Regarding tiscali/newsletter

Discodee

Sorry didn't know where to put this.
I see in the email Martin's advising to use Tiscali for £16 a month

I just wanted to warn people about this firm and let Martin know what they're like.

My dad signed up with them and he has had continuous trouble and they've taken money out of his bank account willy nilly and he has rung and written and emailed at great expense. (They always want you to ring 0870 numbers)

I signed up for tiscali (via quidco) thinking it looked good.

I had bad experiences with them before the start date. the router was even faulty and they told me my pc was faulty and to get it fixed!!!
In the end I cancelled, and ordered talk talk through quidco.

Talk talk came, installed straight away, no fuss no hassle, change over was smooth

meanwhile, despite my writing to AND emailing tiscali to say I wanted to cancel the account, they keep sending me a bill!! Now they're threatening me with debt collectors. They say the broadband account is live yet I asked them to cancel it BEFORE the go live date

I also rang BT to say i didn't want the switch over to take place and had contacted tiscali. They confirmed it had been cancelled and my line was still with BT so they MUST have read the email or letter!

I have written to them 3 or 4 times now and emailed even more. All I have had is one letter back saying that my broadband account is active and to cancel it need to call an 0870 number!!! YEAH RIGHT!!!
I am within my rights to cancel by letter before the go live date. I have NEVER used their broadband. he router didn't even work for goodness sake.
Fortunately I have kept photocopies of the letters I sent but can see them being a nuisance and me having to write to debt collectors.
meanwhile I get phone line rental broadband and weekend AND evening phone calls for £17 from talk talk. I also get £3.25 a month off for the first 3 months
I also got £40 for signing through quidco. After taking off the £30 connection fee that leaves me £10. All in all over the 18 mth contract it works out at less than £16 a month. ALSO all their helplines are FREE from the talk talk phone line, so you dont pay a penny for the 0871 cstomer service/tech support lines which is another bonus

I wouldn't touch tiscali with a barge pole, sorry.

mrJ_5

Since it seems that writing a letter doesn't get you anywhere - you should call them

Canucklehead

Good morning: You aren't the only one being subjected to the:eek: Tiscali experience :eek:
I was shocked to see the inclusion of this appalling ISP in today's money tips...if anything Tiscali should be subjected to the full-on Martin Lewis 'consumer revenge' treatment and brought to task , not recommended on MSE Check out the forums on Thinkbroadband for example, and you will see that we are not alone in our experiences with Tiscali.


HTH

Canucklehead

Discodee

I agree

And mrj. Sorry but I am NOT spending my money ringing them on an 0870 number

My Dad has tried that and they promise this and that and STILL do nothing except cost him a fortune in phone bills.

I have written and emailed and I have copies of both so should a debt collector write to me I would hope he is more flippin capable than the idiots at tiscali and will take THEM to task for wasting their time!!!

billsavings

If you felt compelled to take the offer. Not everybody can get it. List of exchanges enabled here: http://www.samknows.com/broadband/llu-operator/tiscali

Its also worth mentioning that

Tiscali have so far not been interested in new customers from scratch. They only cherry pick people with existing BT lines.

You cant use indirect access codes like 18185.

Then theirs the matter of their expensive 0871 Customer Service Numbers which are not inclusive to call from your Tiscali Phone.

madjohn

Discodee wrote: »

I agree

And mrj. Sorry but I am NOT spending my money ringing them on an 0870 number

My Dad has tried that and they promise this and that and STILL do nothing except cost him a fortune in phone bills.

I have written and emailed and I have copies of both so should a debt collector write to me I would hope he is more flippin capable than the idiots at tiscali and will take THEM to task for wasting their time!!!

:money: Try http://www.saynoto0870.com for an alternative number.
I found 0845 3620344 for the Tiscali Tech Support line (0871 2223311).

Cheaper?

weegie.geek

Tiscali have been crap for as long as I've known the name. Since they took over Worldonline, iirc, and that was at the end of 2000.

To recommend them purely on price was more than a bit short-sighted.

musical_norwich

Martin's advice regarding broadband has been consistently poor. I just don't think the team at moneysavingexpert gets broadband at all. Search on the web or look on the Tiscali forums to gauge how unhappy people are with Tiscali. Many Tiscali users have broadband that is slower than dial-up or have had broadband and/or telephone lines that do not work for weeks or even months. Tiscali has billing issues and very poor customer support. Tiscali is up for sale at the moment so there is ownership uncertainty too.

A very very very poor recommendation from Martin. I would go so far as to say that he should be ashamed and risks his credibility if he continues to recommend such an awful company. Frankly, consumers who move to Tiscali and get a terrible service should consider pursuing moneysavingexpert for damages for misleading them. The article is misleading - it says Tiscali is fast - when it isn't - and the problems are documented all over the web. Tiscali even claimed that email was an optional extra when its email service collapsed. And no mention of the fact that Tiscali is trying to sell itself but that other firms do not seem too interested.

The recommendation is so very poor I am forced to wonder whether it is linked to the £25-£30 moneysavingexpert will receive for each person who switches to Tiscali via moneysavingexpert. It has to be greed or utter stupidity that drives this recommendation. Could you really be without broadband or a phone for weeks just to make Martin a few quid?

Hang your head in shame Martin!

madjohn

musical_norwich:

Although the recommendation of Tiscali by MSE is turning out to be a poor one - as adjudged by consumer feedback here and elsewhere on the web - I don't think Martin & brethren are trying to scam anyone or make a quick buck for charity. It's simply not the way they do things as far I have seen in my 4-years membership.

On face value, remember that Martian is a MONEY SAVING EXPERT - so by rights he and his team have found and posted the best deal out there for Broadband.

Granted, there are other factors to consider when picking an ISP, but that is not necessarily in the remit of Martin's job, is it? It must be a tricky thing this MSEing since most things in life are down to the user's experience. The only way Martin & Co can get round this is to state the offer but add that it is the offer that is fantastic, but the service may vary.

It is also the consumer who takes up a contract without first doing their own research that should also take part blame, no? I mean, if you rely on one person's opinion - MSE employee or not - surely it is ultimately down to one's self for choosing (in this case) Tiscali as a ISP.

I understand that this website has become a good place for advice and authority on utilities and thus people come here for advice and trust said advice. But that does not mean that a) the advice is always correct and b) it should always be followed. In fact, the newsletter does link to this particular offer article and the article even includes links to this discussion and an external board, for ISP's for other people to check out the service provider feedback.

Out of the thousands of tips given by MSE.com over the time - even if what you say is all completely and utterly true and to form (other than the quick buck point of view) a mistake is a mistake. And don't worry, us consumers will tell Martin about it and if he has done wrong he will own up to it.

Either way, I cannot believe (tho, granted, not naive enough to think it not to be a "possibility") that this website is trying to make a sly bit of coin out of promoting Tiscali. As soon as Martin n Friends start compromising the website's integrity in exchange for a bit if cash, the whole thing will blow up in their faces. Is it really worth killing the goose that lays the golden egg that this website has become to so many - Martin AND us included?
No.

Maybe Martin could retract the offer - even vilify it, or simply put in a disclosure (or a clearer one if it is already out there) that with Utilities - the price is right, but the provider may not be"...

musical_norwich

It doesn't save you money if you have to you use your mobile because your telephone line does not work does it?

It doesn't save you money to ring premium line telephone numbers for support?

It doesn't save you money when you pay for a broadband line and receive less than 56K-modem speed does it?

Martin doesn't declare the £25-30 he will make for each switch, does he?

Or that consumers could make the money themselves going through a site like quidco?

It is hardly impartial or well-researched advice, is it?

If Martin doesn't understand it he shouldn't recommend it.

If you don't believe me see here, where the people do know what they are talking about:

http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=tiscali

or here:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/29/which_0870_numbers/

or here:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/28/tiscali_pipex_migrations/

or here:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/23/tiscali_pompei_sell_off/

or here:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/22/tiscali_bandwith_problems_ongoing/

or here:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/21/tiscali_itunes_blocked/

or here:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/30/tiscali_pipex_redundancies/

or here:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/01/tiscali_email_spam_doubts/

or here:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/30/tiscali_spam_blacklist/

or here:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/29/tiscali_smtp_email_holiday/

or here:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/02/tiscali_email/

It is hard to find the true picture when you see £25 x moneysavingexpert users heading towards the Martin Lewis bank account, it appears?

madjohn

Good grief! Ok..!

I didn't say that you were wrong and neither did I say that I didn't agree with you on some of your points - and indeed I was going to sign up for the Tiscali thing myself until I read about it first.

I suggest other people follow suit and if they don't do their research first then on their heads be it!
Nowhere does it say that MSE.com is definitive and final in their proposals & suggestions. Does it..!

I am unsure if Martin declares the amount that he gains from such offerings but he does declare that it does - see link to page which describes 'how this helps us' where there is a fee paid to the website to keep it ad-free and to go to charity. This can be found on the BB, Telephone, Gas - all the utility advice pages and countless others on this site - where MSE does indeed gain from using a particular link.

In fact, the following is from the foot of the page:
Home Phones
The UK's Cheapest Calls Provider

Explanation (of * links)

How this site is funded. Two types of contacts are listed. The first, which all have a * within the main body of the articles, help MoneySavingExpert.com stay ad-free and free to use, as they're ‘affiliated links' which invisibly take you usually via affiliate linkage or commercial money sites, which then pay this site. The second type doesn't help and therefore doesn't have a *.
You shouldn't notice any difference, the links don't impact the product at all and the editorial line (the things I write) is NEVER impacted by the revenue. If it isn't possible to get an affiliate link for the best product, it is still recommended and still included in exactly the same way. For more details read how this site is financed.

LINKS THAT DON'T HELP THIS SITE
(please only use if necessary)

No * Link Available: 18185 , BT Anytime Call Plan , BT Line , euTalkUltra , ThinkBroadband

Duplicate links of the * links above for the sake of tranparency, but this version doesn't help MoneySavingExpert.com:
Firsthelpline , Homephonechoices , Primus Saver 2 , Skype , TalkTalk , Tiscali , Uswitch



Yes, yes, yes, I understand that making calls to technical support lines to rectify a problem that shouldn't exist is not moneysaving. I AGREE!
And indeed the suggestion that this 'good deal' is NOT all it's cracked up to be is sound. Fine.
But I DO object the suggestion that Martin is deceiving us to make a quick buck. Until I'm proved otherwise - that just bollox, mate!
I ask that you go back and re-read my response (avbove) as I try to explain that this website is NOT infallible, CAN make mistakes and IS NOT the last word on ISP’s and anything else it shares insight to. You have ignored those points which is not fair or helpful. If you read it, you wouldn’t have needed to go out and find all those links to forum posts of unhappy Tiscali customers because you would have read that THIS I SAID I ALREADY KNOW.

This website also DOES mention Cashback websites. Here. And don't forget the Free Tools created for the unsuspecting consumer on the same page.

You are flat out attacking the integrity of this well-received and respected website and I think you should stop your (suitably justified) complaint about Tiscali Broadband short of that point – because up to that it’s advice that this website should consider when writing it’s articles.