Having been a BT customer before, and also experienced a terrible service from BT Open Reach I was disappointed to find that in my new flat I am restricted to using BT lines. Resignedly, I went back to BT themselves for my new line as they were offering what looked like the cheapest deal.

My initial appointment dates were set up with the usual 2-3 week lead time I'd expect, but just before the work was due I got an update to say the work would be delayed. No explanation.. Just an email saying my appointment would be moved. By over a month.

In pursuit of an explanation, the next day I spent a farcical few hours on the phone getting nowhere only to finally be told I would be called back with an update within 24 hours. Of course, this call never came. I wasted another few hours of my time following up this non-existent update and was eventually informed that 'additional work outside the property' was required. Fine. I had my doubts, but I sat tight.

Fast forward to the installation date, all was on track and I was receiving frequent updates reminding me to be ready for my site visit! I took half a day off, received my call to say the engineer was on his way that morning, and waited. No engineer. No update. No anything. Back on the phone to find out what had gone wrong. 4 hours later I eventually had my call escalated to a supervisor in the foreign customer service center who explained my visit had not taken place because the external work had only been completed the previous day. On my pointing out how ridiculous this explanation was, the supervisor laughed, and agreed. He went on to promise to contact open reach to expedite my reappointment and call me back within half an hour.

No call. No update.

I was unable to get back in contact with said manager/supervisor on calling again.

Minutes after giving up on the phone I received an email from BT stating that my first bill was available to view online. Brilliant.

I had also struck up an email conversation with another customer support representative, who also promised me various updates, and to his credit actually providing some if sorely lacking in any content or advice.

And then a few days of silence. I couldn't be bothered to waste my time on pointless calls. understandably annoyed and exasperated I forwarded an email to some of BT's CEOs outlining my situation, one of whom promptly responded, elevating my account to BT's 'executive level complaints' team. Presently I got a call from a cheerful and polite representative who offered more verbose, but still nonsensical reasons for the delays - one of which being that Open Reach were no longer fulfilling appointments due to ALL of their engineers working on flood damaged cabling. On the very same day I was told this my sister, living less than a mile away from me, had her lines installed by an Open Reach engineer. Imagine my ire.

Yesterday an engineer visited my block. No update, no call. Apparently he did some kind of work. Later, I got a call from my ELC contact saying that I may receive a further update in a few days time to arrange a new appointment.

Needless to say I'm not impressed, and I can't recommend strongly enough against the temptation to give this company the benefit of the doubt.

Serviceless BT customer 14th December - 18th February and counting.