The Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) has added its weight to the growing concern about poor customer service at Bulldog.
As ZDNet UK reported earlier this month, some Bulldog customers are furious with the experiences they have suffered at the hands of the ISP, which is a part of Cable & Wireless.
An unspecified number of Bulldog customers have complained to ISPA in recent weeks, prompting the organisation to examine the issue at an ISPA council meeting on Thursday.
"We've had an increased number of complaints about Bulldog, so we've contacted the company to find out what's going on," said an ISPA spokesman.
He added that Bulldog has assured ISPA that action is being taken to alleviate the current problems.
Some Bulldog users have complained that they have experienced an unreliable broadband or telephony service from the firm, but a more common complaint is that it is extremely difficult to contact Bulldog's customer services.
It is understood that the majority of complaints received by ISPA relate to problems getting through to Bulldog's customer support.
ISPA has also suggested to Bulldog that it might like to stop advertising that it won the title of Best Consumer Broadband service from ISPA in 2004.
"They could consider that it could alienate customers... it can be frustrating to hear that you are using the best consumer broadband service when you're trying to contact the company with a problem," said the ISPA spokesman.
It's not clear why Bulldog are still be promoting the prize well over a year since it was awarded, but the award appeared to have been removed from its Web site as of Friday afternoon.
Click here to read what disgruntled Bulldog customers have been saying.
Talkback
I think they should certainly lose the good merit badge because we all know that all they're interested in is getting new customers, rather than looking after their existing ones...very bad service and customer relations.
All in all maybe a 2 out of 10, a 2 because the idea is there, but the application was not followed through..
I recently moved from BT to Bulldog and like many of your readers I am beginning to regret the move. The change over was a disaster with Bulldog and BT blaming each other for the non-connection. After a week I now have Internet connection though rarely at 8Mb usually around 3 or 4Mb (not that this slow but I am paying for 8Mb!)
I stll have no email access as the logon and password for the user web site don't work despite promises that it would be fixed the following day.
My phone is also affected, I can't access my voicemail as it requires a PIN number which I havn't been given - again promises to fix the problem have proved to be worthless.
I have only managed to call bulldog around 4 times in the last two weeks as (no matter what time of the day or night) they are always too busy and then they cut you off! some Customer Service that is.
I got so frustated that I called the sales line and enquired as to why they had plenty of staff to deal with new customers but none for existing ones - the young lady was quite abrut and in a rather sarcastic voice said "well we still have to make money, don't we" She then cut me off.
Sadley that says it all about this appaling company - I intend to move back to BT ASAP as despite their many faults their customer service is light years ahead of Bulldog.
My advice to anyone considering a move is DON'T!!
Just wanted to add that I signed up for the Super@ctive service in Feb '05. I've never received more then a third of the advertised bandwidth despite their own Bulldog engineers confirming my line is capable of handling the full 8mbps service. They have failed to fix a known performance issue at the Southall exchange for over five months.
All my pleas for help have been ignored to date. The only reason I haven't left Bulldog is that I'm waiting for UKOnline or Freedom2Surf to be enabled on my exchange.
Just by way of balance, I moved to Bulldog's Super@active service in May, expecting to receive 4Mbits.
I was moved over a week earlier than promised, and on top of that got an 8 mbit service from the get-go, which was particularly well tested as I dragged down several HD video files concurrently from Apple's high definition showcase whilst doing a software update at the same time.
Since May, I've downloaded over 250GB of materials and the only problem I've had is that Bulldog changed their DNS settings without telling anyone.
Hi Guys,
Nice article on Bulldog.
Working in the IT departmrnt for a city based firm I was foolishly tempted to sign up with Bulldog a year ago.
I needed a fast relievable connection to allow me to work form home.
Well trouble from day one with this company is all you are likely to get!
I got so frustrated with their appalling service and my connection problems I set up www.bulldogdsl.biz which was until recently sponsored on Google.
I never put much work into the site as I didn't want to waste any more of my time.
In the end I sent over 100 faxes to bulldog (an archaic DoS attack) which finally resulted in a call from Katrina kenworthy the complaints manager. Eventually I ended up with a stable service and 4 months after it was promised I got a partial refund for 3 months of my service.
I also found one day that Bulldog had blocked an entire Class A network in china. Having a Chinese fiancé this was rather annoying. not as annoying as trying to get the issue resolved. un answered emails and unreturned calls. Until... I emailed all of their directors with an obnoxious email. If they will proudly place the names of all their top people on their web site.... After speaking with their director of network operatiosn it turns out they were recieving spam mail so blocked the entire network (a very large newtork almost all of china). They could have simply blocked smtp email only. In my opinion technically incompitent :)
Anyway in summary well done for finally publicising what is certainly one of the worst companies I have ever ever had to deal with in my life.
Glad to say I have just moved house. I had to have BT issue a notice to Bulldog so that they could disconnect my DSL service. Bulldog did not respond to email or phone calls requesting my service cancelled. NO more bulldog harahh!
regards
Gareth
I am glad ISPA is having a go at Cable & Wireless / Bulldog, it is long overdue. Let's put the thing in perspective though – ISPA gave them the award. Was Bulldog's service any good then? The Bulldog service and customer service has been unacceptable since I first signed up in July 2004.
ISPA should do the decent thing and publicly apologise to all those customers who believed this award was guaranteed some sort of assurance of a reasonable level of service. ISPA should then withdraw the award, as publicly as possible. Otherwise how will ISPA and its awards ever have any credibility?
We customers should also share some of the blame. It says on the website homepage (albeit in small print) "Broadband from Cable & Wireless". That should have sent us running. Why did we expect it to be better than the chaotic cable and phone service that C&W sold to NTL (NTHell as it was later dubbed)?
My year contract is up with Cable & Wireless / Bulldog (you had to sign up for a year then) – yippee – and I will leave as soon as I can get the migration access number from them. Strangely you can't get a MAC number from the tech helpdesk or billing, only customer services and this is unobtainable. When you ring customer services a recorded message says "we are experiencing extremely high call volumes at the moment, please call back later" and cuts you off.
My latest problem is that all outgoing emails are being rejected by bulldog's SMTP server as spam. I'm told I could wait 48 hours for a response from the help desk.
This ISP is a shambles, but where next?
Perhaps I should try Wanadoo or one the other ISPA 2005 award winners? What do you think?
It is the worst service ever. I have been down for 6 weeks out of 6 months. Mostly because they have such poor & incompetent support. 1 hour waiting time. Unskilled support. Useless advice. Not solving the actual problem. Technical only available on weekdays.
what is the quickest way to leave bulldog? We signed up when we moved into a new house, they took 6 weeks to connect us, said it was all BTs fault, since then we have had no phone service for 4 days which reconnected on its own but now have had no phone for 5 weeks!! endless calls to customer services/ technical support/ fault logging hasve got us knowwhere. sutomer servicers refused to put me through to a supervisor, just siad that i had to speak to technical support again. Does anyone have the email or phoen number of complaints/ a senior member of staff. how do i switch back to BT?
yes
i have been trying to get through to bulldog's customerservice ...yes belive me for 1 week non stop i am in front of telephone...
they promised a line which never happened.. now they sent me a bill for 2 months for a service that i have never used... and never installed..
I finally got through to Bulldog yesterday to cancel my service. I was told that I "went live" on June 7th, problem is that I didnt recieve a modem or start up kit and its now August. The whole thing has angered me especially the fact that I had to spend hours listening to musak only to be cut off. They deserve no awards....... one last thing, they've been billing me for the service the whole time and I havn't even had it.
All these compaints about Bulldog are in order. But like every service provider, some customers are bound to have problems. I tell you what, my uncle who runs an internet cafe at Clapham Junction got Bulldog a while ago but has not had a single problem.
However, my uncle's friend got bulldog and his line went dead the same day.
It turns out that he bought the service from the same bulldog broadband partners my uncle bought from Opportunity Europe Communication at www.opportunityeurope.com
and they were very helpful. Opportunity Europe tackled the problem quickly and got the service up and running the same day, and no problem ever since.
Both my uncle and his friend say Bulldog customer service is bullshit anyway, but luckily they don't have to go through the dial 1, dial 2 nonsense, they just call their account manager at opportunity europe and it is sorted for them.
Perhaps that's the way to go with these companies - use their agents. The agents are smaller and care about their image and their business.
Dear Clare DYer,
I have been reading all the comments here with interest.
Yes, if you wish to leave bulldog it is very easy, just send an e-mail to provision1@bulldogdsl.com quoting your customer account details and they will cancel you straightaway.
It is no good calling them to cancel they won't pay any attention, at least that's what I hear. And if you cancel, don't forget to call your bank and cancel the direct debit. Also call your credit card company and put a stop to any payments to bulldog, because they take credit cards at point of sign-up, they hold authority, unless you cancel.
Now that is something that people shouls really be complaining about, this is the only broadband company I know that requests credit card as a condition for signing up.
Like many I am a frustrated customer with Bulldog and am trying to cancel.
Basically, a few weeks ago, I signed up with Bulldog after they phoned me up at home promoting their "great products" so foolishly I signed up for the lot - Broadband, Line rental and Phone calls. I was told my service would be active on 10th August.
Well on 10th August I woke up to a dead phone and no internet. The local payphone around the corner became my second home. I waited literally hours and had no help at all. The staff were rude, unprofessional and just didnt care.
The last straw was when I phoned up Bulldog on Friday 12th August at just before 7pm. I finally got through at just after 8.30pm (no kidding!) when I heard the assistant laughing and hung up on me straightaway. He/she was probably rushing to go down the pub.
I then followed my mothers advice and went to NTL who were excellent but resulted in a 2nd line having to be installed and a new phone number.
Cancelling with Bulldog is going to be a challenge in itself. I phoned my bank on the off chance and it seems they were going to try and take money from my bank in the next 48 hours so I cancelled the Direct Debit in the nick of time. However, I was warned they could set this up again without my knowledge.
So tonight I phoned Bulldog and after waiting nearly an hour for Customer Service I spoke to Sales and demanded to speak to a Manager. When I said I wish to cancel he advised me to give them another chance as the fault had been fxed and I should enjoy a full service on 17th August. BUT today is the 18th August and when I plug the phone into the old BT socket there is a dead tone! Bulldog either dont know what day it is or have a different calendar to the rest of us.
I could go on and on. This is the sort of thing that would happen to Victor Meldrew in One Foot in the grave!
This company are cowboys and must be stopped. Im behind you
For your help my Bulldog number was BDOL2312868.
Let me know how things go,
Christopher Thompson.
Hi,
I have had the worst customer service experience with Bulldog. One was to get round their phone systems and get through to their HQ compaints dept is to call Cable & Wireless HQ on 01908 845000. It is possible to get through to the CEO of Bulldog if you persevere. I am at the stage now, where I am going to turn up at their HQ in 26 Red Lion Square. London at coller the CEO. They simply do not have the customer relationship management systems in place to satisfy all the technical problems we have.
I urge you all to read and comment on the blog I have set up. I t includes my 4 page day by day synopsis of how they have failed me:
http://bulldogbroadbandsucks.blogspot.com/
Hi,
I have had the worst customer service experience with Bulldog. One was to get round their phone systems and get through to their HQ compaints dept is to call Cable & Wireless HQ on 01908 845000. It is possible to get through to the CEO of Bulldog if you persevere. I am at the stage now, where I am going to turn up at their HQ in 26 Red Lion Square. London at coller the CEO. They simply do not have the customer relationship management systems in place to satisfy all the technical problems we have.
I urge you all to read and comment on the blog I have set up. I t includes my 4 page day by day synopsis of how they have failed me:
http://bulldogbroadbandsucks.blogspot.com/
Hi,
I have had the worst customer service experience with Bulldog. One was to get round their phone systems and get through to their HQ compaints dept is to call Cable & Wireless HQ on 01908 845000. It is possible to get through to the CEO of Bulldog if you persevere. I am at the stage now, where I am going to turn up at their HQ in 26 Red Lion Square. London at coller the CEO. They simply do not have the customer relationship management systems in place to satisfy all the technical problems we have.
I urge you all to read and comment on the blog I have set up. I t includes my 4 page day by day synopsis of how they have failed me:
http://bulldogbroadbandsucks.blogspot.com/
HOW TO BYPASS BULLDOG CALL CENTRE:
I have had the worst customer service experience with Bulldog. One way to get round their phone systems and get through to their HQ compaints dept is to call Cable & Wireless HQ on 01908 845000. It is possible to get through to the CEO of Bulldog if you persevere. I am at the stage now, where I am going to turn up at their HQ in 26 Red Lion Square. London at coller the CEO. They simply do not have the customer relationship management systems in place to satisfy all the technical problems we have.
I urge you all to read and comment on the blog I have set up. I t includes my 4 page day by day synopsis of how they have failed me:
http://bulldogbroadbandsucks.blogspot.com/
Hi I can't fault their broadband at this time,but the telephone part of it is awful,Ican't get incoming calls and i have phoned them six times now.And i am still waiting to have it fixed.They are providing a very bad telephone service it's time they got their act together.
Staggeringly poor service!
OFTEL or whoever should stop them attempting to get new customers. Not a word to tell me how things are going or when I will be ready. Moving into a new development.
Incredible!
Cancelled service supposedly - we'll see.
Based on my experience, Bulldog's service is good if it works, but if you have a problem the service is outrageously poor. I was without service for almost a month when they cut me off by mistake. I literally spent 20+ hours chasing them to have their error fixed. It would often take 1 hour plus waiting to speak to someone (if you could get through at all), they would then promise to call back but invariably did not. It was the worst customer service experience EVER! No organisation I have ever dealt with before was so uncustomer focused, disorganised and unreliable.
I would strongly recommend potential customers to look elsewhere. They may have good deals...but this is a case of you get what you pay for!!
OFCOM LAUNCH INVESTIGATION INTO BULLDOG.
Check out the Offcom investigation into Bulldog. Submit your story and problems into them...the more stories, the more this dispicable company will get repremanded.
http://tinyurl.com/bedpr
Case Leader: William Hayter (020 7783 4197 e-mail: William.Hayter@ofcom.org.uk)
Case Reference: CW/00854/08/05
What is the point of setting up a isp service firm when obviousley no background study into what you can adequatly supply has been achieved.My other thought is this although bulldog say they can supply up to 8 meg what is their minimum supply (i currently have the 8 meg supply) but never achieved more than 5 meg, this is gross misadvertising,however i am surprised this is allowed to happen considering the amount of watchdogs put in place to stop this,are the watchdogs just sitting back in 9 to 5 jobs laughing at bulldog and the miserable service and also ignoring the people they are meant to help,and the more this is allowed to happen the worse it it going to get. Put into context our european partners are way ahead of us why is this, we are still looking like a quaint little backward country technology wise,transport wise,well everything wise, no wonder most brits are moving abroad (currently 200,000 a year),so please for once someone somewhere get their act together,after all you are getting paid for this. yours not impressed austin brown
I am having the worst problem with my allegedly 8 meg connection.
the software they (Bulldog) provide is alleging that my connection speed is 6.6 meg.
However, i hjad noticed that the connection was, frankly, appaling.
I used 10 different internet sites that clock your connection speed.
Some testing page loading times. some were basic ping tests, some timed uploads and some downloads etc etc.
the results were quite startling.
the results ranged from 2410 Kbps (HIGHEST!) to 18okbps , with an average of 285 kbps.
So i find that the connection which Bulldogs own software alleges is 6.6 meg is in fact around 1/4 of a meg.
take from that what you will
I am having the worst problem with my allegedly 8 meg connection.
the software they (Bulldog) provide is alleging that my connection speed is 6.6 meg.
However, i hjad noticed that the connection was, frankly, appaling.
I used 10 different internet sites that clock your connection speed.
Some testing page loading times. some were basic ping tests, some timed uploads and some downloads etc etc.
the results were quite startling.
the results ranged from 2410 Kbps (HIGHEST!) to 18okbps , with an average of 285 kbps.
So i find that the connection which Bulldogs own software alleges is 6.6 meg is in fact around 1/4 of a meg.
take from that what you will
I am new to the P.C.world I would like to buy Broadband , but reading all these negative comments about Bulldog is making me very doubtful, about the whole business. Are there any reliable servors out there ??? If so could anyone recommend one to me ? By the way, what does Bulldog say, to all these accusations, made against them ? ( I am with Wanadoo ) Thank you !
i am also a disgruntled bulldog customer that was led a merry dance when they promised me 8 meg broadband.
i have had nothing but trouble with bulldog my connection continueously disconnects because my new line that i payed to have installed cannot support the speed.
i recently had a engineer from bulldog call me back and cap my connection at 2 meg and even now it still cuts off because it is useless.
BEWARE OF BULLDOG THEY ARE FULL OF CRAP WHEN IT COMES TO PROMISING A FAST EFFICIENT BROADBAND SERVICE
ordered it 3 times and everytime I have ended up canceling it. the customer service is crap, and this time round I was miss sold a package. The idea that they have improved their customer services, is a joke. I actually feel sorry for the staff in the centres as because they are not british and there is a language barrier they end up having to take a lot of verbal abuse of pissed off customers. Customers who have been let down, and that is doen to the people who own and run Bulldog.
I moved to Bulldog about three weeks ago, but I am having continuous problems maintaining a connection through the broadband dial-up. The technical support at Bulldog seem to think that I have the wrong modem drivers for Windows 2000 Professional. I am presently attempting to download a Windows update, but cannot maintain a connection. I've also been unable to set up an Email account. There are no clear written instructions. I'll let you know how I get on after I've spoken to their technical support. If I dont get any joy in the next week or so, I'll drop them.
I have not yet signed up to bulldog - to those who wish to 'dump the service' simple stop paying your bill, gauranteed to get the attention - when the question why they you have two options get the line/service fixed or continue with no payment - when they try to take you to court counter sue with a breach of contract - if you think about all the providers are pathetic - i am with BT at present - when i started i had a uncapped download/upload contract they then without my permission change my contract to a cap of 15gb when i complained iwas told like it or get another provider - i have never used that much on line content - when i said that if i had rung them to say that as i did not use it that much i was going to payless they would have told me - no chance we have a contract that your stuck with - again i was told if you don't like it go else where. Its about time all of the users of this country started to stand up for their rights and stop being ripped off by companies who think they hold all the aces
Biggest regret signing on for Bulldog's Braodband service. Customer service is non-existant. Told on at least six times in the last four days that someone will call back - never did. No one seems to no what is going on. Get passed from one Team to another. Sent an e-mail to the complaints section - still no responce. It's a joke.
I too recently moved to Bulldog from Eclipse and am regretting the move.
My modem now randomly disconnects and then has trouble reconnecting. Technical service first told me he couldn't help as I was using a wireless router, then told me to contact Dlink who made my modem.
In 2 1/2 years with Eclipse only had one significant outage. May be going back to them soon - despite the higher cost.
I recently ordered Go@ctive from Bulldog. I was subsequently advised that
I was to be connected to ALLTIME 2000. As this was not what I ordered, I e-mailed Bulldog, but, got no reply. On the 11th Jan. I reeived an e-mail stating I would be connected to broadband on the 17th Jan.
I have no knowledge of Alltime 2000, but in the case of Go@ctive, I would have received a free Modem etc. However, I have not, and therefor am not able to get broadband.
Disgusted with the service from Bulldog, I attempted to reoreder Broadband service with Virgin. However, I am unable to do so as I was told I was already in recipt of another broadband supplier. I have sent a not particularly nice e-mail to Bulldog, cancelling all connection with them.
Yours, P Ambrose.
I cannot even begin to tell my terrible experiences with Bulldog even after I have cancelled the service, they continued to charge me ! Their customer services is a black joke.
No broadband, no phone.
This problem has been going on for a week now and I seem no closer to resolving it - not sure who to turn to hence thought I would post on here. I also work from home and being without broadband and phone for a week means I have lost a weeks earnings and will continue to do so until this problem is resolved.
At the beginning of last week my internet connection (Bulldog Broadband) disconnected and failed to reconnect. When I picked up my phone I realised that I now had a BT line as I had somebody elses messages on 1571 (instead of my Bulldog phone line). When I called my mobile from the home phone [to test the line] the caller display showed somebody elses number (!?) [also an Edinburgh number but starting 557 , while mine starts with 558), however the 1571 messages were for yet another number somewhere in England! If I call my home phone number using my mobile, I can hear it ringing on my mobile and then it goes to answerphone but it does not ring in the house. If I call the 557 number my home phone does ring though!
I reported this as a fault to BT but they were quite rude and not interested as they said I am no longer a BT customer (though I now have somebody elses BT number and a BT line). I also reported the phone fault and the broadband fault to Bulldog who said an engineer would get back to me within 24 hours - that was 6 days ago and I have yet to hear from them (I gave them my mobile number and they also already have my email address).
They are atrocious... inept to the point of fraudulent - they know they cannot offer the service but they still advertise and take orders. In my book that's obtaining money by deception.
I would happily join a US style class action against them.
In the meantime I satisfy myself by searching Google and hitting their sponsored link numerous times whenevever the whim takes me.
A friend of mine had informed me that she had signed up with Bullbog. We couldn't cancel the contract as the paperwork she had signed had no refence number and hadn't been dated. After 2 weeks of trying, I finally got customer services and they couldn't cancel as I had to "contact finance via e-mail and request the reference number". Customer services couldn't find any details in their system from the name, address, postcode or contact number??? Anyway, Bulldog had taken £1 from her account, without any signed authorisation. Before they could take more, we went to her bank, cancelled her debit card and had another one reissued. Bulldog arrived 3 weeks later to install the line etc. and were scattered. Now we're waiting for the demands for more money from them. If they try, we'll see them in court..
Bulldog have a crap service because they spend all the money received on advertising, weekly mail shots, regular unsolicitted phone calls and cold calling sales teams that knock your door twice in one evening followed by a return visit the following week and start again the following month. Their executives are brain dead to assume that if somebody says "no", they will change their mind in a couple of hours. I never deal with any company that knocks my door, calls my phone or tries to stop me in the street. Those sales tactict tell me that it's a desperate company. Just look at Cable & Wireless's history. Their cable network went bust and 1 to 1 went bust. To be safe, stick with BT and avoid both Mercury and C&W companies.
In response to Clare DYer, the quickest and easiest way to leave is to instruct your bank to stop payments to Bulldog and change your debit card as they will still take money. E-Mail Bulldog and inform them that you no longer require their service with effect immediately due to their "Breach of Contract". Wait for their threatening letters and allow them to take you to County Courtfor money owed and put in a counter claim for your losses " phone calls etc," and add in some compensation for your distress and inconvenience. They may settle your counter claim out of court. If they don't and you have copies of your letters, faxes, e-mails and details of phone converations, you will win and they will have to pay all costs. Too many people are afraid of this sort of action and pay all that is demanded for a non-existant service. C&W are aware of this and that's how they make their money. However, when challenged at their expense, they are more likely to pay up for their scams to keep you quiet as they wouldn't want too many people going to court and "WINNING"
Bulldog has stolen more than £240 from my account and I have been battling with them to get it back since January 2006.
Calling their customer service is an absolute waste of time as the seem determined not to give me my money. The have acknowledged that they owe me the money but it seems they don't have the systems in place to give it to me.
I may have to walk into their offices at 40 Portman Square London to see if I can get some results.
I,m a 13 yr old kid i just got bullddog broadband in september2005 they are full of shit it keeps on disconnecting every 20 mins and the charge my parents for 2 lines withc we nevr orderd so baisclly were getting charged 1 line for the price of 2 so we rang bulldog up about the disconnecting problems they said it was my router etc so i go out buy make my parents buy a router and guess what the thing dont work so e ring them again and the guy says our line cant handel it so he stabalises it to 1 meg so i plug my xbox in play for 20mins i,m rlly chuffed casuse i thought *we got it fixed* then it cuts off we btw i,m still with them and i,m going to cancel i hope they dont keep on charging me and when i ring people it goes throught to a different telphone BULLDOG IS PHONEY THEY ARE BULLCRAP SHIT
I wonder how can such a provider run so smothly in UK!..i was thinking that in UK rules are implemented effectively.i changed from BT to bulldog since they were taking everything from my account and now bulldog is taking money and providing me nothing..i was not able to connect,once i managed to connect(using my own technical know-hows... what their technical agents was giving was nonsense answers! ) now the antivirus suite which they say is for free is not downloading. again techie.agents says nonsense things. I was argueing with their technical agents on a simple thing that even internet novice knows but she doesn't and the next fella repeated the same! bulldog is a budle of nonsense!better giv 120 pounds and get rid of this dirty ISP..and the only questioin remains in mind is "WHOM I CAN TRUST" if this stupids have won the "AWARD"..now i am thinking of reporting it to authorities...if they can be of any help!(i have little hope in them)
Here I am again!, still fighting the unbelievable incompetence of Bulldog. Since February this year, despite multiple phone calls and e-mails I though for one minute I had made a breakthrough with this grossly incompetent organisation, when I received a phone call from Marcus of customer relations confirming my contract had been cancelled. Eureka!! No sorry failed again the bills still come in and BT tell me I am still connected to Bulldog. I have now requested BT to close my existing phone line and to give me a new number. This is what happens when you go with Bulldog, I am now going to BT Broadband.
Bulldog Customer Service - WHAT CUSTOMER SERVICE !!!
Their speed is not what they clain, I have done several internet speed tests and the fastest I have ever acheived is 1.28 meg!!!! No where near the 8Meg they claim !!!!!
i have spoken to customer service at bulldog since first week in march email and phone to cancel my service which never worked and they all say same thing. ok mr maritn we will cancel it. But I have still receive bills at end of March and another one end of April for a service I have not got. I have even replaced the phone line. I received email today 01/05/06 saying couldnt deal with complaint unles I quoted ref number and address. But if lookied at emails I have sent them they would have this info several times.
Never had these problems with BT or Telewist. Should stayed with them
I moved from BT's 2MB service to Bulldog's 8MB service last year, purely for the extra bandwidth. The line itself regularly cuts off and this week it failed completely for several days, although Bulldog denied that there was a fault of any kind. It's now working, although I had to make several phone calls before anything was done.
In terms of their customer service, Bulldog have got a mountain to climb - they're polite but generally quite useless at addressing issues and I've had several, from the aforementioned line problems through to billing mistakes which have caused me no end of trouble. There appears to be no structure within the company (at least for the customer to make use of) and so one inevitably spends a great deal of time speaking to operators who appear to know very little about most things. Very frustrating...
Would I recommend them? Under no circumstances - I think they're one of the worst-organised set-ups I've ver had the misfortune to encounter.
Only problem i am facing with Bulldog is BILLING. I recommend other that dont do DIRECT DEBIT.
One of the worst Decicions I have EVER made was to
sign up for BULLSH.. Sorry BULLDOG BROADBAND.
6 Months of Excuses for Downtimes and Reconecting Mysteriusly ONLY After I complain.
Advice Don't Trust them with the Following
1. Your Bank Details Use Switch Etc. 1 month At a time.
Reason They will Try to withdraw cash Even if They Havent Provided Service.
By Service I mean 24 hr Connection and the Ability to
login download Etc Without Cut off.
2.Take note of Excuses for Crap Service Note all cutoff Error Numbers at the time dont accept repeated Excuses after doing their fix once.
3. Tell them you will charge them for downtime we
recomend estimate of £50 uk money for first hour then £10 per minute there after ..keep note of all Downtimes.
4.16MB Download speeds my furry swingers !.
I stayed across from Exchange and got 4mb but another 100 yards i would have got under 1mb so 80% of population cant get above 2mb.
5. 50:1 RATIO MEANS Your line Getting squeezed
and slow downs.
When Canceling Your Service Pay Nothing for the Month in Which they messed with you service.
pay only for whole 24/7 montsh service or nothing
unlimited downloads means being allways on if you are not pay them nothing mentio trade descriptions act and legal action .. check youre credit rating after refusing to pay them if its affected .. take legal action against them ..Good Luck
note these..
head office is 0207 164 1000
customer support(joke) 0870 024 0514
Since being with Bulldog I have had outrageous bills, I have tried to get through to their customer service number but always get cut off, due to the number being unavailable. However if you ring the number to set up an account with Bulldog you get through within a minute, my calls are the most expensive I have ever had, luckily I didn't go on a contract, but am waiting to see how difficult it is to get away from them and use another service provider. The 8 meg broadband width does not exist, the connection is always slow. Oh and if you have any friends or family abroad do not call them, as you will be stung with an almighty bill. No bill has been less than £90 a month this includes a £30.00 all in package, apparently I make £60.00 of calls a month, even though I also have a mobile as well !!
I am really disappointed with Bulldog and their service. If this comment prevents people from signing up then I feel that I have done a good deed, Bulldog are more expensive than BT, their customer service is absolutely terrible and they will cut you off at the drop of a hat if they do not get their money and it takes at least 3 days to reconnect you. If you try and complain you get a grumpy, surly person at the end of the phone who doesn't give a crap. Oh and another thing to get an itemised bill you have to look it up on the internet, this is great if the connection works and they recognise your log in, even if it is correct it will be wrong and you will be barred from entering the site and have to wait at least a day to get your password again. I could go on for days about Bulldog, I do not think I have one positive thing to say about them. It's a pity as I do not know who to go to now. So if anyone knows of a company that is reputable and honest with good customer service, cheap phonecalls and a good internet connection, please let me know.
Bulldog is not alone! I am with PLUS.NET and they are just as bad - probably worse.
I have waited upto an hour on their telepone support and got no answer - not once but twice. They state on their web page 8 minutes but on the three times I actually spoke to someone the average wait time was 20 minutes. The co called computer generated support centre is even worse and just fob you off with any old excuse. Having got a 3rd party involved to sort out my problem Plus.net are washing their hands of any compensation saying its nothing to do with them. I was without proper connection - or no connection for 6 days.
I have had such a bad experience with Bulldog and their service is terrible. I have ben waiting for new line to be installed for 3 months and they cancelled my appontments twice.
When you phone their Customer Services, they push you from department to other and can not get any service from them I will not recommend anyone to join Bulldog.