Hi,

Due to Virgin Media price increases, signed up for BT Infinity, phone line and basic TV package on 06/09/16.

Supposed to all be working by midnight 23/09/16 - phone line doesn't seem to be working and as everything comes through this I've zero service to date.

Spoken to mostly India on the phone (over 5 hours and counting in the past week) and they open a fault then close it off as completed and open a new fault. They are saying an engineer will check from my property to the cabinet on 06/10/16.

I suspect we have not been connected at the telegraph pole on the side street but they won't listen.

I've had enough and I want to cancel without any charges and they can pick their equipment up. I'm told as it is more than 14 days since I entered into a contract for the service I can't cancel.

How can this be? I am told I need to speak to technical again who must deem that the fault cannot be fixed, only then can I leave without penalty.

How can BT get away with providing such a shoddy service? Even takes 30 minutes+ just to get through to cancellations! Unbelievable!

Kind regards,

chaoticj

if you had a phone line with VM

cant be anything to do with any connection to any pole

simply a case of it needs switching networks back

as it would have been BT in the first place before VM even existed.

Hi dx100uk,

Thanks for your reply, we've lived at this property for 6 years and during that time I've only had Virgin Media TV and Internet (TV package cancelled a few years back) I have a VoIP phone that goes through the Virgin Media Internet.

The phone line comes from a telegraph pole on the side street on an overhead wire to the back of the house, goes through the top of the back room window into a junction box and then into an old master socket where the solid blue and blue/white wires are connected to matching colours on another cable (old master socket does not do anything) which then goes to a newer looking NTE5 master socket.

The blue and blue/white wires are correctly connected to the A and B connections on the faceplate, I've also tried putting the hub into the test socket but to no avail. There is no voltage or signal on the line. Connected an old telephone as well.

Previous owners had a landline working just fine on that socket before they moved out.. we have never used it due to me setting up the VoIP solution..

In that time nothing has been tampered with, altered or disturbed in any way... but I have seen engineers from time to time on the telegraph pole!

I need to leave BT as they are dire but it seems they want to bill me for the whole contract term?! as they say this fault is fixable?

Kind regards,

chaoticj

ok good to see you know your onions...ame game here

ok well you signed up and reported a fault within 30days

under CRA etc you should be able to walk away andcancel

as theres a fault within 30days.

also its worthy to note

within 14 days

you can cancel for no reason whatsoever.

under CRA [consumer rights act]

dx

Hi dx100uk,

That's really useful thank you - do I need to go through cancellations again quoting CRA? What if they say I can't cancel under CRA?

Is it best to cancel the direct debit or should I leave it in place? (first payment due to go out tomorrow).

Many thanks,

chaoticj

Hi dx100uk,

Does CRA cover a service? Do you know which chapters and sections of the legislation cover this?

Many thanks,

chaotic_j

its something you'll have to check sadly

not 100% sure it covers a service

the full CRA

looks like it does..

http://www.broadband.co.uk/help/broadband-consumer-advice/

Fourteen day cooling off period

If you've only just signed up over the phone or on the Internet and you're now having second thoughts, regulations may allow you to cancel within the first 14 days of your contract without any penalties.

Since June 2014, the Consumer Contracts Regulations have applied to contracts sold at a distance, including broadband and telephone services. These extend the distance selling ‘cooling off period’ to 14 days. This period starts either when you receive written confirmation of your contract, or when the broadband service starts to be supplied. You must cancel in writing but fax and email count. It should be noted that when hardware is involved (eg, a supplied router or adapter) you may not be able to qualify for a Distance Selling refund if the packaging has been opened, especially if any security seals have been broken - it needs to be in pristine and resalable condition.

http://www.broadband.co.uk/help/broadband-consumer-advice/

Hi OP so the wire from the NTE5 Faceplate goes through the wall and goes up to a pole?

Or does it go underground then up to a pole?

Are you able to dial 17070? Or is the Dial tone dead?

Does it beep consistently every 2 seconds?

Hi fkofilee,

The NTE5 Master Socket is fixed to the wooden window surround on the right hand side, the cable goes under the bottom of the window surround to the left hand side where it goes into an old Master Socket which is not connected to the faceplate.

The cable is joined inside to another which then goes up the left hand side of the window surround to a small rectangular junction box sited just at the top of the window, it then goes out of here and to the top of the pole on the side street.

All of the houses nearby are connected in this way as they are very old (160 years).

When I plug in this old phone, there is nothing on the display, no dial tone when I pick the handset up.. nada.. nowt..

PS: I guess I have had written confirmation of the contract when I arranged for the service to be installed some weeks ago.. plus I have already opened the equipment etc. so I guess BT are going to be inflexible on me getting out of the contract? They are absolutely terrible..

Thanks,

chaotic_j

Have BT confirmed this is an external problem and not internal wiring? Sound like they turned the old Master Socket into a "Dirty" Junction Box of sorts.

If you had a Virgin Socket then the wiring etc maybe different due to the nature of their network. They dont rely as much on BT as people think due to the nature of the DOCSIS Fibre network etc.

As for your issue. While leaving might be the right thing, Id wait until the BTO Eng comes out. BT Retail / Wholesale may be shocking but OR are quite good...

yeah, bt initial tests usually 'suggest' either internal or external.

and shldnt bt have checked the line before agreeing it?

have a search re finding a uk cust service number, eg on their forums. might be better than speaking to india

Hi,

Had the visit from BT Openreach this morning - arrived promptly 08:15, I explained what I'd tried and what I thought the problem was. After a couple of minutes he said yes, you are completely right - the wiring is fine, you don't appear to be connected and the fault is 22 metres away - probably at that telegraph pole.

Half an hours wait for a 'monkey' as he says they are called and we now have a connection. I mentioned we had an engineer visit scheduled prior to the go live date which was cancelled with 24 hours notice and he said it's strange as the tests they run are designed to detect the capacitor in your master socket - as we were not physically connected, a positive response wouldn't have been possible.

What is the best way to extract some considerable compensation out of BT as obviously if they'd have sent the original engineer as arranged before the go live date.. this would have been sorted much quicker and wouldn't have caused me to waste 7 hours of my time on the phone / have to stress about it all!

Thanks,

chaoticj

So to clarify, when you signed up you were told you needed an engineer to come out, but before your activation date they told you they could activate the line remotely and cancelled the visit? If that's the case then sounds like you have gone through the Saved Visit process, which basically means that their line tests have been detected a suitable stopped line at your property which can be restarted without the need for an engineer. As tour engineer told you it should test for capacitance to the NTE so that's really odd that it picked it up.

This process is very accurate, though there is fall out from it. (the fault rate is slightly higher when compared to jobs which have an engineering visit)

Regarding compensation you will need to follow BT's complaints process - i guess details will be on their website

Basically you should be refunded for the period from the live date upto the date the engineer repaired the line, if they have charged you for this period already

Yes their overseas Indian support is dire at best , but their are numbers that get you through to uk based support staff,(i don't know what they are) or you can e-mail their high level complaints team , failing that their CEO