BT Wholesale is a world-class enabler of converged network solutions?

What can I say - my sister-in-law Pauline has broadband FTTC from us. Simple.

But when we changed the phone line over to us, because it is cheaper (we do broadband only phone line on our new Home::1 tariff for only £10/month including VAT). This should be a simple records change, not anything technical.

That was over 8 days ago now. The order completed and a couple of hours later the FTTC went off line.

Now, lets be clear here, the line is in sync. All the bits of wire and fibre needed for this to be working are in place. There is no fault. It is entirely down to config on equipment. It should take seconds to fix.

They have not yet escalated to high level complaints even!

BT admit they got it wrong, and they are expediting getting this fixed !!!

If 8 days with no internet is an expedite then BT have no clue whatsoever.

We are over 40 emails on this that I have been copied on, and numerous calls, emails an echats that Shaun has been chasing as well.

Here is a selection of the crap we have received from this world-class enabler of converged solutions. Yes, that is what the sig on their email states. Like the hell!!??

Apparently BT say "Our vision for BT is to be dedicated to helping customers thrive in a changing world" which sounds like the Dilbert mission statement generator.

20th Nov, BT saying the service is ceased, but no explanation as to why
This needs to be addressed with PSTN team, wholesale will close the fault as no further action can be taken by us.

I have raised concerns with openreach who have finally agreed to get a free expedite due to their system error. We are currently in the process of clearing the tags i.e. a open modify order should be cancelled and then a cease light order to update adsl checker.

So, that seems to mean they have accepted they has system errors in the first place.

21st Nov: The modify order is now cancelled and we are placing a new cease light order which should be closed before EOD today.

22nd Nov: Unfortunately, the cease light order has taken 5 days lead time, we are now progressing with cancel and reissue activity. We are hopeful that the cease order would be completed by today EOD. 

This is a cease light order to update BTW Records and we need to review this tomorrow for further updates. 

We are still waiting for the cease order to be completed, We will keep you posted on the progress tomorrow morning by 11:00 GMT. Thanks.

23rd Nov: The cease order is delayed due to the system issue and has been highlighted to the back end team for investigation and quicker progression.

We shall revert back with an update by 10:00hrs in the morning today.

Further to update you, a bridge case has been raised to progress the cease light order and it is currently under investigation.

We will review this and will keep you posted with the updates by 15:00hrs.

24th Nov: The ASG team are from BT Operate hence they do not work over the weekends. If this is not moving further on Monday we will raise it to HLE.

26th Nov: We are chasing the ASG team to know the further actions on progression of the orders and to get the line cleared.

We will push this further with them to get the order moved and closed at the earliest today. We will update you on the status by 12:00hrs.

The PSTN order has been closed in our suppliers applications and is currently open on the back end applications. The order will be closed today and this will let us take further actions.

We are not denying the escalation to be passed to HLE team as the actions are already in place and we are waiting for the PSTN order to be completed in the back end applications.

The order should be closed by EOD today. We will review and update the status tomorrow morning by 11:00hrs.

P.S. BT's total incompetence when they have something like this that is not even an actual fault is one reason we recommend businesses have two lines.


29th Nov: Finally, after 10 days, we have finally got to the stage that BT can START the expedite of the fix for this. What the hell?

1st Dec: Finally, with me, the MD, visiting Pauline's and staying here from 8am until an engineer arrived, we have internet back. Sandra and Pauline should get back from shopping soon. Shame we don't see BT, who made the mistake in the first place, going to such lengths.


  1. That sounds all too familiar. The last HLC we put in involved our account manager telling us to "Call him back when the problem is resolved" erm, excuse me, aren't you meant to be chasing and resolving the problem *for* us?

  2. Please could someone shoot the person who wrote "We shall revert back with an update...". Twice, because 'back' is redundant as you can't revert forwards and more importantly, what they think they're saying isn't by any stretch of the imagination what 'revert' means despite it being misused frequently by pompous and ignorant people. [/rant]

  3. We had BT change an FTTC order to completed, even though the engineer never actually attended site (and so the user never had an SSFP or modem). So we had to go through the rigmorol of going through BT who ceased the line, and then ordered a new FTTC and expedited it, and indeed we ended up with two sets of install charges, plus early termination fees (i.e. the 12 month minimum term) and cease fees as well as, of course, the new fees for the new installation (which was actually installed second time around). Ignoring the fact that it was originally ordered as a PSTN+FTTC Sim Provide which they never did anyway(!). Fortunately, BT only required one request in the new 'Query Bill' part of eBilling and agreed to credit the lot :) They didn't even 'accidentally' bill us for the expedite.

    However, I am expecting some fun in a forthcoming bill. We had a line this week that was unreliable and with poor sync speed, BT notes say "Missed appointment, engineer could not locate property" so we expect them to try and charge us for this, yet mysteriously the line's sync speed improved from 4.5 Meg to 22.5 Meg and the line became stable at around the same time as the failure to locate the property.

