Great moments in customer service – BT-style
Darren Rogers of the Chairman and Chief Executive’s Service Team (BT Retail) writes:
“Hello Mr (name withheld)
“We’ve been passed your complaint regarding availability of BT Infinity from the Surrey Advertiser.
“I’ve done a check of your telephone line using our broadband checker.
“Although the results show the cabinet has been upgraded for fibre, it does tell us you are too far from the cabinet to maintain a stable fibre service.
“Unfortunately, we wouldn’t be able to transfer the line to a closer cabinet.
 “I’m sorry this isn’t the answer you were looking for, but if you need any further help our Customer Service team will be happy to help on 0800 800 150. There’s also our website www.BT.com for all the latest news on our products and services.”
 Best wishes
Darren Rogers
Br0kenTeleph0n3 
This is going to be replicated millions of times throughout the country. In the same way that millions still can’t get basic adsl, the same will apply to ‘superfast’.
Chris Conder
2014/01/16 at 07:26
I note the use of the term ‘Fibre’ when it appears that what is actually meant is COPPER.
Why is this BT person using the term ‘Fibre’ when he’s clearly talking about a copper based service – or does BT fibre now suffer from ‘distance from cabinet issues’ as well?
How long can BT continue to mislead people by talking about ‘Fibre’ services when they are delivered over Copper or Aluminium – not Fibre at all?
Wiber - High Point Infrastructure Ltd.
2014/01/16 at 10:47
I’m so glad you and Rob raise this point. Perhaps some other readers would like to ask the Advertising Standards Authority to take another look at this admission by BT and consider revising their view on what “fibre broadband” actually is.
Br0kenTeleph0n3
2014/01/16 at 13:33
Hi,
Please can I ask for assistance from readers. I feel there is no alternative other than to put together an ASA complaint. For this I will need as much evidence as possible.
Please can I ask anyone that has any details of anything relevant, or if you have seen/read an advert that gave misleading info or made inaccurate claims, or if you have any other details relevant to an ASA report and complaint, please contact us by email : asa@wiber.co.uk
We will need the source information for as much as possible. If you have an email or letter from BT that leads you to think Fibre will be available or used when it will actually be ‘metal’ then please contact us. If you have seen or heard an advert or article that led you to believe that Fibre was coming to your rural area when in fact you will only have a choice of ‘metal’ then please send us the details.
CASE STUDY
Last week we heard from a longstanding customer from our fixed wireless service who informed us that he was moving his office connectivity to BT now that they can offer him FIBRE. We checked this out and his IT partners confirmed that the ‘infinity’ service he was moving to was delivered over copper – not Fibre. When we informed him of this he had already signed the contract with BT. It appears he had been misled and sold the product under false pretenses. In cases like this it appears that people are seldom prepared to ‘go legal’ against BT to try to get contracts cancelled and it may be hard for them to prove what a salesman told them verbally. I’m pleased so that that, once the customer found out BT were using the old copper phone line he chose to keep our service as a backup because the reason he moved to us years ago was due to the numerous problems he had had with the copper based BT service.
WHAT WE’RE HEARING
We have heard from a number of people who had seen and heard BT adverts and as a result of BT using the term ‘FIBRE BROADBAND’ and seeing adverts depicting fibre optic cables dropping from the sky into gardens, and adverts where actors talk about ‘fast fibre’ and the like, and backed by news articles talking about millions of pounds being given to BT for ‘superfast’ broadband improvements, they ended up with the belief that they would soon be able to get a Fibre internet connection to their premises. This had dissuaded them from exploring other providers and other options – because they believed that FIBRE was coming. The reality is that none of those we have heard from will have access to a Fibre service – and they will all have a choice of only copper/aluminium (FTTC) the performance of which will deplete greatly with distance and due to the other ‘usual’ factors that affect FTTC. What they will have access to is by no means Fibre in any way shape or form. They have been misled by the information they have seen and heard.
When we inform people of the reality that 100% of the rural ‘superfast’ projects in our area will be delivered over copper/aluminium and there will be no Fibres (FTTP), they often don’t believe us as they have been so thoroughly convinced by the propaganda an misleading information they have seen and heard. People often comment that “BT would not be allowed to say that it was fibre broadband if it was not coming through a fibre”. How wrong the public are to assume that what they sea and hear is not misleading.
It is extremely worrying that the public appear to have been thoroughly misled and, as a result, are not able to make informed decisions, plans and choices that are based on fact and reality rather than misinformation and fiction.
Please assist us in our campaign to ensure that BT, the Government, and the Local Authorities that have signed off the massive hand outs of public money to BT, are all providing fair and accurate information to the public and are doing their very best to ensure nobody is misled, misinformed, or ends up with a complete misapprehension due to promotion, marketing, advertising and press releases.
We welcome competition from other companies that invest their own money (not public money) into providing communications infrastructure and services. Genuine commercially funded competition is good for the market and good for the consumer/public. What is not good for the market or the consumer/public is when misleading information is given about products so that customers do not understand what they are buying or buy into something that is not what they thought it was, or have an expectation of something that is not going to happen.
Thank you in advance for your help.
High Point Infrastructure - Wiber
2014/01/16 at 15:36
So you can run “stable fibre service” thousands of miles across the Atlantic (for example) but not a few miles across rural Surrey?
Maybe there’s something fishy about BT’s “fibre broadband”? Like it’s made from copper instead of glass?
Robert Robinson
2014/01/16 at 10:56
I’d be interested to know how far he is from the cabinet.
pccosgrove
2014/01/16 at 15:11
In the NAO report Table 11, P33 for each cabinet + path there was an additional £16k+ (it is in percentages) for the provision of what is believed to be fibre on demand. I assume this is some type of pit and a splitter. This is part of either the average £61k cost or £80k including BT operational costs of which the state may pay £47k on average if the BT bills can present bills to that level. Surrey certainly have the budget for this!
NGA for all
2014/01/20 at 15:35
Given that Iwade in neighbouring Kent paid £13,000 for its cabinet and path at a time when BT was presumably not buying in the bulk that it is now buying to fulfil its BDUK contracts, I have considerable difficulty in understanding how the average cost of a cabinet has escalated to £61,000. How many cabinets are there in Surrey, and how many will be upgraded?
Br0kenTeleph0n3
2014/01/20 at 21:52