I've been with BT for decades. Only recently though has it become exasperating with a mix of a good looking but frustrating web portal access pages (tend to tell lies) and a blame Ofcom (or the customer) overcharging culture.

Here are some my favourite excuses:

"the reason you're being charged the maximum is because you're out of contract and OFCOM won't let us do rolling contracts". Oh so are SKY are just flouting Ofcom regulations then?

"We can't offer loyalty discount on fibre because its a new service". True, but I'm not new, in fact I've been a customer for years; surely that's what loyalty means? That fell on deaf ears I'm afraid. In the BT lexicon, perhaps loyal means pay up.

"I can't do anything about the overcharging, as I don't have the power to give refunds". OK, two months later I DID get the refund - but I had to be persistent; and the words 'as a gesture' did get used..

Its all So Retail, as a certain chat show host might say.

The service does work though. Well after finally agreeing to replace a faulty hub - took just two years of pestering on the phone.