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Not Receiving incoming calls

I am posting because we have been having a problem with receiving calls. My mum phoned up BT and it appears that my parents will have no choice but to pay £99 for a call out.

I would like to know if there is any way of getting around this. Like so many people on here I am very annoyed with BT's so called customer service.

Can anyone tell me what it means when someone tells you that some other equipment is interfering with the phone?
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Comments

  • Browntoa
    Browntoa Posts: 49,542 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    could be an adsl splitter failed

    could be self installed extension wiring

    there is a master socket connection behing the main BT socket

    http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/socket.htm

    plug a phone into there and see if it works ok for incoming calls , if so then its the wiring in the house or something else connected to the line in the house
    Ex forum ambassador

    Long term forum member
  • Thanks. I'll tell my dad about this. This is something that has never been suggested to us. I don't want him paying out if he doesn't have to.
  • brewerdave
    brewerdave Posts: 8,611 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    ..another thing for your Dad to check..tell him to dial 17070 which will tell him the number he is calling from, make sure it is the right number - I had a similar problem recently when no one could get thru - BT had changed my number "by mistake" when carrying out engineering work at the exchange!!!!
  • spike7451
    spike7451 Posts: 6,944 Forumite
    Your dad will only have to pay the £99 if;

    http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/12439/c/345,353/related/1/session/L2F2LzEvdGltZS8xMzQ2MzExNTM0L3NpZC9XNERzbVo0bA%3D%3D
    You'll have to pay £99 for a visit if our engineer finds that the problem is with:
    Your main socket, due to damage you've caused
    Your home wiring beyond the main socket (for example, your phone extensions). This includes damage you've caused
    The way you've connected up your equipment
    Interference from something else in your home, like your phone, alarm system, microfilter, BT Home Hub or broadband router

    You'll have to pay £99 if the engineer finds the problem is due to damage to the network outside your home within the boundary of your property. Some chargeable faults we've come across are caused by:
    Building work such as home extensions or the fitting of new windows
    Damp
    Guttering falling down
    Tree damage
    Flood or fire damage
    Telephone wires that have been accidently cut
    Removal companies accidentally removing the phone line

    If it's further back then you wont,but try & get something in writing if it is'nt any of the above or BT will STILL try to charge you,they're very good at that!
  • macman
    macman Posts: 53,128 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    You only pay for a call out if the fault is on your equipment or internal extensions, or it's user-inflicted damage. So try another handset on the master socket. If that doesn't work, you can be confident that it's a line fault.
    No free lunch, and no free laptop ;)
  • Thanks so much for all your replies. We have tried two phones which don't work. We have been told that there isn't a problem with the exchange. To tell you the truth I don't trust them at all. I feel that this could be their way of trying to get money out of my dad.

    The main thing to me is that two other phones do not work on the same connection. I will direct my dad to this forum because he has been wrongly charged in the past and I can see it happening again. Thanks again.
  • macman
    macman Posts: 53,128 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    As long as you are testing from the master socket and not from an extension and the fault is still present, then the repair will not be chargeable. No one has said it is an exchange problem-it is a line fault, pure and simple, so report it as such and OR will fix it.
    The call out charge mantra is always read out by the call centre drones, it's a standard part of their script if the fault should turn out to be down to the user.
    No free lunch, and no free laptop ;)
  • I had the exact same problem about three weeks ago - I could dial out, broadband was ok, but nobody could ring in. All they got was one ring tone and then nothing. My home phones never rang once.

    I rang BT, who said they would do a check on the line, and two minutes later said there was a fault between the exchange and my home.

    When the engineer turned up, he found the problem to be caused by a manhole half a mile away from my home being flooded and causing a wiring fault, caused by the recent heavy rain.
    "There are not enough superlatives in the English language to describe a 'Princess Coronation' locomotive in full cry. We shall never see their like again". O S Nock
  • Thanks everyone. We have got the problem sorted out. There were two problems. One inside and one outside. The first one was related to a tree outside a neighbour's house. The other one was something to do with an extra wire that had been attached to a phone. My parents were told that they wouldn't have to pay. However, now we know that there were two problems both inside and out. This means that they don't know if they'll be charged or not.
  • macman
    macman Posts: 53,128 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    A tree branchrubbing on a cable will make it a user-inflicted fault if the tree belongs to the user.
    Any internal faults are also down to the user.
    Did they not ask the engineer if it would be chargeable?
    No free lunch, and no free laptop ;)
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