On Thu, 07 Oct 2004 07:09:07 GMT, "L" wrote:

Firstly please forgive cross posting - am unsure which group would be best
placed to help....

During the heavy thunderstorms in August, a friend of mine lost the use of
her telephone and modem. Computer repairer says modem was knocked out my
lightening and replaced it. Now she has received her telephone bill showing
a £50 charge which BT say is because the damage caused to her telephone line
was due to her having a computer using the same line.

This sounds like complete rubbish to me and she has asked me to pen her a
letter refuting this, but I would of course prefer to know that I'm not
talking utter rubbish before I do so...any help/advice would be welcome.

L


With the information you have given, I would say that BT are trying it
on.

Assuming that your friend has bought a properly approved modem of
reputable brand, then there are required standards of design and
construction for modems, mainly to protect the phone line from faults
that might develop in the modem.

It is difficult in any case for a fault in a PC if it's an internal
modem or a power supply fault if it's an external one to put any
voltage on the phone line likely to damage line equipment.

There may be some weasel words in their user contract that allows them
to make a standard charge. However, that doesn't mean that it
can't be refuted.

How did they know that there was a modem on the line anyway?
Did she have it set to answer the phone, and they called it?

One option could be to talk to Oftel, but they do have the reputation
of being a toothless tiger.



..andy

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