Problems with Tiscali

sycktisc

Hi dorks
I too signed up for Tiscali's great free line rental + broadband + call package. Like you I was told that the line would be taken over within 14 days. BT gave me a line transfer date but I began to get letters from Tiscali - 4 with the other folk's customer numbers. They said the order could not proceed because I had things like Red care, Featurenet, IDSN installed - I hadn't! I was told to contact a 0870 number to reinstate my application - which I did not do!
Then I got an email to announce an update - just flim-flam. For 3 weeks I had dialled in my customer number to follow order progress [all supposed to be going well!]; but when I got other folk's numbers I put in their numbers and got the same speil. Then I put in imaginary numbers starting UI***etc and again all was supposed to be progressing for these imaginary folk. I suspected that the 6 letters I got from Tiscali were a stalling mechanism because of over-demand.
My application should have died after 3 weeks of inaction but Tiscali did not cancel provisional interest and kept markers on my line. I informed BT and my current ISP that I was not going to Tiscali. I rang Tiscali and made sure the application was cancelled but I am not confident that the Asian operator understood everything. I also wrote a complaint letter to Tiscali to confirm the order cancellation, but got no answer. I also registered a complaint with Offcom.
Then at 08.00 one morning my telephone line went down momentarily and then my broadband was switched off. [Having plugged in 2 modems to the BT master switch and done all the usual things I am confident that there was no broadband signal].
My ISP logged a fault with BT wholesale and now I wait for my broadband to be restored. A BT engineer tells me that broadband can be switched on and off remotely so I can only assume that Tiscali are still trying to take over the line. The offer from this company is not all it seems - BE WARNED AND BEWARE!

Coloco

I have been with Tiscali since 2003 but now I'm on a dreaded 1per minute dial-up access.

15 days ago our house phones went haywire and after a BT looked at the problem discovered Tiscali's connection to the local exchange was corrupting our lines. This left us 8 days without any phones working.

BT then had no choice but to put us on an old analogue line and gave Tiscali 48 hours to sort out the problem.

It is now 6 days without broadband access. The Indian call center folks cant (or wont) tell me anything other than they are looking into the problem.

As I run a business on the net, this has severally restricted my access to just picking up email only as the 48k dialup speed is to slow for anything else!

sycktisc

sycktisc wrote: »

Hi dorks
I too signed up for Tiscali's great free line rental + broadband + call package. Like you I was told that the line would be taken over within 14 days. BT gave me a line transfer date but I began to get letters from Tiscali - 4 with the other folk's customer numbers. They said the order could not proceed because I had things like Red care, Featurenet, IDSN installed - I hadn't! I was told to contact a 0870 number to reinstate my application - which I did not do!
Then I got an email to announce an update - just flim-flam. For 3 weeks I had dialled in my customer number to follow order progress [all supposed to be going well!]; but when I got other folk's numbers I put in their numbers and got the same speil. Then I put in imaginary numbers starting UI***etc and again all was supposed to be progressing for these imaginary folk. I suspected that the 6 letters I got from Tiscali were a stalling mechanism because of over-demand.
My application should have died after 3 weeks of inaction but Tiscali did not cancel provisional interest and kept markers on my line. I informed BT and my current ISP that I was not going to Tiscali. I rang Tiscali and made sure the application was cancelled but I am not confident that the Asian operator understood everything. I also wrote a complaint letter to Tiscali to confirm the order cancellation, but got no answer. I also registered a complaint with Offcom.
Then at 08.00 one morning my telephone line went down momentarily and then my broadband was switched off. [Having plugged in 2 modems to the BT master switch and done all the usual things I am confident that there was no broadband signal].
My ISP logged a fault with BT wholesale and now I wait for my broadband to be restored. A BT engineer tells me that broadband can be switched on and off remotely so I can only assume that Tiscali are still trying to take over the line. The offer from this company is not all it seems - BE WARNED AND BEWARE!

Well since I wrote this I have had 2 more identical letters from Tiscali [except that there are now 2 different customer numbers] - saying that they can't connect me to their new line rental deal - all cancelled anyway. What they are doing now is harassment.
I rang BT Wholesale today and learnt that my broadband is still with Pipex and that Pipex has stopped my broadband - even though I had confirmed I was staying with them. That would have been 5 days ago. I am 100% certain that there are no internal problems.

Pipex customer service and technical support have been dreadful - it isn't until you get trouble that you realise how bad a company is. I have made dozens and dozens of calls. Oddly I never had any trouble until I tried to sign up with Tiscali. Now Tiscali is to take over Pipex so I shall have to move once I get broadband restored. I have already lodged a complaint about Tiscali with Offcom - but they do not investigate. There is no regulation of this industry whatsoever. There are so many tales on this and other specialist websites about customers with problems and failures being passed from one operator to another. Well I will not be fobbed off and will pass all my correspondence and diary of calls to Oftel - or whoever the regulator is supposed to be. Any ideas about a Regulator anyone??? And is TalkTalk really too bad to transfer to?????

tightbarsteward

I had a nightmare with Tiscali a few years ago & have since found that staying away from the big providers & paying a bit more for a broadband service is the way to go if you want good customer service & good consistent speeds. I know this is a money saving forum but in my experience paying a bit more for trouble free broadband is a much better strategy. Also before you sign up with anyone check their customer forums & see how many complaints their are. Tiscalis used to be choca.

Also question why companies want to tie you in for 12 months or more. Companies with 1 month contracts tend to have excellent customer service.

Compare providers at http://www.thinkbroadband.com/isp/compare.html

and also at

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/review/top10.php

Hope this helps you all.
.

davidscot

inmypocketnottheirs wrote: »

Need to call Tiscali, and saynoto0870.com appears to be down.

Does anyone have a geographic number for customer services please?

TY:beer:

Try this number during office hours and ask to speak to the complaints dept
020 708 72000

marleyboy

davidscot wrote: »

Sent 'customer services' a letter saying that if I was not reconnected within 7 days I would be closing my account. Got a reply saying that if I closed the account before the full 12 months term then I am liable for the full yearly cost.

If I were in your shoes, I would still cancel, on top of which I would take them to court for breaching a contract, Be firm, tell them where to stick it, and let them know you have no intentions of paying the full yearly cost, unless a judge in court says so.

sparkyrob

Hi all,

Newbie on these forums, be gentle

I ordered Tiscali for my new flat on the 12th July. They gave me an activation date of 26th July but said the modem, welcome pack, etc should be delivered before that but they give a 2 week period to ensure it goes through.

As of today, I have still not received the modem. Each time I have rung, I have been given a different date that the modem has been sent out. I was told the 27th, the 29th and today the 1st August as the send-out date. No-one I have spoken to appears to be interested in what is happening - as far as they are concerned, they have done their bit and it is now in someone else's hands. I have been told today that the modem is being shipped by ParcelForce, yet when I then rang the order status line I was told it was being shipped by Royal Mail. I have been passed back and forth between departments because certain departments "don't have access" to other information.

I have rung their "outsourced" order handling department more times than I care to mention. On one occasion, I was put on hold then told that "I will ring you back" (?!). I then got a call back 45 minutes later?? No explanation as to why

I needed to wait, or what the guy was doing. On another occasion I was in a queue for 25 minutes only to have the phone picked up and slammed down again at their end.

They have now had 22 days to send me a modem, and have not done so - blaming Royal Mail's strikes, amongst other things.

I work for an internet based company - I need the internet at home as I work from home 3 days a week. As it is, I have had to commute to another city at cost to myself. I have been offered a paltry one month's free service as recompense for this mess. This is completely unacceptable.

Has anyone been successful in complaining to these people and getting some compensation that is actually worth a damn for their awful service? Every time I've asked for the complaints department, they fob me off with either "the order department are the only ones who can track your order" or "the billing department are the only ones who can credit your account". The guy in billing this morning made it clear that one month free service was the "most I can offer you".

I am at my wit's end!

telephone_man

I had major problems with Tiscali.

I left them for BT Broadband and they continued to extort money from my account 5 months later.

It took numerous calls to their customer 'couldnt care less' department before I spoke to someone who bothered to go that extra mile for me and I finally got my money back after 2 months of trying.

My advice is to take the compensation, get a MAC from them at the same time and do a runner to another company.

crox

To be honest tiscali have had so many problems over the last month or so that it's unbelievable.

Having said that if I was you (and I know this isn't very money saving) I'd buy a modem router (one with a built in firewall) and not use their modem even if it does turn up. USB modems make me shudder.

patwa_2

Hi, Tiscali customer services isn't worth the words used to describe it. I would as said above get a MAC and run to someone else. Of course they'll try to stop you but you stick to your guns. On the down side this will cause loss of broadband during the switchover.

On the other hand, you could take the free month, buy a cheap modem/router and get going. I'm assuming from the tone of your post you'd just like to have internet access now. You could pick up a router for £30 or less, or you could borrow one from friends, a lot of people have the free modems sent out but don't use them because they have an existing setup.

I'm assuming your line is already connected as of the 26th? When you sort out compensation, if they offer a free month make sure it's a free month from the date you actually start using the broadband, not a free month from the go live date which is another tactic I've seen to try to fob off customers.

H.