We are a very busy practice in surrey and we have had this phone line with BT for almost 20 years. Suddenly 6 weeks ago (16/17th March 2017) our line was dead. Patients were not able to contact the practice and we could not make calls in case of an emergency! We found out our line was cancelled. BT could not explain why this has happened and could NOT explain why they had NOT contacted us prior to cancelling the line! and shockingly could NOT explain who called and cancelled. After being without a phone line for FIVE DAYS, new lines were eventually installed. Luckily we managed to keep our existing telephone number which saved a lot of inconvenience, However to our surprise BT added £525 to our march invoice through direct debit for the engineering call out to fix their mistake without informing or authorisation from us!!! After numberous exhausting phone calls inbetween patient appointments, they reluctantly refunded the fee when I explained the situation but still did not appologise or admit to their mistake. I was astonished with the lack of communication between different departments at BT and how they dealt with our situation.
AND GUESS WHAT!! DE JA VU! It happens again!!!!!!!!!
YESTERDAY 26th of April 2017 we opened the surgery in the morning to find once again our line was dead with four fully booked practicioners on site for the day.
At 11:20 we called our web master to place an out of order telephone line with a mobile number banner on our website to try and control the damage (we are awaiting the webmasters invoice for this)
11:30 first call made by myself (dentist) to BT business dedicated helpline! with a 25 minute wait. After lines were tested it was confirmed that our line has seized to exist. No one knows why, no explanation was given. The person in charge LIAM (Order Management) provided a reference number BT2Q6-----7 (hidden due to confidentiality) promised the issue has been escalated and in the meantime all the calls will be diverted to our emergency mobile number.
I was not satisfied with the vague response from BT which resulted in me being given the number for BT security 0800 321999. I called and waited on the phone for 30mins
Line cut off
Tried few more times
After 20 mins wait, got hold of someone from BT security with ref CIR1700---9 (hidden due to confidentiality) they promised to investigate the issue, how my line was cancelled without my authorisation or receiving a warning/confirmation letter prior to cancellation of phone line. Bear in mind all the BT invoices have been paid via direct debit this whole time therefore it was not an outstanding balance issue.
Transferred to another department where they placed a password to prevent this happening again in the future (Not sure why this was not introduced or recommended during the March Incident to prevent this happening the second time)
15:25 Gary leaves a voicemail from BT on my personal mobile stating he would like to speak to me from the investigation department but failing to leave a number or reference number to contact him with.
15:45pm Received a flod of emails from patients stating they cannot get through on the phone line. Wondering what is happening.
In order to inform the patients we decided to place a banner on our facebook account to notify our issue and an alternaitive number to contact.
17:30 STILL awaiting a phone call or some sort of reassurance from BT Nothing has been done about the diversion. Therefore I called 0800 800154 quoted previously given reference number by Liam to find out what is happening. I was informed that this reference was connected to the previous issue back in March and not the second incident today with no record of calls made today at all. I was furious.
after once again explaining the situation he asked me to check the sockets and remove the cover to access the socket underneath and connect my phones to it (beare in mind I have patients waiting and I am running very late at this point.)
when he eventually realised (after 30 min conversation) we are still at square one with no progress no engineer requested, he claimed he will escalate the issue and promised calls will be diverted. He requested for my account and telephone number to do this and that it will be complete in the next half hour. To my surprise when i asked if i can be provided with a reference number he said "no, because this issue was raised manually, when you call give account number and tel number they will trace it"
18:30- I waited the time promised (30 mins) no calls were diverted. I called 0800 800 154 again! after 15 mins waiting on the line another guy answered had no idea what is going on, started running the test AGAIN. At the same time stuart from BT calls our mobile number and requested to speak to me, so I had to hang up the BT line. Stuart informed me that there will be no diversion of calls today. He also informed me that he has sent an email to another department to a guy called Lee or his manager will call my personal mobile tomorrow morning to inform me about the progress.
In all these phone calls I expressed our obligation as a dental surgery to GDC (General Dental Council) and CQC (Care Quality Commission)to be able to contact the dental practice and for patients to be able to contact me in case of emergency!!
I asked him again why is this happening and why is no one communicating at BT this is a serious matter!! How can somebody cancel my line without my authorisation? he could not answer and did not know why this was happening.
I informed him that i have reported this to BT security and will take it further.
19:45 STILL no diversion of calls and No line
We have been loosing business all day.
27/4/17
9:18- voicemail left advising that they cannot help with the seized line I have to call the sales department to get a new line "0800800152 option 2 to place a new order"
9:20 called 0800 800 154 spoke with a lady she had no idea what is happening, and confirmed that no order was placed yesterday. She could see I had phoned numerous times but no order to rectify the fault. I refused to speak further as i was furious and asked to speak to the head of department immediately, lady named kirsty. I asked for her direct contact number, she confirmed there has been no order placed yesterday and that she has to start the process today she confirmed there will be no diversion of the calls and that it will take 24 hours and divert is not possible prior to activation of the telephone line. I expressed my concerns and dissapointment and how unacceptable BT has been. I reinformed about my obligation towards being able to be contacted by patients.
I demanded her to confirm all the above in wrtiting. She could not explain why the line is seized.
After waiting 10 mins she comes back stating that the line was seized due to a billing enquiry but i explained to her and other numerous times that we are under direct debit and we have evidence that our account is up to date!
She has started the complaints procedure with a reference number IMP16----6 (hidden due to confidentiality)
13:45- checked the phones - land line is diverted to mobiles however still no line
This took 1 1/2 business days to divert the calls!!!
I hope you can understand how stressful this situation is; especially the fact that no one can answer a few simple questions! There is no transparency culture in BT. Why was my land line seized? Who authorised this and why was i not contacted prior to this being done. Every person I have spoken to so far has not been honest, no one acted professionaly in terms of providing correct accurate information to a simple question. All of these leads to another question. How easily can someone breach a multi billion pound company, cancel a business line without anyone raising a question or inform the business owner? Is my information safe?
In March nobody took it serious, no one suggested placing a password, why was this not in place in the first place? Who is regulating BT?...
I am now seeking resolution in respect of unaccepted deliberate disconnected phone line, business interuption, loss of income and I am writing to you to resolve the matter that I have previously raised in numerous conversations regarding cancelled phone lines. I feel that you have failed and Lied to provide an adequate answer and tried to hide the real reason behind the serious security breach.
I am demanding a prompt response to the above.
What i would like by way of resolution of this matter is to be compensated financially for a loss of income also have a written explanation why my phone lines were cancelled and how you will prevent this happening again in the future.
To be continued....
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