How do I report a fault with my landline?

[DH875]

Hi

How do I report a fault with my landline phone ? 

It is so frustrating I have been driven around in circles 

[Firefox1701]

I feel it's worth respectfully pointing out that a reply from a  'grand master'  cites three options for reporting a landline fault,  and I quote:

'Option 1 for Mobiles; Option 2 for 4G WiFi; Option 3 for Home Broadband & EE TV'.

You'll note that none of these mentions the word  'landline'.    If we're supposed to assume that option 3 also includes landline faults,  it might be helpful if the recorded menu said so  ( which it doesn't ).

[Christopher_G]

Thanks for the feedback, @Firefox1701.

If you choose option 3 for Home Broadband and EETV, they'll be able to help with your landline.

Let us know how you get on.

Chris

[XRaySpeX]

@Firefox1701 : Have you tested your phone at the hidden test socket?

A landline with EE is only provided with Home BB. Therefore it is Option 3.

[Firefox1701]

The master socket is extremely difficult to access,  being at the back of a cupboard.    I've followed the instructions I was given over the phone when I eventually got through after holding on for nearly an hour,  which was to unplug all four of our phones one by one to see if it made any difference  ( which it didn't ) ,  and finally to unplug the phone and broadband from the master socket while the guy ran another test,  which he said showed the same result  ( i.e. that there's a call in progress,  although there isn't ).    That's all he asked me to do,  and that's what I did.    After a lot of discussion,  it ended up that BT Openreach had sent him a message  ( after I'd pointed out that my partner is disabled and the landline is her only means of contact with the outside world,  including in emergencies )  to say they would attend to the fault externally,  i.e. without need to come to our property,  by 18:00 this evening.    He seemed very optimistic that this would solve the problem.    I asked if BT Openreach would phone me to confirm that the fault was fixed  ( or in my humble opinion,  let me know that it hadn't been );   he said not.    If I picked up the phone at 18:01 and got a dial tone,  it was fixed;   if I didn't,  it wasn't.    He absolutely assured me that I'd get a call on my mobile from E.E.  -  a voice call,  not a text,  not an e-mail  -  after the event,  although he didn't specify how long after the event,  to verify that all was well  ( or wasn't ).    I asked him to forgive my scepticism but pointed out that this was on the basis of considerable previous experience.    He said I was probably getting ahead of myself and that BT Openreach would probably be able to sort out the problem during the course of the afternoon.

At the time of writing it's 17:35 and counting:  we still have no dial tone and there's been no other contact.

[Leanne_T]

Hi @Firefox1701

Thanks for getting in touch with our Broadband team.

Since you last posted, do you have a dial tone on your landline?

Did you receive the call back?

Speak soon.

Leanne.

[Firefox1701]

Hello Leanne,

Thank you for your response.    I regret that the answer to both questions is  'no'.

[Leanne_T]

Hi @Firefox1701

I am very sorry to hear this.

I have sent you a private message on here for some details.

Speak soon.

Leanne.

[lomekian]

I've been spending an age getting nowhere on the 150 system for my BT broadband landline. 'We are very busy...' - forever, with no indication of waiting time.

The landline has a fault. The phone is entirely dead. The Broadband is still running, albeit at a reduced speed. I've had this fault before, and the local cabinet (30 - ACTON exchange) has had problems on and off for years. 

I just need to log the fault, but am working round the clock at the moment, and simply cannot wait as long as it takes for anyone to answer the phone, because my breaks have yet to prove long enough!

Is there no way beyond getting lost in the endless queue system to just flag the fault. Previously with BT one didn't have to get stuck in waiting lines to flag it.

Best,

Matthew

[lomekian]

PS - this phone line and broadband I set up at my father's home address, and he is DEFINITELY in the vulnerable category. 

[Firefox1701]

Having had considerable experience of both,  in fairness to E.E.,  I'm amazed that you didn't have to wait in a queue to do the same exercise with B.T. ...

That being said,  I would say two things:  firstly,  as has been noted elsewhere in this thread  ( and based on my own considerable and bitter experience ),  sadly,  there is no alternative to calling 150 and waiting in the very long queue.   There is also an 0800 number  ( I don't know it offhand;   I'm sure someone else will ),  but as far as I know that only goes through to the same lines as 150.    Unfortunately,  I hate to add to your angst,  but there is literally no way of knowing how long you'll have to wait:  in my own experience during the last week,  over 40 mnutes on one occasion and almost an hour on another.

However,  as you may also note from this thread,  it is sometimes the case that the E.E. Community Support Team may see your post and intervene on your behalf,  as happened with me.    To the best of my knowledge,  that's entirely hit-and-miss;   I don't know of any way of contacting them directly either by phone,  e-mail,  or this forum,  but it seems they monitor it reasonably regularly,  so to quote one of my old guv'nors:  'trust in the Lord but keep your bowels open'  -  roughly translated in this case as,  keep your fingers crossed but keep trying 150 on the offchance.    I do have to say that although the problem I was originally seeking to resolve is,  at the time of writing,  still a very sore open wound,  that is not at all the fault of the E.E. Community Support lady who very kindly intervened on my behalf.

Not a great deal of help,  I know  -  believe me,  I know  -  but there it is,  for what it's worth.