BT Customer Services Complaints

BT Basics Complaint

2009-07-15T13:54:00.003+01:00

This is a BT complaint regarding the customer services a disabled customer received when requesting to join BT Basics

Please find the e-mail drafted below. I called the 0800 800 150 number on BT.com and guess what they have NO e-mail complaint procedure!! It's all very shoddy indeed and I already wish I didn't have to rely on BT. So if you could forward this would be most greatful!

Dear Sirs

I am writing to complain about the service I received when requesting to joining BT as a new customer under BT basics. Initially all the help I received was positive and that I would be connected on my moving day 15th July.

When on the 14th I rang to request that the line be put on sooner if possible. I was told no and that I wouldn't be connected until my appointment Friday AM.

My response was . . ."what Appointment???"

Nobody saw fit to advise me of this appointment despite them having my mobile number or arranging this on application.

I am now going to be without my phone for a week and as a disabled person on the most minimum of benefits I can ill afford to rely on my PAYG mobile (plus I do not even know if I can get mobile coverage).

This is a very poor indeed and even before a service has even been installed.

I would appreciate your response on this matter.

Mobile users should share broadband tax, says BT

2009-07-13T12:52:00.002+01:00

BT has called for the government's proposed £6-a-year broadband tax to be extended to mobile phone users in a move that could reduce the size of the tax. In his Digital Britain report last month, the communications minister, Lord Carter, proposed a 50p-a-month levy on every fixed-line phone to meet the bill for getting the next generation of super-fast broadband networks to 90% of UK households by 2017.

But it is not only fixed-line companies that would be able to bid for some of the estimated £1.5bn that would be raised by the tax. Mobile phone operators would also be able to use the money. As a result, BT's director of industry policy and regulation, Emma Gilthorpe, said yesterday that if mobile, wireless-based operators did go through that bid process then "the government should consider the opportunity to widen the base for the tax and possibly reduce the amount that each individual household pays".

BT reckons it is incongruous that the levy only applies to fixed-line phones even though mobile phone companies and other businesses that want to use wireless solutions can bid for the cash for next-generation networks.

Carter proposed the new broadband tax because there is little chance of the market being able to make an economic case for pushing fibre-optic networks and other super-fast broadband services beyond about 60% of the population. With the Treasury unwilling to make any money available from general taxation, the telephone levy aims to plug the funding gap.

BT has already announced plans to invest £1.5bn over the next three years on a super-fast network but it will only reach four of every 10 homes. Virgin Media, meanwhile, is already offering broadband at 50Mb a second – the sort of speed expected from next-generation networks – but it covers only about half of the country.

Gilthorpe's comments, at a Westminster Media Forum debate on Digital Britain, came as BT announced that it is speeding up the rollout of its next-generation network.

Having originally planned to have about half a million homes connected by next March, it yesterday said it would have 1.5m homes connected by next summer. By the end of this summer Virgin Media will have completed its next-generation network plan, putting its 50Mb a second service within reach of 12.5m homes.

But there are fears within the industry that Carter's broadband tax could fail as it would require a new finance bill, which is unlikely to appear before next March. By then the government will be focused on a forthcoming general election and a new tax on consumers is unlikely to be a vote-winner.

Sourced from Guardian Newspaper [Link]

BT unhappy about Virgin Media 50mb Broadband Speeds

2009-07-13T12:48:00.003+01:00

Virgin Media's advertising campaign for its 50Mb broadband has been okayed by the ASA after rival broadband operator BT logged an official complaint.

Boasting "the fastest broadband in the UK", the campaign has comprised of press ads, posters and Samuel L. Jackson-front TV adverts.

BT however were not impressed with the boast, claiming the 50Mb speeds were not the fastest and its Ebbsfleet Valley 100Mb pilot scheme was.

The Advertising Standards Authority has dismissed BT's complaint as BT's 100Mb offering is a very limited trial whereas Virgin's 50Mb broadband is available to over 5 million homes and is due to be extended to many more soon.

BT Broadband Contact goes horribly wrong

2009-07-12T20:45:00.002+01:00

This BT complaint regards a catalog of customer service errors resulting in incorrect broadband billing and this customers phone line being cut off. Like so many of you who have experienced this type of service from BT, contacting anyone senior enough to complain to is impossible so this website is putting all complaints into a report and sending not only to BT for investigation, but also Watchdog and other complaint organisations.

Dear Sir

I would like to add my name to the long list of people already disgusted with BT.
I am currently being pursued by Credit Solutions Ltd who have been appointed BT to recover a debt relating to a broadband contract that went wrong. I have a colleague who had previously fallen out with BT resulting in his phone line being cut off. This was another dispute where a neighboring farmer knocked over the telegraph pole and BT subsequently split the cost of repair between several neighboring houses. My colleague refused to pay and was cut off.

We wanted him to have a land-line for business purposes so that he could use broadband and be easier to contact, so I persuaded him to let me pay BT (through the company) to reconnect the phone and provide a broadband service. They were supposed to send all bills to me at the company address. They managed to send the first bill to this address and then returned to sending them to the old address or not at all (I'm not sure which).

Anyway, they then cut the phone line off again because it had not been paid for even though they had not sent me any of the bills. They also failed to supply the necessary dial up information to be able to use the broadband service that we had agreed to pay for. Then they cut off the broadband service as well, which did not matter since we had never been able to use it.

They have now managed to send bills to me again for payment (including another reconnection charge) but they are also pursuing me for payment for the broadband service that we have never used. I have written letters to BT and to the debt collection firm and spent several dreadful hours on the phone to Mumbai without making any progress.

I am tempted to pay the outstanding debt just to be rid of the argument and to avoid bad credit rating for me, but I would also like to get hold of someone in BT to complain properly to. Do you know of any lines of communication with BT that actually work ?

Regards

Ben Wilcox

BT Credit Card - Rate Changes

2009-07-08T18:24:00.002+01:00

BT has rung the changes to its credit card but customers should be cautious. The card has some worthwhile features like discounts on BT bills, 0% on balance transfers for 13 months and 0% on purchases for three months.

But only those who use the card for one purpose only - either to pay off debt or to trim their BT bill - will benefit. Anyone taking advantage of all the offerings could end up stung with interest charges.

Andrew Hagger, of Moneynet.co.uk, says: "The discount on BT bills, at 1p for every £1.50 spent, is better than the cashback on most other cards, working out at 0.66%, compared to an average 0.5%. If someone spends £500 a month on the card and pays that off in full they will get £40 off their BT bill over a year.

"But that could be wiped out by interest charges of 16.9% after 90 days."

The order of repayments means the cheapest debt is paid off first, leaving more expensive transactions on the card until you've repaid the balance transfer in full.

A lengthy BT Broadband complaint

2009-07-07T22:44:00.002+01:00

A BT Broadband complaint sent in today which highlights customer service failings and service let down on a grand scale....

Dear Sir

I am writing to complain about the service received from BT. From day one, the service received has been awful. We waited 2 weeks longer than expected for our broadband service to be switched on, we were told there were faults on the line, we were promised times and dates that the service would be switched on, none of which were kept to.

In February of this year, we moved address. Initially we stopped the service as we were moving to a temporary address. We then called you at the beginning of April to get the phone line and broadband set up. We were told that you had never stopped the service at the previous address and that we had a large bill outstanding. Finally you admitted that you had made a mistake and that the bill was incorrect. At the end of April / beginning of May, we finally had the problem with our bill sorted out (or so we thought).

We still had the problem of having no broadband service, our phone line was connected as promised (congratulations, this is the only thing your useless organisation has managed to get right so far, you must be so proud). So we contacted your help(less) desk, who could not really understand English, let alone speak it. They explained that there was a problem with the line, then that there wasn't a problem on the line, then that we were too far from the exchange (we live less than 50 metres from the exchange), then again that there was a problem on the line, then, finally, that BT hadn't bothered to actually request the set up of the broadband! We eventually agreed that the broadband would be connected within a week.

Guess what, it wasn't (I'm sure you are as surprised as me!). So I called again around the 23rd April, went through the same 'reasons' (or lies, as I like to call them) for not being connected and was told that it would finally be connected on the 30th April. I was understandably not happy with this (approx 3 weeks after you originally 'lied') and complained that this was simply not good enough. I was assured that it was an error from BT that meant my broadband order hadn't been set up correctly and that due to some tests you had to carry out on the line there was no physical way it could be connected before the 30th. I was unhappy, but so fed up of arguing with someone who couldn't understand me or speak English properly that I resigned myself to defeat.

Now, imagine my surprise when I returned home on the 28th of April and my broadband was magically working. I checked everywhere for sprites, leprechauns, unicorns, wizards and witches, but in the absence of any magical beings I came to the conclusion that your 'no physical way it could be connected before the 30th' was in fact another reason (lie).

I didn't phone up to complain about this, it seemed a waste of my life and at the end of the day I was finally a happy (in comparison with someone who has a life threatening disease AND problems with BT) customer.

Sadly, you were back to your old tricks soon enough. Despite my giving you DD details on at least 2 previous occasions, you persisted on sending me quarterly bills, again backdating them and trying to charge me for the period in which you were not actually providing me with any kind of service whatsoever (other than a very poor one!). I was quite rude to one of your staff and demanded to speak to someone in Britain.

I was told this wasn't possible, but finally I passed to someone called Vince, from Glasgow (although I did notice his accent was more Punjab than Paisley), he was very helpful, and in fairness had a grasp of English about as comprehensive as the average Scot, so I wasn't overly upset that BT had reasoned (lied) to me once again. 'Vince' eventually gave up arguing, once he realised he was wrong and agreed to wipe around £60 off the bill to make up for the period you were charging me when I received no service anyway - how kind! I gladly paid the money I owed and again gave my DD details.

This time, it appeared that BT weren't reasoning (lying) to me, I did indeed receive a new bill - paid as agreed and a letter stating that a DD had been set up. On later investigation, my bank corroborated the story, so definitely no reasoning (lying).

I was happy, again!

Until the evening of 5th July, when my broadband service vanished. I couldn't summon the energy to teach someone English that evening so I hoped the magical creatures might return overnight and fix any problem that had occurred. Sadly, it didn't happen this time.

So on the evening of the 7th July I called BT, using the number that was displayed on my forlorn looking laptop when I tried to access the internet. First reason (lie) from BT... the bloody number is wrong! The auto woman (who sounded refreshingly English) informed me that I could now call BT freephone, wonderful I thought! On reflection, this amounts to nothing but fraud, indeed I am now seeking legal advice to see if I can sue BT.

How many people call the technical helpdesk from the incorrect number displayed on your 'sorry our service is shit' message? I bet a fair few, (in fact, could you provide me with the numbers please?) every one of those people is charged for listening to a message which gives you a freephone number... why not just change the number I thought... of course, BT wouldn't make any money out of their service being down! So, please forward myself (and every other BT customer who has ever called this number) a cheque to repay the money charged due to your not being bothered to update a number. I am not joking. This is fraud.

Anyway, I digress. I called the aforementioned freephone number and after eternity someone answered and promptly asked for my telephone number (i had already confirmed on the IVR system that I wanted to talk about the number from which I was calling). I explained what the problem with and the lady on the 'phone kindly read through all her pre-prepared scripts in pigeon English.

Unsurprisingly after an hour of this, my connection was still not working. I had tried everything from turning it on and off (I knew at this point I was talking to a professionally trained and highly skilled technical operative) to unscrewing the socket from the wall and discovering much to the surprise of Miss Helpful, that I definitely don't have a test socket. (I knew this, but she insisted that I move my sofa, TV unit and entire bookcase half way across my living room to I could check anyway).

She then proudly declared that there must be a problem with my broadband connection (no shit, really?), not since Newton was struck by an apple has anyone had such an epiphany. She then asked me to replace my ADSL filter as these often break. Sadly on this occasion I didn't have one lying around (so annoying, they're normally everywhere, I must have thrown at least 20 away just yesterday). She did point out that I may have one in the original packaging, as BT realise their products are crap so send a spare for when the first invariably ceases to work. I pointed out that I had moved home twice since then (which BT know, see above) and had about as much chance of finding it as BT will have finding a reason (lie) to explain my problems so far.

I then enquired whether BT would kindly send me another ADSL filter. Miss Helpful placed me on hold and then confirmed that no, my ADSL filter which was expected to break, was out of it's warranty. She suggested I buy another one to see if this was the problem.

At this point I lost it, I went mad. I ranted for about ten minutes about how crap BT are and then demanded that my broadband was canceled. She seemed taken aback, and persisted on trying to fix the problem. I kindly explained that it didn't matter if she did fix the problem, I still wanted my broadband canceled. This culminated in verbal tennis to rival the 5th set of Federer Vs Roddick at Wimbledon 2009. I would say I didn't want it fixed, just canceled and she would reply with, 'I appreciate you frustration, I will try to find the fault'.

To add to this, I note that at the end of June 2009, BT were voted as having the 'worst customer service in Britain' (the telegraph). I also note that there is a website dedicated to BT complaints

So, to the crux of my letter, I would like the following:

A full and detailed explanation of your recruitment policy for your call centres, I assume all your reasoners (liars) are highly trained professionals with recognised industry qualifications?
A cheque to me and to every other BT customer who has called the fraudulent telephone number (see above).
An explanation as to why your company purposely reasons (lies to), deceives and defrauds it's customers.
A letter from 'Vince' giving me detailed directions to a shop of his choice within Glasgow city centre (just to prove he was really from Glasgow)
A letter confirming the number of customers who have called the fraudulent telephone number.
A letter detailing why BT is such a useless company, who are unable to keep simple promises and who let their customers down with a consistency that could rival the laws of physics.
A copy of all information that BT hold on me, as I am allowed to request under the data protection act. If there is a charge for this, I suggest given the circumstances, you waive that charge.

If you are unable to provide a satisfactory answer to the above questions, please cancel my broadband service, keep my landline service and delete me from any mailing lists you may have.

In either case I also seek some financial recompense for the time, effort, stress and inconvenience your hopeless company has caused to myself and my 8 month pregnant wife. I would suggest something in the region of free broadband for a year, free phonecalls for a year and £1000 of vouchers for a popular high street department store (ask 'Vince' I am sure he could suggest a few in Glasgow). I also enclose the receipt for my ADSL filter, which I want refunded in full.

With kind regards,

Guy Lawrence

Please feel free to comment below with your BT Broadband experiences.

Complaints as BT Broadband increases cancellation fee

2009-07-07T13:02:00.003+01:00

BT Complaints coming in from customers who are leaving BT Broadband without applying for a Mac code and transferring to another provider are being charged £25 which has been raise from £18.11 with very little in the way of advertising.

This is applicable even if customers have worked through their minimum contract period BT's new terms and conditions now state:

“When you end your broadband service and do not request a migration authorisation code (MAC) or another recognised transfer process to move to another service provider, from 12 June 2009 you will have to pay a cease charge of £25.00.”

The only exception to this increased charge is if BT can no longer provide a service to the new address if the customer is moving home.

Although cease charges aren't uncommon among internet service providersl this recent fee increase seems to have slipped by most.

A BT spokesperson explained the reasoning behind the charge as being to “encourage customers to use the correct migration process and cover the technical costs incurred when this process isn't used.” It added: “The charge has increased in line with the costs of the work. This is the actual cost of the work required within an exchange to recover equipment and amend records.”

Let us know what you think about BT Broadband by commenting below.

Appalling BT Customer Service!!!

2009-07-05T17:52:00.009+01:00

This BT complaint highlights the appalling customer service BT is providing its paying customers and something must be done for improvements to be made. This complaint will be put into a report including all complaints received and sent for investigation along with all comments. Feel free to add your comments at the bottom of this post or email your complaint to camwinston(@ gmail dot com).

Dear Sir/Madam,

I hope someone will read this letter and act against it - on Friday 3rd July I got home to use my internet and when I tried to get on it said broadband down. So I rang BT and got through to a lady who advised that my account had been seized! I couldn't understand why this had been done due to the simple fact I pay by direct debit every month £22.50 and haven't missed one payment.

She said that I had missed two payments of £49. I said at the time of taking this out I asked BT to set me up a Direct Debit for the amount I owed every month, which I presumed was all done and didn't think I needed to pay anything else. She said as my account had been seized, I had more charges adding up to £149 on to my account. I couldn't believe it - I said that I wanted to stay with BT and continue. with my contract - So she said for me to pay the £49 and she would knock the seized charges of. So I gave her my card number and she took the payment off £49 and gave me a number to reopen my account.

5 Minutes after putting the phone down - she rang me back advising she had taken the wrong amount she had actually taken £149 out she told me to ring my bank and cancel payment ( by this time I was crying ) as had been trying to sort this out for a hour). I rang my bank and they said this was rubbish - if BT took a wrong payment they needed to refund me. I just couldn't believe what I was hearing!

After this I rang BT back - I got cut off twice and then got through to a gentleman who tried to tell me I hadn't got an account with BT broadband that I just had a phone line - after about ten minutes he found it - I told him what had happened and asked for a refund and told him what happened and he said he couldn't do anything ( I was really upset by this point). I asked to speak to his manager and he said that the manager would say the same - he said the only thing he could do was refund me but put it in my BT account so I was in credit! I said this wasn't any good as I needed that money back in my account as taking that amount made me go over drawn (to which I have been charged £20 for!!)

I then asked for his manager and spoke to Gurpreet who said he was very sorry and he would do a full refund and also drop the charges - this was at 8.45 and I had been on the phone for 2 hours and 45 minutes. Gurpreet said to go through to sales and re open my account- so he transferred me I went through and spoke to a lady who said that someone had there information wrong as my account hadn't been seized and everything was ok - however there was a technical fault with my broadband so she would transfer me to a technical man - I then was on hold for around 15 minutes and got through to technical after explaining my story for the 7th time he said "I am very sorry madam" there is no technical fault, your account has been seized which is why you cant use the internet. I just cut the guy off as I was shaking with nerves and crying so much - I just couldn't get over how bad BT customer services was - I had my account seized - money taken out incorrectly - cut of twice - spoke to 7 different people all giving me wrong information.

I left it for the night and rang back Saturday and got set up on another account and was told then I owed £110 i just give up - I really don't no what to do - I can't ring you guys any longer as everyone passes the book and the blame no one no's what they are doing - BT land line and BT broadband just seem like 2 completely different companies as no one no's about each of the separate account - and why did BT set up a dd for £22.50 and say this was the payment p/m and then cut me of and charge me.

I was very upset to the point where I had a panic attack as I really couldn't cope with no one helping. I know you have to pay for services but BT customer services is terrible and i still don't no what to do!! I have got my father to write to watchdog as I believe the have been getting a lot of complaints about bt and very bad customer services.

You go on about how you are loosing business well if you gave better customer service then maybe you would have customers. I need a reply - can someone please help me???

Lucie

Transfer from Virgin Media to BT - Simple? No!

2009-07-04T12:32:00.002+01:00

A complaint regarding a Virgin Media customer who had to transfer to BT broadband and telephone and the problems she encountered during this process. This complaint, along with all the BT customer service and products complaints this website receives will go into a report and sent for investigation.

Dear Sirs

I will try to be subjective within this document but to be honest I am hopping mad. My ex husband did not manage to get me as mad as BT has made me over the last 2 months. I used Virgin Media in my old home, they gave me good service for both phone line and broadband and I had no intention to change.

On moving to my new home 7 months ago however I discovered that the area was out of cable and I would need a BT line rental as a minimum. OK, although this was a pain, two bills etc I took my line with BT and had calls and broadband with Virgin.

Having lost a good job I set up a business from home and desperately needed a call divert system when away from the house. I rang BT and ordered it, they were delighted to take my order.
One week later I received a call to say that it was impossible for me to get call divert when they did not handle the calls. Then followed 2 weeks of arguing between BT and Virgin as to whether this was possible. The amount of conflicting information and the level of ‘infighting’ amongst them had to be seen to be believed.

Virgin then told me that they were taking over the lines in the area in 3 weeks so all would be ok. Stupid me believed them and waited the 3 weeks.

Virgin desperately tried to keep the call element but I eventually agreed with them that the phone calls would be transferred to BT and they would retain the broadband. I was reassured that they would contact BT and arrange everything. BT would then contact me to say when this would be done.

Early June I rang BT to check progress to be told they knew nothing of this order and in any case would not take instructions from a competitor. I was reassured by a lovely lady that the order was now placed on the system and although it would be a staggering 11 working days before this would happen all would be fine.

The 23rd June approached and I rang BT’s wonderful automated system that told me the order would be fulfilled as promised on the 23rd.

On the 1st July, the day I starting paying for an answering service to take my calls I rang BT to check all was ok. I was then told that although the calls were now going through them for some reason the call divert had failed. The lady assured me that someone would call me back that day and would tell me that the call divert was now active.

2 days later, today, I rang to be told that they had no idea why but the WHOLE order had not been actioned. My calls remained with Virgin and it would be another 13 days before they could make the change.

Needless to say that at this point I was almost apoplectic. I have never had such staggering, appalling, atrocious service in my life. They don’t deserve to have any business and if I could sack them on the spot now I would. I am now waiting for someone else to call me back.

Some of us are trying to make a living out here and are hugely reliant on our phone systems to ensure we can pay the mortgage. What is their problem? Where is the BT of yesterday that felt like your favorite Auntie?

I would like this complaint to be made formal and will be doing everything in my power to ensure it goes through their complaint system.

Karen James
Cambridge

BT Openworld Broadband Complaint

2009-06-30T14:16:00.000+01:00

We have received many BT Openworld complaints and here is the lastest broadband complaint.

Dear Sir

I have the old BT Openworld 2mb broadband and wanted something quicker. I decided to switch everthing to SKY.

I called BT for the MAC code and they gave me a pressured sales call but ended up matching the SKY offer of £15 per month. So I agreed to it to save hassle. BIG MISTAKE!

They sent me the equipment on the day the line was due to go live. At 1am, by existing BT broadband line was disconnected. Aghh!! I tried to use the new one; no joy. I spent the whole day on the phone to them and they assured me the line would be active by midnight.

It still did not work this morning. I called India - they said their is no broadband active no the line. Every other department was unable to help me.

So I called the number that you use to request a MAC code. The woman said that I have only just ordered it - why cancel?

I said because you lot are useless and unless I can get the line active "NOW" I am off. So she did some digging and came back to say that the new line was activated yesterday and then immediately cancelled again "for some reason".

I remained calm. Said "OK, please activate it then". She said "OK, it will take 7 days".

I work from home a lot. Luckily my IT guys have now leant me a 3G thingy while we get an alternative supplier organised.

My company spends over £30,000 a year on calls with BT. Not any more....

BT Phone company voted nation's worst in customer service

2009-06-29T14:35:00.001+01:00

No suprises that BT were today named and shamed as having the nation's worst customer service. A study of 5,000 people revealed the communications giant are almost twice as bad as second place British Gas when it comes to dealing with issues and complaints. Sky were third, followed by Virgin Media and Vodafone. Other corporate colossals to feature in the hall of shame were HSBC, AOL, Barclays, O2 and HMRC.

Today a spokesman for internet market research firm www.OnePoll.com said: 'For many, having to deal with customer service reps can be very stressful, and everyone dreads having to make the call. 'If you are already having a nightmare with the service, and you want to make a complaint, the last thing you want to do is then have to deal with rude staff.

'Having polite and efficient staff in call centres can really make the difference, and I'm sure it helps keep hold of customers.' The biggest bug-bear for consumers was the automated systems which means it can take several minutes to get through to a real person. Other irritations include being passed around different people and having to keep on repeating yourself.

Foreign call centres with staff who struggle to understand the English language also featured in the list as did rude staff and having to answer endless security questions. BT also came top for the longest holding times, with 18 per cent of people voting for the company. Again British Gas was second and Sky was third. Those who took part in the study believed on average they spent around 23 minutes on the phone trying to sort out problems each time they called. Just over 11 per cent said they regularly spent 30 minutes on the phone to companies.

Phone and utility companies were rated equally as bad as each other in the study, closely followed by banks and retail organisations. It also emerged six out of ten people have switched companies purely due to a poor level of customer service. And one in three become people have been involved in an angry conversation with someone in a call centre when frustrations boil over.

Among the horror stories which emerged were a man who fell out with BT because an Asian call centre operator said his mild Scottish accent was unintelligible. A couple were tricked into a package they didn't want by Orange and were then fobbed off when they tried to cancel during cooling off period. Virgin Media refused to change the bill into the name of a jilted husband because he didn't have his ex-wife's permission - but were more than willing to give him extra services without her permission.

Sourced from Daily Mail [Link]

BT OpenReach Complaint

2009-06-25T12:23:00.002+01:00

This BT Openreach complaint was received today and highlights British Telecom's lack of accountability for problems within the context of BT Retail and BT OpenReach.

Dear Sir,

I placed an order on 30 May 2009 for a home move of my account I had with BT to move to new premises which had an existing working line. The order was accepted but then subsequently cancelled by BT a few days later saying the line does not have a cease order.

I phoned the people moving out of the premises I was moving into about this and they said they were told by BT to call on the day they moved as they were taking their phone number with them and moving to a different provider at the same time. After telling them that I could not place an order until they had, they then phoned BT and requested a move order be placed on the 4th June 2008 and were moving out on the 6th June (oddly the fact is that they could have placed the order well before they moved out of the premises even though they were moving providers but were given the wrong information by BT and they subsequently did not get their phone transferred till well after the move date).

On the 5th June, BT accepted an order for the phone line in my new premises and subsequently provided a date of 22nd June as the activation date and also provided me with an order number on 5h June. On phoning BT as to why this was so long given that it was a working line they said that it is because they must send a letter to the persons moving out for them to confirm the cease order on the phone line. (Oddly I never received any such letter myself when I placed a home move order on my previous phone line).

This letter is in spite of the fact that the cease order cannot be placed unless you give all sorts of security information about who you are to verify you are the account holder and the cease order will go thru even if there is no answer to the letter. After many phone calls to various people, BT agreed that there was no reason for such a long delay and agreed tp moved the order to 15th June.

It was then subsequently found that they cannot move an existing order and had to cancel it to place a new order to bring the order forward and not only did they have to cancel the order but it would take 24 hours for the order to cancel before they could place a new order (incredible as that may sound in the 21st century where BT is supposed to be a technology company).

Eventually they said that OpenReach could not bring the order forward and so I accepted that the line would be provided on the 22nd June 2009. The date came and went and no phone line so I phoned on the 23rd and BT were unable to give a reason why the line was no installed and would get back to me ... they never did so the next day I phoned again only to receive exactly the same information and the same promises. I phoned the next day again and was finally told that there was a failure with the order on the OpenReach side and no reason was given.

I asked to lay a complaint and was told to go to the OpenReach web site to complain to OpenReach but the OpenReach website states: If you are a member of the public and would like to raise a complaint or enquiry that is related to: the provision of telephone or internet services, engineer appointments, faults, or compensation, it is important that you raise this issue with your communications provider (whoever bills you for your telephone or internet service).

Your communications provider will then raise the matter on your behalf. You can find more information about the relationship between Openreach and your communication provider here. Although I was promised a call back it never did happen once again and and called again the next day to find that according to BT my order had only been placed on the 24th June 2009 and that the line was scheduled with OpenReach to be installed on the 29th June.

NO HISTORY OF MY ORDER PLACED ON THE 5th JUNE 2009 EXISTED AS FAR AS THE BT PERSON WAS CONCERNED. They were able to show more than 10 calls to BT over the period from 1 June to 25th June 2009 but seemed to think it was nothing unusual that my order was only placed on the 24th June in spite of many documented phone calls. Somehow, that original order number had also been cancelled on the 24th June and a new order number was placed on the 25th June 2009 with a delivery date of 29th June 2009.

Once again I requested that they lay a complaint against OpenReach but this person pointed me to the OpenReach web ite again and in spite of informing the person what the OpenReach website stated, I was told that they cannot lay complaints against OpenReach on my behalf. All attempts to have the person give me a reasonable answer as to why things went wrong failed. All I was repeatedly told is that it failed and they do not know why and my asking why it failed was not helping. I was told that they were "sorry" about my problems and that the line would be provided on the 29th June 2009 and that this information was confirmed by OpenReach yet nobody could give me a reason why the same promises about line delivery had failed. There seems to be:

No accountability for problems within the context of BT Retail and BT OpenReach (attitude seems to be that problems happen but do not bother to work out why... its not important) no person in BT able to give a proper answer that makes sense (simply accept broken promise after broken promise with the answer that "there was a problem" and no other information and without complaining)no path place a complaint against BT OpenReach.

Please comment below if you have experience similar problems with BT Openreach.

BT slow broadband complaint

2009-06-25T12:19:00.002+01:00

Here is another slow BT broadband complaint to share with you all....

How do BT get away with it?
We called BT who were unwilling to help with a fault of slow broadband and noisy line and blamed it on our equipment. BT then quoted us £115 callout and £99 per hour (or part hour even!) - utterly crazy unless you are a millionaire!

If it wasn't for a local independent engineer we would have been stuffed. The Independent engineer who we found on google (Landline Man - http://www.landlineman.com) who came was brilliant and diagnosed it as External Fault (when BT said it wasnt), BT came out a few days later and lo and behold it was external and they fixed it for free.

So the motto is, don't believe BT if they say its internal and never get them to come for a fault as you could be looking at a bill of £200 or more just to tell you where the fault is!

David from Monmouth

Complaint letter to BT - A communications provider who can't communicate!

2009-06-22T18:14:00.004+01:00

This complaint letter was sent to BT's Customer Service Director today (22.06.09) and copied to BT's CEO, to Ofcom and also to BBC Watchdog detailing BT's utter incompetence. This is one of many letters of complaint that this website receives and shares with its readers. Most of the following comes direct from a letter that this customer sent this morning. It goes like this...

The mistakes have been so numerous it's really quite hard to know where to begin recounting them all, but I'll have a go...

In the first instance I requested a simple line transfer, along with broadband, to the new home I would be moving to within weeks. I also ordered as an additional service BT Vision. The person I spoke to seemed very helpful and accommodating, though the call lasted well over an hour and a half, by the time every last detail had been worked through and confirmed, down to which BT Vision channels I would receive and which additional phone services I would take.

It was arranged that my old phone number and line would be terminated on 28th May, the date of my home move. The operator had noted that a line disconnection for my new address had been arranged for 26th May by the previous tenants, and asked would it be OK if my new line was reconnected on 26th with the slight overlap? I said this was fine. She also made a point of mentioning that there was both a business and residential line to the new property, and explicitly stated that my new line would be connected to the existing residential line.

All of this, I was assured, would happen, along with connection of BT Broadband and BT Vision.
On 26th, at our old address, I discovered that our phone line had been cut off two days prematurely. This left us with quite a few serious problems, considering that we were coming up to our completion of sale of our property and were expecting phone calls on that line from solicitors, estate agents dealing with our house sale, estate agents dealing with our new property, our bank, etc. etc.

A frantic call to BT had me speaking to an unsympathetic call centre operator who could barely speak my language who insisted I was wrong about the dates and that in any case it would take two days to reconnect the line.

At considerable inconvenience we took several hours out of our precious time to make explanatory phone calls to all parties concerned to give them alternate contact details.
on 28th, when we arrived at our new property, I plugged in a phone to be met with silence. I tried every socket I could find in the house, but there was no dial tone.

On calling BT, I was informed that I was wrong, and that there was an active phone line at the property. After being condescended to for some time and being told to check the phone on another line, and to check all the sockets again because I was mistaken, it was ascertained by the operator that my new residential line had been connected to the old business line at the property, and not the residential line it had previously been arranged to be installed on.

So a disconnection and reconnection was arranged to put our new phone number on the correct line, and this was indeed done by the following day. However, it was then - and every day since - that I started receiving numerous calls for 'Lake Electrical'. It turns out that the phone number BT had issued me as my private, ex directory, residential line was an extremely recently decommissioned business line for a local retailer listed across the internet and telephone directories everywhere.

It also transpired, several more calls and a complaint via BT.com on 4th June to BT later, that in disconnecting and reconnecting the line, BT had issued me a completely new account number and cancelled all of my existing orders; thus, there was nothing in the system to say that I was expecting broadband internet services or BT Vision. Added to this, additional phone line services, the most important of which was Caller ID, were not transferred from the original order (and have never been rectified).

I had to go through the whole order process again, again taking well over an hour, to reorder the services I had already ordered some weeks before. Again, the whole thing was read back to me in quite some detail.

At this point, over the next few days, I started receiving conflicting phone calls from BT about various things; "since you have opted to keep your BT Talk number...", "since you have opted to have a new BT Talk number...", and most telling of all, "now you have a phone line, would you be interested in BT Broadband?". None of these people, however, could actually help me with my order.

It turned out that despite my previous lengthy phone call only days before to order the services, there were no orders listed for me against either the old or new account numbers previously issued.

I ordered the services yet again. This having been the third time of ordering and well over six hours on the phone to BT just trying to get the whole mess sorted out.

Once more, we went through the order in painful detail, and I was given a date of 11th June for activation, and asked if it would be ok to accept delivery of the home hub and vision hardware on this date. On 8th June, I received a letter thanking me for ordering BT Broadband, and confirming my activation date of 11th June. Finally I felt I was getting somewhere.
...Until the 11th June came and went and I still had no broadband.

I called BT technical support on 12th who nonchalantly told me that connection had been rearranged for 17th. Not that anyone had had the courtesy to tell me this. He could not tell me why, nor guarantee it would actually be activated on 17th. He advised me to call BT on another number.

I decided at this point that I'd had quite enough of BT, of talking to operators who could barely speak English, let alone cared about my problems, and decided to cancel the order altogether and go with an alternate supplier.

Cancelling the order proved just as difficult as trying to order them in the first place. Firstly, the first operator I spoke to told me that there were absolutely no pending orders for broadband in the first place. It took about half an hour of alternating between on hold music and apologies for keeping me waiting before she tracked down the order, briefly explaining that it was on a different computer system (what?!).

In any case, she confirmed that she had arranged the cancellation, but couldn't do the same for BT Vision and put me through to another department. Again, after some confusion over where exactly the order was, I managed to cancel the BT Vision order. I then asked to be put through to someone to deal with the fact that the phone number I had been allocated really needed changing since I was getting numerous calls for someone else's company.

This new person insisted that I still had an order for BT Broadband on that line, and with some exasperation I explained that I had just spent quite some time on the phone cancelling that very order. Another half hour on hold and eventually he told me that it had not been cancelled, but he had done it himself just now.

We then got onto the business of the phone number, and given his attitude and my whole experience with BT, in the end I told him to just cancel the phone line too. He explained that I had a minimum term on my line rental, but I persisted, given the list of problems I had encountered up until now. Reluctant to even action a disconnection, he asked me what kind of problems I had encountered, so I began to recount some of them... and evidently in the middle of this he got bored, because he hung up on me.

I decided at this point that it would be far easier to arrange the transfer of the line via a new supplier who would deal with BT on my behalf, and duly did this... and as far as I was concerned, I would finally be rid of BT, their ridiculous ineptitude and would finally get my broadband connection. Except, on 22nd June, I turned my hub on just so I could use wireless locally, and found that I had a broadband connection!

Logging into my email, I find that BT has activated broadband on 17th June... despite several confirmations from several people in the course of a series of very lengthy calls that it was successfully canceled on 13th June before the service even went live. Also, an email to advise someone they have internet now? Really?

It really is incredible just how inept BT are at doing what is, after all, their core business as a communications provider. Now, I can't even seem to be rid of BT even after canceling all services and trying to move to an alternate provider, as I suspect my transfer will be delayed or halted because I have 'additional services' on the line in the form of a BT Broadband package I canceled before the service ever began.
*sigh*

Police issue warning over conmen posing as BT workers

2009-06-12T16:05:00.000+01:00

Not a BT Complaint this but a police warning urging the public to be on their guard after conmen netted hundreds of pounds in a telephone scam. The warning follows at least two incidents where the fraudsters posed as British Telecom (BT) workers and called their victims to say their bill payments were overdue.

To "prove" they were from BT, the conmen claimed they would disconnect and then reconnect the telephone line so the homeowner was unable to make outgoing calls. In reality, say the police, they did not hang up the phone but simply pressed the mute button.

Both homeowners then handed over their credit card details and their bank accounts were raided.

Police say at least £600 was taken from a woman in Middleton and £120 from a woman in Rosedale Abbey in four different transactions last week.
The scam has targeted people all over the country.

PC Terry Triffitt, of Ryedale's Safer Neighbourhood Team, SAID: "British Telecom informed us that they would not cut anyone off using this type of procedure. This case highlights the lengths that criminals will go to invent a highly believable ploy to get you to part with your banking details.

"It is always better to be safe than sorry and a quick call to BT Customer Services will clear up whether or not this type of call is genuine or bogus."

A spokesman for BT added: "We never ask for bank details over the phone. If anyone does receive a call requesting bank details, they should treat it with suspicion and report it to the police."

PC Triffitt said members of the public should practice "extreme caution" and not give any bank details or other personal information over the telephone unless they are sure it is a bona fide organisation.

They should also contact and check with the customer service department of the organisation if in doubt.

Anyone who may have been contacted by someone trying to commit this type of fraud is asked to call the BT Nuisance Calls Bureau on 0800 411422, so that the scale of the problem can be identified, and North Yorkshire Police on 0845 60 60 247 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

BT Broadband Complaint

2009-06-11T22:01:00.002+01:00

Latest BT Complaint concerning their Broadband services.

Dear Sir

Just wanted to share my BT complaint letter to all of you. I am the administrator for a preschool that recently tried to order broadband service. Six weeks ago I placed the first order, on 21st April, and was told that a hub/modem would be sent out within 5 working days.

By the 5th May, no such equipment had arrived, so I called BT to chase the order. Apparently the first order had "failed", no indication as to why, but the operator took the order details again, and as previously, I was told the modem would arrive within 5 working days. On the 14th May I called again as we were still awaiting the arrival of the equipment.

Yet again I was told the order had "failed", the operator unable to give me any reason why or any way it could be avoided again. For the third time I gave the operator our details, she placed the order once more and, yes you've guessed it, I was promised the modem would arrive within 5 working days.

By the 2nd June, you can imagine we were getting quite frustrated that nothing had arrived. Various promises and guarantees by BT staff were not met, no explanation was given as to why we were kept waiting so long. I called and spoke to another of your operators. He looked at our account and again told me the order had "failed" but could personally assure me that the equipment would be with us in (oh, it's getting boring even to type it now) 5 WORKING DAYS.

At this point I told the operator that if the equipment had not arrived within that time frame I would be canceling the order - although, in retrospect, that seems rather ridiculous seeing as the order appears to have canceled itself by magic in the past. He also informed me that the internet had been "live" since the 21st May. Not much use to us without the equipment to get online. 9th June - any idea? Let me tell you, no modem. I call to cancel and your operator asks me if I would reconsider canceling if she could "GUARANTEE" me the modem would be with us in, wait for the change here - 2 working days.

At this point I suggested that as a gesture of goodwill we should be given the first two months free - seeing as, by this point, we have been waiting for 6 weeks. After some deliberation with her line manager this was agreed and I then asked to be put through to the customer services department. At this juncture I was given a call reference number to confirm the two month free charge.

The operator said she could now see the order I had just placed but was concerned that it was not going to go through because the original operator hadn't followed up on the despatch time of 2 days. She assured me at this point I would receive a call from that operator the same day, after she had emailed her with her concerns. Now, I won't give out any prizes for guessing here - but I heard nothing. Today is the 11th June. We have no modem. And, until an hour ago I had heard nothing from BT.

This phone call was someone from the customer services department who had somehow flagged the order as problematic and decided to follow it up. According to her, our modem is, again, guaranteed to arrive on Monday 15th June. I wait with bated breath. This escapade has become somewhat of a joke for staff and friends of our preschool. It seems almost unbelievable that in 2009 a company can so willfully neglect it's customers, as well as be so shockingly incompetent. A simple order. A simple request.

Over six weeks of time has elapsed and I have spent over 3 hours on the telephone with your operators trying to rectify their mistakes. Truly mind boggling. I have listed below the details of my dealings with BT, maybe it will make me feel better to see it in black and white - and maybe you will be able to pass it on to be used at the next training event to illustrate how not to business and alienate people. Thank you for your time.

BT Vision Complaint

2009-06-11T21:56:00.003+01:00

Latest customer complaint received about BT Vision.

Let me vent...

It started just over a year ago we ordered BT Vision and got the infamous BT Vision Box. We quickly discovered that the on demand service was reluctant to work.

Movies would not play, Music videos stopped part way through, odd charges appeared and someone was apparently getting up in the night and downloading content. (I'm the only adult male in the house and despite my wife's gentle leg pulling I still deny downloading the Tatu video).

A call to the "helpful" BT engineer revealed.... nothing, no that's not a fault, your broadband line is fine your box is fine.... despite my protestations to the contrary that I couldn't watch movies I was paying for.

The phone calls to BT became a weekly event. I would say it doesn't work. BT would tell me it did or tell me that I had to wait for my broadband speed to settle down.

Finally I had enough and asked for the BT vision service to be canceled and for my money back at which point they lost all history of my persistent complaints. They then switched my landline off and canceled my broadband service.

They now won't return calls when agreed but seem to think that crediting my canceled account with £15 is compensation.

Next stop - Dan Marks and Gavin Patterson.

BT Friends and Family Closed?

2009-06-11T20:13:00.000+01:00

BT Friends and Family service has stopped according to this latest BT customer complaint.

Dear Sir

Am I missing something? BT advise that Friends and Family was to be withdrawn on 31 March. So, my mother received her quarterly bill at the end of April and had received no discount at all for all the F&F numbers she called during the month.

She had no option to do anything before the bill was received and so missed out on the discount. Can I assume that this will be the same for all other BT users? This means thousands of customers are missing out on discounts for friends and family until such time as they get on to BT to select one of the new options.

BT Telephone Frustration

2009-06-11T12:57:00.000+01:00

A frequent BT complaint we receive is that BT do not turn up to telephone line activation appointments leading to customer frustration. Here is the most recent complaint we have received about BT and their poor customer service skills...

Dear Sir/Madam

I had an appointment booked with BT for a month to have my phone line activated. The confirmed time was between 1pm - 6pm. Before the appointment, on two seperate occasions I called BT specifically to advise that I be contacted on my mobile 30mins prior to the engineer turning up at my doorstep, as taking a full afternoon off work was difficult. On both these occasions the BT representative confirmed my mobile number has been entered in the system and the engineer will call me 30mins before arriving.

On the day I was able to finish work early (with difficulty) and wait at home for the call. At 5pm I called BT to confirm if the engineer was on his way and the representative again said the call was open and I was due a call from the engineer anytime soon. Then at 6:30pm I called again only to be told the engineer had updated the call saying he visited my house twice (at 1pm and again at 3pm) and that my mobile number had not been entered on the system and there was no note advising the engineer to call me.

Furious at BT’s incompetence I asked to speak to the manager. I was then transferred to Ms. Richardson, team manager who apologised profusely and promised to get everything sorted and give me a call back first thing in the morning with a rescheduled appointment.

So the next morning I waited for a call and heard nothing. Eventually at lunchtime I called for an update and demanded to speak to a manager. I spoke to someone in India who advised he can see Ms. Richardson had updated the call in the morning and was working on it and to wait for her to contact me. I asked for her direct number and was provided this.

I called the number provided and someone called Rob answered. When I asked to speak to Ms. Richardson, Rob advised she had not been in the office that morning and he didn’t know when she would be back. I was furious at this point as not only had my simple instructions of a call to my mobile not been followed but I had been lied to twice. Firstly by Ms. Richardson who promised she would call me first thing in the morning (she must have known she wasn’t at work in the morning/all day) then again by the person in India who said he could see Ms. Richardson working on the call.

I asked Rob to leave an urgent message for Ms. Richardson to call me back and three days on I’m still waiting.

I rely heavily on the internet and was patiently awaiting an active line so I could be online again. I am without an active phone line for over a month now which also means no internet. I am absolutely appalled by BT’s customer service and how I have been treated during this time.

BT in trouble over phone contracts

2009-06-08T13:54:00.001+01:00

BT customers on widely held contracts - such as those offering discounted weekend and evening calls - are being warned that unless they opt out, the telecoms giant will automatically tie them in for a further year.

BT is the only phone firm using controversial 12-month 'rollover' contracts. At the end of the eleventh month, BT writes to customers telling them that they can switch to another deal - or provider - if they wish.

If customers miss the mailing or fail to act, they are automatically locked in to another 12-month period, with penalties applying if they subsequently move.

BT started offering these contracts last year and thousands of customers have already been 'rolled over'. Many more will be approaching their last month and will have an opportunity to switch to a better deal.

BT insists the rollover contracts are fair and offer value. But telecoms regulator Ofcom is less enthusiastic and says that in response to its guidance, BT has already 'almost halved' its related penalties. The watchdog has told Financial Mail that it is 'actively monitoring' the issue.

BT Slow Broadband Speed Complaint

2009-06-05T19:41:00.001+01:00

Do you have slow BT Broadband speed? This complaint is one of many BT complaints regarding slow broadband internet speeds.

Tip: You can test your broadband speed at Speedtest.net

Comments welcome below.

Hi
My name is Andy Elvin and I live in Carlton Colville just outside Lowestoft Suffolk.

Briefly my compliant is that I cannot even after 6 years of asking find out a date when the local exchange will be upgraded to allow a decent broadband service. Currently I receive 0.6 meg on a very good day.

Worst of all if the several thousand of us lived a mile up the road we could receive at least 7 megs. Today I have been on the phone to BT again for nearly an hour through god knows how many different BT departments who all know nothing. Worst of all is the fact that when I did ask to be transferred to a BT customer service complaints department I was cut off.

I would not mind if I lived in the outback of nowhere but there are literally thousands of properties here. HELP! At least a date would be something to hang our hats on!

BT Bill Complaint

2009-05-28T13:21:00.003+01:00

Here is the latest BT complaint we have received regarding incorrect BT bills or not receiving bills.

Dear Sir,

I have not received a paper telephone bill for past 4 quarters since May 2008. Each quarter my telephone is cut off because I have "not paid the bill" - difficult when I have not been sent a bill. Eventually using mobile phone I am able to contact Indian call centre to pay via credit card.

In February 2009 BT admitted over the phone they were sending my bill to an another customer and different adress 100 miles away. I was asked to sign up to e-billing - this doesnt work because BT insist that the email address on their records is correct - its someone else's email adress - NOT MINE.

Spoken to several people in Indian call centre who say my address is correct, but still not sending me a bill through the post or via email to me.

Have written formal complaint to address on the back of May 2008 bill, but BT have never responded to my letter. I am now distaught, causing me great problems and I cant get to speak to anyone who is able to sort out the problem that I have. I have no idea where to turn to next, even OffCom website doesnt offer me advice on my problem or where to get help.

Please help?

BT higher charges could push up broadband bills

2009-05-26T12:46:00.002+01:00

It has been revealed that BT has been given permission to increase its broadband network charges by Ofcom, and this could mean higher broadband bills for consumers in the near future.

In a recent report the UK’s communications regulator Ofcom revealed that it was giving communications giant BT permission to increase its charges for companies that use the telecoms giant’s broadband network. This comes after the Open Reach division of BT was told by Ofcom that it should be allowed to make a ‘fair return’ on its future communications activities, including the set up of the national fibre optic network to allow superfast broadband access.

According to the report unbundled line costs are set to rise from £81.69 to £86.40, which is causing concern for many broadband providers that use the network and will see their charges soar. Of course, the other worrying thing is that in order to cope with these rising costs providers will have to pass on the steep rises to consumers, which means that customers could soon start seeing their broadband bills rise if they are with a provider that uses the BT network.

Industry officials are predicting that users are unlikely to be affected right away, but that in the medium to long term many will see the cost of their broadband service increase, which will further impact upon the finances of the many households that are already struggling to make ends meet in the current difficult financial climate.

Virgin Media is the other communications giant that operates its own broadband network, and it is claimed that the company is in talks with other providers about leasing capacity on its network. The future price increases could see many consumers decide to switch to Virgin if it works out significantly cheaper.

BT phone bill hell for disabled OAP

2009-05-24T18:24:00.001+01:00

A disabled grandad was threatened with court and bailiffs over a £38 phone bill... that he paid last year. Telecoms giant British Telecom harassed Brian Stratford for months with letters and calls about the bill.

Brian, 62, who is registered disabled with a bad back and arthritis in both hips, is so frightened by the threats he is now considering paying again just to get BT to leave him alone.

Brian and wife Linda, 61, from Bala, North Wales, started getting hassle from BT when they ended their contract in 2008. BT sent them a bill of £38.33 which they paid - then in January they got another bill for £27.44 and at the same time were told BT owed THEM £10.89.

But a month later Brian got a letter from a debt collection agency demanding £111.53 and two months later a letter threatening a "doorstep call" from debt collectors. Brian said: "I don't know how they can treat people like this."

Yesterday BT said: "He does not owe us any money. He will not get any more letters from BT or debt agencies and we regret any distress caused."

Sourced from Mirror Newspaper [Link]

BT to cut 10% of workforce as it announces £1.28bn loss

2009-05-14T12:44:00.002+01:00

BT to cut 10% of workforce as it announces £1.28bn loss

BT axing 15,000 jobs this year, on top of the 15,000 already lost
£1.28bn loss for the last three months pushes firm into a £134m annual loss
Performance of BT Global Services 'unacceptable'

BT is axing 15,000 jobs over the coming year, roughly 10% of its workforce, as it tries to save costs after announcing a dramatic plunge into the red and warning that revenues will drop this year.

Unveiling a £1.28bn loss for the last three months, which has pushed it into a £134m annual loss, the company also cut its dividend to shareholders and admitted that the global economic downturn has knocked a huge hole in its £29bn pension fund, the largest private sector pension scheme in the UK.

To fill the hole in the scheme, which has 360,000 members, BT will increase its annual payments to £525m over the next three years, from the current level of £280m.

The increased pension contributions, coupled with the dreadful performance of the company's IT business, the value of which BT slashed by a further £1.3bn in the fourth quarter, have pushed BT into a cash squeeze.

The company said it wants to cut operating costs and capital expenditure by more than £1bn this year. As it looks to cut costs, BT has already axed 15,000 jobs over the past year – a third more than had originally been expected – and the company said today that it expects to lose a similar number this year.

Andy Kerr, deputy general secretary of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), said: "15,000 is a very challenging level of job losses, especially on the back of last year's reductions.

"We expect the majority of job losses to be third party – contractors and agency staff – as they were last year with many jobs being lost outside of the UK. However, this is a serious day for staff at BT.

"We're working closely with the company to ensure any losses are voluntary and we're looking at new ways of finding new work and retaining permanent employees, including secondment agreements."

BT, which earlier this year introduced a pay freeze for all staff, is also slashing its dividend to shareholders to conserve cash. The company announced a final dividend of 1.1p, which makes the full-year payout to shareholders 6.5p this year, compared with 15.8p last year.

This will save the company upwards of £700m but is bad news for its army of 1.2 million shareholders.

'Unacceptable performance'

"Three out of four of BT's lines of business have performed well in spite of fierce competition and the global economic downturn," said chief executive Ian Livingston. "However, this achievement has been overshadowed by the unacceptable performance of BT Global Services and the resulting charges we have taken."

BT Global Services made an operating loss of £198m in the year to end March, on revenues of £2.36bn. The wildly over-optimistic profit projections made by the business in the past have already caused two profit warnings over the past few months and BT has been forced top slash the value of the unit. BT took a £1.3bn writedown in the last quarter of the year, the vast majority of which is related to problems with two of Global Services' contracts – including its part in the upgrade of the NHS IT systems. Having already wiped millions off the value of the business earlier in the year, BT's total writedown for last year was £1.6bn, which plunged the company into an overall loss for the year of £134m.

Total annual revenue was up 1% at £5.47bn in the last quarter of the year, leaving full-year revenues at £21.4bn, up 3%. The company warned, however, that it expects revenue to decline by 4% to 5% this year at least in part because of the problems at Global Services.

The company also gave more details of the position of its pension scheme. It was showing a deficit of £4bn at the end of March, compared with a surplus of £2.8bn last year. At the end of March the market value of the assets in the scheme was £29.3bn, down from £37.3bn last year, while its liabilities were £33.1bn, down from £34.4bn.

BT is still calculating the triennial valuation of the pension fund – which provides a much clearer picture of its true position – and said the Pensions Regulator has indicated it wishes to discuss with the scheme's trustee and BT "the underlying assumptions and basis of the valuation" .

Sourced from the Guardian Newspaper [Link]