Neighbour cut through phone line a month ago

HG12345

Hi,

One of our neighbours recently had some new fencing put in, which was alongside a public footpath. Whilst digging they bashed the phone line which has knocked it out for our house and at least 4 others in our row. This happened on the 1st September, it's now 3rd Oct and BT still have not repaired it. BT will not speak to us as we are with TalkTalk who are next to useless and don't seem to care less about it. Every date they have given us for BT to start digging has come and gone with no sign of anyone.

Apart from the inconvenience of having no phone line or internet, I had just started a job online, compiling data and emailing it to a guy who runs his own business. I had been earning £35-£70 per week doing this but without the internet I could not work and so have lost out on extra money I really needed. I want to try and claim this back but as I have no contract for the job I don't know how I would go about it, or who from. Would it be BT via TalkTalk, or should I claim on the builder's liability insurance? Would there be any point as I'm not sure how I can prove that I have lost out on earnings?

I've now got limited internet access as I'm using a friend's BT hotspot, if anyone could offer any advice I'd really appreciate it.

Many thanks

N9eav

My cable was cut a few months ago where it came into the house from overhead. I was with Talk Talk. They are the provider and you need to get on their case about it and they should get BT to fix it as BT own the lines they use. I had a repair man out in less than 48 hours. They found another fault in the exchange too, but although it took longer it was still Talk Talk getting BT to fix it.


To avoid an expensive call on your mobile 02034415555 is their alternative non 0870 number.


Keep on nagging them.


I also got one month charges refunded for no service.


PS. Can you see the cable?

imho

Cant you buy a Wifi dongle so you can still manage to work?

onomatopoeia99

Your contract is with talktalk. You have to pursue it through them. They will (should) organise Openreach to come out and fix it. Openreach maintain the network on behalf of BT wholesale, who rent the lines out to talktalk (and other providers, e.g. Sky, BT retail etc)

You will not be compensated for consequential losses as a result of no telephone or internet service. Domestic products do not come with that sort of service level agreement in the contract. Even buisness telephony products generally don't. You might be able to get such cover if you had a permenant circuit (leased line) put in for your internet connectivity, but that costs hundreds a month and thousands for the installation.

LazyTyper

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

Your contract is with talktalk. You have to pursue it through them. They will (should) organise Openreach to come out and fix it. Openreach maintain the network on behalf of BT wholesale, who rent the lines out to talktalk (and other providers, e.g. Sky, BT retail etc)

That is not quite correct.

Openreach maintain the copper network on behalf of communication provider which include BT Wholesale, Sky, TalkTalk etc.

TalkTalk and Sky and other LLU operators rent the "metallic path", the cable that runs from the exchange to the customer premises. Very different from renting a line.

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

You will not be compensated for consequential losses as a result of no telephone or internet service. Domestic products do not come with that sort of service level agreement in the contract. Even buisness telephony products generally don't. You might be able to get such cover if you had a permenant circuit (leased line) put in for your internet connectivity, but that costs hundreds a month and thousands for the installation.

With a proper business line rental you either get enhanced care or can add it as an extra. This does come with the promise of faster repair times but the SLA compensation is not that great.

HG12345

Thanks all for your replies, I will keep nagging Talktalk. Apparently there is a gas pipe that runs alongside the cable which is complicating matters, so who knows when they'll be out to fix it!

I am now using BT wifi to work, its just annoying as when it first went down they kept saying it would be fixed in a "matter of days". Yeh right!

macman

Your only claim for loss of earnings is to take a civil action against the builder. Good luck with that one...
TT will credit you for the downtime, but you need to ask.

Pincher

It is possible to connect up the wires yourself, but BT really hates that.

3G or 4G with Wi-Fi Hotspot. Pay for a Data Pack or switch to an Unlimited Data tariff.

[Deleted User]

Pincher wrote: »

It is possible to connect up the wires yourself, but BT really hates that.

It's not that they "hate" it, it's that customers are not entitled to do such remedial work or "alterations" on the BT Network. Probably best left well alone to avoid complications later.

jb66

Its not a hard job to put some scotchlocks on the cable, cant understand why an immediate quick fix cant be done