MSE News: Talk Talk worst of big guns for customer service

Freebyman

Well I live in Hull with the KC monopoly, poor service, speeds etc and to be honest would love to have the choice that others have on here.

I am sure as many others are that the choice given elsewhere at least keeps these companies competitive in some way and you can at least change provider.

We cannot change provider for landline or broadband (unless you count mobile boradband! or are lucky enough to be in the select area for satellite broadband-which isnt a lot) and this has been looked into by OFCOM etc, what we really need is for Martin or someone similar to take this up for us.

Anyway rant over :mad: , I am sure I am only going over old ground here.

Sir_Alan

I was with Tiscali, and LineOne before that, and the service was fine and very reasonably priced. Than along came TalkTalk.

After a few months they said they would be increasing the price (by 23%); the reasons given to justify the increase were that it put all their customers on the same tariff (BS), the service speed would be increased (more BS - Tiscali had already upgraded it to the new speed over a year earlier, and at no extra charge), and I would get free evening and weekend calls (still BS - I already got that from Tiscali). :mad:

Oh yes, and my unlimited download service was cut to 40GB per month. :mad::mad:

Since then the price has gone up again, and the service is often virtually unusable in the evenings.

They really are a completely untrustworthy shower.

grumpytoo

MSE_Guy wrote: »

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

"TalkTalk and KC have been voted as worst telecoms firms for customer service, in a massive poll of 24,056 votes. ..."

Read the full story:
Talk Talk worst of big guns for customer service

Well BT or Post Office Telephones as they then were could be pretty bad too. In my first job I worked at a transmitting station where programmes in 49 different languages were beamed around the world. The programmes came from London via landlines, mostly " Tariff S" which were only fit for speech. Our one good music line mysteriously went out of service for several months but eventually an engineer got to the bottom of the problem. Our music line had been re-allocated to a bookie who needed a good line for his computer!:mad:
When I moved to Cornwall I paid for a phone to be connected at my "new" house. The "engineer" who was aged about sixty wired up the line and the phone worked. Later a fax machine and a router were purchased and they worked fine until there was an electrical storm. A loud report like the crack of a pistol emanated from my fax equipment and about five seconds later there was a rumble of thunder. The time delay would indicate that the lightning strike was almost a mile away yet in spite of this BT insisted that "It was an Act of God" and "The house had been struck by lightning". When I checked BTs wiring I discovered a junction box containing a pair of surge arresters (AKA gas-gaps) Unfortunately the BT "engineer" had neglected to earth the centre tap of the two surge arresters so about £600 worth of equipment was ruined. I finished off that lousy installation by fitting an earth rod connected to the gas-gaps with 6 square mm cable. Since finishing off that job there have been no further occurrences in thirty years. Needless to say I detest BT so much that I'll put up with TT and that's saying something. The dope who did that bad job presumably did lots more like it because after every electrical storm the electrical shops would be full of dead fax machines and dead computers. Duh!

scropter

Heinz wrote: »

I don't think many on here will be surprised to read that.

I agree, and last time I seen Dunstone was on Watchdog on BBC 1. Next time I see him, I hope, it's on Crimewatch on BBC 1. He is entering Ratner territory.

scropter

Freebyman wrote: »

Well I live in Hull with the KC monopoly, poor service, speeds etc and to be honest would love to have the choice that others have on here.

I am sure as many others are that the choice given elsewhere at least keeps these companies competitive in some way and you can at least change provider.

We cannot change provider for landline or broadband (unless you count mobile boradband! or are lucky enough to be in the select area for satellite broadband-which isnt a lot) and this has been looked into by OFCOM etc, what we really need is for Martin or someone similar to take this up for us.

Anyway rant over :mad: , I am sure I am only going over old ground here.

You can get a better service. Buy a 3 Dongle, top up PAYG. Minimum £10 for 1GB. (enough for me) They are BRILLIANT. I have used mine on Desktop PC for two years. Brilliant connection rates, brilliant speed and brilliant VFM. And you get access to SKYPE which might help your call charge issue. Hope this helps.

Freebyman

scropter wrote: »

You can get a better service. Buy a 3 Dongle, top up PAYG. Minimum £10 for 1GB. (enough for me) They are BRILLIANT. I have used mine on Desktop PC for two years. Brilliant connection rates, brilliant speed and brilliant VFM. And you get access to SKYPE which might help your call charge issue. Hope this helps.

Sorry but I have tried that and to be honest got a speed so slow it made dial up look quick! Anyway I do like to use the internet for more than the usual emails etc and like a bit of online gaming (difficult with this slow connection) and youtube, iplayer and the like. The sort of thing that 95% of the country can do without paying the best part of £40 a month for a phone line that I dont need and a broadband connection which is at best slow. I am sure it would suit some people on the go, but I know several people in Hull who have tried it this way and have regretted getting into a contract with mobile broadband.

Frittered_Away

Freebyman wrote: »

Well I live in Hull with the KC monopoly, poor service, speeds etc and to be honest would love to have the choice that others have on here.

I am sure as many others are that the choice given elsewhere at least keeps these companies competitive in some way and you can at least change provider.

We cannot change provider for landline or broadband (unless you count mobile boradband! or are lucky enough to be in the select area for satellite broadband-which isnt a lot) and this has been looked into by OFCOM etc, what we really need is for Martin or someone similar to take this up for us.

Anyway rant over :mad: , I am sure I am only going over old ground here.

I do believe that the results are just a bit skewed due to the 'monopoly'. I can't imagine most people being quite as grumpy if they felt they had a choice in the matter.

I mean, still grumpy cause it's ****, but less grumpy.

What hacks off most of the people I know is how they write to tell you how wonderful they are, and then say in small print at the bottom that they're putting the bills up. You know the sort of letter.

1jim

Frittered_Away wrote: »

I do believe that the results are just a bit skewed due to the 'monopoly'. I can't imagine most people being quite as grumpy if they felt they had a choice in the matter.

I mean, still grumpy cause it's ****, but less grumpy.

What hacks off most of the people I know is how they write to tell you how wonderful they are, and then say in small print at the bottom that they're putting the bills up. You know the sort of letter.

Or could it be that the customer service is so poor because they have the monopoly.....if they know customers cant go elsewhere then they have no incentive to improve?

DevonWolf

Be interesting to see what happens to Plusnet figures now they are owned by BT, which has not been mentioned in the report.

JohnnySombrero

I was also a Tiscali customer, until they were taken over by Talk Talk. They tried to seduce me with so called special offers, which because I was only on the Broadband only option from Tiscali, meant a hike in price, plus a longer contract. Pass the lifebelt please. Finished up at Zen, and no surprise to find them top of the shop. Absolutely brilliant in any dealings you have with them, and huge bonus, no Indian Call Centres. I've also switched my phone to them from BT(getting as bad as TT by the way), and its cheaper, and comes with your Broadband in one package. Oh by the way, one months contract with Zen, no need to sign your life away. So friends, my advice, go Talk Talk to Zen pronto!