BT trying to charge for engineer, am i in the wrong?

rudeboymcc · 27 Oct 2007 at 16:43

Hi there. I recently moved to a house which had a "bt profesisonal" option, where the whole house was wired to ethernet and the phone line also went to an ethernet socket. the main telephone socket was completely dead.

so i called bt and the engineer came round and rewired the telephone line to the main telephone socket. before this they said that the engineer would be free if it is to do with their wiring.

now they're trying to charge me £99. i called up and complained and she said to me she can reduce it to £55, as the engineer had written that the line was not at fault. i tried to explain to her that the line was live but not wired into any sockets but she didn't seem to understand and gave me to her boss.

i tried to explain to the boss and she also didn't understand and kept saying that if the wires work in the house then it's not bt's fault (although these wires weren't actually connected to a socket).

result: she said she'll contact hte engineer and get his story, but the outcomem will either be complete refund or full charge (so no £55 option that i was originalyl given).

are BT always like this? my understanding was that if the main telephone socket didn't work, then it's BTs fault.

hybrid · 27 Oct 2007 at 17:00

It's free for BT to fix anything from behind the master socket to the exchange. Anything infront of the master socket is your responsiblity and you would be charged accordingly.

rudeboymcc · 27 Oct 2007 at 17:10

what exactly is a master socket thought? by master socket i'm thinking the first telephone point connected to the line, so i'm right and should not be charged becuase no sockets in my house worked. just becuase the fault was between my front door and the master socket it's still free right?

Bomag · 27 Oct 2007 at 17:13

They can only charge you if the technician informed you that the work he was doing was chargeable and what the cost was.

If he did the work without giving you the option of not incuring the cost they they don't have a leg to stand on.

Fr0dders · 27 Oct 2007 at 22:32

rudeboymcc said:
what exactly is a master socket thought? by master socket i'm thinking the first telephone point connected to the line, so i'm right and should not be charged becuase no sockets in my house worked. just becuase the fault was between my front door and the master socket it's still free right?

as i understand it, it works like this. You have one socket in the house that is the master socket. If you open this up inside is the test socket. The test socket backwards is their responsibility. Test socket forwards is yours

connecting to this internal test socket confirms if its BTs fault or not.

could you get a dial tone if you connect to the test socket ? if not then yeah definately complain.

Teal · 27 Oct 2007 at 23:20

The BT Engineer may have reported that the wiring had been changed from the master socket and that when he restored the wiring to the master socket it worked, hence not their fault and you get charged.

Main question is who did the original wiring?

If that was BT as well then you stand a chance of getting the charge dropped, if it wasn't then you may be stuck with it.

Immsy · 28 Oct 2007 at 08:49

Bomag said:
They can only charge you if the technician informed you that the work he was doing was chargeable and what the cost was.

If he did the work without giving you the option of not incuring the cost they they don't have a leg to stand on.

Not true, nothing to do with the engineer at all whether he gets charged or not. Remember the engineers are openreach engineers working on behalf of lots of diff service providers as well as BT. The person he called over the phone to report the problem should have explained the possible charge.

Bomag · 28 Oct 2007 at 14:11

Immsy said:
Not true, nothing to do with the engineer at all whether he gets charged or not. Remember the engineers are openreach engineers working on behalf of lots of diff service providers as well as BT. The person he called over the phone to report the problem should have explained the possible charge.

Exactly, if BT said it would be free unless the technician found that the error was downstream of the master socket, the technician has to tell the customer before a liability can be incoured. If the technician has not been told to do this it is BT fault.

Immsy · 28 Oct 2007 at 14:52

Bomag said:
the technician has to tell the customer before a liability can be incoured.

No he/she doesnt. All the technition does is do the work. They dont know what charges will be/if any will occur. Its up to the people in customer service as to whether a fault charge is raised or not. Openreach engineers work for every service provider out there, not just BT Retail. All they have to tell the customer is what the fault was and if its a BT outside fault or internal. Nothing to do with charges.

Bomag · 28 Oct 2007 at 16:27

Immsy said:
All they have to tell the customer is what the fault was and if its a BT outside fault or internal. Nothing to do with charges.

Contract law clearly states that customers must be informed in advance if they are going to be charged for a service and the amount.

If BT had said there may be a £99 charge if the work was downstream of the master socket then the technician would still have had to inform the customer if the work would be chargeable and give the customer the opportunity to not incur the cost.

Since, in this case, BT did not mention a cost then, to make a lawful charge, the technician would have had to state that the work was chargeable and the cost. As he did not BT has no legal claim for the work.

What he is told to do by openreach is not relevant as to whether the charge is valid.

Immsy · 28 Oct 2007 at 17:10

Yes like I said, he should have been told over the phone before the engineer even came out to the property.