A rather unexpected turn in our jolly saga.

During the installation phase of the fibre optic cable, BT Openreach opened every manhole and pit to pull cable through and install equipment. The pit and manhole covers had been sealed by years of muck and other stuff and BT had to apply significant force to open them up.

When the cover lids have been refitted the seals are no longer as effective as they once were and when the rain set in last week - originally it did not seem so heavy - many of the pit covers leaked.

Naturally some of the pits filled quickly with water and the flood water then found the weak spots in the cable joints and insulation. A handful of us have had lines fail and had overwhelming crackle on our lines. Typically mine was one of the first to go early last week - but my repair was completed within 40 hours.

Unfortunately some of those affected have been elderly neighbours - one with a Linkline alarm that has become unusable. Three days of constant calls to try at least to get my neighbour's emergency link re-established by BT has only resulted in them extending the forecast repair period from 3 days to 5 days. Somewhere sits a BT Welfare Team who adjudicate on priorities and they declined to prioritise my neighbour's case.

Despite BT's Code of Practice defining a ‘Free Priority Fault Repair Service’ if you have a long-term illness or disability and my neighbour being registered thereon - it seemingly makes no difference. I await an escalation call from a BT manager.

Any one else having any experience of this latest fiasco ?

This post was last modified: 01-05-2012 01:40 PM by jgdoherty.