WE STILL DON'T HAVE A PHONE LINE

We asked BT to install a phone line with broadband on November 3rd. We were told we could keep our phone number as we were on the same exchange in the Grassmarket and it would take 6 to 10 working days. We were then allocated a date of Friday 26th ! An engineer did appear on the 26th but discovered that the exchange was actually not the same as Cockburn Street and therefore he couldn’t do the job. BT said they would sort it out as quickly as they could. I was expecting the following Monday but I was told it was a new job and I would join the back of the queue again though they would “escalate” it to make it quicker and then appeal that date to make it even quicker again. The first date I was given was December 29th which it turned out was the escalated date (otherwise it would be the third week of January). An appeal was made by the engineer in charge of the job but he got nowhere.

I was told there was no point in complaining by others who had faced similar BT cock ups but eventually I did complain to sales who promised to try and get a quicker date. After a couple of emails they have not replied since. It looked like Virgin Media might have been quicker but hampered by the bad weather they too now are not sure when they can install a line. We at least have a site inspection from them tomorrow. BT have warned there might be further delays caused by the bad weather but have not changed the 29th date as yet.

A big thank you to all our customers for being so understanding especially about not having a credit card machine. Thankfully there is at least a cashline machine nearby. Currently the old phone number is being forwarded to my mobile but that will not continue much longer. Ironically BT make a point of saying how stressful it is moving a business and that is why they have set up a special team just to deal with businesses moving. As many of you will know there have been many ups and downs in our move to the Grassmarket but BT’s inability to identify the correct exchange and then rectify their mistake quickly has been the most stressful part of the whole move.