Yet another BT Rant

[macafee2]

I want to watch the Liverpool match tonight so checked BT sport.
Message comes up "you need to set up sky sport main event or add to your package"

I press ok, ooh there seems to be a problem this may be because this channel is no longer sold.

Great tell me what I need to activate then tell me you don't sell it.

Ring BT Sport, I ask if they can email me the various packages as over the phone I will lose track. No we cant, look on the web site, how.
Do this do that and you will see..... no I don't. Do this do that and you will see..... no I don't.

Can you feed back about the incorrect message being given so when I ring up I can ask for the price of the product I need and can you feed back and give me feedback as to why you cannot email customers. To get feedback you need to raise a complaint, ok can I raise a complaint? To raise a complaint you need to ring


Are you X'ing joking me?

Now I worked for BT for 35 years, yet I feel their customer service via the call centres is the worst of any company I deal with. The lack of wanting to make the company better and the difficulty in making the company better is why I left.

rant over

macafee2

[Darcydog]

Originally Posted by macafee2

I want to watch the Liverpool match tonight so checked BT sport.
Message comes up "you need to set up sky sport main event or add to your package"

I press ok, ooh there seems to be a problem this may be because this channel is no longer sold.

Great tell me what I need to activate then tell me you don't sell it.

Ring BT Sport, I ask if they can email me the various packages as over the phone I will lose track. No we cant, look on the web site, how.
Do this do that and you will see..... no I don't. Do this do that and you will see..... no I don't.

Can you feed back about the incorrect message being given so when I ring up I can ask for the price of the product I need and can you feed back and give me feedback as to why you cannot email customers. To get feedback you need to raise a complaint, ok can I raise a complaint? To raise a complaint you need to ring


Are you X'ing joking me?

Now I worked for BT for 35 years, yet I feel their customer service via the call centres is the worst of any company I deal with. The lack of wanting to make the company better and the difficulty in making the company better is why I left.

rant over

macafee2

Fascinating insight from someone who can see better than anyone what the problem(s) is/are.

As a customer for many years I am now amazed at how long we put up with such appalling service.

Having been mis-sold by BT, lied to by BT and ignored by BT - I moved to another provider who were BRILLIANT at forcing BT to admit to their failings and mis-selling.

What a shame that another once great organisation with “British” as the first word of their titles provides such woeful service.

[VVC-Geeza]

I bet you are thanking them now Ian....

[macafee2]

Originally Posted by VVC-Geeza

I bet you are thanking them now Ian....

oh when I left the last thing I did was press send. It was an email to all my management chain.
In it I thanked BT / Openreach for my job and whished the company all the very best for the future but also pointed out what I saw as the failings.

Without doubt I am exceedingly grateful for "BT" having given me a job and a good standard of living plus the opportunity to retire early, no one should think otherwise.

Perhaps my rant is biting the hand that fed me but I want BT to be the company everyone thinks of when they think good value for money, easy to contact, knowledge of product, excellent customer service, reliability etc etc.
Alas their call centres are the pits, the staff do not seem to be the staff that will drive the company forward, to see/learn of a problem and look to solve it.

There is no reason why a member of call centre staff can not email a customer. They do not have to send the email from their personal BT email account, they can or at least 3 years ago could use a group email account, for example the email would come from [email protected].

Staff can either be part of the solution or part of the problem and no company wants problems. I believe it is every employees responsibility to make their company better.

macafee2

[jackatesme]

B.T. are not on their own. Just been told that a friends mother has died, he phones Talk Talk to cancel her contract and was told, " She would have to give 30 days notice, and there would be a £150 breakage fee."

[clf]

Originally Posted by macafee2

oh when I left the last thing I did was press send. It was an email to all my management chain.
In it I thanked BT / Openreach for my job and whished the company all the very best for the future but also pointed out what I saw as the failings.

Without doubt I am exceedingly grateful for "BT" having given me a job and a good standard of living plus the opportunity to retire early, no one should think otherwise.

Perhaps my rant is biting the hand that fed me but I want BT to be the company everyone thinks of when they think good value for money, easy to contact, knowledge of product, excellent customer service, reliability etc etc.
Alas their call centres are the pits, the staff do not seem to be the staff that will drive the company forward, to see/learn of a problem and look to solve it.

There is no reason why a member of call centre staff can not email a customer. They do not have to send the email from their personal BT email account, they can or at least 3 years ago could use a group email account, for example the email would come from [email protected].

Staff can either be part of the solution or part of the problem and no company wants problems. I believe it is every employees responsibility to make their company better.

macafee2

Here is £7.50 an hour - no you cannot leave until your 200 enquiries are complete every day. Lunch? yes you have 20 minutes, and yes I know the canteen is 5 minutes walk each way. Bring a lunch in, and eat it at your desk, whilst you are there, you may as well answer some calls. Respond to that one from Ian there while you are at it, he used to get paid more in a day than I get in a week!

The problem for employees is the lack of incentive (and personal morality) Like you, my father over 30 years of BT employment (more or less as a field engineer - or what ever the equivalent job title was/is). Towards the end of his employment, his manager (who was younger than I) asked him why he didnt want to go for the managerial promotion. His answer was the pay cut would be devastating. My dad was on quite a bit more than his manager, plus overtime, plus minimal targets, and no work brought home.

The problem with companies such as BT, (and a lot of others), they are operated by managers, or asset strippers who have no idea of how what is involved in that company. All they see is numbers and profit. They perhaps get the company to turn around (on paper), then move on with a pay off, and onto the next company. To do the same. The company has not actually improved in performance, but rather the employee base has been cut, all assets been sold off, so the figures look great for a year or two.

Meanwhile the old guard like you (and my father) have been made redundant (with good terms) and one person employed to do the job that you and my father BOTH did, for half the money, with performance clauses and no pension payments, and half the holiday entitlement - in a van that is leased with no garages or staff to look after them. No stores either any longer, as the equipment is cheaply made, and stock can be supplied direct to the customer by the third party manufacturer.

That is only part of the problem. Another part of the problem will be OFCOM, who demand that BT infrastructure be leased out to the competition, for set rates, which is fair enough, as BT was essentially gifted that infrastructure from the public nearly 40 years ago when it was privatised (therefore having an advantage over any potential competition - remember Mercury?). This infrastructure was upgraded over time prior to OFCOM, but that was not allowed to be paid for by the bulk customer by increasing charges, pluse it needs to be upgraded further and now continually, but the wholesale prices still cannot be changed.

BT are not the retail provider they once were, they are controlled by OFCOM, and cannot increase pricing to their wholesale customers yet have to accommodate the demands of OFCOM and the placate the consumer, and the end user at the same time.

eg. if you have a SKY contract, your phone line is a SKY line in name only, BT actually are contracted by SKY to supply and maintain it. You phone SKY, who then do not believe you that it is a pole problem. They must follow their script, and say they must conduct tests via the exchange - which you used to work in - and will get back to you. They then have to book a job with a BT engineer, but because the operator is simply an 18 year old kid, just out of school, who doesnt care about how it works, or thought a landline only carried broadband, and not voice, 'cos thats not how snapchat works innit, mate' . So the operator does not explain the issue to BT job office correctly. An engineer calls to the now unmanned exchange, and they do their checks on the line from the exchange to the pole. All checks out ok. Job is shut down, and SKY job card says complete. Meanwhile after 4 days you still have no service, so you call up again. Eventually get through, and the operator says, 'this was fixed mate, it says here no problem found, so must be your equipment, and if an engineer is to call out, there will be a charge'. You explain again, you used to be an engineer, and can actually see the problem. The distribution box at the pole, is damaged, and will need an engineer to fix it. 'But it says it all checks out, mate, lets go through a test procedure for your equipment. Can you turn your computer on and off again' - 'What computer, I cannot make phone calls' - 'yes mate, but you make calls through your computer, snapchat etc Can you turn your computer off and on'. - This happened to my father, the pole could be seen from his bedroom window and after he told the operator exactly what to say to the BT service team (ie the technical terms and equipment needed to repair), did it get fixed. 8 or 10 days without service. BT 's terms to sky is something like repairs must be actioned within 2 days - or something like that. Sky's terms to the end user is something like 4 or 5 days.

That is where the bad service originates, SKY get the bad name for their helpdesk, and BT get the bad name for their equipment AND service, because the sky personnel told you that it was BT who didnt do anything. There are now too many middle men, supplying service in name only.

And I havent even mentioned share holders and their demands...................... lol

The fault lies with;

Ignorant management (for profit and personal enrichment)
OFCOM (for competition and demands on an existing outdated infrastructure)
Consumer (demand for cheap products)
Shreholders (demand for decent dividends)

That is my rant.

[macafee2]

Originally Posted by clf

Here is £7.50 an hour - no you cannot leave until your 200 enquiries are complete every day. Lunch? yes you have 20 minutes, and yes I know the canteen is 5 minutes walk each way. Bring a lunch in, and eat it at your desk, whilst you are there, you may as well answer some calls. Respond to that one from Ian there while you are at it, he used to get paid more in a day than I get in a week!

The problem for employees is the lack of incentive (and personal morality) Like you, my father over 30 years of BT employment (more or less as a field engineer - or what ever the equivalent job title was/is). Towards the end of his employment, his manager (who was younger than I) asked him why he didnt want to go for the managerial promotion. His answer was the pay cut would be devastating. My dad was on quite a bit more than his manager, plus overtime, plus minimal targets, and no work brought home.

The problem with companies such as BT, (and a lot of others), they are operated by managers, or asset strippers who have no idea of how what is involved in that company. All they see is numbers and profit. They perhaps get the company to turn around (on paper), then move on with a pay off, and onto the next company. To do the same. The company has not actually improved in performance, but rather the employee base has been cut, all assets been sold off, so the figures look great for a year or two.

Meanwhile the old guard like you (and my father) have been made redundant (with good terms) and one person employed to do the job that you and my father BOTH did, for half the money, with performance clauses and no pension payments, and half the holiday entitlement - in a van that is leased with no garages or staff to look after them. No stores either any longer, as the equipment is cheaply made, and stock can be supplied direct to the customer by the third party manufacturer.

That is only part of the problem. Another part of the problem will be OFCOM, who demand that BT infrastructure be leased out to the competition, for set rates, which is fair enough, as BT was essentially gifted that infrastructure from the public nearly 40 years ago when it was privatised (therefore having an advantage over any potential competition - remember Mercury?). This infrastructure was upgraded over time prior to OFCOM, but that was not allowed to be paid for by the bulk customer by increasing charges, pluse it needs to be upgraded further and now continually, but the wholesale prices still cannot be changed.

BT are not the retail provider they once were, they are controlled by OFCOM, and cannot increase pricing to their wholesale customers yet have to accommodate the demands of OFCOM and the placate the consumer, and the end user at the same time.

eg. if you have a SKY contract, your phone line is a SKY line in name only, BT actually are contracted by SKY to supply and maintain it. You phone SKY, who then do not believe you that it is a pole problem. They must follow their script, and say they must conduct tests via the exchange - which you used to work in - and will get back to you. They then have to book a job with a BT engineer, but because the operator is simply an 18 year old kid, just out of school, who doesnt care about how it works, or thought a landline only carried broadband, and not voice, 'cos thats not how snapchat works innit, mate' . So the operator does not explain the issue to BT job office correctly. An engineer calls to the now unmanned exchange, and they do their checks on the line from the exchange to the pole. All checks out ok. Job is shut down, and SKY job card says complete. Meanwhile after 4 days you still have no service, so you call up again. Eventually get through, and the operator says, 'this was fixed mate, it says here no problem found, so must be your equipment, and if an engineer is to call out, there will be a charge'. You explain again, you used to be an engineer, and can actually see the problem. The distribution box at the pole, is damaged, and will need an engineer to fix it. 'But it says it all checks out, mate, lets go through a test procedure for your equipment. Can you turn your computer on and off again' - 'What computer, I cannot make phone calls' - 'yes mate, but you make calls through your computer, snapchat etc Can you turn your computer off and on'. - This happened to my father, the pole could be seen from his bedroom window and after he told the operator exactly what to say to the BT service team (ie the technical terms and equipment needed to repair), did it get fixed. 8 or 10 days without service. BT 's terms to sky is something like repairs must be actioned within 2 days - or something like that. Sky's terms to the end user is something like 4 or 5 days.

That is where the bad service originates, SKY get the bad name for their helpdesk, and BT get the bad name for their equipment AND service, because the sky personnel told you that it was BT who didnt do anything. There are now too many middle men, supplying service in name only.

And I havent even mentioned share holders and their demands...................... lol

The fault lies with;

Ignorant management (for profit and personal enrichment)
OFCOM (for competition and demands on an existing outdated infrastructure)
Consumer (demand for cheap products)
Shreholders (demand for decent dividends)

That is my rant.

I got into trouble many years ago. I accidently had been invited onto a conference call with other managers, some senior. A manager was talking and saying we should look at the web site for more info.
I asked for the web site address so I could look, his reply was that he didn't have it.

Now stay with me and you will see why I got into trouble.

My response for all to hear was that he should know the web site address to give to us if he wants us to look at the info.


I think more then once my manager was spoken to by Iain Livingstons office warning me off.

ya, I was the bloke that was too stupid to realise that I should not put my head above the parapet or I was just too arrogant not to care. If it was wrong, it needed fixing, if my manager did not deal I spoke to his manger and so on.
Friends in high places..... I had none.

I am proud I tried to make the company better.

macafee2

[baxlin]

Interesting to read this thread today....

I have a @btopenworld.com email address, among others, and noted that I’ve not had any emails for a while on this address, on my iPad or phone. I’ve been ‘locked out’ on my PC for ages.

Apparently the system was recently changed to ‘improve the service’. Guess what, I didn’t get any email notice.....

[clf]

Originally Posted by macafee2

I got into trouble many years ago. I accidently had been invited onto a conference call with other managers, some senior. A manager was talking and saying we should look at the web site for more info.
I asked for the web site address so I could look, his reply was that he didn't have it.

Now stay with me and you will see why I got into trouble.

My response for all to hear was that he should know the web site address to give to us if he wants us to look at the info.


I think more then once my manager was spoken to by Iain Livingstons office warning me off.

ya, I was the bloke that was too stupid to realise that I should not put my head above the parapet or I was just too arrogant not to care. If it was wrong, it needed fixing, if my manager did not deal I spoke to his manger and so on.
Friends in high places..... I had none.

I am proud I tried to make the company better.

macafee2

My father kept his head down, did his job and came home. He always believed he was not in a position to change anything. Instead though, he worked to the best of his ability, and resolved all his call out's problems. If he didnt he knew someone who could - but normally, due to his experience, he was the one called upon. Treat your customers as you expect to be treated, whilst managing their expectations, you cannot go wrong.

You do not try to change the company, but only one person at a time, and take comfort in knowing that you had earned your money. If everyone did this, soon enough the company perception will improve. The problem though is the attitude of the employee. For you (and my dad), you had relatively good terms and conditions, for those coming in, they are barely on minimum wages worked to the bone, with little or no benefit. Then you have the attitude of the yoof of today - but that is another story lol.

With the bosses, and you being told off on their behalf, therein lies another part of the problem. Communication, arrogance and ignorance. Theirs, and a little of yours.

They believe they are doing a great job, but are blind to the complexities of implementing projects or actions 'just do it!' 'just get it done!' . Then there is yours (and mine in my own job). 'they dont understand what it is like' 'they dont realise what we have to do to do this or that'.

Unfortunately bosses do not get promoted from within anymore, (I believe this is in part a failing of fair employment laws and regs). So they do not come up through the ranks with an understanding of the practicalities of the work. Equally, you (and me too) do not understand the practicalities of working 'at the top' (dealing with ministers in my case).

An understanding an appreciation of each level is important. But it has to come with a willingness to understand. Most bosses I have come across have the snooty attitude that they are 'above this', then you have the lower ranks disbelieving its benefit, and thinking it to be lip service. So many issues and problems lol.

[VVC-Geeza]

Originally Posted by macafee2

oh when I left the last thing I did was press send. It was an email to all my management chain.
In it I thanked BT / Openreach for my job and whished the company all the very best for the future but also pointed out what I saw as the failings.

Without doubt I am exceedingly grateful for "BT" having given me a job and a good standard of living plus the opportunity to retire early, no one should think otherwise.

Perhaps my rant is biting the hand that fed me but I want BT to be the company everyone thinks of when they think good value for money, easy to contact, knowledge of product, excellent customer service, reliability etc etc.
Alas their call centres are the pits, the staff do not seem to be the staff that will drive the company forward, to see/learn of a problem and look to solve it.

There is no reason why a member of call centre staff can not email a customer. They do not have to send the email from their personal BT email account, they can or at least 3 years ago could use a group email account, for example the email would come from [email protected].

Staff can either be part of the solution or part of the problem and no company wants problems. I believe it is every employees responsibility to make their company better.

macafee2

NO,I meant they spared you from watching Sundays humiliating result