tiscali/talktalk help please

klbooth · 3 December 2011 at 5:00PM

I have just had quite possibly the worst experience in customer service with attempting to get a cheaper home phone/broadband deal. I am left actually upset and very confused and would love it if someone can explain it to me cos I sure am not getting it.

I have been with tiscali for a long time, and they were as I understand it taken over by talk talk...least that is what the letter said and that is who bills me every month.

So I have been paying £11.99 per month for broadband, £0 for a UK night/weekend call plan, and £13.80 for line rental per month.

I have looked around as need to cut down expenses somehow and saw the information on talk talk site about cheaper line rental and also the essentials plan which is £6.50 for callplan and broadband. So I assumed transferring what is my now defunct plan for that plan with the same company would be simple. BAH!!!

I gave my details and said I was wanting to change my plan for the cheaper one advertised, to the person who answered the phone, they passed me onto someone else who went through the same thing, then passed me to someone else.

So... 3rd person lucky who discussed the plan, kept talking about upgrading, when it is precisely the same services as what I now receive. Happily told me they will charge me half price call plan £3.25 per month for the first 6mths and then half way through the conversation mentions and broadband for £13.01, which I kept querying, much confusion, as I kept saying what I see on my account and on the essentials plan and she just kept saying about upgrading etc... she then reads a compliance agreement and says I have 14days blah blah blah. and then says about the the £18 odd i will be paying which is much more than I am currently paying (how the heck does that equate to a better deal for me I have no clue).

So I query that again and trying to explain I am paying less now so how is that a good deal??? and that is NOT what it says in the essentials page on the website.

By this stage I am getting quite annoyed and she just keeps repeating the same thing and so I say I don't want the changes and to put it back. She goes away for a few minutes. Comes back then just rattles off how she was trying to help me as I asked, had read a compliance agreement and made all the changes and that my broadband was bundled and I had always paid for it and I was a tiscali customer... I said I wanted the changes taken off, she says she read a compliance agreement, so I say I had 14days to change my mind and I am changing it right now. And what does bundled mean and I thought I was a talk talk customer, she just said she had taken the changes off and was passing me to a tiscali representative.

I am kinda livid by now as I am confused, the 4th person answers the phone and says how can I help, and I have no clue because I don't understand what is happening, tried explaining what had happened and tried to get an answer as to whether tiscali was bought by talk talk.....but he said he would pass me on to the tiscali desk..... and at that stage the phone call cut off while he was transferring......

Please can anyone try and explain what is going on as I don't understand. I am not a stupid person but I am baffled how I am sat here so upset by a flippin phonecall.

baby_frogmella · 4 December 2011 at 8:27AM

Use this form to get in touch with TalkTalk and they will call you back. Alternatively one of the TalkTalk bods might see this thread and help you out

Once you are successfully transferred onto the TalkTalk billing platform, i strongly recommend you register on the TT forums as that is the best place to go for support:
http://www.talktalkmembers.com/forums/

bod1467 · 4 December 2011 at 9:58PM

If you dial 17070 what options do you get? If you only get your phone number read back then you're already on the TalkTalk LLU equipment. If you get other options available then you're likely still on the BT equipment, so moving to TalkTalk non-LLU would actually be more expensive.

MarrowFarmer · 5 December 2011 at 12:44PM

Is the £13.01 not for line rental that you would now be paying to TT not BT?

If so then you were on £24.79 and now on £19.51 (£16.01 for the first 6 months)!

My only word of warning is that by transfering the actual line over BT will most likely not accept it back ever and to move away from TT you would need a new line installed at a later date.

bod1467 · 5 December 2011 at 1:54PM

MarrowFarmer wrote: »

My only word of warning is that by transfering the actual line over BT will most likely not accept it back ever and to move away from TT you would need a new line installed at a later date.

Not quite correct. Any "new" line would actually be a "return to donor" of the existing line. (i.e. disconnect from TT equipment in the exchange and reconnect to BT equipment - for the phone line). However there would likely be a charge for this; either as a one-off charge or by taking out a line rental contract with another provider (not necessarily BT).