BT Call Out Charges

[higenbs1]

Does anyone else think this is daylight robbery?

Phoned BT yesterday, as the phone line in my recently purchased house was severely damaged and didn't work. I checked on the website, and it's apparently illegal for anyone to tamper (i.e. repair) the first master socket in any house, other than a BT engineer.
The charges are £99 call out charge, plus £99 per hour. The charges are also rounded up to the nearest hour, so an engineer spending an hour and ten minutes to sort the problem would charge you approx £300.

Absolutely ridiculous. BT reckon it's to stop people calling them out for silly little things, like the phone being on mute. But then us poor fools who have genuine problems have to pay through the nose.

Only in the UK can I get a return flight to Greece cheaper than I can get a piece of wire connected to a junction box in my own house

The thing that gets me, is by making it illegal, it's basically a licence to print money, as I have no other alternative than to go through the proper channels

Rant over

[KrisLee]

Was the phone socket damaged before you bought the house, i.e. did you break it?

If it was broken when you bought the house and the vendor described the house as having a working BT phone line/connection then you should be able to get the previous owners to foot the bill. Worth checking with your solicitor.

I agree though, it is an expensive charge. Is the fault with the master socket itself or the internal wiring? You are allowed to take off the front plate of the master socket because that's where you connect the internal wiring - assuming you have an NT5E style master socket - most houses do.

Kris.

[njp]

Originally Posted by higenbs1

The thing that gets me, is by making it illegal, it's basically a licence to print money, as I have no other alternative than to go through the proper channels

What's the nature of the damage? Are you sure you are liable for the repair cost, rather than BT?

Naturally I would not wish to encourage you to break the law. But Master sockets are very simple indeed, and BT have no way of telling that you have touched anything, provided their line is correctly terminated...

[higenbs1]

It was like it when I moved in, so I might look at the paperwork from the previous owner.

Good thinking!!

My moan was more about how they can justify the charges, regardless of who ends up paying!!!