Can BT cancel £55 Call Out Charge?

amd

Got my BT e-bill today and, shock of shocks, it's the highest and also potentially the lowest ever (using 18866) but only if I can get the £55 knocked off!!

I had my line cut at the end of May by landscape guys working along the road. BT repaired it but I had broadband problems after the repair. BB with Tiscali so their advice was to call BT Faults and get them check first. Did this, via a call to a person in India (I believe) with basic grasp of English language...no offence meant, but on top of my Scottish accent we didn't have a hope of communicating well! I asked advice and certainly didn't request a call out, but my engineer from the previous week saw the sheet with my call and came out himself to see if there was still a problem....we had a quick chat and he left! Now a bill for a call out charge for £55!!!

Needless to say I'm seething!!! BT billing query lines are closed until tomorrow morning..... anyone out there any experience of this type of thing, or any advice please? What are my chances of getting this removed from my bill...?

sallysaver

Hi,
A very similar thing happened to my brother. He too found he had no dialling tone. Called BT. They duly arrived and attended to it. (it actually took minutes) At no stage, did the call centre employee or the BT engineer even suggest there might be a charge. Unfortunately there was, £50 if I remember correctly. He was better in health than temper that day, so he telephoned BT. Apparently you are supposed to be informed from the outset of any charges that may occur and of course he wasn't. The £50 charge was cancelled and all was well. If you are in the same boat, the above may be applicable to you. Good Luck.

Somerset

I was also charged by B.T. In my case I reported phone not working. They did tell me I'd be charged if it turned out to be my phone not their equipment. Anyway, turned out to be two faults, at the local & the main exchange. But they still sent me a bill.
I obviously disputed the bill and they cancelled it. So quick answer is they can cancel the bill/charge. But they will look at the circumstances in coming to that decision. Good Luck !

Minerva_2

Me too!

I recently telephoned BT because of a fault on the line and they sent out an engineer. He told me that I would be charged for the call out. I told him that it was the first that I had heard about it and that I hadn't been told that I would be charged by the call centre and he said that because I should have been warned in advance, that he would ask them to cancel the charge, which they did.

Only seems fair to me that if you don't know about a charge in advance, that you shouldn't end up paying it!

Jazzy_B

This happened to my brother. After several phone complaints, and a very strongly worded letter of complaint, he got the payment waived. I reckon a letter is worth a try.

amd

Thanks for the replies.

Finally got through to a Scottish voice (wowee!) at a callcentre on my second attempt. India on the first attempt .... again, no offence meant, but my heart sank when I couldn't even catch the guy's first sentence! Also, I felt really awkward about complaining to him about a fellow colleague's linguistic abilities!?!

BT will look into my complaint and reply in 2 or 3 weeks. Here's hoping! They have suspended my direct debit until this is rectified - so that's nice...
Hope it does get cancelled 'cos this will turn out to be probably the lowest bill I've ever had from BT since I had my first phone in 1985!!! All thanks to this website and Call18866!