Bulldog customers are up in arms about the poor levels of service and customer support they say they have experienced at the hands of the telecommunications operator.
Almost 30 customers have posted comments on ZDNet UK articles in recent weeks complaining about their experiences with Bulldog, which was bought by Cable & Wireless last year.
The most common complaints from Bulldog customers are to do with technical problems; either the service wasn't delivered on time, or didn't work properly, if at all.
Readers have also condemned Bulldog's customer service. A typical gripe is that the technical support telephone number was either engaged, or forced users to wait for an unreasonably long time.
"My experience with Bulldog over the past couple of months has left me deeply frustrated," said one IT manager. He ordered Bulldog's 4Mbps broadband product, but found two months later that his telephone line couldn't actually support more than 2Mbps.
"This is something they should have picked up on day one. They won't give me a 2Mbps connection. I'm totally appalled at the whole situation. I wouldn't recommend Bulldog to anyone," the IT manager added.
Another reader reported serious technical problems with Bulldog's 4Mbps service.
"The company repeatedly fails to return my calls and emails, and has been unable so far to offer a reliable phone service or broadband connection. It can't even get its billing correct and has failed to give a proper answer to my requests for an explanation of their billing."
Several of the readers who contacted ZDNet UK said they were keen to stop using Bulldog's services — not an easy task, if the experiences of E Stratton are typical.
"After they lured me away from BT, as soon as Bulldog connected me, my line died. My telephone and Internet have been off now for three weeks courtesy of Bulldog's ineptitude. I have spent hour after hour trying to get through to their customer service dept. When I have managed to actually contact someone, three times their customer service department has hung up on me, and I am not impolite," said Stratton.
Dissatisfied Bulldog users have also been posting their experiences on ADSLGuide, a Web site that covers the broadband market. Many have reported technical problems and frustration getting through to the firm's customer support team.
Unlike BT Wholesale, Bulldog offers broadband speeds as high as 8Mbps. Such high speeds will only work for customers who have a relatively short connection to their local exchange. Andrew Ferguson of ADSLGuide believes that Bulldog has been over-promising the availability of its broadband products, such as its @ctive range.
"Bulldog's sales would appear to be very good to 'promise' things like availability of the 8Mbps service. Their online checker has been brought into question, since it will offer the @ctive products even on lines that are unlikely to benefit from anything close to the full speed," Ferguson told ZDNet UK.
Bulldog is one of the few firms to have taken advantage of local-loop unbundling, by putting its own equipment into BT's local exchanges and offering competing services. Ferguson suspects that some of the delays reported by Bulldog customers have occurred because the unbundling of their exchange hasn't actually been completed when their order is taken.
A Bulldog spokeswoman said the company was sorry that some customers were unhappy, but insisted that the 'vast majority' of customers were satisfied with its service.
"Our service is in great demand and, rightly, people have big expectations of what it will deliver," she said.
"Getting the delivery of broadband right for each customer is complex and is affected by many factors including the location of the customer and the co-operation of multiple partners, so we do receive a lot of requests for information from our customers about their specific circumstances. We are building up customer service resources rapidly to ensure we can handle all calls satisfactorily within an acceptable time limit," the spokeswoman added.
Bulldog is no stranger to customer support claims, though. Last September it reportedly removed a logo hailing it as the British Internet Service Providers Association's "Best consumer broadband ISP for 2004", after more than 400 customers signed a petition calling for the award to be revoked.
What the users say
Here's a cross-section of comments posted by Bulldog users to ZDNet UK's talkback service.
"Customer services is extremely hard to contact, having to wait over one hour in some instances on the phone. Emails get no response."
"I had been a customer in the past and was very impressed with their service. Now that they've grown their service has slipped to the point where its unusable, they're uncontactable and I'm unimpressed."
"Bulldog appears to be in a worse state than they were in September 2004 when they announced a temporary cessation of new sign-ups because they could not cope with the customers they already had".
"I’m receiving no reply from then to my emails regarding connection stability, they fail to return my phone calls, and so on and so forth.... I am completely frustrated of their service and I hope that some one else is going to bring their 8Mbps service forwards so I could immediately switch."
"It seems amazing that if you want to buy they answer the phone straight away but customer services then that’s an hour or so wait."
Talkback
Just goes to prove that if you want good customer service then you cannot beat a rather large well established comms company!
I am not surprised,in fact happy when I saw this article.I ordered Bulldog broadband 2 months before and I am still waiting.I sent them e-mails about my order and none of them were answered.They were just given a reference number and thats it.I tried calling them up and you are pu ton hold for over an hour.Ridiculous.
Why should I spend my hard earned money on a company which does not value its customers?I deceided to go with Telewest broadband,although 2Mbps,they guranteed installation in a week and their customer service is excellent.
Time ot go back to your den Bulldog.
Yup. This is all very familiar to me. Their customer service is absolutely appaling - although that's not new - I remember waiting over an hour for support to pick up the phone a few years ago.
yep the same with me I ordered back in march, finally got a cutover date of june, they cut me over last week & I have been without a telephone at all since then, luckily I hadnt cancelled my second bt line yet
To be very honest, I have been a bulldog customer since it 2 yrs. When I ordered the upgrade to allow me to move away from BT on to Cable & Wireless. I was advised that it could take some time as I was doing more than just migrating, I was also changing telco supplier.
I had some issues when I was cut over, which went without a problem except that I couldn;t get the 4meg service, this was due to my profile not updated correctly, this was fix 3 days later. I now have my 8Meg service and am happy with it technically.
My grip I have now is the Billing! I am being charged the full price though when I signed up I should only pay the £40 per month ...
I ordered it 5 weeks ago and haven't heard a thing since. Customer services keep telling me "they are too busy and to call back later".
Since is received a cold call from a Bulldog sales rep 3 weeks ago who condemed my loyalty with Zen Internet as "false economy" and dismissing my use of a mobile phone to control my 7-year-established-web business as "crazy", I suspected that I made the right call by staying with my current ISP.
They sounded like conmen, and it seems to be unfolding as such...
I was lured by the promise of increased bandwidth (and a minimal overall cost-saving) to leave my previous ISP, Freedom2Surf, which provided excellent service & support.
The transfer to Bulldog was actually effected within the quoted period, but I then suffered a period of perpetual disconnections. I went digging, and noticed (in May) that my modem was training at 8Mbit. After (eventually) getting through to their tech support, they locked down the bandwidth to 4Mbit, and it has been stable since.
However, the real bugbear has been their totally inept billing. I signed up to the £29.50 for 4Mbit + PSTN line. I initially was sent a £500+ bill, and then in subsequent months received invoices for £40+call-costs. This was not what I signed up to!
It took 3 months of unanswered emails, calls to their Finance dept (unanswered - lines too busy!) and eventually sending a plea for help to the CEO, COO & CFO. After sending the latter mail, my problem was resolved in a day. This surely is NOT what you'd expect from a company the size of C&W.
In summary, my synopsis is that the techies are good, the support people too few and the quality of management overall is lacking.
Hi,
I signed up for Bulldog 8MB service, and cancelled ny NTL service. Fortunately, NTL offered me a years free 3MB brodband if I kept their phone line; as I had already cancelled the TV and signed up with SKY. I could not get through to bulldog customer services, but emailed three times to cancel the service.
Eventually a service operator called me about a confirmed date for installation, and I was able to cancel it this way. The BT engineers still arrived to install the line, though.
I think I will stay with NTL for the time being!
Please find below my current Bulldog Log in trying to move over from BT to Bulldog for home use. So far I have had nothinbg but hassle. I don't doubt the benefits at the other end of the tunnel, just the appaling length and quality of getting there
1) Ordered Bulldog in March 2005
2) Cancelled order on 24/05/05 following advice from Bulldog that they had incorrectly entered details and that since they could not be altered a new order would have to be placed
3) Ordered new Bulldog service on 24/05/05 (see 2) above)
4) Activation confirmed as 27/06/05
5) No activation on 27/06/05
6) Phoned Bulldog on 28/06/05 and informed to wait 24 hours (phone only answered after 17 calls)
7) Phoned Bulldog on 30/06/05 and informed wait until 04/07/05 (phone only answered after 5 calls)
8) Returned home on 04/07/05 to find new dial tone and BT call minder no longer working. Then realised that outgoing and incoming calls were not possoible and ADSL not working.
9) Phoned Bulldog on 05/07/05 and reported fault (on hold for 28 mins) - told problem was a BT issue at the exchange but that Bulldog would resolve problem (phone answered after 12 calls)
10) Phoned BT on 06/07/05 and told that there was nothing they could do nad that I should go via Bulldog
11) Phoned Bulldog 07/07/05 and left message with call handler of my problems
12) Emailed Bulldog on 08/07/05 with fault and complaint about poor customer service - recieved email back with ref no BDR95566X
13) Phoned BT on 09/07/05 and reported line fault - informed line OK
14) Phoned Bulldog on 11/07/05 (am) and reported fault - told somemone would come back to me that day
15) Phoned Bulldog on 11/07/05 (late pm) and reported fault - call minder took details
16) Phoned Bulldog on 12/07/05 (am) and reported fault - call minder took details
Further points
Average call wait time was 20 mins up to 07/07/05 when call minders employed to screen calls
Average number of calls made to actually get through to customer services: 10-15
Number of calls received from Bulldog since reporting the fault: 0
Number of emails recieved from Bulldog (excluding computer generated emails): 0
Why do Bulldog continue to push for more sales when they are totally incapable of dealing with their current clients. A trip to the Bulldog forum should hopefully deter any future people from signing up once they have read the endless complaints about Bulldog - both customer services and switching over.
If you are a potential Bulldog customer do yourself a favour and look elsewhere.
Assured by a friend of their good reputation, I put two clients onto Bulldog earlier this year, with the intention of putting myself on as soon as my local loop was unbundled. One client never got a connection, spent days on the phone dealing with the issues arising and swears at me for suggesting Bulldog. The other has had two major connection failures in six months and is not impressed. I don't think I'll be using them again.
Bulldog = bull$hit. that's all you'll get if you pay up.
The customer service is non-existant. Phoning any number bar sales you get:
"I am sorry but we are currently experiencing extremely high call volumes. Please try again later or alternatively visit our website." Hang Up Tone.
If you email you get an autoresponder but don't hear another response:
"Thank you for your recent email.
Your email has been allocated a reference of [RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOT]. It will help us to deal with your enquiry if you quote this reference in all further correspondence on this matter.
This has been received by our Customer Service team and will be attended to as soon as possible by one of our customer service agents."
Try the members forum, nothing but thousands of complain users all trying to jump ship.
OFCOM or someone needs to kick them in the RRRR's and either close them down to prevent other customers signing up and getting stuck in limbo or get them to answer the phones, reply to emails etc.
There are also problems with the billing! People get over billed and when you call the billing department, that is after waiting for 40 minutes to get though, you are told to contact the customer services department! These guys are out to cheat customers and some action should definitely be taken against them. A friend of mine got billed £153 for phone calls in one month when she hardly used the phone! I've got billed for the period when my line wasn't even installed!
These guys should be behind bars!
ppl working for bulldog are as thick as BULL.i subscribed for Braodband in March, it took 2 months for them to find out what is happening at my residence and why its still not installed, BullDog snapped my money off my A/c at the first place. Their sales ppl dont know what to do most of the time so they couldnt help me. I closed down the A/c with Bulldog. My housemate contacted bulldog and they promised him everthing shall be sorted out in 2 weeks and we shall be running. But then they took 8 weeks just to install the line , the phone was working but there was a problem from their end.
It is next to impossible to get through to the Customer Service, so i go through the Sales Team, They are a bunch of Rude Idiots, The CM service cannot help in any way nor can the Sales, then who the hell do i contact for sorting my problem. I Have also mailed their CEO but never got a responce.
Now we are after 4 months still facing problem, that our billing date and our Activation date is not the same.. Dont know when shall this be sored out by these rascals... its just a PAIN
i WISH SOME ONE SUES THIS COMPANY SOON
ppl working for bulldog are as thick as BULL.i subscribed for Braodband in March, it took 2 months for them to find out what is happening at my residence and why its still not installed, BullDog snapped my money off my A/c at the first place. Their sales ppl dont know what to do most of the time so they couldnt help me. I closed down the A/c with Bulldog. My housemate contacted bulldog and they promised him everthing shall be sorted out in 2 weeks and we shall be running. But then they took 8 weeks just to install the line , the phone was working but there was a problem from their end.
It is next to impossible to get through to the Customer Service, so i go through the Sales Team, They are a bunch of Rude Idiots, The CM service cannot help in any way nor can the Sales, then who the hell do i contact for sorting my problem. I Have also mailed their CEO but never got a responce.
Now we are after 4 months still facing problem, that our billing date and our Activation date is not the same.. Dont know when shall this be sored out by these rascals... its just a PAIN
i WISH SOME ONE SUES THIS COMPANY SOON
We have had broadband from Bulldog since before they were taken over by C&W. We have just made the huge mistake of signing up for their 8MB broadband + phone service at home - with the result that our broadband speed hasn't increased at all and we have been without a functioning phone line for the last 3 days.
Like everyone else, we have been unable to get through to them on the phone, so we haven't even had the chance to report the problem! They seem to be in total meltdown. Of course, it adds insult to injury that their Web site doesn't say anything about the issues that a large number of their customers are obviously experiencing.
I've been having the same problem with my buldog account!I wsa so happy to see that there were so many sites with people constantly complaining. I cannot pay my bill so I will probably be disconnected soon!There ought to be something that all of us can do in order to reverse this situation!!!If anyone's got any idea please share it....
Bulldog Customer Services.
To whom it may concern,
It is with the utmost concern that I write this letter. I have been a Bulldog "customer" for the last 4 weeks. I would like to outline the problems that I have experienced, and would like a suggestion and compensation for the problems that I have encountered.
1) When I first paid for a Bulldog landline to be put in, instead of a BT line, I paid over the phone with my bank card. I specifically asked the Sales Assistant for a reference number more then once. He replied that an email would follow in 15 minutes. As soon as I had made the payment, he seemed extremely keen to get off the phone. I was not happy with this but as I had already given him my details there was not very much I could do. Needless to say the promised email never arrived. Thus I was very concerned. No reference, no email.
2) After waiting 3 days for the email or any form of communication to turn up I phoned Bulldog, trying to track down the sales assistant who had taken my details. I could not. No one worked there by that name. I phoned AT LEAST 4-5 times. I was NEVER once put through to customer services, and despite many promises of returned phone calls, I DID NOT receive one. Now, call me cautious, but having given over my card details, I was rather concerned about the whereabouts of my reference and money. Not one Sales Assistant could find me on the system. Eventually, I had to phone my bank to see whether the £60 had left my account. They said no.
3) Imagine my surprise, therefore, when 2 weeks later I received not one but 4 emails from Bulldog giving me a time for the line installation!!! On 12 July 2005 the BT technician came and put the line in. The next day my partner and I tried to activate the line, and when we finally got through to an assistant at Bulldog, they told us that there was a fault on the line. However, this would be "rectified by thursday 14 July, by the latest".
IT IS NOW WEDNESDAY, 20 JULY 2005 AND WE STILL HAVE NO LINE, AND NO ONE WILL GUARANTEE A DATE WHEN WE WILL GET IT. MY PARTNER AND I HAVE PHONED BULLDOG CONSTANTLY OVER THE LAST FEW DAYS OFTEN WAITING FOR OVER AN HOUR FOR SOMEONE TO PICK UP. WE ARE ALWAYS TOLD THE SAME THING: SOMEONE WILL PHONE BACK. THIS NEVER HAPPENS.
I HAVE BEEN HUNG UP ON. I HAVE ASKED TO SPEAK TO A MANAGER MORE THAN ONCE AND BEEN HUNG UP ON, PUT ON HOLD ETC. NO RESULT.
WE NOW WANT OUR MONEY BACK. BUT OF COURSE THIS IS PROVING DIFFICULT. THIS IS NO WAY TO RUN A BUSINESS. PLEASE TREAT YOUR CUSTOMERS WITH THE RESPECT YOU WOULD YOURSELVES WOULD EXPECT.
PLEASE GET BACK TO ME ASAP.
I never experienced a service as poor as Bulldog's. Their staff seem to have no respect for those of us hardworking people who just want to get what we paid for without having to stay on the line for hours, everyday.
Please DO NOT BUT BULLDOG BROADBAND
I never experienced a service as poor as Bulldog's. Their staff seem to have no respect for those of us hardworking people who just want to get what we paid for without having to stay on the line for hours, everyday.
Please DO NOT BUY BULLDOG BROADBAND
i am well fed up with this service cant get them on the phone or by e mail cant get my messages of my phone am considering sueing them for making my nerves bad this is not on it is illegal to sell a services u cant deliver
Yet another case of hype triumphing over hope! A classic case of the sales guys promising things the technical guys could not deliver!
I was supposed to be upgradded to a faster connection 3 weeks ago. Instead i have been without any internet connections and without any phone line for the last three weeks. I really don't know what to do anymore. They don't seem to give a damn if you're ever lucky enough to get through and the information you get is either extremely vague or an outright lie.
I was hoping to work from home for the last few weeks to spend some time with my newly born little girl. I have had to leave the house every day because of their incompetence.
How can they ever compensate me for this?
They do not desreve to be in business.
I signed up at the end of April and now, at the end of July am still awaiting 4mb which is to be delivered over a Bulldog provisioned new BT line service. There is no progress reporting from the company, calls to custmer service are often cut off owing to high call volumes and, when you do speak to them, they don't seem able to make anything happen. Email replies, if you get one (and that's not guarenteed), are cursory. The members forum is full of angry customers with identical complaints. Given the many people are without internet of phone, this must be the tip of the iceberg, whatever the comany says.
This all sounds very familiar. I was considering switching from BT to Bulldog but was advised by a friend not to as he had experienced similar problems of bad customer service and promises that were never kept. Judging from the comments here I'm glad I didn't. I have been with BT broadband for over 2 years, I have only ever experienced 1 problem in this time with my connection which was dealt with promtly and efficiently. My advice stick with the people who know how to provide a proper service.
I am experiencing many of the problems everyone else seems to be. My connection is slower than dialup so why are they charging me twice in one month for a service they aren't even providing. I tried to cancel my account months ago, called, sent emails etc, couldn't get through, no replies and they have still been charging me much more than they should have. Bulldog are practicing fraudulently in several areas and we should not let them get away with it. I'm no lawyer but feel there's enough dissatisfied and ripped off customes here for us to try and do something about it. I've had enough of these prats as I'm sure many of you have.
I am experiencing many of the problems everyone else seems to be. My connection is slower than dialup so why are they charging me twice in one month for a service they aren't even providing. I tried to cancel my account months ago, called, sent emails etc, couldn't get through, no replies and they have still been charging me much more than they should have. Bulldog are practicing fraudulently in several areas and we should not let them get away with it. I'm no lawyer but feel there's enough dissatisfied and ripped off customes here for us to try and do something about it. I've had enough of these prats as I'm sure many of you have.
I've just had a lucky escape I was on the verge of signing up with Bulldog when I found your website. I will not now go with them. Unfortunately like a lot of companies they seem to grow the business quicker than they can service it.
Yep, Same thing happened to me im still waiting for anything to happen 5 weeks later called customer services takes about an hour to get through when you do the worst customer service you have ever had in the end asked for them to cancel the whole order. STAY AWAY FROM BULLDOG
After consistant lies from CS I am now on a war path against Bulldog, not only having to wait for over an hour to get through, they then cut me off because they cannot answer my questions. This is diabolical service from Bulldog, I sure hope Ofcom soon act accordingly and not put their head in the sand.
I will spare you all the entire email thread.
Written while quite frustrated, the email is self explanatory.
-------------------------------------------------
Hello Customer Services,
I was told I would hear from someone either yesterday, 2nd Aug 2005, or today 3rd Aug 2005.
I didn't receive any calls -as promised- from the support team. I still have the problems.
I have gotten my first Bill -its a shocker- only to find out that I have been wrongly charged.
So I my situation is this:
[1] I have spotty Internet services with half the expect bandwidth; 4 meg instead of 8meg.
[2] NO home telephone service; its been approximately 6 weeks.
[3] No support or help to fix the problem.
[4] Bulldog is charging me Incorrectly- I am supposed to be getting:
[4a] the connection for £1
[4b] broadband FREE for the first month and at £29 for the next 5(up to 6th month)
[4c] my telephone landline costs FREE for the first 6 months.
[4d] ALL on a monthly contract with a 30 notice period.
WHAT has happened?
I am now considering getting legal advice to determine how to get Bulldog to take notice of the customers like myself who are being completely abused by this hapless company.
I would like an answer addressing my concerns about overcharging and my still undelivered home landline.
I expect to hear ASAP about an adjustment to my bill with appropriate refunds and a concrete time for my telephone service to delivered.
Please forward this email to the relevant departments; I expect no less than the coordination and resolution of my problems to be handled by customer service.
I appreciate your help.
Many thanks,
James
Mobile: xxxxxxxx
P.S. Please find my mobile number included just in case there is a manager who cares to call or technical support who actually have an answer.
i had their service for about 6 months, i wanted their amazing 8MB broadband which i was told i was capable of recieving,
after about 4 weeks i was connected with a lousy 1MB line, i wasnt happy and when i tried to cancel the contract i was hung up on 3 times by different people, "hold on one minute please" .......BEEEP
im now a very happy BT BROADBAND customer with my 2mb line for 24,99
bulldog are not worth the hassle !!
I can only add my comments, which are the same.
4Meg instead of 8
£60.01 charged to my account for no reason
£60 connex fee (was an offer of £1)
No Customer Service via phone or e-mail.
Avoid
Bulldog are terrible. They have just debited some GBP140 from an account which they were not authorised to access; having eventually cleared this up, they have now debited a further GBP82 from the same account again without authorisation. It could be argued that this amounts to theft.
Despite have called in this morning to the second their customer service line opened, I have been turned away by their automated routing system on every occasion during the last two hours.
They are incompetent highly inept, and have managed to lose all functionality on two occasions in just two months.
Avoid Bulldog if you value your sanity. My experience: No service at all, totally unusable, impossible to cancel, ignoring all my attempts to do so. No customer service at all.Now billing me for someone elses phone number. Pathetic. I have compained to Ofcom.
I have had a similar experience with Bulldog. Since signing up to Bulldog I have had a poor and incomplete service however, this was nothing compared to the problems I have had trying to cancel my account. My first email to them requesting a cancellation went to them some time in the beginning of June ( I had long ago given up trying to get through to the customer service department ). I heard nothing back despite repeatedly sending this email. Finally, out of the blue I recieved an email in the beginning of July stating that my account would be cancelled on the 19th of July. This date came and went and I was still connected to Bulldog and unable to port to another provider. Over a week later my broadband stopped working but my phone line was still active and preventing me from taking up another provider without buying a new line. Numerous phonecalls have not solved the situation and they have even had the nerve to blame this on BT.
It is frustrating that they can't even do something as simple as cancelling my account.
Bulldog has been a nightmare! I have no dialtone, let alone internet for more than 2 weeks! And know they expect me to pay for the frustration and stress they are still causing me!!! Hours on the phone to their 'customer services' are better spent in hair removal - less torture.
hi. I'm signing up to bulldog 8meg now. I've got to say I'm a little nervous at the prospect after reading these posts. I've covered myself to a degree though, as I'm starting a brand new line (my house has two going in anyway), and I'll stop the first when the second is up to scratch, same with my aol subscription. In theory, the price (month 1: free, month 2-6: 17.50 and free connection for unlimited 8meg) is fantastic, but if they try and screw me, I'll cancel their debit authorisation and let them chase me for the cash. they wont get it.
I suggest anyone else who is cautious should safeguard themselves in some way and be prepared to cancel debits at the first signs of trouble. Ofcom will mediate and assist (take action) in unfair trade complaints, as will BT for their customers.
To all those that are thinking of getting Bulldog, please visit...
www.bullgog-hell.com
was going for bulldog,no way now after these reviews
They aggresively marketted their Bulldog service in my neighbourhood; even promising a replacement ADSL broadband wireless router (and PC and PCMCIA cards) in replacement for the Cable one we currently own.
It all seemed to good to be true frankly. It would seem my worst fears are bourne out by a lot of upset customers.
Thank the lord I am an IT professional with some understanding about their over-blown technical claims. It's just a shame the Bulldog seem to be preying on people in this way.
Bulldog is the most unreliable and incompetent company i have ever had to deal with.
I had my phone transferred to Bulldog on the 14th July. Ever since i have not been able to receive any phone calls on our home phone. It has now been a month and i have been in contact every second day.
On repeated ocassions, i have been told the call is being escalated and thats all they can do. I have never had anyone contact me to discuss the mattter.
On two instances i have been told the problem will be rectified in 48 hours and had emails confirming this only to find that nothing changed.
A week ago i managed to speak to someone who wrote a written complaint to be forwarded to senior management. You would think this would do something, yet a week later i still have not received any correspondance.
Then there is the billing, i signed on a special deal £1 connection and free for the first month. I paid the £1 but now they are trying to bill me £117 for my first month for a service i have not totally received.
As soon as i finally get my service working i will be taking by business elsewhere.
i have had bulldog for approx 4 months and i have been very discusted with the service throughout, at first, had problems connecting to be told i am unable to receive 8mb , so had to have just the 4, now i am sure i am being overcharged for the service. Now i am having trouble actually talking to someone to change my direct debit details.
For near enough 2 days now have been ringing 0800 4048151 which is the only number you can ring to be held in a queue or be told we are experiencing high call volumes please try later, well just that to me spells trouble
do we really have to suffer with all this, i wish i had never changed from my previous isp.
Sorry i have not got anything decent to say about this company.
A very close call!
I was debating whether or not to switch my broadband from BT to Bulldog & I had even got as far as their online order page when I decided to do a quick Google search on “bulldog broadband service” & imagine how relieved I am that I did!
It sounds as though Bulldog have a lot of work to do before I’ll even consider passing my business to them.
Bulldog, if you are reading this you should be aware that this level of customer service has cost you at least one customer today – me.
Anyone wonna take a bet if they get BISPA’s "Best consumer broadband ISP for 2005"?
Bulldog is not worthy of any more of my time, nor would I suggest yours. As a businessman I spend quite a lot of time trying to progress difficult situations through a sea of bureaucracy, Nothing however has been anything like as unrewarding as trying to complete a transfer of telephone and broadband services from BT to Bulldog. Seduced by the prospects of a 8Mbit broadband and telephone package I signed up with them on 12th of June. The following logs the events so far:
12th June. I applied by email and Bulldog confirmed signup and stated transfer completed in 3-5 weeks.
3rd August Bulldog emailed to say service switch over and activation would be 10/08
3rd August. Letter from BT to confirm that I was leaving their service on 10/08 inviting me to contact them if I experienced any problems.
10th Aug (am) Discovered broadband BT line terminated, but still on BT provided service. First call to Bulldog customer services (after 40min hold) was told that porting should be completed in a couple of hours. Mid pm checked back with customer services (again 30-40 min hold, just assume this for all calls) they said in progress, waiting for BT to “jumper the line” could take anything up to 24 hours.
11th Aug (am) No broadband, line still on BT network called Bulldog (30 mins) and was told that porting could in fact take up to 48 hours. They said they’d email BT to speed things up. Late afternoon no change now 36 hours with no adsl service, line still with BT.
12th Aug Morning call to Bulldog they tell me still waiting on BT. Called BT (7 min hold), got a very helpful (particularly given the circumstances) guy. He could access all details and told some 7 points of the process had been completed and that they were awaiting a request from Bulldog for transfer. He got “Wendy” at BT porting to speak to “Dean” at Bulldog porting who confirmed to her the delay was in fact with Bulldog and that they were behind in processing. Armed with facts for first time phoned Bulldog again (30 mins). I was assured that request had now been sent. Called BT again, got a very helpful woman this time who confirmed the position as at 11:30 am that they had received request and responded to it 12:00 noon. I was told by BT(again very helpful) it now only took a simple call from Bulldog to them and the transfer would be completed within 15 minutes of receipt. Thinking there may be light at the end of the tunnel I call Bulldog on the usual basis. They confirm the position, but say I’m in a queue awaiting activation and it could go through Friday or possibly Monday as they were very busy with people waiting longer than me. Around 2:30pm my phone line disconnects from the BT service, at last it has gone over to Bulldog. For 30 minutes or so my phone repots error in dialing any number, then line goes totally dead. My Bulldog account web page says there is a service fault on my line and claims a 24 hour response time. For a change I phone Bulldog Technical Support (since I am now “with them”) and outline the position. The guy says they will make it a priority 1 fault since I have now lost telephone as well and someone will report back to me shortly.
13thAug No phone, no broadband. Phoned Bulldog tech support (10 mins) to be told it is reported and being worked on, but for feedback on situation I need to call customer services again 25 minutes later I am told that it is out for repair, but engineers don’t work weekends, so it will be Monday before they can start to look at it.
I am disgusted with the total lack of service supported by their day and a half of misrepresenting the porting situation. Despite many requests I have not been allowed to speak to, or have received a call from either a supervisor or manager nor have I received any email since that of 3rd August.
Make up your own mind if that 8Mbit connection is worth the hassle.
Richard.
I am in the same boat here. They took £60 off me over 2 months ago. I have had no modem, no line and no broadband. to top that, BT are not able to access my line as bulldog have undertaken "preliminary work" on my line. These guys have obviously had a super service in the past but cannot handle the level of uptake. I have complained to the ISDA and ofcom but have not had much joy, although i have had more feedback than from bulldog customer service. how can we get our money back from these guys. Is there a collective to use the legal system so we can all become one voice against this unprofessional company. apparently they won cutomer service of the year award in 2004. i'll bet my house down ladbrookes that they don't do the same for 2005! we need to fight this poor service!
Richard,
Very similar to my story. Absolute shumbles.
www.bulldog-hell.com
I have had the worst customer service experience with Bulldog.
Read all the information at:
http://bulldogbroadbandsucks.blogspot.com/
When a company of any scope couldnt care less if it treated its customers like crap, then it says everything about management. The only reason these cowboys answering phones at the bottom of the hierarchy dont know what the hell is going on, is bcoz NEITHER DOES MANAGEMENT!!!!
i was promised 2 - 4 weeks max when i ordered 8Mb, & i specifically stated before handing over my credit card-" time is money for my home office, i need to know it will not take longer than that otherwise i will need to order through BT". They reassured me they could meet the target.
2months later still waiting, and no one can explain why. 1st call- 2weeks- "oh sorry we had a server error, your request was rejected". 2nd call-4weeks- "incorrect postcode by call centre staff, request rejected". 3rd call-5weeks- "its in BT planning this could take 20working days, theres nothing we can do. They need to investigate your line". so no one had been sent out yet! 4th call-6weeks-"still in BT planning" i ask what does that mean? are they just watching the screen? can i talk to a BT planner representative? "no theres nothing you can do". 5th call-7weeks- "oh BT responded saying the address was incorrect, there was no flat number in the address sent to them! this will now take 20 days from today"!!!!
Can you believe it took them 2months to get to the first step of having BT technician check the line before Bulldog start their work? I went mad on the phone, each call was a wait of 1hr before i ever got through, and each time i asked to speak to a Manager i was told they werent allowed to escalate to them and that i would have to send an email to complaints! When i pointed out to the call centre boy that his manager gets paid 5times what he does for a reason!! and thats to be a point of escalation for unresolved issues, he had no answer!! in any industry its a known fact! and what were they telling their staff? dont escalate just bugger them off! how is this customer service?
So then when i ask to talk to the manager so he/she can explain business processes and why there is a big black hole that my order has fallen into, i am told it was miscommunication. with who? no one knows anything about anything, and the worst part is they dont care! When im trying to point out where things have failed so the company can offer improved service next time, they dont want to hear it!!!
What would really help resolve this, does anyone know if BT are involved in checking the line before bulldog can add thier own unbundling at the exchange? Because either BT are screwing them around and taking their time in providing initial infrastructure to win customers over, or Bulldog are messing about in their system, before BT even know about what needs to be done out there!!
still waiting...