British Telecom faced heavy criticism by a London judge yesterday (25/04/2007) for failing its customers and not responding efficiently enough when it had power to do so.
In a judgement, BT was ordered to pay costs to Capital Fortune Mortgage Advisers and the national telecoms provider was held to be in clear breach of contract.
The battle began some 11 days ago when BT engineers mistakenly cut off the mortgage broker's broadband connections at its London service centre. The action caused the loss of business and left home-owners across the capital unable to complete their mortgage applications.
There were fears that BT’s actions could push the company to the brink of bankruptcy, threatening legal action and costs if the London mortgage company did not back down.
The court, however, stepped in with an emergency injunction on Friday, ordering BT to reactivate the company’s internet forthwith. BT immediately complied. Today, the national provider was reprimanded for its behaviour.
BT lawyers had earlier claimed it was "physically impossible" to reactivate the lines, only to back track later and claim that, by allowing BT customers to obtain an injunction, it would open the floodgates to customers using the courts.
Rob Killeen, founder of Capital Fortune, commented at the company's victory celebrations: "We have achieved our first landmark ruling for consumer protection. BT has been reminded that it cannot abuse its dominant market position and, in the future, it will be forced to respond efficiently when customers report problems."
BT’s specialist legal team instructed a top London barrister for the hearing, while Capital Fortune represented itself.
The full judgement will be made available on Capital Fortune’s website (see below).
