The UKs Cheapest Home Phones Solution Article Discussion Area

jockessfi

This is my first post so forgive my rant but I am so incensed by the service or lack of with T3 CW (Carphone Warehouse) I need to share it to spare others from what could be a nightmare for you.
I joined Talk Talks (TT) T3 plan in May, I went landline live with a slight hiccup which I was prepared to overlook. Since then I've had nothing but problems.
My go live broad band date came & went, I received the hardware but could not connect, this took a week to resolve after varying information from CW & CS (customer support) & long waiting periods of over half an hour each time, the calls I was charged for. I set up online account management; I was unable to communicate with TT using email to query 2 different account numbers I had. On a tight budget I was reluctant to call the help line as they're 0870 or 0845 with the long waiting periods I could not afford to call these numbers. Mid July during a family illness when the phone became a life line any outgoing calls I tried to make I was informed the account had been suspended & put me straight through to a TT number which wasn't answered, I tried on numerous occasions. I contacted my bank that informed me a direct debit wasn't set up for CW. Four days later the number was eventually answered it appeared that due to a mistake by the initial sales person taking my bank details they had suspended my account, I would also like to point out I was speaking to someone in Cape Town S.A. who I had problems understanding, as she had with me.
I voiced my upset at the lack of customer service from CW not personally but towards the company & that I would be looking for another service provider. I then received an email from TT about my recent communication with customer services requesting feedback, feedback they certainly got! I told them about my distress, VERY dissatisfied, EXTREMELY disappointed, mention of Charles bleeding Dunstone etc etc. I did not receive a reply or a courtesy call to appease my feelings of anger. No they decided to cut me off completely & stop incoming calls as well!! If that man ever gets Knighted I will become a Republican! So I started to look elsewhere for a landline & broad band provider, I found another similar landline offer on the net & applied. I was told that I would have to pay £150 to be reconnected & then they would supply my phone line. Why are you still getting broadband you may be asking? Me too.
So today at 11:15 am I began my own journey & monopolised my friends phone for 2 & a half hours. I think I am at some way to resolving the problem. I found CW CS, after holding for 10 minutes I was put through to Cape Town & asked to speak to a British support center only so that I could be understood, please note I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown at this point. He kindly redirected me back to hold for a further 15 minutes, yep that's right - straight back to Cape Town! I get no further there & decide to phone Oftel who are extremely helpful & patient as I probably sound like some manic banshee at this stage.
I feel armed & dangerous now with threats of OThel & legal words implanted in my vocabulary then Michelle answers the phone with a friendly northern accent, I'm weary & just want her to help me, my plea works & Michelle is up for my Nobel Prize next year. She can fix the problem, speaks to her supervisor & advises me to contact BT to reactivate the line, I will have to stay with them for 3 months but if I then call CW DS or CS to reinstate my CPS I can get my calls through CW. I really don't care at this stage I'm spent!! I have to pay CW £76.12 to activate the CPS, no problem.
Now I'm in the queue for BT, 10 minutes later another Michelle answers, I explain activate TALK TALK etc, Michelle another Nobel contender comments " oh, we've had a few problems with that today" "with Talk Talk?" I say "Yes" she replies. Ummmm???? Deregulation yesterday - interesting!!
So I'm transferred, after a wait I get reactivated.
Now back to CW, the DS number takes me to Carlos, in yep you guessed it - Cape Town, he is very helpful & at last we get to what the problem is all about. He only wants £55.32 from me, I query the previous figure I was given by Nobel Michelle (see above). I give him both account numbers & at last something fits, 2 people are singing from the same song sheet!! I start singing - (my daughter has the paramedics with straight jackets on stand by) I've paid, now all I need is to activate my TT3 with CW DS as he is CS not DS. He transfers me - Nooooooooooooooooo! Please don't Carlos I like you, you helped me. I'm listening to that music again......
13:08 pm Nadine answers the phone "thank you for calling Talk Talk how may I help you?" I explain - again, again, again, again, oh sorry I need to activate my CPS I give her my security details again, again, again, oh yes & then as we reach my post code the line goes dead!
I'm awaiting replacement patience as the potential to become committed is a serious possibility.
TALK TALK - DOES NOT DO WHAT IT SAYS ON THE BOX!! Unless you like Cape Town.
I am not laughing though, please take this seriously & lets have a lobby for all these conglomerate companies to become more accountable to who they serve!!!!

Heinz

Cape Town is the most wonderful city and, if you ever get the chance, take a holiday there.

I know what I'd do but, as I live in a small village where there's no chance of LLU this side of the next century, sticking with BT for landline and BB is not really optional!

OTOH, I don't use BT for calls (free E&W with Primus Saver Option 2 and appropriate use of 1899 and 18185 for daytime/mobile/international calls).

I've just negotiated BT BB Option 1 down to £14.99/month for a year and, when they increase the speed from 2mb to 8mb (-ish) next Tuesday, I reckon that'll be a fair deal.

llewpugh

I was previously registered with 18185 (and 1899 & 18866) but moved house to temporary accommodation. Now I haved moved to a permananet address I have tried to register with 18185 but it has failed. They say I owe money to 18866 or other related companies. I have successfully re-registered with 1899. I have e-mailed them to find out who and what I owe (I did not cancel my Direct Debits for more than two months after I ceased registration) but have had no joy - how can I find out who and what I owe and how I can pay them? Is there a phone number to phone to discuss as I am getting nowhere with e-mail?

Can anyone help please.

Llew Pugh

Heinz

None of those providers have telephone CS - it's all done by e-mail for cheapness. Frequently, people complain about meaningless e-mail replies to questions like yours but persistence normally works (i.e. someone actually reads an e-mail eventually).

OTOH, it's likely your old 18866 and 18185 accounts are still available online so, if you can remember your account numbers, that may be a way of finding out what you allegedly owe and arranging payment.

Then it'll just be a question of addiing you new telephone number(s) to the accounts and deleting the old one(s).

Stiggy

DaveO wrote:

According to a plus net representative on the support forum many customers use less than 1 gig a month.

If you cost that up it means a broadband cost of £12.23 a month so added to the basic £11 phone package you are up to £23.23 a month compared to TT's £20.99.

That may be attractive to people who don't want an 18 month contract or to have a £70 exit fee hanging over them if they meet that sort of usage profile.

Plus Nets broadband packages are limited bandwidth ones but have peak and off-peak usage with the off-peak not counting toward your monthly limit. I could not find anything about that arrangement applying to the broadband basic package but if it does (thay have not launched the basic product yet), it might make it more attractive.

Dave

If you cannot get LLU from TalkTalk, and they want you to pay £31/month, it's worth checking out Plusnet again. You can get telephone and broadband from £21/month, and I would suggest you get better customer service too. They also have a 1-month contract.

Please remember to email PlusNet with questions rather than try to phone, as they are small company!

timhorner

having read the article and done a little research that for uk number calls yourcall.net seem to be the cheapest. They are not mentioned in martin's list. It seems to be 4.99 plus line rental of 9.99 for any landline calls at any time . Is there a reason they haven't ben mentioned. Has anyone tried them/

Heinz

timhorner wrote:

having read the article and done a little research that for uk number calls yourcall.net seem to be the cheapest. They are not mentioned in martin's list. It seems to be 4.99 plus line rental of 9.99 for any landline calls at any time . Is there a reason they haven't ben mentioned. Has anyone tried them/

Welcome to the MSE forums timhorner.

Personally, yourcalls.net is not a provider I know much about but, off the top of my head, I'd have replied that the reason they're not one of Martin's recommendations is probably because they're not worthy of same.

With Primus Saver Option 2 (which is one of Martin's recommendations) giving free evening and weekend UK 01/02 calls for no monthly fee (yourcalls.net charges £1.99.) and 1899 giving weekday UK 01/02 calls for 3p each regardless of duration (yourcalls.net charges 2.4p per minute), that's no real surprise.

It appears about all yourcalls.net has got in its favour is £1.01/month saving on BT line rental. I wouldn't risk changing my line rental provider for that tiny amount - the chances of the prefix-dial providers 1899, 18185 and 18866 being barred and the inability to use a CPS provider of my choosing would be too great a risk for me.

BTW, another of the prefix-dial providers, www.18185.co.uk, easily beats yourcalls.net on landline to UK mobile call prices too (4p connection and 5p/minute weekdays, 2p/minute weekends).

May I recommend clicking the two links in my signature below for some more ideas before you do anything.

hurrah

timhorner wrote:

having read the article and done a little research that for uk number calls yourcall.net seem to be the cheapest. They are not mentioned in martin's list. It seems to be 4.99 plus line rental of 9.99 for any landline calls at any time . Is there a reason they haven't ben mentioned. Has anyone tried them/

They were discussed here

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=218132&highlight=yourcalls.net

Also recent thread here

http://groups.google.com/group/uk.telecom/browse_thread/thread/1f7378c936ca2195/a1687ca3ce4c163c?hl=en#a1687ca3ce4c163c

Aiadi

jockessfi wrote:

TALK TALK - DOES NOT DO WHAT IT SAYS ON THE BOX!! Unless you like Cape Town.
I am not laughing though, please take this seriously & lets have a lobby for all these conglomerate companies to become more accountable to who they serve!!!!

You have my complete sympathy. I needed to contact them by email and phone eight times to stop them sending me bills and cancel my telephone account after this was transferred from Just-dial. It was really a frustrating and nerve-wrecking experience and I was sooooooooooooooo happy to go back to BT afterwards.

Omega_1

I am shortly coming to the end of my annual Talk Talk Plan 3 contract using BT's line rental and have not had any problem with them. Their new Plan 3 is currently £8.99 on top of the £11 BT charge and again I get all my calls to landlines 24 hours a day free and using 1899 for my international calls. Can someone advise me if I should consider Primus Saver Option 2 as an alternative (or indeed any other carrier) and any advantage/disadvantage on these over latest Talk Talk option.