Fed up with TalkTalk

Krojan

My story is that I was recently moving house, I was previously with TT so thought I'd just stay with them (yeah I know I should have shopped around but had so much to deal with) and arranged the move of services. All seemed to be going swimmingly until it actually came to the day of activation.

The engineer (BT Openreach) arrived (albeit late) with his partner, ran quite a lengthy set of tests on the two sockets that are in the property (One is master, one was stated to be an extention connected to the master), after a lot of too-ing and fro-ing to the van and various phone calls by him to various people finally assured me that both sockets would be working in a couple of hours once the activation processes through the systems and off he jogs.

Couple of hours later, I tested the sockets and the "master" one worked but the "extention" didn't, so I call up TalkTalk, wait 10 mins in a queue to discuss the situation only to be told that the extention wasn't their problem and that if I wanted them to come and fix it, they'd charge me up to £150, long story short, after a lot of heated words, being passed from pillar to post, reviewing the T&C of the contract and installation, speaking with various persons in damn foreign call centres who could barely comprehend the english language let alone understand how to read notes on my account they finally agreed to waiver the fee. It only took best part of THREE hours on the phone to them!

Problem solved, at last! An TalkTalk Engineer came out (Who was Polish... do TT actually employ anyone British anymore) and told me the "extention" socket was actually another master socket for a second line and would have never worked (Well I think that's what he said), however he, after a few phone calls to abu dhabi/south africa/outer mongolia or wherever TT calls are routed installed a extention which wouldn't be chargable given the amount of problems I'd had.

Today, the bill arrives... and they've charged me £49.99 for the visit, and now are lumping the line rental up too! Phoned them up yet again... 15 mins wait... and get someone who I swear was the old Microsoft SAM voice, whom didn't seem to understand the problem for the first 4 times I detailed it until I actually asked if they couldn't understand me, then they finally twigged and said they'd have to check with their manager, 5 mins on hold later they finally say it's been corrected on my bill, although at this point I can only hope that someone there has actually done their job.

In all honesty I'm tempted to use the 10 day "get out clause" mentioned in another thread as they also enclosed the note mentioning the line rental price hike, especially now that yet again they've topped the worst for complaints list, but I'd love some others' opinions on wether it's worth doing? And if it isn't, if they have a UK call centre number I can actually ring!

Regards

Krojan

Heinz

.... they finally say it's been corrected on my bill,

Yeah, right.

LadyDee

Krojan wrote: »

My story is that I was recently moving house, I was previously with TT so thought I'd just stay with them (yeah I know I should have shopped around but had so much to deal with) and arranged the move of services. All seemed to be going swimmingly until it actually came to the day of activation.

The engineer (BT Openreach) arrived (albeit late) with his partner, ran quite a lengthy set of tests on the two sockets that are in the property (One is master, one was stated to be an extention connected to the master), after a lot of too-ing and fro-ing to the van and various phone calls by him to various people finally assured me that both sockets would be working in a couple of hours once the activation processes through the systems and off he jogs.

Couple of hours later, I tested the sockets and the "master" one worked but the "extention" didn't, so I call up TalkTalk, wait 10 mins in a queue to discuss the situation only to be told that the extention wasn't their problem and that if I wanted them to come and fix it, they'd charge me up to £150, long story short, after a lot of heated words, being passed from pillar to post, reviewing the T&C of the contract and installation, speaking with various persons in damn foreign call centres who could barely comprehend the english language let alone understand how to read notes on my account they finally agreed to waiver the fee. It only took best part of THREE hours on the phone to them!

Problem solved, at last! An TalkTalk Engineer came out (Who was Polish... do TT actually employ anyone British anymore) and told me the "extention" socket was actually another master socket for a second line and would have never worked (Well I think that's what he said), however he, after a few phone calls to abu dhabi/south africa/outer mongolia or wherever TT calls are routed installed a extention which wouldn't be chargable given the amount of problems I'd had.

Today, the bill arrives... and they've charged me £49.99 for the visit, and now are lumping the line rental up too! Phoned them up yet again... 15 mins wait... and get someone who I swear was the old Microsoft SAM voice, whom didn't seem to understand the problem for the first 4 times I detailed it until I actually asked if they couldn't understand me, then they finally twigged and said they'd have to check with their manager, 5 mins on hold later they finally say it's been corrected on my bill, although at this point I can only hope that someone there has actually done their job.

In all honesty I'm tempted to use the 10 day "get out clause" mentioned in another thread as they also enclosed the note mentioning the line rental price hike, especially now that yet again they've topped the worst for complaints list, but I'd love some others' opinions on wether it's worth doing? And if it isn't, if they have a UK call centre number I can actually ring!

Regards

Krojan

Don't bother with telephone 'support' - sign up here http://www.talktalkmembers.com/forums/ and a TT OCE will probably be able to sort out your problem.

TalkTalk

HI Krojan,

If you join the Members Forum we can look into the details of your issue.

With new connections when the Open Reach engineer attends there is no obligation for them to connect any internal extensions, the purpose of the appointment is to install a single working socket in the property, on occasion this may involve the disconnection of internal wiring.

The Qube engineer (sent for internal wiring issues) are chargeable for conducting internal works such as extensions, however this should be confirmed before the visit is booked, and signed at the time of the visits to confirm you are aware that you have agreed charges for the visits.

Regards

mark

Krojan

HI Krojan,

If you join the Members Forum we can look into the details of your issue.

With new connections when the Open Reach engineer attends there is no obligation for them to connect any internal extensions, the purpose of the appointment is to install a single working socket in the property, on occasion this may involve the disconnection of internal wiring.

The Qube engineer (sent for internal wiring issues) are chargeable for conducting internal works such as extensions, however this should be confirmed before the visit is booked, and signed at the time of the visits to confirm you are aware that you have agreed charges for the visits.

Regards

mark

While I send my most heartfelt thanks for your suggestions regards joining the members forum, may I say that I feel such steps to be beyond what a customer should be expected to do to get a matter resolved expediantly, having already spent now three cumlative hours on the phone to "customer services", I do not really see why such actions should be required of a customer to get a matter resolved, perhaps this is why TT yet again rated highest for customer complaints . If someone actually had taken it upon themselves to deal with the situation and get it resolved earlier then perhaps the situation wouldn't have gotten as far as it had.

I remember when The Carphone Warehouse (Parent company of TalkTalk) had Five Fundimental Rules;

1. If we don't look after the customer, someone else will.
2. Nothing is gained by winning an argument but losing a customer.
3. Always deliver what we promise. If in doubt, under promise and over deliver.
4. Always treat customers as we ourselves would like to be treated.
5. The reputation of the whole company is in the hands of each individual.

these were established when Charles Dunstone first set up CPW, and later TT that were driven into every employee that was sent upon their training courses when they joined the company. I know this because approx ten years ago, I was one of them (since left).

Mark, stating that the BT Openreach engineer has no obligation to connect extensions is a point that is not mentioned anywhere in the literature that TalkTalk sends it's customers when ordering the service nor mentioned by the customer service team either, nor is it mentioned that additional equipment may be disconnected during the installation process.

When it is stated that the extention will work when the line is activated, and then does not, it fails to follow these "rules". Although they are not employed by TT/CPW they are acting on the behalf of the company they are contracted to undertake the work for, therefore such actions still subsiquently fall back on the company sending out the contractors whom undertake the work on their behalf.

The Qube engineer chargable visit was meant to have been credited to my bill so when the charge was applied, the cost was cancelled out, this was agreed with your customer service team however it seems that this was again lost in translation with their ability to read notes on the account and/or take the agreed actions.

Given the ongoing struggle I have had with TT, I have sent a letter to TT utilising the "get out clause" regards the recent line rental price hike, as quite frankly, I've had enough and have spent enough time speaking to various departments time and time again to resolve the issue, however no doubt there will be some problems with this too given my recent experiences.

TalkTalk

HI Krojan,

You raised this issue via an Internet forum. As part of the onLine Community Deaprtment responsibilities we provide advice and support via multiple social Media.

As such Im unsure why asking you to join our Members Forum, where we have the ability to exchange personal details for the purposes of validating security which we cannot do via MSE, is beyond what is expected of our customers.

The Members Forum provides an alternative to managing issues via phone calls. As we engage with customers in the on-line domain it is not unreasonable for us to retain management of your issue via online means, as this was your choice of medium to use when you raised you concerns on the MSE forum. By all means you are welcome to continue calling us regarding your issue, I am jsut making you aware that the Members Forum offers and alternative method to manage your issue.

IN regards to Carphone Warehouse they are not our parent company. CPW and TalkTalk Demergered in 2010 and both companies operate independently on the stock exchange. For details of our corporate values please see the TT corporate site.

With regards Open Reachs engineer visits you state it doesn't note anywhere in the literature that an engineer will not connect extensions. At the same time does it state they will? As such to draw either conclusion without confirmation is just speculation. The Open Reach's responsibility is to connect a working line to the property, internal extension are have and will continue to be the end users responsibility.

if you ahve been promised a credit that has not been applied this requires further investigation> To do so we need to check security details with you, which we cannot do privately via the MSE forum. As such I reflect my earlier advice that if you join the TalkTalk Members Forum we can assist you further.

Regards

Mark

Mark_In_Hampshire

To be fair and without meaning to wind up the orignal poster - and it's hardly my place to "defend" Talk Talk - their position as regards the extension socket is correct. Their obligation is to supply you with a service to the "master socket" and nothing more. That's one of the two sockets. If you want additional sockets working in the house, it is up to you to wire them in, or pay someone to do that. And £49.99 isn't a bad price for that work in my opinion - one hour at £50/hour is perfectly reasonable. If they told you it would not be chargeable then you're within your rights to argue that specific point.

The fact that there were two sockets in the house prior to the installation day does not require that both are made to work. The error made by the original installer - which was to say that both sockets would be working - does not alter that.

TalkTalk

HI Amrk,

Thank you for you inpuit in this case and you are correct.

As you rightly state if the customer was advised a visit would not be chargeable and it was charged then this warrants investigation and I have extended the offer of support to the customers via joining the Members forum where we can investigate into this.

it is unfortunate if the customer was incorrectly lead to believe that both sockets should be operational at the install and I have sought to clarify that OpenReach's responsibilities end at installing a single working master socket at the property.

Regards

Mark