Talk Talk broadband - cancelling before contract is up

joshtbh

Hi all,

My Mum and Dad are with Talk Talk on the well publicised offer of free up to 8Mb broadband when you take phone services etc with them.

After an initial hassle of setting it up (one phone call lasted 3-4 hours) They've been cut off, i.e. their router isn't being assigned an IP address, and after numerous attempts (20+ over the last 3 days) we just can't reach their technical support. If you press the correct options, most of the time it cuts you off.

Essentially my family are paying for a service which includes broadband that we're not receiving, and have no way of ringing up to try and get help on this.

My Mum and Dad have cancelled their direct debit to Talk Talk, although I am slightly concerned that they might be taken to court for breaking the contract, even though Talk Talk aren't providing the servce. Can anyone advise on whether this has happened before, can I just ask general thoughts on this please?

thanks

Edinburghlass_2

Are you looking for technical help on how to connect or asking if they should cancel the direct debit?

If its about the direct debit, they should cancel the service by letter before cancelling the direct debit.

joshtbh

I'm asking if they should cancel the direct debit sorry.

Are they even allowed to cancel by letter though, as their minimum term they signed for is 18 months I believe. Can this be got out of due to Talk Talk not delivering broadband? thanks.

LittleJo

Hi,
A contract is put simply an agreement to provide a service and an agreement on how the provider is to be rewarded - offer, consideration and acceptance.
If the provider does not provide the service - specific performance. then the contact may be considered to have been broken.
Advise the contractor, in writing, that he has not fulfilled the provision of service, that you have advised him of this, given the opportunity to remedy this and this has not been done.
Thus you consider the contract null and void.
Unlilaterally cancelling paymenr without notice or explanation can cause problems.
Jo

bingo_bango

Agree with Jo. Simply cancelling the DD will allow Talk Talk to hold your parents in breach of the contract. What they actually need to do is to write to TT pointing out that they have failed to adhere to the contract terms as they are not providing the service, and that you now wish to withdraw from the contract due to this breach. They'll write back claiming that as the BB is free, and they are providing the agreed phone service, there is no breach, but you can counter this by pointing out that the BB is a core term of the contract, and formed part of your consideration in the contract. If they still refuse, you can then refer the matter to OTELO.