Can I get compensation from BT?

[#1]

Hi,
I asked BT to check my line on 22/4/08 due to a quite a lot of disconnects on DSL and slow speeds, they checked the line and said there was no problems.  Things continued and raised a ticket with Plusnet on 8/5/08 to which they said the line check was inconclusive, and the sync speed was 3800 but only downloading at approx 485.  Anyway several resets of the router, even though I was advised to do this once, and this cleared up and all back to normal.
Late May I noticed that the router was locking up every 15 mins and resetting itself a few minutes later (2wire 1800), this seemed to clear up after downgrading the firmware but the problems reoccured after a few days.  So out with the router and now onto a 2wire 2700, everything seemed ok at first but very low sync speeds due to the contant retrains previously on the old router pushing the connection profile down.  Opened a ticket to plusnet and they said the speeds would/should increase after 3 days.
June 6th and all broadband and phone stop working, engineer comes round Saturday 7th and finds the problem is a 100 pair connector at the bottom of the road is underwater and no longer waterproof, shorting out possibly 60 of the 100 lines in there and says that I would have been experiencing broadband problems for months.  He reconnected my line to a spare connector that was currently out of the water but as the water level varies the connection would be intermittant.  Straight away sync speed is well over 5000, highest I've seen for ages!  For 15 minutes at least, rain continued and the connection went off again.  The engineer said they would need to bring a pump on Monday to get the water out and put a brand new watertight connector in there.
Anyway... it's now Tuesday, gave BT a nudge both yesterday and today and they're now saying it's not going to be fixed until the 13th.  Broadband syncs at 896 or most of the time not at all - as far as I can see as from today BT will give me a refund of a days line rental per day (yipee! - 25p?? lol) can I get a contribution towards the my Plusnet bill from them too?
Sorry for the long message guys, work from home and it's frustrating having no phone or broadband and having to use the net through my mobile!
Regards,
Stu

[#2]

I only know that when my telephone line went down in the distant past I did get compensation from BT for every day without a service - can't remember exactly, but it was definitely more than the figure you've been given.
I suppose that you could research it and see what their policy is but (sadly) I am coming to the conclusion that the only people who get anything nowadays are those who shout the loudest so it might be a good idea to give them a bit of hassle.

[#3]

Thanks, all I could see is they'd refund they equivelent of the daily line rental (35p ish - got my figures wrong!).
Typical that after my last phone call to them the broadband cut off completely.  I've checked down the road where the engineer said the problem was and no one is working there, and it's not raining either, so maybe they're just being awkward now! lol
I've put a complaint in on their site saying "this is not acceptable - are you going to refund my line rental, my broadband rental, my mobile phone calls AND my mobile internet usage while these services are unavailable???" and also sent a copy of the webform to their CEO who's email I just happened to find, hopefully I'll get a decent reply from them soon - trying to avoid calling their call centre again, don't like repeating myself as they can't understand.
Stu

[#4]

Don't forget to keep detailed copies of all your expenditure. I only mention it because I am awful - I leave scraps of paper all over the place, get fed up with the mess and end up throwing it away.
Start a spreadsheet and you can't go wrong.
Just as an aside, my telephone went down a couple of months ago and because I use Homephone I reported it to Plusnet who in turn got BT to fix it as it was an exchange problem. It was back on within about 12 to 18 hours. The big benefit to me was not having to wait hours on the telephone for a call to overseas operators. Call was answered promptly (Homephone fault calls are prioritised on the answer system) and I was texted in the afternoon to update me with progress. Didn't get any compensation although I didn't ask for any.

[#5]

It use to be a month rental for each day the phone was down outside the normal repair window. From memory this was 4 working days.
Now it is

Quote

11  Daily-rate rental credit is the amount we will credit you for each whole or part day we are late in providing the service or repairing a service failure and for each line affected. It is equal to the daily charge of your rentals for each day that applies. The daily charge is four times the rental charge for three months (including VAT) divided by 365. Payment for extra care packages is not included in this. If you claim this, you will not have to prove your loss. If you suffer extra losses, you may also claim actual financial loss as described in paragraph 12. 12  Actual financial loss is the amount you lose that could reasonably be foreseen (expected) as a result of us not keeping to our guarantee. If you claim this, you will have to show us proof of your loss. The amount we agree that is due to you will not include or be subject to VAT.

Got 2 options 

[#6]

What two options?
"If you suffer extra losses, you may ALSO claim actual financial loss as described in paragraph 12. "

[#7]

Quote

3.   If we are late in providing the service or repairing a service failure, you may choose either of the following. a.  Call diversion, which is described in paragraphs 6 to 10 below. This is only available if it is reasonably practical, and sometimes technical restrictions may prevent us from offering you this option. b.  Daily-rate rental credit or actual financial loss, which is described in paragraphs 11 and 12 below. You may choose either daily-rate rental credit or actual financial loss (or both).

[#8]

Nothing is ever straightforward with BT. Last year my phone went dead and BT were too busy to investigate the problem for a week. It then took another three days to resolve the problem. They did however immediately give me call diversion to my mobile. Strangely ADSL was unaffected and worked throughout.
They refused me line rental rebate (because I was still able to use ADSL) and would only have recompensed me for any calls I made from my mobile if I could show that I would otherwise have made them from the landline!
It just wasn't worth the effort...........

[#9]

An hour after emailing BT's CEO he emailed to say he'd passed it on to someone else, and they emailed around another hour later saying "I will have my team look at this and contact you."
Let's see if anything happens today! 

[#10]

Been a while but it's now the 17th and they've just fixed the line.  Going to ring me back tomorrow to check everything's ok and sort out compensation.
Sync speed is a nice 5280 which is a lot better than my normal 3800 which maybe as they've also replaced a couple hundred meters of cable and definataly better than the 896 sync I was getting before all the problems started. 
However the IP Profile is down at 500 so I can't make use of this.  Plusnet have told me to keep the router on for 3 to 7 days (depends on who I speak to) and the can't influence it in any way..... BT have told me they just need to contact BT Wholesale and it'll be sorted straight away... they're even just said if my latest ticket to Plusnet gets replied as they can't sort it, BT will try contacting BT Wholesale themselves..... can a member of staff clarify please!
Stu

[#11]

I strongly suspect they're talking rubbish
BT Retail cannot talk to BT Wholesale about a line that they do not own.  Or rather BT Wholesale should refuse to action requests from BT Retail for your broadband service.
The IP Profile is designed to be recalculated every 3 days, so if you sit tight for a little bit, your speeds should subsequently improve.

[#12]

Hi James,
Thanks for your reply.
As per Bob's post in another thread:
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,65336.msg524851.html#msg524851
it says that the time involved in a change depends on the percentage increase in the line speed.  As my line has gone from 896 to 5280 which is a 589% increase, shouldn't this be done in 4 hours?
Stu

[#13]

If you believe in miracles
It very rarely happens from what I've seen.  I've seen a number of blips from 7150 to 135Kbps, which are rarely resolved within 3 days.

[#14]

So if my line is with BT Retail and the repair was supposed to be 3 days and took 11.... broadband goes through BT Wholesale and the IP profile should be sorted in 3 to 7 days... I should expect it to be right around Christmas? 
Stu

[#15]

Mine raised itself in 12 hours yesterday, it can happen