Talk Talk Vent!

Moonbeam

Following a call from a Talk Talk Sales rep in September 2011, against my better judgment (just a niggling feeling) we moved phone & broadband to them from BT & Orange.

Problems started immediately as the router they sent didn't work properly with my iphone. We called and after waiting for 45 minutes finally got through to a customer service adviser. After a lengthy conversation they transferred us through to the technical dept where we were promptly cut off from the call (this happened twice). We then called and asked to cancel the account (within the 30 day free trial) - they suggested a new router. We said we would accept the new router, but only if they extended our free trial for an extra 30 days to give us time to try it out, which they agreed to. It still didn't work so we cancelled the account and moved to plus net a couple of days after receiving the exchanged router.

In December I got a bill from them trying to charge an extra £140 (rounded up) for cancelling outwith the trial period. When I called I got put through to another numpty (ahem sorry, customer service adviser) who tried to argue that only the router was a 30 day free trial, not the phone & broadband contract??????

After lengthy e-mails they finally agreed to cancel the additional charge and offer a small refund by way of apology (yippppeeee) - leaving £15.17 to pay. On the 9th December I paid the £15.17 via bank transfer.

20th December I received a bill from them for £15.17!!!!!! E-mailed them stating I paid already. Got a response saying to leave it and it would probably appear on the account in a few days.

Got another bill on 20th January for...£15.17!!!! Contacted them stating I'd paid, gave them an extract from my bank statement, told them the reference I'd used to pay, then e-mailed them a photo of my bank statement showing the payment. Asked to be given one point of contact so that we could sort it out.

Instead today have had 2 e-mails from 2 different advisers stating that they have passed my details onto a debt collection agency!

Am HORRIFIED! Have never had debt before, home address is connected to my business address and am now concerned about what this is doing to my credit rating. Don't know what to do other than contact the ombudsman. So stressed it's stopping me from sleeping, but don't want to pay them any more money. Awful, dreadful company....wish I had listened to my niggling gut instinct last year

DO NOT MOVE YOUR PHONE OR BROADBAND TO TALK TALK. The sales guys are lovely and will have you believing it will all run smoothly, but they are a dreadful company to deal with if something goes wrong....you have been warned!

LouLou

Having been on both ends (customer and company representative) I'd never dream of being rude to someone who offers me a service or advice. It doesn't get you anywhere, and it's just common courtesy anyway.

Talktalk DO have some rude reps, just read their forum, it's filled with horror stories.

There are some polite, friendly, helpful reps, but some are utterly clueless.

One example from about a year ago: I asked if I could get an "N" router and how could I go about it?

We're sorry, ma'am, but we only do "G" routers, was the reply.

OK, so why are you advertising "N" routers on your website?

And so on..

I gave up and phoned the next day, a different rep said he had no idea why I was told that and gave me all the information I needed. A very simple question.

If you're having a particularly thorny techie problem, it's pot luck whether you'll get a genius or a dunce! I've even had sarcastic/annoyed responses when I've been (quite legitimately) frustrated by the hopeless service.

If you've got a problem, and can get online, go on the forums, they're sympathetic and very eager to help out. www.talktalkmembers.com/forums Try there as a last-ditch attempt to remedy things, if you haven't already. They're great.

If they weren't so cheap, and I must admit I've barely had any glitches with my service..I'd have left long ago.

giraffe69

Having been a CS rep, If your rude, I would do nothing apart from bare minimum.

I think OP would have settled for the bare minimum in the first place.

Squire_Fulwood

I know that this is of no practical help whatsoever but after my experience with Talk Talk I think that anyone who chooses them as an ISP deserve all they get. It's not just their call centre staff who are numpties. The whole organisation is flawed.

They kept writing to me explaining that they were going to reward me for my loyalty after still being with them when they took over Tiscali. Among the rewards were a limitation to my download allowance and the ability to call other TT phones for free. (Could have been useful if I owned a TT phone I suppose.)

I won't continue since I mentioned all this in a thread of my own at the time. Suffice it to say that I do not recommend TT to friends.

fluffnutter

Talk Talk is the most complained about telecomms company. Guess they expanded too quickly and their processes and service simply couldn't keep up.

fluffnutter

Moonbeam wrote: »

Don't know what to do other than contact the ombudsman. So stressed it's stopping me from sleeping, but don't want to pay them any more money.

Don't pay them any more money, Moonbeam. You don't owe any. As for the ombudsman, I don't think you're quite there yet. Plus the ombudsman is there to deal with entrenched and unreasonable processes and rules, not straightforward admin cock-ups like this.

I believe you'll get this sorted. This is clearly poor administration and someone, somewhere will see sense.

Write to them once again (recorded delivery) with your evidence of payment, and make it clear that the only correspondence you now expect is a letter from them confirming this matter is resolved.

If debt collectors contact you, deny the debt and advise that they must return the debt to Talk Talk and cease contacting you (it's against the law if they continue). Hopefully it won't get that far and, more importantly, that your credit file is unaffected. If it is, then Talk Talk must remove any default notices that they've put on there. Let's not jump the gun though; you're not there yet.

Let us know how things are going now.

Squire_Fulwood

fluffnutter wrote: »

I believe you'll get this sorted. This is clearly poor administration and someone, somewhere will see sense.

Oh ye of great faith.

xmaslolly76

I can understand the op's frustration with the company. They are completely incompetent and total liars (i have a wonderful list of the fairytales they have told me) and as far as I am concerned are the worst telecommunications company trading at the moment. I am currently waiting a cheque off them and have been waiting for almost 3 mths I still don't have it and all you get when you phone is its tough there is nothing we can do we can only push the buttons on the computer we are unable to think for ourselves and actually be helpful.

If anyone does have a number or an email address of someone who can actually help I would be eternally grateful.

Moonbeam

Thanks for the responses. I've contacted the ombudsman in the meantime, but have now had another e-mail from yet another TT person stating that they have escalated it and to allow 7 days for them to resolve. ( I wonder if they follow this thread and have worked out who I am????)

It's so difficult not having a single point of contact to go through the whole thing with and try to resolve. Fingers crossed it will be sorted soon one way or another.

PS: If you google the word "numpty" you should find that it's a very accurate word for the situation I found myself in

matilda55

having recently switched phone and internet provider after massive issues with talktalk, I have a contact name and telephone number and email for a person working in their chief exec office, given to me after complaint lodged with ofcom. knowing how frustrating it was until i received these details to get anyone at talktalk to listen to me and deal with my problems i wondered if this is something i could put onto this site to help others. Please let me know...

Moonbeam

matilda55 wrote: »

having recently switched phone and internet provider after massive issues with talktalk, I have a contact name and telephone number and email for a person working in their chief exec office, given to me after complaint lodged with ofcom. knowing how frustrating it was until i received these details to get anyone at talktalk to listen to me and deal with my problems i wondered if this is something i could put onto this site to help others. Please let me know...

That would be most helpful. Today took time off my work to check all the details with my bank. They confirmed all went through fine, double check the bank account details & the reference and they gave me the faster payment reference to give to TT. I e-mailed TT again with full details of everything - the original dates, the original reference numbers, my account number, the amount etc, etc and got an e-mail back from them asking me to Fax them a copy of my bank statement to them!

Don't have a Fax and don't have time to go to Post Office to use theirs so have emailed them a picture again of the statements. It's getting so bizarre! According to the bank all they have to do is pop the faster payment reference into their systems and they should find the transfer instantly and have it resolved.....it's soooooooo frustrating!