Blogathon 20/15 – not (Open)reaching out

*28/02/15 – extra content added*

The elephant in the room of the UKs communications infrastructure is BT Openreach.

Openreach brands itself as an independent organisation.

But Openreach is (and I quote) “… part of the BT group”.

So that means it is answerable to the same CEO as the BT retail division.

Wikipedia contains this Openreach-related gem:

“Openreach are accountable to each of the Telecoms providers, as well as Ofcom”

Wait a minute.

Openreach, providers of the infrastructure – without which nothing will work – are not accountable to the public?

Not accountable to the service users?

Not accountable to those who, indirectly, pay for the Openreach service?

So even if you happen to be a member of the public who uses telecoms from a non-BT communications provider, and should you experience unfortunate infrastructure (ie, Openreach) problems, BT Openreach are not accountable to you?

Well golly that’s amazing.

Here’s a thing.

No communications provider has a decent mechanism that members of the public can invoke, by which members of the public (private or corporate) can make a complaint about Openreach.

And it is not possible for members of the public (again, private or corporate) to make complaints directly to Openreach.

Think about that.

I have had instances in the past where Openreach’s lack of performance has denied me services that I was paying a communications provider for.

But apparently someone somewhere thinks that this is alright, or else brains smarter than mine would have changed this by now.

So.

I’m writing this rant as a person who has had his appointment for an Openreach engineer to connect a new business phone line and install the socket postponed once twice three four times this week.

Considering there are just five working days in the week, and all of these cancellations relate to this five-day week, this is seriously impressive twatting about by Openreach

My fifth appointment, you won’t be too surprised to learn, is actually for next week – 23/02/15, exactly one full week after the first appointment was due to take place.

I can’t pick up the phone and yell at Openreach for being a bunch of incompetent twats.

I can ring my communications provider, but they don’t have a robust method of translating my pain directly in to Openreach’s brain.

What I want to do is ask Openreach how they can make and confirm an appointment for an installation and then, just a couple of hours later – on the same day – move it.

And I want to ask Openreach how they can make and confirm an appointment for an installation and then, just half an hour before the 1pm to 6pm slot expires, cancel it.

And do it again.

And again.

Do the Openreach folk think this is acceptable?

If Openreach folk make an appointment with a dentist, would they think this kind of ‘now you have it, now you don’t’ behaviour is normal?

I bet they wouldn’t.

So why is Openreach allowed to operate in this way?

And is the organisation ever going to improve, if it continues to be allowed to be distant from the users of its infrastructure?

Well?

*28/02/15 – update*

Yesterday I paid a visit to the commercial premises where BT Openreach were due to install the fibre on 23/02/15.

I was due to start using the fibre in full-on anger on 28/02/15.

The second I walked in I knew I had a problem.

There was no BT Openreach modem plugged in to the fibre socket.

I called my telecomms provider (Plusnet).

I explained as calmly as possible that I was looking at having to postpone work for the second consecutive weekend.

And all because the infrastructure supplier (BT Openreach) had failed to deliver a completed workpackage.

The Plusnet customer service advisor put me on hold and went off to check WTF had happened.

Ten minutes later she came back.

CSA: I’m really sorry about this, but our supplier has cancelled the job we put in. I’ll have to start again and book this as a new job.

Me: ……………

CSA: Really dreadfully sorry.

Me: Your supplier is BT Openreach, yes?

CSA: Yes.

Me: And you can put a job in to your supplier? And they can just cancel that job because it doesn’t suit them?

CSA: (long pause) Yes.

So the bottom line is I have two racked servers ready for OS installation and VM builds, but I continue to be unable to actually commence work, because BT Openreach have not done what they’re being paid to do.

Again.

Let’s all sit down and imagine a world where you, as suppliers, can just cancel workpackage requests that your customer has put in to you, just because you feel like it.

Or because you are the world’s most incompetent, third-world organisation.

And because you are completely unaccountable to the public.

Well I’m lodging complaints with Plusnet.

And Ofsted.

And the chair of the Public Accounts Committee.

Because Openreach needs to be made fully accountable.