Having trouble with TalkTalk

Patronus

Hi there.

Me and my Mother moved into a new house in May 2010. We took up an eighteen month contract with them at that point. We have muddled through with them to the best that we can. They are awful at constantly putting up prices, bombarding us with phonecalls and of course, having no one that has a fluent grasp on the English language.

We have phone and broadband with them and it is costing well over thirty pound a month (we don't use the telephone that much!). We could have Sky TV for that.

By my calculations, our contract with them should be ending in November/December of THIS year. My Mother rang them to check with them when it was finishing. She got through to someone she could barely understand.

They told her that she didn't start her contract until December 2010 and thus it would not be finishing until June 2012. :huh: She quickly said goodbye and told me what they'd said.

I told her that's not possible, she definitely took out the 18 Month contract in MAY 2010 because otherwise we wouldn't have had internet or phone for about seven months. :huh:

She's calling back to see if she can get any more sense out of someone else. Can anyone tell us what we can do? There's no way we took out the contract in Dec/10. It was definitely May/10 when we moved in to the house.

Want to be shut of them ASAP, they are atrocious. :mad:

Edit: Mum is talking to someone right now, it appears a brick wall would understand her more...

shortchanged_2

TalkTalk are notorious for rewewing contracts themselves. Ask them to provide you with proof as to why/when the contract date was changed.

If it's not satisfactory you could try these guys. http://www.ombudsman-services.org/communications.html

Patronus

shortchanged wrote: »

TalkTalk are notorious for rewewing contracts themselves. Ask them to provide you with proof as to why/when the contract date was changed.

If it's not satisfactory you could try these guys. http://www.ombudsman-services.org/communications.html

Thank you. Not sure what is going on. The phonecall is going around in circles, they are trying to tell my Mum she definitely started the contract in December 2010, not May. She's going to get statements to prove she has been paying them since May.

They haven't said anything about the contract being renewed just that she first took it up in December, when she absolutely did not.

Edit: This is funny! They have told her she took out her contract on December the 21st. 4 Days before Christmas! What a load of tosh. Also, she was making phonecalls to me in New Zealand during May and June of 2010. They have told her to send proof she has been paying them since May.

They said there is nothing on her account to say she was paying anything before December. She tried to be polite and say that somewhere there had been mistake a made. Can't believe this. It's shocking.

macman

Did she change her tariff/package in December 2010, which might have started her on a new 18m contract?

Patronus

macman wrote: »

Did she change her tariff/package in December 2010, which might have started her on a new 18m contract?

No. Not that SHE was aware of anyway. They are constantly ringing her and asking her if she would like to add this and that to her package and that it will make it cheaper and blah blah, it never does.

Just wrote a frustrated letter for her to put into the envelope with the statements she has sending. This isn't a case of a renewed contract even without her knowing. They are simply trying to say she didn't START any contract with them until December 2010, but she has been paying them and we have been receiving their service since May 2010.

Patronus

They have conned her into taking out another contract! She is really upset. They ring her up telling her that they can give her a cheaper bill. (I.e Hello Mrs XXX, we noticed you make certain phonecalls to mobiles a lot, we can make this cheaper for you, so phonecalls to mobiles are free.)

She accepts because that would help her a lot. Now they're telling her she has taken out a new contract with them for another eighteen months, at some point. Obviously December.

What is going ON? How can they do that? No one ever said to her in black and white this will put you on a new contract for another eighteen months, do you accept? She would of course have said no!

Can anyone tell us what we can do now? Certainly not going to let them get away with conning her like this!

(Edit: seems she has got through to someone who is English at the complaints department? now. We'll see what comes from this. What an nightmare!)

(Edit: seems to be going well! hallelujah!)

macman

As I suspected. Look at the small print in the confirmation letter they would have sent when she upgraded.
And log into the online account and untick the box for allowing TT marketing calls (which is cunningly enabled by default)

Patronus

macman wrote: »

As I suspected. Look at the small print in the confirmation letter they would have sent when she upgraded.
And log into the online account and untick the box for allowing TT marketing calls (which is cunningly enabled by default)

Thanks, the lady she just spoke to has sorted it all out and my Mum is changing over to Sky as I type. The lady was really nice and understanding.

TalkTalk

Hi Patronus,

Im glad to see you maanged to get this resolved with the telephony support teams. It does sound as if it wasnt clear at the time of the change that a contract renewal would be taking place. This is a basis for a compliance investigations however, it looks as if all necessary actions ahve been takena dn youa re happy with the outcome.


If you have any other queries while the transfer completes feel free to ask.

Regards

Mark