From Newsgroup: uk.telecom

A letter from BT Customer Support was delivered yesterday. My name,
town, and postcode were in the printed address, but there was no house
number and road! Those, had, however, been written in ballpoint on the envelope. The letter contents were very strange. It stated my account
number correctly at the top, and then in large print:

We've cancelled your order

It continued:

"Hello,

Sorry, but we've had to cancel your Home Phone upgrade order.

You don't need to do anything. Your service will continue as normal, and
we'll be back in touch when we need to place a new order."

And then, in large print again: "What you'll pay"

Here are the updated charges that you'll now pay:

(blank!)

WTF was that all about??!! I've had a couple of previous communications
about an upgrade to the exchange, but that doesn't involve me in
anything, and I haven't requested any phone upgrade. If it is scam it's
not very effective. There's no number to call, no URL to use, and
nothing else which might be of use. It looks like the BT logo at the
top, and info letters I've had in the previous year or so only had that.
The only thing usually present but missing in the letter is the small
comment at the bottom of the page on the back about recycling.

Anyone else received a strange letter from BT recently?
--
Jeff

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From Newsgroup: uk.telecom

On 2025/12/28 8:54:49, Jeff Layman wrote:

A letter from BT Customer Support was delivered yesterday. My name,
town, and postcode were in the printed address, but there was no house number and road! Those, had, however, been written in ballpoint on the

Did it have your account "number" somewhere? (Was it the same as on
previous letters, e. g. bills?) Ditto the 'phone number?

Though looking at my VoIP letter, that doesn't have either of those either.

envelope. The letter contents were very strange. It stated my account
number correctly at the top, and then in large print:

We've cancelled your order

It continued:

"Hello,

Sorry, but we've had to cancel your Home Phone upgrade order.

You don't need to do anything. Your service will continue as normal, and we'll be back in touch when we need to place a new order."

[]

WTF was that all about??!! I've had a couple of previous communications about an upgrade to the exchange, but that doesn't involve me in
anything, and I haven't requested any phone upgrade. If it is scam it's

[]

Other than suspicion of phishing etc., my reaction on receiving such a
letter would be that it does concern the move to VoIP (which BT call
"Digital Voice" - they never mention VoIP, at least in communication
with me so far); I've just looked again at my VoIP letter, and it does
refer to it as an "upgrade". (Which it isn't, AFAI am concerned; OK, I
get voicemail, in return for lack of any service when the power is off.)

I would _assume_ it means they have found some added difficulty with
your exchange, or rack of equipment at the exchange, or cabinet, or just
your line, that means they can't implement the VoIP switchover in your
case at the same date as they are going to impose it on other
"subscribers" in your area/street/block/whatever - i. e. you are going
to continue to receive POTS service for longer than they had planned.

They presumably internally refer to any scheduled work as an "order",
even if the customer didn't instigate it.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()ALIS-Ch++(p)Ar++T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Never raise your hand to your children. It leaves your mid-section
unprotected
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From Newsgroup: uk.telecom

On Sun, 28 Dec 2025 08:54:49 +0000
Jeff Layman <Jeff@invalid.invalid> wrote:

A letter from BT Customer Support was delivered yesterday. My name,
town, and postcode were in the printed address, but there was no
house number and road! Those, had, however, been written in ballpoint
on the envelope. The letter contents were very strange. It stated my
account number correctly at the top, and then in large print:

We've cancelled your order

It continued:

"Hello,

Sorry, but we've had to cancel your Home Phone upgrade order.

You don't need to do anything. Your service will continue as normal,
and we'll be back in touch when we need to place a new order."

And then, in large print again: "What you'll pay"

Here are the updated charges that you'll now pay:

(blank!)

WTF was that all about??!! I've had a couple of previous
communications about an upgrade to the exchange, but that doesn't
involve me in anything, and I haven't requested any phone upgrade. If
it is scam it's not very effective. There's no number to call, no URL
to use, and nothing else which might be of use. It looks like the BT
logo at the top, and info letters I've had in the previous year or so
only had that. The only thing usually present but missing in the
letter is the small comment at the bottom of the page on the back
about recycling.

Anyone else received a strange letter from BT recently?

It was that kind of thing, plus their strange 3-card-trick billing
methods, that made me ditch BT some years ago.
You are surprised that there is no number to call? That is getting more
and more common nowadays. "We're here to Help". Yes, if anybody could
contact you. Send an e-mail message, and they 'aim to respond within 10
working days'. Aim to, not promise to, note.
If you use 'Chat', the answering bot will not understand your question,
even though the human you eventually talk to will understand it with no trouble. He/she might not be able to help, (OVO's website was 'down for maintenance' yesterday), but at least you will be listened to, although
it took 30 minutes before anybody answered your request to talk.
--
Davey.

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.telecom

On 2025/12/28 11:1:46, Davey wrote:

[]

It was that kind of thing, plus their strange 3-card-trick billing
methods, that made me ditch BT some years ago.

Same here: the actual product was fine, the customer interfacing was
bizarre.

You are surprised that there is no number to call? That is getting more
and more common nowadays. "We're here to Help". Yes, if anybody could
contact you. Send an e-mail message, and they 'aim to respond within 10 working days'. Aim to, not promise to, note.

[]

"We aim to serve you better."

Yes - as if you are a tennis ball.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()ALIS-Ch++(p)Ar++T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

If it wasn't for the French, the Americans would still be speaking, and writing, English.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.telecom

On 28/12/2025 08:54, Jeff Layman wrote:

A letter from BT Customer Support was delivered yesterday. My name,
town, and postcode were in the printed address, but there was no house
number and road! Those, had, however, been written in ballpoint on the envelope. The letter contents were very strange. It stated my account
number correctly at the top, and then in large print:

We've cancelled your order

It continued:

"Hello,

Sorry, but we've had to cancel your Home Phone upgrade order.

You don't need to do anything. Your service will continue as normal, and we'll be back in touch when we need to place a new order."

And then, in large print again: "What you'll pay"

Here are the updated charges that you'll now pay:

(blank!)

WTF was that all about??!! I've had a couple of previous communications
about an upgrade to the exchange, but that doesn't involve me in
anything, and I haven't requested any phone upgrade. If it is scam it's
not very effective. There's no number to call, no URL to use, and
nothing else which might be of use. It looks like the BT logo at the
top, and info letters I've had in the previous year or so only had that.
The only thing usually present but missing in the letter is the small
comment at the bottom of the page on the back about recycling.

Anyone else received a strange letter from BT recently?

I phoned BT who said that I shouldn't have received the letter at all.
It was meant for any phone user who /didn't/ have broadband, and prior
to conversion to digital control at the exchange would be offered a
broadband connection and internet access.
--
Jeff
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.telecom

On 31/12/2025 12:40, Jeff Layman wrote:

digital control at the exchange

I assume that that means "Digital Voice", as telephone exchanges were
one of the first things to have digital control, and even digital speech channels were becoming common 40+ years ago, for all but subscriber
lines, and there was some use almost 70 years ago.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: uk.telecom

On Thu, 1 Jan 2026 12:46:50 +0000
David Woolley <david@ex.djwhome.demon.invalid> wrote:

On 31/12/2025 12:40, Jeff Layman wrote:

digital control at the exchange

I assume that that means "Digital Voice", as telephone exchanges were
one of the first things to have digital control, and even digital
speech channels were becoming common 40+ years ago, for all but
subscriber lines, and there was some use almost 70 years ago.

I seem to remember the link between two towns, maybe Stevenage and a
neighbour, being celebrated as the first Fibre connection in public use.
Right or wrong?
--
Davey.

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