Engineer Home Improvement Service Charge

[oldspots]

Good morning and thank you for allowing me to post a question here. We had problems with our broadband which was dwindling down to nothing, we do have a very low speed at all times but it was going to nothing throughout the day. After checking that there wasn't a problem in my area I rang and spoke to a very helpful girl who went through loads of testing things to see what it could be and if it was a fault with something done in my home. After eliminating everything an engineer was sent out to sort out the problem. Although he did not find anything wrong in what we had done in the house or outside the property he did replace the main socket with a modern one. Everything worked for a while until the same problem happened again. I rang again and explained what had happened previously and the unhelpful girl told me they dont send an engineer out for the problems I was experiencing and I was unable to convince her one did actually come out. She also did some tests and told me to use an ethernet cable which solved the problem! I have now been charged for this home improvement service - can this be right please. Thankyou.

[Keith_Beddoe]

This guide should help.

http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/12439/c/

As it appears that the fault was on your own network, and using an Ethernet cable fixed it, then you would have been charged for the visit.

If the main socket was upgraded, then the latest type probably has a separate socket for the BT Home hub, and one for the phone. That is the best arrangement, and would have involved a charge.

[oldspots]

Thanks for your prompt reply. So the engineer replaced the socket, the ethenet cable only worked at that particular moment, the problem still exists and I have charged?? Yes you are right the new socket has the internet connection at the top of the phone connection. This all seems rather harsh though?

[Keith_Beddoe]

Is the BT home hub now plugged into that top connection?

Which BT Home hub do you have?

Its Openreach that actually visit, and pass the charge onto BT Retail. Charges are comparable to many other utilities, if you call them out.

[oldspots]

Yes the hub is plugged in to it. When I spoke to the first girl on the phone she was really helpful and checked lots of things, getting us to take the front off the socket and plug directly into the insides, she said the speed was falling to nothing and she could not see why, that was why the engineer was called out. The fault still exists. I have BT hub 4.

[Keith_Beddoe]

Probably best if I move this to the ADSL connection board, as it a better place to sort out speed issues.

[imjolly]

in order for the forum members to help please can you post the adsl stats from your router you may need to 'show detail' to get all stats (if hub enter 192.168.1.254 in your browser and navigate to adsl or if HH4/5 then go to troubleshooting then logs and you are looking for 2 line together when hub last connected to internet and they will show your connection speed and noise margin or if netgear enter 192.168.0.1). Then run  btspeedtester  (MAC users may have problems). when first test completes then run diagnostic test and post the results ( do not reset the router).


Have you tried the quiet line test? - dial 17070 option 2 - should hear nothing - best done with a corded phone. if cordless phone you may hear a 'dull hum' which is normal

Someone may then be able to offer help/assistance/suggestions to your problem

[oldspots]

Thankyou. It was the charges I wanted help with as I feel it was unfair to charge me.

[Keith_Beddoe · Accepted solution]

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@oldspots wrote:

Thankyou. It was the charges I wanted help with as I feel it was unfair to charge me.

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The charges were correct as shown on that link.

Help is available here to see what can be done about the speed.

In order to find out what services and speed range you should be getting, please enter your phone number into this form.
Broadband availability checker


Please remember to edit out your phone number before you post the results.

Could you please post the results from the BT Speedtester, including the further diagnostics.
 
BT Wholesale Speedtester
 
Thanks

[imjolly]

as Keith has said the problem appears to have been in your home and therefore you were charged

if however there is still a problem then by posting the information requested you can get help from the forum members and possibly the forum mods who are BT employees