Caller display not worked since June 2014

Question

On 26/06/14 I reported a fault (VOL-**********) that the caller display function had stopped working following a thunderstorm in the area. According to the fault status this fault is showing as being corrected and closed on 02/07/14 when in fact the fault still exists. I tested the line using the BT test socket with a new BT2000 phone and this displayed ‘incoming call’ therefore my internal wiring is not part of the problem. I have also dialled the test code *#234# to check if the caller display service is available and confirmed that it is. I then tested the new BT2000 phone on the neighbour’s telephone line and this showed the caller ID for incoming calls, as did my other telephone as well; therefore none of the telephone handsets are at fault. Three times BT have informed me that the fault has been fixed and yet I still have no caller display. Reading through the forums it would appear that other people have encountered similar issues and that the problem is at the exchange, “An Openreach engineer discovered that the RS232 burst transferring the CLI number up the line was too weak and he then went down to the exchange to investigate. He then discovered that the fault lay in the ADSL device which lies between the analogue exchange equipment and the outgoing line”. 
I’m surprised to see that BT are taking so long to trace a fault in their system last raised 5/8/2014 (VOL012-**********) and that they haven’t sent an engineer to the property or to the exchange to check the problem.
My patience is wearing thin over this problem with my Caller Display not working as it started in mid June. I’m also becoming less enthusiastic about BT and find it harder to recommend them to others.
My last message from BT, tells me that it should be back to normal on the 8 August. However, it is still not working. Their message that my phone should be back to normal now and if it isn’t report this to BT, is ridiculous. If an engineer had investigated what was causing the fault and found it, then he would have fixed it. However, either an engineer has not investigated the fault or BT is not competent in fixing their own service faults and makes these statements with crossed fingers?

Answer 1

An engineer called yesterday and told me that he had been asked to test the line for a voice fault not a Caller Display fault. However, his testing revealed there is no line fault, CLI signal is strong and he was happy that the new BT2000 phone (bought after the lightning strike) is working properly. (This phone had also been tested on a neighbour’s phone line where it displayed the callers number). He also found that this same BT2000 phone on my line was not displaying the Caller’s number (CLI), but couldn’t offer any reason why.
I conjectured with him that these tests must bring the problem down to a corrupted CLI signal which does not allow the phone to understand the phone number being sent.
When the lightning struck the phone line back in June, it blew the telephone connection in the back of the Sky Box with a flash and bang (telephone cable now removed from the Sky box). It shorted the Openreach Faceplate (now replaced) so that the phones and broadband stopped working and it caused the phone to light up and react as it does when a call comes through.
Now isn’t it possible that the lightning also travelled along the copper wire to the green cabinet just outside the house and damaged something there which is corrupting the CLI signal, but which does not not show up when the voice line is tested? If not, then there must be a problem further back in the infrastructure, possibly in the Exchange, that is causing a corrupted signal to be sent to my phone?
He told me that another team would have to investigate the Caller Display fault as he was instructed to look into a voice issue and as a field engineer he was not able to investigate any problem that might be in the Exchange. I don’t know whether this Exchange Team would be able to investigate a problem in the Cabinet if nothing is found in the Exchange or can that only be done by a field engineer? He told me to contact BT again as he’d done all that he had been instructed to do and they would have to instigate a fault team to further investigate the problem.
When all this is considered we have the basic problem that BT are unable to provide me with a Privacy and Caller Display Service that I have been paying for, because of a fault in their infrastructure. How much longer is it going to take before they correct the problem that’s been going on since June 2014?