Frustration as Bath telephone lines cut off for weeks
BT has confirmed it is trying to fix a problem that has affected telephone lines in Bath for more than seven weeks.
Some 26 homes have been without a phone service since the end of January.
Mike Moss, of Corsham, has a one-bedroom flat in Grosvenor Place, which he rents out as a holiday let.
He said: “I, and an untold number of people, have been unable to make or receive telephone calls or access the internet since January 23. If this were gas or water or the Royal Bank of Scotland – who were off line for just a few hours – there would be an outcry.
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“We are getting nowhere with BT. It’s been impossible to get any real explanation – we’ve just been told there is a major fault.”
Mr Moss said initially BT said the problem would be resolved by February 8 but has since been given two further dates, which have passed.
He said: “People are using the flat all of the time, from all over the world and they expect internet access.”
Spokesman for BT, Jason Mann, said the company had received 26 reports of faults from households in the Grosvenor Place area of the city.
He said: “We are sorry for the delay. This is a complex repair to our underground network. Further work, including a lane closure, is required. We are seeking the approval of the highways authority to carry out the work as soon as possible. We have been in contact with the customer and will keep him informed of progress.”
3 Comments
by tomsjan
Thursday, March 14 2013, 7:46PM
“So as suspected BT are using the council as an excuse not to do the work. I have also discovered that similarly no request was made for work at Combe Down. If it said "we will be seeking......" that might be acceptable but to say "we are seeking....." seems to be a little bit of a porky! As their compensation for loss of service is so pathetic it is probably a cheaper option to keep compensating than repair - TalkTalk on the other hand are very generous with compensation so obviously value their customers a little more.”
by council_spoke
Thursday, March 14 2013, 3:07PM
“The Council has yet to receive a formal request from BT to carry out these works.”
by tomsjan
Thursday, March 14 2013, 1:39PM
“We have had a similar problem in our area on and off for months with the Combe Down exchange and we were off again for a day and half 25th & 26th of Feb. I spoke to an engineer who told me that he had been telling "them" for over 6 months that the cable situation between the exchange box on Wellsway and the Exchange on Bradford Road was now so bad that the whole area was in danger of a major collapse which could see us without service for weeks or even months. They are in the habit of piggy-backing people onto other cables instead of repairing or renewing so gradually there is less cable capacity available.
I was so concerned and angry at this that on March 4th I wrote to the CEOs of both TalkTalk (my provider) and BT/Openreach to advise them of the situation (you might like to bookmark rhw website ceoemail.com). All I received back from BT was an email asking me where I got the information. TalkTalk on the other hand took it very seriously and I had a call from the CEO's office 10 minutes after sending the email. They escalated it straight to the Senior High Level Complaints Manager and called me 3 times a day with updates on their progress. On Thursday 7th they called to say that BT were blaming the council for the work not taking place as they had to go under a pedestrian crossing (having spoken to the council department concerned I now know this to be untrue). However they would now be doing the work on Sunday 10th - possibly because the problem was now in the public domain or because TalkTalk applied pressure, but sure enough on Sunday there was a rash of BT/Openreach vans along Wellsway and up Frome Road with a few stragglers still in evidence on Wednesday. There were no holes dug or road closures so I'm tending towards BT making excuses as they don't want to spend money on repairs and are using the council as a convenient scapegoat. Maybe CouncilSpoke could confirm?”