Tiscali Terminating My Contract Because I Complained

JoanneJ

Hello

New here but so impressed by the wealth of info here; perhaps someone could advise me on current problem.

DAYTIME tariff (£5 pm M-F only) user with Tiscali since 2004 but had problems re over charging and then no adequate support etc. Ended up having to use Tiscali chosen arbitrator CISAS who persuaded them to give some credit/refund but their Head Of Complaints FAY LEWIS wrote suggesting if I was so dissatisfied why not leave or upgrade (at extra £10 per month) to their Broadband. Hardly an apology and nasty/threatening in tone.

I am on a budget, home a lot due to illness and the DAYTIME suited me fine; when no problems arose. I had fulfilled my part of the contract so why should I be forced elsewhere.

Further problems (being denied access to my usage records etc) occured and now found they were ignoring ALL my requests for help via email (not even an y acknowedgements) despite stating their system has such a support network. Seemed I was being 'marked'.

2 weeks later the same FAY LEWIS wrote saying they were terminating my contract from 1 Sept 2006 and apparently downgrading my DAYTIME tariff to PAYG; which means I will be paying a lot more whilst trying to find another ISP.

So despite what is strongly advised on this site (complain and secure your consumer rights) Tiscali penalise those who ask for a fair service, meeting stated contractual obligations.

Ofcom will not help, CISAS say I have to wait 12 weeks before they get involved (I will be TERMINATED in 4 weeks so that is a dead-end) Trading Standards say that companies can cancel if in the T&Cs (it is, though states ONE MONTH notice to be given which the "downgrading" seems to defy) SO any advice what I can do?

Thanks for any who read and will look at all advice here re other ISPs.

patwa_2

Hi there. I'm wth Tiscali and have to say I'm quite surprised at them, especially the tone in which they appear to be handling your case and the cold shoulder.

True, if a customer doesn't like a service they should go elsewhere. that having been said, that throws the whole concept of Customer Service and trying to KEEP customers happy and WITH the company out of the window.

Have you tried phoning them up? You could do this and explain the situation from the beginning. If they have genuinely not been responding to your appeals for help in the beginning, then of course you had a right to go to the ombudsmen/appeals committee. Not sure if you would have had to give them notice of this, but anyways it was reasonable of you to do this.

Whereas Tiscali probably have in their T&C's about disconnections without notice, in this case they have given you notice, but it's violated the stated notice period of 1 month (1 Aug to 1 Sept). You can try calling them up, simply asking why you are being disconnected, see what reason you get and take it from there. Do make it know you have, at no point, indicated you wish to disconnect. They could, in theory, try to pull the card that if you did not respond to the initial letter from them (the one that told you to either leave or upgrade), you agreed by implication to the former option (leaving) although in my opinion, and, without doubt to any sensible person, this is very skewed and dodgy logic.

Hope this helps. I'd certainly act on this in person (by phone) rather than by e-mail, simply because you need spontaneous answers to your questions, and you need to be able to negotiate back and forth on this. Stated and static answers by e-mail are not going to get you very far, and they're ignoring that anyway.

Just a thought, but you might also try an e-mail to Watchdog, the BBC programme. They have replied to me in the past with useful advice, wen I was having an issue with telephone charges.

Cheers and take care.

Hussein.

normanmark

look at it as a blessing in disguise, tiscali are an awful company

djohn2002uk

Seems good info to me for other Tiscali users wanting to get away and can't. Do a bit of complaining and get chucked out...lol

Icon_3

If the DAYTIME tariff (£5 pm M-F only) was dialup you can get a much better deal with..http://www.fast4.net/

Only £4.99 per month for unlimited access 7 days a week. I have been with them for two months and never been let down yet!

Guy_Wise

Regulation is almost non-existent and far too light and doesn't appear to be protection for the consumer at all, but there to protect the provider, which is quite perverse !!

Everything is by agreement, ISPs are hardly ever forced to do anything!

The best thing you can do is to forget Tiscali, who as normanmark says, rightly, are rubbish.
Just walk away and forget them and don't even think about broadband with them, otherwise you might end up on their cr@ppy llu, then you will have problems freeing up your line to move elsewhere (ask the ex-e7even guys who were forced onto Tiscali llu)

As Icon says, if you want another dialup provider, then use Fast4
Full 24 hour access, download virtually as much as you like for a fiver a month.
It works very well. Over the past month there was a huge influx of people from e7even taking up a temporary contract before they found broadband elsewhere. Fast4 appears to have coped with this very well.

If you wanted broadband, you could probably get AOL for a tenner with a 1Mbps connection. You would probably have to ring them a few times before you got that offer, though (see the AOL thread)

If you wanted an even cheaper deal, then the Namesco deal discussed in threads on this forum, also here is worth a look, but it does come with strings, such as a 2GB cap, but that may not bother you.

Anyway, i wouldn't waste your time any longer with Tiscali

JoanneJ

Belated thanks for those who helped.

Not been online due to concerns over threat to downgrade me to PAYG but my current tariff showing as still 'Daytime' so maybe Tiscali ARE giving me a month b4 termination; after all. Shame they continue to communicate so poorly.

Following your tip it's FAST4 4me and wish I had found them ages ago....shall exhaust this site for more great advice from now on.

Not sure how to give 'THANKS' feedback that allow the posters to be credited under their Usernames but if anyone can advise, will gladly show my appreciation accordingly.

Regards J

Guy_Wise

Just one thing to watch with Fast4. It is a very good service, but the billing dates can creep forward, as discussed in this thread

Keep an eye on your statements, and if they do, just give them a ring.

daveonline

Icon wrote:

If the DAYTIME tariff (£5 pm M-F only) was dialup you can get a much better deal with..http://www.fast4.net/

Only £4.99 per month for unlimited access 7 days a week. I have been with them for two months and never been let down yet!

I was also with that Tiscali deal but ended up paying more when i used it outside the Mon-Fri.

I can recommend Fast4 as Icon does, ive also been with them for a few months with no problems.

Kilty_2

As was said, just run from Tiscali as they are USELESS.

I've been a [STRIKE]victim[/STRIKE] customer of their Broadband service for too long now.

Eclipse Internet here I come !