The BT Man (and the Ill Communication)

Boo spent a good part of the last day baking brownies to give as a gift to British Telecom. British Telecom (BT), is the only company that can hook up your phone (and also Internet) where we live. Similar to what happened in the States with de-regulation of the phone system, BT switched from a public service to a private monopoly in 1984.

Our experience with BT thus far (minus one shining light) was the worst I have ever had. Period. Four missed appointments. 4 hours on the phone (mostly on hold). 15 hours waiting for an engineer to arrive. Over and over receiving mail confirming appointments they had already missed. A miserable, miserable experience.

And then I called a local guy who simply calls himself, "The BT Man". He can't hook up your phone but after I told him my story, he said he'd take care of it because he 'knew people' at BT that could make things happen. And all of this, for no charge -- only he asked that if we need a new socket or something down the road, we call him. Very MacGyver-ish.

Within 12 hours of sending an email to the BT Man with our story, the office of the chairman for BT called to handle our complaint. This was on Wednesday. Today, Friday, an engineer finally showed up and now both our phone and Internet is working. On top of that, the complaint lady (very nice, by the way), called to find out what compensation I wanted. I think I wound up with 20 pounds to cover cell phone charges, 3 months free phone service, and I think a free install (normally 129 pounds).

You won't get sympathy from the locals, though. You mention "BT" and everyone seems to have a story just like ours. Argh.