Across the pond

When I arrived back in London today there was a bill waiting for me from BT for £73.50 although they still have not connected the telephone here which they should have done on 1 August, the day we moved house. Apparently this is for six months rental charges of £11 per month, plus five payments of £1.50, described as ‘payment charges’.

These charges are billed to my old London number round the corner from my present Gospel Oak flat, which I had asked to be transferred here last July. They cover a period of six months dating from the day the telephone actually rang here for a few days.

There was one not small problem. It rang if you dialled a 482 number. This number had been owned for several years by a local small businessman, who was not un-naturally rather annoyed to find his phone had gone dead. He harrassed BT and got his number back. My phone then went dead.

After hours of frustration I wrote a blog addressed to Sir Michael Rake, the new chairman.

Will have to finish this later, because have to go the National Film Theatre. But here is a reminder of some of the essentials, a copy of my 4 October blog.

Number of days it takes BT to connect a telephone: 220 plus

Number of Days BT has failed to reply to my complaints and give me any explanation for this delay: 183

Money spent on mobile phone trying to contact a BT human being: £50 plus

Time spent on the telephone and internet complaints: Hours and hours.

Apologies from BT: Nil

The Chairman of BT is now Sir Michael Rake, an accountant with a record quite as distinguished in that field as Sir Christopher Bland was in his. Can he be happy with the way the company he now chairs is behaving? Does he even know how they are behaving?

Maybe not, so if you meet him, tell him. This is what he looks like.

Sir Michael Rake was appointed to the Board as Chairman on 26 September 2007.

He was Chairman of KPMG International from 2002 until September 2007. Prior to his appointment as Chairman of KPMG International he was Chairman of KPMG in Europe and Senior Partner of KPMG in the UK.