talkmagic.co.uk

a few weeks ago I rang up BT and ordered phoneline/line rental/broadband, the whole shebang, because i was informed that their customer services was very good.
A week ago my broadband stopped working, so I rang the people and was informed there was a problem on the line that would be fixed in 2 days... it wasn't.
Over the last 2 days i have spent over 4 hours on the phone to various BT folk being told to turn my hub on and off (like it wasn't the first thing i tried), passed about departments, cut off; and trying not to shout at anyone. after these 4 hours I've been told there's a marker on our line preventing BT from giving us broadband (why was it working last week then, i ask you?), I was given no real explanation why it was there, apparently i may not have paid a bill, or had broadband with someone else; no, only got the line 4 weeks ago and never spoken to anyone but BT. so apparently it will be removed and working again in 4 days.

Fingers crossed.

Out of curiosity, has anyone else had these kind of problems with BT? I always heard they were good, but i've experienced none of this.
and what exactly is a mac code?

MAC stands for Migration Authorisation Code. It is issued by your broadband provider and is used to seamlessly switch from one provider to another without having to wait weeks to cease your line and re-register with another provider. You should get this right away, when i switched i got my mac really quickly.

I've had similar problems with BT when ordering and installing, and then again afterwards when the speed was so slow that it was quicker to draw a picture on a piece of paper and post it.

I've always got through to customer services but they are based in India and I've found it really difficult to understand the accent/dialect when trying to take and implement some technical instructions over the phone.

I scrapped their home hub as it's dog slow and is only a G speed reconfigured cheapie (loads on the internet about thius hub) and I bought a new Belkin N standard which is superb. The speed of both hubs is halved when I plug it into the ADSL socket and instead, I've had to undo the faceplate and plug into the test socket that is underneath to get decent speed. I run at around 4Mb instead of the advertised 8 whereas the normal socket gives me around 1.5 to 2.

Changing the hub has also meant that the internet is far more reliable as it used to drop out a couple of times each week with their Home Hub which needed a re-boot.

Overall, my old ntl service was far better but they don't provide in this area. I don't believe for the price that BT is good value but I'm now stuck under contract for another 12 months. However, I've heard that it's very easy to get out of the contract on the grounds of poor service.

MAC code is like a PAC code when you change mobile phone provider. Same principle.

**keeps head down**

Lawrence wrote:Out of curiosity, has anyone else had these kind of problems with BT? I always heard they were good, but i've experienced none of this.

My boss did. She had an absolutely awful time a couple of years ago. I think she got so frustrated she ended up ringing the Chairman (or CEO) of BT. She only actually spoke to his PA, but the matter finally got resolved.

Part-Timer wrote:she ended up ringing the Chairman (or CEO) of BT. She only actually spoke to his PA.

Even BT employees cant speak to his holyness

Although the best way to get an answer is to EMAIL the CEO, Ben Verwaayen. It is in his mission statement to personally reply to every single email.


Hope that helps in future


Mark

stephenmagic wrote:MAC stands for Migration Authorisation Code. It is issued by your broadband provider and is used to seamlessly switch from one provider to another without having to wait weeks to cease your line and re-register with another provider. You should get this right away, when i switched i got my mac really quickly.

They could also be referring to a MAC (Media Access Control) address. This is a (kinda) unique address that your NIC has.

I think BT have perhaps the worst customer services in the world. I had all the problems you described about three times over and then some.
They actually just cut my service claiming the physical line was not capable of maintaining the servioce and were working on getting a new one put in, which apart from costing me would have taken several weeks. I told them to just forget the whole thing and they said they would hold me to terms for the entire contract (this was 4 weeks into the 12 months) at which point I told them that I would counter sue over the fact that they terminated my service without writing to me in advance to inform me, They soon shut up, although they seem to think we owe them 4 quid which they continue to bill us for every month.

This is a (kinda) unique address that your NIC has.

would that be the local police or the national one.

stephenmagic wrote:MAC stands for Migration Authorisation Code. It is issued by your broadband provider and is used to seamlessly switch from one provider to another without having to wait weeks to cease your line and re-register with another provider. You should get this right away, when i switched i got my mac really quickly.

Any ideas on how I go about getting one? When I call BT and press the button that says "press 5 to get a MAC code" it then informs me that the number I have dialled has not being recognised. It's an option off their automated system!! gah!

Mark, assist a brother?

I did it the hard way and called the call centre (but i didn't use BT), they sent mine via text message. I think it is a legal requirement for the company to give you the code quickly.

Lawrence wrote:Mark, assist a brother?

Pffffffft, your asking the wrong guy! Im business fibre, not residential copper


Ill ask about though

tiscali wins hands down for poor service, reliability, and quality...

had a contract with them, shonky equipment and had that contract cancelled within that first month due to poor service...

i went and bought a pay as you go 3 network dongle for my laptop instead...easy peasy and never had a minutes trouble...skype for free, all sorts of things...

BT - bloody terrible...haha see what i did there?

abraxus wrote:i went and bought a pay as you go 3 network dongle for my laptop instead...easy peasy and never had a minutes trouble...skype for free, all sorts of things...

I have one of those
I recommend anyone who wants good internet get's one - I had one problem once - I phoned up, and they stuck an extra tenner on my account!