Incommunicado! Please help ...

snowleopard61

First, please forgive me if this thread should be somewhere else/should be part of an existing thread - I did look but couldn't see anything appropriate.

I'm with TalkTalk for both home phone and broadband. A couple of weeks ago I realised I'd lost both services entirely (the phone line is completely dead). I rang TalkTalk from my mobile, which is PAYG with Virgin, and of course spent so long hanging on that it cost me a fortune. When I finally did manage to speak to someone he said it seemed to be a line fault, and that it needed to be 'escalated'. I was texted a reference number and since then have tried: telephoning and leaving a message for TalkTalk to call me on my mobile, texting the number from which I received the text, and emailing twice (from work, which is now my only access to the internet). I've received either no response at all or just an automated email saying it would be dealt with.

I'm so heartily sick of TalkTalk (and have been thinking of joining PlusNet anyway for cheapness and the UK-based call centres) that I would be only too glad to switch providers, but (a) I don't know whether TalkTalk can then sue me for not giving them notice, (b) contacting an alternative provider is difficult because I can't ring them and (c) I have no easy way of telling whether the problem is my actual phone socket - there's only one in the house - or something more external. I really don't want to use my PAYG mobile to make these sorts of calls as I can't afford it (it's fine if I can email and they ring me back), and in general I'm really trying to save money, not waste it, so want to avoid callouts.

Can anyone point me in the right direction -please??!:eek:

Mark_In_Hampshire

BT Openreach are responsible for the line to the master socket (since you have only one, that one). Repairs are not chargeable unless damage was user inflicted. That said there continue to be cases of erroneous and/or fraudulent charging by Openreach with respect to repairs, so you need to watch your bill and be ready to dispute if need be.

Only Openreach can fix it, so the question is whether it has been escalated to them (as per their original comment) and the job is stuck in a queue somewhere, it's hard to know when you can't get any updates.

With respect to your question (a) if the service is not working because of a fault, you need to give them a reasonable opportunity to fix it. No specific definition of reasonable, but two weeks isn't that abnormal (if it is not a business line and doesn't have a service level agreement) but I'd say it's becoming borderline now particularly in the light of the lack of updates. If you migrate away, the problem you might face is that if I remember rightly Talk Talk insist on direct debit payment so you can't do anything to control what leaves your bank account. Though you could cancel the mandate altogether and watch your account (suggest daily for a month) to make sure it's not set up again.

On (b) I'd sign up online anyway and print out the sales screens and what you agreed to which gives you more security than a verbal phone call, you could do that e.g. from work

On (c) if the socket is a modern type, you can unplug the lower half and try the socket behind. That will confirm whether the master socket is faulty or not, but if you have only one socket and no extensions, it would not seem to make any difference. Though, if it did work, at least you have a service.

In summary I'd suggest you send them an email and keep a copy, giving them a deadline by which time you expect it all to be working, otherwise you'll be faced with no option but to migrate away and that you won't entertain any early termination charges.

snowleopard61

Thank you very much for the helpful and detailed reply. I think I will take the option of giving them a deadline, at least to give me the courtesy of an update and ultimately to sort out the problem. Certainly if I'm changing providers and have heard nothing from TalkTalk I would cancel the direct debit mandate entirely; I'm not giving them carte blanche to raid my account, the so-and-so's ...!

Very much appreciated.

snowleopard61

PS I meant to say that the socket is an old one; the person I originally spoke to at TalkTalk established that.

macman

Changing suppliers will make no difference if the fault is on the local loop or on your own equipment. Have you tested the line with another (working) handset from the master socket? Is there any dial tone? What happens when you dial in from your mobile?

snowleopard61

The reason I wanted to change supplier was that I was generally not particularly pleased with TalkTalk's service or prices, and felt that another supplier was perhaps more likely to address the problem, rather than that they were better capable of fixing it. While the fault is in itself just one of those things, the lack of updates is inexcusable.

When I dial my own landline from my mobile, I get voicemail (after the usual ringing period rather than immediately). There is no dial tone; as I say, the line is completely dead. I must say I had not thought of trying another handset as I don't have one - an alternative would be to take my own handset into work and try it in a working socket, which I will do - but as the internet doesn't work either and TalkTalk themselves had confirmed (when I initially rang them and held on for ages) that it was a line fault, it does seem likely that the problem is not with the handset.

macman

If you don't take the very basic step of checking if the handset is at fault, then you'll be liable or a £130 OR call out charge should there prove to be no fault found.
However it does appear from the other info that there is a line fault.

snowleopard61

Be that as it may, they are still not dealing with it despite yet another email; I didn't expect their next step to be to send someone out, but to contact me again, and they haven't.

Thank you anyway.

macman

You need to call them, insist that they escalate it to OR. TT is hopeless, emailing them is more hopeless.

snowleopard61

But email is free, and calling from a PAYG mobile with no free minutes and holding indefinitely is very far from it. I'll do so, but absolutely as a last resort (unfortunately calling from work is not an option).

Thanks for the advice; at least I know there is nothing I can do but keep pressing TalkTalk to deal with it and ultimately change suppliers, whether before or after getting the fault fixed.

macman

I'm afraid that why TT is cheap...it's fine when it works, but when something goes wrong the abysmal CS is revealed. Good luck.