BT Charge £130 For Fault Caused By Their Own Equipment
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wagi
Posts: 14 Forumite
in Phones & TV
Ever since the installation of a new BT line, we have had constant crackling on the line during phone calls.
We called BT and they told us that they would send out an engineer, but if there was no fault with the line, then we would have to pay £130.
The engineer told us that the line was fine and suggested that we get a new telephone, which we did.
However, as we suspected, the new telephone made little difference and we were billed the £130.
After numerous calls to BT and trying to understand the foreign call centre workers, BT are still adamant that they will not reimburse us for the engineer's visit.
During the engineer's visit we demonstrated how removing the BT wireless router from one of the telephone sockets greatly improved the telephone reception, but he told us that he was just here to test the line and that would be another issue.
The crackling on the line is so bad sometimes that you just cannot hear the person on the phone, however BT seem to think that it has nothing to do with them.
Even with the broadband unplugged, the crackling remains, although nowhere near as bad.
We arranged for an independent engineer to come out and resolve the issue with the crackling telephone line and he determined that the fault was caused by the broadband router.
After calling the BT helpline to demonstrate to the engineer the problem with the noise on the line, he unplugged the broadband and the noise cleared. We used the BT helpline to demonstrate the problem because it takes approximately 20 minutes for them to answer !
The following day I called BT and after waiting approximately 20 minutes spoke with someone from the other side of the world that I could barely understand. After describing the problem, he said that he would need to speak with the broadband department and he would have to wait in a queue - another 15 minutes past.
The BT operator said that he was very sorry for the problem and I asked for a refund of the £130 engineer fee - seeing that the problem had been caused by BT equipment all along.
The operator said that he would make sure that the refund was paid and transferred to my account.
Five minutes later my mobile phone rang - it was an Indian BT operator saying that he was very sorry, but I would have to speak with the billing department to get the refund.
I asked if I could be put straight through, but he said that I would have to queue again - by this time I had been on the phone for one and a quarter hours. Finally I got through to a woman that I could barely understand. I asked to speak to an English speaking person because I couldn't understand what she was saying. The line went dead for another five minutes then she came back on and I just said I wanted a refund for the engineers fee. She said that she just needed to check some more details - the line went dead again for another five minutes. I had been on the phone for 1 hour 20 minutes by now.
Five minutes later the woman operator came back on the phone to tell me that she could not give me a refund and she would have to transfer me to another department - the line went dead again.
Five minutes later music came on the phone - I was obviously placed in another queue!
Five minutes later the woman from India came back on the line and told me that she was transferring me to an English speaking person - more music.
Five minutes later an English speaking person came on the line to tell me that he wished he could help me, but he was not from the billing department and would have to transfer me - more music!
Total time on the phone so far - 1 hour 45 minutes!
Five minutes later the English speaking man came on the line to say he was having a word with somebody in accounts to get the refund sorted - more music.
Eventually a woman from Cardiff came on the line to say that she was going to investigate the charge and get back to me - total time on the phone 1 hour 55 minutes and problem still not resolved.
Fifteen minutes later, the woman from Cardiff phoned to say that she had reviewed the case and because the fault had been caused by their broadband equipment and not their phone line she would not give a refund.
So in a nutshell, BT think it is OK to send out an engineer and charge £130 to test the phone line, when all along it is obvious the line fault is caused by their BT router - work that one out.
After all the effort and stress of going through this process we still have a phone line that we can not use unless we unplug the BT router.
We called BT and they told us that they would send out an engineer, but if there was no fault with the line, then we would have to pay £130.
The engineer told us that the line was fine and suggested that we get a new telephone, which we did.
However, as we suspected, the new telephone made little difference and we were billed the £130.
After numerous calls to BT and trying to understand the foreign call centre workers, BT are still adamant that they will not reimburse us for the engineer's visit.
During the engineer's visit we demonstrated how removing the BT wireless router from one of the telephone sockets greatly improved the telephone reception, but he told us that he was just here to test the line and that would be another issue.
The crackling on the line is so bad sometimes that you just cannot hear the person on the phone, however BT seem to think that it has nothing to do with them.
Even with the broadband unplugged, the crackling remains, although nowhere near as bad.
We arranged for an independent engineer to come out and resolve the issue with the crackling telephone line and he determined that the fault was caused by the broadband router.
After calling the BT helpline to demonstrate to the engineer the problem with the noise on the line, he unplugged the broadband and the noise cleared. We used the BT helpline to demonstrate the problem because it takes approximately 20 minutes for them to answer !
The following day I called BT and after waiting approximately 20 minutes spoke with someone from the other side of the world that I could barely understand. After describing the problem, he said that he would need to speak with the broadband department and he would have to wait in a queue - another 15 minutes past.
The BT operator said that he was very sorry for the problem and I asked for a refund of the £130 engineer fee - seeing that the problem had been caused by BT equipment all along.
The operator said that he would make sure that the refund was paid and transferred to my account.
Five minutes later my mobile phone rang - it was an Indian BT operator saying that he was very sorry, but I would have to speak with the billing department to get the refund.
I asked if I could be put straight through, but he said that I would have to queue again - by this time I had been on the phone for one and a quarter hours. Finally I got through to a woman that I could barely understand. I asked to speak to an English speaking person because I couldn't understand what she was saying. The line went dead for another five minutes then she came back on and I just said I wanted a refund for the engineers fee. She said that she just needed to check some more details - the line went dead again for another five minutes. I had been on the phone for 1 hour 20 minutes by now.
Five minutes later the woman operator came back on the phone to tell me that she could not give me a refund and she would have to transfer me to another department - the line went dead again.
Five minutes later music came on the phone - I was obviously placed in another queue!
Five minutes later the woman from India came back on the line and told me that she was transferring me to an English speaking person - more music.
Five minutes later an English speaking person came on the line to tell me that he wished he could help me, but he was not from the billing department and would have to transfer me - more music!
Total time on the phone so far - 1 hour 45 minutes!
Five minutes later the English speaking man came on the line to say he was having a word with somebody in accounts to get the refund sorted - more music.
Eventually a woman from Cardiff came on the line to say that she was going to investigate the charge and get back to me - total time on the phone 1 hour 55 minutes and problem still not resolved.
Fifteen minutes later, the woman from Cardiff phoned to say that she had reviewed the case and because the fault had been caused by their broadband equipment and not their phone line she would not give a refund.
So in a nutshell, BT think it is OK to send out an engineer and charge £130 to test the phone line, when all along it is obvious the line fault is caused by their BT router - work that one out.
After all the effort and stress of going through this process we still have a phone line that we can not use unless we unplug the BT router.
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Comments
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You are getting noise on your phone as the microfilter you are using is possibly faulty.
Have you tried a new microfitler?
Also try double filtering the phone side that usually does help.
Unfortunately it is the equipment on your side of the demarcation point causing the problems so you are liable for this charge.
The engineers are a completely different company to BT retail even though they all belong under the BT group.0 -
We have replaced the filters and that made little difference - the filters and broadband router were all supplied by BT.0
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As it stands, noise on the line was not caused by BT's circuit, and there was no fault for that engineer to repair, so because it was an abortive callout the fee is correctly charged. It is incidental that the router may have caused the issue, but this has no bearing on the service on the line.
As you were advised of the charge, it cannot be disputed now. The only solution is a goodwill gesture, which you have asked for - but if they don't there is little else you can do, except drive a hard bargain when tey want to retain your custom (as your issue is with BB, not the network).0 -
A high resistance disconnection fault on the line may cause audible noise on the line when you run ADSL over it, but sound clear when you disconnect the router. Try searching for 'HR Dis' online and read examples of this.
The problem is that BT will only investigate noise on a line without broadband equipment attached (to eliminate faulty broadband equipment) and the Internet Supplier will only investigate dropped internet connections. There does not seem to be any allowance for faults caused by the co-existance.
Is your internet connection dropping out? If so that may have been the better 'attack vector' to get this investigated properly.0 -
I'm sorry, but I think some of the replies are missing the point here.
We pay BT a monthly subscription for broadband and phone.
The BT broadband is interfering with the phone.
We don't expect to pay for a BT engineer to come out, charge £130 and not fix the problem.
"The engineers are a completely different company to BT retail even though they all belong under the BT group."
Out monthly bill is paid to BT. It's their equipment - they should fix it.
"A high resistance disconnection fault on the line may cause audible noise on the line when you run ADSL over it, but sound clear when you disconnect the router. Try searching for 'HR Dis' online and read examples of this"
We are not interested in why or how to fix the problem - that should be down to BT. They are supplying the service and we are paying for it. If you paid a plumber to fit a central heating system that didn't work properly, you wouldn't expect to have to dismantle the boiler and repair it yourself.0 -
Afraid I am with the rest, the charge should stay.
It was your equipment that caused the fault even if it was supplied by BT.0 -
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Ever since the installation of a new BT line, we have had constant crackling on the line during phone calls.
We called BT and they told us that they would send out an engineer, but if there was no fault with the line, then we would have to pay £130.
The engineer told us that the line was fine and suggested that we get a new telephone, which we did.
However, as we suspected, the new telephone made little difference and we were billed the £130.
After numerous calls to BT and trying to understand the foreign call centre workers, BT are still adamant that they will not reimburse us for the engineer's visit.
During the engineer's visit we demonstrated how removing the BT wireless router from one of the telephone sockets greatly improved the telephone reception, but he told us that he was just here to test the line and that would be another issue.
The crackling on the line is so bad sometimes that you just cannot hear the person on the phone, however BT seem to think that it has nothing to do with them.
Even with the broadband unplugged, the crackling remains, although nowhere near as bad.
We arranged for an independent engineer to come out and resolve the issue with the crackling telephone line and he determined that the fault was caused by the broadband router.............................
Unfortunately BT have not been very helpful with your problem. Explain your dissatisfaction via e-mail to [EMAIL="ian.livingston@bt.com"]ian.livingston@bt.com[/EMAIL] - this is the best way to resolve your issue quickly.:doh: Blue text on this forum usually signifies hyperlinks, so click on them!..:wall:0 -
Thanks for the link expresso - I will send him an email.
Judging from some of the other responses, there's obviously quite a few BT employees who hang out in this forum.
We've now resigned ourselves to unplugging the broadband when anybody calls or we have to make a call - we will switch provider from BT as soon as another one is available in our area.
We will post our reviews on the internet, which will cost BT a lot more than the £130 they stole from us.
Sorry, but we are old school - if we're paying for a service, we expect it to work properly0 -
Hi wagi,
I am sorry to hear of the problems you've had with this fault.
If you want, you can contact us directly through our "Contact us" link and we'll look into this for you. You can find it on my profile page by clicking on my username.
Thanks,
Stephanie“Official Company Representative
I am the official company representative of BT. MSE has given permission for me to post in response to queries about the company, so that I can help solve issues. You can see my name on the companies with permission to post list. I am not allowed to tout for business at all. If you believe I am please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com This does NOT imply any form of approval of my company or its products by MSE"0
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