‘Incompetent’ BT slammed over charity telephone line
AN EXASPERATED Crianlarich charity says BT ‘should be ashamed’ for taking five months to connect a telephone and internet line to its new office – just 20m across a road from the BT telephone exchange.
Strathfillan Community Development Trust (SCDT) is a small charity which has raised £600,000 over 19 years for community projects in Tyndrum, Crianlarich and Inverarnan.
SCDT development officer Kelly Clapperton-Bates ordered the line from BT in April, expecting it to be installed into the new premises in Crianlarich Village Hall in time for a planned move in early July.
‘BT confirmed an installation appointment for the week of July 7,’ Kelly said, ‘ but this date, and many others, have come and gone, and no telephone line has been installed.’
A major local healthcare initiative with SCDT, Stirling Council and NHS Forth Valley had to be postponed, and trustees feared the line would not be installed in time for the rearranged date.
‘Ironically,’ Kelly added, ‘the initiative is a showcase event to demonstrate how new technologies, including remote access and tele- conferencing, could benefit patients in isolated rural areas, like Strathfillan. Without a phone line and broadband the showcase can’t take place.’
SCDT chairwoman Isla Craig was equally vexed. She said: ‘The location of the new telephone line is not down difficult and challenging back roads. It is into Crian larich Village Hall, in the centre of the village – less than 20m from the BT exchange. There seems to be a requirement for some ducting work to take the new line from the exchange to the hall. It appears this work is subcontracted by BT Openreach, which apparently has no control over when the engineers will do the work.’
SCDT said it was given various dates when the ducting work would be complete, following which an installation could be arranged.
‘Most recently, these dates have included August 23 and September 5,’ Kelly said, ‘ but nothing has happened.’
BT then said the next update would be on September 21.
Kelly reacted: ‘The success of the healthcare event, now rearranged for October 12/13 looks to be in jeopardy once again.’
Isla said: ‘The trust has been fobbed off time and again, “escalated to the highest level” more times than can be remembered, the number of “updates” informing of more “updates” are ridiculous, and even an official complaint has changed nothing.’
SCDT has moved into the new office space but is relying on a pay-as-you go mobile phone and wifi access via a neighbouring business.
Stirling councillor Martin Earl said: ‘This is a huge failure by BT and Openreach. Many people worked hard to organise this important healthcare event. It is not acceptable it has had to be postponed because of BT’s incompetence.’
Isla asked: ‘By leaving SCDT, a charity run by volunteers, unable to fully function, access essential funding and grants, or manage their assets properly, they are potentially damaging a whole community. It is a terrible state of affairs and BT should be ashamed of itself.’ When The Oban Times finally contacted a BT operative to request an email contact for press inquiries, the communications giant, which installs internet across the UK, told us to post a letter. However, we did track down an email address, and BT apologised for its ‘poor service’.
It said: ‘ We’re very sorry for the unacceptable delay in providing a new line for the trust at the village hall.
‘Although the telephone exchange is nearby, new lines are generally routed through street cabinets and distribution points, not direct from the exchange. This required roadworks to be carried out and we’re investigating why this is taking so long.’
On Saturday, two days after our query, BT announced that it hoped to complete the ducting work on Sunday, adding: ‘Once it’s done we’ll discuss how we can make up for the poor service experienced.’