Damaged B.T.cable by neighbours contractors.Who pays?

SILLYV

My neighbour had guttering and fascias replaced by 'rogue traders' they have damaged B.T cable affecting my telephone line. Have engineer coming to fix at a possible cost to ME. Contractors not interested. Is my neighbour liable as he hired them?

AJXX

Technically it's the responsibility of whoever damaged the cable - pass the details of the neighbour and the contractors details if you have them to BT and fully explain to the engineer what happened.

Depending on how well you get on with your neighbour you may want to tell them beforehand, else they may receive an unwelcome surprise.

force_ten

openreach will pass the charges on to your service provider, and they will pass them on to you as you are the customer

you can explain to the engineer what happened but neither openreach or your service provider will pursue the third party to recover the cost of repair

teddysmum

If the cable could have been damaged by weather, there could be nothing to pay.


Some years ago, heavy winds ripped our cable from its brickwork fixings, causing intermittent loss of signal, and OR sorted it free of charge.

pappa_golf

you are only responsible for cables AFTER the white box in your house , any damaged cables outside your front door are down to BT , it is not your job to chase the contractor , it is BTs job


BT will only pass a charge onto your phone supplier , IF the fault is inside your premises

littleboo

I don't think that's correct, if you (or a 3rd party) damage the BT cable on your property, you may get charged.

pappa_golf

littleboo wrote: »

I don't think that's correct, if you (or a 3rd party) damage the BT cable on your property, you may get charged.

correct , but it is not INSIDE the OPs property , all phonelines , waterpipes and gas /electric services outside of your property are the responsibility of the supplier. they supply upto your meters or in the case of BT , the white socket , from there inwards you are responsible.



yes we know there are "quirks" regarding water pipes buried von your land

System

If it is within the curtilage BT can charge

http://www.bt.co.uk/pricing/current/Misc_boo/2-1393_d0e1.htm

Full-rate charges apply to:

• (a) Call-outs to repair faults or damage associated with BT's network services, including any Network, Cabling, Dropwire or underground feeds within a customer's curtilage up to and including the Network Terminating Point, and to repair faults in BT on-site equipment (or to replace such equipment at BT's discretion).

pappa_golf

"repairing faults where this work is not covered under the terms of a service contract with BT"




correct , the contract states that they will provide a full and working phone line terminating in the modern white box


the page you went to , is a weird miscellaneous charge page for items NOT covered in the std contract




please put the words "phone line responsibility" into google and check out BT forums etc




for the last time:


the OP as the customer/consumer is responsible for everything AFTER the white termination box.


BT are responsible for all the cables outside the house


you will be telling me next "that a bloke in the pub" had a £150 bill because a wire blew/fell/got knocked down 200 miles from his house!


BT will have to chase the person who broke the line NOT the OP

Swipe

It is true that BT is responsible for cables AFTER the box but not in the case of a third party contractor damaging the cable on the OP's property. The OP should expect a bill from their ISP and then if the contractor refuses to pay, they will have to pursue the contractor in the small claims court for the amount. The best they can do is try to sweet talk the OR engineer and make lots of cuppas. This worked for my parents whose tree had grown against their cable and pulled it from the eave. the OR engineer said by rights they should be charged but as they also replaced some of the cable in the road at the same time they let it go.

pappa_golf

Swipe wrote: »

It is true that BT is responsible for cables AFTER the box but not in the case of a third party contractor damaging the cable on the OP's property. The OP should expect a bill from their ISP and then if the contractor refuses to pay, they will have to pursue the contractor in the small claims court for the amount. The best they can do is try to sweet talk the OR engineer and make lots of cuppas. This worked for my parents whose tree had grown against their cable and pulled it from the eave. the OR engineer said by rights they should be charged but as they also replaced some of the cable in the road at the same time they let it go.

NO NO NO , its upto BT to chase the person that damaged the line NOT bill the OP and leave them to chase it up.