Ceased in Error - Broadband and Associated Telephone Line

[saslimited]

Yesterday our broadband turned off after talking to various teams it turned out it was terminated for non payment - which is rich as we have been doubled billed for the last 7 months on both our ISDN channels and our broadband (Currently BT owe us over £2K !!!!) ... we are a softwaresupport company and use the internet to provide direct services to our customers.

Stress levels rising i got through to the customer options team who did confirm that we had been ceased in error and that their standard turn around to resolve this is usually 8 working hours ..... welll we all know whats coming next !

10.00 had a call from the ceased in error team in Cardiff who said they were dealing with the problem and we would expect full service to be resumed by close of play.... was asked for the telephone number and ip address to be used for reconnection.

13.00 had a call explaining they had reconnected our telephone line and the broadband should follow shortly.

15.00 I called and chased progress - was told that the broadband cease in error team were working on it and it should be soon.

16.10 I called again and chased progress - was told that the broadband should work and call faults.

16.10 Called faults - kept on hold for 40minutes only to be told that the broadband had been disconnected and we need to raise a new order for broadband !!!! WHAT !!!! someone must be having a joke with me her it thought !!!

17.00 Called the Cease in error team - out contact has gone home - one of their colleagues (who admitted she doesnt have as much experience) said well if broadband faults say you need to place a new order then you have to place a new order and would take at least 48 hours to reconnect.  I then proceeded to explain that this was why i was passed to the ceased in error team - this is NOT MY FAULT - BT IS AT FAULT.  I asked for the number to speak to the manager at the broadband cease in error team - apparently i cannot do this. They are going to have to call on my behalf - I have asked that they do this immediately as my business is suffering due to a problem caused by BT.

Does anyone here have any input that could guide me to getting my broadband reconnected asap and not placing a new order/waiting 48 hours..... why have a cease in error broadband team who cannot expedite the situation !

Sorry for the rant - things are a bit stressfull here at the moment due to this issue.

[saslimited]

18.00 - still waiting for a reply - tried to call all lines busy. Thought i would try to raise a complaint - can you believe that BT the UK's biggest telephine supplier does not have a number i can call to raise a complaint !!!

[saslimited]

copy of email send to executive board for action

Dear Sirs

Your earliest attention is required to expedite the current problem we are facing getting reconnected due to a BT billing error.

Company : Sapphire Accounting Systems

Address :

Telephone numbers :

IP Address :

Cease in error team contact : Jennifer James

Request : Resupply broadband service with static IP address to xxxxx xxxxxx without further delay

Please find below details of a current problem/complaint regarding a ‘cease in error’ of our broadband line and associated broadband service.  We are a small business specialising in software support and have used BT since the company was formed in 1989.  We moved offices last year (August) – only across the car park (so within the same location) - our experience of the move and the months following trying to remedy the billing errors have been topped off by us having our broadband disconnected.  We have confirmation from the BT Customer options team that yes – we were being double billed on both the ISDN lines and the broadband and even though we are currently owed over £2000 by BT for the double billing our broadband has been cut off. They also pointed out that as this was BT’s fault our normal service would be back to normal within 8 business hours – that was yesterday – and we are not up and running – in fact our business is suffering.

We were put in touch with the ‘Cease in Error’ team who have successfully reconnected the telephone line (xxxxx xxxxxx).  However our broadband service is still not working – this controls our emails (they are delivered to a specific IP Address linked to the broadband service) and also our ability to support our customer base with the services they are paying us for.

The broadband team are saying (via the ‘cease in error’ team) that the broadband service must be put on as a ‘new’ order and once done cannot be processed through to connection for another 48 hours … we have already experienced an outage for the last 1.5 days – another 48 hours will seriously affect the survival of our business.

We have had no choice but to place a new order as arguing further with your teams will only delay the situation – however I would appreciate your immediate attention so that you are able to affect a positive influence on this process and eliminate the delay in restoring our service to normal.

Once we have resolved the reconnection – please could I ask that you are able to pass our complaint onto the appropriate billing team so that we may receive the full refund not only on the double billing but also the penalty charges for disconnection. We are currently being billed for 12 ISDN lines when we only have 6 and 2 broadband lines/services when we only have 1 (albeit technically we have no broadband service ! – the number for the old broadband service which requires disconnecting is xxxxx xxxxxx).  I regret ever speaking to the BT Local business team representative Christopher Bourne-Hallet – his inability to take ownership of the job, call back with updates and resolve any of our queries is shocking !  I have attached copies of our agreement signed last year confirming 6 ISDN lines and  broadband for your reference.  

Please ensure this email address is used for correspondence until the broadband service is resumed.

Please advise at your earliest.

[saslimited]

Some good news to report

With alot of help from Julie in the executive complaints team our broadband service was reconnected on Saturday 2nd at around 22:45.

Received a call today from Julie on the executive complaints team and she is in the process of resolving all the double billing going back to august.

This has been an incredibly painful experience for our business and we will not know the full cost of it until the support contracts are renewed.