Can BT Do This........

[Wickerman]

Couldn't agree more. We deal with them all the time where I work and they're a shower. And that's on a good day (if they indeed have such a thing)!

[Mariegriff]

Hi

Just received an email from BT and Wickerman my phone is a DECT Philips phone.

 

For the enginners report,

You will need to include the £10.00 (inc VAT) fee by cheque made payable to 'BT plc' for this request with your name and address and your account number.

 

Please note that your requst may take up to 40 days for a reply under the Data Protection Act.

 

Also in relation to the charges for the engineer call out your charges have been maintained as the lightening has went down the electricity line through your phone to the BT Socket causing the damage. Please note that in a time of lightening you should disconnect all electrical goods.

 

I realise that this is not the response that you may be expecting and I hope that this information clarifies this matter for you. If you should have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact the Faults department on 0800 800 151.

 

Thank you for contacting BT, enjoy the rest of your day.

 

 

Hows about that then, enjoy the rest of your day, yeah right

[pcr1]

Also in relation to the charges for the engineer call out your charges have been maintained as the lightening has went down the electricity line through your phone to the BT Socket causing the damage. Please note that in a time of lightening you should disconnect all electrical goods.

What a load of rubbish. Lightning coming in through your electricity supply would have blown out your consumer unit for a start and gone no further. Otherwise, your phone would certainly not be working!

 

I'm not sure if it's worth doing the Data Protection Act request (which you could add to any claim) or just going straight for them with their explanation so far and the fact that it's obviously wrong.

[Wickerman]

So their engineer reckons a Philips DECT single line phone melted your master socket. We have engineers like that ringing our tech desk from time to time, and they're are a great source of amusement.

 

I'm not sure where you should take this, but I'd start with CAB just to see what procedures exist for escalating matters of this nature. I reiterate, there's no way on earth that your phone would do any damage to your socket, unless you mindlessly vandalised it by wiring the socket directly into the mains.

 

Keep us posted in the meantime.

[Rich44]

Not strictly speaking true it wouldnt have been a direct lightning strike but a strike further upstream on the power lines could cause a very brief spike which could be enough to damage things but without tripping anything out.

 

We had something similar a few years back workmen dug thru a mains cable and sent a 450 volt spike down the mains which fried everything in those houses, you have to remember that all a switch or trip does is introduce a small break in the circuit a small power surge caused by the above or lightning would just jump the gap the same way it does in a spark plug.

 

Also the DECT phone base unit is plugged into both the mains and the phone so it is entirely possible for this to have happened as BT state BUT there is no way on this earth if this happened that the phone would still be working its just rubbish if BT want to play this way then take the phone to an electrical repair shop and get them to write a report saying theres nothing wrong with it and present that to BT to contradict their own engineers report.

 

The simple fact of the matter is I seriously doubt BT could prove it was your DECT phone even if it was that that caused the problem if it had had a power surge and dumped the excess voltage to ground as they insist the phone would be knackered.

 

Wait for the reports but thats what I would do next get a report on the state of your phone to counter the BT engineers.

 

To be fair BT engineers (the kind who come out to your premises for this kind of thing not the specialists) are not electrical experts they do not have any kind of HND/HNC/BSc nor do they have any of the following City & Guilds 2391 Inspection, Testing and Certification of Installations, and City & Guilds 16th Edition IEE Wiring Regulations (2381) City & Guilds In-service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment (2377 - portable appliance testing), alarm and fire detection systems and emergency lighting.

 

So I would also question whether the BT engineer was actually qualified to make a statement about something that is mains powered when they generally have no qualifications in that area (unless you got "lucky" and got one who is an ex sparky)

[demon_x_slash]

'Please note that in a time of lightening you should disconnect all electrical goods.'

 

So every time a thunderstorm comes over I have to rush around unplugging every single electrical appliance, including the fridge/freezer? Funny, never heard that one before...

[Mariegriff]

Hi

Just an update, I've written to BT asking them for the engineers report, so we wait and see.

And apparently, Yes, it is our responsibility to unplug all appliances in a thunderstorm, although I don't know one person who actually does it, and who would ever think of unplugging their phone.

BT are weird............

 

Thanks to all who've helped me.

 

Marie