Capital Fortune now claim the national telecoms provider has been less than proper in its public relations statements to the press and media. It has made an official complaint to the telecoms watchdog to investigate BT’s behaviour.
BT were recently criticised by a County Court Judge for their failings in reactivating the Broadband connections at the London mortgage company’s headquarters following 10 days without service. The Judge failed to accept the telecoms stance that by allowing Capital Fortune its Injunction would encourage other customers to use the Courts and “open the floodgates” The Judge declared BT had no cause for complaint.
Mr Recorder Bartlett QC sitting at the Clerkenwell and Shoreditch County Court held that had Capital Fortune not come to Court they would still be waiting. In a terse judgement, BT were found not to be dealing with the problem efficiently when it was in their power to do so, with the Court taking the view that BT were in clear “breach of contract”.
BT now stands accused of misleading the media and have been criticised for immediately releasing the following press statement.
"BT tries to provide the best service possible to all of its customers all of the time. We were already dealing with the fault that had caused a break in broadband service to Capital Fortune and we were already doing all we could to restore service to them as quickly as possible. There was no judgment on whether BT was in breach of contract because the judge did not consider that.”
Rob Killeen founder of Capital Fortune stated “We have reported BT’s inaccurate comments to the independent Regulator. The customer has a right to receive what they pay for and BT’s press response will only serve to undermine public confidence in them as a Company but more importantly, the whole of the industry.
Since going to court, BT has been heavy handed and improper. As well as claiming our action was an abuse of process, threatening costs and their own legal action, they then circulate misleading information stating they were doing all they could and that the Judge did not find them in breach of contract.”
“The Judge found against them on both issues yet they inform the media differently. This is a flagrant disrespect of the Court process and a slap in the face to all customers suffering similar difficulties. We have ordered the full recorded transcript of the hearing and will publish it on our website at www.capitalfortune.com. BT can then publicly justify its comments”
In an unusual twist, the national telco has categorically refused Capital Fortune’s written request to agree a summary of the Judgement which commentators say would swiftly end the war of words.
OFCOM has been asked to investigate the ‘misleading media claims’ and to consider the official Court record being obtained at Capital Fortune’s expense.
BT's broadband service is no stranger to controversy. The cost and service was recently criticised by the BBC's Watchdog programme.