Invoicing BT

[Flat Eric]

I've been without Broadband access at home now for four days. This is a BT Business Broadband account through my ltd and I've spent at least 2 hours on the telephone over the 4 days (up until now) trying to get this resolved.

Now they want me to be on site (i.e. at home) for an engineer to turn up and they do not do out of hours or weekend engineer visits.

I've informed them that I intend to bill for this time and also for the time I spent on the telephone as well as reimbursement of the X days non-use of the broadband. I also intend to add an additional "inconvenience" cost.

Has anyone got any experience of doing this and any pointers / tips etc.

I particularly would like to know if there's a general formula for deciding inconvenience etc.

Thx
Mark.

[Lucifer Box]

You won't get a penny out of them unless you go to court.

Sorry, but that's how it is with BT.

[Flat Eric]

You won't get a penny out of them unless you go to court.

Sorry, but that's how it is with BT.

I'm half hoping that they ignore my invoice. I can then begin winding up proceedings against them for non-payment of debt.

[Sockpuppet]

I'm half hoping that they ignore my invoice. I can then begin winding up proceedings against them for non-payment of debt.

And you'll get about as far as .................... here.

There will be a clause in your contract to stop you doing this. They will not be liable for any loss.

[Lucifer Box]

I'm half hoping that they ignore my invoice. I can then begin winding up proceedings against them for non-payment of debt.

They will almost certainly ignore your invoice so get yourself ready for the fight. Be sure you know your T&Cs inside out as I would be very surprised if they are liable to you in the manner you describe.

[Turion]

I'm half hoping that they ignore my invoice. I can then begin winding up proceedings against them for non-payment of debt.

So exactly what losses has your business incurred? None by the looks of it. you don't even work from home. These types of annoyances happen to everyone. It's called everyday life.

You're like the bug that tries to acting tough against the boot about to step on it. Do you think a multi billion co like BT will even notice you.

You should be thinking of how to resolve the situation quickly and with minimal loss to your earnings. Some such solution may be: work at home that day, or if not possible, get your mother, neighbor, best friend, dog etc to be at home on the day.

[TheFaQQer]

I'm half hoping that they ignore my invoice. I can then begin winding up proceedings against them for non-payment of debt.

But you need to quantify the debt, and have a reason for it. Otherwise, everyone would slap in an invoice and hope that they pay under threat of winding up.

You might get some vague degree of compensation - somewhere in the region of a month or two of free broadband, but you won't get anything else without a court case, which you probably won't win.

[BoredBloke]

and that is why we get such poor service in this country.

"So exactly what losses has your business incurred? None by the looks of it. you don't even work from home. These types of annoyances happen to everyone. It's called everyday life."

How do you know that? You and I do not know the background here. When I worked in London, quite often I would work from home (nr Manchester) for 2 days of the week. One of the benefits of this was it significantly reduced my costs (accommodation etc) - had I not had a reliable connection I would not have been able to do this and would incur a loss, not a huge loss, but a loss all the same. He is paying for a service which his professional supplier is unable to supply - why shouldn't he look for some reasonable compensation out of this. Also, he is paying for a business internet connection which usually cost a lot more than the consumer version.

"You're like the bug that tries to acting tough against the boot about to step on it. Do you think a multi billion co like BT will even notice you. "

Probably they will not notice, but that way they can continue to give a shoddy service to everybody else - I'd say your attitude prolongs this situation while at least lodging some form of complaint might actually make a difference. There have been many cases where the little guy has taken on the big company and won.

"You should be thinking of how to resolve the situation quickly and with minimal loss to your earnings. Some such solution may be: work at home that day, or if not possible, get your mother, neighbour, best friend, dog etc to be at home on the day. "

How can he work from home if he has no communications? So it is OK for the big company to inconvenience you by having to have somebody available during working hours but they cannot be flexible themselves by having engineers to work outside of these hours.

Personally I'd contact their customer services and get the name of the head of customer services - then put everything in writing and say that you feel that some form of recognition would be reasonable - you might find that they are actually open to this.

[JamieMoles]

You might get away with billing someone like your Bank, but BT.....

...good luck!

[Turion]

From his post one can ascertain that he does not work from home. If he did then a back up would be required, be it a basic POTS connection, or like I have a T Mobile mobile internet that can be used with phone and PC. But that is beside the point. Trying to charge for this type of annoyance is not and never will be worth the hassle involved.

As the engineer needs to come to his house there is a fair chance that the problem lies in the consumers wiring. Then it is his fault and BT will charge for fixing his problem.