Fault on BT landline - has anyone been charged £130

Pretty much as the title says.

I had Infinity installed to weeks ago (and a strange set up it was.) my two neighbours have also had Infinity and non of us has had the same installation..

I was told I would have to have an engineer install as I would need a new, two port, master socket - as was my neighbour. However he has the Home Hub 5 fitted and it plugs directly into the DSL socket. However i have been installed with both the Home Hub 5 AND an additional modem.

Meanwhile my other neighbour, who is having Infnity installed on Wednesday and also has the old style socket (as previously did my neighbour and I) and has been told he isn't getting a new socket and the ADSL filter he uses will be enough.

Anyway. I have had nothing but problems getting on line with Infinity and there have been many MANY calls to their "technical" help. Then, last Thursday my phone line stopped working completely. An engineer has been scheduled to visit on Thursday 5/2/15.

I have been warned however that I may be hit with a £129.99 charge if the fault is found to be my fault. I assumed this would mean anything on "my" side of the master socket. I'm told that , no, it could be many things including trees, damp or corrosion of the cable anywhere on my property.

Has anyone ever been charged, and how do they prove that corrosion is the problem as it could fall anywhere inside or outside my house up to the cabinet?

Comments

  • chrisjrchrisjr Posts: 33,282
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    Dan Sette wrote: »
    Pretty much as the title says.

    I had Infinity installed to weeks ago (and a strange set up it was.) my two neighbours have also had Infinity and non of us has had the same installation..

    I was told I would have to have an engineer install as I would need a new, two port, master socket - as was my neighbour. However he has the Home Hub 5 fitted and it plugs directly into the DSL socket. However i have been installed with both the Home Hub 5 AND an additional modem.

    Meanwhile my other neighbour, who is having Infnity installed on Wednesday and also has the old style socket (as previously did my neighbour and I) and has been told he isn't getting a new socket and the ADSL filter he uses will be enough.

    Anyway. I have had nothing but problems getting on line with Infinity and there have been many MANY calls to their "technical" help. Then, last Thursday my phone line stopped working completely. An engineer has been scheduled to visit on Thursday 5/2/15.

    I have been warned however that I may be hit with a £129.99 charge if the fault is found to be my fault. I assumed this would mean anything on "my" side of the master socket. I'm told that , no, it could be many things including trees, damp or corrosion of the cable anywhere on my property.

    Has anyone ever been charged, and how do they prove that corrosion is the problem as it could fall anywhere inside or outside my house up to the cabinet?

    I would expect that it would only be "your fault" if something on your property caused damage to the Openreach plant. For example broken guttering allowing water to pour into a junction box on the wall. Or you pruned a tree and a falling branch pulled the cable away from the wall.

    If it was simply down to something like a poor joint in an Openreach junction box somewhere then I can't see how they could charge you as that is nothing you could have control over.
  • d'@ved'@ve Posts: 45,452
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    Dan Sette wrote: »
    Has anyone ever been charged, and how do they prove that corrosion is the problem as it could fall anywhere inside or outside my house up to the cabinet?

    Be nice to the engineer and it's unlikely he will even consider blaming you for the fault, unless it's on your side of the master socket. Even then you'll be unlucky if he does. The circumstances when it can be your fault on their side of the master socket are few and far between, and if it's beyond your property boundary, precisely zero. You should be fine.
  • chrisjrchrisjr Posts: 33,282
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    Copious quantities of tea/coffee and hob-nobs work wonders. :D

    Mind you I have noticed over the years that there seem to be two main types of Openreach engineer. The total jobsworth and those who are willing to go the extra mile to do the job.

    Just hope you don't get a jobsworth!
  • Dan SetteDan Sette Posts: 5,816
    Forum Member
    Thank you all.

    I'm always nice to any engineer that visits, whatever has gone wrong, they are there to help.

    Hob Nobs on standby.
  • marieukxxmarieukxx Posts: 4,830
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    I took out sky broadband and had nothing but problems had an engineer out who was BT Openreach and he sorted the fault which was actually in my home. He put it down to a lightening strike that did something to the wires. He said it was pretty common. Anyway as it was actually in our house he said he was supposed to charge us but he said that was wrong as that fault was not our doing and he put it down as the fault being outside the house so we didn't get charged. That was last week.

    Like people said being friendly and having a chat with the guy helps lol.
  • StigStig Posts: 12,446
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    OP, if your actual phone line has stopped working it's unlikely to be your equipment unless you are doing something very silly.
  • Jez_GafysJez_Gafys Posts: 291
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    Yes what they mean is if you call them out moaning your line is down and it turns out to be your cheap router or pc at fault they will charge you the call out fee. Anything else they will pay for that is why you pay line rental. You don't own the line you rent it from the supplier any faults with it are for them to rectify. If a tree fell on it so what they fix it it's their line not yours.
  • Dan SetteDan Sette Posts: 5,816
    Forum Member
    Jez_Gafys wrote: »
    If a tree fell on it so what they fix it it's their line not yours.

    It's all sorted now (though it has taken several weeks - a problem at the exchange, apparently. Engineers are doing a lot of work in the cabinets at the moment and there is the risk that they disturb other cables when they are working.

    Which is what happened to me.

    However they did say as part of the initial warning that if it was a tree on my property that caused the problem, I would be liable to pay.
  • TassiumTassium Posts: 31,639
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    And if it's their mistake then suck it up...

    Businesses today have a really bad attitude. It's like a return to the 70s.
  • Dan SetteDan Sette Posts: 5,816
    Forum Member
    It is a bad attitude. Still not fixed. I was left without a phone line for two weeks and ludicrously slow "superfast" broadband for over a month.

    Three months down the line the Cloud issue still hasn't been fixed. I could fight it, but can't be bothered. Come 19 December they have lost a customer - I am counting the days.
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