[polly]

Trying to talk to BT is a joke.
Last year our BT Hub blew up. Fortunately son was in the room at the time and had the sense to unplug it.
Then the fun started!
Try explaining 'blew up' to someone in India who has only basic English and a script. They kept telling us to plug it back in Why and could they guarantee it would be safe?
After 3 frustrating hours trying to explain the problem verbally I then emailed them.
The reply, 24 hours later, was barely writen in English. I have met 8 year olds who could do much better. I corrected the punctuation and grammar and returned it to the sender asking for a reply from someone with writing skills above those of a 10 year old. They obviously gathered together and sent a reply with only two basic mistakes in it, but of course they did not answer the problem.
I tried again by phone and could not understand a word the guy at the other end was saying. I passed phone to youngest son who has worked in India nd teaches English as a foreign language. He could not understand the guy neither.
I did the only constructive thing and these circumstances and went for a bath.
Son was clearly suffering internet withdrawal symptoms, he rang BT again and said we wanted to close our account. Amazingly he got through to someone in Newcastle and the guy there sorted the problem our withing 10 mins. A new BT Hub was duely received although 48 hours later than promised.

Morale of the story if you want to talk to someone in England threaten to take your business elsewhere.