Plusnet and Tiscalli - are they SO bad??

ravenlooney

As far as I can gather, these are the 2 cheapest unlimited broadband packages. But all I seem to see is everyone saying 'dont go near them, theyre awful' especially for Tiscalli. Could anyone explain to me why they are thought of as so bad, cos whenever anyone says theyre rubbish, they never give a reason? And if they are SO bad, can anyone give me another cheapest, unlimited ISP? Please?

Quinny_2

Tiscali:

Slow speeds,customer service that can't speak English,useless tech line.......

Need I say more?

Just have a check around at the various ISP forums on the net,and see for yourself how bad they are,and where they get rated.

Can't speak for Plusnet as I've never used them.

Ken.

Quinny_2

Try this:

http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=plusnet&Number=2168369&page=0&view=expanded&sb=5&o=0&fpart=

cymro

Tiscali over a period of several months withdrew too much money from my bank account. When I eventually spotted it I contacted them on 29th July - I have since rang them on one further occasion - each time queueing on the phone for approximately 15 minutes and sent 15-20 Emails. Emails are answered within 7 days if you are lucky and when they are answered they are unintelligible and often completely irrelevant to the issue which is them returning the money they wrongfully withdrew from my account. Here we are on 7th Dec and still no sight nor sound of my money - and I wonder how many other people have fallen for the same trick? Apart from that no problems but honestly would you buy a 2nd hand car from this lot ? :-)

cymro

ravenlooney - I don't think it really matters specifically why people complain about Tiscali but I would be very cautious about registering with any company that has the title of 'most complained about provider'. One other reason not to choose Tiscali (if you still need one) - if you ever decide you would like to switch providers in the future part of the process is to obtain your MAC code from your existing provider and send it to the new provider to complete the switchover. There is only 1 (yes just 1!) provider in the whole of the UK that refuses to release this code - I won't give you any guesses who that may be. Apart from the two reasons above yes they are OK.

Froggitt

Tiscali is fine if its all going OK......however if they trash your connection, or overcharge you, or you require anything that requires either a service element or a technical element, theyre !!!!!!.

Quinny_2

Tiscali do give out MAC codes.

Thats how I ditched them 3 weeks ago.

Ken.

ravenlooney

OK, I get the point .... theyre rubbish!!! I'll not be signing up with Tiscalli!!! Thanks everyone!!

innovate

Quinny wrote:

Tiscali do give out MAC codes.

Thats how I ditched them 3 weeks ago.

Ken.

That's very new then and really good news - delighted for you that you managed to switch with MAC code, and hopefully this will make it easier for others to escape!!

I never had Tiscali broadband [didn't like the fact there was no MAC] but I signed up for a while on their SmartTalk phone service. Signing up and switch-over was very fast and painless, and service was ok apart from one annoyance. I had changed current accounts, and my new current account provider could change all my direct debits (about a dozen) for me, with one exception - you guessed right: Tiscali. Tiscali insisted I needed to do it myself, even thoug my new current account provider had my explicit permission to contact all my Direct Debit recipients on my behalf. Me, not impressed by Tiscali.

3 months into my Tiscali Smarttalk, I decided (based on intelligence from the MSE Home Phones board - brilliant place!!!) the Tiscali phone service wasn't worth it for me financially. It was then that I experienced a bit of the Tiscali described by many, here on MSE and in other places:

• I sent them recorded letter advicing my request for cancellation asap (there is nothing in any of the Tiscali SmartTalk info that tells you how you can terminate your subscription)
• Got a response letter a week later saying I need to ring an 0870 number to cancel
• 0870 - YEAH RIGHT! Found an 0207 number on www.saynoto0870.co.uk
• rang 0207 number (free on the Tiscali tariff) and after acceptable wait got through to what must be their customer retention department
• was asked to give reason for cancellation. I said I don't make £9.99 worth of phone calls a month. Was asked again to give reason "because Tiscali need one". I said (still totally calm) I don't make £9.99 worth of calls a month, please don't ask me for any more explanation. We played that game a couple more times then I said (and still totally calm...) "ok, this isn't a good use of my time, the Direct Debit authorisation has been cancelled whilst we spoke [which was sort of correct, done that online whilst waiting for the phone to be answered], thank you and good bye". Hung up. (and felt a tad sorry for the Tiscali agent - but hey, I am no charity!!)
• then rang BT (FOC on 150) and asked what it takes to cancel the CPS service. They - not surprisingly - said they could instigate it there and then but it would take about a week for the network switch to be made. Apparently to cancel a CPS contract such as Tiscali SmartTalk, all you need to do is ring BT on 150 - wish I'd known that before
• over the next month, I got several more emails, and one letter, from Tiscali, saying they couldn't collect the Direct Debit. Surprise surprise. I responded to the first email reminding them I had cancelled, and then ignored the other emails and the letter. They have now stopped sending me emails and letters. Just for good measure, I did check whether they filed anything on my credit records with Experian/Equifax, but I am pleased to say they didn't.

Home phone services are much simpler than Broadband - I dread the thought of being a Tiscali Broadband customer, especially after I have seen the countless reports about problems with Tiscali broadband all over on UK websites.

innovate

ravenlooney wrote:

OK, I get the point .... theyre rubbish!!! I'll not be signing up with Tiscalli!!! Thanks everyone!!

lol, couldn't you have been a tad faster, ravenlooney, would have saved me a hell of a lot a typing :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:


Hope you'll end up with a good broadband service!!!

hncsys

This may be going against the flow .....

I've been with Tiscali for about 2 years and have upgraded about 4 times and yes they do take their time about getting it sorted but they always have for me I just upgraded again a few days ago to a bundle package 1mb broadband and all my phonecalls 24/7 (landline not 03/04/07/08/09) all in for £19.99

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/products/broadband/bundle-1mb-as.html?code=ZZ-NL-11XY

which cant be bad. I regulary checked Broadband speed and am getting 950+kbps /120+kbytes/s dowload speed which is about right........

Just hoping it stays OK