MSE News: TalkTalk announces price hikes

2010

When BT last week announced their 2nd price increase of the year was it any surprise to anyone that TT would follow suit?

The line rental is going up by £1-20 a month from £12-60 to £13-80.

From 1st Oct you have a choice to make a one off payment to cover your line rental cost for the coming 12 months, working out at £9-50 a month.

It seems a fair option but it means you`re back on a 12 month contract and there`s no refund of your line rental if you leave.
There would also be another hefty charge if you did decide to leave within the 12 month period.

This option is only any good if you are definitely staying with TT and are on no other deals with them.

Anyone who is currently "out of contract" can easily ring them up and get a better deal by threatening to leave.

mel12

So just to warn everyone - I phoned up today to cancel my contract with talk-talk.
First the guy tried to tell me I wouldn't be affected by the price increases. Then when I insisted he checked with his supervisor and agreed I would be affected. He then said he couldn't waive cancellation charges, and tried to say I don't have the right to cancel the contract.
And then said getting a MAC code was not the same thing as immediate cancellation so I'd be charged (is this last bit right?).

I was politely insistent and got it cancelled, but they've not confirmed if I'll be charged or not and said I'll have to dispute any charges with the billing department.
What can I do if they do charge me?

Pincher

How much was the cancellation fee?

When Tiscali was taken over by TalkTalk, I was very careful not to sign up to any new deals, so they had to let me switch without penalties. The moment the TalkTalk tariff came into effect, and my bill went up, off I went.

2010

Anyone leaving TT has to get a landline from someone else, BT being the obvious choice but is there anyone else to transfer to and how much will it cost compared to staying with TT.

It`s OK to say "I`m off" because of the price increase but where are you off to and at what cost?

Paul_Varjak

Pincher wrote: »

TT's Anytime package excludes 0845 and 0870, which is a lot of my calls. On top of that, they had a minimum charge per call, even if you hear the answering machine and hang up.

Actually, TalkTalk's anytime package does included 0845/0870 numbers! In my work I dial up to two hundred 0845 numbers in a day! Never been charged a penny!

Paul_Varjak

2010 wrote: »

This option is only any good if you are definitely staying with TT and are on no other deals with them.

Anyone who is currently "out of contract" can easily ring them up and get a better deal by threatening to leave.

Why not take out a new contract now (for 12 months only) then, come 1st October, you can switch to Value Line Rental, thereby getting two discounts! Just make sure that when taking out 12 month contract they give you an up-front discount (NOT half-price line rental for six months).

ericsson68

If anyone is getting refused a MAC from Talk Talk for leaving under the 15.1 detriment clause, just tell them the rules. They can not refuse you a MAC under any circumstances - even contractual. Requesting the MAC within a minimum contract does not make you liable if you are leaving under material detriment.

Even though Talk Talk word clause 15.1 to sound that they decide that changes are of detriment - this doesn't stand up in court. They don't know your financial circumstances so therefore can't possibly make that decision.

MAC code rules

• Your broadband provider must supply a MAC on request within five working days, along with its expiry date, and must not charge for this service
• Your new provider must accept a valid MAC.
• Your provider cannot withhold a MAC for the purposes of debt collection, or for contractual reasons
• If you request a MAC inside your minimum contract period you will still be liable for any contractual obligations (including paying subscription charges for your minimum contract period, etc)
• If a MAC cannot be issued, the provider must explain why
• Providers should offer you reasonable assistance in migrating from or to another provider
• The provider must not disconnect a customer’s service if a MAC is requested
• The provider must provide two different ways to obtain a MAC (eg by phone, post, website, etc)
• A provider must re-issue a MAC on subsequent requests if the previous MAC has expired
• Your new provider can still refuse to supply a service for business reasons including credit worthiness
• It is only compulsory for an ISP to provide a MAC for home consumers and small businesses (with fewer than ten employees).

2010

Paul_Varjak wrote: »

Why not take out a new contract now (for 12 months only) then, come 1st October, you can switch to Value Line Rental, thereby getting two discounts! Just make sure that when taking out 12 month contract they give you an up-front discount (NOT half-price line rental for six months).

I`m already on a rolling 30 day notice contract and getting a discount until next Feb.
Last Feb I never renewed my contract and negoiated a discount to stay with them.

If on 1/10/11, I change to VLR does my existing discount run for 12 months from then or continue until next Feb?

Paul_Varjak

2010 wrote: »

I`m already on a rolling 30 day notice contract and getting a discount until next Feb.
Last Feb I never renewed my contract and negoiated a discount to stay with them.

If on 1/10/11, I change to VLR does my existing discount run for 12 months from then or continue until next Feb?

The limited terms and conditions they have published so far would indicate that you would lose any existing discount immediately. Value Line Rental represents a saving of £4.30p/month. If your current monthly discounts are less than that, I suggest you sign up for another year now (demanding up-front discount paid to your Talktalk account) and then take up VLR on 01/10/11.

Talktalk gave me an up-front £19.50p discount for committing to a new one year contract and I can sign up on-line to VLR come 01/10/11. I think they may well have given me more if I had pressed them!

New customers can sign up (by 27/09) for Talktalk via Quidco and get £60 Tesco voucher, free connection and half-price Essentials package for 9 months on a 12 month contract. So, sign-up and switch to VLR on 01/10. You will lose the half-price Essentials package on 01/10 (worth £3.25p/month) but you will get VLR (saving £4.30p/month).

Mark_In_Hampshire

Milarky wrote: »

I'm thinking there's absolutely nothing preventing TT from raising the cost of it's 'standard' line rental during the year (just as they did in May.) So if you've paid for 12 months 'up front' via this offer, do they actually promise to give you 12 months of line rental - or is the 'discount' the only thing which actually stays fixed?

I have no experience of this. However I suspect it comes down to how the bill is presented.

If it's "12 months from mm/dd/yyyy for £x" then I'd think the price needs to remain as it is. They agreed to supply for that period at that price.

If it says something like 12 months @ price per month then a discount underneath, I suspect this might well pave the way for retrospective increases and indeed only the discount part stays fixed.