"I have just noticed that you have a service with BT but you don't have calls and I wondered if I can offer you a discount."
We choose to keep one line with BT for line rental, mainly because we can't have ADSL without it but also because, in the countryside, you just can't get the same faults service wholesale that you get if you pay BT direct. But I don't want BT to share that information, nor that of the other customers I have had to keep on BT lines for the same reason. This really is an abuse of the Data Protection Act and I don't understand why OFCOM haven't sent both BT and these independent franchises to the Data Protection registrar to have their hands slapped.
It is this simple. If the customer doesn't make calls with BT then they are a wholesale supplier's customer and the Local Business - the wholesale supplier's direct competitor should never see these records - end of - OFCOM take note please!
Just for the record on faults, I now have one customer with a crackly wholesale line and a clear BT line on the same premises - all the excuses under the sun, but who does that customer feel more secure with - and who's had to do all the running around to improve things.
Whilst on the subject - why can't a wholesale customer have access to a single faults number - OFCOM needs to make it a level playing field for faults resolution and it certainly isn't today. Then I could make revenue to pay for the time spent supporting the scrappy BT lines in the countryside I have to look after revenue free.
Roll on even more VoIP.