Getting a Phone Line

21st Century Madness
Getting a Phone Line
“Watchdog” recently did something on this. But this is my saga of trying to get a phone line. Now, in line with my own etiquette for this blog, I am not going to name the company. But they are big, and it’s difficult to do anything without them. So you can probbaly guess.
I deliberately found my new flat early so that I could get all the services sorted out, move in, go on holiday, and be up and running to start my new job on 24th September.
I found the flat on 10th August, and made arrangements to move in on 24th. I immediately contacted said phone company. There was no line in the flat already, so I would have to pay to have one put on. Fine, there was plenty of time. After two hours on the phone – thank goodness a free phone number – they agreed to come and put it on between 8. a.m and 1. p.m on Thursday 30th August. That would work. I was going on holiday form 31st August to 23rd September.
By 1. 00 p.m on 30th August, no one had come. I spent two hours on the phone until someone answered.
“Oh, didn’t anyone tell you? They should have phoned to say that they were coming tomorrow instead.
“Tomorrow? But I arranged to be here today. I’m going to be driving to France tomorrow.”
“Oh!”
Now, it so happens, the wiring is all there for the phone. They really only have to go and do something to a junction box within the building. We have a concierge on site and a manager. In theory, they don’t really need me to be here. Wouldn’t you have thought they would have known that as they have such a monopoly? (Careful, I may be giving something away here.) The rather friendly person on the other end of the phone made notes.
Whilst abroad, I set my phone so that I will only get calls from family. I then pick up voice messages as and when and only reply to the important ones, roaming charges being what they are.
We were almost at Tours when I picked up the call form the engineer informing me that I had “Missed your call-out”. The next appointment couldn’t be until the 10th of September.
Good luck, I thought. I made a mental note to talk to the management and concierge a little nearer the time.
Two days later, I had a call form the same company, telling me they would be putting my phone line on the 12th September. I later spoke to the concierge and the management people. They agreed to look out for the phone engineer.
I did get a call on the 12th September. Someone did go and do as much as they could. Stupidly, despite the fact that everything is already there, they do need to get into the flat. Just to put a little machine on to the end of the line and get someone to tell them that it’s working. MY line did work – I tested it from France. I even tried reporting a fault. There was no fault. It was working fine.
They then did the double-act trick again. This time it was going to be 21st September and 24h The 24th might have been okay – but not a.m. It didn’t seem to occur to anyone that it might be an idea to check with me first. At this point, we found that not only was the line live, but it was also listed in the phone book. Just one snag. I couldn’t use it yet.
I spoke to someone sensible eventually. They offered me 1st October a.m. I settled for p.m and recounted the whole sorry saga. Whilst I was speaking to this sensible person, I had four messages left on my mobile phone from cheerful gentlemen in India informing me that the engineer was coming on the morning of 1st October.
Well, someone did come on the afternoon of 1st October. They phoned first, but unfotunately the concierge was off sick and the manager was on lunch. Another hour’s delay, therefore. Once he could get to all the bits he needed to get to, it took him under ten minutes to get me a working line. For that, I have to pay £124.00
But the saga did not end there. I did not choose to have this company provide calls or Broadband. The company I did choose gave me a date ten days later. However, because the line-monoply company has inefficient processes, this was delayed be a further ten days.
Now we get on to the bill. I’ve opted to go paperless, pay monthly and use my debit card to pay – although I’d rather use Direct Debit. Guess what, you can’t get through to the people who set up the Direct Debits. They helpfully tell you to go to the website. I tried that. It wouldn’t let me complete the transaction.
And interestingly, “going on my average calls” I need to pay £76.00 per month. I pay a line rental to them only. My calls go through the other company. Oh, they will pay back. I’ve experienced this before. But how dare they take so much in the first place? They don’t offer to pay interest. Of course, I should phone them and query it … but have I got the two hours to wait?