Complaining to BT. Good luck!

I have had my differences with BT before (see http://www.breakinglaw.co.uk/2017/07/bt-and-complaining-to-them.html). My recent complaint shows that tenacity, even when accompanied by the extraction of hair (mine), can pay off (albeit modestly). So, if you have a BT complaint, may the tenacity be with you. Incidentally, I generally favour a written exchange when complaining under a complaints procedure so that there is a proper record of what has passed and, obviously, so that you can see it afterwards. But initially I spoke to BT after a written summary of the complaint and it provided a transcript. I have saved you having to read this. The email exchange below has been edited by me to omit the boring minutiae.
BT 27/02/18

I have reviewed your complaint about the compensation for the fault you have had on your line, I am sincerely sorry for any inconvenience that this fault may have caused you and can understand that it is difficult to be without a working line .

I can understand from your previous conversation with my colleagues that you are not happy with the compensation offered to you which was ｣16.40.
The refund is completely based on our Customer Service Guarantee Scheme(CSGS) policy The Customer Service Guarantee Scheme is BT compensation policy for when we are late providing or repairing service.

Me 01/03/18

It could not be more unhappy than I am with your response. It is based on a misstatement of the facts and indicates that you have not properly read my initial complaint.

BT was in breach of its duty in failing to correctly diagnose and remedy the fault when it was originally reported. I emphasise that I did not report ‘another fault’ on 13 January 2018 or any other occasion. I assume that BT carried out a test of its own initiative with a view to being able to cancel the engineer’s visit.

I trust you will now accurately and properly reassess the complaint and respond to me further in writing.

BT 05/03/18

If you are not happy with what we have offered you then there is nothing much I can do and will escalate this complaint further to our CRS (Complaints Review System) which will review your complaint from neutral point of view and get back to you on this within 5 working days, but I must inform you that they may withdraw the offer which I have made.

Please tell us if you are happy with the £16.40 refund offered to you or you wish to escalate further.

Me 06/03/18

Please provide me with the following information-

[5] why the fault was not remotely rectified when I first reported it having regard to the fact that it was remotely rectified on 17 January 2018

[6] whether you accept that the line was not functioning between 19 December 2017 and 17 January 2018

[7] why you consider that I should be charged for rental of the line between 19 December 2017 and 17 January 2018 when the line was not functioning

[8] why you consider that I should not be compensated for the loss of use of the line between 19 December 2017 and 17 January 2018.

Me 15/03/18 ARE YOU GOING TO REPLY TO ME AND PROGRESS MY COMPLAINT OR NOT, PLEASE? Me 16/03/18 I have today received your letter dated 09 March 2018. One week to arrive. Did you forget to post it when you should have done? The receipt of the letter and its contents surprise me (or perhaps they should not) for the following reasons-  [A] You already know I am ‘unhappy’ with your last response. [B] You already know that I have insisted on dealing with the matter through written communications. [C] After a ludicrous refusal to deal with the escalation of my complaint in writing, you duly did so. [D] You have totally ignored my e-mail of 06 March 2018 which I reproduce below. May I suggest that somebody who holds a managerial role properly reads our trail of written communications, digests it and then  returns to me with a sensible response? Me 02/04/18 IS ANYBODY THERE? ARE YOU GOING TO ATTEND TO MY COMPLAINT IN A SENSIBLE MANNER? DO I HAVE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT NON-ATTENTION TO A COMPLAINT? Me 05/04/18 DON’T YOU RESPOND TO CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS ANY LONGER? Me 08/04/18 Having persistently informed you that I was not prepared to discuss my complaint orally but only in writing (through email), what happened yesterday? You telephoned me to discuss the complaint!!! I reiterated my requirement whereupon your representative (whose identity is unknown to me) rapidly terminated the call. Please escalate my complaint under your Customer Review System from which I hope I will get more sense than I have so far witnessed.  BT 09/04/18 If you are not happy with what we have offered you then there is nothing much I can do and will escalate this complaint further to our CRS (Complaints Review System) which will review your complaint from neutral point of view and get back to you on this within 5 working days, but I must inform you that they may withdraw the offer which I have made. Me 11/04/18 As already notified, I wish my complaint to be escalated.  You telephoned me on 09 April 2018 in apparent response to my email protesting that you had been seeking to speak to me by telephone whereas I wanted this matter to be dealt with in writing!!! BT 11/04/18 As per the fault reported we can refund £16.40 + £10 as goodwill maximum. If you are not happy with what we have offered you then there is nothing much I can do and will escalate this complaint further to our CRS (Complaints Review System) which will review your complaint from neutral point of view and get back to you on this within 5 working days, but I must inform you that they may withdraw the offer which I have made. Me 11/04/18 If compensation is not offered to properly reflect the above heads of loss then the complaint must still be escalated. Me 22/04/18 I have asked for my complaint to be escalated and not to be contacted about it by telephone but instead by way of email.  On 16 April 2018 you wrote to me, effectively asking for more time to deal with my complaint. On 18 April 2018 - having made more attempts to contact me by telephone which was in flagrant disregard of my request - you wrote to me again to express sorrow for the problems I was having with ‘the contract renewal’ - which is certainly news to me - and to say that if I was now happy, I need not do anything. I am astounded by your level of incompetence. I really do not understand what you are playing at. It is evident that neither do you. Come on now. Get your act together. BT 223/04/18 Thank you for your email, I apologise it was not dealt with correctly. I have reviewed your complaint in full and want to make the below points before we go any further. In regards to faults BT will only compensate a customer from the date the contact us to let us know they are having issues and not before. We would also have to go to the date we have on our system as the time the issues were resolved. I appreciate you have advised us you only wanted emails and we continued to call, i apologise for this. As a resolution then i will offer the credit of £16.40 plus a £20 goodwill credit for the delay in getting a written response. If you are happy to accept please let me know by replying directly to this email, If not please give me a suitable time that a manager can contact you via phone. Me 26/04/18 I refer to your message of 23 April 2018. I will accept £20 for delay in getting a written response. As to the £16.40 offered, I do not accept this because I do not understand the basis of the calculation. As I understand it, the sum relates to line rental. Would you please clarify the precise period for which it has been calculated. It should be for not less than the period beginning with the date of my notification of fault and ending with the date on which you informed me the fault had been notified. I do not wish to discuss by telephone. I think I have made this clear more than once, have I not? BT 26/04/18 The date we have the first fault reported on was the 19/12/17. We then have another fault showing fault was cleared on 19/01/18. Going by these dates the total refund for the 31 days would be 19.62. The 16.40 you were offered before took into consideration that BT have 3 days to fix faults and as there was 2 separate faults raised it took 6 days off the credit. Mew 26/04/18 Thank you. As I have pointed out before, there was only one fault reported. Your records in this respect (as well as several other respects) are incorrect. The one and only original fault complaint was not properly diagnosed and so an engineer’s appointment had to be booked. Before that appointment the fault was externally rectified as should have happened at the outset. Therefore, the £16.40 offered should be revised to add back three days line rental. If this is done and you will pay me the £20 for delay in written response plus the £20 already offered as a goodwill gesture (which had nothing to do with delay in response) I will settle on that basis.£56.40 in all. What a debacle! BT 26/04/18 I will offer the below as final resolution - £19.62 for the duration of the complete fault. £25 in total goodwill as an apology for the delay in getting this sorted. Total credit - £44.62 Me 26/04/18 I consider your offer to be too low, given that you had previously proposed a goodwill payment before that  attributable to the delay of £20. But with a view to concluding this matter, I am prepared — without prejudice - to split the difference and settle for £32.50 plus £19.62, namely £52.12. BT 01 May 201 The credits have been applied to your BT Account. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to resolve this for you. Are you happy for me now to close your complaint? Me 01 May 2018 Good Morning If the account credit is for £52.12 then I can confirm that you may close my complaint.  May I wish your phone line the best of health and extend to you my earnest hope that you never have to complain to BT.