BT Basic - activation fee

Gabri_L

Hi,

I requested last week a BT Basic line for £14.40 every 3 months. It's a social package for people on low income like me. Today I've called back to see how things stand and the CS person told me the order hasn't been placed at all and she said I would need to pay £130 for the line setup. I mentioned there had been a line in the flat. But if it wouldn't have a dial tone and was deactivated for a long time ago OpenReach would need to reactivate it in the flat. Otherwise, it could be reactivated remotely. I grabbed an old phone and found out that the line had a dial tone, and the usual voice telling me to hang up and dial again. I ran to my mobile and rang BT to tell them the line needed apparently only to be reset. Now, they say because on their records the line was inactive for more than 3 months I still would need to pay the £130 for the OpenReach guy to go to the exchange and switch it through! Unless, I go for the broadband and TV package...
My questions are:
1. Is this legal?
2. How come that if you can afford more services you get free installation and you pay for reactivation if you're on low income?
3. Where can I resort to for advice / help?
Cheers.

jhp

Yes like all other customers if you havent got a full working line in situ you normally have to pay a connection charge,unless you take a promotional offer.


"If you don’t have a BT line, you will need to change to BT before you can get BT Basic. You may have to pay a connection charge to do this. But depending on your circumstances, you can pay this charge over a period of time. Please ask us for more details. "


http://www.bt.com/includingyou/assets/downloads/BTBasic.pdf


PS. If you have a phone service provided by another company your not normally entitled to BT Basic anyway. So i would keep mum about the mobi.

Mark_In_Hampshire

Plusnet charge £49 and Virgin National charge £39 for the same thing. You may get a 12 month contract with them perhaps, so worth doing the maths and adding it all up for the 12 months to see which is cheaper.

It has nothing to do with the fact that you have a socket, line and a dialtone. Those days (free activation) are long gone.

Gabri_L

Thanks, both. Taking all things into account I'll decide for consistency and go for a better, honest, pure market offer. :beer:

Fluffs123

jhp wrote: »

PS. If you have a phone service provided by another company your not normally entitled to BT Basic anyway. So i would keep mum about the mobi.

I don't think this applies to cellphones any more.

useless_git_requires_wife

Gabri_L wrote: »

Hi,

I requested last week a BT Basic line for £14.40 every 3 months. It's a social package for people on low income like me. Today I've called back to see how things stand and the CS person told me the order hasn't been placed at all and she said I would need to pay £130 for the line setup. I mentioned there had been a line in the flat. But if it wouldn't have a dial tone and was deactivated for a long time ago OpenReach would need to reactivate it in the flat. Otherwise, it could be reactivated remotely. I grabbed an old phone and found out that the line had a dial tone, and the usual voice telling me to hang up and dial again. I ran to my mobile and rang BT to tell them the line needed apparently only to be reset. Now, they say because on their records the line was inactive for more than 3 months I still would need to pay the £130 for the OpenReach guy to go to the exchange and switch it through! Unless, I go for the broadband and TV package...
My questions are:
1. Is this legal?
2. How come that if you can afford more services you get free installation and you pay for reactivation if you're on low income?
3. Where can I resort to for advice / help?
Cheers.

Last November I helped someone set up a BT Basic account. They were in exactly the same situation as you.....an old BT line coming into the house that had been inactive for YEARS.

They most definitely were not charged anything to have the line reactivated.

If I was you I would ask to speak to someone more senior.

Best wishes.