Gloucester firm frustrated by BT phone problems
ONE frustrated heating firm fears it may have lost work and that customers were left out in the cold due to a BT telephone line being out of action.
Some clients calling Hewer FM Ltd in Hatherley Road, Tredworth, were cut off a minute or two after dialling
-
FRuSTRATING: Ian Leitch, financial controller at Hewer FM Ltd.
Although the fault appears to have been fixed, the firm worries about the effect on the company.
Finance director Ian Leitch said: "We've had more than our fair share of grief with this problem over the past few months. It was sorted finally, we think on Friday, but it was not easy to resolve."
Business Cards From Only £10.95 Delivered www.myprint-247.co.uk
View detailsOur heavyweight cards have FREE UV silk coating, FREE next day delivery & VAT included. Choose from 1000's of pre-designed templates or upload your own artwork. Orders dispatched within 24hrs.
Terms: Visit our site for more products: Business Cards, Compliment Slips, Letterheads, Leaflets, Postcards, Posters & much more. All items are free next day delivery. www.myprint-247.co.uk
Contact: 01858 468192
Valid until: Friday, May 31 2013
He said the connection is from a service provided by BT Openreach.
But Mr Leitch's colleague, director Simon Hewer, said they couldn't deal with BT Openreach direct because their contract is with a middle man company.
"We have been chasing our provider as hard as we possibly can, and they appear to be chasing BT Openreach but the problems continued and our customers struggled to contact us," he said.
"I have been advised that I cannot talk to anyone at BT as they won't take my call as I am not their customer.
"As a company, we provide essential services to repair and maintain heating and electrical services to more than 25,000 homes, we also provide this service to many nursing and care homes.
"As you can imagine, being without telephone lines has, and is, causing our customers and ourselves considerable stress and frustration, especially at a time when the weather is cold."
A BT Open Reach spokeswoman apologised for the inconvenience.
"This fault appears to have been an intermittent and complex fault to resolve and Openreach engineers worked on this issue a number of times," she said.
"Openreach provides communication services to all communications providers on an equal basis. They have dedicated contact points within Openreach if they need any assistance on behalf of their customers. However, due to the concerns raised by this business, we will look into what has happened. Openreach strives to keep communication providers fully informed so that they can then keep their customers fully up to speed."
Comments
by Hewer Facilities Management Ltd
Thursday, December 13 2012, 11:59AM
“So frustrating for the Company and even more so for the customers who called and either could not get through or got cut off mid conversation.”
by Hewer Facilities Management Ltd
Thursday, December 13 2012, 11:57AM
“So frustrating for the Company.”
by MrGarnet
Tuesday, December 11 2012, 10:40PM
“I am involved in supplying printed products to companies and BT are still very poor and offhand towards customers in many cases.
However in this case the "outsourced" provider seems totally at fault and can you name them in all fairness and not just BT who are it seems are not the cause of this companies problem?”
by NibNobs
Tuesday, December 11 2012, 9:09PM
“As ex-BT myself DJ Hewer's phone company have made one huge simple mistake by trying to grab every outgoing call from the firm they should have left one or two 'DEL's (Direct Exchange Lines) from Hewer's switch in case that the un-named telecoms provider's lines go down! Such a elementary mistake I would get rid of them for letting the firm down!!!”
by thomas1996
Tuesday, December 11 2012, 9:04PM
“So it's not actually BT's fault then. Next time a rival telephone company tells you they can save you a few pennies per call Mr.Leitch - ask yourself what price BAD service?
I would have thought a company with their knowledge of service, who in the right mind would add another uneccessary link in the chain between network provider and end customer.
BT may not be the cheapest but they know how to run a telecoms network.”
by tishwash
Tuesday, December 11 2012, 8:38PM
“So this is a middle company NOT bt......
As for "As a company, we provide essential services to repair and maintain heating and electrical services to more than 25,000 homes" Are you ACTUALLY responsible for those ? or are they just 'potential customers' ?
Why don't you have a second phone line from a different provider? I'ts called resilience!”
by Lord_Gaga_
Tuesday, December 11 2012, 5:32PM
“BT eh?
i wouldn't trust them to do anything”
by TimMessanger
Tuesday, December 11 2012, 3:19PM
“This is yet again a very poorly written article (bash BT).
Open reach don't provide telephone services, the provide the link from the exchange to the premises called the metallic path facility.
DJ Hewer's telecom provider is the company they get their "Phone From" how about you name them?”