BT customers paying their bills and more
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Whether we use their phone service or not, most of us still rely on BT's 15 million residential lines. So if there's any sort of fault they'll try and put it right but who should foot the bill? BT or you?
It's supposed to be straightforward. BT are responsible for everything to do with the phone line from the telephone exchange to the moment it enters the phone socket in your house. If anything goes wrong after that, whether to do with the wires or the phones, it's down to you.
If there is a fault at any point before that BT say that you shouldn't have to pay but in practice, BT don't always quite see it that way.
The Coopers are a family that know all about phones. Their home is full of them. When they stopped receiving calls last November mum Marcel tested every phone in the house, but she couldn't find an obvious problem. She had noticed, however, that the wires outside weren't in the best condition. So, she contacted BT, who sent an engineer from the part of the business that maintains their lines - BT Openreach. The fault was with BT's line, it was fixed and that should have been that. But a couple of months later BT sent her a bill for £300.
"I just thought 'this is outrageous", said Marcel. "Are you trying to tell me that all of these properties around here are responsible for maintaining BT lines? What are we paying rental charges for?"
Marcel refused to pay, and asked BT to explain exactly why she should have to foot the bill. But all she received in reply was a threat from BT to pass on her information to debt collectors, which is exactly what they did.
"It's actually quite scary having a debt recovery agency after you," she said. "And [when] BT won't respond, what must I do?"
The same thing happened to Blessing Onwuka after her line went dead in June. Blessing, who was about to give birth to her third child, contacted BT. They sent an engineer and said nothing about charges.
The problem was found to be on the line outside of her building, and therefore BT's problem, not hers. The engineer fixed the fault, but a couple of weeks later, BT sent her a bill for £211. They said she'd damaged the line and that she was responsible.
Knowing she'd done no such thing, Blessing saw the charge as unfair and refused to pay. BT, however, insisted that she was responsible and sent the debt collectors after her as well.
Engineer Richard Terrell experienced similar problems with BT. The company fixed two burnt-out wires in the BT box at his house in December last year.
BT claimed the fault on Richard's line was the result of lightning damage - an Act of God and that meant Richard would have to pay nearly £200 for the repair.
When Richard told them there was no way lightning had struck his house BT came up with a new reason as to why he should foot the bill, insisting that he must have damaged their equipment.
"Every time they twisted and turned I'd hit them back with another answer", Richard said.
Eventually, BT backtracked and dropped the charges after Richard raised the issue with the industry regulator, OFCOM.
BT response
"BT apologises for the mistakes it made in dealing with the customer repair bills highlighted by Watchdog. We have refunded the money owed to Richard Terrell and Blessing Onwuka and have cleared the debt on the account of John Cooper.
"We recently improved our processes to make sure that customers are always fully aware of when they may be charged for a repair and how much. BT pays for repairs to the line and network, but customers may be charged a flat rate of £125 for an engineer visit if the fault turns out to be as a result of things like customers' own extension wiring inside the home or their own equipment.
"As a gesture of goodwill, we have given three months free line rental to Richard Terrell and Blessing Onwuka.
"BT apologises to Mr Woodgett. He should not have been charged for this repair and we are happy to refund the total cost of the engineer's visit and to give him three months free line rental as a gesture of goodwill. We have also given Mr Hemming three months line rental free. The Coopers no longer have an account with BT.
"If you would like to email BT about any of the issues raised above please contact us now "
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BT engineer sent out as i reported a crackling phone line, He spent 34 secs at my house and was later billed £300 for this service!!
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Earlier this year, I reported a loud crackling on my BT line, which only appeared when the first digit of a phone number had been dialled.
Their automated system told me that there wasa fault outside of my house.
Several days later, a BT engineer turned up, put some test equipment on my line and told me there was a fauilt about 400 metres from my house.
He went away, fixed the fault, came back, told me he had fixed it at the junction box a few streets away and that there would be no charge.
Lo and behold, my next bill came and it included £198 for the repair!!! I refused to pay this and it was credited 3 months later.
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I had this on three occasions a year and a half ago with a fault on the line with their broadband. They charged me over £100 on each occasion and only once came in the house. They where never where able to fix it. I spent hours on the phone trying to get refunds and resorted to shouting at their phone operators.
I eventually was able to terminate their broadband service early and moved to another company. The same problem reoccurred but was sorted by the new company. I spotted an engineer working on the telephone pole and he told me there was water in the connection box.
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I have used BT for many years and have never had a problem excellant customer services. However I would say that perhaps you should investigate Offcom as they have put many barriers in the way of customer services in many Service Providers. All the complaints actually relate to Openreach a BT Group company but has no direct link to BT Retail who provide services in fact because of the regulations put in place by offcom can't even communicate directly to the engineers that set these charges in the first place.
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I oved into a new home a year ago with an existing bt phone line, i contacted bt to see whether i would be charged to have it reconnected, after being told i would be charged £29.99 i agreed to have the work done.
The engineer turned up and did the work within 5 minutes and left, When my first bill arrived i was charged £122.22 after several communications with bt i was told this is the case as it was a new phone line!!! I dont know how as i already had abox......
After getting nowhere it was decided i would pay the amount over 4 monthly installments.
I will for a fact be cancelling my account after my 12 months is up, i am genuinely disgusted in he way bt handles their charges.
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I recently called BT because I had a problem on my line. They told me on the phne if the fault was my fault I would have to pay. I asked how it could be my fault as the line had only been switched on a couple of weeks previously, they made it sound like I probably would be charged!! Anyway the BT man came and the fault wasn't mine, however the engineer did say that they had been given internal notification that they should charge customers regardeless of fault. He told me of an old lady who had been so scared when she called about her line because she thought she couldn't afford to pay the call out charge, was without a phone for weeks, a friend of his told him about the situation and he visited her. Thank god for the BT engineers with morals!
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I had something very similar happen to me, my line went dead, I phoned up customer services and was asked to do a couple of things. First i had to go and get my neighbours phone and plug it in, it did not work either. i was then asked to unscrew the phone socket and plug in my phone followed by my neighbours phone into the test socket. Neither of them worked.. At this point I was told I needed an engineer but made it clear I didn't want to incur costs, I was told I would not as long as it wasn't a fault with my phone. The purpose of doing those wee tests was to establish that it was a line fault. The call out cost would be £99.
The engineer came out long story short the fault rectified itself and they said it was my phone which clearly it was not but we still incurred £99 charge. We have now received the money back but not without several phonecalls to BT repeatedly going over the same story.
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Had a very similar problem to may of the people on the program...
Reported a fault with Broadband back in April to my ISP (Not BT), they did all the checks and found no fault. Fault was intermittent and line was very noisy when trying to make a voice call.
My ISP (Names) suggested that I call out a PSTN (Voice engineer), which I did. He arrived in early may and found no fault although recognised that it could be intermittent. He said he was not able to look in the manhole, but said he would get a colleague to look. Two days later new engineer called early in morning, spent about half-an hour on site and popped back to the exchange a couple of times. He fixed the fault and my broadband is now great (ten times the speed it was). I had in the meantime changed ALL cables, telephones, Broadband filters and router (at my ISPs cost).
At the end of August, I receive bill for £211 for the call-out. There was no fault on my side of the master socket!
I call Customer Services who were very very nice and said they would look into it within 10 days - by the way this is a yearly problem with my broadband. 10 days came and went and I phoned - still liable for the charges. I ask them to check again - they have no record of the second engineer turning up and fixing the problem.
I then receive a nasty letter saying I am liable - with no return address or noone to contact.
I then put it all into writing. Fortunatly I still had the text messages which I was able to transcribe along with the support I received from Names (who were excellent throughout). I found the address and fax number for the relevant section of the company, having written a 16 page document.
Two days later I receive a lovely phone call from a nice lady saying all charges had been dropped...
This whole process took nearly three months and until the end was very very nasty!
If there was an alternative to BT in my area I would move instantly!
Keep up the good work!
Julian Whitehead
Wimborne, Dorset
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as A bT engineer in the [removed for legal reasons] (senior Operations Manager) [removed for legal reasons] has allways told us to charge all customers where ever possible even if the we knew the charges arn't appropriate, he always said its better to charge and have the money and then deal with the complaint.
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Warning anyone thinking of leaving BT should be causious as they may need a BT line to use another provider [comment and company names removed]. My sister got stuck when she left [company removed] and changed to [removed]. She found that [company removed] provided appauling coverage where she lived (even though it was supposed to be checked) so she wanted to switch back. On calling [company removed] they said she would have to pay BT £150 to put the line back in even though all the sockets and wires are still there.
BT are the mafia of telecom and still have a monopoly unless you are lucky enough to have a fibre optic supply.
Just thought this might be useful to your veiwers before they all get caught up in another row if they try to leave BT.
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Yes I had this problem with BT. for months I kept losing my broadband and even after endless calls to technicians suggesting I move equipment, plug bits in and out of my PC etc, the problem continued.
After a while I realised this only happened when there was any bad weather and that the problem must be outside. They tested the line and said there was no problem but I kept losing broadband whenever it rained, or we had windy weather etc.
BT maintained there was no problem and suggested that sending some one out to check the line could land me with a bill of £150 plus.
I refused maintaining the problem can only be with the line.
My neighbour had the same problem previously. Once they switch to a new provider the broadband problems stopped. I followed their lead and switched providers also and never had a problem since.
All I can say of BT and their customer service is that "It's good to walk" [away from them]!
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I have been a BT customer for over approx 10 years and i moved from a flat to a house 4 years ago and BT just transfered my details to the new property with no charges what so ever. However i moved again in August and asked to move my detail to the new property asap, and was told that there maybe a charge of approx £122.00 if there is no line one would be installed. The property was approx 12 yrs old so there was a possibility there would be no line so i agreed. However when i moved in there was in fact a line and box in the property so when the engineer arrived a few days after he checked things out and said that he only had to turn the box on, which he did so there shouldn't be a charge of the £122.00. When i called Bt to check that everything was ok they informed me that i would still be charged because it still had to be connected. I'm a single Mum of 3 and have recently lost my job and am struggling with money and i explained this to the customer services and they have managed the bring it down to £44 per month....but i am struggling with that.......Does it really cost £122.00 to turn a switch on?
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BT have some of the worst customer service around, and they seem to be a law unto themselves. We have had trouble with BT but not in the same way as mentioned on the program tonight.
When we moved house a year and a half ago, we informed BT so we could have our broadband and phone moved to the new property. We did not have a break in making our direct debit payments, then 6 months after we moved we got a large bill (over £100). It turned out that they failed to canel the broadband account for the old property, so there was two accounts we needed to pay for. It was a fault of BT but they demanded immediate payment.
To cut a long story short, it took over 7 months, two formal complaints and a dozen verbal complaints over the phone. We had different story's each time we phoned. BT refused to admit that formal complaints had been sent to them, and we never recieved any response (complaints where sent recorded delivery and we have proof the complaints where recieved). We where also threatened with debt collection. We spent over 8 hours on the phone to BT in total, and have never recieved an apology.
I have now been able to canel my accounts with BT, and now have such a dislike from BT that i will never return to them, i will also not buy any product that has their logo on it.
I have spoken to many friends, many of whom have very similar stories.
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As a BT phone user, I have also had problems with BT.
Having rported a foult that could not be rectified over the phone , the engineer was sent, and informed us we were unable to carry out the test advised by the BT representative as the test wires were not conected, for this service we were charged. We wrote to BT , as we felt this was not correct, being charged for a service, that had the correct connections been available, would not have needed. BT have failed to reply to our correspondence, and are charging us for this call out.
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I also had a problem with BT last year. My Broadband failed and as I work in IT Communications I knew it was a line fault or issue at the exchange. I spent 12 hours on the phone over 21 days and spoke to a total of 37 different people. I even had 4 different engineers visiting my property and was charged £300 for this.
The fault was eventually diagnosed as a fault in the local phone exchange and I only got this resolved as I knew one of the engineers. I did however manage to get a full refund and additional compensation of £250 from BT but this took some persuasion.
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Had an incident last year, internal problem which they fixed within 10 mins, charged me £300+ to fix. when asked why we were being charged we were told hat it was due to damp, the only problem with that is the fault was on an interior stud wall. when I phoned to complain the reduced the bill to a meer £30, which I have refused to pay.
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as an ex openreach engineer bt put alot of pressure on members of each team to make a certain amount of charges to the customers to increase revenue and offering incentives to the teams, if you did not hit targets on your three monthly appraisal you would have to justify on why your induvidual target of charges were not met and you would be given new targets and advice on how to meet these targets
from anon
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in regard to your recent story about bt, we to have had many problems. first our broadband stopped working then became very slow and many calls to foreign call centres we were finally able to get it working at a much slower rate than what we pay for (pay for 8meg and recieve barely 2 meg). Then the problems with our phone line started. we didnt recieve calls and there was no dial tone. Again many calls later being passed from one person to the next it took two engineer call outs and 3 tests on the line to get that working. BT tried to charge us £120 for a fault that turned out to be a problem on the line outside the house which we refused to pay and havent heard anything since. PS we are cancelling broadband when contract ends in 4 months VERY VERY por service.
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I have had a problem with BT but it's slightly different.
When I first moved out my mum set a house phone up for me, putting a £50 cap on it so I didn't end up with a huge bill.
I made calls like usual, and when the £50 cap didn't kick in I assumed it was because I hadn't reached it yet.
Then a bill arrives for over £600. BUT I also recived a bill saying I was £45 in credit - but the account number was different by one digit. We called customer services to be told "don't worry about the big bill, it's our fault. Do not pay it". So, we didn't pay it. Then, some months later my phone was put on incoming calls only. BT rang me telling me if I didn't pay the now £800 owing they would send debt collectors.
Firstly, if they had actually put the £50 cap on I wouldn't be in this position. And secondly, now they're telling me the £45 in credit bill I keep recieving doesn't exsist on their system and we have to pay!
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
BT billed me over £400 for an hour's "work". They did not tell me their costs (they claim they did and had the tape of the phone call until I asked for a copy). BT claims the fault was my responsibility, they replaced an outside line. Despite letters and many phone calls to BT (their story changed depending upon who I spoke with) it took a year until I complained to the Regulator who is currently investigating.
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I had BT installed in my old house, I payed over £130 to install the new line which I thought was fine because I had to get an engineer out to hook a line up to my house and install a new box in the house.
I moved out six months later into another house which had boxes (in really bad condition hanging of the wall with wires exposed and no screws etc...) and a line already hooked up. I was told to stay at home between 9am and 6pm so that an engineer could visit to install the new boxes, no engineer turned up and when I phoned BT they said that they where able to switch my line on from the exchange and would not give me new boxes but would still charge me the full installation charge even though there was no line fitted, no boxes installed and no engineer called.
Whats going on I since canceled all acounts with BT and moved to [company removed] Line rental is cheaper better phone deals and the service is far better.
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BT are an appalling organisation to deal with. I had a charge on a BT account after reporting a fault on a line while living in a rental house, because of the arrangement regarding bills I was unaware of it for months.
The fault took six engineer visits to resolve none of which could and I suspect it was eventually resolved by BT replacing telegraph poles and all connections on the street where the house was. I have a technical background and understand what faults can occur from the master socket and what faults can be as a result of the line into the house. The fault I reported was definitely a line fault not in the house, my equipment in the house was tested by myself prior to reporting the fault and by multiple BTopenreach engineers, I use the phrase engineer advisedly, many of these knew what they were talking about but others really did not have a clue I suspect that one of these clueless ones triggered the charge on the account. Also we received rude phone calls from BT telling us to close the fault !
Eventually after much time frustration and phone calls I had the charge refunded with an insulting £30 compensation for the inconvience caused. BT in my mind are a deceitful organisation that now have a policy to rip off their customers for these repair charges, any customer without the technical knowledge, perseverance and time to argue with BT will just have to pay whatever charge BT deem to be appropriate. It's a good revenue source for BT in times when they are finding the competition too tough, needless to say I am no longer a BT customer and will never be again. Watchdog please keep investigating this as I suspect you have only seen the tip of the iceberg !
All details available should you want to verify this.
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moved into new property 3 yrs ago got phoneline hooked up .found that not all phones through the house rung at point of incoming calls ,was informed to deal with problem and get all household sockets make the phones ring that were plugged into them .would cost 75 pounds .lived without it found a loud phone and plugged it into 1 of 4 sockets in property thjat worked .6 months later still no bill for line rental .contacted bt and asked for a bill to be sent ,roughly week later got cut off for not paying bill and received a debt collectors letter for owings of 60 pounds .there customer bt .to be connected had to pay a 50 pounds deposit gone bill paid 60 pounds .but i thought would put this through to you ,to show how bad and for a long time bt customer services in my mind by description is not very good .
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
we had to argue for a month to get the line fixed which we were told must be a problem in the house, and were continued to be charged for the whole time we could not use the phone, about a month, finally got them to sort it but told them i knew it was a fault outside and i would not be paying anything for the repair and if it wasnt done soon i would go straight to offcom, now the latest trick they are doing is to overcharge us saying the internet charge is a seperate company and cannot be refunded, we paid 50.00gbp a month early, nice interest if you can do it a few thousand times, just waiting now to change companies.
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I worked for bt/openreach for 22yrs I left in july this yr. while working for openreach as part of your job you were told by your manager you had targets to bill customers.If your master socket is in a damp postion or you damage your socket, openreach will charge you for this.I have now set up my own bussines in west yorkshire I do not charge a call out and all faults are repared for less than a callout charge from openreach.
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I had a bill in september this year for £386.00 for Openreach work. We had failing broadband and phone line problems for 3 months prior and eventually had Openreach out to resolve. The fault was located in the exchange and also in our wall box (that was actually pre-80's). The engineer was in my property for 10 mins and just changed the faceplate. £386.00 for 10min work- i am in the wrong job!!
Fought BT and actually issued them a small claims writ for failing to provide the service they promised. They backed down and wiped off the bill and gave us 1 month free broadband/calls/line rental.
User need to ask for the "Disputed Charges Dept"- They have the power to immediately remove/cancel Openreach charges
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I'm currently with the B.T phone line and broadband.
Ive called them up several times to repair my broadband and they took roughly a week.
An engineer came to repair my internet but the internet is still messed up, we're paying the broadband bills but it keeps disconnecting, its rubbish.
I'm going through the same problem as the above B.T customer's.
They told me how to fix it if my internet keeps disconnecting which it is every 2 seconds, however i cant fix it my self because its the outside phone wire thats the problem.
how pathetic?
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I am so glad you have highlighted this. My mother has been charged £215 by BT for fixing a fault which could not have been her fault. The whole situation has been very upsetting for mum, she is an elderly woman on 74 with Alzheimer's disease and it makes my blood boil to see her treated in such a disgraceful manner!
The basic story is this.....
An engineer was seen working on the telephone pole outside my mother's house and after he had gone her phone was found to be not working. It had been working perfectly well before this. An engineer came to fix the fault and said that my mum would not be charged.
We (my brother and I) have tried to speak to BT to resolve this but they have ignored our complaints. They have told us several different reasons as to why she has been charged but have currently settled on 'Internal Decoration' of which there had been none. I have written two compliant emails to them but they didn't address my complaint. I have requested all the information relating to the matter as per the Data Protection Act but we have received nothing.
We have paid the bill (under protest) and I have written to the Complaints review manager requesting that the charge be refunded and hoping against hope that some sane person will listen to me! I am also querying their disability handling procedures as when we informed BT that Mum has Alzheimer's and as she gets confused when speaking to people, we would be speaking to them on her behalf, the advisor said "Well can't she say yes or no then?" . They could have got her to agree to anything and she wouldn't have remembered!
Hopefully we may get mum's money back, you never know!
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been a customer of bt for 20 months and inntermitint internet service from day 1 ,iv rung technical help in india for no less than 38 hrs somtimes on a mobile getting charged and they had me taking the phone socket of the wall to check . also had 2 engineers out who comfirmed the problems in the exchange. still not fixed today . rang for a mac code yesterday and they refused to supply me with so i cant change providers .im still been charged £38 a month for my internet that works when it wants .help me please .........
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I wrote to BT on 10 August 2009 with two problems:
1. they charged me £373.58 via direct debit - so without bye or leave - for repairs which I believe are their responsibility as per Watchdog tonight
2. they have placed me on Unlimited weekend Plan which increases my rental by 25% - although they offer free calls it does not apply to me as I am on Skytalk. This, therefore, is deliberately anti-competitive.
3. they do not reply for 12 weeks - that is pathetic and unacceptable.
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My BT broadband connection has always been slow and sometimes non existant. Last month I called BT as I had lost connection. They checked the line and advised I get an engineer out. Both the customer services chap and another chap I was passed to, to arrange the engineer, said I would not have to pay anything if the fault was outside my property. It turned out to be a fault at the exchange yet I received a bill for £63.61. I contacted BT to ask why I had been billed and the game started. 3 emails, 6 telephone conversations, 2 threatening letters about Debt Collectors and 3 weeks later, they finally called today to say they have withdrawn the charge. No appology and no offer of compensation and yet they are still trying to resolve the ongoing problem with my line (at the exchange I have been advised). I am disgusted by this obvious attempt to obtain money that they have no right to. I will be changing to another provider at the first opportunity.
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I had been a BT customer for over 16 years until earlier last year, I reported a loud crackling on my BT line, which only appeared when I would ring anyone. I phoned BT customer service to let them know about the situation, they said there was nothing wrong with it. So months passed, with the same problem until I had enough and got back on to the phone to them. I had to use my sister’s phone because the cracking was getting so bad, all the while still paying the bill. They said they would send someone out, after many phone calls. Also they said that I wouldn’t be charged if the fault was outside the house. Low and behold the fault was outside, so I thought thank god I won’t have to pay. So the technician fixed the problem and several weeks later I got a bill for over £300 I thought what’s, going on here? Consequently I phoned them up again saying that the fault was outside the house, so why have you charged me? They said that I had to pay the bill no matter what, since then they have sent several nasty letters and a debt collector. I think this is ludicrous how can say one think and go back on their work. Throughout this time I have lost two family members, and the added stress of this needed not to happen.
BT’s customers service is ridicules and i hope these issues are now resolved quickly, with watchdog now on board.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
I too fell 'victim'. My phone line went down,I reported the problem.
An engineer (# 1 ) He arrived whilst I was out and I had to book another appointment. During a phone call with him, he told me he needed access to my home as the fault was internal. That there had been several trouble calls in the same area and all the faults were the same. The junction box inside the house had been fried due to a lightning strike a couple of streets away. There had indeed been such a strike but my neighbours had no such problems. Indeed, my immediate neighbour had no such problems.
Engineer (#2) arrived ,tested internal line , found no problem. Externally a fault was found where the cable had chafed against wall
and soffit. A repair was effected. Total time of the engineers on site: approx 1/2 hr.
Yes I was invoiced, £190.70. Queried my phone bill when it arrived as it include this figure as one off charges. BT told me there was a standard call out charge where fault where inside the home and proceeded to give my a breakdown of the costs. Told them that it was an outrageous cost and that the fault was external - could they please review . They didn't and haven't respondedn since. RIP OFF? Yes.
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I had lots of problems with BT (such as line faults which they insisted were inside the house and we'd have to pay for - but it turns out they weren't etc) so I was really glad when our contract for phone and broadband ran out. Changed to talktalk in July and still haven't had broadband connected but I guess that's another programme...!
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I'd like to add my tuppence to the comments above:
"...I kept losing broadband whenever it rained, or we had windy weather etc.
...switched providers also and never had a problem since..."
Obviously, the fault was not with the outside line! When you switch providers, unless you go to Virgin Media (cable) your provider will use exactly the same telephone line and outside wiring: the only thing that changes is the company you pay your bill to, and things like pricing and tariffs. So if the "outside fault" magically cleared when you changed service providers then the fault was definately not on the outside wiring you can see, unless someone replaced this in the switch of providers...
If a wire has been damaged on a property, and the wall on which that wire runs is not on the boundary of public highway, (i.e. a terraced house which faces straight onto the street would be classed as fronting onto public highway), then the damager would have had to enter your property to damage the cabling. In this case, Openreach would raise charges to your SP (Service Provider - the company you pay your bills to) for the work done and time spent, and it is upto the SP if they pass the charges on to you. It only seems fair. If someone came onto your property and damaged your Sky dish, do you think Sky would come and replace/repair it for free? If you have a fault on yout electrical wiring at home, you don't get the local electricity board to come and fix it for free - that's your wiring - so that is why Openreach only go to the master telephone socket and don't maintain your wiring for free either.
If an outside line is replaced or repaired due to "normal wear and tear" then an Openreach engineer would not raise a charge, however your SP is free to try charge you if they wish.
There are some quite harsh comments about engineers on this page. What I can say is that if an engineer was to close off a job as "complete" when the fault hasn't been fixed, then it would come back out and be investigated by management and the engineer reprimanded for it if he's done something wrong. There are no incentives for engineers to 'bodge and scarper' on jobs, it makes sense to do the job properly for everyone concerned.
£386 for 10 minutes would be fantastic if the engineer actually got that much!! Do you really think all that money goes to the engineer who does the work? There are no incentives for productivity so the engineer wouldn't benefit at all from charging you...
At the end of the day, engineers not just for Openreach/BT but any company are trying to get by and pay their bills by working hard, perhaps some people should direct their anger at greedy corporations and the government for imposing crippling taxes than having a go at the "little people" at the bottom of the pyramind for trying to make a honest living!!
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Also just to add, you don't pay for 8mb broadband per se; you pay for "upto" 8mb broadband. Te speed you actually recieve depends on many factors. Some of which are distance from the exchange, quality of the cabling linking you to the exchange, quality of the internal and/or extension wiring, and how many people are connected to that exchange. One good example is I used to live 1km from the exchange in a new development so expected 8mb broadband but was only getting 1mb, I called up and asked why and she said because you're in a city centre there's more people using the ADSL pipeline, so each person has to have a smaller share of it so to speak.
So no, you don't pay for 8mb broadband, it's "upto" 8mb and not many people will get a consistent 8mb.
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i called bt back in march 2009 to report the line was not working.
i said on the call that the socket had come loose and that i could see the wiring.
in the meantime i looked up on the web a wiring diagram and decided to do it myself.
at 9am on the 23rd march open reach attended my house i told him what i had done and said i had done it correctly,however he said cos its an old socket that he would change the socket.
at this point i told him i am too a bt employer for the company for 13 years,we had never met before.he left within 10 mins
end of month and i get a bill for £184 ex vat for the work ,i called faults and they said the socket was free but they charged me for there time for coming.£184 ex vat for 10 mins i said ,after transfer after transfer to india and all over i hung up.it was never resolved
as i mentioned earlier i am a staff member with 13 yrs experience for bt and i wasnt asking for a special rate of any freebies but how can a company justify that ammount to charge,
i paid it cos i know if i didnt it would be diconnected and if i didnt pay it would go to a debt recovery agent,etc,etc.
i have since left the company because the call centres are now to stressful and the poor advisors have unreal targets to reach and truthfully that is why you get passed about,if your buying a product i guarantee you will always get through straight away
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We had a fault on the line and tested inside the house as requested by BT to ascertain where the fault lie. They sent an engineer on 11/3/08 who replaced our outside cable. We were amazed to receive a bill at the end of May for £216.20.
I phoned BT and explained that the repair was outside and that the engineer only came into the house to drill a hole from inside to out to put the new cable through. They said they would call back within 10 days having spoken to the engineer.
The next day I received a call from BT saying, as the engineer didn't warn us of the impending bill that they would waive it on this occasion. I argued that the work done was outside and not in the house so the bill was wrong but they would not accept this.
I thanked them for waiving the bill but reiterated that it should not have been raised in the first place.
We assumed this was an isolated incident but 18 months on, having watched your programme this evening, one wonders if these are mistakes or company policy to bill you just to see if you will pay up .
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BT are overcharging by a large amount, it is stupid. I called out a BT engineer, the line was noisy and I couldn't get a dial tone. BT Said "The wires in the faceplate have been damaged over a long period of time" so the BT engineer fitted a new faceplate, worked fine for about 1-2months and here we are again. Line is noisy and this time the internet which runs through the phone lines has been affected with very slow speeds. The first time I called out a engineer BT made us pay £180 for a 5 min job, the parts you can pick up from B&O or any store for about £10? overcharged? If BT carry out a job and the problem comes back shouldn't they fix it free of charge?
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I have had issues with BT's charges for 3 years now at 2 seperate properties and still ahve a fault on my line but each time I get an engineer out I get a bill for repairs so I gave up and put up with it but now the fight is back on!!
I have made at least 100 calls to BT,50+ emails and even our road outside our house was dug up by BT openreach for 3 days and nights but still I ahve a fault and still I get charged for visits!
BRING IT ON! THIS GUY WILL NOT CAVE IN!
DING DING ROUND ??????????????????????
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I manage a rental property. When a tenant left the property on 31st, the new tenant arrived the next day on 1st. He phoned BT (on his mobile) to have the phone line activated as BT had disconnected the day before when the previous tenant left. He was told the cost would be (about) £120 as 1) the previous tenant was not with BT and 2) the line was "dead". When he told me I told him the previous phone number and that the line was working the day before and so the reconnection cost should only be about £29. He called BT and they then credited him, but no apology for telling him two lies. Maybe the operator gets a bonus if they can invoice for higher charges...?
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This is part of an e-mail sent by my boss
I require YOU to raise TRC (time related charge)if when visiting an EU’s property and working on BT plant which is to the current standard, ( i.e. DW10) at any point from the first fixing including all wiring, block terminals and sockets. Notes should be recorded “Not fair wear and tear”. Justification we do not have to prove why the installation as gone faulty typical expectation is that a standard installation should last 30 years.
I require YOU to charge the hourly rate for ALL jobs that are not purely an unplug faulty equipment.
I require YOU to charge the appropriate stores pack on all jobs that attract the hourly rate.
Expected standards are: Form Count - 6 per month. Visit Only - less than 30%, Stores Conversion greater than 60%, Conversion rate - greater than 25%.
Lots of pressure for us to raise a charge. We have to charge if the customer reports a noisy line but on arrival the noise cannot be verified. We are also told not to mention Lighting in the notes on the job as this can cause the charge to be waived.
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When I moved home there was already a BT line in the house. The engineer came and said it was 'live'. I asked him if that meant NO connection fee and he confirmed there wouldn't. 5 mins later he left and my phone was up and running. Two weeks later BT charged me £193! When I rang them (twice)they informed me that they had been billed by Open Reach and that there may have been work carried out at the exchange. On asking for a break-down of work carried out their response was that they never received that information EVER from Open Reach.As I was already dealing with a debt collection agency from Talk Talk (even though the bill had been paid) I couldn't face another hassle so paid the bill but am thoroughly disgusted. It feels like they're screwing the public to enhance their profits and billing for things they shouldn't. Surely any work at the exchange is their responsibility.
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BT tryed to charge me for a fault on there line about 1 year ago. after they repaired the fault i got the bill for £273.00 for the price of the repair and i contacted BT and made them back down by stating if i send you a cheque for this amaunt i will take ownership of the line which means i will own it and i will not have to pay you anymore line rental. i also made it quite clear that i was not paying extra to maintain their equipment i and everybody in the uk RENT the lines off BT which means i and no one other than BT have title to there equipment. enything which happeneds to their equipment outside the property makes it BTs problem 100% not the customer as i and you Rent the line from BT. and to put it another way you wouldnt exspect to service and repair a rental car would you, Think people
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I have BT phone, broadband and Vision. I suffered interferance on my phone line for months and spent hours and months telephoning BT India (although I couldn't hear them very well due to the crackling on my line!) and unplugging various appliances within my home and plugging them back in. Nothing helped. BT were adament the fault was within my home, but I just had a gut feeling this was not the case. They would charge over £100 to send an engineer. I declined the offer. I struggled on, not being able to have a conversation with people. My broadband connection would often cut off. A chance conversation with my computer engineer, he told me my neighbour was having the same problem! Strange if the fault is in my house! We watch BT vision 'on demand' rarely, but tried to watch something and got an error message. I telephoned BT Vision. They confirmed my line did not have enough speed - there was a fault!!! that would explain the BT broadband connection cutting off. An engineer came out within a couple of days and fixed a fault in the line further up my road. Hey presto, my telephone line was crystal clear!!! If it hadn't been for BT Vision, I would have been charged for an engineer. I spent months with a bad line. The speed on the line had been reduced because there was a fault in the road. I don't understand why this fault had not registered with BT, and why BT phone couldn't dectect this?
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last christmas i had a fault with the socket cover belonging to bt
i did all the checks to make sure that it was down to bt.
i had no dialing tone when i bypassed the cover and plugged the phone straight into the test socket,the the phone worked.
after telling bt this all they would say if it's not that and the problem was else where then i would be liable to pay the bill.
i reassured them it was their socked cover,but their kept repeating there selves.the engineer came out,i had new carpets at the time and i asked him would he mind removing his shoes to which he said that his shoes was clean and he duly came in and their was foot marks everywhere.i told him what the problem was and he put the new cover on,it took him seconds.this cover at to be over 30 year old.as he was leaving he told me to put a claim in for the four days i was without a proper service,which i did.two days later i had a bill for over £218 and after complaining to right up to bt's head office i was threatened with debt collectors.i was frightened by this and paid them and left bt to go with sky
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Having had problems with BT in the past 9 months I would like to suggest to all those trying to get money out of them is to use the customer services email rather than the indian call centre. You still have to wait 6 months for the result you want, but you can carry on forwarding the email with all the history so you don't have to reiterate your story every time, and no expensive call charges!!. I can however recommend Virgin Media customer services (so far!)
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The problems are not caused by BT per se, but rather by Offcom with their instructions that the engineering works must be divorced from the rest of the company.
This is apparently supposed to level the playing field for other telecom companies, but appears to simply disadvantage BT.
BT are now charged by Openreach, and they simply pass on those charges as any company would do. Whatever happens it is not the fault of the poor adviser who takes the brunt of the customers venom when things don't go according to plan. They can't even speak to the engineers!
As for the standard of service at the BT call centres. My wife works for 151 domestic faults and is permamently depressed by the fact that she is unable to provide the service she thinks she should. They are allowed 363 seconds per customer...that's from the time they answer the call to the time they clear the line! If they don't reach that average they are subject to discipliniary procedures, and ultimately... dismissal.
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would really like to hear more from BTOR_man, particularly interested to hear if the instructions or pressures to charge have changed.......... if you feel comfortable please let me know the OUC were this instruction was generated from
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Most “honest” Openreach engineers are sickened when hearing these types of stories, which are obviously happening on a daily basis.
The trouble starts when the fault is first reported, as BT rely too much on the results of its automated test system. If the result is “Line Test OK”., which it often is for crackly line faults, the fault desk staff usually insist that the cause is the customers wiring or phone. Also some test results give a distance reading, which may indicate a fault near the customer’s property. Both these type of fault reports will be flagged up as potentially chargeable.
Further problems are due to the current aggressive BT/Openreach management style, which puts engineers under severe pressure to raise as many “TRC’s (Time Related Charges) as possible. Engineers who fail to meet their targets are harassed during regular 1:1 meetings with their line managers and threatened with being put on “Improvement Plans”etc.
When sending back job details on their laptops, some engineers who are under pressure to improve their figures, may be tempted to enter a Yes in the TRC charges box.
Also new laptop software makes it difficult not to raise charges when some jobs are sent back as completed.
In an effort to try to get engineers to raise more charges management introduced a team bonus scheme, to pay for days/nights out etc. At one point they promised to pay a percentage of any charges raised back to the engineer.
Originally we were told to “give the customer the benefit of the doubt” if unsure about the cause of internal cable faults, however now we are told to raise charges anyway and leave it to other depts or the CP (Communications Provider, ie BT Retail, Sky etc) to decide if they will pass the charge on to the End User.
As previously mentioned it’s rumoured that the CP may raise charges on a particular job even if Openreach doesn’t, also the rates they charge may be higher than openreach’s.
Openreach engineers are instructed not to discuss charge rates, just refer the customer back to their CP.
Most engineers only want to raise charges if they are justified, i.e. when the customer( or End User as we must call them these days) has caused damage to cables within their boundary. A common fault is cutting through external cables on house walls whilst pruning climbing plants. Pets or rodents can also chew through internal wiring. Carpet fitters or window fitters working for the End User also cause damage to wiring. In these instances most people would agree that charges should be raised, the End User can then try to reclaim them from their insurance company, carpet fitter or double glazing co. However most engineers do not agree with extremely high bills that the End User receives.
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I WORK FOR OPENREACH / BT AS A CUSTOMER SERVICE ENGINEER. OVER THE LAST THREE YEARS THERE HAS BEEN GREAT PRESSURE BY SENIOR MANAGEMENT TO CHARGE, CHARGE AND CHARGE AGAIN, THE TERM BT USES IS TRC - 'TIME RELATED CHARGE'. NOW THE REASON FOR THIS IS OPENREACH IS A COMPANY, A VERY EXPENSIVE COMPANY.THEY HAVE ONE OF THE LARGEST FLEETS OF VANS IN EUROPE, A LARGE WORKFORCE AND PROCESS AND MANAGEMENT THAT ISNT EFFICIENT AND COSTLEY AND NEEDS TO RAISE MONEY BY CHARGING TO BE IN BUSINEES.
EVERY MONTH WE, THE ENGINEERS, GET A MEETING WITH OUR MANAGER, AND THE NUMBER ONE TOPIC IS HOW TO INCREACE OUR CHARGES. IT'S NOT UNCOMMON TO CHARGE CUSTOMERS ON FAULTS THAT IS THE RESONSIBILTY OF OPENREACH TO REPAIR UNDER THE LINE RENTAL AGREEMENT. MY MUM, A 73 YEAROLD WIDOWER WAS A VICTIM OF OPENREACHES GREED. SHE HAD A FAULT. A NOISY LINE, AND I PROVED THE FAULT TO BE OUTSIDE ON THE NETWORK. BECAUSE OF THIS I TOLD HER SHE SOULD RAISE A FAULT. A COUPLE OF DAYS LATER, A 'COLEAGUE' TURNS UP, REPAIRS THE FAULT, WHICH WAS AN EXTERNAL FAULT UP THE POLE. COUPLE OF MONTHS LATER MY MUM RECIEVES A PHONE BILL WITH ADDITIONAL CHARGES OF £125. ON CONTACTING BT SHE WAS TOLD THAT THE FAULT WAS CHARGEABLE. I WAS VERY ANGRY AS KNEW SHE SHOULDNT HAVE BEEN CHARGED AND CONTACTED CUSTOMER SERVICES AND DEMANDED TO SPEAK TO A MANAGER WHO AGREED THAT CHARGES WOULD BE DROPED. I AND MY COLLEAGUES WITHIN OPENREACH ARE ASHAMED BUT ARE GUILTY OF CHARGING AND I HOPE THAT WATCHDOG AND OFTEL WILL LOOKIN TO THIS AND PUT A STOP TO THIS.
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Two things: 1. I had problems with my BT broadband connection, was reduced to tears by the Indian call centre, got an engineer out after I begged, and found that my router had died, so I didn't get charged. However, I phoned up to ask for a replacement router and BT told me that I would have to pay for a new one! That was the last straw and I ditched BT broadband and went to [removed]. However, BT then told me I would have to pay a 'cease' charge for my broadband because they had to flick a switch to turn it off - despite telling the BT customer service rep that i was recording the call, she told me that once the switch was flicked I would lose my broadband, but as [removed] had already taken over my line, this was obviously a blatant lie. I ended up telling her to flick the switch and I would dispute the 'cease' charge later - I duly did so (more torture with the call centre) and eventually got my refund. If it wasn't for removed] broadband requiring a BT line, I would ditch BT FOREVER - their customer service is the worst i have ever had the misfortune to experience and they do not deserve a single customer until they sort it out.
2. removed] has the BEST customer service I have experienced in a long time and their broadband provision is very good.
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I work for BT, the 151 faults helpdesk so all disputes about Time Related Charges for Engineer visits always come my way.
Personally I think the amount BT charge customers is appauling, granted it has gone down from a call out fee and an hourly charge to just a one off charge of £125 but still this is a lot for most people, especially pensioners and those who earn minimum wage.
Looking a the cases on Watchdog the other night, (except for the Broadband ones) it was quite clear to me that those charges had not been raised by the Engineer but by 'TRC Spotters'.
TRC Spotter? Well as much as BT pretend there is no such thing there is in fact a group of people hidden away in a secret location who go through closed faults to check if TRC (Time Related Charges) should have been raised.
As someone mentioned above if you do get charged incorrectly and have to dispute it don't go through the centre in India to do it as they will not be able to tear themselves away from the script and will insist you have to pay the charge before cutting you off. Oh yeah the call centre in India love to cut customers and other BT departments off in the middle of calls but that is a different complaint.
If all else fails contact Ian Livingston the CEO and express you're dissatisfaction to him [removed for legal reasons].
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I got so sick and tired of the sheer incompetence of BT in its various guises, that I cut off from them totally.
My phone contact is via mobile on a PAYG tariff from Asda - far less per year than I paid BT in line rental and call charges. My Internet access is PAYG or (legally) free at the Internet cafe next door and other WiFi hotspots.
Result? A stress-free life and no lengthy phone conversations with BT Mumbaishire that became circular arguments.
BT - I lost faith in you a long time ago - the sooner you lose your monopoly, the better for all.
Me2
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On moving in to a flat March this year we were told by BT we would have to pay £122 for an engineer to set up our line at the exchange as there had never been a BT line there before. This meant we had to wait 2 weeks for a phone line, but on plugging in our phone we discovered there was a dial tone and we could receive incoming calls, presumably from the phone still being set up with the previous provider.
I mentioned this to the engineer when he came but he was not interested. He spent five minutes testing the line, and five minutes up at the exchange box at the top of the road shaking his head and looking confused (I passed him on my way to work).
A few weeks later I got a BT bill through my door and without thinking opened it presuming it must be for us… but it was for the previous tenant! Their telephone line had been with BT after all. It took two very angry phone calls to BT’s call centre before they agreed to refund the £122, but even then only as their infamous ‘goodwill gesture’ and, initially, only as credit on our bill, though I was able to persuade them it should be refunded back to our bank account in the end.
They would not admit they had made a mistake. They would not admit the engineer deliberately covered up what he found when he visited. In the face of being confronted with the undeniable factual evidence of either their incompetence or criminal behaviour in the form of this bill they squirmed and blustered and tried to frighten me off with all sorts of pseudo technical nonsense.
I told them I would not remain their customer from March 2010 when our contract ended and they offered me a discount, but I told them dealing with a company that wasn’t corrupt and deceitful was worth more than the money.
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last year we were having trouble with cross lines and interferance for weeks, then the line went dead, i rang bt and did the equipment checks they advised me to do and nothing happened so they sent out an engineer. he told me that i had a problem at the back where the line came in one at the front socket and also at the main junction.He didn't change anything inside or re-wire anything and my line came back on after he went to the main junction situated a few streets away. A couple of weeks later i received a bill for the month in excess of £200. i contacted bt and was told that the engineer had logged the problem as 'a loop' and i was liable to pay the engineer costs. i contacted the complaints department and they told me that it would take months to resolve in the mean time i was getting demands for the money. i cancelled my account with them after many phone calls. When i then tried to sign up with another company i was told that my line was faulty and needed renewing! when i contacted bt again they said that it wasn't their problem and had nothing to do with them as i was no longer a customer, i wanted to no exactly what i paid the bill for if the line was still no good, i received no explaination and they never bothered to contact me.
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Back in August 2007 I had a problem with my line and called the engineer. I was told I had a faulty wire from outside to the main junction box and there would be no charge as it was their responsibility up to that point.
Novembers bill came in and I was horrified to see that they had charged me £223.10. I contacted BT and they said the charge was for an internal fault after the junction box. I knew this was incorrect as all my internal lines are under the carpets and they still are, as they wont put them back under. However my new line is in full view from the door and across the wall to the cupboard where my junction box is. I requested a copy of the engineers report.
By end of November I still hadnt received anything and was then told there was a charge for the report.The lady I spoke to told me they were still looking into it but there should be no charge for this wiring.
However on the 1st December I got a call from the previous lady I spoke to and she said that the rest of the bill still stood.When I enquired what the 'rest' of the bill was, she told me a call out fee. Now this was the first time, right back to me requesting an engineer that I had actually been told there was a call out fee. Why why should I pay this as it was on their part of the line?
The finally I got a letter threatening a late payment charge,being cut off and a reconnection fee etc. I felt I had no choice to pay it as I didnt want to be blackmarked as I know (through my work) what a problem it is to clear your credit rating once a debt has been loaded against you.
I moved from BT straight away.
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I am with post office home phone, but a few months ago, Bt openreach were asked to have a look at my line as I could'nt use the phone at all. The problem was where the box had been placed BEFORE I moved in, was right outside the bathroom and the damp and steam was coroding the wires insde the box. 3 engineers came out to look at it. In the end I had to ask them to move the box and wire through my bedroom wall and in to the living room. My husband is disabled and I m his carer I also have a child and my mother is on her own,we need the phone for emergencys. The last engineer who came out was lovely, but even he agreed BT charge far too much.Post office sent me a bill for £291, inc my usual bill and extra charges. My mum had the exact same problem with the phone connection box put in the bathroom before she moved in. BT also charged her to have it fixed.
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My phone worked but not the internet, was told to check my equipment, i did again and again and again (you get the picture)but still after more than 7 weeks of continuous calling and getting someone else to be told it would cost me around £160 for someone to come out and check the line.
I have a number of computers in the house and non would connect. the engineer came out and did a check to find the fault on the line at the exchange and not near the house
I was offered only £10 for the hassle and no i was not sent the bill for the £160, but after again weeks of calling nothing materised on the £10 and to be honest an insult
I have since moved from BT to another company with no problems and will never go back to them.
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In June 2008 we complained about an on going fault ourselves and our neighbours were experiencing (phone cut out mid conversation) coupled with loss of broadband when raining. Engineers agreed there was a fault on the line but were unable to find it due to its intermittant nature and we were twice charged £99 call out charge even though engineers assured us it was definately a line fault. After they transfered the fault to our neighbour they too complained and were told same and charged £99. We refused to pay and had charges withdrawn, but were told no more charges would be withdrawn, so we feel we cannot complain anymore about heavy rain cutting off broadband...etc.
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I second Chriscardiff's comment. Ofcom seem to be doing their best to avoid dealing with a number of issues (not just this one).
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The really appalling thing is that BT is far from the worst telco for customer service and bogus charges, but the British consumer seems apathetic enough to lay down and take the "service".
Stronger, more proactive enforcement of regulations is required. Given the current mess in that department I don't hold out much hope of such issues becoming as rare as they should be.
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I had a problem with my phone line and i called bt they sent an engineer who said the was outside he did not fix the problem and i could not make or recieve calls and the engineer said no bill would be sent for the repairs as he could not fix the problem then bt still sent me a bill for 158.30 i refuse to pay and they sent baliff and i payed the baliffs want can i do get my money back for a job not done
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I called BT for an engineer to fix my incoming line. I accept responsibility for the damage to that line.
I don't accept a bill for £313 for less than an hours work. It is completely out of proportion to the skill level required and clearly an abuse of BT's monopoly position. I hope Ofcom will help.
I was unable to avoid payment because BT simply extracted funds from my quarterly line rental direct debit. No chance then for me to query why I landed 2 lots of £99-00 per hour (on top of my £115-00 call out) when the chap was here for less than an hour.
I don't intend to let it drop and would recommend others follow suit.
By the way, consider carefully whether it is a good idea to offer your engineer a cup of tea. The £99-00 is per hour OR PART THEREOF. It could very well cost you £100.
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i used to work for BT as a faults advisor and a disputed charge advisor, i have to agree that their charges are rediculously high, to clear up any confusion BT are responsible for maintaining the line upto and including the first main socket in the property anything after this including equipment and internal wiring is maintained by the customer, the exception to this is if any BT maintained wiring within the property boundaries including external overhead wires that run through your garden is damaged by trees, fire, contractors etc. BT will then charge for this. lightening strikes are different the reason BT charge for these and the only time they will charge is if the lightening has caused a power surge with your phone in the property that then causes the phone to damage the BT wiring and bt will charge as it is technically the customers owned equipment that has caused the damage, although they do cahrge for work they shouldnt because they have to meet their targets, if you have been charged incorrectly the disputed charges team are more than willing to take the charges off as they shouldnt have been raised. unfortuanetly when incorrect charges are raised it does take time to remove them as an investigation needs to be looked into. also when a fault call is made and BT say they will send out an engineer teh advisor will always make the customer aware of the charges and what is charged for and what is not if you have not been advised of the charges then ask the disputed charges advisor to listen to the call and if they find you was not advised the charges will automatically be removed however if you where advised the charge will be maintained if raised corectly
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On 02.04.09 and engineer attended my premises to repair my phone line. The problem was with the wires in their Master Socket.
On 26.05.09 they billed me for the repair £309.35 plus the normal account, when queried they stated the wires were damp. We have underground wiring therefore this is beyond my control and should not be my problem. I wrote and queried this account and never received a reply. I then e mailed them on 16.06.09 and have had many e mails stating why they should charge me since this date. I have been disconnected twice and reconnected whilst the complaint was been checked. When the repair was carried out the socket was left hanging off the wall and my caller display machine cable was broken. The socket was evenually rescrewed and the cable replaced although they state that it was fair wear and tear. They ignored the fact they left the machine hanging off the table by its wire. I have photos of this work and the rubbish left behind. I received an e mail on 09.07.09 stating that they would come back to me. I am still awating a reply.
On 16.10.09 I received another account bring forward this amount together with two charges for recoonection and late payment charges.
totalling £36.25 The account is for the period 12May-11 Aug plus accounts broght forward and includes calls charges up to 14.10.09. One week later I received a reminder dated 16.10.09 for the original account stating that a late payment charge would be added if not paid.
I have complained again to BT but as yet have had not response.
I complained to Otello on 07.07.09 by e mail but have not had a reply to this either.
Should I complain to Ofcom I am a pensioner and cannot afford these large accounts BT have been informed of this. I have copies of all e mails and photographs as previously stated. BT will not accept payment for the line rental and calls they state this is part payment of the account as they deem the full amount is now due.
This is not the first time this type of error has been made by BT. When there was a problem with my phone line a few years ago they tried to charge me for disconnecting a faulty extension socket. I do not have and have never had an extension socket. They dropped this charge.
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I had the exact same thing as described in the feature occur approximately 18 months ago. There was a fault with the line. We phoned BT and followed the operators instructions to carry out a simple line test, at this point the operator informed me that there was no obvious fault with the line and that it appeared to be a problem with the external line (owned by BT and that it was their responsibilty for it's maintanence and upkeep). Sure enough an engineer came out and could find no fault with the line within the house. He explained to my housemate that the fault was with the line outside the house on the street and then spent approximately 10/15 minutes apparently repairing the fault at the box upon the telegraph pole on the street. He assure us that BT would pay for the repair......
...Sure enough a few weeks later we recieved a bill demanding payment for all of the repair work costing around £350-400 extra upon our regular bill!! Understandably we appealed this but it took multiple phone calls and adamant resistance from BT that we had to pay the fee in full. It was obviously a distressing time and caused considerable stress and frustration. Sadly not everyone may have the stength of conviction to appeal these things, which is pretty sad. BT did revoke all payments for the repair in the end but we never recieved any appology or compensation of any kind! Thanks.
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In May, I purchased a BT Mobile Broadband Dongle for my laptop. It would not work. It took no less than 30 PHONE CALLS TO BT BEFORE SOMEONE KNEW WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT. There they were advertising BT Mobile Broadband on TV, but nobody at BT had a clue what it was and how to make it work and the instructions leaflet enclosed with the part were useless. I was going bonkers. BT have their call centres in India and these poor guys on the other end of the phone didn't haver a clue. In the end I rang BT's head office who STILL had no idea and it wasn't until I blew my top and screamed at them, that they put me through to a senior tech guy and guess what, he didn't know how it worked either, BUT, he knew a man who could make it work. This chap rang me at 8.00pm the following evening and we painstakingly took over an hour to finally make the dongle work on my machine. I breathed a sigh of relief but not for long, because I received a bill from BT for over £300 itemising the phone call as a Technical Consultation. I told them to stuff it where the sun don't shine and haven't heard a word since. That has got to be the most frustrating experience of my life,
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I have had to ring BT 4 times to get them to send me a paper bill I need to claim back £300 I was charged for some work when workmen damaged my line.
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Jamie is correct to a point, but I have to add that the E/U, ( end users ) BT and other telecoms customers could be renting their extensions in the house, so if a fault is on the extension wiring or socket there will be no charges. But some engineers do not know the full rental and could charge.
At the end of the day BT is a PLC company, and has to be seen to be making money for the shateholders. As reguards to the houly call out charge, you are not only paying for the engineer on site but the cost of getting to the property, other staff costs etc etc. How much is the houly labour when you take a car in for a service at the pain dealer. I just had a filling done ( ok we the engineers aren't skilled ) but the dentist took 10 mins max and charged me £75, and my lawyer charges £650/hour
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I had a dead landline problem though my broadband still worked ok. BT investigated the fault and I was initially advised that it was a fault in the exchange. This progressed to being a line fault somewhere near my home. Finally, to the problem actually being in my home.
I then received a call from the engineer on my mobile phone to advise me that the fault was "definitely" in my home. When I told him that I thought not, he asked me why I thought that. When I informed him that I had removed the front from the NTE5 master socket, thus disconnecting my extension sockets and that currently there wasn't anything actually plugged into the master test socket either, he went quiet for a few seconds, then replied "Oh.....err.....right....ok....I'll mark the fault as closed, then" and hung up. Needless to say, when everything was plugged back in, all worked normally once again.
Had I let the engineer into my home, a chargeable 'fault' would have been found, even though none actually existed.
Sharp practice? I think so.
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We moved to our new house in March this year, since then we have had been billed 4 times for engineers to call at £130 a time. The first time the chap telephoned us from the next village and said the wind was the reason that our internet would not work, he did not even call to the house, the 2nd time a chap told me that there was a fault 56 meters away fromt he house and then left, again being charged the £130, another engineer called and just fiddled about with wires, in the end i asked if a level 1 engineer could call, BT said that there was no such thing, but sure enough a level 1 engineer was sent out to us and the fault was in a juction box 3 miles away. Now the problem is finally sorted.
I just cannot wait for my contract to end as I will be changing provider.
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I had a dead BT landline fault, though my broadband was still working ok. On a Saturday afternoon a BT engineer phoned me on my mobile to tell me that he'd repaired my landline fault. He then continued to tell me that a DSL engineer was working in the locality and he'd get him to check my broadband connection. I told him that it was working fine but he assured me it wouldn't do any harm to have it checked, anyway.
Shortly after, the DSL engineer arrived, checked my connection at the master socket and advised me that my connection was fine. As he was leaving, he turned and said "Oh, by the way, this callout is chargeable"! I replied that I thought not as a DSL engineer could only be called out by my internet provider and, as I hadn't had a problem with my broadband, they couldn't have called him out.
A few weeks later, on checking my bank account, I found that BT had debited my account £141.00 (£120.00 + VAT). I was absolutely furious and immediately contacted BT. Eventually, but only after several weeks of 'investigation', my bank account was finally credited £141.00 by them. This should never have happened in the first place.
The moral? Don't trust BT.
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I work for BT and it seems to me that the current management do not care about anything other than profits to feed their greedy little faces. They spout on about getting things right first time when they have not got a clue. They are demorilising the workforce with their style of management which seems to be from the dark ages.
If you suspect a fault on your telephone line try disconnecting all the phones and just plug a telephone into the master socket. If you feel competant enough unscrew this socket to check it is not damp which could cause a fault. If you then think it is a fault outside call BT and you should not be charged but check this when you report a fault and request the name of the person you reported the fault to. If you think the fault lies inside the house look in the local paper for an ex-Bt engineer that will not charge you anywhere as much as the BT call out fee. As people have already stated Openreach repair the lines for most CP's not just BT.
BT have always had problems with communication with customers due to the size of the company and mistakes will happen but please remember that the engineers are not the ones to complain about it is the faceless management that cause all the problems. I am sure most engineers would not want to raise charges unless they have no other choice.
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