BT connection charge
Discussion
I've recently moved into a new build and after speaking to BT initially I was told that a connection charge of £125 would be made due to having an engineer visit to connect the lines.
Two weeks later (and after they initially lost the order on the system!) I got a call saying the phone line was active and no engineer visit was required due to lines already being in place, great I thought, no charge and the BT monkey agreed.
Lo and behold, when the bill came through the charge was there. Called BT and again BT monkey agreed that no connection charge would be made, that a note would be placed on my account and the payment altered.
Thinking no more of it until I checked my bank statement, can you guess what happened? YES! The full payment went out at the end of June. Obviously just having moved house finances are a bit delicate and naievly I did not provision for that bill to come out so I am now an extra £60 down in bank charges, not happy in the slightest about this.
Spoke with BT monkeys today and amazingly they have no record on the system of them ever saying the call charge was not required. Unfortunately the indian based gentleman I spoke with was particulary un-helpful and could only offer 'but it's not on the system' 'but it's not on the system'. Even after he spoke to a supervisor no help was forthcoming.
Do any of you out there no if a charge for connection should of been made? I've had two previous lines activated in the past and there was no charge made, both due to having lines that were connected. Does the fact this is a new build have any bearing?
ta
Steve
Two weeks later (and after they initially lost the order on the system!) I got a call saying the phone line was active and no engineer visit was required due to lines already being in place, great I thought, no charge and the BT monkey agreed.
Lo and behold, when the bill came through the charge was there. Called BT and again BT monkey agreed that no connection charge would be made, that a note would be placed on my account and the payment altered.
Thinking no more of it until I checked my bank statement, can you guess what happened? YES! The full payment went out at the end of June. Obviously just having moved house finances are a bit delicate and naievly I did not provision for that bill to come out so I am now an extra £60 down in bank charges, not happy in the slightest about this.
Spoke with BT monkeys today and amazingly they have no record on the system of them ever saying the call charge was not required. Unfortunately the indian based gentleman I spoke with was particulary un-helpful and could only offer 'but it's not on the system' 'but it's not on the system'. Even after he spoke to a supervisor no help was forthcoming.
Do any of you out there no if a charge for connection should of been made? I've had two previous lines activated in the past and there was no charge made, both due to having lines that were connected. Does the fact this is a new build have any bearing?
ta
Steve
Bulls
t. They will charge you. If a line has been dead for a period of time, it'll cost you. If the previous people moved out within 2 ish months, then the line should be stopped, and all it requires is switching back on at the network. If its been longer, then it'll be ceased, and will have used the cables at exchange for another site, so will have to have exchange work done thus the charge will still be there, despite the fact you haven't had a new line installed.
t. They will charge you. If a line has been dead for a period of time, it'll cost you. If the previous people moved out within 2 ish months, then the line should be stopped, and all it requires is switching back on at the network. If its been longer, then it'll be ceased, and will have used the cables at exchange for another site, so will have to have exchange work done thus the charge will still be there, despite the fact you haven't had a new line installed.MitchT said:
When I move I'm not going to bother with a land line, I'll just get a contract on my mobile with plenty of free minutes on evenings and weekends. Of Course, I will need broadband though I'm not quite sure how I'm going to achieve that yet.
Sky or Virgin for cable broadband.Im with Virgin for tv and bb, we dont need a landline as we both have mobiles with plenty of minutes, oh and I cut through the phone line, oops!
Riknos said:
Bullst. They will charge you. If a line has been dead for a period of time, it'll cost you. If the previous people moved out within 2 ish months, then the line should be stopped, and all it requires is switching back on at the network. If its been longer, then it'll be ceased, and will have used the cables at exchange for another site, so will have to have exchange work done thus the charge will still be there, despite the fact you haven't had a new line installed.
Yup, yup and yup.t. They will charge you. If a line has been dead for a period of time, it'll cost you. If the previous people moved out within 2 ish months, then the line should be stopped, and all it requires is switching back on at the network. If its been longer, then it'll be ceased, and will have used the cables at exchange for another site, so will have to have exchange work done thus the charge will still be there, despite the fact you haven't had a new line installed.Whilst I didn't want to pay the charge initially I accepted it as part of the new house cost.
However, to be told subsequently that a charge would not be made and to then make the financial arrangement's is what has really got me
911motorsport said:
I have experienced this with my BT Business accounts. They tie you up for ages on the phone. After youve proved the billing errors they agree to get it all ammended.Following month, a threatening letter arrives 
ad infinitum
You actually got them on the phone? I (and this is true) had to take an afternoon off work to call them after a quick lunchtime call turned into a marathon. ad infinitumTim.s said:
911motorsport said:
I have experienced this with my BT Business accounts. They tie you up for ages on the phone. After youve proved the billing errors they agree to get it all ammended.Following month, a threatening letter arrives ad infinitum
You actually got them on the phone? I (and this is true) had to take an afternoon off work to call them after a quick lunchtime call turned into a marathon. ad infinitumI had this at a student house. For a start the £125 connection charge was dubious but I can't remember why. They main thing was that when the broadband didn't start when it should have done, I called and asked them to why. They sent an engineer, and charged me for it. It was their fking fault! I relayed this to them, and they said they'd remove it, but didn't and kept adding it back to the bills. It took many hours of painful telephone queuing to persuade them enough to get rid of it. Consequently, I shall never be using their 'services' ever again.
I worry that you actually need a BT line to have broadband though - is this the case?
king fault! I relayed this to them, and they said they'd remove it, but didn't and kept adding it back to the bills. It took many hours of painful telephone queuing to persuade them enough to get rid of it. Consequently, I shall never be using their 'services' ever again. I worry that you actually need a BT line to have broadband though - is this the case?
I used to have a BT line + BT Broadband. One month i could not afford the phone bill so i paid the internet bill so they didn't cancel that.
They cancelled the phone line AND the internet contract ("you don't have a phone line, so we thought we would cancel your internet account").
They actually expected me to renew both accounts, at a cost of hundreds of extra pounds when you factor in another 12 month interent contract! Needless to say, I did not renew the accounts and no longer directly use BT for anything.
Idiots.
They cancelled the phone line AND the internet contract ("you don't have a phone line, so we thought we would cancel your internet account").
They actually expected me to renew both accounts, at a cost of hundreds of extra pounds when you factor in another 12 month interent contract! Needless to say, I did not renew the accounts and no longer directly use BT for anything.
Idiots.
Riknos said:
Bullst. They will charge you. If a line has been dead for a period of time, it'll cost you. If the previous people moved out within 2 ish months, then the line should be stopped, and all it requires is switching back on at the network. If its been longer, then it'll be ceased, and will have used the cables at exchange for another site, so will have to have exchange work done thus the charge will still be there, despite the fact you haven't had a new line installed.
t. They will charge you. If a line has been dead for a period of time, it'll cost you. If the previous people moved out within 2 ish months, then the line should be stopped, and all it requires is switching back on at the network. If its been longer, then it'll be ceased, and will have used the cables at exchange for another site, so will have to have exchange work done thus the charge will still be there, despite the fact you haven't had a new line installed.- *WRONG***
we had a line that had been ceased for 6months, and had the same issue. we were told we needed to pay £125 new connection charge.
however after talking to a british chap (ask for an engineer) he told me that they *cannot charge* unless repair work to the cable or a new cable is needed.
Find a british engineer is the hard part (took me 5 different people)
Matt
Simpo Two said:
Never, EVER, set up a DD with BT.
They will take too much and you will spend the rest of your life trying to get it back. Fact.
This man *Points at ST* speaks the truth. When I got a phone line with them the guy on the phone didn't seem to comprehend that I wanted to pay by debit card rather than a monthly DD. After a 10 minute debate, he finally agreed to do it. BT then called me every 2 days telling me that I should switch to their precious DD system, offering me every incentive possible, short of a free blowjob. I stuck this out for a fortnight until I finally lost my temper and told the poor bloke on the phone (literally) to fThey will take too much and you will spend the rest of your life trying to get it back. Fact.
k off and do as he was toldThe moral of the story is, NEVER put yourself in a situation where you have to speak to BT on the phone. No matter how grave the problem, it's not worth the temper-fraying experience that is the BT call centre. This centre is an evil place of dark magic and witchcraft SO STRONG that it can turn calm, reasonable people into shoutingg, swearing lunatics in no time at all. I say we have them all executed.
m4tthew said:
Sky or Virgin for cable broadband.
Im with Virgin for tv and bb, we dont need a landline as we both have mobiles with plenty of minutes, oh and I cut through the phone line, oops!
With SKY you need a BT line.Im with Virgin for tv and bb, we dont need a landline as we both have mobiles with plenty of minutes, oh and I cut through the phone line, oops!
With Virgin they monitor your internet usage and report you to the BPI if they think you're downloading stuff you shouldn't be.
They also cap bandwidth at peak times.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/techdigest/20080612/ttc-b...
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