Help needed - Issue with second line installation

Grumpysoandso

Hi

I asked for a new additional phone line to be installed at a supported housing address to enable relative to have own broadband service which I would pay for.

Express instructions given to ISP and Openreach that  existing line in property not to be touched as it is used by supported living office staff.

Now established staff cannot be contacted using their normal phone number.  Their number has been replaced with the new phone number given for 'additional' line. Obviously this is an issue for those trying to contact the staff and residents in the house.

I contacted the ISP, who said they have provided the 'service'.  They can disconnect the phone line, however the staff in the house would need to contact their ISP to get their service reconnected!

They won't give me the contact details for Open Reach to get them to sort out their mistake.  What can I do?

I don't want the house not to have a phone service, but on the other hand I don't want to pay for their calls. I've been told they don't have that many fortunately.

However, I'm angry that despite numerous discussions prior to installation day on the need for the existing phone line and service not to be tampered with, it has.  Then to be told to get the other ISP to sort it out!

They won't even confirm how many phone lives are now showing as active at the property.

Any advice please?

Neil_Jones

You do not deal with Openreach, Openreach do not deal with the public.  If you do happen to make contact they'll just tell you to go away.

If you have an issue with your phone line or the way it was done or whatever, that's something you take up with the ISP.  Who take it up with Openreach.

Grumpysoandso

Okay.

Thanks.

iniltous

You are blaming Openreach, but it’s almost certainly not Openreach’s fault….you may have stressed to whoever you used for this line not to replace any existing service and wanted a completely new ‘line’ , but if that was the type of order raised , then OR would have visited the address with a view to putting the line in your relatives individual flat or room, if OR visited then why would the home staff not object to what the engineer was doing ?
 The only people you are able to speak to are hardly impartial , and unlikely to say they were at fault, even if they were, the next ‘actions’ will be informative as to who made the mistake , but it’s the actions of the homes provider , not yours.

If all that has happened is that the existing line service isn’t working anymore and has effectively been replaced with the number you were told was going to be your new line number , suggests ( even though you apparently emphasised not to do it ) a ‘takeover renumber’ was ordered , no engineer visit needed on this type of order ( so obviously the home don’t get the chance to ask the installer what they are doing ) all the work is done in the exchange , and no one in OR would be any the wiser, in effect OR did exactly what your provider asked them to do.

As you have already been told, Openreach do not deal with consumers, so the only way for the ‘home’ to get their number back would be for them to approach their own provider….that provider may say ‘ you don’t have a line with us anymore’ , proof of sorts that the line was taken over by your provider , if they say ‘yes , we still have your account shown as working’, then the ‘home’ needs to report their line as faulty , and OR will repair it…obviously you and I can only speculate what the conversation between the ‘home’ and their provider will be, but if the home provider raises a fault rather than a new provide order, then OR did mess up, but it would be the individual engineer that made the mistake…you obviously do not know for sure if the home need to reorder a line or get a fault raised , they are not the same thing.

If the ‘home’ provider says the line is still shown as ‘active’ then a fault report can be raised and OR would reinstate the line, as your order is also active they couldn’t just leave your line dead so would have to do both things…..but ( and this is more likely ) the ‘home’ provider would need to reorder a new line ( hoping their  provider is able to get the lost number back at the same time) it would need to be provided alongside your line  (in the wrong place from your point of view) and then you would have to get your provider to move your relatives line from its current wrong location to the correct location….

If the type of establishment is just a regular ‘house’ that has been converted into a dwelling where several individual live ( not related to each other ) and some form of ‘Carer’ also lives there , then the address on OR systems would look like any other residential address, if the Carer line was a business line ( and it should be , if the company that employs the Carers pays for it)  the normal takeover processes don’t necessarily apply ( like sending out letters saying someone is applying to take over the  line ), you obviously were aware of the potential for this going wrong , unfortunately the chances are the company you chose to use( IMHO)  , messed up.