Dear sir
I contact you on behalf of my elderly and vulnerable mother.
She has been without a landline phone since Friday 16th December from approx 5pm (Last inbound call was 12pm that day).
When mum discovered that she had no phone she reached out to a neighbour to see if their service was also not working and they confirmed they had the same issue.
The phone line is dead when trying to call out and for an incoming call this gives the engaged tone.
The next morning Saturday 17th December at 8am, I still could not call her and she couldn’t call me. I rang customer services to see if there was a known fault in the area, detailing my mums vulnerability and age. Also that the landline was her only means of communication, as I couldn’t pass security the advisor would not even tell me the current system status in the area.
I made the 12 mile journey across to mums and called customer services again. Now with security details.
Please note mum is hard of hearing, in her 80s, she also suffers from mental illness issues and will allow no one inside the property, I’m only allowed on the doorstep.
So from the garden I called customer services again (10:37am), explained mum’s vulnerability, the issue with the phone and that a neighbour also was experiencing the same issue.
The advisor said an engineer would need to access the property, he would not deviate from his script would not make any adjustments for her vulnerability and would not escalate the issue when I tried to explain. And to top it off he HUNG up on me!!!!
So third attempt I called again from the garden, at 11:09, seemed to be getting somewhere, she got me to relay a number of tasks to mum which she did, still phone not working, she then explained that virgin media where upgrading the phone system from copper to fibre and would I like this sorting. I again explained mums situation and that I just wanted the line fixed.
She then went to say an engineer was required, explaining again mums mental illness and that she doesn’t allow anyone into the premises could the engineer not check the outside connections first, especially with another neighbour having the same issue surely it cannot be an internal issue. She put me in hold and came back to say a specialist engineer would be requested but if the door wasn’t answered we would be charged a non attendance fee.
At this point I lost it, no one was listening, mum is without a phone and unable to call if she has an emergency and all the advisors want to do is follow a script. I hung up this time completely exasperated.
The neighbour then message me to say another neighbour was experiencing same issue and had been told it was a known fault with a 4-6hour to sort. So that’s at least 3 houses on the same street with the same issue.
I’m completely disgusted at the lack of understanding for my mum, no reasonable adjustments for her being unable to cope mentally with allowing someone into the property. Presently she is still without a phone and does not have a mobile. What happens if she needs help???
Have you upgraded the system, without any communication to customers leaving a vulnerable elderly person without any landline!!!
If this is a known fault, why wasn’t this said in the phone calls, if it isn’t what actions are you going to take to resolve this issue taking in to consideration her vulnerability , mental state and the priority need to have a landline that works.
