Damp got into BT wiring and worried they will charge £200+ for engineer

boychild

We have a damp problem by our back door and its in the same place that the BT telephone wire comes into the house, there is then a small white box with wiring going to the test socket. Last night we noticed our phone line was dead, and broadband also having intermittent problems too. I did a BT fault check and it claims its a fault within the property. My dad has tested the mainsocket and its still not working, so we are assuming its to do with the damp in the wall and the wiring leading to the main socket. Now I realise that the damp is within my property, but I still cant see how BT justify £200 call out as technically I cant repair it myself and their website states that if we cant repair it ourselves then we shouldnt be charged. Also if im not mistaken Bt dont advise we touch any wiring going into the test socket, just wiring from the test socket to the phone socket.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

macman

BT are responsible for the line up to to the master socket, but if the master is damaged due to a water leak or similar from your property then yes it will be chargeable, the call out is about £125, not £200. From the master socket onwards it is your property and responsibility and you can do what you want.
First thing you need to do is stop the water getting in, as if they change it and it is still getting damp then the problem will recur.
It's possible that if you cure the damp and it dries out it may work again, but obviously no guarantees.

boychild

Thanks for your reply.

I got the charges from BTs website

" Do I have to pay for an engineer visit? For most engineer visits, there is no charge. The call out charge does not apply if the engineer is already visiting the premises to carry out other work. However, there may be a charge if it's something you can fix yourself. So please check your own connections and equipment carefully before arranging a visit by an engineer. When charges do apply, they are: £99.00 plus VAT, (£113.85 inc VAT), call-out charge, then £85.00 an hour (or part of) plus VAT, (£97.75 inc VAT). This is a total of £184.00 plus VAT, (£211.60 inc VAT), for each minimum visit period, which is an hour. "

macman

Looking at this again I'm not clear on whether the damp is getting into the master socket inside the house (in which case it must be down to you), or into a junction box further upstream outside the house (in which case it should be down to BT). However if the latter was caused by accidental damage by you, or preventable deterioration (for example if you had a gutter leaking onto the jb or similar), then they might try and charge it to you.
Either way you have to get them in if the problem is the other side of the master socket, as that is BT's property.

boychild

guess ill just have to get them out and take it from there, one last question, any idea if they can spread the cost out over monthly direct debits or has to be paid in full? ive only just finished paying them the £125 reconnection charge a few months ago!

Heinz

I had a complete loss of voice and ADSL a couple of months back. The Openreach engineer who turned up just attached his equipment to my line OUTSIDE my house and immediately identified the fault as being 156 metres away (as it turned out, in a flooded manhole street away).

BT_company_representative

Hi boychild, after reading your post it seems that you would require a visit from a BT Openreach engineer, as the damp in your property seems to be causing the problem. I must advise that possible charges of £125 may be raised if the fault is found inside your property. If charges were raised you would see them on your next BT bill. May I also advise that if you have the Monthly Payment Plan this charge could be possibly be rolled into a plan that would include the charges of any services i.e. line rental that you already have. If you agree to the possible charges I can arrange an order for an Openreach engineer to call with you.

Regards Rodney

boychild

BT_company_representative wrote: »

Hi boychild, after reading your post it seems that you would require a visit from a BT Openreach engineer, as the damp in your property seems to be causing the problem. I must advise that possible charges of £125 may be raised if the fault is found inside your property. If charges were raised you would see them on your next BT bill. May I also advise that if you have the Monthly Payment Plan this charge could be possibly be rolled into a plan that would include the charges of any services i.e. line rental that you already have. If you agree to the possible charges I can arrange an order for an Openreach engineer to call with you.

Regards Rodney

Hi,

I have had the line tested coming into the property and there is no voltage at all, i believe the voltage should be 48-50. So it would appear that the fault lies outside of the property and not due to the damp like i originally thought. My concern is that an engineer would take one look at the damp problem and say that was the cause, yet i know now that the line is dead before reaching the damp area. Obviously i dont want to incurr charges for a something beyond my control.

Buzby

boychild wrote: »

Hi,

I have had the line tested coming into the property and there is no voltage at all, i believe the voltage should be 48-50. So it would appear that the fault lies outside of the property and not due to the damp like i originally thought. My concern is that an engineer would take one look at the damp problem and say that was the cause, yet i know now that the line is dead before reaching the damp area. Obviously i dont want to incurr charges for a something beyond my control.

Yiou really would have a problem then. You only get 50v when the line is RINGING, not the few volts from a looped line. Your problem is unless you call them, you'll be paying line rental for a non-working line, which is kinda pointless.

macman

If you don't want to pay out now, and don't need an immediate fix, why not sort the damp our first, and let it dry out, then call them? You've got to do this anyway or the fault will simply recur.

david39

I had a similar problem - dampness getting into the terminal box and causing corrosion to the wiring and the terminals - I reasoned that it was caused by a break in the outer insulation of the line which came down the front of the house. When it rained, water got inside the outer insulation of the wiring, ran down the inside of the cable and then into the box.

I bought and fitted a replacement box from B&Q (naughty, naughty, I suppose, bet BT wouldn't like that) and carefully cut a nick in the outer insulation of the downcable right at its lowest point (it should have a little downward pointing loop there, below the entry level into the house to allow rainwater to run off outside.) I could not find where the water was entering the cable but hoped that the hole at the bottom would let it drain off before it reached the box.

It seems to have worked because I've had no trouble since. I've just opened the box up to check it and there is no sign of dampness or corrosion in it now.