Opinions on Talk Mobile service please?

caliban1

Hiya,
Looking to move my number to a sim-only monthly rolling contract with either one of these:

giffgaff (o2)
chitter-chatter (t-mobile)
talkmobile (vodafone)

I have done some research and though Talk Mobile looked best, anyone had any experiences with them (or with the other two?)

Thanks!

grumbler

talkmobile are they any good
Loads of other information if you search the board.

The same for other two: giffgaff mobile network

caliban1

Thanks, the info is quite old though which is why I have posted again:)

caliban1

Opinions, anyone...?

diamonds

Customer services are shocking, couldnt even send me a replacemnt sim and I had cancel the direct debit after pleading over 2 years for a sim, now going through ADR as im due the £100 but they never provided the service I paid £6 a month for over 2 years !!

supamar1o

below i've copied a reply i just posted to a similar question:

i have very mixed feelings about them. i chose them because the phone i want, on a 12month contract, was cheaper by more than £70 to any other company.

but:
i was a customer for one week and had to cancel my contract because they messed up my number porting (it took nearly 2hours of phone time to speak to someone and establish the problem). had to return my handset. had to call them up again in order to get a refund of a £100 deposit they took (they don't automatically refund it). just found that this contract wasn't immediately cancelled and so they debited £16 from my bank account. i just called to query this and they've finally cancelled the account, but i have to call back on monday to request the refund of the £16 (they can't refund this automatically).

because i was keen on this particular phone, 12mnth contract and the saving, i took out a contract with them again. went reasonably smooth, it's been two weeks.
but:
i found that whilst using mobile internet (they piggyback on vodafone, btw. signal and data speeds are the same as what you'd find using vodafone), certain websites would be blocked with an error message stating the site contains 18+ adult content and i must contact my provider in order to lift the block. this error message is created by vodafone (as is made clear by the url in the address bar, online.vodafone.co.uk/ blah blah).

note that the website i was trying to access is a page for an oktoberfest in london this weekend... nothing more dubious.

i contacted talkmobile, and to my utter surprise, disappointment, and frustration i was told that i would have to pay £100 deposit (refunded after 6months!) or they have to receive three months of successful direct debits from me, before they can lift this block. their reasoning behind this is that some websites can bill high charges to my mobile account, and they need consolation that i am able to pay that back (by £100 deposit or 3months direct debits).

they were absolutely resolute about this. it is vaguely stated in their t&c's, and i mean very vaguely. what is even more frustrating to me, considering this is a vodafone system, vodafone piggyback (i know talkmobile is a carphonewarehouse company), is that vodafone simply requires their customers to provide proof of age! that's all! one could call them and give them your credit card details, or walk into a vf shop and show them id, and they'd lift it. not talkmobile!

anyway, i don't know what i'm going to do... live with this for three months, or fork out another £100 deposit. that's my problem.

hope i was able to give you some insight into their operation and enabled you to make an informed decision before choosing them.

Neil49

I used giffgaff for about 6 months and found them very good. Everything is internet based (no call centres) and the community has a very strong following for resolving any problems you may have.

There are no contracts, you either use payg or purchase goodybags which last a month. If you don't like them just use up your credit and leave.

I only left because I got a good deal with O2 via Quidco and wanted to be able to use data tethering onto my netbook plus The Cloud in bars and cafes. You don't get either of these with giffgaff but otherwise I would still be with them.

Just order a sim online and it comes with free credit. If you don't use it then just throw it away. To port your number over, just get your pac and then enter the details online.

If you purchase a goodybag you still need a bit of extra credit to cover costs of picture messages and overseas texts etc.

Hope this helps.

Itchy_Niagras

Neil49 wrote: »

I used giffgaff for about 6 months and found them very good. Everything is internet based (no call centres) and the community has a very strong following for resolving any problems you may have.

There are no contracts, you either use payg or purchase goodybags which last a month. If you don't like them just use up your credit and leave.

I only left because I got a good deal with O2 via Quidco and wanted to be able to use data tethering onto my netbook plus The Cloud in bars and cafes. You don't get either of these with giffgaff but otherwise I would still be with them.

Just order a sim online and it comes with free credit. If you don't use it then just throw it away. To port your number over, just get your pac and then enter the details online.

If you purchase a goodybag you still need a bit of extra credit to cover costs of picture messages and overseas texts etc.

Hope this helps.

Giffgaff have become shockingly bad. There is currently a porting fiasco, with hundreds of people failing to use their service, waiting for their numbers to be migrated to no avail. I'm one of them. They have virtually no customer service. They have expanded so zealously that their infrastructure has no kept pace, hence the recent shambles. If you don't wish to migrate your old number, you may be okay and it is rather good value (if it works!) but if your phone is a lifeline to you, steer well clear!

markdoc_2

I will second what someone else has put about it being a nightmare getting content block removed on TalkMobile.
I waited 3months, then they added Roaming instead of removing the content block I had waited for.

Im not keen on ever having another contract with any of these firms again.
In my opinion o2 are least bad, but they all make you stick to their contract while doing whatever they want to you

Pay and go is better all round, and for data too

moorhawk

I signed up last year.. Had to pay a £150 deposit as I wasn't working at the time. The phone got cut off twice in the first 3 months. I ended up going to Carphone Warehouse in January to cancel the contract as I was working abroad. I spent an hour in the shop while they canceled the contract - I spoke to them and made the full payment to the end of the contract and sat while the salesman called O2 with my pac code to put my phone number on a PAYG so I could keep it. I just found out that they are still taking £20 DD every month since January. As I'm out of the country I haven't used the phone so hadn't realised the transfer hadn't gone through. So they want another £40 from me compared to if the cancellation had gone through (as it appeared to when the salesman dealt with me./... in fact I left the shop thinking how good customer service was at Carphone warehouse ... now I know talkmobile is their subsidiary and wonder if he was just pretending to transfer it across, knowing I was leaving the country and wouldn't know and they could keep taking the money. I have no other reason for why it didn't go across as I sat there listening to him on the phone to O2 giving them my pac code and telling me the phone would transfer across within 12 hours.

DO NOT GIVE TALK MOBILE YOUR MONEY _ THEY ARE USELESS AND SHARKS and will use any excuse to screw more money out of you. Go with O2 - they are the best in my 15 years experience with mobile phones.