Talk Talk trying it on???

amilotte

Well, the saga with TALK TALK continues for me!

A few months ago I was left with no land line or internet connection for a whopping 12 days after TT would not listen to my complaints. Basically there was a fault with the outside line - my husband (an engineer) diagnosed that the problem was outside of the property on day one but TT would have none of it. We called everyday stating this fact but no, all they could spout in about was doing an internal test and it was only after I happened to google TT complaints that I ended up on this forum and things got resolved. Had they not been more interested in saving themselves the cost of getting a BT engineer out to sort the problem I woud have not have had the added expense of phonecalls (from my mobile) and having to use annual leave as I was unable to work from home.

Anyhow, explanation of situation rant over :rolleyes:. My new problem is that following the poor service (we also had major problems with intermittent internet connection over the years) we decided enough was enough and decided to give SKY a go. I contacted TT to pay of my final bill and cancel my contract and was told that I owed a £70 disconnection fee! Apparently (even after approx 5 years of being with them) I took out a 'verbal' 18 month contract for a new price plan in November last year!!! I do not remember taking this and have no paperwork (or see any differences on my bills :rolleyes:).

I have no intention of paying this disconnection fee - the reason that I cancelled the contract with them is their failure to comply with my contract with them and provide a decent service (wish I had contacted Ofcom initially as I had planned).

Apologies for the length of rant!!! Has anyone experienced this? I noticed they were on Watchdog the other evening for contract issues :rolleyes:

On a lighter note we have been with SKY a number of weeks now and I have not had any problems with our internet connection :T.

DS-2

amilotte wrote: »

Well, the saga with TALK TALK continues for me!

Basically there was a fault with the outside line - my husband (an engineer) diagnosed that the problem was outside of the property on day one but TT would have none of it.

I contacted TT to pay of my final bill and cancel my contract and was told that I owed a £70 disconnection fee! Apparently (even after approx 5 years of being with them) I took out a 'verbal' 18 month contract for a new price plan in November last year!!! I do not remember taking this and have no paperwork (or see any differences on my bills :rolleyes:).

Has anyone experienced this?

I experienced both those issues. Though TalkTalk sent the BT engineer out to me 6 times - 4 times they didn't even tell me they'd made an appointment!

On the contract side, TalkTalk need you to agree to an 18 month contract. They can't just sneak it past you and imply your agreement. Call them and ask for a copy of either the signed agreement or verbal validation recording that confirms you entered into another 18 month contract with them.

They'll either waive the fee at that point or not.

If not, ask for the address of their complaints department. Then write them a letter of complaint setting out that you are being charged a disconnection fee for early termination of a contract that does not exist. Ask them for evidence of you agreeing to such a contract if they dispute that fact.

TalkTalk ignored my initial complaint letters totally!

At 6 weeks escalate your complaint to the address below, otherwise you'll get to 8 weeks and have to wait a further 2 weeks.

Customer Liaison Manager
Carphone Warehouse
PO Box 344
Unit 19
Southampton
SO30 2NP

TalkTalk only gave my complaint attention once I escalated it to the above address.

At 6 weeks it would also be worth speaking to Otelo to understand the process of escalating the complaint to them if you don't receive a satisfactory answer in the following 2 weeks.

At 8 weeks, if they haven't resolved the issue to your satisfaction, you can then take your complaint to Otelo.

You might want to look at this thread if you haven't already seen it.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1863841

Good luck.

amilotte

Wow, thanks for all the info DS-2 thats really helpful. I shall give them a call and ask for the initial info tomorrow so fingers crossed!

I hadn't seen the thread so thanks for the link too, makes interesting reading!

TalkTalk

Hi Amilotte,

Most contract renewals completed with the renewals or retentions team involve some kind of discount being agreed to or a wireless router being provided as an upgrade. Do any of your invoices from the time you have been informed you renewed from have discounts of £5 or a half price talk plan discount? The renewal is a verbal agreement but it is usual for a letter to be sent to confirm the discount that has been accepted. A note would also be left on the billing account to state the contract was renewed and the discount/offer that was accepted as part of this renewal.

Cheers
Emma x

delain

My mum has experienced shocking talk talk service too... no internet, refusal by talk talk to cancel it, high bills, not being able to do work at home (she's a teacher, she needs to!) and then trying to block BT from taking over her line!

I would not touch Talk Talk with a very long stick.

TalkTalk

Hi Delain,

If your mum is still with TalkTalk is it possible for your mum to register and post at https://www.talktalkmembers.com/forums then I can take a look at her connection etc? TalkTalk can't stop BT taking over the line - it belongs to them and they control migrations between providers.

Cheers
Emma x

amilotte

TalkTalk_Company_Representative wrote: »

Hi Amilotte,

Most contract renewals completed with the renewals or retentions team involve some kind of discount being agreed to or a wireless router being provided as an upgrade. Do any of your invoices from the time you have been informed you renewed from have discounts of £5 or a half price talk plan discount? The renewal is a verbal agreement but it is usual for a letter to be sent to confirm the discount that has been accepted. A note would also be left on the billing account to state the contract was renewed and the discount/offer that was accepted as part of this renewal.

Cheers
Emma x

Hi Emma

Thanks for your response.

I cannot find any info stating that the contract was changed and looking at my bills there is absolutely no difference!!! We also never received an upgrade on our router. They say it was taken out in November last year and at 37 weeks pregnant (and suffering major baby brain atm) I am struggling to think back that far!! The call plan we have is the international call plan and there is no change in the wording between the contract we initially were given (approx 5 years ago) and the bills I get now. I also do not believe that after 5 years of being with TT they would have just randomly called and offered me a discount.

Regardless of this, the reason that I cancelled was that there was a failure to provide a decent level of service (actually a service AT ALL for 12 days and it was not teh first time that we have had poor service). The compensation that I received (around £20 ish?) in no way covered the fact that I had made daily calls to TT from my mobile and the fact that I had to waste my annual leave as I was unable to work from home. The fact that I was left without telephone or Broadband for that length of time is inexcusable particularly when we had diagnosed the fault from the outset.

What I find most insulting is that I have been a long standing customer of TT and Carphone Warehouse (I shall be cancelling my mobile contract with them when up for renewal at the end of this month out of protest). Combined, they have had near on £100 a month from us for approx 5 years and still they try and bleed the very most they possibly can out of us :mad:.

Also, because they will not deal with my husband as I am the account holder (and have not been well) I have been unable to deal with the bill until now. I had received a final demand on the 7th October (received 10th Oct) giving me 7 days to respond. Well, today I have received a letter from Roxburghe debt collectors which was written on the 9th :mad: Now, correct me if I am wrong but I am sure that is only 2 days?!?! The reason that I had not made a payment before this time is that I was very concerned that had I provided my bank deatils then TT would have just taken the full amount (ie calls owed and disconnection fee).

Like I said, I'm 37 weeks pregnant and so need to sort this asap - I have no intention of paying the disconnection fee and certainly not the £23 fee for the debt collectors as it should not have been passed to them 5 days before the agreed time anyway.

Is there any way that TT can provide me with the recording of my agreement to the contract, I know they will not have anything signed by me.

Cheers

DS-2

amilotte wrote: »

Well, today I have received a letter from Roxburghe debt collectors which was written on the 9th

Is there any way that TT can provide me with the recording of my agreement to the contract, I know they will not have anything signed by me.

I can't stress enough that you need to put your complaint in writing to TalkTalk. You should also ask why the matter has been prematurely referred to a debt collection agency.

Do NOT rely solely on comments/promises posted by the TalkTalk representative that posts on this site - they are worth diddly-squat if you end up with baliffs chasing you. Deal in writing directly with TalkTalk. Always send them complaint letters recorded delivery. In this instance I recommend you use "Guaranteed Next Day Delivery" and I also recommend you ensure they receive your response within the 7 days TalkTalk gave you to respond.

Incidentally, 7 days sounds unreasonable and you should complain about that as well! You'll do well to get them to reply to you within 7 days.

amilotte

DS-2 wrote: »

I can't stress enough that you need to put your complaint in writing to TalkTalk. You should also ask why the matter has been prematurely referred to a debt collection agency.

Do NOT rely solely on comments/promises posted by the TalkTalk representative that posts on this site - they are worth diddly-squat if you end up with baliffs chasing you. Deal in writing directly with TalkTalk. Always send them complaint letters recorded delivery. In this instance I recommend you use "Guaranteed Next Day Delivery" and I also recommend you ensure they receive your response within the 7 days TalkTalk gave you to respond.

Incidentally, 7 days sounds unreasonable and you should complain about that as well! You'll do well to get them to reply to you within 7 days.

Hi

I'm on the case! I have already emailed TT as an initial point of contact to say what has happened today so that they have something for todays date. I will follow up in writing tomorrow and sent by GNDD as you suggest.

I could so do without this at the mo - interestingly I made a comment on good old Facebook about TT and the response seems to be that many others have had problems with them too :mad:.

Thanks for all your advice :beer:.

payless

TalkTalk_Company_Representative wrote: »

TalkTalk can't stop BT taking over the line - it belongs to them and they control migrations between providers.

Cheers
Emma x

Well they did with me - I placed order with BT to takeover, but when I spoke to TT to advise them that i was leaving they placed a cancellation tag - which stopped BT taking over

terra_ferma

I noticed the difference in response by TT's representative on this board, compared to other companies. For example BT would ask a complainant to PM them with their details and help resolve them.
When I complained about something much more trivial than this (it was about receiving too many sales calls) they PM me and offered to help.
And it's BT we are talking about......

TT instead of grabbing the opportunity to show that they are a helpful company that cares about their customers, they just provide some information and even ask someone's mum to register on their forum.....
Considering how many people access this forum, directly or by Googling about TT, it shows they don't give a toss.

I've never been with them and never will.