BT connection fee

davep123

Hi,

I am looking to get a BT line connected to my home.

After phoneing BT & them checking there has never been a BT line at my home, Although I have NTL white phone boxes inside my house.

Therefore BT want to charge £125 approx to get me connected.

Does anybody know of a way of avoiding this charge by means of offers/promotions etc or any other way for that matter.

Cheers

Dave

Heinz

Welcome to the MSE forums davep123.

The short answer is no but, if you have some time to spare, reading the relevant 'Sticky' might be of interest.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=211879

Faithless_2

When I moved house, BT told me that there was no BT line ever fitted in that address and I would have to pay £140 or so for a new one.
Looking at the bt white box on my wall, I disputed that. I knew that the previous tenant had been with BT so I gave them his name etc to confirm that there was indeed a phone line there but they wouldn't even check.

They told me that I needed the telephone number allocated to that house to prove existance of a line. (it's their line, they should know!)

I contacted the previous occupant (luckily he'd left a forwarding address) and he told me the telephone number which I then relayed to BT. They agreed that it was their number and simply reconnected the line for free.

I found out that BT did the very same thing with the next two tenants (I moved next door and got to know each new neighbour) Each time I gave them the telephone number for that house and neither one ever paid a new line fee even though BT had told them it was required as that house didn't have a BT line.

Seems like a money-making scam by Bt if you ask me. Surely they have a record of their own lines!

Don't pay for new lines if you're moving into a non new-build house. If rented, the landlord probably has the old telephone number for the house and if not, try to ask previous tenants. It may not work every time (especially if the last tenant/owner was with another supplier) but you could always try.

Sirbendy

I've moved 3 times, each time I've had this out with them.

Property 1 - "no line". BT box in the hall. Only BT fitters supply the logo'd box. No dialtone. That took me 2 weeks, and was resolved by doublechecking my postcode as given by the estate agent with my neighbours. Mine was wrong - bish bosh, free reconnect.

Current Property:
Again, box in place, smashed up. Plugged a phone in, got a dialtone. BT say "no line exists". I pointed out I have a phone in it, and dialtone. "Not in our system".

So I google, I find an engineers code "backdoor" into the exchange machinery that you can enter via the keypad. Did that, it returned me the circuit details, along with the exchange allocated phone number.

Back to BT with this - "oops, found it now Sir...free migration from the flat to this property, OK..".

Property 3, moving in 3 weeks...Box in, extensions in. Contacted BT, "is there a line in?". Yes. "Is it in good condition?" Yes. "OK Sir, free migration it is. We'll move your provision at 10am on the 13th". They then said they couldn't give me a "simultaneous migrate code" for my broadband, which is with Plus.net (who are a BT subsidiary).

Plus were surprised..and said "They CAN give it, they don't LIKE doing it."

It took me 3 further annoyed calls and a suggestion of OFCOM, before they agreed.

I LIKE dealing with BT...3 for 3, not got me yet. Kept the same number throughout as well.

I now write an equivalent of the "homeowners guide" for every property I've rented detailing every appliance, every utility provider, every number, every service available, including manuals for things etc etc. I then mail a copy to the landlord, leave one with the property, and give one to the estate agents.

I leave my E-mail address in them all - lets see BT wriggle out of things there, shall we?

If they try to wriggle, check it's an "official" NTE5 box with logo - no 3rd party suppliers have the rights to fit them, it seems...double check your postcode etc, try the box to see if there's a tone, and don't give in without an argument. I should just add that the exchanges seem to have been updated, and the engineer "test code" now needs a password to use it.

tannis

I posted the following on another thread last night, it may be of some help to you.


Just a bit of a heads up here, i phoned BT earlier to order a new line (total new installation) to which i was told £122-35, i basically told them that i wasn't prepared to pay that much and said to the guy that they were doing a deal last year where if you took out an 18 month contract that installation was only £30 and without any quibble he said yeah thats fine and order was placed (£29-35), if you don't ask you don't get it seems!!

MiserlyMartin

From talking to friends who have been charged the £125 fee for reconnection even though there was a BT box and line and by looking at these forums it appears that BT are using this scam as a large source of additional revenue. There are many people who would pay it and not even question it. Its shocking and they need reporting to Ofcom.

Times are hard and BT are trying to scam as many £125's as they can it appears.

deklan99

Report them to Ofcom then along with your "evidence".

1carminestocky

I genuinely think this is something Martin should look into (if he hasn't already, of course). This is surely just a scam?

majic_munky

This will only be useful if you don't have a sky contract, but want one in your new house. I discovered that if you dont want to pay £125 to BT for pressing a button:

a) ring sky (who require a BT landline) and say 'I really want to use your service (insert more gush here), but the trouble is that I cant afford to pay £125 for BT to connect my line' Sky say 'oh, ok - well we can REFUND the £125' (in the form of credit), but who cares about that if you were going to pay for TV/internet anyway

b) pay BT,. but make sure you ask the invoice to be sent by post
c) fax the invoice to SKY who will credit your account with £125 - free bills for several months...OK, BT still get the money, but at least you dont lose it...

Worked for me - I assume it will work for others too.

:beer: