New Talktalk poll; feedback needed, good and bad

mandajane2004

I can't remember exactly when I signed up for Talk talk broad band but I have to say that despite a few teething problems (namely me cancelling my direct debit by accident lol) I have been really happy. The only problem I had was when my local exchange was being upgraded and I spoke to a really helpful chap who explained the situation to me and gave me his contact number should I wish to discuss the situation further!!My only problem was with my previous provider ORANGE who said that had to call customer services to disconnect my services, despite me requesting a MAC code from them!!! wont get onto that subject would take far to long!!! All in all my TALK TALK experience has been ok....my bills are loads less I have saved myself around £30 a month by changing!!!

Heinz

hurrah wrote:

But they are not free!!! they are part of package you pay for,and unlike other suppliers you have to dial an access code ,which if you forget to do they will charge you.

And the reason why, in marketing spiel, the word 'free' has replaced the word 'inclusive' is because people believe it.

Even my OH can't manage to spend £9.99/month calling the sprogs and her sister in Spain (free E&W UK 01/02 calls, 18185 for daytime and 18185 to call Spain @ 1p/minute).

Jenn77_2

I have been with talk talk as a call provider for over a year and signed up for their free broadband deal last April. Got the modem and connection in June and everything was great for a couple of months. Now the connection is very poor and grinds to a halt quite frequently, particularly from 4pm onwards so internet browsing in the evenings is practically impossible without getting laptop rage! Called the helpline to talk to them about it, was told their system was down and they would call me back, they never did. Might try using a different modem after reading the postings on here to see if that makes a difference, but will change to a subscription broadband service as soon as this contract expires as I need reliable internet connection because I work from home.

hurrah

Jenn77 wrote:

I have been with talk talk as a call provider for over a year and signed up for their free broadband deal last April. Got the modem and connection in June and everything was great for a couple of months. Now the connection is very poor and grinds to a halt quite frequently, particularly from 4pm onwards so internet browsing in the evenings is practically impossible without getting laptop rage! Called the helpline to talk to them about it, was told their system was down and they would call me back, they never did. Might try using a different modem after reading the postings on here to see if that makes a difference, but will change to a subscription broadband service as soon as this contract expires as I need reliable internet connection because I work from home.

How is the Broadband Free ? when it involves an 18-month contractual commitment to the Talk 3 standard or Talk3 International calls package; a connection charge of £29.99; ongoing costs of £8.99p or £9.99 per month plus line rental (£19.99 or £20.99 in total) and a disconnection fee of £70.

Not forgetting all the time and money you might? waste trying to sort the service out.

tawnyowls

hurrah wrote:

But they are not free!!! they are part of package you pay for,and unlike other suppliers you have to dial an access code ,which if you forget to do they will charge you.

You have to do that with a lot of the override providers as well, and with TT, you need to dial that prefix for overseas numbers. I saved about £600 a year switching to an override provider, and should now save another £150 pounds/year with the cost of phone calls and the extra I was paying for broadband + line rental. It's easy enough to remember to dial it if you put a sticker on the phone as a reminder. I've programmed my phone with my most frequent numbers, and then I set a timer at the beginning of every call (so I don't go over 69 mins, as then you get charged) and redial if necessary. The small amount of hassle is worth it for the savings I get, and it would probably be a similar system with any other company providing inclusive packages.

MargaretS_2

HI, I registered with Talk Talk, for the telephone and free Broadband about a year ago. Filled in all the forms, and got the registration number from a door to door rep, Thought everything was fine, but we got no bill, and kept getting bills from BT Kept ringing talk talk and eventually when I got through was told everything was fine, and we would soon get sorted and had been accepted, then after about 3 months got a red reminder from BT phoned them and told them we had registered with Talk Talk, they had no record at all, so phoned Talk Talk again and eventually got through and this time they had no record at of us, not for the phone or Broadband, and we had waited all this time believing things were fine, so we were left to pay the BT phone bill which by this time had mounted up and had to go back with another Broadband provider, all the hassle and for nothing except a big bill from BTso Be Warned

hurrah

tawnyowls wrote:

You have to do that with a lot of the override providers as well, and with TT, you need to dial that prefix for overseas numbers. I saved about £600 a year switching to an override provider, and should now save another £150 pounds/year with the cost of phone calls and the extra I was paying for broadband + line rental. It's easy enough to remember to dial it if you put a sticker on the phone as a reminder. I've programmed my phone with my most frequent numbers, and then I set a timer at the beginning of every call (so I don't go over 69 mins, as then you get charged) and redial if necessary. The small amount of hassle is worth it for the savings I get, and it would probably be a similar system with any other company providing inclusive packages.

I dont know of any other line rental or cps call supplier that requires you to call an indirect access code to get part of your inclusive calls package. Why is it necessary? Unlike you some people are not as well organised and will forget to dial the access code. A nice little earner for TT. In fact i have read here
http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/
and elsewhere of people being charged who actually dialled the access code !!!

GT60

Been with t/t very very long time then i went for free broadband big mistake at first always getting cut off at 5pm dead each day always on the phone to the techs "you have better relationship with them than you do with me" my partner kept on saying got fed up then one day i said "trading standards" hey it was running fine 5min's after that.
PS if you need tech support dont bother with the £1 a call or any other number you are put through to Opel communications in Irlam Manchester the main people who know what to do and how to fix it!! just blag it ask for Omar or ste there number is 0161 222 2000 DONT waist time with the muppets at the call centre they are clue less

accyjon

I have been a Talktalk customer since July 2006. No problems UNTIL !!!!!
Problem One
27/09/06 Letter arrived to say my line was to be upgraded on 04/10/06
Wednesday 11/10/06 my telephone landline went dead. I do not own a mobile phone.
Phoned 0800 Customer services (35 minutes)the same evening from a neighbour’s phone and reported the fault.
Thursday12/10/06 nothing happened.
Friday 13/10/06, phoned 0800 number again (47 minutes from a phone box) and they confirmed the fault had been logged with BT.
Saturday 14/10/06, phoned 0800 number (30 minutes from phone box) and was immediately told my line had been updated and I had rung the wrong number and should have rung 0870 LLU number and my call would be put through to this department. Asked why I hadn't been told this before and was told," Well you should have been" Waited a further 20 minutes (in the phone box) and was put through to this department. Was told my fault 'Would Be' logged with BT.
Sunday 15/10/06, Rang 0870 number from daughters phone (45 minutes) and was told fault was logged with BT. When I said it had been logged since Wednesday they said it was logged on Saturday so obviously the Wednesday and Friday phone calls were answered by liars who had just pretended to log my fault.
Monday 16/10/06, didn't ring at all.
Tuesday 17/10/06, rang 0800 number from phone box and asked to be put through to 0870 number, was put through (52 minutes in draughty phone box) and was told the fault had been logged with BT,
Wednesday 18/10/06, asked permission to use phone at work and rang 0800 number (because it is free) and asked to be transferred to 0870 number. Bear in mind I also had clocked off from work to make this call so it took me 92 minutes to actually talk to someone as I kept being cut of through your service being busy. After all that, I was told the fault had been logged with BT, but they would definitely call me back with a progress report.
Wednesday evening, ordered a mobile phone from Virgin, Don't suppose your wondering why I didn't order a Talktalk one.
Thursday 19/10/06, didn't phone and didn't receive a progress report from Talktalk, surprise, surprise.
I have been without a landline for NINE days. I rely on this telephone as I have a 93 year old mother living 100 miles away and need to be in touch with her on a daily basis to make sure she is OK and she also needs to be able to contact me. I have told this to numerous call centre staff but none of them, surprisingly, seem to care. Sent an email to Charles Dunstone including all the above facts.
Friday 20/10/06 Got a reply from Charles Dunstone stating he was getting someone to investigate the problem.
Saturday 21/10/06 MIRACLES REALLY DO HAPPEN, TELEPHONE RESTORED !!!!! AFTER 10 DAYS
Mobile phone arrived from Virgin about 1 hour after my phone line was restored.

Problem Two

Sunday 5/11/06 Couldn’t connect to Internet.
Monday 6/11/06 Computer taken to dealers for checkup.
Wednesday 8/11/06 Computer collected after checkup, no problems. Still couldn’t connect to Talktalk.
Rang High Level Complaints Dept. Was put through to Line Upgrade Dept after 20 minute wait. Promised to look into problem
.Thursday 9/11/06 Rang High Level Complaints again, same as Wednesday.
Friday 10/11/06 Someone rang on home number and spoke to my wife, even though they have my works number and mobile number. Asked if I’d received the new modem that had been sent, this was news to me, no new modem had ever been mentioned before. My wife told him we hadn’t got the new modem The person who rang said they would try to fix the problem from their end and would ring me around 12.30pm that day when I would be home.
Stayed in all afternoon waiting for call, finally rang High Level Complaints Dept at 3.00pm and was told they would send an email to person concerned to ring me. Needless to say no more contact was made that day.
Saturday 11/11/06 Rang High Level Complaints, was told nobody available till Monday, asked to be put through to Technical Dept. Waited 25 minutes and was put through. Manual connection was set up and failed. Was told someone would ring within next 24 hours.
Sunday 12/11/06 Rang High Level Complaints, asked for a progress report. None given.
Monday 13/11/06 Rang High Level Complaints, said they would send email to Jonathan A*******. Asked to be put through to LLU, waited 20 minutes, was cut off. Rang again and asked to speak to someone who, technically, knew what they were talking about, phone went dead.
Tuesday 14/11/06 Wife got a phone call at home at 8.15am, despite me leaving my works and mobile number, Person called Duncan asked if I could come out of work and be at my computer for 9.00am. Left work at 8.30am got home at 8.45am and waited. Duncan phoned at 9.25am and tested my line. Said he would pass it on to “OPAL” team at exchange and it would be three days. I asked why it had taken 6 phone calls and six days to reach this conclusion and he said he didn’t know. I dread to think how long it would have taken if I’d relied on the first phone call. Are these people not capable of passing on a simple message or are the messages being ignored? I informed Duncan that if my connection was not restored after three days I was going to cancel my contract. I also asked about the new modem, which was supposed to have been sent by the person who rang on Friday and he said he didn’t know anything about it but I could have a new modem sent out if I wanted one. I informed him that I already had two and did he think another one would help and he replied he didn’t think so. I declined his offer.
Wednesday 15/11/06 New modem arrived, installed it with a lot of difficulties, still no connection.
Re-installed old modem.
Thursday 16/11/06 Nothing happened.
Friday 17/11/06 Borrowed someone else’s computer, connected it to my landline, exactly same problem occurred. Rang Helpdesk, no help whatsoever given.
Rang High Level Complaints, told them the full story AGAIN, said they would email John A****** and get him to contact me in about a day. I informed them that if I was not contacted today I would cancel my contract through lack of service and get my BT line restored tomorrow (Saturday). The lady said OK and no more contact was made. Sent email to Charles Dunstone informing him of the situation
Saturday 18/11/06. Got email from Charles Dunstone stating he was getting an engineer to investigate the problem.
Monday 20/11/06 INTERNET CONNECTION RESTORED !!! Although it was at a slower speed than I had before the line UPGRADE. I contacted Talktalk several times regarding the speed issue but after many phone calls to different departments they have been unable to resolve this issue. My bandwidth speed is now around 300 kb, the slowest I have ever had since being on broadband and I have now resigned myself to seeing out the remaining 12 months of my contract and switching to another ISP at the earliest opportunity.
Unless you want to risk a similar set of problems to those above, 10 DAYS WITH NO TELEPHONE, FOLLOWED BY 14 DAYS WITH NO INTERNET CONNECTION, RESULTING IN A SLOWER SPEED CONNECTION. LEAVE THIS COMPANY WELL ALONE !!!!!!!!!!!!

SilverSaver_2

Changed from AOL to TalkTalk Broadband just over a week ago, after reading endless bad reviews and friends and work colleagues trying to persuade me not to. The changeover was almost seemless. Our "go live" date was around 4 weeks after we initially agreed to TalkTalk, the modem package and CD arrived in good time. I contacted AOL who emailed me the MAC code within 24 hours which I passed on to TalkTalk. I connected everything with only one problem (I hadn't pushed the power plug into the socket correctly!). I did have another problem in that I had problems with setting up my son's email account with Outlook and I rang TalkTalk, did not have to wait at all and was given appropriate help (again the problem was my fault) and the problem was resolved.

I am amazed it all went so well and I can honestly say that, so far, we haven't noticed any difference in speed whatsoever - it is exactly the same as we had with AOL. Obviously, it is early days but I am keeping my fingers crossed that the good service continues!!