Talk Talk (internet and phone) - how bad is it really? Good experiences or bad ones?

beansy

We joined them last November after being with the P.O. for over 6 yrs and we are getting a much faster broadband speed with very little problems for much less £'s. Must admit it was difficult when transferring across conversing with the call centre staff but we were put through to the UK team when necessary.

So happy with our service and the price we now pay.

dawyldthing

I've been with them for over a year and would recommend them. For less than 120 a year for unlimited internet and evening and weekend calls I can't really complain and upto yet haven't really had many problems

Fortyfoot

Faster than what it was but the connection fails several times a day, very annoying.

Fortyfoot

MillicentBystander

penelopedee wrote: »

We use them, and when everything is going ok the broadband is really good for us being out in the sticks. Their helpdesk is very script based but you can ask to speak to a manager which does help (although its not brilliant and we had 2 weeks of nothing due to their mess-up - but I was compensated when I asked politely). We did have their engineers sent out who I would say were fine, and actually struggled with the call centre as much as we did, but at least gave me firm instructions to tell them what to do to resolve the problem.

In my experience if you do need to phone the helpline then wait until 8am in the morning when it first opens and be one of the first callers. It does make a difference.

I may not use them again when I run out of the contract period but I wouldn't totally exclude them.

So, essentially, if you wasn't tied into a 12 month contract you would probably have left? This sort of backs up my earlier point - if a company is confident about their service why insist that their punters are tied in for a year and have to buy their way out if they want pastures new?

PS And being without internet for 2 weeks is just inexcusable no matter what compensation was given (and then only after you asked for it).

Doc_N

Fortyfoot wrote: »

Faster than what it was but the connection fails several times a day, very annoying.

Fortyfoot

You're sure it isn't a router problem?

I used to get that and always blamed the ISP. Then I changed the router - and it never happened again.

colin1951uk

As a relative newbie to TT I would heartily recommend them.

I joined up this time last year and after one initial glitch where they overcharged me by a mile on my first invoice I haven't got a bad word to say about them.

As for the problem I had I tried to get it sorted out via the call centers (hopeless!) so I went straight to the top (the ceo) and it was fixed within 48hrs and a £70 credit added to my account for the inconvenience I'd put up with.

The trick with TT is to use the staff within the ceo's office or the online forums where you'll get some quick service to any problems you may encounter...avoid the call centers at all costs.

The broadband itself I have found excellent....never below 15kbps down (and pretty well a constant 800kbps up) and that's with a noisy line (15+snr) because I live right next door to a massive shopping center with all sorts of rubbish spewing out 24/7.

I've now just renewed my contract (broadband + 24/7 calls) for £15 a month plus an extra £2 a month loyalty credit and for the money it's a hoot.

I think some people are just unlucky and just can't get anything right with TT but bearing in mind the number of customers they have they can't be that bad as I've found.

You pays yer money and takes yer choice as they say...well for the money I'm not grumbling...my advice is give em a try and as everyone has said forget the call centers and you might be pleasantly surprised

Cheers...Colin

ajsexton

As many people have said, TT are fine if you have no problems.

There customer services and billing systems are atrocious, Im still waiting on powerline adapters being sent out (this reminded me I need to phone them)

If you do go with them, always do things in steps, they can not seem to manage doing 2 or more things at once (such as fibre and Plus TV)

Actual physical service side now that most of the customer service issues are dealt with, I have had no issues and I'm a fairly heavy all day round user

hiccup

standinman2009 wrote: »

Most of call centre staff have very good English language ,better than a lot a british people ,this all sounds like prejudice .

As for the service my experience of talk talk has been first rate very comparable to BT who I might add also these days use foreign call centres !!

Another Talk Talk rep talking up a rubbish con. Overseas reps are unable to put english words together. Pay peanuts get monkeys in any country. Look at talk talk employee's in the uk they are just robot fools unlike their employers who are the leftovers from the mobile phone scams.:D

Neil49

Fortyfoot wrote: »

Faster than what it was but the connection fails several times a day, very annoying.

Fortyfoot

I concur with Doc N's response a few responses up.

I was getting frequent dropouts with the router restarting itself to regain the connection so dug out my old Linksys router which I had used pre Talk Talk. It was easy to setup once I had gathered all the relevant settings and passwords etc and I don't think I have had a single loss of connection for months. Connection speeds have improved as well but that just may be down to general line improvements

It's worth shopping around for price and look up different models on Amazon to check out user reviews as even well known makes have produced some duff models.

Doc_N

For what it's worth, I weighed up all the comments (for which, thanks) and decided to take a chance on switching to TalkTalk.

The process went very smoothly indeed, with no hitches or problems at all. There was a very short break in service (phone and internet) on switchover day, but after that everything worked just fine. What does puzzle me is that the existing non-TalkTalk router still continued to work, without any change in settings!

Since the switch, the only problem (a few days later) was an unexplained 10 minute loss of dialling tone, which was odd since the broadband carried on normally. A call which was in progress was cut off, but the line was working again within 10 minutes.

A couple of calls to TT have been dealt with efficiently and quickly (one to change the telephone options) and frankly these calls were dealt with better than BT or my previous ISP would have dealt with them.

I now pay not well under half what I was paying before, and for unlimited broadband. The phone side costs much the same as BT if a year's paid in advance. Broadband speed is exactly as it was before, and it doesn't show any signs of slowing at peak times.

Even discounting the 6 months free broadband offer, and the 3 months free anytime calls, this is an excellent deal. The £70 Quidco was a nice bonus, too. First year savings altogether around £215 for broadband which is much the same as before, except that it's now unlimited.