BT line down, how do you get a refund?

BT customer service guarantee scheme

Our guarantee

1. The guarantee covers Calling Plans on BT Telephony services, Low Loss Exchange Lines, BT Basic, Light User Scheme, In Contact Plus and Payphone Lines with some exceptions and variations as set out in paragraphs 16 to 22 below.

We guarantee:

1. to provide the service by the date we agree with you;
2. to repair a service failure in line with the repair service you have chosen, normally this means by midnight on the third weekday (not including public and bank holidays) after the day you report the fault to us unless a specific appointment date is agreed. We will treat a fault reported after 9pm on a weekday, or anytime at weekends or on public or bank holidays, as if you reported the fault at 8am on the next weekday after the day you reported the fault to us.
3. not to disconnect the service by mistake; and
4. to keep any appointment we make with you under this agreement.

By service failure, we mean the continuous total loss of the facility to make or receive a phone call, or of any other facility we provide to you, due to a fault in any part of BT's network up to and including the main telephone socket for your property.

1. The guarantee does not apply if:

1. someone other than BT has caused the fault;
2. we ask to come onto your property and you do not allow us to; or
3. we reasonably ask for other help and you do not give it.

1. If we are late in providing the service or repairing a service failure, you may choose either of the following.

1. Call diversion, which is described in paragraphs 6 to 10 below. This is only available if it is reasonably practical, and sometimes technical restrictions may prevent us from offering you this option. If you make calls with another calls provider and you choose call diversion under this customer service guarantee scheme, you may be charged by your pre-selected call provider for the diverted leg of calls at that provider's current rates.
2. Daily-rate rental credit or actual financial loss, which is described in paragraphs 11 and 12 below. You may choose either daily-rate rental credit or actual financial loss (or both).

1. If we disconnect the service by mistake, you may claim daily rate rental credit or actual financial loss (or both) from the date we disconnect it.
2. If we do not keep an appointment, you may claim a fixed amount of £10.

Call diversion

1. If you choose call diversion, we will divert your incoming calls, if you ask, to another fixed line or mobile phone number that you choose. Once we have provided the service or repaired the service failure, we will cancel your call diversion.
2. The number you choose must be a UK number, but there are some numbers which we will not divert your calls to (for example, 0800 and 0870 numbers). The full list is shown in paragraph 16 below.
3. If we divert your calls to a mobile number, the person calling you will not have to pay any extra costs for making that call.
4. As well as providing a call diversion, for each line diverted to a mobile number we will pay you a call allowance for each whole or part day we are late in providing the service or repairing a service failure. The amount is £1 (including VAT) a day.
5. If your losses are greater than the amount you may receive as a call allowance, you may also claim actual financial loss, as described in paragraph 12 below. However, this does not apply to any extra mobile call charges you run up within five days of us not keeping to our guarantee.

Daily rate rental credit or actual financial loss
The choice

1. Daily-rate rental credit is the amount we will credit you for each whole or part day we are late in providing the service or repairing a service failure and for each line affected. It is equal to the daily charge of your rentals for each day that applies. The daily charge is four times the rental charge for three months (including VAT) divided by 365. Payment for extra care packages is not included in this. If you claim this, you will not have to prove your loss. If you suffer extra losses, you may also claim actual financial loss as described in paragraph 12.
2. Actual financial loss is the amount you lose that could reasonably be foreseen (expected) as a result of us not keeping to our guarantee. If you claim this, you will have to show us proof of your loss. The amount we agree that is due to you will not include or be subject to VAT.

The limits

1. The maximum amount we will credit or pay you is £1000 for each line affected in any 12-month period as set out in the standard terms. This does not include our responsibilities if you die, suffer personal injury or suffer loss or damage to physical property as a result of our negligence.

How we will pay you

1. We will normally take any amounts that we owe you off your next phone bill. However, we may agree to pay actual financial loss payments by cheque if you ask.

How to make a claim

1. You must make your claim within four months of us putting things right. For actual financial loss, you must claim in writing. Please ask for a claim form.

Variations

1. Call diversion is not available to customers of In Contact Plus and BT Pay&Call, and will not be provided for BT calling features and network features and to numbers beginning with 00, 08, 09, 070, 076, 0500 or 07744.
2. Daily-rate rental credit will not apply to any BT calling feature that is provided free of charge and fails. This includes BT calling features that are provided as part of the BT Working Together and BT Working Together Talk packages.
3. If you take a BT calling feature as part of a line-rental package and there is a service failure, we will not pay daily-rate rental credit on the BT calling feature part of the package.
4. If a BT calling feature is part of a calling features package and one or more services experience a service failure, we will work out the daily-rate rental credit using the BT calling features package rental.
5. We will not pay any daily-rate rental credit on any pay-per-use BT calling features.
6. If you are a BT Pay&Call customer, we guarantee to repair a service failure by midnight on the third weekday (not including public and bank holidays) after the day you report the fault to us. You will not be able to choose an alternative repair service. We will treat a fault reported after 9pm on a weekday, or anytime at weekends or on public or bank holidays, as if you reported the fault at 8am on the next weekday after the day you reported the fault to us.
7. If you are a BT Pay&Call customer, we will normally pay any amounts due to you into your prepay account. However, in some circumstances we will pay actual financial loss payments by cheque. We may first take all or part of any money you owe us.