cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Engineer call out fee

FIXED
Karen68
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎10-03-2021

Engineer call out fee

Hello. Is it possible to request access to the engineer notes that were used as evidence that I should be charged for a £65 call out fee? I wish to dispute this charge as I don't feel the original problem was fully resolved and I am dubious that the problem was an internal wiring fault as described by the engineer in the first place and would like more info on what the actual problem was, which was not fully explained to me at the time. To plusnet support staff, the account question was #211428613 & ticket reference is 209149394. This was the message received:

 

Summary:
The engineer that attended has provided us with notes from this visit, they have informed us that the fault you were experiencing was being caused due to faulty/damage to your internal wiring. This fault has occurred within the boundaries of your premises and was either caused by yourself, a third party or an agent working on your behalf; due to this an engineer call-out charge is applicable.

 

The fault was not caused by either ourselves or andbody working on our behalf, and the only persons that had their hands fiddling about with the sockets and boxes and wires at the house were the BT engineers themselves on previous visits. We had phoneline static interference and broadband that was constantly cutting out for a month plus previous to this engineer call-out in December, that I'm only just now being billed for.

 

I'd appreciate any advice offered.

Kind Regards.

5 REPLIES 5
Gandalf
Community Gaffer
Community Gaffer
Posts: 26,563
Thanks: 10,265
Fixes: 1,599
Registered: ‎21-04-2017

Re: Engineer call out fee

Thanks for your post @Karen68 

I'm sorry to see you've been charged for an engineer visit. From what I can see the engineer notes we've received are "Internal cable faulty from socket in bedroom to NTE downstairs." NTE means the master telephone socket. 

Did you carry out any checks before the visit? We'd normally ask that you'd plug your phone and/or router into the test socket explained Here which should disconnect any internal wiring to rule that out.

From 31st October 2022, I no longer have a regular presence here as I’ve moved on to a new role.
Anoush Mortazavi
Plusnet
Karen68
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎10-03-2021

Re: Engineer call out fee

Thanks for the reply @Gandalf.

The only thing requested of me was the basics of unplugging and then plugging the router back in, and then to unplug the phone set and plug that back in, after answering some questions about the nature of the phone static. The man on the phone stated that it was likely an external fault and that he would arrange for an engineer to come take a look at the outside of the house, as there had been reported problems by other customers that week in particular about similar issues. Once the engineer arrived, he knocked and asked to come inside to check our set-up. After finding the phone socket downstairs and using the diagnostic testing machine he said he thought it was actually an internal problem somewhere inside the property. He removed a coil of some sort in the downstairs phone socket box, but this did not resolve the problem of the phone line's static noise and our disconnected broadband and left him baffled.

He then left and later returned a couple of hours later alongside a second engineer. We then found the other socket located upstairs at this point and they proceeded to unclip this one and do something with regards to a coil again, disconnecting something as I understood it. They stated our router would now have to be kept upstairs as the socket downstairs was now disconnected and unusable for future use. This left us without a direct wired connection to our desktop computer and having to rely on a laptop instead, as well as having to buy a new dual phone set - as a landline phone was now required to be plugged in and kept upstairs as the main handset.

I found it a bit bewildering at the time when I wasn't expecting to have anybody coming inside the property to do anything. There was a previous engineer visit about a month previous to that. He fiddled about a bit with the downstairs box and did something which temporarily had us reconnected, although the broadband remained patchy - for this we weren't charged. However, the problem reoccured with the phone static now added alongside it, and that led to the December call to customer support.

 

Kind Regards.

Gandalf
Community Gaffer
Community Gaffer
Posts: 26,563
Thanks: 10,265
Fixes: 1,599
Registered: ‎21-04-2017

Re: Engineer call out fee

Fix

Thanks for getting back to me @Karen68 

Based on what you've said and having reviewed your account again, I've decided to waive the engineer charge.

Can you try plugging your phone into the test socket and let me know if there's still noise? If there is still crackling I'd recommend raising a fault ticket at faults.plus.net so we can arrange another engineer to investigate further.

From 31st October 2022, I no longer have a regular presence here as I’ve moved on to a new role.
Anoush Mortazavi
Plusnet
Karen68
Newbie
Posts: 4
Registered: ‎10-03-2021

Re: Engineer call out fee

Thank you very much @Gandalf for helping me to clear this up. 

With regards to your request, do you mean to plug the phone line cable into the main test socket again?

Regards.

Gandalf
Community Gaffer
Community Gaffer
Posts: 26,563
Thanks: 10,265
Fixes: 1,599
Registered: ‎21-04-2017

Re: Engineer call out fee

No problem @Karen68 

I'd recommend removing the faceplate of the master telephone socket either by unscrewing or unclipping it (depending on the model) you should see a telephone point (called the test socket) in the right hand corner (it could also be in the centre behind the faceplate rather than the right hand side, dependent again on the model of master socket)

If you plug a preferably corded phone handset directly into the test socket without a microfilter or router, do you hear noise? 

From 31st October 2022, I no longer have a regular presence here as I’ve moved on to a new role.
Anoush Mortazavi
Plusnet