Broadband Problems

Judi101

Has anyone got any ideas on this one? We have had broadband with Tiscali for the last 2.5 years with no problems. On Dec 23rd our telephone line went off. BT fixed it no problem but told us there was a problem at the exchange with broadbrand but couldnt say when it would be fixed as that wasnt his department. Broadband went off on 23 Dec and we havent gotten it back since.

BT wont talk to us directly about it, saying we have to go through Tiscali. A phone call each day to Tiscali's national rate phone number is needless to say getting very expensive and they are absolutely no help. The latest we have been told is that BT have told Tiscali there was an unexpected surge for broadband via the local exchange and its knocked it out. They need to fix it but havent any idea what future date that may be. In the mean time we are back on dial up (not a pretty sight).

Tiscali seem to be no use whatsoever at chasing BT, we cant chase BT as we cant get a direct number for BT Wholesale whom we have been told are 'supposed' to be dealing with it. Thing is someone we know who lives close to us has Broadband with AOL and they are fine. If the exchange will no longer accept broadband how have they got it then?

We have put a formal letter of complaint in to Tiscali which as far as I can tell has been ignored. Is there an industry watchdog I can complain to? Is there any point in complaining to BT?

Tiscali's customer services are appalling. You cant speak with anyone in this country. They make lots of promises about calling you back and never do. Other than continuing to call every day to find out about their lack of progress I have no idea how to sort this one out.

Any ideas? Any one?

clayts

OFCOM's advice is fairly standard - definitely worth banging off a recorded delivery letter to the company's UK registered address

Judi101

Thanks Clayts - already done so and they have ignored it. No reply in 2.5 weeks.

wonderfullife_2

Hi
Have you phoned up and threatened to cancel? Tell them your going to get on to your local tradings standards officer, Ask for a reinbursement, they are not fulfilling their contract, i.e you are paying for something which you are not getting.
I know that their customer support is diabolical, I use to have them myself, until they started isssuing MAC Codes and I was out like a shot.

I hope you get this sorted out quickly.

PS Have you ever thought about phoning BT and saying that you want to go with them for Broadband, I wonder how long it would then take to fix your line, or discover where the fault lay. :rolleyes:

Stubbsy5050

I have had exactly the same problems with Wanadoo.

We rely on internet contact with friends and family abroad. Our 18 year old is at university in the USA. It is also vital for my work.

My home broadband connection failed in December so I rang Wanadoo and was promised reconnection by Christmas Eve. By January we were still disconnected. Wanadoo blamed BT. I made over 40 national rate phone calls before Customer Services in India admitted it was Wanadoo's problem all along and that they had done nothing to correct it. I cancelled my subscription.

However the problems continued when I tried to sign up to a new ISP.
Wanadoo refused to give me a MAC code to transfer to another provider and for over a month now they have blocked my BT line so no other broadband supplier can use it.

Wanadoo also sent me a Hotmail message from Customer Services asking me why I was cancelling. I completed the online form and sent it back via the hotlink on the form. Surprise, surprise - it bounced back with "No such address"!

Wanadoo have displayed corporate incompetence, malice and mendacity, and I would advise anybody to avoid them like the plague. I have of course made a formal complaint to Ofcom.

aeriel

You may have seen that wanadoo were criticised by ASA on 8th Feb for their so called 8mb broadband offer. What ASA have not spotted is that this is not a broadband upgrade but a move to LLU, local loop unbundling. This is a way of moving away from BT. At the same time it moves wanadoo and other LLU users from the mac agreemetn- they do not have to give you a mac code.
It took me 6 weeks to get to the bottom of this, like stubby5050 my line disconnected in Decenber after the upgrade and I was teated abominably by wanadoo. They kept promising to downgrade me but never did so. The reason is now obvious, they only came clean about the LLU once they no longer had to provide the mac code.
The only option now is to close your account and then wait ten days for the line to clear and then switch prviders. I have registered with dialup with BT with a view to going with BT broadband once the line is clear. (If there are problems on the lines, and it seems that the switch to LLU has caused problems then BT have the enginers, also BT user satisfaction seems high in everyplace I looked)
You could try NOW wireess from UK broadband but the problem can be that wanadoo have encrypted your internet explorer. If it reads "Internet explorer provided by wanadoo" then is seems other providers cannot overide this with their software. I am taking this up with microsoft, I have also reported wanadoo to ASA - for false advertising, to OFCOM, and to office of fair trading and I advise anyone in the ame situation to keep complaining.