Having just moved into a new home, one of the things you expect is the phone line to be functioning.
Unfortunately mine was not – and a cursory inspection led me to the master box at the front of the house (i.e. the box where the phone line first enters the property).
It was hanging off – and looked like it belonged in the 19th century.
It was no surprise it wasn’t working.
I asked BT to come and fix the fault, having followed a ream of instructions on how to diagnose the issue.
I was warned that the repair, if it emerged it was my fault, would be chargeable – to the tune of £135.
That’s how BT discourages you from getting a repairman to fix a line issue.
But I was sure that the box hanging off wasn’t my responsibility, and went ahead…
Fault fixed, friendly fellow
The repairman came and agreed the ancient master box was to blame.
A jovial chap, he fixed the fault in no time, and left me with a fully functional phone line and a sense that BT weren’t too bad.
There was no mention of a charge – after all, the repairman had agreed that the old BT box was the weak link.
Time passed.
The phone continued to work.
Two months later, much to my astonishment, I received a rather hefty direct debit… £135 more than anticipated, to be exact.
I had my suspicions what that could be.
And I was furious.
Not only had I not been informed I would be charged, it had been taken from my account without notice.
Moreover, it wasn’t my fault that the line hadn’t been working – so I didn’t believe that £135 was at all justified.
Guess what?
I complained.
Would you like to chat?
I looked at the BT website to find out what the complaints process would be.
Before I could get far, a pop-up offered me the chance to chat to an advisor.
I like the online chat function, for several reasons.
It’s easy to use and everything is written.
Of course, that’s obvious, but it has the advantage of being recorded or sent to you afterwards.
In short, you get evidence.
You can write your views, comments and questions and get a (formal) instant response.
The law
Challenging a call-out charge is tricky – there isn’t a big legal backstop to use.
The most relevant bit of law is the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (2008) which forces companies to act fairly and honestly in their dealings with consumers.
It’s an excellent catch-all for general disputes about a company not being fair to you.
However, I would need to show that BT had been deliberately misleading me about the charge, or that they had acted dishonestly, for these regulations to apply.
Evidence – the more the better
When you’re complaining, evidence is a really useful thing to have.
Your chat counterpart can’t avoid the question or backtrack.
The technique with online chat is to be clear and concise, asking direct questions.
The idea is to make your point plain while getting your counterpart to tell you what you want to hear.
What I mean by that is using your argument to get the company, or at least their representative, to help your case.
In my case, that involved trying to get BT to admit they should not have charged me under the circumstances.
I asked questions to guide the representative towards what I wanted them to concede:
CC: “Am I right in thinking that, if the problem in the line wasn’t my fault, I shouldn’t be charged?
BT: “Correct. You are not charged if the issue on the line is not your fault”.
CC: “In my case, as I understand it, the fault was the master box near the front of the house. It was hanging off the wall. Is that correct?
BT: “That was identified to be the cause of the line fault, yes.”
CC: “So, BT is arguing that the ancient box hanging off the wall and unfit for purpose was my fault, and that’s why I’ve been charged?”
BT: “The box was found to be the reason for the fault, and this was damaged due to decorating happening in the area. This was the cause, and that’s why the charge has been applied.”
CC: “However I only moved in a couple of days before, and hadn’t done any decorating. How can that be my fault?”
BT: “It is the decorating that caused the fault. That was done by an individual in the house, and so a charge is payable.”
CC: “So it’s not strictly true that I’m not charged if it’s not my fault. What you mean is that I’m charged if it’s not your fault. That’s different.”
BT: “Well yes, if it’s not a line fault but user damage, a charge is payable.”
Ask the right question, get the right answer
Great – that’s a good start.
BT conceded that they would still charge me if the issue wasn’t my fault.
And that’s different to the message I got at the start.
I had found a way in.
I pressed for some further information:
CC: “Are BT technicians trained to tell if painting is the cause of a fault? I found an ancient box hanging off the wall, which needed to be replaced. How is the technician to decide that it isn’t the line, but a decorator’s brush that’s caused damage?
BT: “If you wish to challenge a claim, you’ll have to get in touch with BT Openworld…”
CC: “What I mean is, can a technician tell if a brush has caused a line fault, and not the ancient box which seems the obvious issue? How can he be £135 sure?”
BT: “If you wish to challenge a claim, you’ll have to get in touch with BT Openworld…”
CC: “I just want to find out if you still plan to charge me, even though the issue was not my fault. Is that the case?”
What would you say if you were BT?
I kept trying but kept getting told that, to challenge a charge, I would have to contact BT Openworld.
I would get nothing more out of this BT representative.
So the next step was to ring BT Openworld.
The take-home
The chat function on a website is a useful tool – you get an instant response, and the representative can’t hide or dodge.
Make sure you ask closed, concise questions that force the representative to see what point/argument you are making.
If you can get them to concede something, you have it in writing.
All evidence is useful!
Use language carefully.
If there is a difference between what you’ve been told before and what you’re being told now (even if it’s only a slight difference), point this out to the company.
Use inconsistency as evidence that you’ve a right to challenge something unfair.
Any further questions?
If you have any questions about the topics I have raised in this case study, or stories of your own experiences with BT, please leave me a comment or send me an email.
I personally respond to every question – no matter how trivial!