Sheltering

A cold, wet and windy day today with a max temp of 7.5C. A bit of admin, my jigsaw, and listening to the Post Office Inquiry this morning. I also called the John Lewis credit card helpline as they plan to go paperless and not send out statements and I wanted to opt out of this change (don't they know emails aren't particularly secure?).

For my record only:
As predicted, I did have to ring BT again this afternoon, as I still hadn't received my new contract. This time I got straight through as I chose the 'sales' phone option. I spoke to a lovely lady who confirmed no new contract had actually been set up, despite me being told the new equipment would arrive tonight (which sounded like the order was processed). 

As emailing the retentions team hadn't got a response, she suggested just agreeing the details and she'd process it. Except, she couldn't match the price agreed as he didn't add on the £3 pcm for the phone line. So more discussion and she spoke to her supervisor and agreed the price at £3pcm more, but with a credit for this applied to cover the 24 month contract and the free first month I'd been promised. Then I confirmed it would be the new router and 2 free wifi discs I'd been promised to extend the range, she agreed but told me it would be 1 disk first, then she'd send me an extra one which she had to raise manually. Then she told me this contract came with a wifi coverage guarantee and explained it, which I'd not been told before and neither had I been told about the T's & C's. I agreed, and then she remembered she'd not told me about it being Digital Voice, neither had the person I spoke to yesterday. I explained my concerns about that not working in a power cut (she didn't volunteer this) and so she agreed to send a battery back up free of charge (which I knew they should do if asked). Then I asked about my burglar alarm, which if activated has an autodialer which rings one of three numbers. She said if fitted within the last 10 years it will still work, but she sent me an email in case I had issues so I had her contact details. I also suggested she check on what happened re the contract, I hope I don't get that equipment tonight!

I then rang my alarm company, and that is incorrect, the autodialer will not work as BT will reduce voltage to the copper line. He agreed to send me options, one is a yet to be agreed installation cost with an annual extra cost of £115 plus VAT, the other is a one-off charge of £150 plus VAT to change the keypad which will use my broadband to send me a message on my mobile via an app. So I've emailed BT to confirm what the alarm company has told me about the voltage issue and to ask about the promise that customers won't be disadvantaged by the change. 

I then wrote to my MP as he has expressed concerns about moving all customers away from copper lines by the end of 2025 given in particular the additional problems with mobile phone signals in rural areas such as North Norfolk. I actually think the bigger risk is being totally reliant on the internet and electricity, not good for civil contingency planning.