Problem with BT Openreach

Montyspaniel

I have rented my line from BT at this address for over twenty years and every four or five years my telephone will not ring. The problem is always with equipment at the exchange and once it has been replaced normal service is resumed.
I had the problem again in January and having gone through the fault reporting procedure, a technician arrived on my doorstep. I described the problems I had been having and mentioned the exchange being the answer to the problem. After about ten minutes of him failing to find any fault in my equipment he left.
I reopened the fault on the BT website and a few days later a different chap arrived at my door. He carried out many more tests and he told me that the problem was with the exchange. He went to the exchange amd rectified my fault.
My problem now is that BT are trying to charge me for the first visit.
The first engineer is claiming that the socket had been damaged by damp and that he changed the socket. He did not do this as I was standing next to him for the duration of his visit and he failed to change or repair anything.
BT are insisting that unless I pay £99 I will be disconnected.
I have had no written communication from them and they were meant to call back this afternoon but they have not rung.
The whole episode sounds like an expensive scam to me. Any constructive advice would be welcomed.

Buzby

Being charitable - the first guy may have mis-coded the call-out. You need to escalate this citing the TWO dates the engineer called and tell them you refuse to be bullied!

DS-2

I'd try to contact Openreach directly to query the work that BT say they've done. It is highly unlikely that an Openreach Engineer would lie about the work he's done at your property, but it is possible that work done at another property has been mistakenly associated with your address.

http://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/home/contactus/contactus.do

I'd also write to BT (remember to include your account number because they can't find you if they only have your name and address, apparently) to dispute the charge on the basis that no such work was done and ask them to produce evidence to substantiate their claim that such works were carried out at your property.

BT Correspondence Centre
Providence Row
Durham
DH98 1BT

BT have 8 weeks to deal with your complaint before you can raise it with the Ombudsman.

http://www.ombudsman-services.org/communications.html

Good luck.

Montyspaniel

Should I pay the charge in the interim whilst I dispute it to avoid disconnection?The rest of my bill is up to date for my line rental.
After the fault had been resolved and I had placed a complaint about the way the fault had been dealt with I was telephoned by BT and offered £25 as an apology. This refund appears on the same bill as the call -out charge which I am now disputing.

DS-2

You don't have to pay the disputed charges. Section 29 of the standard terms and conditions make that clear.

29. You agree to pay the charges as soon as you receive your bill unless otherwise agreed by us. You may also need to pay a deposit or a payment upfront before you can receive the service or goods. If you think that the charges on your bill are incorrect and wish to dispute those charges, you must tell us straight away. You must pay any charges that are not disputed. We will not suspend or end a service while we investigate any dispute.

I should have added - if it was me, I'd leave the direct debit in place, then if they take the disputed monies, I'd ring the bank and claim the whole amount back under the direct debit guarantee because they will have taken monies that aren't due to them. BT have a serious problem in being unable to issue a bill with the correct amount on it once you've disputed a charge - that's their problem, not yours.

Montyspaniel

Thank you both for the advice. When my bill arrived a month ago and I saw the charge I sent in a complaint. I was called by somebody from BT and told that it would be a good idea to cancel my direst debit whilst the complaint was dealt with. Perhaps they are getting wise to people recouping their money from their banks.

macman

Montyspaniel wrote: »

Thank you both for the advice. When my bill arrived a month ago and I saw the charge I sent in a complaint. I was called by somebody from BT and told that it would be a good idea to cancel my direst debit whilst the complaint was dealt with. Perhaps they are getting wise to people recouping their money from their banks.

Very bad advice. And coming from BT, unbelievably bad advice!

BT_company_representative

Hi Montyspaniel,

We can look into this for you, so feel free to send in your details if you want and we'll get back to you. You can get our contact link by clicking on my username.

Thanks,

Stephanie

costingbunny_2

Hi
Not sure if you can help but I am making a complaint regarding a line I had fitted this morning. I have had a generic response and a reference but just wondered if you could help generally?
The engineer called (without any prior notice which I had requested but luckily I was in - the service is for TalkTalk so guessing that it not a BT issue). The engineerg advised she needed to do some drilling but could put the line in so I left her to it - when she had called me in after installation she has put the socket box in the most stupid place - halfway up a wall and not near a plug socket. I assumed (wrongly) she would use common sense for the location? Also, when I left to go to work I noticed that there is a big chunk of render missing where she has drilled into the front of the house and the wire is just sticking out and not sealed in properly. I want them to come back out and put the socket box in an appropriate place and sort out or compensate me for the damaged render. I have photos if this helps - do you think BT will help me?
Ta

mattyprice4004

Open a new thread instead of hijacking this one.

costingbunny_2

Sorry I didn't realise I had posted in this thread - thanks for being so 'nice'?!