TalkTalk Unauthorised Contract Extension Complaint

joepurple

Dear all,

This is my first post and I'd like to start by saying thank you to all those who have posted on here useful advice in the past, I have found the site very helpful.

My problem is that I have been with Tiscali for several years and had no major problems. However, since they have been taken over by TalkTalk their service has gotten worse, their traffic shaping policy is annoying and long story short my contract expired last September and I have now decided to move ISPs so I called TalkTalk yesterday to request my MAC code.

I was quite shocked when the woman on the phone told me that I would be charged £166.67 for my MAC code as I was 'still under contract with them until March 2012'. I explained that my broadband contract had run out last September and since then I had been paying on a monthly rolling contract, but the woman claimed that there was a note on their computers stating that I had supposedly called them and asked to renew my contract last September for 18 months and it now expired in March 2012! Of course, I did no such thing!

I've called all the relvent departments, customer service, billing, somewhere called 'options' and gradually moved up the ranks of the staff, having to repeat my complaint each time, however at the end of it all I was simply told I would have to write a letter of complaint to the Customer Service team at some PO Box in Southampton. I have done this and posted the letter today, but was wondering if anyone had any advice please on the best way to proceed?

I've called Trading Standards, etc. but is there anything else I can do? Another issue I have is that TalkTalk have been calling me weekly for the last couple of months asking me to renew my contract, and obviously they wouldn't do that if I already had over a year remaining on my current contract! Also, I have never received some much as an e-mail, letter or note to thank me for renewing my broadband contract!

I understand other people have had this problem previosuly with TalkTalk upgrading their service, putting them on new contracts etc without consent, but I have categorically not agreed to this and would like to know please the best way to get this matter sorted without it draggging on for months. I also advise any future potential TalkTalk customer to heed my warning and steer well clear of this cowboy company.

Thanks for reading.

joepurple

Anyone else experienced poor customer service from TalkTalk or can offer advice about my situation please?

spannerzone

Well my mum got hers cancelled without knowing it and they said she asked for it to be cancelled (which she didn't) and it's taken 2 months for TT to remove their tag from the line to allow a new ISP to enable their service. That was only after dozens of calls, letters to them and finally getting OTELO involved.

When she first had no service she spoke to TT tech support who before sorting out her issue (she was unaware of their cancellation at that point) they had already told her they'd upgrade to higher speed for no additional fee and I don't think they mentioned that this would require a new contract to start. - so after a couple of days worth of phone calls they told her that the service was cancelled and that as she'd spokent to them within the 7 day cooling off period she wouldn't be liable to pay for the entire 1 years worth of new contract she'd 'just agreed to'

I'm still baffled how they expected her to use her new 12 months service that they'd litterally just cancelled.

I don't envy anyone that has issues with TalkTalk.....p1ss up and brewery are two words that spring to mind.

MrsTinks

Joe the full complaints process is on the Talktalk home page Not being funny but you will have a lot more luck by following that than anywhere else... http://help.talktalk.co.uk/app/answers/detail/a_id/2022
Be aware that the ombudsman won't look at a complaint under 8 weeks old unless you have recieved a "deadlock letter" from the CEO's office for complaints. Once you escalate to the CEO complaints then it is handled by a dedicated team dealing with what are known as "high profile" complaints - anything that is likely to be investigated by the ombudsman etc...

joepurple

Hello all,

Thank you very much for the replies they were very helpful! One odd thing I noticed though was that last Tuesday I checked this thread and I had a couple of helpful replies after Mrs Tine's comment. But then I checked the thread again today and the replies seem to have disapeared? It just seemed odd since the replies were polite and helpful and I don't imagine the original posters would have removed them, so I just wondered what happened to them?

Anyway, the latest on my situation is received a letter from TalkTalk yesterday which basically just reclaimed that I 'actually called them to renew my contract'. I even got out my old itemised phone bill for last September just for my own piece of mind and I can now prove that I did NOT contact them on that day!

I have now written a new complain letter to the CEO's office explaining the above and I just hope they can give me my MAC code now and not just send me another useless reply saying something along the lines of 'actually you did renew your contract!'

derek79

I had similar issues when they claimed I had extended my contract and got charged a contract breakage fee. After going round the houses I sent a recorded delivery letter to the 'CEO's office' and was contacted soon after to say the matter had now been closed. I expect the same to happen in your case.

MrsTinks

joe - no idea about the replies that you say have vanished I'm afraid - I don't BG on this board so can't help there... It IS possible that although the replies were fine maybe the usernames or signatures were spam? ie links or website addresses etc... That could have got them removed...
Just a guess! After all the users themselves could have removed them for reasons unknown to everyone else
Let us know how you get on with your complaint to the CEOs office please?

joepurple

Dear all,

The latest on my situation is that I sent the letter to the CEO's PO Box address as suggested, this was over a month ago now and I have heard nothing. In short my letter has been completely ignored and I am getting very frustrated about this rediculous situation!

Even given the extra bank holidays etc for the Royal Wedding, etc. I feel TT has had PLENTY of time to reply to my MAC code request. I have now written another letter restating that I have not extended my contract with them and request my MAC code asap and without financial penalty. I have sent the new letter to the same address as the last one, but sent it recorded delivery as suggested by a previous poster.

I am concerned that TT will just write back stating AGAIN 'You have renewed your contract with us for 18 months', even though I can prove I didn't. I don't know what my legal rights are in this situation but feel it's very poor of TT to just ignore my letter. I really feel like just cancelling my DD with them, but I understand I need them to give me a MAC code so I can move to another service, and it will undoubtedly just complicate matters if I just cancel my DD with them.

Does anyone know my options please? What can I do when TT lie to me and ignore my cancellation letters and try to charge me £163 for my MAC code?? I'm not prepared to let them continue to take money out of my account for the next year or so based on a lie.

Many thanks for any help anyone can give me.

gz33zg

I'm having great difficulty getting a mac code out of talktalk.

Happily in my case they aren't alleging I have entered into any further contracts - they are just claiming their system isn't allowing them to generate a MAC code.

Anyway, I spoke to plusnet (the provider I am trying to move to) and explained that talktalk were refusing to generate the MAC and they told me to ring ofcom.

I called ofcom on 020 7981 3040 (I think! - number is written down at home but looking at their website that rings a bell) - was on hold for a while - listening to various recorded messages about how they don't intervene on behalf of individuals, etc. Therefore, I was very happy when I got through to one of their associates when he said that ofcom would contact talktalk on my behalf and that I should expect my mac code in 5 working days.

This was only yesterday so I haven't heard anything yet - but fingers crossed!

If I was you I would try calling ofcom too and explaining the situation.

Tim

Oh and ofcom will ask if you want it to be treated as a complaint or a query - I opted for complaint.

joepurple

Dear All,

A few hours after my post the other day I received an e-mail from TT giving me my MAC code!! However, it also rather ambiguously stated 'if you are within minimum contract you will be charged for the remaining months on your final statement'. This cleared up nothing, lol, so I had to call TT to check that they had acknowledged know that was NOT under contract with them and could use my MAC code as I liked without any financial penalty.

Long story short, the first few people claimed I was still under contract, I got transferred to a few different departments and then when being transferred AGAIN, I went through to a 'customer call satisfaction survery', I reluctantly pressed the buttons to rate the call, expecting to be passed on to the right department. I was very annoyed when the 'customer call survery' thing restarted itself!

I then called the main TalkTalk number and explained the situation YET AGAIN, and, wait for it, after checking out the notes on my case, (as everyone else I called at TT did), came back and said, "yes, we have it on our notes that you rejected the extension of a contract with us and you're free to leave whenever you like". I was pleased and just ended the call, but I can't understand what happened there, surely all the Reps at TT have the same notes available to them?! Still, he said the note had been updated again and so I said thanks and hung up.

My only problem now is who to swap to, to my surprise I looked it up earlier and Be Broadband don't offer any services in my area (!) so that's my first choice out the window. I'm now looking at Sky as, even though I live in a town in a fairly built up area, they seem to be one of the few alternatives to TT around my way!

Does anyone have anything to say about Sky Broadband please? I understand they're back to 'truely unlimited BB' at the moment, which I what I want really. I'm tired of TTs traffic shaping from 2pm-2am every weekday!

Thanks to all those that posted and helped me with this issue.

Squire_Fulwood

Like Joepurple I was a customer of Tiscali with an unlimited download contract (long expired) and had some trouble with them over the years but things were mostly OK. Talk Talk took over and they became a bit of a nuiscance. I got emails, snail mails and a phone call trying to reward me for my loyalty by limiting my downloads to 40GB. I considered the offer a downgrade and took steps not to nod my head, say yes to anything or reply to emails. Some instinct told me that if I said the wrong thing I would be bound by a new contract. In fact, when I got the phone call where they brought up my reward for loyalty I pointedly said that I did not wish to speak to them and asked them not to call me back.

Talk Talk claimed that they were only trying to align the contracts of the ex Tiscali customers with their own offerings. This implied that if you sounded like you went along with it you had signed up.

Anyway, I eventually applied for my MAC code and after some new offers by email and again by phone I left. My new ISP is Plusnet who have not been entirely trouble free but they are a lot more sensible. After I had signed up with Plusnet I got one last phone call from Talk Talk offering to waive the charges for an unlimited account. It makes you wonder what all the grief was about. They could have done that in the first place.

As for Talk Talk I find that I don't recommend them to any of my friends.