Should I join TalkTalk

swift1_2

Hi,

I'm in a right dilemma on whether to join talktalk, have had no previous experience with them, but having a quick look through the threads, there do seem to attract more than a few complaints.
I'm wondering if they have cleaned up their act?

Also, just got off the phone with my current broadband provider, Orange, and he really did his level best to put me off - wondering how much of it is just retentions bluff and how much is true. He made the following points:

Talktalk well known for their hidden charges:
i) They tag the line so when you want to leave at the end of the contract, you can't take your phone line with you and you have to pay for a new line at a cost to you of around £140
ii) If you don't use your landline to make calls you'll get charged an inactivity fee.
iii) have to pay to ring customer services
iv) have a habit of not closing down mac transfer - so still get billed from previous provider.

He said Talktalk are like the airlines of the budget airline industry where they promote cheap fares but sting you with hidden charges and poor customer service.

Talktalk are the cheapest I've found so far at £7.70 (broadband+line rental). Next cheapest is Plusnet at £9.53 though they have a 10gb download limit.

Just wondering that your probably not going to hear about people who are doing ok out of the service, just from people that have problems.

Thx.

suzeesu2000

From personal experience, I wouldn't touch TalkTalk with a barge-pole! When I had an account with them they were awful. Disconnection for no reason, charging to call customer service, tech help in India is very poor I am afraid, payment centre for billing was in Lithuania, no department will talk to each other so if there is a problem you will tear all your hair out before getting it fixed.

Am currently with BT who have been very good thus far. Good communications, done what they have said they would do. Although not the cheapest, they are worth paying an extra bit for in my opinion.

diamonds

No customer services lie, TT forum staff & executive staff are liars aswell, quite frankly in ten years CarPhoneWarehouse, TalkMobile & Talk Talk have all breached terms & billing with me. Vulgar brands and care, quite frankly financial & mental rapists.

moggies

If I was you I would stay away from Talk Talk,I am currently with Talk Talk and wouldnt recommend them to anyone,I was in a way forced to be with them,my old provider Homecall was taken over by TalkTalk,I was with Homecall for years never a problem,since being with Talk Talk nothing but problems,they sent me an email asking what I thought of Talk Talk,I said
]**********************I dare not print what I said and I am a OAP,do you know they never even replied to find out what the problem was,but I worry if I change providers Talk Talk will keep my phone line and charge me ,sorry I forgot to say I have not signed any contract with them saying I will keep the line ect for how long,they just took over my homecall contract.

baby_frogmella

swift1 wrote: »

Talktalk well known for their hidden charges:
i) They tag the line so when you want to leave at the end of the contract, you can't take your phone line with you and you have to pay for a new line at a cost to you of around £140
ii) If you don't use your landline to make calls you'll get charged an inactivity fee.
iii) have to pay to ring customer services
iv) have a habit of not closing down mac transfer - so still get billed from previous provider.
Thx.

All porkies i'm afraid:
i) TalkTalk do NOT place any tag or magically make your line vanish thus requiring a new line after leaving their LLU service.
ii) This does not apply to TalkTalk, afaik it applies (or used to) on BT call plans.
iii) All TT 0870 customer support numbers are free from Talktalk lines (full LLU)
iv) You do not need a MAC to move to TalkTalk LLU, however your existing BTw isp may give one out anyway. (just ignore it)

swift1 wrote: »

Just wondering that your probably not going to hear about people who are doing ok out of the service, just from people that have problems.
Thx.

Exactly! people will often only come on forums to moan about something, not common to hear from people who actually have no problems. Previously i was with a top end BTw isp called Goscomb Technologies, niche isp in the same league as Zen Broadband, AAISP, Xilo/Uno etc. I was paying £45 a month for a 8128/828 kbps connection but cost wasn't an issue for me. Service was excellent but couldn't get any more than 8 meg due to no ADSL2+ suppliers at my exchange. Anyway the devil LLU'd my tiny piddly exchange in the Scottish Highlands in mid 2010 and despite hearing horror stories about them, decided to join them on the understanding that i could leave them in the first 30 days if not happy. Well >2 years later i'm still a very happy TT customer. Line speeds 24/7, fastpath profile available for gaming/voip, freedom to use any router without breaking tees & cees and above all, they don't underpower ADSL2+ lines like a certain satellite tv company does...i get 18.5 meg on a 29db attenuation line, try getting that with Murdoch's company!:eek:

TalkTalk's poor phone support is purely the reason for their poor reputation, stick to their web support and you won't have any issues at all

diamonds

Thats not accurate, the web support still get things wrong....and a chief exec team defend them, really read the support forums fully before commiting to TT, customer service does not exist so what the point in a great product that "care" lets down.

baby_frogmella

diamonds wrote: »

Thats not accurate, the web support still get things wrong....and a chief exec team defend them, really read the support forums fully before commiting to TT, customer service does not exist so what the point in a great product that "care" lets down.

well of course the forum support staff aren't going to be perfect, no customer support ever is. I'm sure even Zen broadband will have some unhappy customers. But from my experience, their forum staff will do a hell of a lot better than their phone support in helping you resolve issues. Obviously if you start throwing expletives at them, then they'll be less inclined to help you and well done to them. For every disgruntled ex-customer like you, there's thousands of TT customers perfectly happy with their service;)

bod1467

iii) All TT 0870 customer support numbers are free from Talktalk lines (full LLU)

Unless things have changed quite recently then that's not entirely true. MOST 0870 numbers for TT are free (from a TT line), but not ALL. (Check the TT forums).

TalkTalk

@Bod,

I beleive the post was referring to all TalkTalk's 0870 support numbers.
These are all free from TalkTalk lines.

0870 and 0845 calls are also indcluded in some packages, but not all. In those packages that do have 0870 and 0845 inclusiuve this applies to all 0870 and 0845 calls. This doesnt however include 0871 or 0844 numbers.

Regards

Mark
TalkTalk Online Community Department

bod1467

@Mark - I recall seeing on the TTMF some posts about people calling TT using their TT lines and still getting charged, because the specific TT 0870 numbers called were not included as a TT free number. If this has now changed then great - has it?

cajef

baby_frogmella wrote: »

For every disgruntled ex-customer like you, there's thousands of TT customers perfectly happy with their service;)

Well that must explain this:-

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-2084868/Customer-service-TalkTalk-gets-Wooden-Spoon-award-AGAIN.html

and this:-

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/phones/2011/04/talk-talk-worst-for-phone-and-broadband-complaints