BT Repair Charges

stumiroquai

I have recently had BT repair my line as it was faulty. After disconnecting everything and putting a master socket on the drop down cable I was still getting a fault. I contacted BT to which I was informed that as it seemed not to be my equipment and sounded like it was a fault before the master socket then I would probably not have to pay a charge. Open Reach came out and replaced the drop down cable saying that it was faulty.
Anyway I recieved a charge of £215 and I was not happy about this as it was a problem with BT's property which I cannot touch. They informed me that the engineer had put in his notes that it was due to a new door being fitted by the council. I was amazed by this as we own our house and I have the same door that I had when I moved in. To top it all, it said that my wife had said this which she informs me the only question the engineer asked her was "have we had a new floor" which I didn't see what this had to do with anything as the cable comes in through the top corner of the front door frame.
After complaining and getting nowhere and being told that because the cable was in my house although it comes in about 6 inches that it is my fault and I have to pay.
Anyone have any ideas on whether this is correct or are they trying to pull a fast one.

macman

If you put in your own master socket then you have been tampering with BT's equipment which may confuse the issue. They are responsible for any fault on the incoming line up to and including the master socket. It's not clear from your post where the original master was, and where in relation to the new master that you have fitted.

Buzby

As you note, faults upstream of the master socket are BT's responsibility - HOWEVER, if the problem is caused by damage to their equipment (the dropwire) due to reckless DIY or gardening, then the fee is correct.

That said, the engineer has been a bit disingenuous - the dropwire has been damaged, but not necessarily by you (unless your wife admitted to it!) so it is worthwhile challenging it, highlighting the engineers other incorrect asumptions.

stumiroquai

Our house was a former council house years ago so if the council replaced the door then and damaged the drop down cable then why would it suddenly decide to break now after all these years. Personally I think that there has been some other fault with it and the engineer is probably doing as he is told and trying to make as many charges as he can get away with.
More info: The master socket is located in my living room and is cabled back to a junction box which is connected to the drop down cable. To make sure the fault was not with the cable going from the junction box to the master socket I removed the master socket and connected it to the drop down cable. That way I knew that the fault lay on that and not on the cable between the junction box and master socket.