BT Reconnection Fee - Who pays?

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I expect I'm in a similar situation to a fair few others this week - the contract for my new shared student house starts on Thursday and I'm trying to get everything set up and ready to use. However, I've come across a slight problem. The previous residents have used Virgin ADSL as a phone and internet service provider. They've therefore had their BT phone line deactivated. Now, since I'd rather not suffer with Virgin ADSL, it's gonna cost me a fair whack to get reconnected to the BT network. But is it my onus to pay this fee, given it was the previous tenants who got the property disconnected in the first place?

Thanks
 
can't really understand why you think it should be them?

You can have it reactivated with someone other than bt though if you like and that might be cheaper?
 
Unfortunately yes. You could speak to the agency and ask them to see if the landlord will pay it, as it will help the place become easier to rent when you leave if it already has a line installed, this is more likely to work before you have signed the contract though.

Or you could go with another provider, I'm just switching now to plusnet from virgin, their connection charge is only £50 if you take their phone line and broadband (both of which are cheap than BT).
 
AcidHell2 said:
you.

why would it be anything else. It's a service you want. Nothing to do with anyone else.
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Bad news :(

Well because the previous tenants have effectively limited any following occupier to either using one ISP or paying a hefty fee. Seems a little unfair, but such is life I guess!
 
I don't think you have to pay if the property has a BT line physically connected. They tried to con me into paying 124 I think it was for this, told me there wasn't a BT line. Seemingly it had somehow got lost in their system, they had to send a bloke out with a posh bit of kit so they could identify the line back at the exchange. Anyway, I didn't have to pay the large fee in the end, it was either free or a much smaller charge, I can't remember now.
 
tim80bwi said:
Well because the previous tenants have effectively limited any following occupier !
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You can get any service you want. It is not anyone elses fault that they didn't want a non essential service.

Could probably be the reason they went for virgin in the first place.
 
AcidHell2 said:
You can get any service you want. It is not anyone elses fault that they didn't want a non essential service.

Could probably be the reason they went for virgin in the first place.
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I didn't say I couldn't. You've taken the quote out of context...

Anyway, it was just a question. I've got the information I need now. Thanks.
 
Are you talking about the line here or the broadband connection? ADSL is a separate service to line provision. All lines are owned by bt and 'sub leased' out to third parties. If you are switching to bt there should be no connection charge, but bt is pants, I would give o2 a call and get the line and the ADSL through them. Thier tos are leagues ahead of bt and they are marginally cheaper.
 
I was talking about the line, but mentioned ADSL so as to make it clear the current setup isn't with Virgin Cable. I would be looking to get a 'BT line' then switch to BE LLU.
To be honest, I'm not sure how the whole thing works. All I know is that the Virgin website says a 'Virgin Phone Line' is required for their phone and ADSL service, and the BT person I spoke to says there is no BT line registered at the address. This leads me to the conclusion that the line has been switched to virgin. What this actually means, and whether this means I even need to pay a 'reconnection' fee is a bit of a grey area for me to be fair.
 
Clarkey said:
I don't think you have to pay if the property has a BT line physically connected. They tried to con me into paying 124 I think it was for this, told me there wasn't a BT line. Seemingly it had somehow got lost in their system, they had to send a bloke out with a posh bit of kit so they could identify the line back at the exchange. Anyway, I didn't have to pay the large fee in the end, it was either free or a much smaller charge, I can't remember now.
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They still charge you a connection fee, regardless of whether you already have a line there or not. For example, I moved into a new build last year which already all had BT lines plugged into each flat. All the engineer needed to do was a quick fiddle in the distribution box.

What you can find is better deals though.
For example, I took out TV/Broadband/Phone with Sky and they pay the BT phone installation cost for you, bringing the cost of it down... can't remember how much it was in the end, maybe £35-45.
 
Sounds like they had VM Cable rather than VM ADSL. Put your post code into the VM site and find out. Much better service than many ADSL providers and doesn't require phone line.
 
tim80bwi said:
I was talking about the line, but mentioned ADSL so as to make it clear the current setup isn't with Virgin Cable. I would be looking to get a 'BT line' then switch to BE LLU.
To be honest, I'm not sure how the whole thing works. All I know is that the Virgin website says a 'Virgin Phone Line' is required for their phone and ADSL service, and the BT person I spoke to says there is no BT line registered at the address. This leads me to the conclusion that the line has been switched to virgin. What this actually means, and whether this means I even need to pay a 'reconnection' fee is a bit of a grey area for me to be fair.
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Ok, well its still a bt line, its just that its currently via virgin. As such there is no disconnection or re connnection. It will always be a bt line.
Good choice with be* its actually the same llu service as 02, as 02 purchased be* to get into the llu bb market, although they are still operating as different companies, the llu service is one and the same. I would strongly suggest you call 02 as they offer a combined line-ADSL for an up to 16 meg connection, be* still offer the up to 24meg, but unless you live next door to your Telco exchange you wont see anything near that speed through a copper phone line.
 
mattyfez said:
Ok, well its still a bt line, its just that its currently via virgin. As such there is no disconnection or re connnection. It will always be a bt line.
Good choice with be* its actually the same llu service as 02, as 02 purchased be* to get into the llu bb market, although they are still operating as different companies, the llu service is one and the same. I would strongly suggest you call 02 as they offer a combined line-ADSL for an up to 16 meg connection, be* still offer the up to 24meg, but unless you live next door to your Telco exchange you wont see anything near that speed through a copper phone line.
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Ok, sounds like I've got the wrong end of the stick then, which is good news. I'm gonna have to try and get the landline phone number off the current tenants so I can get a definitive answer of how much everything is going to cost. I'm guessing BE would be able to give me a rough speed estimate as well?
 
What does the contract for the rental state? It must say something about phone, gas and electric. I would have thought there is a good possibility the landlord should pay this. Check what your contract says in the small print.
 
Drukk said:
What does the contract for the rental state? It must say something about phone, gas and electric. I would have thought there is a good possibility the landlord should pay this. Check what your contract says in the small print.
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99.999999999999999999% of contracts say you have to sort out utilities.

Almost zero chance landlord will do anything.
 
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