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BT charged £123 for an engineer to call!!

Please help!! A couple of weeks ago I had a persistant clicking on my telephone line. Phoned BT and did the fault on line test, it said there was no fault. So then I purchased a new phone, the clicking was still there. Rang the fault line again and spoke to an advisor who said an engineer would need to call. The engineer came played around with a junction box and said it needed replacing, the clicking persisted!! He then asked if we'd been struck by lightening in the recent storms?????? Anyway he then decided it was from the Sky box and told me to get in touch with them. Since then Sky have fitted Sky+ (£65 for a call out or £99 for Sky+ with a new box!!). The phone is now fine.

Anyways- this morning received a bill from BT for £123 for the engineer! to say I'm shocked is an understatement, have rang them (of course) and have to wait a week for them to get back to me. On no occassion was I told of a charge, I would of put up with the clicking if I thought it would cost that much.

So peeps am I stupid and this charge is stated somewhere and I've missed it, or are BT at fault??

The suspense will kill me for a week, to see if I have to pay or not. Of course I will let you know. But in the mean time has anyone else had the same problem?

The moral of the story - if you have anything wrong with your BT line and they tell you an engineer has to call, ask how much first off!!
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Comments

  • Heinz
    Heinz Posts: 11,191 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker Car Insurance Carver!
    From what you say, it appears the Sky box was causing the problem (in which case, the charge is because the BT equipment was not at fault).

    However, £123 does appear excessive.
    Time has moved on (much quicker than it used to - or so it seems at my age) and my previous advice on residential telephony has been or is now gradually being overtaken by changes in the retail market. Hence, I have now deleted links to my previous 'pearls of wisdom'. I sincerely hope they helped save some of you money.
  • they cant just send someone out without telling you its gonna cost you. id tell them you were not informed of the charges. you were not anticipating being charged and you refuse to pay £123 for an engineer to change a socket that wasnt at fault. if they have an issue with that then tell them to come and replace your socket for your old one. then call it quits. its just a license to thieve money from people.
  • Yes I thought that.

    But why did the engineer not realise this first off? He did say he'd had 3 in our area that day with the same problem.

    Going by that BT made £369 by lunch time by charging this stupid amount of money for basically needing to do nothing at all.

    Could it be a scam against Sky?

    Sky knew straight away that is was the modem in the box, now BT are supposed to be a telecommunications company, I'm wondering about there competency in this case.
  • Heinz
    Heinz Posts: 11,191 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker Car Insurance Carver!
    When I had a similar 'noise on the line' problem about a couple of years ago, I rang 151 and, when I eventually managed to speak to a real person, was advised there would be a £50 charge if any 'subscriber's equipment' was found to be the cause and so, before reporting, I should unlplug everything (the Sky box was mentioned specifically) and then test the line by plugging only a corded phone into the BT master socket.

    I did so but the noise persisted - so I reported the fault and the fault disappeared within a week (obviously a fault outwith my property).
    Time has moved on (much quicker than it used to - or so it seems at my age) and my previous advice on residential telephony has been or is now gradually being overtaken by changes in the retail market. Hence, I have now deleted links to my previous 'pearls of wisdom'. I sincerely hope they helped save some of you money.
  • ahrimaniac
    ahrimaniac Posts: 714 Forumite
    They only charge (as above) if they're called out and it isn't their equipment causing the hullaballo. Ring up and complain that you weren't informed of this - best you can do!

    Good luck :)
    Comping wins this month: 2 x business class flights anywhere we like | Horse vitamins (!) | New kettle | Motorcycling prints | Signed LPs | Thanks to all!
  • DonnyDave
    DonnyDave Posts: 1,579 Forumite
    Going by that BT made £369 by lunch time by charging this stupid amount of money for basically needing to do nothing at all.
    But BT sent out an engineer for a fault that was nothing to do with its part of the line; that's hardly "nothing".
  • smudger1964
    smudger1964 Posts: 683 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    There doesnt seem to be a national charging policy with bt faults I called them out to a faulty line but it turned out to be my phone at fault he was here about 5 minutes the charge was £55 .I was told however there would be a charge if it wasnt bts fault so the £123 seems a lot perhaps they charge per minute or part thereof
  • DonnyDave
    DonnyDave Posts: 1,579 Forumite
    Shopkeepers Delight, you have a bill for the £123. Is this itemised and if so what items are on it? Is this including or excluding VAT? How long was the engineer on site for?
  • djohn2002uk
    djohn2002uk Posts: 2,323 Forumite
    At the end of the day there was time spent on 2 phone calls by people at BT and an engineer attended the property and attempted to fix the fault. All this for a fault that was not BTs responsibility. Who is responsible for paying then? The OP and no-one else I'm afraid.
    There have been enough posts on here informing people that BT make a charge if it's not their equipment and there have been problems with Sky boxes connected to phonelines ever since digital arrived (also well documented) so it's seems like pay up time to me, unless they let you off as a good will gesture.
  • The bill is not itemised no, just says one off charge? Not to worry I am sure I will sort it.

    Would just like to add I am a newbie and thank you all for your response.

    I did search forum beforehand to see if there was anything here to help to no avail. As for comments like above its put me off posting.

    Cheers
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