Normal service may be resumed.....

next week sometime.

After an exhausting telephone marathon yesterday with my ISP and BT I think maybe I got some answers. BT especially were a hard nut to crack, particularly, and I don't want to sound racist here, as the call person was from the Indian sub-continent and I could barely understand a word she said. She wasn't able to understand me either and eventually got quite irate when I asked to speak to the engineers or whatever that service is called these days. After a protracted discussion about why I couldn't speak with 'the ingenious man' I suddenly realised that it was actually the engineers I was not able to speak to. I DID understand that BT were not able to help and were not even able to provide someone I could talk to who understood exactly what the problem was, due not to a difficult technical problem but more a question of semantics and pronunciation.

Having friends from several ethnic backgrounds and normally considering myself as pretty tolerant I begin to get rather annoyed when a previous corner stone of our society is being run from another country entirely. I spent 17 minutes on the phone when in fact the call should have taken no longer than 5.

That settled I then tried the ISP, their centre I think is in Dublin and certainly all the, again protracted, automated system messages are in a heavy Irish accent. I finally pressed my 8th choice of options and was connected to an African with a very heavy accent. He was kind polite and helpful was easier to talk to than the uptight Asian I had earlier. Whether or not his information was correct remains to be seen, either way it wouldn't be his fault.

Aren't our service industries wonderful?

I had a summons yesterday morning because BT said I had not paid mother's last phone bill.

The bill was dated 4th April, I paid it on 10th April and the summons was dated 16th April. I was so mad and I getting very angry on the phone and I KNOW it wasn't that girl's fault so I just had to put the phone down.

When Mother died I called up and told them. I was told that I would have to transfer it into my name if I wanted to keep the line temporarily, which I did. I didn't get a bill at all, so on 4th April I phoned them and they said one had been issued but I had obviously not received it. It must have been lost in the post. I decided there and then to have it cut off as we were not doing all the trips up there that we anticipated and anyway we had now sold the flat. The girl said she would reissue the old bill then cut off the phone then a new bill would come which would be less than the first so not to pay that, just pay the final one which I did and of course she was right because it was £26 less than the first bill.

Then I get this summons for non-payment of £32. I went ballistic. WH handed me the phone and found my cheque book whilst I was dialling the accounts department. First off they said "Oh it's a new account and because you didn't pay your first bill they summons you immediately. "

What within 12 days? (or actually 6 working days)

When I said about it having been mother's phone I was then told "Oh you shouldn't have changed the name on the account because if it's a deceased account they give you 3 months to pay."

Hey? I did that because BT told me to.

Then they said "Yes but it doesn't alter the fact you had not paid the first bill on the account," so I reminded the BT person that I called up in the first place because I didn't get one.

"Oh well that's due to the Post Office, not BT. You will have to complain to them"

Looking on my calendar there were 6 working days between the date of the final bill and the date of the summons, Easter was in the centre which reduced tham a bit. The bill arrived on Fri 6th because they only send them out second class and I paid on Tues 10th in my bank, the very next working day. Can't see how I could have done it any quicker. That apparently was not acceptable. Yet when I eventually move house I have to give them at least 5 working days to move my phone line.

It then took a further week or 5 working days to go through BT's computer system and did not show up as a payment until 17th the day after the summons. Interesting the summons itself took 4 days to reach me, second class post of course. If BT are so hung up on short time scale maybe they should use a faster delivery service themselves.

I then pointed out that my other (home) BT account is paid by standing order and is £80+ in credit as their monthly payment scheme does not allow me to make a smaller payment and I only actually pay for the line rental and get cheaper calls elsewhere. I was told "Oh we don't check your other accounts even if they are the same address."

So actually BT still owe me money, and I am wondering what on earth this country is coming to and how many other people have fallen foul of ridiculous situations like this.

First the NHS is taking it's last dying gasps now our (once) national telephone service has gone the same way.