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Old 01-06-2007, 21:07
n17ken
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Tottenham London
Posts: 52

Just thought I'd share a very unpleasant surprise I had with the arrival of my BT phone bill.

I am with Sky for all my call charges etc so I should only have to pay for line rental.

Imagin my surprise when my bill was for £330.26.

I naturally phoned to complain and get an explanation. It turns out that shortly after I moved in I callen to complain about a very noisy line. An engineer was sent out to investigate. I was told that if the fault was with 'my' equipment there would be a charge.

The enginner duly called and I had to urge him to check all conections to the master phone socket as he was not going to do anything. He was in my home for less than 20 min. The only thing he did was to change the master socket, which is BT's property not mine. NO mention was made of any charge.

When I spoke to BT to complain they arranged for a return call to try and resolve my complaint.

It turns out that the ebginner had put on his job sheet that he had.......

Moved phone sockets.
Rewired the phone line in my home.
Replaced the master socket.

I explained that none of the work stated had been done apart from the master socket which was not my property. The lady I was speaking to, indian accent so possibly a call center, said on this occassion she would remove two of the charges but I would still have to pay for part of the work.

I could hardly contain myself and very firmly told her that I would not pay any part of a fraudulent bill. I added I would immediatly cancell my standing order and look forward to BT taking me to court.

She insisted that I should pay some part of the bill and I againmade it clear that any bill based on a fraudulent claim was not binding. I had at NO time been told of any charge rates. I had not been told I was going to be charged and indeed as the fault was with their equipment I should not have been charged at all.

I invited her to check the recordings BT make off all calls and added I hoped 'this' call was being recorded.

Eventually I was told that she was prepared, on this occassion, to drop the charged. But I should be aware that in future any call out be be charged at £90+, can't remember the exact figure she stated.

So nice of her to do me a favour!!! on this occassion

Has anyone else been subjected to this sort of shoddy behaviour from BT. I can imagine there are lots of charges that are simply missed and paid.....

If I could I'd drop BT, but that's not an option at this time.
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Old 01-06-2007, 21:46
celle
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 106
Just thought I'd share a very unpleasant surprise I had with the arrival of my BT phone bill.

I am with Sky for all my call charges etc so I should only have to pay for line rental.

Imagin my surprise when my bill was for £330.26.

I naturally phoned to complain and get an explanation. It turns out that shortly after I moved in I callen to complain about a very noisy line. An engineer was sent out to investigate. I was told that if the fault was with 'my' equipment there would be a charge.

The enginner duly called and I had to urge him to check all conections to the master phone socket as he was not going to do anything. He was in my home for less than 20 min. The only thing he did was to change the master socket, which is BT's property not mine. NO mention was made of any charge.

When I spoke to BT to complain they arranged for a return call to try and resolve my complaint.

It turns out that the ebginner had put on his job sheet that he had.......

Moved phone sockets.
Rewired the phone line in my home.
Replaced the master socket.

I explained that none of the work stated had been done apart from the master socket which was not my property. The lady I was speaking to, indian accent so possibly a call center, said on this occassion she would remove two of the charges but I would still have to pay for part of the work.

I could hardly contain myself and very firmly told her that I would not pay any part of a fraudulent bill. I added I would immediatly cancell my standing order and look forward to BT taking me to court.

She insisted that I should pay some part of the bill and I againmade it clear that any bill based on a fraudulent claim was not binding. I had at NO time been told of any charge rates. I had not been told I was going to be charged and indeed as the fault was with their equipment I should not have been charged at all.

I invited her to check the recordings BT make off all calls and added I hoped 'this' call was being recorded.

Eventually I was told that she was prepared, on this occassion, to drop the charged. But I should be aware that in future any call out be be charged at £90+, can't remember the exact figure she stated.

So nice of her to do me a favour!!! on this occassion

Has anyone else been subjected to this sort of shoddy behaviour from BT. I can imagine there are lots of charges that are simply missed and paid.....

If I could I'd drop BT, but that's not an option at this time.
the end off the network which openreach(formerly bt) are responsible for is the test socket at the rear of the master small face plate if the line tests clear to this point then charges to the service provider are then raised for a call out only if the service provider has given permission to carry out further work to rectify or identify the fault then hourly charges or part there off are also charged to the service provider it is then down to the svc provider wether or not to charge their customer.as youre post says you urged him to check all connections to youre master socket,if any wiring to the socket which is youre owned wiring was causing the fault then yes you where liable to charges same as any equipment connected to youre tel wiring is causing a fault ,noisy line loop conditions earth contacts etc etc,then again charges apply.if you have any other problems you need to take the small face plate off the master socket then plug a good working phone inti the socket behind if there is clear dial tone to this point 99.9% the fault is internal agin this is when charges apply if the fault is still present then openreach repair free of charge depending on what is causing the fault eg you cut through cable taking ivy off wall etc,(damage caused by customer/ agents)
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Old 02-06-2007, 18:44
steven3001
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Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 629
totally true, no point blaming bt, they dont raise the charges, openreach are totally seperate and are used by every phone provider out there that provides phone services via a bt phone point, bt simply add the charges onto the bill that openreach have set for that call out etc etc
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Old 03-06-2007, 00:55
littleboo
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: South Coast
Posts: 892
totally true, no point blaming bt, they dont raise the charges, openreach are totally seperate and are used by every phone provider out there that provides phone services via a bt phone point, bt simply add the charges onto the bill that openreach have set for that call out etc etc
"BT" in this case is referring to BT Retail. Openreach are part of BT Group and hence are part of "BT". They do however as you say operate as an autonomous and highly regulated entity within BT Group providing services to all phone companies, including BT Retail
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