Today, I came very close, believe me. Stupidly, I decided to phone BT concerning my telephone line being wired through the council alarm system. PlusNet told me to ring 150. So I did. After getting the usual press option 1 for this, 2 for that etc, and gone through three separate things, get the message "we are extremely busy blah blah" They don't even play you music while you wait, just the constant ring ring ring, and occasional oh-so-pleasant apologies and they will answer as soon as possible. Eventually, I get through. An Indian guy, probably in India. Now no way am I prejudiced, so I try and explain the problem, and it's quite obvious that (a) he doesn't understand me and (b) he hasn't the faintest idea what I'm on about with the box, the wiring etc. So he says he can't send an engineer because I don't have a fault with my line! So I lost my temper a bit then and said but I do have a fault with my line, it's wired up incorrectly. So he says he will put me on hold, and speak to his supervisor. This time I get the music, ding ding dong dong etc. He comes back on and says I need to speak to customer services, not faults. He will transfer me. Thank you. So then I get back to the original recorded message about we are extremely busy, someone will speak to you as soon as possible. 35 minutes later, I kid you not, I get through to a Scottish sounding guy. At least we could understand each other. Explain the whole situation again, and he says I need to speak direct to the OpenReach engineers. He says he can connect me or give me the number, so I says will I have to wait another 35 minutes? He says he can't be sure, but gives me the number anyway and as I was about to be transferred, the line went dead, and I was disengaged. So I ring the number he gave me. I get the option of buttons 1 to 7 to choose what my problem is. Decide on Option 3, which is faulty wiring. As soon as you pick it, it tells you to contact your service provider's faults department - ie BT...... which is what I effing well did in the first place.
Arrrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhh!
So I try another route - I'll phone the council, after all it is their problem, and their equipment which is causing all the trouble. Get through to the switchboard and explain briefly, get put through to someone. Explain again, and she says, oh I'll put you through to another department. So I finally get the right department and make sure this time, before I go through it all again. First of all, although she is Welsh, she didn't know how to spell my address, or where it was. Then she didn't know anything about boxes on walls, alarm systems, BT lines or what fucking day it was. I had to explain what a metal box on the wall was. That it had a bt phone socket inside it, and repeat that twice, and that the door was torn off in the wind, and what day, and that someone from the council came to repair it so they know about it already, and when he came....... So she says sorry, I'll have to speak to someone higher in the department and get them to ring you back. So I have to repeat my phone number 5 times before she gets it right. This was at 11.30. And as you have guessed, nobody has rung me back.
Why me? It's my phone bill to ring them, my stress, my blood pressure and my inconvenience, and it's for something that has nothing whatsoever to do with me apart from fucking up my phone line, and I got nowhere. So will have to go through it all again now. I am tempted to post them a letter to both companies and tell them that I am ripping the phone line from the box and they can come and sort it out. I expect then I'll get charged with criminal damage............
Bastards, the lot of them.
Oh and sorry for the swearing, but boy am I mad!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
good god,how annoying, I know just how you feel as its normally the same with me! Think they all need to have a lesson in actually dealing with the problems that their companies should deal with. Making my blood boil just to think about it, always the same though when you cant talk face to face with some one. Mind if its anything like the council here...good luck !!! They are about as much use as a useless thing on a very useless day, plus there seems to be so many of them, what do they all do?
jan,
I recognise the symptoms.
phone up the council again. explain what happened tell them you have been waiting all day for a call back.
and then tell them that if someone doesn't ring you pronto you'll be contacting your councillor and the council Chief Exec.
if that doesn't work write down the problem and contact the councillor and the chief exec.
I have avoided trying to call anyone for any kind of help because I have 'been there, done that' like in your situation. From our health insurer to tech support for our computer--and everything in between--I get the same kind of run-around. I REALLY hate modern technology sometimes.
What exactly is the problem? You just discovered that your phone line go into a secret metal box that you never noticed before until the wind blew the cover off in the middle of the night. and in thaT box you found a jack than anyone can plug into? and you think someone is plugging into it thusly upsetting your internet connection. so you think you are being wire-tapped and all your conversations taped. Is that it? You could just go out and bash the intruder who is plugging into your line with a fry pan.
tee hee, just got visions of jan out on a cold windy night with frying pan in hand ready to do battle!!! Maybe it is a spy thing, what you not telling us eh jan? This has given me a giggle...thanks anon!
Hahaha anon, thanks for the laugh. No the problem is that the council are taking the piss, and using MY phone line free of charge to operate their alarm system. Nobody can go and plug into it, has always been locked, hence the fact that nobody knew what was in there. The thing is that it means that my broadband line has constantly had a fault on it, and nobody knew why, and it's because of an extra extension on MY line which shouldn't be there. The Council should have THEIR OWN bloody phone line and pay BT for it, not steal mine. Hope that makes it clearer.
I can imagine how frustrated you must be but you have me cracking up with laughter after reading this blog. I love the way you write about your troubles with these people. Looking forward to the next episode. lol.
Post a Comment