BT Master Socket

Hello.
I'm looking for some advice on BT master socket and where their responsibility ends and mine begins in regard to charges.
Last year (october) I had quite a few connection dropouts so promtly checked the phone and discovered a crackling on the landline and after a few checks with test socket, I booked a engineer visit for line fault. The engineer arrived and did several tests which seemed to fail and indicate a fault as none of them would complete to his satisfaction. After about an hour he ended up changing the master socket which is the only one in the house and the tests were good and he then left.
At no point was it ever indicated that this was a fault that was chargable or was my fault in any way. He simply indicated that the old socket was not up to the job any more and did not elaborate further.
Today I download my bill and see BT have charged me for this visit and would like some advice on if that is correct.
After looking at this link, none of these seem to apply to the situation but I know it's not always that simple with BT.

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

Thank you for any help.

Edited by jackburt0n (Wed 14-Feb-18 16:24:32)

For example if the issue with the master socket was due to damp corroding connectors then that would make it chargeable to replace, but if the damp was due to water entering property due to a badly run Openreach cable on the outside then they'd have to pay for it.

If the fault has been totally fixed by the change of socket, then suggests something was wrong. The demarcation point is the test socket, but one assumes the tests failed using that, and one would assume they took a peek and decided a new socket was better rather than redo connections.

In terms of charging, since nothing seems to have been agreed on the day then its your word versus their word.

So the socket was changed, and this often can raise a charge, to get the charge refunded its appeal and explain why the socket change was not due to anything in your control.

Thanks.
Yes, the lack of information in what was done and why does not help much. It would be nice as a paying customer if itemised billing for work done was provided so I could see cause and affect.
It seems I'll have to appeal the charge then. Do you know how I go about this, is there a specific dept to contact?

Assuming that you have not damaged the socket in some way I suggest that you phone your supplier and ask for an explanation as to why you have been charged. They may have to contact Openreach to get an answer.

If you do not get a satisfactory response and they presist with the charge you need to ask them for a "Letter of deadlock" and then report them to the appropriate ombudsman.

The separation of engineers from the people generating your bill is not helping.

How you appeal is raise this with the retailer, BT in your case.

You need to ring BT and ask them why you have been charged. BT will have access to the engineer's report, and will be able to tell you if the engineer has blamed any enviromental factors or damage within your property. Make sure you insist that the fault existed on the test socket, as the removable part is your responsibility.

It may just be a 'mistake'.

When you raised the fault initially, were you warned of charges if no fault found ?

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

When you raised the fault initially, were you warned of charges if no fault found ?

Is that relevant as a fault was found? The question doesn't seem to be whether there was a fault but whose responsibility the fault was.

If you take a car to a garage and it carries out work where you have not authorised the work you end up disputing it, and similarly with the potential for fault charges.

So if there was no warning about potential charges you can say I was not warned about the possibility, therefore do not accept the charge.

Hence why we get some people panicking about the charge when an ISP warns about it, i.e. how you warn people is a difficult one, as am sure it has lead to some people just living with a fault rather than risk a charge.

If the NTE was located in an area that was damp, (not due to capillary action down the cable) then charges would have been raised.

You�d would need ALL the facts before making an informed guess TBF.