I've had a text message and question opened (174600216) 'after a recent engineer visit' relating to a visit on 12th of March! The fictitious response bears no relation to what actually happened. The report says that there was damage to the socket and signs of physical damage - not true. The engineer suggested that the hard-wired line out to the phone (is this what is referred to as damage?) was inserted by 'a customer' - why would I do that and how would I know how to? It was in fact inserted when a BT engineer installed the socket when I moved in (1995), as the phone extension connected (from a previous owner) didn't have a plug on it.
He then said that there were other phone faults in the area that had been fixed and that my phone was now working. At that point I tried the phone and got a dialling tone. I'd previously not got one even when connected to the master socket. To reiterate, when I called PN, they tested the line and found a fault (eventually), the phone service was out, but broadband was working. If the socket was damaged or missing – as this engineer’s report says, then the broadband wouldn't be working, would it? The engineer offered to replace the existing socket as mine was so old. He said my broadband would be faster (?). I said okay, not knowing that this would be a way of charging me 65 pounds. Note that at this point both services were working. He then took out the microfilters as they would 'slow down your internet', because they weren't needed with the new socket... except that the socket he fitted didn't have a built in microfilter, so in taking out my filters the broadband slowed right down.
By the time I realised that the broadband wasn't just acting up, or slowly picking up speed after a reconnection, it was locked down to 0.24 mbps download and 0.00 mbps upload (BT wholesale figures). Enter a second engineer (will I be charged for him as well??) who said that the problem could be the socket and the hardwired line out (again), that this must have been fitted by a customer (again)...no, it was fitted a few weeks earlier by the first engineer. It is still there now and working fine BTW, so clearly not a problem. He found the fault with the filters, re-fitted my filters (I still had them) and got it up and running. We then tested the broadband and it was fine... So far, so good.
…then around an hour later I picked up the phone, only to find I had no dialling tone, again. I tried it in the socket and it was fine, so the socket out worked, just the hardwired line had been disconnected or damaged by the second engineer. I could have called for another engineer, but having suffered 2 incompetent ones, a loss of services for several weeks (which I’ve paid for) and 2 days off work, I had no confidence that a third one would fix it. So I fixed it myself: I bought a cable with Y junction and 2 sockets and a new extension cable and now run both services off the built in socket. It works fine now.
My question (sorry it’s taken so long) is why this report says socket is ‘missing or damaged’ when broadband was working and the socket had worked just fine for 23 years? It is, BTW, protected behind a set of drawers, so cannot be accessed (or damaged) without emptying the drawers and moving furniture.
Also, why are engineers not responsible for their actions? If they fit a wire into a socket they should be responsible for it, if not then don’t fit it.
Do I need to photograph equipment before and after a visit, and film what the engineer does to prove my case, or are there engineers that can be trusted? If I had known what was going to happen then I would have done so. I started with the phone line out, but broadband working. Then engineer one fixed my phone line and broke the broadband, then engineer two fixed broadband and broke phone connection, then I got them both working.
