Advice needed on Talktalk/Tiscali/BT situation

chodges84

Ok, heres the story:

Moved out of parents place in September, cancelled my Tiscali connection. She told me it would be stopped within hours and sure enough I received a final bill within days and the internet connection went. I asked her on the phone if I needed a MAC code as my parents will be getting a new computer after christmas. She says no as the line will become clear within days.

Anyway, Parents have bought a computer and now want to get online. Mum rang Talktalk who told her she needs MAC code. I ring up Talktalk and explain the situation. he gets on another computer and says the line is registered as being occupied by 'BT wholesale' and I will need to get a MAC code form them. So I ring up BT wholesale and they say I cannot get a MAC code from them, Tiscali must tell them (BT wholesale) that I need a code and give it to me. So I ring up Tiscali and they say the line is clear. The man confirms that is says 'BT wholesale' have the line, which means any BT reseller can just 'hop on'. He advises I ring Talktalk back.

SO now I am ready to kill myself. Who is right? I am inclined to believe the guy at Tiscali that Talktalk should be able to just activate the line.

I feel as though I will be going around in circles unless someone can advise as to who I should be persuing.

Thanks in advance,
Craig

slimzee

Sounds like your line is still a live asset with BTW with Tiscali so yes they would need to request to BTW to get that MAC.

Call another ISP and see if they say the same thing as Talk Talk?

syko29793

the broadband checker will only give info on the wholesale provider and not the billing isp.
If you have a tag on your line then this will be your previous isp that has closed the billling relationship they have with you but not told BT wholesale to cease the adsl service.
if still live a mac can be issued as long as the line has not been stopped an restarted (name change on phone account_

001

If you think there is a tag on the line, the appropriate cancellation line. I had a tag on my line with tiscali, and had to contact tiscali cancellations (saynoto0870.co.uk was useful finding the cheapest contact number), selected the broadband department, and they dealt with it. If there is one, it takes about 2 to 3 days to remove.

However, it sounds like the tag is with BT. If so, contact BT cancellations, and hopefully they will help. BT Wholesale, must be BT ?? If BT don't offer help, I suggest that you might look up the head-office phone number (search using a search engine). Tell them you are dissatisfied, and don't hang up until you get some progress.

Best of luck.

syko29793

The tag checker tells who is the wholesale provider not the retail provider ( example if you are with Sky it will say you are with Easynet or if you are with Toucan it will say Tiscali are your provider) If the checker says BT wholesale then the provider could be anyone of the customers BT wholesale deals with BT retail or any other post office vodafone etc.
If you have BT retail broadband then call BT retail if you dont have BT retail broadband then no reason to call BT retail. BT retail and BT wholesale are separate business

chodges84

Thanks for all your replies.

I rang Tiscali AGAIN on friday night and they still insist that they are not at fault.

BT wholesale tell me that Tiscali must notify them, despite me pleading with them to detag the line.

I will be ringing up Tiscali tomorrow morning and not leaving them alone until they do it.

TalkTalk

Have a look at www.samknows.com - use the availability checker and enter your phone number and post code - if there is ADSL on the line already then it will tell you in a message that looks like this

"Congratulations, you are in a broadband enabled area.However, there is another service on your phone line (e.g. ADSL, LLU, DACS, etc) that would prevent you from ordering a new ADSL connection."

Cheers
EmmaL x

syko29793

chodges84 wrote: »

Thanks for all your replies.

I rang Tiscali AGAIN on friday night and they still insist that they are not at fault.

BT wholesale tell me that Tiscali must notify them, despite me pleading with them to detag the line.

I will be ringing up Tiscali tomorrow morning and not leaving them alone until they do it.

this could be because Tiscali retail (the company you are are calling is not the retail provider) remember Tiscali own lots of other isps
Ticali offer services on a par with BT wholesale so you will need to find the true isp for the tag on your line and get them to remove it.

Good luck

TalkTalk

chodges84 wrote: »

Ok, heres the story:

Moved out of parents place in September, cancelled my Tiscali connection. She told me it would be stopped within hours and sure enough I received a final bill within days and the internet connection went.

I think the fact that the OP has the conneciton and sucessfully canceled a service with Tiscali means that they are fairly certain that the tag is a Tiscali marker.

Cheers
EmmaL x

syko29793

TALKTALK_SUPPORT wrote: »

I think the fact that the OP has the conneciton and sucessfully canceled a service with Tiscali means that they are fairly certain that the tag is a Tiscali marker.

Cheers
EmmaL x

If the cancel was sucessful then we wouldnt have this post. there is a tag on the line and gaining isp is bound to help remove it.
Tiscali do wholesale and retail broadband so the tag could be tiscali or any other isp that uses tiscali as a wholesale provider.
Its not as simple as it sounds.

chodges84

Ok, this is still driving my mum nuts.

I rang ofcom and they said that any new provider can contact BT wholesale and have the old tag removed if they have an order from the person who owns the line.

So she Rings up Talktalk and tells them this. The guy says he is aware of this and that is the correct procedure, so Mum goes ahead with the order, this was about the 10th of March. She is given a date when she can expect to go live and receive the Router etc (last Tuesday) and receives a letter confirming this.

Anyway, Tuesday comes and goes and by Friday there is still nothing so she rings Talktalk who claim to have no record of her order. they say she will have to reregister, so she reluctantly does. the girl on the phone told her she can't as there is a tag, and this is what she is hearing from all the TalkTalk advisors.

After getting through to a person with a local accent, she explained again and the Lady promised to call BT on Monday morning to cancel the tag and ring Mum back.

Suffice to say, this did not happen adn she has been around the houses again tonight trying to sort it out. The girl also assured Mum that no Connection charge would be taken which was due to come out Yesterday and she would not be charged from calling Taltalk. She will be checking tomorrow if the charges have been taken.

Anyway, I am writing this on the offchance that someone can offer any last piece of advice, or how we can possibly proceed? I don't think mum wants to go with Talktalk now, as they are useless and liars.