Frustration over crossed lines
RETIRED company owner Anne Offord is no slouch when it comes to staying up to date with the latest technology. But when she decided a muddle over her broadband accounts was beyond her to untangle, she called on Crusader for help.
Anne and her husband William had two broadband lines with separate accounts in their house, one a legacy from their home-based business.
Both were with BT and because it was now cheaper and easier for the Offords to have all their services on one main line, in October Anne asked for everything to be transferred to their Infinity account.
Simple enough, she thought, when she made the request. “But in mid-November I was told the order that was placed was wrong and going to be cancelled and the process started again,” she says.
“But then I was also warned
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The Offords were waiting to hear what the next move would be when a flashing light woke them in the small hours and they found their house security system, part of their internet-ofthings connection, had been deactivated along with other online services.
“Our main line had been cut off so we set about making several emergency calls. It was very worrying,” she says.
“Eventually I was told to sit it out until a specialist team got in touch. However this has not happened. Strangely, our BT Sport channel has survived – which has been of some small comfort to my husband.”
But as the Offords waited for action, Anne was also perplexed to see an extra calls package charge had been added to the line that had been shut down. As in other problem broadband cases, it was a neighbour who came to the rescue of the Offords. She gave them access to her wifi connection so when they stood beside their party wall they could still send emails.
But with still no sign of the promised specialist unit, Crusader asked BT to sort out the Offords’ accounts and get them up and running again with a new Infinity account.
By the end of November a relieved Anne reported that customer services had got to work and their reconnected.
BT said: “We apologise for the problems Mrs Offord has had with her line and broadband. We have now closed the account she wanted to close and agreed a new deal for broadband, line rental, Unlimited Anytime Calls and BT Sport. We’ve refunded the last bill and that includes an amount as a goodwill gesture.”
The experience has taught Anne a lot, she says. “When people say broadband is one of the essentials like electricity and gas, they’re right.
“If I was embarking on a major switch like this again knowing how reliant we are I would make sure we had a separate shortterm basic broadband package in place to fall back on.
“We’ve followed all the advice to get to grips with technology but broadband providers need to do their bit. Communications could be better. We’ve no doubt that Crusader helped us reach a happy ending more quickly.” home was