BT master socket replacement charge

timetime1969

To keep it short - we have had over 2 years of our Internet connection dropping and poor speed.
An engineer was arranged by BT and he replaced a master socket which was apparently faulty. The engineer said there was no charge.
We have now been charged £129.99 for the work and they are refusing to budge stating that it was our responsibility and that it doesn't matter that the engineer said it was foc as he was from a different company (eh !!!!)
So... Bt arranged an engineer, he turns up in a BT logoed van - but he's nothing to do with BT?? and I'm supposed to understand that at the time?
The Internet speed has hence (on paper) gone up from 0.8 to 2.9 but has made no noticeable difference ( you tube videos still have to be downloaded before we can watch them ) however, the drop in connection is as bad as it has ever been. BT have not taken the slightest bit of interest in this fact.
Yesterday I had a very distressing phone call to them, whereby the rep talked all over me and treated me like an idiot. I have never been talked to like that from anyone in a corporate company . She constantly put the blame on us saying we were told there would be a charge and we agreed to it.
Yes, if we had damaged the socket- we would have agreed to pay - but the fault was inside BT equipment , and had not been touched by us .
Has anybody had a similar experience ?
I can't believe a huge company like BT treat their customers in this manner.

Oli.s

I believe BT is now two companies BT who you pay line rental to, and provide the telephone and internet service, and BT Openreach who provide and maintain the network infrastructure.

The engineer was sent by BT but is actually from BT Openreach which is a separate company.

BT and BT Openreach used to be one and the same, but split off into two separate companies.

Sunnyhaze

If they are saying he is from a different company and nothing to do with them. Then why are they wanting payment for something they haven't done?

macman

BT OR do the line work and charge their customers, which include BT Retail. BTR then charge their customer, you. That's the way it's been since privatisation in the 80's. The NTE5 master socket is BT's property and any faults within it and upstream should be fixed FOC, unless the damage is user- inflicted (for example, if you smash it with your vacuum cleaner, or let damp get into it).
Ask BTR to check the work log and explain why they have charged (that price BTW is the minimum call out charge).
NB: 2.9MBps should be quite adequate to stream video, so possibly you need to check your wireless set up (not the i|SP's responsibility).

ChrisD58_2

The similarities with my girlfriends case are striking.. a changed main block (which BT are responsible for (UNLESS damaged by you or peed on by the dog) and a subsequent unannounced charge of £130!! PERSEVERE!! STEP 1 : Copy the url of your complaint here to the Executive Customer Services Step 2 : Ask the department raising the charge for a review Step 3: Post this to as many social media sites as you can.. Step 4: Move elsewhere when you've got your refund!!

I got my GF's money refunded 'because there was lack of enough evidence that it was chargeable'..

I think my post is currently on page 4 here entitled:

'BT have left me at the end of my tether'...
ChrisD58
29-03-2014 7:23 AM


Link to BT Exec CS email contact is: /bt.custhelp.com/app/contact_email/c/4950 (..with the usual https in front of it!!)

Good luck!!

ChrisD58_2

Just a little add on to my last regarding your broadband problem.. It sounds like you're using ADSL where the telephone and broadband are fed over the same pair of wires. ADSL relies on a good quality 'clean' line AND it works less well the further you are from the originating telephone exchange.. IF you're some distance away (miles rather than fractions thereof) you won't get good data transmission speeds and may well drop out quite often..