BT Engineering training film (1987) - "Charging Matters"

[@Hertfordshire247]

I liked the Thatcher-like "must be PAID-FOR". Talk about building up to a crescendo.

[@ChinkyFam]

back when working for bt was a 'job for life' good ol' days arriving at the yard picking jobs up on sheet of paper, string up a overhead with no hassle, only worry you had back then was if the customer put 2 sugars in ur coffee instead of 1

[@karthandler8777]

Best job i ever had..

[@derek-press]

all of us round the back street 6 sherpas parked up while we had a full English Breakfast LOL

[@fraggit]

@@derek-press We got caught doing that. Level 4 manager got diverted by an RTA down the quiet back road we used to park for brekky. He came across 8 vans parked up and took the numbers and reported us, the bastard. Mind you, all I got was 5yrs on my prism record. The really weird thing was, out of the 8 of us caught, at least 5 were promoted to T1's and ST's within 3 years. It was if it was a right of passage. That was back in the late eighties early nineties, the good ol days.

[@fraggit]

I had a sub put salt in my tea once, I think she was a bit confused the old girl, bless her. That was the same old girl that offered us some of her homemade sloe Gin as well at 10 am, come to think of it, she was probably pissed lol.

[@derek-press]

@@fraggit (iI was also 1984 onwards)oh man level 4 you poor sods lol,we never got caught we were way too far away from the exchanged (oxford) I did get TO .....wait for it ....temporary which went on for about 5 years lol finally got it permanent you know the score,get my pension in a few years so yes it was great times great team great fun

[@wisteela]

An interesting bit of history. I was thinking that van was like the TARDIS, and then...

[@sambayou2190]

I see Richard Hillman was after people's money even before he met Gail tilsley !!!!!

[@Kit_Bear]

Damn. I thought it was Norman Bates with a Briefcase Cheers

[@anthonyglee1710]

Having worked with so many BT people, they’re all trained pros but bloody hell, quirky. Most seem to have a medical/mental condition, can’t work due to an SDO, need to speak to “Control”. Pension worries, signed The Official Secrets Act. Any problems, go to the Union or make yet another cuppa tea. 636 in the video is Monument City exchange in London, if I recall?

[@1peter1180]

blast from the past where BT was only one provider

[@msimms-lp5qw]

Then some idiot invented broadband and ruined everything

[@fraggit]

We used to get "cost of works" jobs, say where a customer would ask for a line to be moved or extension. I'd charge the customer if I thought they could afford it, or if they were snotty maybe, otherwise I'd lose the time on the next job and just charge the mandatory 15mins. I lost BT lots of revenue, they could afford it lol

[@eddiejones.redvees]

My main job working for Bt, what is a pole tester but when privilege-on came a long bt we’re worried about losing customers to the composition so they want to be seen to be the best so for a few years us pole testers were put on faults luckily I spent sum time with great falls people so I was pretty good it most of the time it wold be an out side fault but some times in the customers home most of the time it was were and tear but some times in was down to the costumer we use to pick up are faults up from the control by finding a call box and phone up with a special number a write it down the controller would only tell us that the phone was not now working so I never change anyone after all they paid my wages so I want them to be an happy customer we were taking off faults because the health and safety people were complaining about the Pole test cycle getting behind😊

[@michaelturner4457]

So the British Telecom van is actually a TARDIS.

[@msimms-lp5qw]

Every team talk we would get beat over the head with TRC, Like working for a debt collector

[@dav01kar]

yep it used to get on my nerves I was pair proving for years and went in the queues weekends but was still expected to hit the TRC targets

[@lapub.]

Rent it for 30 years and charge when it fail, so fun to know in France, some phone from the 80' are still rented to some grandma ! 40 years of rent mean 720€ at 1,5€ month ! and they even rise the prise to 2€ and if it fail, they just throw it.

[@JJVernig]

The same here in the Netherlands for late 70s till early 2000s..

[@Teddy_Bass]

Now people just buy new. And BT never want to come out.

[@LAGoodz]

Poor BT. This why BT are still so institutionalised even today. I deal with them every working day and they’re so bureaucratic.

[@eliotmansfield]

how do you call a call centre to report a fault with your phone?😂

[@markeightfourone8693]

Hilariously penny-pinching video

[@mikeprice9826]

hopwood Grange Hill

[@thedogsdiddies8421]

How about failure to deliver on BT rental agreement? Harassment by BT via phone and post trying to sell broadband when the customer can't get broadband via the line because of BT directly (ie installing DACS/DAX on a line without customer consent and refusing to remove it). Are BT going to give back the hundreds of millions they got in public funding?

[@imark7777777]

If your blender breaks you do.... A. buy a new one. B. take it to a repair shop. C. you repair yourself. D. complain to everybody you know including the company that made it expecting that they'll give you a new blender and twice over what it costs. E. be practical about it, was it my fault or their fault was it a product defect should I call the company?

[@purplepioneer5644]

imark7777777 based on my experience the answer is always fucking D

[@straightpipediesel]

Things are different when there's a legally enforced blender monopoly and you can't actually buy a blender, but merely rent it. Your choices of A, B, C, and E were illegal with regards to wiring; only BT was allowed to do any work on inside telephone wiring until the late 1980s. Even after private telephones were allowed in the mid-1980s, BT required an expensive and onerous approval process to keep prices high and phones rented from them, (e.g. they required the shipping box of the phone to be drop tested).

[@michaelturner4457]

As I've watched many YT videos about repairing blenders, I'd choose C.

[@jez9999]

LOL no wonder OFTEL and OFCOM had to crack down on these guys - "are you screwing the customer out of as much money as possible even though they already pay line rental?"

[@TheChipmunk2008]

oftel and ofcom are not BT, therefore have NO INPUT. British Telecom should never have been privatized.

[@ChinkyFam]

worst decision ever, all micro managed by bully managers obsessed with stats, ruined once was a job for life along with royal mail and railway network, all fooked by that shite

[@stevecarr3019]

I often wonder why people who know nothing about BT feel a need to comment.

[@Kit_Bear]

I still don't understand Line Rental.

[@dav01kar]

@jez its more to do with customers own extension wiring/equipment they are not maintained for free