I live in a Virgin Media monopoly area, never had trouble with them.
A fine day in April, Openreach were laying fibre in front of my property and the speeds got me excited, kept checking FTTP availability until June, to realise that my neighbours have FTTP available and not mine.
Called BT to rectify it, took Openreach a week to rectify. Placed an order on the phone (7th June) to be installed in 3 weeks. I gave my one month notice to Virgin Media in anticipation of BT keeping their promise. External work was scheduled - nobody turned up, Internal work was scheduled - nobody turned up. After a call, I was told the installation will be end of July. Those dates were not feasible and I cancelled the order.
External work was completed the next morning after I cancelled my order, I did not give up the FTTP dream and placed a new order which was to be activated on 09th July (as the external work was already completed). I have requested Virgin Media to extend the service
until 10th July. On the internal installation Engineer visited promptly, installed, but could not connect / activate as the routing was incorrect and this could be a week to rectify.
I called BT to understand the next steps, I was promised that the service will be activated on 12th July, which did not happen, I rang them on the 12th, they will get to know next steps on 16th, I called them on the 16th, I am told I will get to know on the 19th.
I do not have broadband since 6 days, me and my wife Working from home using mobile internet (tethering). BT have not been able to provide a confirmed date of install or an alternative. They kept using the Openreach card each time I ask them to commit to a date.
I now wish, I did not see Openreach laying fibre. Really !
They do not have any respect for customers, they don't mind them leaving. When I cancelled the first time, they were not interested, they did not even ask me why and what would make me stop. Today, When I mentioned I might stick to my current provider, they were swift to respond to my cancellation comment.
If my line gets installed, I worry about the service and how long would they take to fix it.
This is poor from a Telecom giant. BT, As a domestic client I might not matter, but the promises you make should mean something and I suggest you fix Openreach.
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17th July
Following my above review, John from BT responded to message @bt_uk on twitter for an update.
Unfortunately, I had the same response as his colleagues which added to my woes.
What puzzles me, they aren't even proposing an alternative solution, I know they can send a 5G dongle or something similar to alleviate the situation. So, lack of empathy, problem solving must be prevalent at all levels..
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BT have sent me a 4g hub (fancy as it sounds), speeds were less than 4mb / 1mb, returned it promptly.
I was called by BT, told me it might take a further 12 weeks to fix the problem and activate.
They have been extremely persistent in breaking my resolve.
I have now cancelled my contract with them and signed up for Virgin Media, I was up and running in 2 days.
Proceed with caution.. You are not important to BT and that's how I was made to feel.. Not going back to them anytime soon.. Nor would I recommend them for anything, even if it's free.
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