Fault with phone line, BT says will take weeks to fix.

mart3ndo

Hi,

I am currently experiencing a fault with my BT phone line, and as a result I have no phone line and no internet access. I have contacted BT countless times regarding this and have been told that it will take weeks to fix.

They are saying that they have handed the repair over to a contractor called Asset Assurance and it is up to them when and if they carry out the repair. I have been told it will take weeks to fix because there wont be an assessor in the area for about a month.

BT are still wanting their bill paid, even though a third of the bill will pay for the service that I wont get until the fault is fixed.

Can anyone tell me where I stand with this.

Thanks in advance,

Martyn

macman

Is the fault in your home wiring or on the BT side of the master socket?

BT_company_representative

Hi Mart3ndo,

I've sent you a PM in relation to this matter. Please respond when you get a chance and I'll look into this for you.

Many thanks,

Robbie

timmmers

That is totally unacceptable. If you run a business or have someone vulnerable at home and need a line for that you'd be expected to pay for no service?

The few times that BT have left people with no line for a long period that I have encountered working in telecoms....they have provided a cellphone until the line is repaired. Even this doesn't cover your internet though does it?

If it was inside the home they'd just get the calculator out and start adding 00s ..it must be their end for an external contractor to be involved...possibly damage to something major that can't be immediately repaired for reasons outside their control...but they could tell you and compensate you meanwhile, and should do so.

t

macman

So who are Asset Assurance? Surely if it's a major line fault then there must be lots of people affected, not just the OP?

iniltous

BT have a customer guarantee scheme, if your line is out of order for more than a few days (3 days I think) the end user is entitled to compensation that is more than the line rental, dunno what the figure is but its more then the 40p a day the line rental costs, if the line is a business line and it can be demonstrated that business was lost because of the line fault, then you can ask to be compensated for that as well.
I think you have probably been mis-informed about asset assurance, its not contractors, its a part of openreach,who are responsible for the scheduled maintenance of the overhead network , although some work can be contracted out.
I'm guessing that you have a problem with the overhead feed to your property, and some uplift to the existing 'assets' (telegraph poles) needs to be done before an engineer can climb safely to repair your service, you should ask BT what is being done to speed up fixing whatever is causing your problem,

macman

iniltous wrote: »

BT have a customer guarantee scheme, if your line is out of order for more than a few days (3 days I think) the end user is entitled to compensation that is more than the line rental, dunno what the figure is but its more then the 40p a day the line rental costs, if the line is a business line and it can be demonstrated that business was lost because of the line fault, then you can ask to be compensated for that as well.
I think you have probably been mis-informed about asset assurance, its not contractors, its a part of openreach,who are responsible for the scheduled maintenance of the overhead network , although some work can be contracted out.
I'm guessing that you have a problem with the overhead feed to your property, and some uplift to the existing 'assets' (telegraph poles) needs to be done before an engineer can climb safely to repair your service, you should ask BT what is being done to speed up fixing whatever is causing your problem,

So is that BT-speak for 'the poles are so rotten it's not safe to go up them'?

mart3ndo

I've basically been told by BT that it will get fixed when it get's fixed. Apparently their waiting for somebody to come up to my area.