BT "Free" charge that is now not free

lizardbouy

So.... we had a fault on our BT line due to a powercut, a BT engineer came out and told us categorically it would be free to fix. I asked him to confirm with his manager which he did whilst I watched him. He then confirmed again to me it was free to fix as it wasn't our fault.

Three months later I'm billed £189.88 for this free call.

I was gob-smacked! I've called them to go through it and first of all they told me wife "The manager has recinded his decision" so I phoned up today to be told that even though the man BT sent in a BT van and a BT uniform said he was from BT and said it would be free and his manager said it would be free apparently he is a contractor and can make no such promises. If I had known there was a charge I would not have proceed and would have fixed the problem a different way.

It drives me mad that these big companies can just say one thing to your face, in your home and then change their mind later and just send you a bill. I am disgusted in BT and am now looking at all other options for my line rental.

I post this as a warning to others. If someone from BT comes into your house (firstly remember they are probably not BT) and tells you the call is free be very doubtful. Try and get something in writing or call back into BT to get them to record it on your file.

dashforth

Continue to dispute the charge. Ask for a copy of the engineer's report.

Wildcat_SEO

As already said I would def dispute the charge. I had a similar problem and the fee was eventually deducted from my bill after numerous calls to them explaining the situation.

Good Luck

lizardbouy

Thanks for the hints. The engineers report is a great idea. I'll do that when the "manager" calls me back.

iniltous

What sort of fault can be caused on a BT line by a power cut ??
If your property suffered a power cut then the telephone line should be unaffected as the power to run the line and an ordinary corded phone is supplied by the telephone exchange, if you have a cordless phone that plugs into the mains then that would stop working but should start working again when the power is restored

lizardbouy

There is some sort of capacitor in the first socket in your house. BT Engineer confirmed is was due to powercut and it happened at exactly the same time as the powercut. I'm no expert but it's a fact.

BT_company_representative

Hi lizardbouy

I understand your frustration. I hope the manager has resolved this for you if not send your telephone and account number to my PM and I'll check it out.

Linda
BT Support

Jemma-T

BT_company_representative wrote:

I hope the manager has resolved this for you if not send your telephone and account number to my PM and I'll check it out.

People shouldn't be sending any private info to PMs. That's very silly.

Email is about as private as a postcard but at least it gets posted. PMs can lie around for years especially on these boards which have a long history of security problems.

I bet people wouldn't PM their credit card numbers so protect your other business too. MSE need to make a few rules about this with reps.

lizardbouy

In brief....

Manager called, told me I had to pay, had none of the facts that I'd told the previous three people. I re-told my story - she went away for 10 mins and then called me back and waived the charges.

So a victory but a pointless waste of time as it should have never been charged.

PNPSUKNET

Bt dont do any of their own work, I used to contract doing bt home it , the contract out to anova and then they contract on again. The exchange is done by openreach. Best thing is engineers are on £15 p/h you get charged £90 p/h first hour then think it was £30 per h/hour on top more for weekend and evenings though.