BT Call out charges

Dave_Sk

Hi, can anyone shed any light on a problem I have with BT.

We are a small business and have a line with BT.

The actual line (unknown to us) leaves our unit and goes via another businesses unit before heading out on to the road or wherever.

Recently the phone went dead so we called BT out.

Eventually, after a couple of hours, they discovered that the line had been accidentally cut. The damage was in the other unit, not ours. So to be clear, the damage was done by a 3rd party, it wasn't on our premises, and it wasn't to our equipment (it was the BT line)

They are now charging £548 +VAT for the call out and repair.

The person at BT who booked this in said the following (thankfully I arrange by live chat)


"Ok i can raise the fault to BT Openreach to investigate for us however i need to make you aware of possible charges first. This possible charge could be £245, this is exc VAT. If the engineer finds that the fault is with BT’s equipment, wiring, or network, there isn’t a charge."


after I asked him to clarify, he said,

"Yeah so there would be a charge if a fault was found outwith BT's network. so if it is the phone then there would be a charge but if its any BT wiring etc then there would not be a charge"




I'm unhappy about the charge as it isn't anything to do with me. Someone else has damaged BT equipment and the damage didn't happen on my property. It seems a similar situation as if a car crashed into a telegraph pole. Nothing to do with me surely?

Also unhappy as I was misled by the operator who underquoted the charge and also said that if it was BT equipment there wouldn't be a charge


Do I have any hope of avoiding this charge or am I stuffed?

Thanks!

Dave

Owain_Moneysaver

It's more complicated with business premises wiring. The end of BT's equipment may be the first junction box in the whole building, and the wiring from that point through the other unit into your unit might actually be your equipment and responsibility. Or the landlord's if he owns the building wiring.

Also if it took BT 2 hours to find and repair the fault you may have run over the call-out charge and be into time-related charges.

However you could contest the charge on one of two grounds:

1. the building wiring is BT's, not the landlord's or yours or anyone else's

2. the Openreach fitter should have proved the fault to the network test and termination point within the initial quoted call-out charge and advised you that additional charges would apply for further test and repair on 'your' wiring

Dave_Sk

Cheers Owain,

I personally wasn't there but I believe it took over 2 hours as the engineer was wandering around the building trying to work out where the wiring went.

There are 2 parts to the charge. THe first says:

- Charge for Visit charge - Repair

the second says:

- Repairing BT network



The second suggests that it is part of their network (which is also what the live chat operator suggested, although I'm not sure if what he said have any bearing on anything. I suppose it's the contract that I signed that is the important bit)


Cheers for the tips, just want to get all my options sorted before I call them as I expect that they will put up a fight.

Owain_Moneysaver

If it's charged for Repairing BT Network then you could dispute the charge as the damage didn't occur in part of the premises under your control, and suggest they send the bill to the occupier of the other unit.