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New Talktalk poll; feedback needed, good and bad

MSE_Martin
MSE_Martin Posts: 8,272 Money Saving Expert
Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
What's this all about?

TalkTalk's 'free broadband' package took the market by storm and on paper is a clear winner on price (see Cheapest Home Phones article). Initially customer feedback was very strong, but by July and August reports were coming through that it couldn't cope with capacity - and many users are stuck without broadband.

Therefore last October, I carried out a poll to survey MoneySavers experiences. The results were better than expected, showing that while a very substantial number had suffered problems, they were still in the minority (See previous TalkTalk poll)

Why a new poll?

Four months is a long time for a new service. As this is a very competitive product, its important to know whether its working for people and to see if the product now is more reliable.

Please spare thirty second to answer the above if you have/applied for TalkTalk 'free broadband'

Martin

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Martin Lewis, Money Saving Expert.
Please note, answers don't constitute financial advice, it is based on generalised journalistic research. Always ensure any decision is made with regards to your own individual circumstance.
Don't miss out on urgent MoneySaving, get my weekly e-mail at www.moneysavingexpert.com/tips.
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What has your experience been signing up to TalkTalk 'free broadband' package? 1043 votes

Applied over 3 months ago. No or only limited issues
33% 352 votes
Applied over 3 months ago. It took too long, but am up and running fine now
13% 146 votes
Applied over 3 months ago. Still suffering major issues
17% 182 votes
Applied recently. No or only limited issues
6% 68 votes
Applied recently. It took too long, but am up and running fine now
1% 17 votes
Applied recently. Still stuck in a mire of delay
3% 38 votes
Applied recently. Too soon to tell
2% 22 votes
Cancelled due to too many problems (applied more than 3 months ago)
13% 145 votes
Cancelled due to too many problems (applied recently)
6% 73 votes
«13456776

Comments

  • If you're thinking of signing up for talk talk...think again. Our experience was terrible, time consuming and stressful.We spent literally hours on the phone, mainly to India and South Africa, trying to sort our problems, but to no avail as most of the time they either couldn't understand us or help. We thought NTL were bad but compared to talk talk they are brilliant and we have now returned to them.
  • jwillow_2
    jwillow_2 Posts: 18 Forumite
    I would not recommend Talktalk broadband to any serious internet user. Even when we could get online there were certain websites we either could not access at all or had only limited access. As one of these sites was ebay my husband would be furious when trying to bid on items only to 'lose connection' or simply be unable to change page. No problems with phone usage. We went back to Blueyonder and find it absolutely miles better.
  • mekprice
    mekprice Posts: 20 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10 Posts Combo Breaker
    i have had problems trying to get it 4 free. i was told it was not free at the point of signing but it would become free as soon as it came to my area. that happened some months ago. i got the email address for the director from this site last time this was talked about and i emailed him. he told me it would be sorted, i got a refund but they carried on charging me. i have now got someone else's details. i think the director is a little fed up with recieving lots of emails from u guys and has finally put someone on to the job of sorting it.

    don't bother contacting the customer services section with this problem they will tell u that u can't have it for free and where totally unhelpful. go straight to the director.
  • coolcol1
    coolcol1 Posts: 24 Forumite
    i applied for talk3(not international) on the 28/08/06!

    i thought it was a good idea as its £20,instead of talktalk phone+AOL internet
    costing £35 a month,so i applied saving £15 a month......not.

    because they have taken all this time im now paying £20,plus,£20 AOL-because i need the internet so have to continue paying for until i receive
    my talktalk3.

    i have phone them but because the internet is free with talk3-i have no come-back.
    i have written a letter to a talktalk address in complaint-and asking for the unforseen extra expence to be re-paid, you can guess-i have had no reply

    i will now look for a cheap internet and change back to just talk phone:mad:
  • fraser
    fraser Posts: 277 Forumite
    delay after delay - wrong product delivered, cut off land line and still waiting on the correct product to be provided - applied when it came out

    only solace is that i pass the cpw hq on the way to work so I flip the bird and honk at them all smoking tabs out the front !
  • emmajg
    emmajg Posts: 136 Forumite
    I'm with talktalk I joined before they launched the free option. It's a nightmare it took them 2 months to send a BT engineer to set it up I had to ring them everyday and no one would listen to me.
    I now work for Vodafone so as soon as I can leave talktalk I'm going to try their broadband it can't get any worse
    Em Tysoe
    about £12k debt & 7 years left to pay
  • gibby
    gibby Posts: 426 Forumite
    been with them for around 6 months
    customer service is very poor

    My connection kept stopping - it was connected but we couldnt do anything
    after trying many times we got through to some guy in Timbuktu who told me I needed to spend money on a wireless router to fix the problem.

    Amazingly when they upgraded the line to the promised 2mb things got better but we still have problems and have been overcharged for calls

    just looking for another provider

    G
    never take advice from broke or unsuccessful people

    Jim Rohn
  • I signed up when it was first announced back in June/July but only because of free international calls on top of national landline ones, my parents live in Spain. I've had a few problems with this, the code you need to prefix int numbers doesn't always work and when you tell them they're not aware of it, but largely ok. I don't intend even starting to use broadband as I've stuck with reliable NTL at £35 month cos I know it's the best. I've helped several friends & family to set up broadband who've also signed up and had horrendous problems, phoning for help to sub-continent is a massive joke, as soon as you start to tell them about where you got to with set-up and started to have problems they fall silent as though they can't understand you then cut you off, when you try to get back again a message says "all operatives are busy right now, please call back later". I've found it works better if you use a 3rd party modem or modem/router instead of crap they supply you with, there seems to be less problems with that although there is obviously no support for that, you have to know what you are doing. I know many people who have cancelled their contract because it just doesn't work, if thinking about it, FORGET IT!
  • Jollux
    Jollux Posts: 194 Forumite
    guess wot? we're still waiting for broadband having applied in August. Surprised? Poor customer service, havn't had any form of replies yet! Atrocious. If the account were down to me (its my mum) I'd ditch it. Sky's package is practically the same price - wonder how quick and responsive they are?
  • Magentasue
    Magentasue Posts: 4,229 Forumite
    Joined Sept after waiting a month but everything happened when they said it would and service has been fine. No problems so haven't had to deal with call centre.
This discussion has been closed.
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