Worrying about BT engineer's call out fee

BT_company_representative

Hi rev_henry,

I'm sorry for the confusion which has arisen here regarding a charge for your recent engineer visit. I'm happy to have a look at this for you.

Can you drop me an email with your account details to the address in our public profile and on receipt of this info I'll be in touch to discuss this. Could you also include a link to this thread in your email so that I can refer back to it?

Thanks very much,

Robbie

rev_henry

BT company rep has now contacted me and confirmed no charge. YAY. And thanks to BT rep for the very prompt response. I received a phonecall back half an hour after emailing him.

LanaLang

Our line has recently packed in, installed only in July at the highly reasonable (!) cost of £127. We would have preferred to have nothing to do with BT, but sadly couldn't get out of an existing contract without paying through the nose.

I called the fault line yesterday and ran through the check. We don't have a socket with the removable panel and the helpful call centre agent kept trying to tell me to unscrew the socket despite me telling her that, if I did, I would be faced with live wiring! Thankfully I knew better than to listen to her.

The questions I have are these (potentially stupid ones).

1. How do I know which is the master socket? So far I haven't found more than one socket (although haven't looked properly) but I want to make sure it is the right one if I do find others. The call centre agent said 'it's the one where the line goes outside' but we live in an apartment block so I have no idea! According to my flatmate the engineer, when setting up the line, worked on that socket, so we're pretty sure but want to be 100%!

2. Is there anything else I can do to check the line to make sure it isn't our fault, since I can't take the socket apart? I don't want to be stuck with an extortionate bill and want to make sure I have done everything I can before I call out the engineer. Is it really just the case that if you haven't got a master socket with a removable front, there is nothing you can do to check if the issue is in the building or with BT?

£127 is a lot of money to pay, especially as we have already had to pay it once to get the line put in in the first place, so I would rather make sure we have done all we can, and the BT call centre doesn't seem to have a clue!

rev_henry

LanaLang wrote: »

Our line has recently packed in, installed only in July at the highly reasonable (!) cost of £127. We would have preferred to have nothing to do with BT, but sadly couldn't get out of an existing contract without paying through the nose.

I called the fault line yesterday and ran through the check. We don't have a socket with the removable panel and the helpful call centre agent kept trying to tell me to unscrew the socket despite me telling her that, if I did, I would be faced with live wiring! Thankfully I knew better than to listen to her.

The questions I have are these (potentially stupid ones).

1. How do I know which is the master socket? So far I haven't found more than one socket (although haven't looked properly) but I want to make sure it is the right one if I do find others. The call centre agent said 'it's the one where the line goes outside' but we live in an apartment block so I have no idea! According to my flatmate the engineer, when setting up the line, worked on that socket, so we're pretty sure but want to be 100%!

2. Is there anything else I can do to check the line to make sure it isn't our fault, since I can't take the socket apart? I don't want to be stuck with an extortionate bill and want to make sure I have done everything I can before I call out the engineer. Is it really just the case that if you haven't got a master socket with a removable front, there is nothing you can do to check if the issue is in the building or with BT?

£127 is a lot of money to pay, especially as we have already had to pay it once to get the line put in in the first place, so I would rather make sure we have done all we can, and the BT call centre doesn't seem to have a clue!

Sounds similar to my problem. See keystone's post above for what the master socket looks like. Have another look around just to be sure.

LanaLang

Thanks, we have figured out where the master socket is now, but the second question still applies for anyone who might have any idea i.e. since I can't take apart the socket, are we at BT's mercy to work out whether the problem is us or them?

Thx.

macman

All sockets have a removable faceplate, the NTE5 master socket has a split faceplate, which allows access to the BT test socket.
If you don't have a master socket, then what connection is there at the point that the line enters the property?

LanaLang

Sorry I'm not sure I understand what you are saying. Yes, all sockets have a removable faceplate but our phone socket is combined with our TV socket and has a metal faceplate that looks like any other socket and would (as far as I can tell) result in live wiring being exposed if I unscrew it. Are you saying I should unscrew it? We don't have a split faceplate, no. I have found two other sockets in the flat but neither of them looks like the one in the picture.

We live in a flat among several other flats, short of following the wire through the wall, I have no idea how I would even find out where the line comes in let alone access it.

macman

By TV socket do you mean an co-ax aerial socket? That does not carry any mains current, nor does your BT socket. However if you don't have an NTE5 modern split faceplate master socket, you can't plug into the BT test socket, all you can plug is the first socket on the circuit. Since you have now found two other sockets, have you plugged into them to see if they still work? If none work, then it's BT's probem not yours.
If the line was physically installed in July I(along with a new linebox presumably) then I don't undrstand how you can not have a modern NTE5? Please post a picture of what you have got.

LanaLang

Thanks, can't get a picture of the actual one but found one on google. Apparently I'm not allowed to post links, but by googling I co-ax I found a picture of one - there are three aerial sockets and the phone socket is next to them.

The building is three years old, the socket was always there, but no line until now. Sorry, I don't know what a linebox is and I don't know whether one was installed or how to find out if one was installed.

I have tried all three sockets, none work. Two working phones (one cordless one corded), there is some sort of static on the line with the cordless but no dial tone with either phone on any socket.

Thx.

macman

So none of your sockets look like this?
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.relay-rutlandtelecom.co.uk/images/NTE5/bt_master_socket_2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://trames1.noadsfree.com/nte5-faceplate.html&usg=__n4YBarGcCJzntf-jVsQg0AYonjM=&h=316&w=315&sz=30&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=fQApPmxtHpInwM:&tbnh=138&tbnw=138&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dnte5%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1568%26bih%3D887%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=125&vpy=64&dur=2987&hovh=225&hovw=224&tx=165&ty=95&ei=Q56PTJDVNoj-4AbGuoykDQ&oei=Q56PTJDVNoj-4AbGuoykDQ&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=40&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0

Do they all look like this?
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.gradwell.com/userfiles/bt-socket.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.gradwell.com/support/howto/article/371&usg=__LDcHsGr8XRE3MeRscRtdw-h_ui4=&h=343&w=369&sz=26&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=wYJG8mAFpn5ACM:&tbnh=142&tbnw=153&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbt%2Bsocket%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1568%26bih%3D887%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=629&vpy=70&dur=4116&hovh=216&hovw=233&tx=123&ty=127&ei=tZ6PTKWEN9ag4Qbn1-GgDQ&oei=tZ6PTKWEN9ag4Qbn1-GgDQ&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=40&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0