BT Connection Charge When Moving Home

Looking to move home? What if your new home doesn't have a working phone line? Here's some information and advice

Moving home?

If your new home already has a BT phone line, or had a line that was active in the last year or so, it should be a straightforward switchover. Most people will be able to have a BT phone line and BT Total Broadband ready for when they move in.

Give BT a call on 0800 800 150, or better still, go to the BT Moving Home section at bt.com and check online as early as possible - ideally two weeks or more. They should be able to check the status of any line going into your new home.

Been charged over £100 for connection?

When you move home, you may find that you're billed £125 for connection. That's the charge for installation of a brand new telephone line - if there's already a line there, you shouldn't need to pay this, and mistakes can be made.

One of our team experienced a problem in December 2009 when he moved home. Here's what happened:

Before moving, I confirmed with the existing occupant that a phone line existed. It did, but was with BT, not Sky

I called BT before moving and was told that BT may need an engineer to visit to sort out connection. An appointment was booked the day after the move.

On the day in question, I plugged in a phone and got a dial tone. I knew an old BT trick and dialled 17070 to find out what number was assigned to the line. It wasn't possible to make an outgoing call, but it was a live line with a live number.

Prior to the engineer turning up, he called from the exchange. I told him that there was a working line and gave him the number. Given the heavy snow in December 2009, the engineer was pleased that this was a simple piece of exchange work to switch my old number over to the temporary number that has been assigned to the line. 10 minutes later, he called. Simple job - no visit necessary. I was a happy bunny.

Until my first bill arrived.

An entry under "One-off charges" marked "Connection charge for Unlimited Evening & Weekend Plan" - £106.52 (exc VAT)

Extract from my BT bill showing one-off connection charge

Checking on the BT website revealed that this was the full fee for installing or connecting a new line - £124.99 (incl. VAT). The site goes on to say that "most of our new customers find they don't need to pay this charge." and "If your home has had a telephone service from BT in the recent past, and the wiring and socket is undamaged and the line still has a dial tone, it's likely you won't need to pay this charge. But where there's no suitable BT line available in your property, no dial tone on the line, or if you have been disconnected for non-payment in the past, the standard connection charge will apply."

Given that I had a dial tone and the phone was working yesterday for the outgoing occupant, the full £106.52 plus VAT seemed a bit steep, so I called BT on 0800 800 150 to query the charge.

"Charge applies", said Mr BT. There was no line at the property. I explained that there was a dial tone, and that it was a simple job for the Openreach engineer. No joy. Fee applies.

So, I asked for the "next point of escalation" - which shows that you're serious about pushing an issue. "My manager will call you back within 48 hours".

Next day, a call from 08000 285085, the line manager at BT. "Reviewed case. Line charge applies". By this time, I had found the old telephone number, and confirmed with the previous occupant that the line had been working. BT refused to believe me. "The line was ceased over 18 months ago", and equipment may have been removed from the exchange, apparently.

I pushed on, asking for a summary of what the engineer had done. The Line Manager wasn't able to interpret the engineer's notes, so had to call me back.

She duly did, and agreed that, after reviewing the case again, BT would reverse the charge as a "gesture towards me as the work didn't take that long". She also mentioned that BT would still be charged by Openreach, but BT now wouldn't be charging me.

So, what went wrong? Well, after discussion with a former BT employee it seems that the issue is when a line is taken over by another provider, in this case, Sky Digital. BT no longer hold records, and rely on Openreach, the former BT department that own the infrastructure (telephone wiring, underground cables, phone exchanges, etc). There can be a disconnect between BT, Sky and Openreach, and the records may not be up-to-date. In my case, the exchange engineer couldn't tell what number was at the property, as his records were out-of-date, and BT couldn't see the records of the former Sky customer.

Summary: If you move house and the person there before you isn't with BT, get their phone number. When you move in, check for a dial tone, and get the current phone number by dialling 17070 for a recorded statement of your phone number. If an engineer calls you on the day, keep a note of that engineer's name, and more importantly, phone number. You may need this is you get a hefty charge for a few minutes work at the exchange.

If you're billed for a new line when there was clearly an existing line there - keep pushing. Ask for a copy of the engineer's notes, and ask to speak to a manager. Persistence can pay off.

Had a similar problem? Please let us know via our forum.

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