subsistence and hotel expenses alone are close to £300, not to mention his daily wage which we have not factored in.

    We find it totally unacceptable that Openreach:-

    1. Failed to attend during the hours of 0800 and 1300.

    2. Did not contact us at all – we had to call you to chase them

    3. then advised that we should hang around until 1800 hours as they would definitely attend

    4. Failed to attend again despite these assurances

    5. Claim that they could not get hold of their engineer – are they not a communications company?

    6. claim they attended at 2200 hours and that no-one was available. This was a business appointment, how on earth did they expect the office to be manned at 2200?

    7. claim they left a voicemail stating that they had attended. This is not believable

    As a result of the above, our technical staff had to remain in Market Harborough until much later than planned, which would have incurred another hotel night charge had they not chosen to drive 150 miles home.

    We also find Openreach’s claim that they attended at 2200 hours ridiculous. Our technician’s contact number was given, and no voicemail was left. Lastly, the site is very secure and has rising bollards that are designed to stop heavy plant machinery being stolen from the site, so the claim that the engineer entered the site in an Openreach Transit van is not believable.

    I would be grateful if you could pass this complaint on to Openreach and also to advise where we should send our invoice for our technician’s travel and hotel expenses, directly incurred by their failure to attend.

    Openreach's response? They did not even bother to reply. Has anyone had any success claiming compensation from Openreach?

    0 0 Reply

Page:

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

Forgotten password ?

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon