Problems with TalkTalk

clivejo

Mark,

That's fair enough, ban me from your "support forum". I am sick to death of the lies your company spout. My last CEO contact called Callum promised me that the complaint with BT Open Reach would remain open and he personally would follow it through. Yet Colleen, the last person I spoke to basically told me the complete opposite. Your CEO's office are totally incompetent. Every time I think we are making progress I get assigned a new 'contact' and start from square one again! Colleen made all kinds of excuses, even told me that the office I dealt with had been closed down and the people I spoke to before no longer work in the CEO office!! Callum opened a complaint with BT OR and I have a copy of the fault ticket. He told me I had to wait 5 days for a response and Im still waiting. Does Callum who told me he was a manager know his office has gone after his weeks holiday?

At the end of the day, my line was with TalkTalk while I had the fault which was ongoing for two years !!! You blamed everyone else for the fault. No matter what lies your numerous, so called CEO contacts spout, TalkTalk are responsible for the line as I paid you the line rental. All I wanted was a working telephone line for which I was paying for, and for two years you have given me the run around following your complaints process which got me nowhere.

I have wasted so much time and money trying to get a decent service from TalkTalk, but its impossible. In the end I've probably shot myself in the foot by cancelling my 'service', but after two years of your so called customer service, its worth it to not have to deal with any more lies and fob offs.

Also, I was threatened that if I did not pay the remaining balance (which was for the line rental I refused to pay until you fixed my line) that TalkTalk would take me to court. Can you please confirm if this is the case?

clivejo

Dear Mr *****,

Further to our conversation on Friday 21 September 2012, I have been able to log a complaint on your behalf to Open Reach. Below is a copy of complaint:

Customer, Mr ****, has constant faults on the line. Whenever it is raining or windy he has a crackle on the line which makes using the line almost impossible. He has had numerous engineers out who have provided temporary fixes to the problem but it always re-occurs. Mr **** has been advised by one engineer that until the line is replaced the issue will most likely keep occurring. Customer has also advised that many of the telegraph poles between his property and the exchange are condemned and on the verge of falling over. There is also an issue of overgrown trees from neighbouring farms interfering with the line at many points. Mr **** wanted TalkTalk, as his provider, to make complaint to Open Reach in the hope that something can be done. He is also prepared to provide photographic evidence of the condemn poles and overgrown trees.

I expect to get an update from Open Reach within 5 working days. Should Open Reach agree to investigate the issue they will also contact you directly.

Kind Regards,

Callum ***
Manager,CEO Office
TalkTalk Group

This is a copy of the fault ticket.

clivejo

TalkTalk_Company_Representative wrote: »

In regards to the post from GDBD59 this raises some valid points with regards the supply of service to you which we have already confirmed via the forum. Distance to the street cabinet and exchange are the main factors when considering line speeds, with the quality of the line being the secondary element to this.

My issue is not with 'line speeds'. The issue is with the basic provision of a usable line and plain old voice services. This was paid for, via 'line rental' without fail until last month. It was reported to TalkTalk on numerous occasions and was never fixed. How long is reasonable to expect you to fix a fault, 3 days, a week, a month, a year, two years, ten years? After two years I called it a day and refused to pay, now I'm the bad guy !!! :rotfl:

clivejo

GDBD59 wrote: »

I did a search for OFCOM on this thread.....no mention. Gotta be worth trying them.

I've been in contact with Ofcom. They told me TalkTalk are my provider and the issue lies with them. But TalkTalk argue this and say its a BT Openreach issue as they own the physical line. I called BT Openreach and they say they only deal with emergency issues, ie a manhole is open and swallowing people and as my issue is not an emergency to clear off and report it to TalkTalk. So everyone is pointing at TalkTalk, yet TalkTalk wont take responsibility!

macman

You can't deal direct with OR,you have to deal with your line rental provider, TT .(unfortunately).
Changing your provider will not resolve this issue.

clivejo

macman wrote: »

You can't deal direct with OR,you have to deal with your line rental provider, TT .(unfortunately).
Changing your provider will not resolve this issue.

Hence my problem. Two years of going round and round in circles with TalkTalk and their inability to fix the issue. If they are the subcontractor why cant they do anything? Or is it a case of not wanting to help?

GDBD59

Customer, Mr ****, has constant faults on the line. Whenever it is raining or windy he has a crackle on the line which makes using the line almost impossible. He has had numerous engineers out who have provided temporary fixes to the problem but it always re-occurs.

The accuracy of the wording here is important. An Openreach eng' is not allowed to do a "temporary fix" & close the job. He either has to 'retain' the job & return & complete a permanent fix (usually next day), or if he isn't equipped to do it, get it passed to an engineering division that can.
So if they did find a fault it should have been cleared. It's possible that there is more than one location.

Customer has also advised that many of the telegraph poles between his property and the exchange are condemned and on the verge of falling over.

Not sure that BT uses the word 'condemned'. They are marked with a red 'D' to indicate climbing is prohibited.

To resolve things Clivejo, leaving TalkTalk was the wrong thing to do I fear. I'd imagine your file is in the rubbish bin & they're smiling now.

I gave you some suggestions in a PM, - no other ideas,- sorry.

clivejo

It was clear that neither TalkTalk or BT Openreach had any interest in helping me, other than sending me in circles. I gave them ample time to fix the issue and they didn't.

What I cant understand is why Ofcom or the Ombudsman is unable or unwilling to help !

Steve_xx

clivejo wrote: »

It was clear that neither TalkTalk or BT Openreach had any interest in helping me, other than sending me in circles. I gave them ample time to fix the issue and they didn't.

What I cant understand is why Ofcom or the Ombudsman is unable or unwilling to help !

So have you moved from TalkTalk now? If so, who provides the line for you?
You mentioned that you had witheld payments to TalkTalk and that they had threatened court action to recover it. However, when problems of the nature you have experienced are present then TalkTalk have compensation arrangements that means you ought to have had refunds on your line rental for the service outage periods, at least.

A couple of years back I had a similar problem to yours. TalkTalk drove me nuts for six weeks; with all the usual tales that if the problem is on my kit then I'd have to pay. We went through the rigmarole of them sending out a new router, but the problems, similar to your own, were ever present in bad weather. Eventually after harnessing one of their reps on this site we managed after two months to get an engineer to visit and within 30 minutes the problem was solved. The pair of wires that go from the house to the telegraph pole across the street were corroded in the junction box on the pole. The BT engineer stripped them back and reconnected them and all was well.

I was furious as I knew all along that the problem was outside. TalkTalk do not like to send BT Openreach out because TalkTalk have to pay BT to do so and that's really where a lot of problems stall. TalkTalk will do almost anything to avoid an engineer visit.

I agreed with TalkTalk that they would refund six months worth of line rental as suitable comepensation.

http://www.talktalk.co.uk/legal/compensation-policy/

clivejo

Yes, I found out I could move my number to a VOIP provider in order to 'keep' my number. The physical line is now unused and I believe it was struck by lightening last week. I was still getting a dial tone up to the point it was struck but no service on it.

I am angry at TalkTalk for their shear incompetence regarding the issue and for basically forcing me to give up my land-line. The CEO contact promised me that he personally would follow it up with BT, but now he cant be contacted.

Why are there no external regulators for this sector? BT Openreach seem to be a law unto themselves and do as they please!