Orange landline callout charge 69 euros even if its not your fault

[Sunshine]

our landline was dead so we popped into our local branch to complain. we had to make 3 visits in total as nothing happened. we were evan told we had to pay for an electrician to sort it out. we were also told a standard 69 euro call out charge would be refunded if it was not our fault.

Again nothjng happened so we called the English speaking number and spoke to a very nice lady. nothing had been reported but our visits to the branch noted on the computer. Again she confirmed the call outcharge would be refunded if it was not our fault by completing a form on line and sending to a Bordeau address.

i called the english speaking line again for a credit which was agreed as the fault was theirs. This time he confirmed no refund of the call out charge as orange do not own the lines and there was no way of getting a refund.

has anyone had the same problem?

if so did you download a form?

what did you do?

[Quillan]

If the fault was inside your property border or between the FT box and your house then it is down to you and you won't get a refund. If the fault was after the FT box in the direction of the exchange then it is theirs and you should not be charged. It sounds to be by your comment "orange do not own the lines" (Orange is FT - French Telecom) then this would indicate the fault was between your house and the FT box in which case you would not get a refund.

[AnOther]

I thought FT's responsibility extended to the point of entry/termination at the actual house ?

On my property there is a fair bit of overhead cable both on electricity posts and other supports, maybe 70/80m and undoubtedly FT installed, and I don't believe that I or any private electrician have any authority to tamper with it.

[Quillan]

Before we had a post just outside our property on which there were several termination boxes, one for each house, each with a cable that went to individual houses. From the box on the post to the phone socket in the house was down to us. Now they have removed the post and replaced it with a ground box just inside our property, about 50M from the house. From that box to our phone socket is down to us. Our cable was already in a conduit under our garden but because they had changed the box (and not us) they connected our cable to their box. You can buy the cable from all Bricos to run from the box to your phone socket.

[Jonzjob]

When our neighbour had a problem it was traced to a cable fault in her garden but because it was on the exchange side of her main terminal in the house it was down to FT and no bill for her.

The same when we had a line problem. t was on the exchange side of our main terminal in the house and we were not billed.

[Quillan]

What do you mean "main terminal", do you mean the FT wall socket into which the phone is plugged?

[Chancer]

The box marked "DTI Test" or the old Jules Verne type master socket is the point at which the responsability for the line changes:

 

Point de démarcation, et limite de responsabilité Orange/France Telecom,

Prise d’ouverture de ligne pour tests et localisation des défauts en amont ou en aval du DTI

This is unlikely to be outside of the dwelling as they are not weatherproof, I guess Under certain circumstances they may be located in a porch or car port but normally indoors.

To the OP, I doubt that they would have spoken about the fault being your "fault" or someone elses, more likely responsability, its children that exclaim "its not my fault!" they will have been talking about responsabilité albeit for a (line) fault, if it was downstream of the DTI it is your responsability.

[Quillan]

All I can say is round here it's like I said and the charge, which they make you aware of when they come, is 45 Euros if it's on your bit of cable or in your house. This, I can only assume, is because FT/Orange don't deal with these problems themselves, they sub contract them out. In our area it is a company called Roberts who come and also look after the rest outside the property. One fault in 13 years and so far I have paid nothing, my neighbour had a fault between the box in the ground (like mine) to his house which is 80M down the track and he had to pay. I can only speak about that which I have seen. Perhaps it changes from one department to another like so many things.

[Jonzjob]

I suppose that once again it depends on how they interpret the same rules, but I would have thought that who ever does the repair that FT/Orange would still be responsible and pay the contractor? But as a mate would say "what country are we in?"

[Quillan]

[quote user="Jonzjob"]I suppose that once again it depends on how they interpret the same rules, but I would have thought that who ever does the repair that FT/Orange would still be responsible and pay the contractor? But as a mate would say "what country are we in?"
[/quote]

 

We have had this debate over many years on the forum. Just because it is like this in one area it does not mean it is the same elsewhere. Try going to Carcassonne, even now, and asking for a residence card (Carte de Jour or whatever it's called) and they will refuse you on the basis that as a Brit you don't need one when it clearly states you can have one if you wish. I quite like carrying mine as a form of ID for cheques etc, much safer than carrying ones passport around. France is the name of the country but you have to learn to shrug your sholders like the French do when they "It's France". [;-)] Even using the Orange English helpline you would think as they are all in one place that they all sang from the same sheet but even that does not happen.