BT Care: do they?

So, it was time to replace my five year old Dell PC at home. I was now on my third Dell and had also purchased laptops from the company for one of my sons and my mother-in-law. Service from Dell has always been spot on, even when my machine and accessories have been out of warranty.

I ordered my new PC - without monitor as that still works well - by a combination of on-line selection and telephone confirmation. A delivery date of 4 November was given. Dell being Dell deliver way ahead of that. Nothing like under-promise over-deliver for customer delight. Their third party delivery partner company phones me to find out a suitable time for drop-off.

My new PC comes with Windows 7 pre-installed - I was fortunate to miss Windows Vista altogether by the sounds of it. I connect everything up and all is fine. My Internet connection works but I'm a bit bemused as to where my BT Broadband icons are and if I'm covered by the integrated McAfeee package that I pay BT for.

I can't figure this last bit out and whilst I have a free month trial of McAfee virus suite with my new PC I want to make sure I'm still able to access the virus software I'm paying BT for. So I spend some time searching BT's web site to no avail about Windows 7 and BT's virus package. Their "Ask Emma" area just sends me round in circles. Exasperated I resort to a phone call to BT. Priya, obviously based somewhere in the Indian sub-continent, answers.

It transpires that it is not recommended to download the McAfee I am already paying for because of compatibility issues. First of all she blames McAfee then Microsoft for this. Priya has no concept that I am working with a new PC and keeps suggesting I revert back to Vista (which I don't have).

Ten minutes and I get nowhere with her and she cannot pass me onto anyone else. I write something in BTs web pages but they don't answer direct questions. I moan about the frustrations of my experience.

My Facebook rant sees friends say I should be buying an Apple Mac anyway, another slates BT and a third states that McAfee is useless and I should go for the free suite by AVG. So no sympathy there.

My Twitter entry returns something a little more interesting; a direct message from BT Care with a link to a web page in BT's help area. No use - I've been on these pages before. I respond back to BT Care and they reply stating the problem has been fixed. Not a direct message mind you just one in the stream of my Twitter feeds.

If BT Care do care then a more direct and sympathetic approach for a long-standing customer would go some way to alleviating this. Word of mouth is such a powerful force these days and whoops I've just tweeted the link to this blog.... Ignore customers at your peril.