Whether we use their phone service or not, most of us still rely on BT's 15 million residential lines. So if there's any sort of fault they'll try and put it right but who should foot the bill? BT or you?
It's supposed to be straightforward. BT are responsible for everything to do with the phone line from the telephone exchange to the moment it enters the phone socket in your house. If anything goes wrong after that, whether to do with the wires or the phones, it's down to you.
If there is a fault at any point before that BT say that you shouldn't have to pay but in practice, BT don't always quite see it that way.
The Coopers are a family that know all about phones. Their home is full of them. When they stopped receiving calls last November mum Marcel tested every phone in the house, but she couldn't find an obvious problem. She had noticed, however, that the wires outside weren't in the best condition. So, she contacted BT, who sent an engineer from the part of the business that maintains their lines - BT Openreach. The fault was with BT's line, it was fixed and that should have been that. But a couple of months later BT sent her a bill for £300.
"I just thought 'this is outrageous", said Marcel. "Are you trying to tell me that all of these properties around here are responsible for maintaining BT lines? What are we paying rental charges for?"
Marcel refused to pay, and asked BT to explain exactly why she should have to foot the bill. But all she received in reply was a threat from BT to pass on her information to debt collectors, which is exactly what they did.
"It's actually quite scary having a debt recovery agency after you," she said. "And [when] BT won't respond, what must I do?"
The same thing happened to Blessing Onwuka after her line went dead in June. Blessing, who was about to give birth to her third child, contacted BT. They sent an engineer and said nothing about charges.
The problem was found to be on the line outside of her building, and therefore BT's problem, not hers. The engineer fixed the fault, but a couple of weeks later, BT sent her a bill for £211. They said she'd damaged the line and that she was responsible.
Knowing she'd done no such thing, Blessing saw the charge as unfair and refused to pay. BT, however, insisted that she was responsible and sent the debt collectors after her as well.
Engineer Richard Terrell experienced similar problems with BT. The company fixed two burnt-out wires in the BT box at his house in December last year.
BT claimed the fault on Richard's line was the result of lightning damage - an Act of God and that meant Richard would have to pay nearly £200 for the repair.
When Richard told them there was no way lightning had struck his house BT came up with a new reason as to why he should foot the bill, insisting that he must have damaged their equipment.
"Every time they twisted and turned I'd hit them back with another answer", Richard said.
Eventually, BT backtracked and dropped the charges after Richard raised the issue with the industry regulator, OFCOM.
BT response
"BT apologises for the mistakes it made in dealing with the customer repair bills highlighted by Watchdog. We have refunded the money owed to Richard Terrell and Blessing Onwuka and have cleared the debt on the account of John Cooper.
"We recently improved our processes to make sure that customers are always fully aware of when they may be charged for a repair and how much. BT pays for repairs to the line and network, but customers may be charged a flat rate of £125 for an engineer visit if the fault turns out to be as a result of things like customers' own extension wiring inside the home or their own equipment.
"As a gesture of goodwill, we have given three months free line rental to Richard Terrell and Blessing Onwuka.
"BT apologises to Mr Woodgett. He should not have been charged for this repair and we are happy to refund the total cost of the engineer's visit and to give him three months free line rental as a gesture of goodwill. We have also given Mr Hemming three months line rental free. The Coopers no longer have an account with BT.
"If you would like to email BT about any of the issues raised above please contact us now "
BT customers paying their bills and more
It's supposed to be straightforward. BT are responsible for everything to do with the phone line from the telephone exchange to the moment it enters the phone socket in your house. If anything goes wrong after that, whether to do with the wires or the phones, it's down to you.
If there is a fault at any point before that BT say that you shouldn't have to pay but in practice, BT don't always quite see it that way.
The Coopers are a family that know all about phones. Their home is full of them. When they stopped receiving calls last November mum Marcel tested every phone in the house, but she couldn't find an obvious problem. She had noticed, however, that the wires outside weren't in the best condition. So, she contacted BT, who sent an engineer from the part of the business that maintains their lines - BT Openreach. The fault was with BT's line, it was fixed and that should have been that. But a couple of months later BT sent her a bill for £300.
"I just thought 'this is outrageous", said Marcel. "Are you trying to tell me that all of these properties around here are responsible for maintaining BT lines? What are we paying rental charges for?"
Marcel refused to pay, and asked BT to explain exactly why she should have to foot the bill. But all she received in reply was a threat from BT to pass on her information to debt collectors, which is exactly what they did.
"It's actually quite scary having a debt recovery agency after you," she said. "And [when] BT won't respond, what must I do?"
The same thing happened to Blessing Onwuka after her line went dead in June. Blessing, who was about to give birth to her third child, contacted BT. They sent an engineer and said nothing about charges.
The problem was found to be on the line outside of her building, and therefore BT's problem, not hers. The engineer fixed the fault, but a couple of weeks later, BT sent her a bill for £211. They said she'd damaged the line and that she was responsible.
Knowing she'd done no such thing, Blessing saw the charge as unfair and refused to pay. BT, however, insisted that she was responsible and sent the debt collectors after her as well.
Engineer Richard Terrell experienced similar problems with BT. The company fixed two burnt-out wires in the BT box at his house in December last year.
BT claimed the fault on Richard's line was the result of lightning damage - an Act of God and that meant Richard would have to pay nearly £200 for the repair.
When Richard told them there was no way lightning had struck his house BT came up with a new reason as to why he should foot the bill, insisting that he must have damaged their equipment.
"Every time they twisted and turned I'd hit them back with another answer", Richard said.
Eventually, BT backtracked and dropped the charges after Richard raised the issue with the industry regulator, OFCOM.
BT response
"BT apologises for the mistakes it made in dealing with the customer repair bills highlighted by Watchdog. We have refunded the money owed to Richard Terrell and Blessing Onwuka and have cleared the debt on the account of John Cooper.
"We recently improved our processes to make sure that customers are always fully aware of when they may be charged for a repair and how much. BT pays for repairs to the line and network, but customers may be charged a flat rate of £125 for an engineer visit if the fault turns out to be as a result of things like customers' own extension wiring inside the home or their own equipment.
"As a gesture of goodwill, we have given three months free line rental to Richard Terrell and Blessing Onwuka.
"BT apologises to Mr Woodgett. He should not have been charged for this repair and we are happy to refund the total cost of the engineer's visit and to give him three months free line rental as a gesture of goodwill. We have also given Mr Hemming three months line rental free. The Coopers no longer have an account with BT.
"If you would like to email BT about any of the issues raised above please contact us now "
BT customers paying their bills and more