A customer of mine called me late Saturday night to say they couldn’t login to their office server and they had not received some important emails due. I tried to login and sure enough I could not access the server.
The following Sunday morning I drove to their office at 7:30 am to reboot the server, but the server was fine, so checked the normal stuff like remote access, exchange services etc and again all was fine. So then decided to check the internet connection and there found that BT had changed the static IP address to the site.
This site is a shopping centre with footfall services, car park services, 24/7 security, etc and BT decided that it is acceptable to paralyse a business because of an outstanding sum of £87.00.
I spoke at length with BT on Monday morning, why wait until Monday I hear you ask, well believe it or not BT do not have business support on a Sunday, so they can paralyse you and then stop you contacting them unless it is a weekday. I spoke to an overseas call centre as per usual and they were quick to blame their automated systems for the static IP address service being withdrawn over the outstanding amount. They refused point blank to do anything about it until the bill was paid.
BT are untouchable and sadly have no ethics. Why didn’t someone call the shopping centre and say your service will be withdrawn in the next x days unless this bill is paid. Nope they just sit there and pull the plug at their discretion.
I have recommended they move away from BT at their earliest opportunity to a company that has ethics, 24/7 business support and will speak to you if there is a billing issue.
I strongly advise all my customers to avoid BT unless it is the only option available to them, they are the worst and most difficult company I have the displeasure in dealing with.
Further to this and to add insult to injury, the bill had been paid on time and it was BT’s system that failed to pick up the payment. Brilliant. I’ve suggested the customer claim free time and my costs for going to site on a Sunday. We now have to wait up to 2 hours before service is restored.
