BT mobile has never worked

For three to four months BT kept sending me texts and emails to switch to BT mobile. It said it could give a special deal. The deal was a brand new mobile for £17 per month, which included all calls and text messages.

Eventually I agreed as everything else we have, the telephone line, hub, broadband and internet, are all with BT. Just after this, my partner had to be rushed into hospital.

The phone, when we did try to use it, had hardly any signal. The account is in my name but, when my partner was out of hospital, she rang BT. A person talked her through some steps and said it should settle down. She is disabled so has to have a phone that is reliable.

Yet 90pc of the time she can get no signal and when she does and speaks to someone it just cuts out. DEREK MAITLAND, CHESHIRE

Just after the phone was delivered your partner went into hospital and was kept in for a week. This meant that during the 14-day cooling-off period for cancelling the phone your minds were very understandably on other things.

You found out when she got home and started using the mobile that it was useless indoors and, most of the time, outside as well.

Each morning your partner rings you at work so that you know she is OK. Most of the time, though, she could not get through with this phone. You called BT to cancel it but were told that, as it was not within the cooling-off period, you would have to pay £250 to get out of the contract.

Someone from BT did call you quite persistently giving her own number for you to discuss the issue with her. You sent three text messages asking her to ring your landline as your mobile cut off. When you rang her from the landline she had gone on a two-week holiday. Meanwhile you were paying £17 a month for a phone that was causing nothing but trouble.

Further to my involvement, BT agreed to waive the £250 exit fee. It said: “We’re sorry for the problems that Mr Maitland has had with his mobile service. As a goodwill gesture we’ve agreed to cancel the contract without any charges.” paid. In a letter to you Saga said: “Like all companies reliant upon computer operating systems, it is inevitable that we will, on occasion, experience technical difficulties which, for the most part, remain out of our control.”

After allowing a little time to ascertain that the online problem really was resolved I called you again. You reported that the day before, which had been a turbulent day on the stock market, the website had again not been working.

The trade you had wanted to undertake had to be done over the phone on, as a special concession, online terms.

This convinced you that you must now move. Meanwhile, Equiniti denied to me that there had been a problem on the day in question.

Now it said: “We are sorry that Mr C was not satisfied with the service he has received from Saga Share Direct operated by Equiniti Financial Services and decided to leave the platform.

“As a gesture of goodwill we have waived all his contractual obligations and charges.”

It didn’t confirm this to you, though, and it was only with my prodding that you were clearly informed that the fees would be waived.

Now you are moving your various holdings elsewhere with no transfer costs. Equiniti asserts that this is worth £150.

Equiniti said it constantly monitored the performance of its websites and dealing services and had swift processes to deal with any sustained or widespread service outage.

From time to time it experiences customerspecific issues that are isolated and sometimes unexplained.