BT have left me at the end of my tether...

ChrisD58_2

Hi and thanks for taking the time to read this!! I am currently desperate for help with what I believe to be completely false billing by BT of my girlfriend. The short version is that she was billed by direct debit without any prior notification an extra £129.99 for unnecessary and inaccurately described work. Here's a timeline that will perhaps explain why I'm desperate to seek assistance and soo stressed out:

Early January my GF's BT broadband (ADSL) stopped working

She reported the fault and about a week later received a call asking her to stay home the next day for an engineer

She took the day off work, as the engineer could not quote an approximate time he would call, but NOBODY showed up or rang to cancel.

The next day, after chasing BT, an 'telephone engineer' did turn up and stated that he'd "come to fix her phone". She explained that the problem was broadband based and that the telephone was and always had worked. Nevertheless having said 'he was a bit out of his depth' he changed the main telephone/ADSL block/twin socket stating that it was 'a non BT block'. He then ascertained that the broadband was STILL out of service and before leaving advised my GF to rereport the fault to broadband BT..

At this point I got involved and filed a formal complaint about wasting my GF's time and sending the 'wrong sort of engineer'.

The next day a broadband engineer visited and changed the hub whereupon the broadband service was restored and working!! Before leaving my GF told him about the previous engineers visit and the block change. She showed him the old block (the engineer had left it behind) and he stated categorically that it WAS a BT (Openreach) block!

So having had everything restored to working my GF did no more - and I heard no more about the formal complaint either..

Last week my GF noted her BT Direct Debit payment was extremely high and on pursuing it was told that a charge of £129.99 had been billed by the 'home improvement' dept for calling out a telephone engineer to change a 'DAMP' (?) block!! ..the block is/was NOT damp and no mention was made of damp at ANY time by the visiting engineer!! It was located on the main lounge skirting board, a well heated area without ANY damp or leaks from windows whatsoever!!

I have tried reasoning on my GF's behalf with the department that raised the charge and just get NOWHERE!! They claim they have a document that states 'block changed as damp' and thus the subscriber (my GF's) fault!! They just won't move or even provide ANY other avenue to pursue the complaint.

My GF is a very low earning single mother who can ill afford this spurious, unwarned of, and unwarranted charge.. please help?

Do I go to the ombudsman? Oftel? Small Claims Court? Trading Standards? or just rant on paper to the BT chairman or my MP?

I'm new here and keen to see if what looks like a very good site can work for me (my GF) Thankyou

iniltous

Are BT both the line rental and broadband provider ?, when the fault was reported was it reported to the landline part of BT, or the broadband part of BT, (ISP) ..assuming BT are the ISP and line rental provider.
If there was never a problem with the landline, and it was always just a broadband problem, usually the ISP (BT ??) if it was the ISP the fault was reported to, will have the customer doing checks ( like plugging the router in the master socket etc) was your G/F asked to do anything like this ?
If by some chance the fault was reported as a landline problem, then if the end user asks for a visit when there isn't a problem with the landline ( you can make and receive calls) then regardless of the bogus 'damp' problem, charges would be made for reporting the phone not working when it is...so was it the landline or broadband reported faulty ?

WizzyPop

Having very similar issues this end OP i truely feel your pain. I cant wait for the current contract to end myself.

ChrisD58_2

Thankyou (iniltous & Wizzypop)
In answer to your questions the broadband and tele line are both provided by BT and the fault was rung in as, and to, the broadband bit of BT. At the risk of getting a bit technical (ex telecommunications man) I think that the broadband bunch tested the line, instructing GF to remove the plug from main block, and tested a 'low insulation problem' - ADSL requires a 'clean line' for good service (especially over a longer line) and I suspect they assumed this to be the problem and passed it back to a line engineer as a 'line fault'. The first engineer was clearly challenged and may even have been some spurious poorly trained contractor(?) I beleive he just 'took a punt' on changing the main block much as a mechanic might start swapping out car parts until finding the dodgy part. However the ACTUAL problem was quite clearly the hub as broadband service was only resumed when this was changed. EVEN IF the main block HAD been a line issue this was again down to BT as a faulty piece of their equipment. The 'damp block' never existed - I still have it and as well as looking in perfect nick I don't think it has ever been opened up inside, so HOW could this dodgy engineer say 'damp' rather than just 'faulty' IF there was a problem with it anyway (which I doubt very much as changing it didn't fix the fault!!)

I noted when I posted that there is a specific forum member who often handles BT issues and who IS a BT employee. They showed a link to a BT CS site and I have now copied them a link to this thread- They have responded very promptly and fingers crossed...

ChrisD58_2

UPDATE: yesterday I spoke to a member of the 'Review team' who stated that they will now investigate. They WON'T in the meantime refund the un-agreed, un-notified direct debit charge and will take up to 30 days to respond!!... The person I spoke to also said that he believed changing the faulty (BT owned) hub was chargeable work anyway (albeit by another dept!!) as 'the hub warranty' (one year) had expired?!! I am now VERY confused.. at what point do BT take responsibility for providing either a telephone or broadband service?!! I had assumed, perhaps naively that it was up to and including the first/main telephone block or, for broadband, the hub PC socket were where their responsibility ended but it seems goalposts may have been moved.. ?!! Confusion reigns and I await a call from BT Customer Services today to try and get some kind of reasonable response and have my faith in BT restored...

JJ_Egan

Master socket from that point it down to the user .
But i am not sure about modem/ router as every ISP i have been with has exchanged faulty equipment they supplied .
Might be worth look at BT forums regarding modem/ router .

ChrisD58_2

A call from a 'review' team member yesterday who stated they had spoken to BT Openreach and that they were unable to categorically confirm the need for, or why, the main PSTN block was changed out (so NOT damp then?!!). The upshot being that my GF will be credited immediately with a full refund for the £130 charge - Great news!!.. as to whether they will now decide to raise a charge elsewhere (for the hub swap over).. we wait to discover.. Watch this space > <

One interesting comment from them was that apparently one can apply for 'missed appointment compensation' ..£10

Pincher

With Virgin cable broadband, they still provide a SuperHub, which is the cable modem with a Wi-Fi router. When I cancelled, they sent me a courier lablled plastic bag so they can have the SuperHub back. So it definitely remains their responsibility and property.

With BT Infinity, fibre broadband, the white modem was brought by the engineer, whereas the HomeHub 5 router was sent through the post. I think they will want the modem back if I cancel, but not the HomeHub 5. They certainly didn't want the old HomeHub 3 from three years ago.


As far as ADSL/ADSL2+ type connection is concerned, I think the ISPs don't really care about the modem.
There is no "Do not connect some alien modem to the BT socket or you will damned." proviso. As far as I could tell, the £7 postage is optional, so if you don't want their cheap and nasty ADSL2+ modem router, just untick the option, and no modem will appear in the post.

The ISP supplied modem does tend to be ready to go in terms of set up. If you use your own modem, you will need to know how to set up these parameters:

user name
pass word

PPPoA
VPI = 0
VCI = 38

The ISP modem either comes ready to go, or comes with a CD that has an installation program tailored to the modem.

I think you'll find that it's up to the ISP whether they want to be generous and send you another one for free. They could also sell you another one at a discount.