BT cut off vulnerable old people from help
sir – I have read and reread the letter from Chris Howe (February 28), the Customer Care Change Director at BT, and just cannot believe what he says.
Last August my in-laws were converted to BT’S Digital Voice phone system. Their phone was cut off and so was their personal care alarm.
After contacting BT to correct this error we discovered that their old phone number had been discontinued. They had no phone, no care line and a new number to use but no phone capable of using the system. BT’S answer? To close the case.
Months later, after BT supplied two new handsets and sent an engineer to reconnect the care line, we are still waiting for the promised battery backup to keep this system working during power cuts.
My in-laws are nearly 90 years old. They are very vulnerable people who want to be assured that when they call for help, they will be heard. This should not have happened to them. Andrew L Smith
Chelmsford, Essex
sir – As a community emergency volunteer, part of my training, carried out by the county council, was to advise old people in the village to keep their landline if they bought a mobile phone to ensure that they always had a means of communication in the event that the power or mast signal failed.
The Government needs to learn to ensure that all parties are consulted before allowing organisations like BT to implement policies that have not been properly thought through. Michael Glover
Salisbury, Wiltshire
sir – Chris Howe of BT is probably is young and has good hearing and therefore no personal experience of many people’s difficulties with digital communication.
The switch from analogue to digital radio and television transmission was pushed for by the industry because it allows more channels on the same transmission line. It was recognised that sound quality would inevitably be worse.
I urge the BBC to provide subtitles on Radio 4, which is not as daft as it sounds, because I can listen via my television.
While I have little difficulty hearing on a landline, it is often harder to hear through mobile phones and almost impossible on internet lines used by people working from home. Raymond Marsh
Winchester, Hampshire