BT existing customer faces connection charge for moving home

samay007

Hi, I wonder if you ppl can help. I'm with BT for more than 5 years. I have been paying all my bills through direct debit before and recently changed and been paying quarterly without any missed payments.

I'm about to move to a new home and have requested BT to change details to the new address, they said as the house does not have BT line. they would charge £122.50 as connection fee which can be taken in 6 payment through direct debit.

when i asked for another option, they said they can't do anything on this. only option is to the close the connection which I'm happy to doas i don't want to pay £122 pounds, whereas others do it for small charge (less than £30). my question is...why BT does want to retain their existing customer....they are forcing us to move to other providers.

macman

If the house doesn't physically have a line (can you confirm this?) then they will normally charge you £122.50 for an install. If the line is already there and a master socket installed, but the line has been disconnected at the exchange, they won't always charge you, they key phrase is 'up to £122.50'. It's just to cover themselves in case they need to send an engineer out onsite.
However at present they are offering free installation if you take an 18month contract and meet the qualifying call conditions, see lots of other posts on this board for info about this.

samay007

Hi Mac, Thanks for your reply. I'm not sure whether master socket is installed on that house (i have to find out). but the house has landline with virgin, so i guess it through cable. The BT adviser checked it on the system and said the house does not have BT connection, so they will be charging £122. i would be happy to sign a contract if they do not charge for connection fee.
My problem is, the adviser just cancelled without giving any options. i will go thorugh the other post and see how i can stay with BT.

iniltous

Look at the posts about free connection, you can get a line installed by BT for free but have to accept an 18 month contract, a MSE expert stated that lots of BT staff were unaware of this deal
so persistance may be required until you get to someone in BT who is aware of what they are currently offering the public
http://www.serviceview.bt.com/list/public/current/Notice09_boo/2-FrameworkImpl337855.htm

BT_company_representative

Hi samay007,

Hopefully I can clear up any confusion here:

This current offer was promoted initially to customers who left BT over 12 months ago, but any customer who specifically requests it (regardless of what service provider they are with) can get it if they are eligible.

If you are already signed up to a contract with a special offer, eg, cheaper line rental for 12/18 months, you are not eligible. Having said this, if you are in a contract for your line only (and do not have any offers on the account), you can sign up to this offer (if you require a second line or are a home mover) and you will enter a new 18 month contract. This contract is not a renewable one, so you can sign up to a new deal once it is up.
When signing up to this offer, customers need to be aware that:

- They need to make 10 chargeable, or inclusive calls (as part of the call package) calls per month (30 per quarter) with BT;
- The connection charge (£122.50) will appear on their bill with a credit to cancel it out;
- During the contract period, they cannot take any other contracted offers or deals.

I hope this has helped to clarify the offer. Get in touch if there is anything that I can help with.

Cheers,

Stephanie
BT Support

Altarf

samay007 wrote: »

I'm about to move to a new home and have requested BT to change details to the new address, they said as the house does not have BT line. they would charge £122.50 as connection fee

BT_company_representative wrote: »

This current offer was promoted initially to customers who left BT over 12 months ago, but any customer who specifically requests it (regardless of what service provider they are with) can get it if they are eligible.

And yet another customer that your employers were happy to rip off until they found the information here.

A prime example that you are only accepting people onto this deal if the potential customer tells you about it. Such dual pricing is dishonest as it disadvantages large groups of vulnerable people, such as the elderly, who are much less likely to be aware that BT has these secret offers.

1carminestocky

Altarf wrote: »

And yet another customer that your employers were happy to rip off until they found the information here.

A prime example that you are only accepting people onto this deal if the potential customer tells you about it. Such dual pricing is dishonest as it disadvantages large groups of vulnerable people, such as the elderly, who are much less likely to be aware that BT has these secret offers.

I couldn't agree more. Combine this debacle with the rolling contracts and BT can only be described as...err, better not say. But check out the BT share price and you can see why there's such desparation.

lordreid

I have just had the same problem and I'm very suspicious. The BT customer service rep couldn't explain why there would be a charge as there is certainly a line at the property. It would have to be 'connected at the exchange' which, of course, I have no way of verifying.

Who else charges customers for work they can't prove they have done?

I have a disabled brother who has just moved into his first flat and he was charged too. I queried what work had been done and they eventually credited his account for the £122.50.

I am a lawyer and I cannot see how can they bill without producing any evidence of the work that needs to be done and confirmation that it has been done. It seems nothing more than an outrageous con!

PNPSUKNET

BT seem to be upto this, it used to be if there was a master socket then no charge as long as its in tact. BT can make anything up to charge you, every line has to be activated at the exchange no matter what and for this they rip people off. After the experience my friend has had I would go with virgin they dont charge at the moment and normaly is only £30, bt as normal x4 times the amount

gandalf-2009

Be warned. Whoever you speak to at BT will tell you that the connection charge can be spread over 3 or 6 months and then you will be billed for it all in one go. I have just had this and I am still arguing with BT over it when they took £117 out of my account instead of £45. I pay BT about £500 a year for calls and broadband and then they go and s**w me for £122. But it's there loss, as soon as I'm out of the contracts I'll move everything, we already have cables and sockets in for Virgin so I may well go with them.
I'm surprised the BT advisers that are posting haven't mentioned this thing about spreading payments.
Oh, and of course I didn't receive the usual email telling me that my latest bill was ready to view online, strange that!!

lordreid

After my telephone conversation with BT 'moving dept' (takes the stress out of moving by charging you £122 for work they can't prove has been done!), I made a complaint.

I asked, before I made any decision on what I was going to do, for BT to provide information about the type of work which need to be undertaken to connect me to my new property.

I got a standard email back which said:

"the £122.33 installation charge that has been raised against your BT billing account will be maintained as per your contract terms and conditions. ...........The engineer did carry out some work at the property in order for your line to be amended for your use. In your case, Openreach had used your line in the exchange to connect a new line at another property as it was not being used."

Interesting, as all I have done is have a conversation with the moving team yesterday. Now, they're telling me work has already been undertaken! I rang and it was confirmed no order has been placed and no work undertaken.

At best, their response is mistaken, at worst it is a lie to get me to cough up.

Of course, still no one can explain why it costs the same to make a brand new connection to a new property as it does to change the ownership of an existing line back to BT. Outrageous!