Help!!! Upgrade Never Happened!!!

Rose2White_2

I've been with Tiscali for years... Yes I know 'New Customer Offers' but every time new customer deals come out with faster broadband speeds I phone them to upgrade my serve to the same pack as I'm already paying.

Ok let me make this clearer...

I started at 512kbps on a landline, costing £14.99pm

Then broadband at 2mbps became available at the same cost so I phoned and was told I would be upgraded. I did say it had been years...

This then went up to 8mbps for the same cost or as I have my phone calls with them I could have anytime free 01,02 calls for an extra £5 a month, so Yes (this saves me money with 2 teenagers in the house).

Now I'm on 8mbps and free landline calls for £19.99pm, then when BT lost control of the line rental I; happy with Tiscali & took up their line rental offer with a 20% reduction against BT prices. (Sep 07)

Then at the beginning of Sept 08 I started having problems with my broadband timing out before it could connect so I phoned Tiscali (not a free call) and queried the fault, only I was told it was no fault I was only on a 512kbps package which was causing my problem:eek:

I have one e-mail from Sep 07 telling my my upgrade would be completed in 7 to 10 days; I never received notice that there was any problems. I have now been chasing them for the last two months (was asked not to call again after second or third call) and was told that BT needed to update my local exchange for me to get anything over 512kbps, not what their website says on the broadband speed available for my postcode (6mbps according to Tiscali)

I have been under the impression I had been receiving the service I was paying for over the last few years, but I wasn't.:mad:

WHERE DO I STAND? What are my rights? If I had moved to sky I could have saved £14.99pm as 512kbps is free.....

The BT exchange was meant to be upgraded on the 11th Nov 08, not sure if this has happened or not as Tiscali won't upgrade my package until after, so could be waiting on BT or Tiscali?

penrhyn

Have you ever checked your download speed?

Try this one.

http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/

Do you have a router or a USB modem? If you have the latter float your mouse over the twin display icon in your system tray and see what is says.

I know this isn't what you have asked but at least it should confirm your current situation.

Its also possible that your line wont support the faster speeds, you could use the mapping facility on samknows to work out you distance from the exchange.

c00kiemonster_2

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/

Is a good webby for checking info on your exchange and for telling you what bb services are available.

If your line rental is with tiscali, your exchange must be LLU enabled, samknows will confirm this for you. This should get you a faster connection.

I recently migrated away from tiscali for a similar thing as I was being charged for max, but only ever on 2meg.
Month after month I was promised a refund, which never came through, and month after month was still being charged for adsl max.

i'm now preparing for battle to reclaim all the money I've been overcharged.

Good luck.

cm

Rose2White_2

I'm even having trouble replying to messages on here!!

Ihave been to samknows and my exchange is withing a five min walk of my house with a line that is capable of speeds at ~6.5mbps, this exchange has ADSL max status but is not LLU capable which is why my line rental isn't free.

My problem is Tiscali's wording on their packages as it states the price is for 'up to' 8mbps and they don't do different prices for different speeds like other suppliers do. So am I entitled to a refund, also I have only one upgrade request in writting from last year as all the others were done over the phone with customer services.

Where do I stand & what can I do?

windra

If your exchange cannot physically handle more than 512mb i would say no, you are not entitled to a refund unless they specifically mis sold the product and told you that you 100% could get higher than 512mb.
If you signed up yourself, then it is your responsibility to choose a package that suits your line speed. Many people have higher upper limit broadband that they cannot get, just to have a higher useage cap.

However, if your line has been able to handle more than 512mb and it is a fault (doesnt matter if its BT or tiscali's mistake) you would be entitled as it is Tiscali's responsibility to ensure that faults are fixed.



The best thing would be to contact consumer advice and find out where you legally stand.

Camp_Freddy

I don't think you're entitled to a refund as the 512MB server appears to be the same price as the 8GB service (from your original post).

However, you seem to indicate that, had you known your speed wouldn't have increased, that you would have gone elsewhere for your broadband and I guess it boils down to whether you were informed that your line/exchange wouldn't support anything over 512MB during either of the times you've upgraded your package.

I'm guessing you'll not get anything. It wouldn't hurt to drop them a line to customer services (email or snail mail) with your complaint and see if they'll offer anything as goodwill (don't ask for it, just mention your disappointment at the lack of information from the CS department).

If you don't get satisfaction, go elsewhere.

mrJ_5

eh... don't get your units mixed up - you cannot get 512MB broadband, and definantly not 8GB broadband - unless somehow you have part of the internet network hooked up to your house (and i mean the backend system)

It should be 512Kb, and 8Mb . . . .


If they are advertising it as 'up to 8Mb', then techncially speaking you are getting what you paid for, as 512Kb is below 8Mb.

The 6Mb or so they quoted you is an estimate, it is not a definant thing - it is possible that your line is much longer than they think, or, the makeup of your line is making the speed go lower, or, there is congestion at the exchange, or some other factor.

penrhyn

OP has never said what their actual download speed is when tested.

Rose2White_2

Sorry every time I try to post I get asked to log in again then my post gets lost, so after writing the last post 4 times I forgot my speeds.

In Sep I was getting 520kbps download speed & 74kbps upload speed, this has improved today without any exchange upgrades happening (according to samknows) to 1.856mbps download & 784kbps upload????

I'm not saying I want 8mbps because that is what I'm paying for, but that Tiscali was restricting my access to around 512kbps without telling me why only that any upgrade would take 7 to 10 days!!! I'm still waiting for a phone call to tell me that my upgrade has been completed!

Rose2White_2

Here is an update.

I e-mailed Tiscali as I had not heard anything from them, there response was:
'Thank you for contacting Tiscali Technical Support.

I understand from your email that you wish to confirm if the package has been upgraded to Tiscali Max Broadband package.

I apologise for the inconvenience caused to you.

I have checked our records and found that the package has been upgraded to Tiscali Max with free anytime talk and discounted line rental on 12 November 08. You can view the package details online by visiting the link given below.

[URL="mhtml:!!6F785B9C-0DB1-4739-84C5-76EE30B6BDE0}mid://00000152/!x-usc:https://www.tiscali.co.uk/members/myaccount/upgrade/upgrade.html"]https://www.tiscali.co.uk/members/myaccount/upgrade/upgrade.html[/URL]

However, after performing some tests on your telephone line, I found that your telephone line can support speed upto 2 Mbps.

I hope the above information will help you. Please feel free to contact us if you have any further issues. We will be happy to help you.'

So at least Tiscali are no longer restricting my access which was my complaint, but where they get this 2mbps from I don't understand as according to all sites I have tried (including Tiscali) they all say I could get up to 6mbps, but hey the exchange is not something that got to me as that is something everyone near me has to deal with, now that I have got this far I think I will now try to leave them as restricting my access for all this time is not something I'm happy to live with.

Now I just have to get a MAC code!!!

c00kiemonster_2

If you have been with them over 12 months then I would get the hell away from tiscali.

When phoning for your mac code they will try and keep you by offering help to sort things out, they did to me, but stick to your guns and request the mac.

I got mine within 24hrs of requesting, and am now with my new isp with more than double the speeds I was getting tiscali, which from next month will be for the same cost:rolleyes:

Its nice to have decent bb after all that time wasted with tiscali;)

Good luck

cm