TALK TALK - Furious!

aevp

I spent the whole of yesterday (Monday) trying to get online. Tried everything...virus scan, unplugging and plugging back in, trying to reinstall broadband package. All to no avail.

So my last resort was to ring Talk Talk, in the hope that they could sort me out or tell me there had been a fault in my area and it would be back on soon.......anything.

Got through immediately (that was good, they were keen to speak to me at least), told them what the problem was, they said we will pass you on to someone who can help.

I got transferred to what I assumed was 'technical support' and began to tell them what the problem was. The person at the other end completely ignored what I was saying and proceeded to hard sell me 'Talk Talk Plus'. I could barely get a word in edgeways but did try to say that I had contacted them because I couldn't get online.

He asked me if I was connected and was the signal strenth good. I switched my laptop on and lo and behold I was connected to Talk Talk once more - like magic. After 24 hours of no connection just a phone call to TT and there it was.

Now, call me suspicious but....did they disconnect me so that I would ring them and they could sell me a new deal?

He then proceeded to hard sell me a new package which I had to say yes to before they would send me the details of the package for me to read and before I could be passed on to someone else who could answer any questions I had.

Needless to say I said thanks but no thanks.

Talk Talk also constantly ring me to sell to me to the extent Ive stopped answering the landline.

But my main concern is that they seem to have withdrawn my access to the internet to make me ring them. This was really inconvenient as I use the internet for working from home and I was waiting for urgent personal emails too.

Can they get away with this?

Has anyone had a similar experience?

macman

Welcome to the forum Now you've got the rant over, how about telling us exactly what the problem was that stopped you getting online-it could be one of a dozen problems, and none of them is necessarily down to TT. What error message were you getting? Was your laptop connecting to the router? Was your landline working? Did you test it from the BT test socket? Are you connecting by wireless or by ethernet? The first thing to do when you lose your connection is check the line. Then connect to the BT test socket (behind the master socket split faceplate) using ethernet. That rules out most of the internal problems.
It could have been a problem with your wireless connection, your extension sockets or filters, your router set-up, none of these are TT's problem. Or, it was maybe a temporary line or broadband fault that has now cleared.
As for your conspiracy theory, it's really not credible.
If you log into your TT online account, you can unselect the marketing calls option-the default is to 'accept'.

DebtHater

Although your theory may not have any basis, I do regard Talk Talk as being one of the worst ISPs ever. Rubbish tech support, outrageous customer support.

Surprises me that they are still in business.

aevp

Dear Macman,

Come on now, be honest............you work for TT don't you? lol
There's nothing like a good rant and I felt better for it! Now it seems to me that you are a bit of an expert so I will try to explain to you what happened, although I'm not great at the technical terms - so feel free to patronise me further :-)

Error message - can't remember exactly and its gone now so.........
Yes laptop was connecting to the router
Yes my landline was working
I connect by wireless
The icon at the bottom of the screen was telling me that I was connected and the signal was excellent
I asked TT if it was a line fault that didn't say it was

I think my conspiracy theory is perfectly credible - watch this space...and remember....you can trust bankers....financial consultants always find you the best deal and size doesn't matter!

No free lunch, and no free laptop What are you on about?!!!!

And finally, go on admit it you DO work for TT don't you!

macman

My only relationship with TT is as a (thankfully) former customer. But always interesting how many people come over with the 'you must work for them' line when they don't get the answer they would like on this forum.
If you didn't note down the error message, then no-one will definitively be able to tell you what the problem was, but on the info given it could have been on either side. 9 times out of 10 on here, internet connection faults turn out to be non-ISP related, which is why you need to do the standard tests before assuming that the fault is theirs.
If it happens again, connect to the BT test socket by ethernet.
Do you maybe have noise on the line? Using a corded handset from the test socket, dial 17070, select option 2.

wilkies5

Can anyone tell me what that is? Had to ditch all my phone extension cables and plug my corded phone & internet straight into a filter on test plate. Ok there, but as soon as I need to make a call on phone, I lose internet connection!!

I am will TalkTalk and, so far, have been happy with them.

Can anyone suggest what to do? Is it my responsibility or can I expect TT to sort this out?
I am on the TT Essentials package and should be getting 20Mb....at the moment a speed check/test tells me I am getting 2.36Mb!!

macman

If the fault is still present when connected to the test socket, then it's a line or broadband fault, and as such is the responsibility of your line rental provider or ISP respectively.
But the most common cause of the internet cutting out when you use the phone is simply a bad ADSL filter. Swap out all your filters one by one with known good ones and test each time. You must have a filter on all active extensions-this includes Sky boxes that are connected.

wilkies5

Thanks for that! I thought so too, and have put in a new filter.....with no change!! (Don't have Sky)

Will get a call back tomorrow and will expect TalkTalk to sort it out.

lindos90

As much as I hate to be paranoid, I have had a similar problem. TT phone and BB working perfectly well until we were out of the 'contract period'. They called and insisted that we had to renew our contract, and it was only by good advice on here that I confirmed that we could stay on a month by month basis.

Then we started to have problems with connectivity, and after checking everything our end we called them and experienced just what the OP did!

Every time we called they said we had to renew our contract (an 'offer' that was more expensive than we were paying!) before they could look into the BB problem, it was only after we said we would 'consider' a new contract but we were not prepaired to sign up for a product that was not working...then by a miracle it was working! I doubt its part of TT policy, but it does make you wonder!

If we ever get a problem now I just use the TT forum, initially it was fiddly and fustrating (especially if its your BB that isnt working!), but its better than endless phonecalls, and usually you do get a response and help within a week.

macman

This is just TT's useless ill-trained call centres. If you are out of minimum term then you are still in a 30 day contract, therefore they have to resolve any issues without you agreeing any new contract. Tell them to look that up in their script.

TalkTalk

Hi aevp,

I am certainly not aware that we deliberately stop customers internet from working in order to upsell and indeed am not sure how we would manage that. As macman has rightly pointed you can opt of marketing calls in MYACCOUNT. If that doesnt stop them then let me know and we will find a way of getting your details then I can contact the marketing team directly for you.

Ady