My elderly parents recently called out an engineer due to a landline fault. The engineer then fixed a fault with the BT network. My parents' equipment was not at fault, so they were surprised to be charged £85 for "Engineer Home Improvement Service Charge - Phone" in the next bill.
The only explanation for this I can think of is that my mother asked the engineer to alter the ringer setting on the handset. The engineer didn't mention anything about there being a fee, and it only took a matter of seconds.
Is this normal procedure? It seems unreasonable to me to charge for such a trivial service, and even worse not to warn that there would be a fee.
Where was the ‘network fault’ ?, I doubt the charge was for altering a setting on a phone , much more likely that the fault was on something OR are not responsible for , ( customer equipment , extension wiring , extension sockets etc , or damage not considered fair wear and tear , like spilled liquid into the master socket ) or it’s a mistake and should be challenged.
When someone raises a fault , the line is tested , should the test indicate a fault at or near the customer premises, they should be ‘warned’ of the potential for charges , should the fault be on something OR are not responsible for ( basically anything within the home except the master socket ) the fault is only progressed once the end user accepts the potential for charges , so charges shouldn’t come as a complete surprise, it’s a requirement that the customer is told of this possibility, the engineer doesn’t need to confirm anything , it’s the description of the fault remedy that dictates if a charge is due , and it’s a ‘back office’ function, to raise the charge, not a tick in a box for the engineer
It may seem harsh , but ( for example ) say a customer had a Sky TV box connected to the phone line , and the Sky box developed a fault that interfered with the phone line , the customer doesn’t do the self checks ( like removing all equipment form the line ) assumes the fault must be on the line and simply calls out Openreach, if all OR have to do to restore service , is disconnected the faulty Sky TV box, then the charge for the unnecessary visit is justifiable.
Obviously ,we don’t know what the fault was and what was done to fix it
Contact BT 0800.800.150 and ask them to detail exactly what the engineer fixed and why a charge was raised.
If you get no answers from them post back to see if further assistance can be given.
The fault was in the exchange several streets away from the property.
I have so far been unable to get through to customer services - they just put you on hold.
I have notified the moderators of the forum about your problem. Once they have read this they may be able to help. They are very busy at present so it can take up to 24 hours for them to contact you. They will do this by posting on this thread.
Hi @DodgyGeezer
Welcome to the BT Community and thank you for your posts.
I'm sorry for the confusion regarding the call out charge for the engineer. We do quote possible charges when raising the fault and the guys above have gave you a breakdown of when charges would be raised. However, I understand that you've said that the fault was identified and fixed at the exchange - there should be no charges raised in this instance.
I have sent you a private message with instructions on how you can send us over your details and we'll look into this for you. See: Private messages
Thanks,
Robbie