BT Connection Charges (merged threads)

OneWord

Always good to hear it from the horses mouth as they say. That makes it pretty clear.

embelliss

Polorky wrote: »

Stopped lines: If a line has been used recently but the previous owners have cancelled their account the line will be in a stopped status. These lines will always have a dial tone but you won't be able to make calls. There is NO connection charge for these lines. Note if there is a dial tone but the advisor quotes £124.99 it maybe the address has been entered incorrectly (it happens fairly often) even if they don't find the line and send an engineer out I should think you should be able to argue your way out of the charge as absolutely no work is actually required for these lines.

Ceased lines: After a period of inactivity (usually a year or more) the line is disconnected from the exchange and goes into a ceased status. There will be no dial tone. These lines used to only carry the charge if the engineer had to do any work to the physical line. Unfortunately due to a new system BT is now running (enforced by Ofcom) these lines will now nearly always carry the connection cost of £124.99 and an engineer appointment.

Working lines: If the previous owner hasn't cancelled their account the line will still be working. To transfer these lines to the new owners takes 10 working days unless the account is cancelled within that time in which case the new account will take over straight away. There is no connection charge for these lines.

Hey, this is really helpful. thanks so much.

I originally phone BT the day I moved in, to set up a phone line, and I went through most of the process, and then the agent said she'll have to call back in 24 hours as her computer had crashed?
So 2 days later and no call, so I called again and this time the woman said that I had a 'ceased line' so they have to send out an engineer, and one can' come for 2 weeks, and I will be charged 124 pounds.
I wasn't happy, but it had to be done.
Thing is, I mentioned to the woman that I had a dial tone on the phone and asked if this meant anything, and she said no.
But from your post, it means its a 'stopped line'?
Anyway, Bt engineer was meant to come today between 8 and 1.
I picked up my phone just after 8 am and called my mobile, and it worked. No sign of engineer all day.
A friend of mine mentioned that I might still get the bill though as the engineer m,ight have turned it on outside or something? I hope I don't get a bill.

But your post was really helpful, if I do get a bill I will argue my case of there being a dial tone, and seeing no engineer.

I'm quite angry though, having to wait 2 weeks when it seems it was just turned on with no engineer, they could have done it long ago.

Polorky

Glad it helped, you shouldn't have to pay the fee, but I don't work in service so not sure what the procedure is.
The new system is causing quite a lot of problems with addresses unfortunately, added to the fact advisors sometimes enter addresses in stupid ways. The new system is also rather temperamental and goes down occassionly. Don't know what went wrong in your particular case but if the systems down completely we usually take customer details on a paper form and call them back once somebody gets round to putting these on the system. The trouble is theres so many of these forms theres a backlog so its taking rather a long time for people to be called back therefore I would advise ringing again the next day if this happens.

BritBrat

Polorky wrote:

Hi, I actually work for BT so thought I would try to clarify when connection charges apply. Firstly there is no sliding scale the connection charge is now always £124.99 as that is what Openreach charge us. There are four different line status, these are

Nice post Polorky, thanks.

rcooke

Is anyone actually able to get through to BT to get a line. I have spent hours and hours on the phone just to order one. This includes one failed attempt where all my details were taken but the order never went through.

A week and half ago I made successful order, I was told the line would be active within 24 hours. It never was is as of yet is.

I have made numerous attempts to chase the order. The only way to do this is to wait over an hour on the phone to talk to someone who can only say if it is in progress or completed. They just add a note to my order and say an engineer will ring me.

Plus they've added a £124.99 charge to my account as they said they couldn't find a BT line at the property despite it being able to make a call of it 2.5 weeks ago.

What should I do? I just what a phone line from them.

Polorky

Again its all to do with this new system, its taking far longer to place orders which is why the call queue is so long and some advisors evidently don't know how to place orders properly yet, there have been many failed orders.

The best number to ring if you've already placed an order is the service and billing team on 0800 022 3089 they are also horrifically busy but at least you shouldn't need to be transferred. Unless, that is, the orders failed then they'll dump you back to sales to place a new order. If they do that try to make sure they cancel the order else sales might turf you straight back.
Unfortunately there's no other way round it, its all a bit of a mess at the moment. There's been many complaints about it (and rightly so).

But I'm sure BT are trying to sort it out...

rcooke

After 100 minutes on hold I eventually got through someone on 0800 022 3089 and was told that an engineer is coming to my property on Friday.

I find it a bit of mystery why BT can't find a line at my property, as I called them off it a couple of weeks a go and the previous residents were obviously using BT because there was a home hub lying around.

Polorky do you think they will charge me for it reactivation despite the line having only being ceased a couple of weeks ago (there is no longer a ring tone)?

Polorky

Unfortunately it sounds like, since there is no dial tone, for some reason the line has gone into a ceased status which will mean an engineer is needed to reconnect the line at the exchange and the connection cost will apply. I can't imagine why its in a ceased status but now it is there's no way around it, it will need an appointment, openreach will charge bt and bt will charge you. You can try arguing but I don't think they'll remove the charge, sorry.

Ivan_Konstantinov

stupid fat engineer took it past 1 hr by drinking tea & talking crap with me then i got charged 2 X connection fee for new line :mad:

gt94sss2

Ivan_Konstantinov wrote: »

stupid fat engineer took it past 1 hr by drinking tea & talking crap with me then i got charged 2 X connection fee for new line :mad:

The £124.99 covers upto 100 hours worth of work to install a new line..

Regards
Sunil