Talk Talk charged contract breakage charge.

mcscoty1973

Hello, looking for some advice here.

I have just transferred to Plus.net from talk talk and today I was looking through my bank account and saw talk talk had charged me £145, I thougth this was odd as I had not had the usual email advising me to go and check my account because the bill was ready.

On looking into the account they have charged me for contract breakage. I was not aware I was actually in a contract, but it turns out in march I got a phone call about a special offer to which I said to the operator "Okay go ahead providing I recieve full information in the post before it begins" I never recieved any information in the post and just assumed this never went ahead.

Little did I know this was not the case. On looking at old bills, there is no indication on these that I was in a new contract, or when the contract would end, even looking in my account it does not give you this information at all, so I was totally blind. I chose to let plus.net handle Talk talk and they did that well, but talk talk sent me a letter advising that I was being transferred and if it was wrong to contact them. They never actually mentioned I was already in a contract and if I left I would be charged £145, the first I knew of it was when I saw the direct debit on the bank account.

My question is this, can they get away with doing this? Are they breaking the direct debit guarantee by not sending the usual email saying my bill was ready for viewing? I think if they did that then I could say it was my fault, but they didn't and I just assumed I would get a normal final bill in the post.

I normally chose to cancel the final direct debit and wait til they write to me, but this time I left it, I am regretting it now.

Any advice please.

Heinz

You can always demand your bank reverses the £145 DD call and fight it out with TT afterwards if you want.

Beware though, they don't give way easily.

NittyGritty

send an email to the complaints department, or ring them asking them to put you through to a manager, explain the situation (sounds like you unknowningly signed upto another 12 or 18 month contract with them when they rung you etc)

mcscoty1973

How easy or hard is it to get the bank to reverse the charge, I am quite happy to do this but not sure how to go about it. Is the fact they did not inform me of this charge good enough reason for me to get the bank to reverse it?

Talk talk (india) dont seem to care about the direct debit guarantee, in fact I dont think they even know what it is.

Heinz wrote: »

You can always demand your bank reverses the £145 DD call and fight it out with TT afterwards if you want.

Beware though, they don't give way easily.

mcscoty1973

NittyGritty wrote: »

send an email to the complaints department, or ring them asking them to put you through to a manager, explain the situation (sounds like you unknowningly signed upto another 12 or 18 month contract with them when they rung you etc)

I have tried the complaints/customer services, but sadly they are indian and simply do not understand the issue.

I probably had agreed verbally to an 18 month contract, but I also stated that this was subject to me getting written details sent to me. because this did not happen, and I never saw anything in my account/on line bill to indicate I had a new contract, how on earth am I supposed to know it is actually in place or not.

I would have thought maybe with distance selling regulatons etc, is there something that states they have to write to you and your home? It woudl make some sense.

Heinz

mcscoty1973 wrote: »

How easy or hard is it to get the bank to reverse the charge, I am quite happy to do this but not sure how to go about it.

It is YOUR choice - the bank MUST comply with your wishes (you do not have to explain your reason but it usually helps if you say they have called the wrong amount).

mcscoty1973

Heinz wrote: »

It is YOUR choice - the bank MUST comply with your wishes (you do not have to explain your reason but it usually helps if you say they have called the wrong amount).

Thanks Heinz, I have called the bank and they have reversed the charge and I have cancelled the Direct Debit, so that will put two fingers up at talk talk :-)

I just need to find out if talk talk have to abide by the distance selling regs, I think they do but I am not 100% sure. From my understanding if they cold call you, they must inform you in writing within 3 months about the new contract.

Talk talk have never informed me about the new contract ever, not even now can I find shread of evidence to say I am in contract for 18 months.

Buzby

You should check that TT do not advise Credit Reference agencies of your payment history, as this could cause you problems. Virgin do, BT (at the moment - don't). As to your earlier point, they wouldn;t have to specifically tell you of the charge, as you gave them permission to take unspecified amounts - with a reversal, in their eyes you'll now owe them, so be prepared for the follow-up calls.

As to the problem that caused it - did you get the service you agreed to? If so, whether you recieved the information your requested wouldn't matter as they could argue they don't work that way, and they were simply fulfilling your request.

Finally, it wasn't a 'new contract'. Just the same one you always had - only the minimum term changed when you modified the service, and ALL carriers do this to a greater or lesser extent.

mcscoty1973

Buzby.

Yes I technically I did get the services from talk talk, but I was blisfully unaware of this because I would be having the exactly same services from them had no contract been renewed due to the normal month to month rolling contract that I was in.

Talk talk probably do advise credit agencies, but I do not think they can legally update this status when a dispute is being delt with, unless a deadlock is reached.

The issue I have with not being advised is that when Talk Talk went to the bother of writing to me advising me that my phone service was being transferreed, if they had advised me that I was liable for a charge because I was still in contract to such and such a date, then I would have been in a position to sort something out and stop the transfer, however this opportunity was denied to me because of the sneaky and underhand tactics of talk talk who probably realised it was in their interest to take money from me for a service they dont have to provide....ching ching!

Buzby wrote: »

You should check that TT do not advise Credit Reference agencies of your payment history, as this could cause you problems. Virgin do, BT (at the moment - don't). As to your earlier point, they wouldn;t have to specifically tell you of the charge, as you gave them permission to take unspecified amounts - with a reversal, in their eyes you'll now owe them, so be prepared for the follow-up calls.

As to the problem that caused it - did you get the service you agreed to? If so, whether you recieved the information your requested wouldn't matter as they could argue they don't work that way, and they were simply fulfilling your request.

Finally, it wasn't a 'new contract'. Just the same one you always had - only the minimum term changed when you modified the service, and ALL carriers do this to a greater or lesser extent.

NittyGritty

have you heard anything from talk talk since you got your money back from your bank? i would suggest if you do , then you send them a letter requesting ALL communications are sent by post, that way you have proof if needed wot was said, rather than rely on phone calls, as it will be your word against theirs etc