Talk Talk Slamming Tiscali customers without warning

slik0000

I am having a nightmare with Talk Talk.

I signed up for Broadband with Tiscali 7 years ago and paid them line rental for calls on a BT connected line.

Last month Talk Talk hijacked this line and connected it without any notice to their LLU. I only found out when my broadband connection was lots in the process and after several lengthy phone calls where they were making out it was a problem with my equipment which led to me purchasing a new router I didn’t need did I finally found out when I contacted another provider to enquire about a new service, did I no longer have a BT line and couldn’t transfer my broadband and phone without paying to be reconnected to a BT line.

Talk Talk admitted they had done this when I challenged them but refuse to restore my line to its former state claiming they had every right to do so according to my contract. When my contract was entered in to, there was no relationship with Talk Talk so how could I ever have agreed this? The same contract they quote requires them to write to me before they change my line which they have failed to do but still they won’t restore my line telling me I either have to disconnect or get BT to transfer the line to them (which means I have to enter into an 18 month contract with BT). As such I have had to tell them to disconnect my line which means I am now substantially out of pocket, will lose my telephone number and will be without phone and broadband for several weeks due to their theft of my line. I believe that they are doing this to Tiscali customers to lock them into contracts without their consent.

If you are a Tiscali customer, get out now before they lock you in to their LLU

spike7451

They did write to people a few months ago in January:

http://www.which.co.uk/news/2009/12/tiscali-to-rebrand-as-talktalk-in-january-192349

However Talk Talk done the same to hundreds of Sky broadband users who had their phone with Talk Talk back in 07.
I was working for Sky broadband at the time & we got innundated with calls from Sky customers who's broadband had gone off.

Turned out on investigating it,Talk Talk had changed their lines & insisted that Sky customers had to get their phone AND broadband off them,they could'nt have Sky broadband on their line.
As Sky broadband had only been running for around a year ,(if that) a lot of customers were stuck,in contract,with no broadband & an unbudging or caring phone provider.

slik0000

Thanks Spike but I got no such letter. I note the item about being free to switch to another provider If they had written to me then i would have done this before they unbundled my line.

espresso

slik0000 wrote: »

I am having a nightmare with Talk Talk.

I signed up for Broadband with Tiscali 7 years ago and paid them line rental for calls on a BT connected line.

Last month Talk Talk hijacked this line and connected it without any notice to their LLU............................

You had already agreed for Tiscali to provide your line, so TalkTalk are within their rights to now supply your telephony via their equipment as you are paying them the line rental.

slik0000

I do not agree. My contract is with Tiscali not Talk Talk and they still operate as 2 seperate companies. How could my contract say that they could connect me to Talk Talk when it was entered into 7 years ago? I never had a contract with Tiscali to supply my line, I paid them for line rental of a BT line. According to my contract they must write to me before making any changes but did not do so. Had they done this I could have left without having to pay reconnection fees. They are liars.

spike7451

slik0000 wrote: »

Thanks Spike but I got no such letter. I note the item about being free to switch to another provider If they had written to me then i would have done this before they unbundled my line.

I suggest you then use that to your advantage,ask them when the letter was 'supposedly' sent to you & a copy of it. (Sky keep an electronic copy of all letters sent to a customer,I'm assuming TT ect do the same)

If they cant provide it or wont provide it,then you are entitled for a copy of everything on your account under the DPA (for a small fee,£7 ish) & use that to get out of the contract ect.The are Talk Talk reps who frequent this board tho.
(Not sure where to go for that tho,it was covered when I started with Sky so I know you can do it)

espresso

slik0000 wrote: »

I do not agree. My contract is with Tiscali not Talk Talk and they still operate as 2 seperate companies. How could my contract say that they could connect me to Talk Talk when it was entered into 7 years ago? I never had a contract with Tiscali to supply my line, I paid them for line rental of a BT line. According to my contract they must write to me before making any changes but did not do so. Had they done this I could have left without having to pay reconnection fees. They are liars.

The fact that you were paying Tiscali for line rental and not BT is crucial here. TalkTalk now own Tiscali, so they will obviously integrate Tiscali customers onto their own network/equipment to save on their operating costs. If you don't like it, then simply leave them and stop whinging!

callum9999

slik0000 wrote: »

I do not agree. My contract is with Tiscali not Talk Talk and they still operate as 2 seperate companies. How could my contract say that they could connect me to Talk Talk when it was entered into 7 years ago? I never had a contract with Tiscali to supply my line, I paid them for line rental of a BT line. According to my contract they must write to me before making any changes but did not do so. Had they done this I could have left without having to pay reconnection fees. They are liars.

Will you post the bit of your contract that says that? I'd imagine it actually says Tiscali would be providing you with the line, and doesn't make a commitment to keep it BT-based. Your contract wouldn't specify TalkTalk, it would just allow that practise.

As to not notifying you about it - if that is in your contract (maybe this doesn't count as a change as you are getting the same service?) follow the advice someone else gave and then take it up with the regulator if they are still being unhelpful.

slik0000

Do you work for Talk Talk Espresso because your attitude is just like them?

I am leaving Talk Talk exactly beacuse of their attrocious and dishonest ways of treating customers. However why should it cost me £126 to do this beacuse in clear breach of contract they migrated my line without consent?

That is my point here. Do you still think its acceptable for a company to break their terms of a contract (which I have been advised is the case) and then I suffer financially because of this? Do you really?

slik0000

Callum


Thanks for your reply. Here's an extract from Talk Talk's reply

I can confirm, as per our Terms and Conditions 3.15 If at any time we choose to provide your Tiscali Line Rental Service using LLU, you may experience a short outage during migration to LLU. We will write to you prior to any migration to advise you of the date of this short outage. The Tiscali Line Rental Service you receive after such migration will be broadly the same as prior to the transfer.

espresso

slik0000 wrote: »

Do you work for Talk Talk Espresso because your attitude is just like them?

I am leaving Talk Talk exactly beacuse of their attrocious and dishonest ways of treating customers. However why should it cost me £126 to do this beacuse in clear breach of contract they migrated my line without consent?

That is my point here. Do you still think its acceptable for a company to break their terms of a contract (which I have been advised is the case) and then I suffer financially because of this? Do you really?

No, I do not work for TalkTalk or any associated company but I simply can't understand why you ever thought that it was a good idea to pay Tiscali for your line rental - not a good idea. Keeping your line rental with BT gives you the widest possible choice for both telephony providers and broadband ISP's and there are plenty to choose from to meet your requirements. BT are the only provider who are required to allow you to use other telecomms companies services i.e you don't have to pay BT for your calls or your broadband, just line the rental.

Have you even asked BT to take you back? (return to donor). The £126 that you mention is to install a new line. Yes you need to commit to a minimum term contract but you presumably did that with Tiscrapi didn't you! With a BT line you can still choose any LLU broadband provider, just keep your line rental with BT.