Landlord and BT and third party: lengthy!

carolinosourus

Hi all, I've also posted this on the "buying, renting and selling" forum but was wondering if anyone over here had any thoughts/views?

Basically, we're renting at the moment and had to activate a line via BT when we moved in and split the £120 cost with our current LL. That's not the problem.

We're moving to a new (old) flat at the beginning of October and started thinking about moving the phone and internet and hoping that we wouldn't have to pay another £60 or £120. So the LL called me on Sunday 13/09 at about 7.30pm asking whether we wanted him to sort all that out as he has a phone company that would only charge £99 for the line connection rather than what BT charge (£120). I said we would think about it, he asked me to let him know what we wanted to do by next Monday/Tuesday. I took that to be by 21st or 22nd.

OH called BT on Monday 14/09 to find out what we would have to do about paying for a new line when we move, we would have to change our number as it was from a new exchange or something, which we were happy about (as we keep getting calls for a company called Sapphire Cosmetics). So he called BT and they said that as the line had been active in the past 3 years they wouldn't have to charge us like they did last time, which we were really pleased about.

I appreciate that I should have let the LL know immediately, however I had an exam on Monday 21/09 which was much more pressing for my attention. So I called him on Tuesday 22/09 (the last day that he wanted us to let him know whether to proceed) to let him know that we had spoken to BT and they said that they would not have to charge us as there had been this active line. He seemed pleased for us, and that was that.

However, on Wednesday 23/09 OH received an email from him which had a forwarded email from what we presume was the phone company that he was going on about saying that he owed them £99 plus VAT and the reason BT was not going to charge us anything was because this phone company had already activated the line! :eek:

However, this line must have been activated before Monday 14/09 which is well before we let him know if we wanted to proceed with his company or BT, as this was the day we spoke to BT and they said that there was an active line, and probably activated before the LL had spoken to me on the Sunday night 13/09.

We called BT this morning to see if they could give us any info on how long the line at this property had been active, and if that phone company had ACTUALLY done anything or whether they were just trying to scam £99 + VAT. BT couldn't tell us anything, apparently all the lines are actually owned by OpenReach and BT can't access info like the info we wanted. The person we spoke to was also shocked regarding the £99 charge from this other company, apparently BT charge £120 + VAT as that is what OpenReach charge them (not totally sure I believe that) as it's usually an OpenReach engineer who will open the connection, not a BT one.

The BT guy also says that they advise the LL to leave it to the tenants who move in to deal with things like this as the bill will invariably be in the LL's name rather than the tenants'.

So basically, we don't think that we should have to pay this, as there was nothing about this charge in the contract and he has really incurred us/himself a charge without our consent.

As far as we were aware, BT informed us the day after he called us the 1st time that there was already an active line at the property, as they can take a couple of days to connect a line, that indicates that he had agreed the connection even before he had spoken to us to ask us the 1st time if we wanted him to do it for us.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Thanks,

Caroline

carolinosourus

Also, OH spoke to the company that he works for, not owns (we discovered, though I think if you say on the phone "I have a company and they can do this..." that may be a little misleading) and we found out that he asked them to "equip" the line in August. We didn't see the flat until 5th or 7th September, didn't show any interest in the flat until the day before we saw it for the first time as we were going to move somewhere else but the landlady pulled out and didn't give a reason, didn't sign the contract until 9th September and don't move in until 3rd October.

Would anyone else seriously expect us to pay this??!

Ypaymore

Is the other company Utility Warehouse/ Telecom Plus by any chance ?

carolinosourus

No, it's M-Line Telecoms.

When my OH spoke to them they actually seemed ok, it's just the LL that we've got a prob with!

Ypaymore

carolinosourus wrote: »

No, it's M-Line Telecoms.

When my OH spoke to them they actually seemed ok, it's just the LL that we've got a prob with!

It want just stop at the connection charge.how about their minimum term,line rental, call prices etc.How would they be billed.

I assume the phone contract is in his name, if he ordered it long before you even thought of renting his flat i dont see how he can insist on you paying it.

carolinosourus

Exactly...

I reckon the agent told him that we were a nice young couple and he's gone "oh ho, let's see what I can get out of them"...

jamie1987

carolinosourus wrote: »

Hi all, I've also posted this on the "buying, renting and selling" forum but was wondering if anyone over here had any thoughts/views?

Basically, we're renting at the moment and had to activate a line via BT when we moved in and split the £120 cost with our current LL. That's not the problem.

We're moving to a new (old) flat at the beginning of October and started thinking about moving the phone and internet and hoping that we wouldn't have to pay another £60 or £120. So the LL called me on Sunday 13/09 at about 7.30pm asking whether we wanted him to sort all that out as he has a phone company that would only charge £99 for the line connection rather than what BT charge (£120). I said we would think about it, he asked me to let him know what we wanted to do by next Monday/Tuesday. I took that to be by 21st or 22nd.

OH called BT on Monday 14/09 to find out what we would have to do about paying for a new line when we move, we would have to change our number as it was from a new exchange or something, which we were happy about (as we keep getting calls for a company called Sapphire Cosmetics). So he called BT and they said that as the line had been active in the past 3 years they wouldn't have to charge us like they did last time, which we were really pleased about.

I appreciate that I should have let the LL know immediately, however I had an exam on Monday 21/09 which was much more pressing for my attention. So I called him on Tuesday 22/09 (the last day that he wanted us to let him know whether to proceed) to let him know that we had spoken to BT and they said that they would not have to charge us as there had been this active line. He seemed pleased for us, and that was that.

However, on Wednesday 23/09 OH received an email from him which had a forwarded email from what we presume was the phone company that he was going on about saying that he owed them £99 plus VAT and the reason BT was not going to charge us anything was because this phone company had already activated the line! :eek:

However, this line must have been activated before Monday 14/09 which is well before we let him know if we wanted to proceed with his company or BT, as this was the day we spoke to BT and they said that there was an active line, and probably activated before the LL had spoken to me on the Sunday night 13/09.

We called BT this morning to see if they could give us any info on how long the line at this property had been active, and if that phone company had ACTUALLY done anything or whether they were just trying to scam £99 + VAT. BT couldn't tell us anything, apparently all the lines are actually owned by OpenReach and BT can't access info like the info we wanted. The person we spoke to was also shocked regarding the £99 charge from this other company, apparently BT charge £120 + VAT as that is what OpenReach charge them (not totally sure I believe that) as it's usually an OpenReach engineer who will open the connection, not a BT one.

The BT guy also says that they advise the LL to leave it to the tenants who move in to deal with things like this as the bill will invariably be in the LL's name rather than the tenants'.

So basically, we don't think that we should have to pay this, as there was nothing about this charge in the contract and he has really incurred us/himself a charge without our consent.

As far as we were aware, BT informed us the day after he called us the 1st time that there was already an active line at the property, as they can take a couple of days to connect a line, that indicates that he had agreed the connection even before he had spoken to us to ask us the 1st time if we wanted him to do it for us.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Thanks,

Caroline

Hi Caroline

Firstly i'm sure that the company can tell if an Openreach engineer came and connected the line for them or BT Retail. Call the company and explain that you are a customers of BT Retail and not their customer. Advise the company that you can send in a copy of the bill from BT Retail that shows the engineer visit charge. Also advise them that they MUST remove this charge or you will have to take this complaint further to OFCOM which regulates all Telecommunication companies in the UK.

BT does not make a profit on the connection charge. Openreach charges BT Retail £122.50 for connecting the line if the engineer has to complete work at the exchange and/or in the property. This charge is passed on to the customer to pay.

Any other problems then let me know as i have many years working in the telecom industry.

:j

Jamie

Ypaymore

jamie1987 wrote: »

Hi Caroline

Firstly i'm sure that the company can tell if an Openreach engineer came and connected the line for them or BT Retail. Call the company and explain that you are a customers of BT Retail and not their customer. Advise the company that you can send in a copy of the bill from BT Retail that shows the engineer visit charge. Also advise them that they MUST remove this charge or you will have to take this complaint further to OFCOM which regulates all Telecommunication companies in the UK.

BT does not make a profit on the connection charge. Openreach charges BT Retail £122.50 for connecting the line if the engineer has to complete work at the exchange and/or in the property. This charge is passed on to the customer to pay.

Any other problems then let me know as i have many years working in the telecom industry.

:j

Jamie

As i read it its the landlord that authorised the connection and he has been billed for this, and he is trying to pass it on to them for payment.

As the bill is not in their name,and they didnt agree to a contract, how can they complain to provider or Ofcom.

carolinosourus

Hi, thanks for all the responses!

Yes, you're right, it is the LL that's trying to pass this charge onto us. We managed to speak to M-Line who were actually quite helpful, OH called and sounded confused as to why there were 2 numbers and managed to find out (a little sneakily) that the line activation/equipping was authorised in August. The property didn't come onto the rental market until around 5th September as we saw it pretty much the day after it came on the market...

We're going to tell him that based on the information we have, we're not paying it. I'm not sure how difficult he'll be about this!

BT_company_representative

Hi Caroline,

Can you PM me a contact number so that I can sort it this out for you.

Thanks,
Jon.

BT Support.

carolinosourus

Thanks Jon, have just PMed you