Moved into a new build on Friday and BT were going to come yesterday to install the line. Cable is sticking out of a brick, blue rope tied to a brick (I understand to pull the line through) and a blank plate on the master socket waiting for a face plate. From that I was assuming everything would be OK.

Get a call on Friday saying that there was some bad news. Apprantly there were not enough lines/connections or something like that going to the exchange.

Now the best bit, the date when they have been told this would be done, wait for it, 28th August

Is this normal? There are BT manhole covers on the development (19 propertys) so did BT not have the forsight to make sure they could connect them?

I had exactly the same problem 2 years ago, ordered 2 lines from BT, 2 days before install got a phone call which said, we can't do it for 3 months!!!

In our case what had happened is that all the properties had been cabled up to the juntions boxs in the road, but not to the exchange. I was given a choice, a feed could have been taken from a nearby estate (fed on aluminium) meaning I could get voice services but not BB, or wait for the FTTC to be installed, needless to say I waited.

I did a bit of digging on the subject and found that although new developments are known about in advance, the case with ours was that capacity was reached in the area 6 months previous, and with a 'millenium village' planned on the opposite side of the road with FTTP it was decided to hold off upgrading the area until plans had been submitted, it still has not gone ahead, but our estate has took advantage of the proximity to it anyway!

This sounds identical to the problem I'm having now. Seems to be a big issue with capacity at different exchanges and distribution points whether they be poles or the boxes in the ground.

I've heard different stories that lead so same outcome where it seems I cannot even be given a date for installation. I've had due estimated completion dates, update dates, appointments all cancelled and its been a lot of hassle.

I think installations were far better dealt with before all this business with ofcom splitting BT from thir engineers to form openreach which are still part of the BT Group. I think it has lead to total poor communication between BT retail and the Openreach engineers and then there are the contractors, Enterprise that carry out the work for Openreach and dEpending on the size of job, even they will pass on the work to a sub-contractor.

I ordered my line in January and still waiting though the socket is on the wall inside the caravan now. I'm just waiting for the cable to be connected at the D.P.

I've been told that its damaged and needs to be replaced, that a new cable must run to the D.P and that the existing one is not up to standard and must be replaced.

I asked the engineer that came to put the socket in about the delay and he said its about a days work for engineers to do, now I'm told a new trench is required.

There's not a lot you can do other than wait I guess. At least you got a date for work to be done.

In my local newspaper I read an article about a woman waiting since last July for her phone line. This article was printed just over a week or so ago so i do wonder how many other people are in this situation. I agree with anyone that thinks it is totally unaceptable to be waiting this long. Even the a member of staff in chairman's office told me that a guy in a top floor flat had to wait 11 months for a phone line.

If you want to know the extent that I've been messed about by BT, read my thread on BT Phone Line Installation for a Caravan?

That's enough from me for now, message posted using an o2 xda orbit yet again.

I got an update on Friday. Apprantly all the cabling is done onsite apart from connecting the actual lines. The problem was when they tried to lay a new cable offsite to the exchange or whereever there they found a blockage in the trucking underground.

Its now due by the end of July but they apprantly have to give the council one months notice to dig up the road!

The sales office have also contacted BT asking why we couldn't all be given overhead lines until they can provide underground.

Think it would cost them too much to provide overhead cables. BT wouldn't do anything that would cost them too much money. Might need new posts. From what I read on Openreach website, these cost over £500 for the post and to put it in the ground. I hear that it takes time to seek permissions to put in new posts if there isn't one nearby.

I've been given that excuse where there is a blockage with cabling. I don't know if you have read my thread but i've read this one and problems with BT couldn't be more similar, other than BT are charging me silly money (that's £650) and I've waited since 20th Jan for service.

I've heard that many excuses from them and reading this thread makes me even more furious with them. They keep passing the blame onto someone else! This is what BT have become, a complete disgrace.

I understand you are oa new housing estate and newSites people are meant to provide service to these estates. Planners should be well aware of how many houses there are, including any capacity issues and I was told by the Chairman's Office myself about all new houses being entitled to phone service. How exactly are BT going to cope with their plans for 21CN?

I must admit I think i've had a lot of patience with them and some peop
e have ben made to wait longer. How they have put up with it is beyond me but i've just about enough of them now.

There were a few propertys who had moved in 3 or more weeks before us and so they must have tried to get a line and I wonder if they are getting the same updates as I have managed to get.

I don't know the process of things but I would have thought the developer would have requested the propertys be connected to the exchange a long time before people started moving in which makes the wait even more stupid.

I'm not putting any hopes on an overhead line as there not going to put those in and then replace them with underground cables.

Plus how have the sales office managed to get a line!

I've seen people mention the Chairmans Office and found the email address so would it speed things up if I contacted them?

I'm also waiting for their accounts department to try and bill me for a line I haven't even got!

The sales office need a business line. Don't forget they need that line to sell houses! Besides that, they would have paid an extortionate amount to BT openreach to get that work done with the underground distribution points and the ducting put in place so it's ready for cabling. Therefore, BT would have treated the developers as highest priority for a number of lines. If you think about how much business they must put BT's way.

I say that the chairman's office would help more than other department, you will get to speak to someone that talks sense in english but i got in touch with them first by email before they made a call about that email the same evening. In my case with them, things have moved quicker but I still often feel like i'm being given incorrect information with them sometimes but they tend to blame the planner, contractor or openreach. They have known about the situation with my order since the 8th april, so that's more than 2 months they have had the complaint for.

In the Chairman's office, it will be one person that will deal with your order, unless they are not there and another will check progress for you.

Obviously, I have the number for the chairman's office and the desk number that gets me straight through to the person that deals with my order. So if you get someone in the office to take charge of the order, i would suggest asking that person for their direct number that goes to their desk. It's better than dialling the 0800 number, as I have to call from a mobile. 01 numbers included in my allowance, 08 numbers cost 2p per minute, though if you go to a payphone, they a free to call from there. Maybe go to the developers sales office and ask why its taking so long, ask if you can call BT from their phone. They will probably be annoyed by this But might complain to BT for you.

Maybe if you had ordered a business line, it may have speeded things up. I hear they can claim good compensation money from BT if they are waiting too long. I'm not totally sure if that happens with orders but I know it does if the business line has a fault or something.

Why are you waiting for BT to bill you? I'd cancel any direct debit you might have set up with them, they are not the easiest company to claim money back from.

To be honest its not a bill, iths three bills as they managed to initially make three orders although two have been cancelled but we know this is BT.

The sales office are trying because people are asking if they know anything but I suspect BT probably aren't taking that much notice! I could try the head office and ask why this wasn't arranged before they started moving people in!

We have had the land line number diverted to a mobile phone and we susposedly get £1 per day towards costs which gets credited to the bill but again this is BT we are talking about. Also we can claim financial loss but again that is probably hard and can it be claimed on two mobiles in the property!

You would think they would be falling over themselves to get business from 19 new propertys!

BT are terrible with billing, not as bad as they are at providing service though! They have changed my provisional telephone number three times already and now I'm unsure if it's been changed for a fourth time to be honest.

It would be difficult to claim money back from them. I know for sure it has cost me a lot travelling to and from the caravan to home. Then there's all the calls to BT from the mobile at 20p per minute. It is a disgrace.

I think in the best case, you could claim calls from mobile to other landlines as you would obviously insist that you would have made calls to other landlines from your landline if they had put one in for you and of course, the calls to BT.

I doubt they would cover the cost of huge mobile phone bills or long calls to other mobiles. They might be able to work out the cost of your calls at the rate you would have been charged at from a BT Landline and work out the difference and claim some money back. It would probably cause more trouble than its worth though.

Yeah you would think that BT would make some effort wanting business from the estate but then you realise that BT are too big a business and they will do whatever they want. I believe that Ofcom are there to protect BT above all so there is little they would do to help. Your only option is to contact the head office. Like I said on another thread here, these people represent BT so again, the rate that the work gets done will be slow no doubt. I think the people in the Chairman's Office appear to be more understanding of your situaion however, though it's little use when your the one waiting for an essential service.

Well I was speaking to the sales office over the weekend and apprantly the site manager phone BT and had a turn at them, the next day there are a couple of people looking around with a cable over their shoulder. Also that date sounds like it now may be the end of this month but I can't see that happening.

I was also told that someone else has got £250 out of BT so over the weekend I sent an email to the Chairmans Office. Thay have asked for a convienent time to call so I'm waiting to see what happens now!

Update

Had a call yesterday saying that the work offsite will not be completed until the beginning of October. I've been told that there is 300m of blocked/collapsed trunking in several places and they have had to apply for permits from the Highways Agency.

The problem is, if work has been done in the same area before by anyone that caused disruption to the traffic you have to wait a maximum of 3 months and BT seems to fall into this.

I was also told that the BT only find out about a new development when people move in. This is because BT do not have to provide a landline in the same way as other services and so they don't bother telling BT.

I was also told that BT pay the developer £50 to put the internal cabling in and provide a faceplate. The developer has only given a blanking plate!

On the upside though, the brick and rope that I got quite fond of has been replaced by a black phone cable, but not actually connected to the white cable coming out of the wall.

This is what happened for me with the cabling being provided. I was told that 300m of Aerial Cable was required and for them to replace two poles nearby.

It seems some work is happening today with contractors working on poles and cabling. Only a few days ago, I got told about road closure but work still going ahead. Maybe there's a chance that they will do work for you before October but I wouldn't be too sure. I've waited almost six months for work to Be done so any proposed changing of poles nearby and working with trenches could probably have been in the pipeline long before they said anything as information getting into the chairman's office always seems to Be delayed.

The developer won't provide the BT master socket so a bit of mis-communication there. We had always been told by BT that the master socket can only go on the wall directly inside the entry point so there's no hidden cabling within the fabric of the building belonging to BT so I', not sure why they'd pay someone to do something they don't want doing, and £50 is quite expensive for the job tbh. I think someone's got confused with something.

Had an interesting chate with the sales office on Saturday as they are aware of what the site manager knows.

The site manager is also aware of the 300 meters (he knew 280m) of this blocked/collapsed trunking but the sales representative's response when I told her the beginning of October was 'your joking'.

She said the work had been done in the last couple of weeks but BT laid the wrong size trunking and that its to small for whats required!

The rope and brick outside the house has also been replaced with a cable.

The site manager was told the end of June which ties in with the work being done in the last couple of weeks. The three month wait also ties in with the end of June and the beginning of October.

Is it to much to think that BT have messed up and that they know have to wait three months as to avoid the £50,000 fine from the Highways Agency?

BT really don't know their left from the right!

The developer has said that the contractors were fixing the problem 1/2 mile away on the 26th and confirmed that the lines would be up withing 2 weeks!

So I phoned BT who still say October but then start saying the problem is on site but they are sending someone round on the 9th to sort it out!

So back to the sales office who know nothing of the 9th and laught that its on site. The site manager says that when they laid the trunking and tried pulling the cables through, because it was to small they snapped all the trunking!

How can Customer Provisions not know that the work was done almost two weeks ago and that they messed it up!

The sales office on site said the other day that the brown stuff must have hit the fan and it seems that it did because they have been working for the last two days to clear the blockages and then they are going to get a cabling & jointing team out today/tomorrow to complete that which should take 2 days. After that I just need to wait for the first appointment for them to fit the master socket.

I've been getting daily updates from the chairmans office.

I replied back today asking about the finincial lose and they need to send a form and I also asked for a goodwill gesture on the installation charge due to the wait.

They reply was that they can't waiver it because its a standard cost and also because they have completed the work! He did say it would be considered on the claim form though! Still a poor excuse.

I was told that the installation charge would be waived for me but I'm still meant to pay £650 excess charges!

I know its cost me over £60 in phone calls to their various departments.
It's cost me about £30 in travel costs each time I've been told I've had an appointment to attend to at the property.
Then there is the £32 they taken from my account by direct debit, but then I cancelled that as they cannot be trusted. Still not had that money back either.
Then they send me various broadband bills, though I don't think that they have been able to take anything from my account for the broadband.
I find out that the name on the account has been changed to my mothers name. I know my order got cancelled for some reason.
Enterprise tried to put a second line in for me only the other day.
Then there is the wait for the line which has almost been six months. I ordered on 20th January.
I kept getting updates that seemed to amount to no meaning in many cases as well.
So will be wanting acceptable amount of compensation for this inconvenience.
It's almost like everything revolves around BT so other things have been put on hold.

So yeah, they could probably ignore the installation charge. I hope that they lose the bill for the excess charges but somehow, I think that they will manage to get that to me promptly.

They have never mentioned that you are required to fill out a form to claim. But then, it would be best that they deduct what ever compensation is being offered from the excess charges. To be honest, I think I should only have to pay £250 and I certainly believe that is being more than fair. I wanted to do the trench myself in the first place and that is what the excess charges cover.

I think that with compensation, it is always best that you tell them what you want rather than let them dictate to you.

Well all of the cabling is now done jointing is in progress and that should be completed by tomorrow PM.

Does anyone know what frames works for the orders mean though?

an activity would have been created on the job for a jumper monkey(exchange engineer) to connect the exterior line to the exchange equipment.

Got home last night and saw a van with some cable and then two people standing outside next door.

Got out of the car and they asked if they could put the master socket on, so they did that and then connected the cables outside. They also said the lines would be active tomorrow (now today).

So hopefully it should all be sorted but sods law says the internal cabling will be broken somewhere or because they didn't test it their connections will be duff but then I suspose they have done thousands of the things!

Also I hope that the number diverted to a mobile isn't a problem.

if and when your line becomes active just dial #21#, this will remove any divert off the line. then dial 17070 opt 1 to test the ring back.

I now have a working line and Customer Provisions has confirmed that the divert has been removed.

However I phone up to check the calling plan and they didn't put on the one they said they would. They then went on to say that they couldn't change it as the installation was not complete.

So I have just phone Customer Provisions again and they said it shouldn't be my problem and that its because they didn't close the order even though they were told to and so they have sent another message saying close it.

Is this going to effect the line in anyway or delay me being able to order broadband? The broadband will not be with BT!

Also ISP avaliability checkers were saying the number is disconnected. Is this because ita a new number and the above?

it can take upto 5 days for the number to register on all the systems, such as the availabilty checker. though i've and many people i know have rang the isp of choice after 2 days and the order has gone through no probs.

Why would I be told the order hasn't been closed properly and why wouldn't it have been closed?

sometimes after a line has been installed it has to wait for the test system to perform a line test onit. (they don't believe us when we say its working and test it ourselves)
it may be just waiting for that to complete. if you pm me your order/phone number i'l have a look at the job and see what the hold up is.