Post Office Home Phone Connection Fee

pontypandy2

I recently ordered home phone for a flat I have just moved into through the post office because they don't tie you into any fixed term contract and I wish to switch my account to another company but was told only BT or the post office can activate an line that is not in use.

So I ordered through the post office who sent me a nice letter telling me that my service would go live in 3 days, great. However I then get a phone call telling me that there is a problem with the line and an engineer needs to come out and connect it for £110. At which point I talk to my landlord to see if the previous tenant had an active phone line installed and to see if he is willing to contribute to the connection fee. He thinks a phone line was active so I decide to ring BT to get their version of the status of the line. BT tell me that the line has not been active for a long time and the service line has been disconnected from the exchange.

I have however heard some stories about engineers coming out only to discover a fully active line but you still get charged a connection fee so I thought it was worth investigating the line myself. So I borrow a phone off a friend plug it in and I get a dial tone. I dial 17070 to see if I have a connection to the exchange and yes I do, I get through to the BT software at the exchange that tells me the number which is assigned to the line. This seems confusing to me why do I need to pay a connection fee when the line is already connected?

At this point the post office call centre is shut so I decide to see what BT say about it. They get very confused and say the number I get from the exchange is registered to a completely different address and they need to go away and check with their network team to see what's gone on but they concede that if I can dial 17070 and get to the exchange then I have an active line and I don't need to pay a connection fee.

So when the post office call centre open I decide to ask them what they think. They tell me that my line is active because an engineer had to come out to the exchange and assign my line the number I am getting, ready for the post office phone line service. At this point I have not authorised any work which is going to cost me money so presumably the work done so far is normally done for free. However they still say that an engineer needs to come out and do further work within the property but the man on the phone can't tell me exactly what this work is because he doesn't understand the nature of phone line connections.

I am confused as to why any work needs to be done in the property if my line is connected to the exchange and am reluctant to pay the connection fee especially as BT have confirmed that the state that my line is in at the moment should incur no extra fee or work. Anyone know anything about this and whether their claim that further work is required is a reasonable one?

Heinz

No 'work' needs to be done at the property.

pontypandy2

This is ridiculous, today was the original go live date before they decided that an engineer needed to come out and guess what the line is live, I can ring it from my mobile and it rings yet they still maintain that an engineer needs to come out for some unknown reason that they can't tell me for the sum total of £110.

macman

BT don't levy a charge for 'work at the property'. They levy a charge for reconnection or for a new line (same price), whether a visit to the property is required or not.
They will normally ask you to be at home on the day in case the engineer does need to check any connections inside the property as well as at the local street cabinet.

Half_Price_Sky

We joined Post Office Home Phone last week. We last used our line 2 years ago and since then our old phone number had been allocated to somebody else. The Post Office reconnected us without charge.

Sounds to me like there's been some kind of mix up and they really shuldn't be charging you this fee. I imagine your frustration must be compounded by the fact that whenever you call customer services none of the staff seem to have the necessary technical knowledge!

If it were me I would try canceling the existing order and reordering again with the Post Office. Maybe second time around things might go a bit more smoothly.

billsavings

Half_Price_Sky wrote: »

We joined Post Office Home Phone last week. We last used our line 2 years ago and since then our old phone number had been allocated to somebody else. The Post Office reconnected us without charge.

I hope you have it in writing their is no connection fee.:D

Half_Price_Sky

billsavings wrote: »

I hope you have it in writing their is no connection fee.:D

Why? Have they been known to spring them on people after connection, even after verbally saying there wouldn't be?

macman

Half_Price_Sky wrote: »

Why? Have they been known to spring them on people after connection, even after verbally saying there wouldn't be?

No, but the stand PO reconnection charge (or for a new line) is £110. So people are wondering why you didn't have to pay for reconnection. Have you had your first bill yet?