BT £125 connection charge

[hackers0ns]

If you are about to, or recently had, a BT line connected you may be hit with a whopping £125 connection charge. We were hit with this unfair charge as the preious tenant had used talk talk before the phone was disconnected.

 

However, we have just discovered they have a special offer at the moment of half price connection at just £62. After a long phone call to explain that we were never given this option we have just had the charge reduced.

 

so if you want to cut this charge i half read this page...

 

BT Price List

 

and then phone them up and get your money back.

[Guest Old_andrew2018]

Hi

Still a rip off at any any price,

if you have one of the broadband services why not try A VOIP provider, I did just that and use my land line to recieve calls.

for 7.99 per month I have unlimited call to lineland numbers in UK, IRELAND, USA, CANADA, and parts of Europe, also free call to North Americian mobiles.

So BT might charge what they like for connection but they don't get a single penny more than the line rental

[mr_telecom_man]

Thank you hackers0ns for the post and the link.

This is a great saving of £62.50 for a new BT line.

However the discount won't show until your next bill so be sure to request an 18 month contract in the beginning to get the reduced charge.

BT should offer an 18 month contract to all new customers in the beginning.

mr_telecom_man

[zilch]

My daughter has recently moved into her own place, and the phone line was dead. So she's just had to cough up this £125 for a bt connection. I've passed the link to her, and told her to give them a bell, see if she can get a refund.

[Skintandpennyless]

We had over 2 weeks of hell when we signed up to BT last October.

 

Please feel free to make a cuppa and get comfy before you continue reading...

 

It all started when we rang up to register with them on 11th October. We were told that there would be a installation charge of £125 because it had been disconnect at the main box. We gave them our details but their system was down so they said they'd ring us back within 2 days.

By 15th Oct we'd not heard anything so rang them back again and found out that our details had been taken down wrong so even though they had a contact number the person they were trying to credit check didn't live here.

Once again we were told there would be a £125 fee which we said we couldn't really afford but after being told that if we paid monthly we could spread it over 3 months we then then booked an engineer for Monday 22nd Oct.

 

Monday 22nd Oct, Day 1:

 

The engineer arrived and we showed him where the PC's were (upstairs back of the house) and asked for the Home Hub to fitted next to it. We were then informed that he was only allowed to fit the hub up to 5 metres from the front of the house. So we took advantage of the whole 5m and ended up with black outdoor cable tacked to the inside of our front room wall.

Engineer gone we turn of the PC's only to find one has very very slow connection and the other no connection at all. So we rang the broadband support and eventually got through to INDIA!!!! There was a bit of a language barrier and he kept telling us to goto a certain IP on a PC that had no internet connection. As you've probably gathered he had no idea what he was talking about and after frequent requests we were finally put through to someone who was equally useless. We asked to speak to someone in English call centre and was told there was one but we had to request it. By 10pm we'd been on the phone for 6 hours and got nowhere.

 

Tuesday Day 2:

 

We spent another 6 hours on the phone in queues and requesting the English call centre and came to the conclusion that it was a mythical thing that never existed in the first place.

 

Wednesday Day 3:

 

We decided it wasn't worth the hassel and rang disconnections. After 90 minutes in a queue we were advised that due to the nature of our problem she would grant us a FREE extension to be fitted (so we could have the Hub in the same room as the PC's). She said she'd put a note on our account but we would have to ring customer services and book the engineer ourselves. She put us in the queue for customer services which was answered by repairs. So we thought while we was there we would tell them about the hub phone not even ringing when someone phoned us. They said they'd ring us back on our mobile about that problem (they never did ring) then put us back in the queue for customer services. This time it was answered by billing, then sales. eventually after 3.5 hours we got through to customer services in INDIA!!!!! only to be told that he could see no note on the account and that we would be charged £165 for the extension on top the original £125. When I protested he had the cheek to tell us to move our PC's next to the hub. This infurtiated me and I asked to speak to his supervisor who in turn said he'd put us through the correct department. we were in a queue to 2 minutes then the phone went dead.

 

Thursday Day 4:

 

We decided that after 3 days of sitting in queues and being miss-directed we'd have a day off for the sake of our sanity.

 

Friday Day 5:

 

We rang disconnections and the man on the phone confirmed that there was a note on our account stating we could have a FREE extension fitted and even read it out to us. We still needed to speak to customer services to book it so he put us in the queue which was answered by billing!! She advised us that we needed to be put though to the New customer service line not the old one which we'd apparently been to.

The man on the New customer services line asked me for our BT number so I gave him it 3 times to then be asked "is this your mobile number?" I told him no it was my outer space number and then gave him it again for a 4th time. He then put us in a queue to speak to an engineer which was picked up by someone in the wrong department in INDIA!!!! We were place in another queue which was answered by an Englishman who said we were in the wrong department but would would put us through to the right one. This resulted in the following message "The number you have dialed has not been recognised" followed by the line going dead.

 

We rang customer services AGAIN!! and got through to a very nice man in England who was very sympathetic said he couldn't see the note on the account but spoke to a colleague in another department who could. He said he would arrange everything for us but would need to ring us back. He rang us back and said we would get a call from an engineer over the weekend to arrange a fitting (apparently they work weekends).

 

Saturday Day 6 :

 

No call from the engineers.

 

Sunday Day 7:

 

No call.

 

Monday Day 8:

 

Still no call

 

Tuesday Day 9:

 

Again no call.

 

Wednesday Day 10:

 

We received a letter which we thought would be a date for the engineer. Instead it was a bill for £168 for 10 days of non service. We'd been billed for th connection fee in one lump. We rang billing to complain and was told we could only pay monthly if we paid by direct debit. Something the girl we spoke to originally never told us about and bank details were never mentioned at all. We told them that we couldn't afford to pay that in one go so we would have to cancel our services. He said it would take time to do as emails needed to be sent and that there would be a disconnection fee, after we told him what we'd been through he waved the fee an 1 months line rental. This still left us with a balance of £130 for 10 days of non service.

 

We asked for the number for complaints but due to waiting in queues all day were unable to ring them as they closed at 6pm.

 

Thursday Day 12:

 

9am we ring the complaints number and wait in the queue. At the same time we went on the BT website (using a 30 metre network cable trailed through the house and up the stairs to connect the PC to the hub) to email a complaint.

 

Just as we pressed the the send button someone answered the phone. Thankfully it wasn't India that answered. To make things easier to explain we just read her the email that we'd just sent. She then said she was very sorry for all the stress we'd been through and that BT valued our custom so she waved the £125 connection fee and the £165 fee for the extension and told us an engineer would be here the following morning to fit it.

 

Friday Day 13:

 

Engineer came round as promised, moved the Hub to where we wanted it in the first place and took down the black cabling that the first guy shouldn't have put up in the first place.

 

Finally we have internet

 

 

On a down side I recently signed up to 1571 answer service which seems to only work on the internet phone line not one the normal landline and kicks in straight away so it doesn't ring. I'm now trying to find the will power to ring customers services to sort it lol.

 

 

[animal_lover]

I changed back to BT in December 07 and was never told about the special discount.

 

would it be to late to ask them to reduce my connection charge aswell

 

Thanks

[mr_telecom_man]

hi

you can ask them and see what they say.

[cheersfrombeers]

I personally think this connection charge is no different to a bank charge. They are obviously taking advantage, especially for people who are moving and tied into a contract like me. Plus I'm in an area where I havent got a choice between Cable or the usual landline.

 

The only thing we can do is complain, I'm making my own youtube video after the installation and complaining and shaming on there, I'm also complaining to BT and then to their regulators Ofcom and I'll even email BBC's Watchdog. If enough of us do it (not all make a youtube video unless you really want to) then hopefully something will have to be done. I urge you all to do it.

 

In my letter I'm going to question the true cost of the installation, theres already a landline there, so all the engineer has to do is plug something in on the exchange. Therefore its not covering cost it's blatently making more profit on the money they already make from us being customers.

 

Complain, complain complain people and demand your money back. Most importantly complain to the regulators.

[Conniff]

I personally think this connection charge is no different to a bank charge

 

I don't think it is anything like the bank charges, they just send a letter and add the charges, Bt have to send a man who is paid a wage, in a van that has to pay road tax, insurance and fuel as well as wear and tear.

 

So I don't think there is any comparison.

[cheersfrombeers]

What I was trying to illustrate was the £126 charge like a bank charge is in my view a form of extorsion.

 

The vans have already been taxed to carry out essential maintenance that they have to do, the wages for the engineers has also been put aside for the work to.

 

If the house has already got a phone line, and in this day and age most houses do, the majority of the expense has already been met. All the engineer has to do is plug something in at the exchange. Surely that isnt worth £126? Like a bank to charge a substancial amount to produce a letter to let you know you've gone overdrawn that cost them a couple of pence, BT charging £126 to do something that took less than an hour is completely out of order.

 

If my house hadnt had a phone line and all the wiring had to be done then I wouldnt have a problem, but its already done then its just simply unfair and taking advantage.

 

Complain to Ofcom people, if they have enough complaints it will have to be looked at.

[bach]

Hi This brings tears to my eyes reading all this. I am so frustrated Im almost at the point of suisidal.

 

This is the second letter we sent to BT having received no response from the first, and after too many calls to remember.

 

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii189/1bach/bt.jpg

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii189/1bach/bt1.jpg

 

Three weeks ago today I e mailed Ian Livingstone Cheif Exec BT within 5 min I had a reply from a secreatary, we talked throught the problem and she said she would have to listen to phone tapes etc and would get back to us within 48 hrs guess what we are still waiting for that phone call.

 

This morning we have received another BT bill, now the total has gone to £458.

 

We are going to get in touch with watch dog.

 

I have never been so frustrated in my entire life that I am over this

 

Lynn

[cheersfrombeers]

I would like people to volunteer to write a complaint to OFCOM reguarding this £125 connection charge. If you like I will send you a outline letter via email and all you have to do is put you address on it sign your name and post it. I'm going to stick up a YouTube video as well, one guy got thousands of hits for moaning about his broadband speed, so if I stick one up about the charge hopefully I'll attract more volunteers.

 

Any takers?

[fnuky]

We've just moved into a flat that has not one, but two recent BT sockets on the wall. The previous occupiers used this line for ADSL and normal phone calls.

 

BT arranged to connect it all up, did the site survey and found that they could do everything remotely without needing to send the engineer out. Next thing we know, the line's active!

 

However... bill comes along and there is that whopping installation charge

 

We've phoned up to complain and they are insisting that the line must have been with another operator, but refuse to give us any details and certainly are refusing to cancel the charge!

 

Regardless, the local line was BT's and goes to a BT exchange, if I understand correctly, so I can't see how £125 of work would be needed to get somebody to patch a cable - surely this would even be electronically routed to the correct place so would be automatic and wouldn't need any hands on time!

 

Reading the BT website, I believe their text is incredibly misleading! Based on what we'd read we thought there was no chance there would be a charge. We're only really getting the line to get ADSL / Sky TV so BT's monopoly on this is frustrating to say the least.

 

"This charge only applies in some cases, but before we can confirm this we need to check your property."

 

"...once you've placed your order and we've checked your property we'll let you know if it still applies" - they did not tell us this

 

" If your home has had telephone service from BT in the recent past, and the wiring and socket is undamaged and the line still has dialling tone, it's likely you won't need to pay this charge"

 

"Most of our new customers find they don't need to pay this charge"

O RLY?

 

Any advice?? I've seen some stories from people who have had the engineers have to visit their homes and the charge was waived!

[valhala]

Just had the same thing myself, the flat I moved into already had a BT socket so I ordered to get the line connected knowing if they needed to do the extra work they would inform me and I would be able to cancel. I always intened not to get the line if I had to pay this fee.

 

Anyway they were coming out between 8am and 1pm so I too kthe day of and waited, by 2pm no one had been so I phoned them and spoke to some guy in India who told me that they had already been and done the work outside and the line is now active.

 

So I thought cool, no charge so I asked the guy and he said "actually it says on the system they have done a lot of work on the road to connect the line so the £125 charge will apply".

 

I was fuming about this, I mean firstly they don`t even come up to my house and let me know they are here and secondly I don`t get the option to cancel.

 

I don`t even think anyone came out, probably just a case of seeing the line was already in place and they just need to activate it.

 

Anyway I am going to write them a letter of complaint and tell them to either cancel this charge or cancel my account as it is well out of order, if they do not do either I shall complain to whoever it takes.

[valhala]

And actually something which is a bit fishy, they supposdly came out on Thursday 13th to do all the work and today I recieved the bill which has the £122.33 PSTN Standard Connection charge and the bill date is 11th March???

[sarah33]

I myself have a problem with bt re dis-connection charges, they are charging me £100 to disconnect as it is before my contract ended. My arguement with them is when i called up to cancel i was never informed of this charge or else i never would have left! After complaining to them 1 member of staff informed me that if they listened to the transcript and i wasnt in fact warned of this charge then they would cancel it. I then told cust services this and was told absolutely not, so im left with £100 bill.

[blondmark]

I moved into an apartment last summer and, not for the first time, I was scammed with the BT £125 'connection charge' when there was very obviously already a line in there, the previous tenants having moved out weeks earlier leaving phones plugged in at every point.

 

A BT guy working in the building confirmed that an active line was indeed going in, and another one sent to install the line also confirmed the same, saying I shouldn't be charged. I told BT three times that they must NOT debit the connection charge from my bank account, but of course they did. They then refused to credit the £125 back to my bank account, insisting that it would be credited back to my BT account instead over the coming 11 months!

 

I told them they must repay me in cash exactly as they had taken it. They refused. Three months later there was no refund to my BT account either! The money was just gone.

 

I then gave them two weeks to refund all of it, which they refused, and then I sued.

 

Their defence states 'The Defendant contends that the sum has been credited back to the Claimant. Invoice Q003 shows the credited amount.' Of course this fails to mention that this is only a partial credit against a BT account over 11 months, and not the full cash refund to my bank account demanded.

 

After BT admitting their error in charging for the connection at all, they then state ' The Defendant denies that any charges have been raised on this account incorrectly' ... excuse me?!?!

 

Icing on the cake 'The Defendant seeks an order that the Claimant's claim be struck out, as the Claimant has no reasonable grounds for bringing a claim',

 

I wrote to the District Judge enclosing copies exposing BT's inaccuracies and he quite rightly listed the case for trial.

Edited May 11, 2009 by MARTIN3030
Edited as required-but good luck and keep us posted.

[Gandalf-2009]

I agree with cheersfrombeers, the connection charge is a complete con. Apart from anything else you pay line rental and as far as I am concerned this should cover any work the needs doing to keep your service running. If I pay rent to a landlord on a property I don't expect to then have to pay over more money if something needs repairing.

[callumsgran]

email: john.7.williams@bt.com

Have a chat with this gentleman, he's a bit slow but you get what you want in the end

I've just had my whole installation charge quashed

He's the executive level complaints chappie

[tiaposy]

callumsgran - Thanks, Just what I need!

I rang the other day to ask what the cancellation period was & was told 14 days (we are moving). I am just on phone now and have been told, yes the phone line is 14 days, but the broadband is 30!! Also they want to charge me a disconnection fee of £18.00 because I won't pay their ridiculous connection fee of £120!

Stunning. I will be emailing this guy now

Thanks

[MARTIN3030]

email: john.7.williams@bt.com

 

 

 

Have a chat with this gentleman, he's a bit slow but you get what you want in the end

I've just had my whole installation charge quashed

 

He's the executive level complaints chappie

 

 

Good info whats the guys name ?

[valhala]

I just sent an email to him, he is out of the office till the 15th May.

[kiptower]

re > john.7.williams@bt.com

 

i would think its John Williams by the email addy

[MARTIN3030]

Yes sorry I meant to say whats his position.

I guess he is in the CEOs office ?

[MARTIN3030]

I saw recently that BT are currently waiving the £125 connection fee so long as the actual line is still there.

Its conditional on the 18months contract etc.