BT Engineer visit - charging

lilibeth

How soon after a BT Engineer visit will I know if they are charging me? Do I really have to wait for two months (two billing periods to be certain)? I asked them via chat (so I'd have proof of the conversation) & they said they can't tell me if there will be a charge yet. Engineer visit was this morning.
Four agents later & I still don't know & one even claimed there is another engineer booked this week even though my account told me it was fixed, which it is.

iniltous

To be strictly accurate, you didn't get a visit from a 'BT' engineer, you got a visit from an Openreach engineer, and that's where the delay is,
Your service provider cannot tell you if you will be charged, because OR will not have yet told them.
Openreach don't bill you (they can't , they don't have any 'contract' with you,) but they do charge the service provider if it's not OR's network at fault
If Openreach charge your provider for the visit, your provider charges you, that's why they labour the point about charges when you contact them to raise a fault report in the first place.
Did the OR engineer say what the problem was and what he did to fix it ?, if it were obviously not your 'fault' then no charge should follow, if they unplugged some of your equipment, like a Sky box or broadband filter/router to restore service then a charge is justified, the gray area is things like a faulty master socket (OR are normally responsible for this) but if the fault was due to damage or neglect ( like bashing it off the wall with a Hoover or spilling liquid into it) then a charge is raised.
Quite often the engineer won't tell you that a charge is to be raised, it could lead to arguments , threats , etc, and often, even if the engineer says there will be no charge, an OR back office person may look at the 'clear code' and notes on the job and decide to raise charges anyway
Unfortunately all you can do is wait and see, unless the engineer said something like ' you line was faulty in the exchange' where it's obvious no charge will follow.
Did you do the checks your service provider asked for, before they arranged a OR visit ?, if you did, you should have already proved it as not your fault ( with the exception of a damaged master socket)

lilibeth

iniltous wrote: »

To be strictly accurate, you didn't get a visit from a 'BT' engineer, you got a visit from an Openreach engineer, and that's where the delay is, BT cannot tell you if you will be charged, because OR will not have yet told BT,
Openreach don't bill you (they can't , they don't have any 'contract' with you,)
if Openreach charge BT for the visit, BT charge you, that's why they labour the point about charges when you contact them to raise a fault report in the first place.
Did the engineer say what the problem was and what he did to fix it ?, if it were obviously not your 'fault' then no charge should follow, if they unplugged some of your equipment, like a Sky box or broadband filter/router to restore service then a charge is justified, the gray area is things like a faulty master socket (OR are normally responsible for this) but if the fault was due to damage or neglect ( like bashing it of the wall with a Hoover or spilling liquid into it) then a charge is raised.
Quite often the engineer won't tell you that a charge is to be raised, it could lead to arguments , threats , etc, and often, even if the engineer says there will be no charge, an OR back office person may look at the 'clear code' and notes on the job and decide to raise charges anyway
Unfortunately all you can do is wait and see, unless the engineer said something like ' you line was faulty in the exchange'
Did you do the checks your service provider asked for, before they arranged a OR visit ?

I did all the checks before booking, the engineer said it was due to the age of the Master Socket it was one of the wires inside it & he replaced it with a new socket. He said it was not my fault

iniltous

Unfortunately you are in that grey area, if the engineer booked the fault off as faulty master socket/replaced , even if he doesn't flag it himself as a chargeable visit , and they are 'encouraged' to raise charges where they can, a back office 'spotter' may interpret that as a charge, they seem to think master sockets don't fail or wear out, and that they only fail but to damage or tampering , if they do raise a charge (and it's not certain they will) you could (should) challenge it with your provider, but that doesn't help you now, sorry.

lilibeth

iniltous wrote: »

Unfortunately you are in that grey area, if the engineer booked the fault off as faulty master socket/replaced , even if he doesn't flag it himself as a chargeable visit , and they are 'encouraged' to raise charges where they can, a back office 'spotter' may interpret that as a charge, they seem to think master sockets don't fail or wear out, they only fail but to damage or tampering , if they do raise a charge (and it's not certain they will) you could (should) challenge it with your provider, but that doesn't help you now, sorry.

I'm wanting to switch my phone line to plusnet with whom I have broadband. But I'm scared to do it until I know either way about this visit in case it makes BT more likely to charge me.

iniltous

lilibeth wrote: »

I'm wanting to switch my phone line to plusnet with whom I have broadband. But I'm scared to do it until I know either way about this visit in case it makes BT more likely to charge me.

TBH , I doubt that they join things like this together, BT would only charge you if OR charge them, and OR don't care if you are a Plusnet or BT customer ( Plusnet is a BT company by the way)..
A potential problem though could be you get a final bill from BT, then they 'send' another invoice after you have already left, saying you owe them for the visit, and if you don't receive that bill (or ignore it as you aren't a customer anymore) they could put a black mark against your credit file ,

jaybeetoo

iniltous wrote: »

To be strictly accurate, you didn't get a visit from a 'BT' engineer, you got a visit from an Openreach engineer

If you want to be strictly accurate, he wasn't an engineer.

macman

Switching supplier will make no difference as to whether you are charged or not. Everything up to and including the master socket is the responsibility of the line rental provider, unless the damage is caused by customer action or neglect (for example, smashing the socket with a vacuum cleaner, or allowing damp to enter the socket). None of these appear to apply in your case.