Companies severely affected by the BT network crash three weeks ago
are still considering whether to seek compensation from the
telecoms giant for the failure, writes Antony Savvas. The case
further illustrates why companies should put tight contracts into
place for their networking services.
Firms including NatWest, Virgin, the AA and British Gas have all
held talks with BT about the problem, which prevented customers
contacting them on freephone and special local rate numbers for
more than 24 hours.
Customers were unable to buy goods and services, and in the case
of NatWest, some were unable to complete time-sensitive financial
transactions - an effect that the bank believes could open it up to
claims brought by customers.
A NatWest spokesman said, "Some talks have taken place, and we
have sought assurances that the problem won't happen again.
"What we are particularly disappointed about is that it took BT
more than 24 hours to get the network up and running again."
He added, "As for compensation, we do have a service contract in
place and talks are continuing."
When MCI Worldcom's international frame relay network went down
last year, the company almost immediately offered its customers
compensation as part of the service contracts in place.
As for the problem on BT's network, a BT spokesman revealed that
four networking suppliers helped it to isolate the problem, which
was attributable to faulty software on a switch.
When approached by Computer Weekly, three of these
suppliers denied that any of their products were to blame, while a
fourth refused to comment on the problem. BT will not officially
name the supplier whose product was responsible.