The BT Story: Epilogue.

Do you want to hear the latest update on my phone line problem? No? OK, I’ll tell you anyway.

I’ve been busting a gut trying to get BT to understand that I don’t need an engineer’s visit to my house. I don’t see why I should have to wait in for up to five hours when I know that the fault isn’t in my house, it’s out there somewhere. Seven previous engineers who came to the house told me so and it’s plainly obvious anyway.

So, you might remember that a couple of days ago I spoke to a man from ‘tech.’ He was good; he listened to the symptoms and told me that I didn’t need a visit to my house because the problem is obviously out there somewhere and the cables, connections etc need a hands-on check. He would get it organised. Fine.

BT admin didn’t agree. This morning I had an email saying ‘You will shortly be meeting Graham, our engineer. He will call at your house some time between 1pm and 6pm.’ (It didn’t actually say: ‘Please be kind to him. He’s a sensitive soul and tomorrow's Sunday’, but it might as well have done given how downright crass both the situation and the email were.) I rolled my eyes and prepared myself mentally for Graham’s visit.

The hours rolled by, and by 5pm Graham had still not materialised. By then I was coming to presume that this was just another example of BT doing what BT does best: getting it wrong. But at 5.10 my landline phone rang and I picked it up. ‘My name’s Graham,’ said a somewhat cultured voice. ‘I didn’t need to come to the house. I’ve traced the fault and fixed it. You’re good to go.’ He even told me where the fault was. What Graham had done was precisely what the man from ‘tech’ (whose name was Dave from Newcastle, by the way) said needed doing, and which was obvious to me all along. Apparently, it wasn’t obvious to BT.

And a final note: at 5.30 I received two emails from BT. The first was to inform me that my problem was fixed. The second said ‘Graham is just around the corner and will be with you shortly.’ It was timed at 11am; it was sent at 5.30. That’s BT. If only they would just let those who know what they’re doing get on with the job we'd all be a lot less stressed.

But all is now functioning normally again, so please give a big round of applause to Dave and Graham. It seems that even trash cans can have the odd angel or two living in them.