TalkTalk feedback needed; good and bad

Martin_P_3

Hi,

Just thought I would add my experience.

I signed up and went live in June. Had no problems at all setting up, and was up and running straight away. (2.2mb connection)

I then received a letter explaining that they were upgrading the service and I may experience some down time. Next time i logged on, I had a 8mb connection.. wooo..

That lasted for about 3 weeks, then suddenly I was unable to log on. ADSL light on my modem alternates between solid, and flashing indicating a problem with the connection.

Like others on here, I can get no answer from the technical support number, even after joining the queue at 8am!

No broadband for over a month now. Very frustrating. I went to a Carphone Warehouse branch (where the staff were very helpful) They used there contact number to contact Talk Talk broadband, but they were held in an endless queue too.

When my connection was working, I enjoyed a good service. Now it's not working, (Which I guess is a result of the LLU at my local exchange) I am getting more and more frustrated.

vfairbrass

Joined up as a result of initial advertising campaign. Took four months for broadband to arrive. Can't compare the service with any other home based one as it was my first experience but I haven't noticed any brilliant improvement in speed of access to webpages and suffer frequent loss of service. All in all it is not significantly better than dial up for me.
However the telephone package is good. I was with Primus before and had found them excellent. I wish I had stayed with them and used whatever broadband package they had as I worry about being disconnected from BT and how difficult it might be to move from TalkTalk in the future

gaznsmith

I signed up to talktalk free broadband at launch, my line switched to talktalk within 2 weeks and the broadband a week later, easily 6 weeks before the switchover date they gave me. The only problems I had were my broadband was active on my line before they sent out my modem pack! This was only a few days however and I just used my old broadband modem. I have also only managed to get a 2Meg connection, however I'm pleased generally with the whole broadband service. Re the phone, shortly after the line switched I was unable to make outbound calls and had to route them back through BT, queueing time at their customer services was a bit long but problem was resolved by the following day. They have also randomly put on Caller ID Privacy onto my line which I didn't ask for, and suddenly decided I should be ex-directory. This was sorted within around 5 days. The best way to contact their customer service is via a Carphone Warehouse branch...I have a friend who works in a local branch and he says they have a separate internal number which gets answered quicker. Also informed that those who originally signed up on TalkTalk 3 International call package can downgrade to the Talk 3 package (£1 cheaper per month) and keep the free broadband. This is done using their online billing service. All in all, saves me money, very pleased.

Aldridge_Andy

Signed up on August 3rd, 2006.

Telephone switched August 17th, 2006.

Broadband switched (from Orange with MAC Code) August 30th, 2006.

Customer service could be better, but not really any different to many service providers of late. So I can't really say they're bad.

My father needed to contct customer service, as he considered he had a problem with an e-mail address on his TalkTalk account. He said he was really impressed with the efficient and polite service he received. So much he's planning on writing to them to say "Thanks".

TalkTalk, it's not all bad.

steve_james_2

I signed up when it first came out and was initially pleased with the speed that the letters and the modem arrived and the switchover went smoothly. I have never achieved a 8MB connection speed the fastest that it has ever been is 2.2 MB which does make the advertising a bit miss leading. I have had problems creating an e-mail address with them, I have now given up on that idea. Their website is a minefield of links to this and that and you just go round in circles, the problem with the site being overloaded means that your passwords don’t work but it just comes back as incorrect password. I have tried calling them and given up. I have tried e-mailing them but get no reply. I would like to use outlook for my e-mail but cannot find the settings on their website I e-mailed and asked for these settings with no response. I have just received my latest bill and they are now charging me to send me a bill, I have tried several times to get paperless billing without success. I find the best way to avoid the stress of this is not to visit the talktalk website, I dread my connection failing. if I had a choice I would cancel my contract and find another supplier. I cannot comment on their customer service as I would have needed to actually speak to someone to do this and I have better things to do than spend hours on hold waiting to get through.

Aldridge_Andy

steve_james wrote:

I signed up when it first came out and was initially pleased with the speed that the letters and the modem arrived and the switchover went smoothly. I have never achieved a 8MB connection speed the fastest that it has ever been is 2.2 MB which does make the advertising a bit miss leading. I have had problems creating an e-mail address with them, I have now given up on that idea. Their website is a minefield of links to this and that and you just go round in circles, the problem with the site being overloaded means that your passwords don’t work but it just comes back as incorrect password. I have tried calling them and given up. I have tried e-mailing them but get no reply. I would like to use outlook for my e-mail but cannot find the settings on their website I e-mailed and asked for these settings with no response. I have just received my latest bill and they are now charging me to send me a bill, I have tried several times to get paperless billing without success. I find the best way to avoid the stress of this is not to visit the talktalk website, I dread my connection failing. if I had a choice I would cancel my contract and find another supplier. I cannot comment on their customer service as I would have needed to actually speak to someone to do this and I have better things to do than spend hours on hold waiting to get through.

Settings for a variety of e-mail software are documented on the Broadband Support pages.

http://http://www.talktalk.co.uk/talktalk/servlet/gben-server-PageServer?article=MAIN.UK.TALKTALK.STATIC.HELP.BBHELP.EMAILSETUP

Check the lower part of the page,

Andy.

GT60

Hi i live in bury lancs and my speed for bb is between 5.3 and 6.6 useally it is 6.3 mps that is when i can connect and dont lose the line
hope this helps

llandaff

Just another example. When it does not work first time it seems better to abandon it. See my experience:Your letter 8th May advised small delay in transferring my landline (followed by broadband). I have not had the further letter you said would be sent shortly confirming transfer date. As it is seven weeks since you wrote to me please advise me what is happening. (19/6).

I apologise for the inconvenience that we have caused you.
At this moment I am unable to give you an exact date as to when you will live for your phone. There has been a small technical difficulty with installing on your line however we estimate everything will be working in approx 14 days. (21/6)

As it is now about 28 days since your email, what is the present position? (17/7)

I do agree that the issue you describe in your email could have been handled better, and should like to offer you my sincerest apologies for the problems you had. Courtesy and understanding are at the forefront of the training for our colleagues and I am sorry you have had a bad experience on this occasion.
Regarding your query, I have just contacted the life team who have told me that the reason why you have yet to be given a live date is due to services on your line from BT that we are unable to take over. This is what is causing the delay in the activation of your services.
The BT services that could be causing this problem are:
Call Bar
Care Level 3 (Total Care)
Light User scheme
Business Line
Feature Line
Home Highway
Call Sign
Alarm
To continue with your TalkTalk activation you will need to remove these services. Once these have been removed we will then be able to process your account. I apologise that I am unable to contact BT on your behalf and remove these for you.
Can I please ask you to contact BT as soon as possible to have these removed from your line. (17/7)

Following your information I have contacted BT today at 16.50 and arranged
to cancel the Light User Scheme that was in operation. It seems to me that
BT were being particularly awkward in delaying matters because of such a
simple change.
I was advised that the change would take about 24 hours. Consequently you
should be able to proceed from Friday onwards and I would hope that you will
arrange the change at the earliest opportunity. (19/7)

After attempting to begin the process of transferring your phone services to Talk Talk, it appears that your account has moved into status "unprovisionable". This is due to the fact that your account has been rejected twice due to the service left on the line by BT. However, I am currently unable to reinstate the order. I am afraid that you will need to contact Direct Sales on 0800 0490049 and arrange for a new account to be set up for your telephone number.
I hope this is of some assistance, and I am sincerely sorry for the considerable inconvenience caused due to this issue.
If you have any general queries, please call customer services on 0870 444 1820.
For technical queries, please contact broadband technical support on 0871 226 7146 or email broadbandsupport@talktalk.co.uk. Calls to this number are charged at 10 pence per minute (call charges may vary from mobile phones and other telecom operators).
Both of these numbers can become busy during peak periods and TalkTalk apologises for any inconvenience caused by the delays. (23/7)

There followed a series of phone calls during which I was told what to do and what would 'happen'. If only!! So back to email (I'm not wasting time and money on more calls)

The big question is: am I ever going to get connected (land line &
broadband) with you?
Whatever "unprovisionable" stands for it means nothing to me. I could not
immediately find the time to contact Direct Sales but when I did I was put
through a maze of explanations that made no sense to me; I had to make
contact with another department for them to cancel my account; then back to
sales; then further complication involving 'letting them know' when my land
line is transferred; then the account would need to be changed; then I might
just get lucky and get broadband.
I am still waiting for SOMETHING to happen. Meanwhile competition is growing
and I am beginning to think that I should take my business elsewhere. I do
not even have an account with you anymore. Do you guys understand how
business works? You are all customers so you should appreciate what
customers want; and first on the list is that customers do not want to be
messed around in the way talktalk is treating me. So, if you are at all
concerned, how about telling me, simply, what the hell is going on at your
end!?!(14/9)

I can understand you frustration regarding your account but I can only reiterate what previous correspondence has mentioned to you. When your account is unprovisionable this basically means that it will never go active. The order has to be put through again when its in this status.
I am sorry that I cannot give you a more postive response regarding this issue.
If you have any general queries, please call customer services on 0870 444 1820.
For technical queries, please contact broadband technical support on 0871 226 7146 or email broadbandsupport@talktalk.co.uk. Calls to this number are charged at 10 pence per minute (call charges may vary from mobile phones and other telecom operators).
Both of these numbers can become busy during peak periods and TalkTalk apologises for any inconvenience caused by the delays.(15/9)

As I stated before I have been through a process to re-order. Coincidentally
I have now had a response from your director Steve Rescoria. However, he is
referring to connection to talktalk broadband and I do not yet have the
phone line set up!! He refers to BT and an 'incompatible service'. This does
not make sense as I had previously been asked to do this and it involved
switching from a low rate service back to the normal service.
Now you are the technical service like BT. I do not have, to my knowledge,
anything incompatible in a normal BT line. My latest account has me paying
the standard line rental plus calls. I do not pay for any other service.
When I last rang the BT call centre the only thing they said I had to do was
to move back to the normal service.
So, if you do not know the answer then I certainly do not; it seems that you
should now refer to Steve Rescoria and ask him exactly what is to be done.
Somewhere between you and BT there must be someone who can say either
a)there is no problem or b)there is a technical hitch which we have now
resolved.
There is absolutely no point in expecting me to phone around trying to solve
a problem which I have no knowledge about. Surely your technical wizzards
can understand what (if anything) BT is doing.
If you cannot solve this then there is no point in me taking up a service
that fails at the very first stage. (19/9)

No further contact!!

Foxy1075

Please see below an email sent to Charles Dunstone re my recent experience with talk talk and their staff in trying to sign up for the broadband offer:

Hello Mr Dunstone,

My name is Christopher Fox, and my account number is ........... I am currently a Talk 3 Landline Subscriber.

I had reason to contact TalkTalk today because my current broadband contract with Wanadoo is due to expire at the end of this month. My intention was to find out a little bit more about the TalkTalk broadband package, with a view to possibly signing up.

I initially rang Customer Services and spoke to an account manager, explaining that I had done a little prior research, from which I had discovered that my area wasn't covered by the free broadband service, but that broadband was available to me for £10 per month if I signed up to the Talk 3 package for £8.99 per month.

I queried the fact that surely I could just add broadband onto my existing Talk 3 package for which I pay £7.99 per month, and not be subject to an 18 month contract, as free broadband was not available to me. The person I initially spoke to said that they weren't sure and that they would transfer me through to Sales and Registrations.

I was transferred through to Sales and Registrations. I believe I spoke to someone called John, in one of your Northern Call centres, John was very unhelpful from the start of the call and gave me the impression that he even disbelieved that I was on a £7.99 package to start with.

John regularly disappeared from the conversation to speak to someone else, and left me on hold whilst doing so, towards the end of the call I got the impression that John wasn't the most knowledgeable of call centre staff so I asked to be transferred through to his manager or supervisor, John then proceeded to the end the call with the words..."You are causing so much !!!!, you're making a !!!! of yourself" and then promptly hung the receiver up on me.

Recently I watched a report on the BBC about the farcical way in which you were treating customers that were trying to sign upto the "Free Broadband for Life" offer, and although I felt sorry for the people featured, I felt that their experience was isolated, and not the norm as my experience of TalkTalk although not perfect, had up until today been fairly good.

However this individual has as far as I'm concerned only confirmed to me that in trying to plug the gaps caused by this ill thought out and planned promotion you have only succeeded in employing Neanderthals that would be better off in the dole queue.

I understand and whole heartedly believe in the importance of good customer service, and your company falls well short of the mark in employing individuals like this man.

Unless this matter is resolved in my favour, without leaving a very sour taste in my mouth then I intend to report it to the relevant authorities that govern you, and I will send a copy of this e-mail to the BBC who at the end of the show in question were asking for follow up feedback.

I'm sure they will appreciate mine, as it will make compelling viewing to the general public.

Yours faithfully,


Mr. Christopher Fox


Obviously I have removed all references of my account number, and address in this posting. I sent this e-mail directly to Charles Dunstone on 10/10/2006 and I am still awiting a reply as of 12/10/2006.

marsha8

I applied to join T/T early July & supplied a MAC code soon after.The next thing I knew was that my old isp was disconnected & I had not been informed.I rang T/T & they gave me my ID & password over the phone.They had not provided me with their modem but I was already using a Speedtouch modem so continued with that.Had to ring many times to be helped with email & getting on to the internet.After choosing my new email address(which I was allowed) I was rung by a complete stranger who told me that he knew my name,address,phone & mobile numbers & my bank details - FRIGHTENING!.I had chosen the same email address as he was already using.THIS CANNOT HAPPEN BUT IT DID. We were both in a state of shock.I had sent emails to friends informing them of my new email address & their replies went to him instead of me.I changed my email address & wrote to T/T telling them what happened & they have never had the courtesy to reply. Last week I had 4 days when I could not get onto the internet.I rang Tuesday & held on for 53 mins. & rang Wed & held on for 50mins before I could get through.It seems I may have a phone line problem(error 680).I must wait for an engineer to contact me but because I chose an evening slot it means that it will take about 12 days before I hear from them.When I can get connected my speed is 6.2mps but after about 10 minutes it occasionally becomes sluggish & I lose the connection.People have been pointing the finger at me & saying "Pay cheap & you get cheap".I think it's a great deal & I will persevere & make a nuisance of myself until I get what I want. I am a pensioner & technical things like this don't come easily to me.I have spent money by getting my computer repair man to come & sort out my T/T problems but even he has wiped his hands off me & said there is nothing he can do to help.I live in hope.They have to get these problems sorted else they will have a mass exodus after our 18 months are up.