Talk Talk Complaints

emmhon

I've been stunned by TalkTalk's poor service since joining them in August. I joined in August with a go live date which was fine for the telephone but the internet never happened. After contacting them they said they'd investigate it but never got back to me. I then ring them again in OCTOBER(!) still without their internet only to be told that I cancelled my MAC code so they couldn't do anything. This is obviously stupid and not the case as why would I do that?! I then asked to speak to the manager and the agent transfered me to another AGENT who promptly hung up on me. When I phoned back a investigation was started and I was told that I'd hear within 5 days by letter or call what was happening. Today I ring back as I've heard nothing only to find that they had supposedly sent me an EMAIL - no idea why as they had specified a response by phone or letter. Apparently I have a go-live date within the next week but I'm not expecting that to be true.
The hysterical thing is that I couldn't speak to the Complaints team but I could write to them, which is a complete joke. The agents on the phone have had a very poor level of English and generally been very hard to understand. At this rate I will be leaving talk talk as soon as I can.
A formal complaint will follow as soon as I go live and I will also be copying the letter to OfCOM and asking for compensation as I've had to pay extra for a standalone broadband service now to cover the fact that TalkTalk have messed me around so badly.

Seriously - avoid them if you can. It's not worth the hassle.

PhylPho

emmhon wrote: »

I've been stunned by TalkTalk's poor service since joining them in August. . .
<
The hysterical thing is that I couldn't speak to the Complaints team but I could write to them, which is a complete joke. The agents on the phone have had a very poor level of English and generally been very hard to understand. At this rate I will be leaving talk talk as soon as I can. . .
<
A formal complaint will follow as soon as I go live and I will also be copying the letter to OfCOM and asking for compensation as I've had to pay extra for a standalone broadband service now to cover the fact that TalkTalk have messed me around so badly.
Seriously - avoid them if you can. It's not worth the hassle.

Sorry to hear of your experience, but to paraphrase your last sentence: "Seriously, it's not worth the hassle of complaining about TalkTalk or any other ISP. . . if you don't know the rules of the game." So. . .

1) OFCOM is not an ombudsman service for individual consumer complaints about an Internet provider. OFCOM will not take up an individual case and will not deal with you on an individual basis. OFCOM makes its position abundantly clear here:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/about/what-is-ofcom/

Please read the section entitled: What we do not do.

2) OFCOM, as a regulator, acts on issues. Issues can be lousy customer service, mis-billing, mis-selling, whatever. An ISP customer experiencing any of those issues *can* report this to OFCOM but OFCOM will only act if the issue is seen by OFCOM to be a generality of the ISP's operation rather than a random or isolated specific.

3) By all means, then, complain to OFCOM so long as you do not expect the regulator to address your individual issue but to instead incorporate it into whatever 'class action' style of punishment it is considering meting out. And yes: it does mete out punishment to rogue ISPs.

4) ISPA. This is the trade body for UK Internet service providers and offers a complaints resolution service, as here:

http://www.ispa.org.uk/complaints/

where the text to take particular note of is: "Companies who choose to become members of ISPA agree to abide by the ISPA UK Code of Practice. . . consumers can view the ISPA UK logo as a mark of commitment to good business practice."

5) However, unless my old eyes deceive me, this link:

http://www.ispa.org.uk/cgi-bin/member_list.cgi

would seem to indicate that TalkTalk has chosen to ignore both the organisation and its notion of best practice. So no, a TalkTalk customer can't go to the ISPA.

6) Communications and Internet Services Adjudication Scheme. This actually has quite a track record in complaints investigation and resolution. And, significantly, it has OFCOM's "stamp of approval". For details, go here:

http://www.cisas.org.uk/

but then, also go here:

http://www.cisas.org.uk/Membercompanies-2_e.html

where it will again be seen, or rather, not seen, that TalkTalk is a member of CISAS.

So that's two avenues of mediation and resolution which -- as the membership lists show -- are open to thousands of UK customers of various ISPs, though not to anyone who happens to be signed up to TalkTalk. But perhaps you already knew that.

7) Office of the Telecommunications Ombudsman. Any customer of any UK ISP should learn about OTELO now: it's a significant agency and, like CISAS, has OFCOM's official backing:

http://www.otelo.org.uk/

OTELO aims to clean up an industry that claims no cleaning is required thanks to voluntary bodies (often ignored) and voluntary codes (ditto.) In fact, so feeble has voluntary-this and voluntary-that become where certain, though by no means all, ISPs are concerned that OFCOM has decided enough is enough, and so:

8) From January next year, every ISP in the UK must legally abide by a new OFCOM Code of Practice which sets out minimum standards for business dealings and customer service. OFCOM, still smarting from several years of being (rightly) accused as a watchdog with no teeth, is under a new management keen to demonstrate that it will now bite as well as bark. Time will tell. (Note: OFCOM is pretty well aware of the abysmal levels of customer service from some ISPs, and so to help them -- and they know who they are -- is going to give all ISPs until mid-year next year to improve their customer complaimnts resolution service: or else.)

So. . . where does that leave you? Well, you need to follow TalkTalk's own complaint resolution process, and you need to do this in writing. If there's no written record, then there's no proof. After that, check all the above links, especially OTELO, remembering also the caveat about what OFCOM can do in terms of class-action regulation where sufficient numbers of individual consumers have made sufficient individual complaints *about the same issue* to warrant OFCOM's intervention.

Hope this helps.

NeverEnough

Talktalk have their complaints process buried very deeply in a menu on the left side of the home screen - I think from memory it says Code of Conduct or suchlike - write to their Customer Services at the address in that document, send it by recorded post and well......wait....keep a record of the date, as, if they have not responded within a certain time or provided a deadlock letter, you can take the matter to OTELO (Tiscali used to utilise CISAS but Talktalk use Otelo)and state clearly exactly how much you are claiming and why - I was awarded costs of over £500 for a giant Tiscali mess a few years back when they were unbundling and we were just "left out" entirely, with no service for weeks on end.

I had a call from their "high level complaints team" today in response to a letter I sent around 3 weeks ago about their refusal to stop charging for a service I had cancelled - apology plus write off of all charges levied after I had cancelled and a £15 "goodwill gesture".

I'd advocate not struggling with their brainless non-english speakers, rather go down the written route and send the letter to the manager of customer services (second level) so it gets to the high level complaints team. :j

PhylPho

Informative update from thinkbroadband UK on the Talktalk / Tiscali billing fiasco and breach of OFCOM rules:

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/4449-talktalk-and-tiscali-in-breach-of-ofcom-rules-over-incorrect-billing.html

pinkemsy

I emailed the watchdog@talktalkplc.com address on 25th October and have still not heard back. Can anyone tell me how long it took to get a response please?

Thanks!

PhylPho

pinkemsy wrote: »

I emailed the [EMAIL="watchdog&#64;talktalkplc.com"]watchdog@talktalkplc.com[/EMAIL] address on 25th October and have still not heard back. Can anyone tell me how long it took to get a response please? Thanks!

In the issue in which I was involved, the email was sent on October 17th and action to resolve the complaint was taken by Talktalk on October 20th. I'd suggest you email again, copying it into the BBC Watchdog monitoring address. If your situation is relevant to the recent OFCOM ruling re Talktalk / Tiscali, then a complaint to that authority is in order providing you have already given Talktalk adequate opportunity to address your concerns / resolve your problem.

nicktanner

Talk Talk have now landed me a debt collection letter from Fredrickson International Limited for the closed account from my old home - aside from compiling as much of a report on the battle with TalkTalk for their perusal in the next five days as I can, is there anything I can do?

ipswich448

Talk Talk have now landed me a debt collection letter from Fredrickson International Limited for the closed account from my old home

This is TiTT’s (Tiscali TalkTalk) idea of customer service. From your earlier post it would appear that this relates to a bill on your old address, you clearly owe them nothing.

Freddies buy the debts, and despite their ever threatening letters are paper tigers. Don’t respond, either to their letters or their phone calls. If you do, the frequency of both will increase as they think they’re getting to you. There are plenty of posts on this site about these low-lifes.

The worst that can happen is that they issue a court summons (in my experience highly unlikely). If they do, you respond with, “the debt you are trying to collect is for a period when I didn’t live at that address...”.

Freddies are parasites (my apologies to intestinal worms), they work on the basis of fear, most people will pay up even if they owe nothing. Contrary to their letters they cannot affect your credit rating without a CCJ.

PhylPho

nicktanner wrote: »

Talk Talk have now landed me a debt collection letter from Fredrickson International Limited for the closed account from my old home - aside from compiling as much of a report on the battle with TalkTalk for their perusal in the next five days as I can, is there anything I can do?

OFCOM's report about its formal Notification to Talk Talk / Tiscali includes the following:

"After receiving over 1,000 complaints this year alone, Ofcom found that TalkTalk and Tiscali UK have breached telecoms regulations by issuing bills to consumers for services that have not been provided.

"Both companies issued bills for services consumers had cancelled.
Ofcom has issued TalkTalk and Tiscali UK – which are both part of TalkTalk Group – with a legally-binding Notification requiring them to comply with the rules, known as a ‘General Condition’, by 2 December 2010 or face further enforcement action.

"The maximum penalty is a fine of 10 per cent of relevant turnover.

"The Notification also requires TalkTalk and Tiscali UK to take steps to remedy the harm they caused to consumers, which could include, but are not limited to:

• providing refunds to all consumers who were billed for cancelled services since 1 January 2010;
• stopping debt collection action, and withdrawing from any legal proceedings (if started), against consumers and paying their reasonable legal costs; and
• taking any necessary steps to repair credit ratings of affected consumers, such as notifying credit reference agencies where relevant."

As ipswich has rightly said, Frederick International Limited (doncha luv the way these outfits pump up their egos with such hi-falutin' company names?) should not be contacted, or responded to, in any way.

As to your alleged debt: either Freddies is acting directly as Talk Talk's collection agent, or Talk Talk has sold your debt and Freddies is now out to profit from its investment.

Debt trading is one of the most despicable practises in UK commerce: shabby, sleazy, and secretive.

Time and time again, debt holders are too lazy, too inept, and / or too uncertain of the strength of their own case to go to court to obtain what they contend is legally theirs, and so instead place those debts in the debt grabbers' marketplace.

So, if you're running a grubby little operation with no qualms at all about using fear and bullying to turn a profit, you'll grasp at the chance of paying, say, £40 for someone's £100 debt, because that way you're looking at a £60 gross profit.

Talk Talk's present position where OFCOM is concerned is actually about as serious as it gets. The company has suffered immense reputational damage and no amount of blather on here by a now absentee Talk Talk rep can do anything about it. Talk Talk knows OFCOM is in hunting mood. It also knows OFCOM's reference to a prospective fine of 10% of turnover was anything but casual.

I've emphasised OFCOM's requirement (above) that Talk Talk suspend any and all debt collection activity so your most sensible course to follow now is:

(1) Do as ipswich says: keep well clear of Freddies;

(2) Abandon any idea of wasting yet more of your valuable time on dealing with Talk Talk; it's hardly your fault the company is so evidently dysfunctional, it now has OFCOM tramping all over it;

(3) Simply write to OFCOM with a copy of the correspondence from Fredrickson International Ltd. Don't ask OFCOM to intervene on your behalf (it won't) and don't ask it to reply to you; your letter will reach the appropriate investigative section at OFCOM.

Because the clock is ticking rapidly towards the December 2nd deadline, you need to provide OFCOM with evidence of your own experience sooner rather than later. The address is:

Ofcom
Riverside House
2a Southwark Bridge Road
London
SE1 9HA

At the bottom lefthand side of your envelope, write clearly:

FAO: Talk Talk Group Notification 02/11/2010.

Barry51

[QUOTE=PhylPho;38372406
Because the clock is ticking rapidly towards the December 2nd deadline, you need to provide OFCOM with evidence of your own experience sooner rather than later. [/QUOTE]

Thanks we will write to OFCOM about this bunch of crooks. We left them back in August but they still keep on charging. After many, very expensive, phone calls and e-mails we finally got a refund for September. BUT then they sent a bill for October and November :(.
This is what they wrote a few days ago;

'After your account has been rectified, another set of charges were applied on your account amounting to £xx.xx (VAT inclusive) to cover October and November 2010 bills. Currently, the balance on your account is £xx.xx. In this case, I have escalated your case to our Finance and Administration Team to clear off the charges for the month of October and November. Once approved, the outstanding balance on your account will be cleared off and any remaining credit will be applied on your direct debit. Please allow 28 days for the resolution of this request.'

They sent a similar e-mail before, but just carried on charging.

So no apology , no thank you for your interest free loan , no thank you for all the money they make out of the premium rate compliants line .

We did not even opt for Talk Talk they just took over our Tiscali account. Cant understand why any sane person would freely chose to trust this bunch of crooks.