Plusnet and Tiscalli - are they SO bad??

ravenlooney

innovate wrote:

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!!!

sorry, hope your typing fingers arent aching too much :-) Thanks for the story anyway!!

ohdear_4

This is the email I have just sent to tiscali. You get the jist! I am fuming, they are useless!



I am not the account holder, but have dealt with every single phone call until today.

We moved house in August and not one payment has been taken out since we moved. I contacted Tiscali about 2-3 weeks ago stating this. I then received an email back saying 'we can clarify that the full amount will be taken from the bank account on 5th December'. I tried to explain that I could not afford to pay the full amount before December 23rd but wish to make just one months payment, I received no reply so i had to cancel the direct debit or else my children would be short of christmas presents.

On Monday (5th) our internet was suspended so i called Tiscali at 8am on Tuesday (remember I am not the account holder) and I explained the situation, I was told that I had to pay the full amount or else I couldn't get reconnected and it would take 30 days until I could connect through someone else. I was told that Tiscali had tried to take the money from the account each month which just isn't true. The last attempted date was July according to the bank. I paid £60 over the phone and said i will pay the rest on December 23rd, which i was told that it would just come out of the bank on 5th January.

I received a letter today from Tiscali (first one about payments) saying that the direct debit has been cancelled. If you had tried to get the money from my bank before and couldn't, why have I had no letters at all before now saying that you cannot get the money from the bank?

I tried to call to put it straight this morning only to be told that I am not the account holder and cannot talk about the account, so basically everyone I have spoken to at Tiscali before have broken the law according to the man who I spoke to on the phone about 20 minutes ago (11:30 Friday 9th December)

So, to clarify, can you give me proof that you tried to take the money from the account before December 5th?

Why was I allowed to be reconnected and given exact figures and facts relating directly to this account on Tuesday when it isn't my account?

I am quite cross, as I contacted you about the money not taken from the account and then suddenly you attempt to take it.

I will discuss with my husband later but i think we will leave Tiscali, I have been advised by numerous people on different forums that even though Tiscali are the cheapest they are the worst, I have always defende Tiscali, but I am now just another statistic.

If you cannot reply to me (the non account holder) can you please send a reply to my husband at ???
Thankyo

Froggitt

Here is the response you will get (if you get one at all....which I doubt)

Dear Sir/Madam/Missus

Sorry to hear about the problems you have encountered. We will send you out a new modem - that should fix them.

Yours

Michael Owen - Tiscali

londonlad35

I appreciate ISPs are probably much of a muchness but I could NEVER recommend Tiscali to anyone.

Try to be asked to be put through to a Supervisor when complaining - no chance.
Ask for the name of the accountable person for customer service - i.e. the Manager, and their address - they dont have one.
Try to speak to someone in the UK - nearly impossible unless you threaten to cancel.
Expect drop outs, and disconnections and for them to blame you, even though tests prove otherwise.
Expect emails not to be answered for three months.
Expect rude and unhelpful customer service.
Expect that once you have a complaint THEY decide when they will call you within a week or so, you have no contact names or numbers for the Technical team.
Most worringly of all, they DONT CARE about their customers.

I got out early during the contract as they admitted they had breached their side of the contract.

They DID NOT issue a MAC code for me and have left me high and dry - they claimed they could have done for me but didnt. Nice people to do business with.

There's thousands of people like me on other forums. I have never posted a comment on any forum until now. Please do not be fooled by the prices - you get what you pay for in this world and any company that retains its business based on signing people to contracts which they do not meet technically but tie customers in, is not the type of company I will give my money to. AVOID!

Quinny_2

A friend of mine was on Tiscali,and,despite getting his bills,never noticed any money going out of his bank account by direct debit.

He contacted them on numerous occasions,and told them about it,but they failed to act,so when his 12 months was up,he told them to stick it,and cancelled the direct debit.

They then tried to take all 12 months in one lump sum,then wrote to him when they couldn't,so he politely (???) told them that if they couldn't be bothered to take it out on time when it was due,they sure as hell weren't getting it now!!!!!

I couldn't stop laughing for days.

And they still haven't got it some 12 months later.

Ken.

Froggitt

londonlad35 wrote:

Try to speak to someone in the UK - nearly impossible unless you threaten to cancel.
Expect that once you have a complaint THEY decide when they will call you within a week or so, you have no contact names or numbers for the Technical team.

Here you go......Technical Support.....01908 223860!!! Or other numbers starting 01908 2238xx

Enjoy!!!!! Dont ask me how I got hold of it.

Frog

innovate

Quinny wrote:

And they still haven't got it some 12 months later.

Ken.

Ken, my own experience with Tiscali Billing is that they are hopeless, and it's pretty bad if they cannot collate the money when it's due, but I think your friend is on thin grounds because I don't believe there is anything in the T&Cs he accepted that says they have to collate the money every month.

Your friend is risking a black mark on his credit file - worth checking (using e.g. the free 30-day Experian trial) whether this has already happened.

JohalaReewi

Quinny wrote:

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.

Plusnet -> fast access, very reliable, 24/7 support via web or 0845 number.
English tech support (quality variable). Why all the bad press??

Plusnet have upset a lot of people by introducing an Acceptable Use Policy in September. So unlimited usage doesn't actually mean unlimited anymore if you do massive downloads or use p2p. The cheapo Plusnet account is supposed to be for webusers who do normal stuff like surf, email, chat, etc. If you try to make 'excessive' use of the unlimited usage aspect, Plusnet will throttle your connection (down to 50K in some cases).

The upset comes because people signed up for the unlimited access before September and chose an annual contract - often with the 'free modem & connection' bundle. However, free didn't mean free, it meant free if you stay with us for 5 years or we will ask for some money back. Once the AUP came into force, the big users started getting their access throttled and so decided to jump ship. Plusnet said no problem, just give us some dosh for your modem and connection fee and, you are on an annual contract and haven't been with us a year so you owe us the subs...

So, Plusnet are fine with their Broadband Plus package as long as you aren't going to go mad with the 'unlimited' usage, and you understand about the 'free' modem and connection should you want to leave. It is actually a deferred payment modem and connection which you pay for when you leave Plusnet.

ravenlooney

JohalaReewi,So, can I take it that Plusnet customer service, reliability all ok? I was kind of aware of the connection fee/ modem charge thing if I moved ISP and find that reasonable. What sort of 'limit' is on their 'unlimited' package, whats acceptable useage?
Thanks

Juni_3

Because Plusnet are throttling back people who hog the bandwidth their subscriber numbers are growing enormously, plus you can get contention ratios of 10:1 if you pay a bit more.

I'm in the process of moving from the awful BT which is completely unusable past 4pm when all the kids get home.

Don't even get me started on getting a MAC code out of BT. I had to threaten them with legal action.