“Thank you for holding, we
are very busy at the moment
and apologise for the delay. Your call will be
answered as soon as
possible”.
The well spoken lady on the answering service of BT has been telling me for the last twenty minutes. Come to think of it, she has been telling me for the average half hour before each call I’ve made in the past four weeks to British Telecom.
All settled in a new home after seventeen flat share inspections the only thing missing, now we've overcome the broken boiler and cold shower shortfall we had in the first week, is a telephone line and Internet connection. Gumtree did advertise a flat that was broadband ready, so here I was thinking all I had to do was sign up with a provider. Alas, this is not so.
British Telecom own the telecommunications infrastructure in the UK, and having no previous account with them, I’ve been told by numerous ‘service’ representatives I need to sign up for a twelve month contract for line rental at £10.50 per month, not including call costs. On-top of this there is the broadband fee (the reason of this debacle), minimum £17.99 per month for twelve months. While the competition is open in the telecommunications market over here, customers still require a valid BT land line number before they can sign up to another provider. So, who wears the pants at the telephone exchange?
Defeated in attempting to find the best value deal, I’ve tried to create an order with BT for a landline number. Conversing with international call centre staff; an English lass, by the name of ‘Kristy’ coughing into the phone as she answered it; and it was the lovely Oliver who finally sorted me out with order reference number VOL0117689167578.
Wait, will be right back… just got through to an adviser (just to double check on the order).
Speaking to Jill now…
…. and now to Wayne in the Sales Department!
Ah, the joy! They’ve cancelled my order! Fan-bloody-tastic! Now I need to set up a new order, sign up for a twelve month contract AND pay for £124.99 connection fee as the house has no direct line connecting it to the telephone exchange! Woohoo!!
I must say, BT well done ol’ chap. You have indeed done well, keep the monopoly strong! Fly that flag high! £124.99 to the engineer to plug a switch into the network, and staff as helpful as those in your call centre, let me know if you are hiring…
Item 12: BT Broadband? Waiting... still waiting.... "Welcome to London"
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