BT Line Reconnection After Using Another Provider ??

GunJack

What I don't get, in this day and age, is how can BT get away with charging £125 to re-connect after you've been with, say, talktalk for a couple of years ??

My parents moved to talktalk for the all-in phone, line and broadband £20 a month package, and although they are past their 18 month minimum contract length, they are now effectively trapped into staying with tt due to the cost of getting the BT line back. Also, it would appear to mean they can't swap to a.n.other all-in provider, as none of them seem to be able to directly take over a non-BT line. As the all-in providers may charge £20-30 if anything to take on the line off bt, how on earth can bt justify £125 and a minimum 12 months from re-connection ???

It also has the effect of putting off people, me included, of going to an all-in provider, even though it would save me money on the monthly costs.

It makes me :mad:

normanmark

Is the line unbundled to Talk Talk's part of the network? If so then work will have to be carried out to be brought back onto the 'main' BT network, its not just BT than can connect lines, there are plenty of other providers.

For a full line connection it'll be between £110-130, just purely if that the line is on Talk Talk's part of the network then an engineer will have to do work to bring it back. Remember though, the cheapest line connection rate might not offer the best call plan prices.

Its worth phoning around & doing some homework on the matter first i'd say!

Oliver27

BT should do this for free if the line was originally with them,
I was in the same boat and BT kept saying tough luck
it will be £125 for a new line

Then, I spoke to Customer options team on 0800 800 030
and made it clear I wanted to "Return to donor" they knew
straight away what I meant, and 15 days later my line was back
to BT for no charge or 12 month contract.

koenig

normanmark wrote: »

Is the line unbundled to Talk Talk's part of the network? If so then work will have to be carried out to be brought back onto the 'main' BT network, its not just BT than can connect lines, there are plenty of other providers.

For a full line connection it'll be between £110-130, just purely if that the line is on Talk Talk's part of the network then an engineer will have to do work to bring it back. Remember though, the cheapest line connection rate might not offer the best call plan prices.

Its worth phoning around & doing some homework on the matter first i'd say!

If someone doesn't have a phone line at all or is on cable, what other providers can connect u with an Openreach maintained line other than BT retail? I've looked on the Openreach website but couldn't find any names of providers that they supply to.

Also, if u have a stopped line, do u have to reconnect with BT Retail or are there other providers that can do this?

Oliver27

https://www.utilitywarehouse.co.uk/store/mt.taf
http://www.thephone.coop/residential/linerental.html

koenig

Oliver27 wrote: »

https://www.utilitywarehouse.co.uk/store/mt.taf
http://www.thephone.coop/residential/linerental.html

If u just need a reconnection of a stopped line, BT Retail are still the cheapest - £0, 12 month contract though. Interesting that 'The Phone Co-op' only charges £40 to go from a TalkTalk LLU line to them.

normanmark

koenig wrote: »

If someone doesn't have a phone line at all or is on cable, what other providers can connect u with an Openreach maintained line other than BT retail? I've looked on the Openreach website but couldn't find any names of providers that they supply to.

Also, if u have a stopped line, do u have to reconnect with BT Retail or are there other providers that can do this?

Plusnet, Post Office, Co-Op - theres plenty. Do a search on here and you'll find them!

As for the last question, no you don't have to connect with BT Retail at all now - its an open market!!!

Ypaymore

Oliver27 wrote: »

https://www.utilitywarehouse.co.uk/store/mt.taf
http://www.thephone.coop/residential/linerental.html

The Utility Warehouse link you post is of a distributor.

Are you that distributor ? Or have you just lifted it from google.

PaulK_3

Oliver isn't a distributor and probably googled it like many people do when looking for information to help a poster.

wantmemoney

GunJack wrote:

What I don't get, in this day and age, is how can BT get away with charging £125 to re-connect after you've been with, say, talktalk for a couple of years ??

it appears BT are charging irrespective of whether it's correct and hoping you won't notice
dodgy company/dodgy people
also double check advice given on this forum. many of the members appear to be 'BT' types

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2007/nov/10/moneysupplement.internetphonesbroadband
BT gets its lines crossed with a fee for all
November 10, 2007

People moving home are being charged a £125 reconnection fee by BT - even if the previous owner was a customer of the telecom giant. Those who call BT to complain have been left waiting on hold for hours.
Two weeks ago, Guardian Money told how BT was penalising people moving into a new home where the previous occupant had switched their landline to a rival supplier.
Now it appears the former monopoly provider has been taking advantage of consumer confusion, and its dominant position, by applying the same charge randomly to thousands of customers moving house.
The £125 fee, which, some might say, makes a mockery of Ofcom's attempts to bring down the cost of phone and broadband services, came about because it seems no one at the regulator considered what would what happen to "movers" under its new regime.
It does not help that the BT department responsible for connecting new customers appears to be in chaos. People are complaining it is impossible to contact - and those that do get through are often given contradictory information.
Some customers told Guardian Money they have spent more than 10 hours on the phone trying to resolve the problem, while others complain the £125 fee was "absurd" and "exorbitant".
Meanwhile, engineers are not turning up to appointments. In 2005, Ofcom insisted that BT create a separate company (now called Openreach) to manage the engineers who connect homes to the exchange. The split was intended to give all the telecoms companies equal access to the exchange network, to stimulate competition.
However, one of the unintended consequences of the decision appears to be much higher reconnection charges when a customer moves house.
BT's residential arm is allowed to charge the £125 fee if the previous occupier switched their landline to a rival supplier, through what is known as local loop unbundling. It appears to have plucked this unregulated figure out of the air, as it pays Openreach considerably less for the switch.
The problem is occurring when someone informs their telephone provider they are moving and that they want to terminate their contract.
After extensive questioning this week, BT revealed that the imposition of the charge largely depends on whether the house is near a busy exchange, where demand for lines is high. In that case, lines freed up are being quickly offered for re-use. In quiet areas, they can sit undisturbed for up to five years.
New occupiers are automatically charged the £125 fee, regardless of who used to supply the phone service. However, BT said this week that the charge should not be payable if the previous occupier was with BT. This has been refuted by readers' experiences.
Police officer Fred Trott contacted Money after reading our original article. He said he and his wife had been charged £125 when they moved into their home in Haslemere, Surrey.
The previous owner had been with OneTel, but had agreed to switch their service back to BT before they moved out. The Trotts moved in but faced an endless battle to make BT see this - its staff insisted the £125 fee was payable.
The pair, loyal BT customers for many years, say they have spent more than 10 hours on the phone to various BT departments trying to get the charge repaid - but to no avail.
A spokesman for BT says the current position regarding the £125 fee is "not ideal" and that it is looking at how it can be changed. "Where a working line exists, our intention is that reconnection should be free - but a charge of £125 applies where we have to involve an engineer.
"Where a customer is returning to join BT from a local loop unbundled competitor, our systems default to charging £125. We do intend to change this as soon as possible. It is one of a number of complex changes arising from BT Retail's adoption of a new IT system to comply with its commitment to the regulator, Ofcom."
It also confirmed that it has now refunded Mr Trott's £125 charge.
Ofcom says it is aware of the situation and that it is working with the Office of the Telecoms Adjudicator (OTA) to rectify this problem. "The matter should be resolved by next spring," says a spokeswoman. "It is important that customers are confident in the switching process and it is essential that there are no obstacles in the way. We are working via the OTA and industry to have all telecoms providers on the new system by spring 2008."

normanmark

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