I am desperate to help my 80-year-old dad, JF, and his partner who have been left without a landline for more than two months by BT.
This is especially difficult as my dad has relatives in Canada that he usually phones every weekend, and his partner is Japanese. Both need a landline to call their families so as to not feel isolated.
Despite numerous promises, more than 10 hours of phone calls to the company, booked and missed appointments, and two complaints being raised, nothing has happened.
Six months ago my dad and his partner moved closer to me so I could help them more. They had not moved in nearly 40 years and found the process stressful. Now to be left with no way of phoning family is adding to this.
I just want to know what I need to do to get my dad a landline. BT has taken his money and made lots of promises. I have explained numerous times about his age and that he is vulnerable, but no one is listening.
HF, Wokingham
BT makes semi-regular appearances in this column owing to its sometimes shoddy treatment of landline customers. But even with the bar set low, the company surpassed itself in its dealings with your father, as the longer account you sent me details a comedy of errors including two engineer no-shows and a £53 bill for a router that said: “Sorry to see you go.” When you tried to log a complaint on its website, it did not recognise the account number on the bill!
I asked BT to sort this out, and I’m pleased to report that your dad can now make calls again. Apparently there were multiple failed orders in his name that should have led to it being escalated. BT told me: “We’re very sorry that JF’s experience fell below the high standards we always strive to provide to our customers. JF has accepted our offer of goodwill and his complaint has been resolved.”
Your father is grateful for the £400 compensation, but you remain concerned about the way he was treated and that it could happen to other vulnerable people, as none of BT’s safeguards or complaint escalation routes seemed to work.
