7 Days Wait! Is This Dismal Service Normal

[guytomblin]

I run a busy construction business and we, like most other companies, rely heavily on our broadband connection. Our broadband ceased working on Monday and, after an hour on the phone, BT told me I would have to wait a week for an engineer.

Can anyone help me please; is this normal service? My customers' would have deserted me many years ago if I provided this sort of dismal service. My average breakdown time on a piece of plant is 45 minutes from receiving the call to having an engineer on site.

BT did helpfully suggest I connect to BT Openzone. My tech guy told me that he had not once managed a connection to Openzone that was satisfactory.

I am now faced with running all aspects of the business - supplier invoicing, customer payments payroll, marketing, etc etc using just a 3G Dongle.

Is this normal service? Is there any way I can get it improved.

Many thanks for any help you can give me.

Guy

[DaveA]

Hi,

I'm sorry you're having problems with your broadband.

Unfortunately there have been a number of situations this year that have caused huge issues across the network, with some areas still under MBORC - Matters beyond or reasonable control.

The flooding that has happened on several occasions is still having a knock on effect, and while BT Openreach are taking on hundreds of new staff it takes time for them to get trained up and out into the field.

To be fair you also probably don't have over a million customers.

In some areas you can get appointment the next day for an engineer, and in others it's over a week.  Depends on the cirumstances they're in.

Also surely you should have a full back up line (probably from another provider) anyway if your business relies so heavily on the Internet?  Relying on a single broadband is surely folly?

Anyway hope they manage to sort it for you.

Dave

[guytomblin]

Thanks for the less than helpful reply. Agreed I don't have over a million customers but at the same time I do not have the number of site engineers that you have. I suppose it is more a question of how much you value your customers.

Because we are so reliant on our broadband we installed, at your recommendation, a specific broadband line. Had I known at the time that your service response would be 7 days I would have made other arrangements. Unfortunately this is not mentioned when signing up to your service.

On the plus side it is only a matter of a few months until we are out of contract so we will be able to make these other arrangements that you suggest.

Kind Regards

Guy

[Birchills]

Hi Guy

Yes this serviice is normal I'm afraid. All business broadband on the last mile goes through OpenReach who do what they feel liike when and if they feel like it. 

My company (www.birchills.net) provides broadband but we cannot do anything since we also have to go through OpenReach

One alternative is Virgin who provide a great service but not for business. So if you are bypassed  by cable you can get broadband from them but you musn't mention you are a business. At least it's a hope!

David Hill

[guytomblin]

Thanks David

At least it offers a hope

[MHC]

I too ask "Why do you not have a back-up service in place?"   You are reliant on your connection for business and as such should ensure that there is a plan to deal with failure.   

I have the ability to connect to an Openzone connection - if my connection fails and I often do connect to one when away from the office.  I don't have any problems with it except that it is slower than my connection but still fully usable.

[andyt22]

I agree with this point - every sensible business that relies on network connectivity of any kind (be it broadband, Internet, VPN, leased line, etc) should always have more than one connection to the outside worl even if the backup is only a mobile broadband or OpenZone/BT wi-fi connection.

I'm in networking/IT professionally and know that things can & will go wrong at any time and it's best to plan ahead along the lines of *when* something breaks, not *if* it breaks. 

[mitters]

Yeah Guy! - It's your fault for not paying for two internet lines for you business! How DARE you expect BT to provide a reliable enough service to run your business!

I just moved back to the UK from the States and the wait times I've experienced here are simply appalling! 3 weeks to set up broadband! 

I used to complain as I'd switch back and forth between AT&T & Verizon, but never again. BT are shocking! but sadly there really isn't much other option.

The less than helpful responses from indoctrinated fan boy's drinking the company coolaid doesn't help you or your business at all. I have nothing to do with BT, but I want to apolgise to you on their behalf for the fault in your service and the less than satisfactory response to that fault. I hope you get it sorted out (quickly) and that it doesn't affect your business too much. 

Good luck to you sir.

[DaveA]

@mitters

Eh?

So what you're saying is that no matter how little you pay in real terms for a service, it should be 100% reliable and be fixed in seconds when something goes wrong?

Do you know why there are services out there that claim 100% uptime?  They have backups up the wazoo, and you will almost certainly pay through the nose for them.

I'm not just talking about BT here.  I'm talking about any service.  I'm so glad you've come back to the UK just to bash BT, as that's obviously your intention with your post.

I shall leave it up as an example of the sort of useless nonsense I'm quite likely to delete and ban for in the future.

Dave

p.s. locking this thread.