Challenging a TalkTalk engineer charge

Captain_Ahab

Hi folks, I hope someone can give me some advice here.

I switched ISP to TalkTalk last July (big mistake, don't bother). The service was poor and got worse so I went through the long procedure for them to get someone out, interrupted by holidays etc.

The engineer eventually came in November, did some troubleshooting and isolated the problem to the TalkTalk router being faulty - he said it looked like one that had been returned to them before. He also said that this definitely wasn't a call that I should be charged for, and to watch my bill carefully because they'd probably try it on.

Sure enough, I've been billed £50 for the visit despite the following from TalkTalk's site:

Will I be charged?

This will depend on the type of fault you are experiencing and where it is located. If the fault is outside your property or caused by a fault with your TalkTalk supplied equipment then you won't be charged.

(my emphasis).

I've been playing email pingpong with them for a few days and it's got down to me repeating "Please confirm whether or not you're disputing that the fault was with your equipment, and please send me a copy of the engineer's report" and them repeating "It's a valid charge."

I'm going to try phoning them on Monday but I really don't have time to spend on hold to a call centre during work.

Has anyone had a similar experience that they've resolved? Is this is a case I could pass on to Trading Standards?

JJ_Egan

Personally i would use the TT forum .

kwikbreaks

As above.

I wanted to report something to Trading Standards as I thought they were the correct people but got rerouted through the CAB - it seems Trading Standards aren't that keen to work on individual consumer cases. The CAB did say that they would pass the issue on to TS and it would be recorded in their database.

I've seen others say they will be complaining through Ofcom for ISP related issues - ditto for them. I think there is some Ombdudsman body you can go through but Ofcom won't help individuals out much either.

On paper you'd think we have huge consumer protection - in practice you have to work hard to get it.

===

I can offer a guess on what happened here ...

SFAIK TalkTalk have no engineers - they use Openreach as every other ISP has to for phone line issues. Did he swap out the router or get you to ask for a new one? Openreach have responsibility up to and including the master socket. If there is a fault beyond that they will charge for callout so TT got charged and they are passing that charge on to you even though you were told that the fault lay in their router. It may be that that piece of information wasn't passed on.

daffodil

Hi
You have all my sympathy. It is by far the worst company I have ever deal with in my life. I had a problem with them when I first joined last October - engineer came out (took me ALL day to get someone to understand what I was saying - all foreign with little grasp of the English language)
I wasn't charged the £50 thank God BUT last week just by chance I closely examined my bank statement - the crafty devils took £50 out of my bank account - I got it refunded but had I not seen it they would have got away with it.
The internet is totally intermittent in the evening.
I will be contacting OFCOM as soon as I get the chance but really my only hope is to hang on in there till I can get out of Talktalk.
At least you only have to wait until July - I have another 8 months to go ( I paid for my line rental for a year when I joined - big mistake.
I would now only phone them if it was a matter of life or death - I am still traumatised from that day I spent on the phone to them - call centres are all over the dammed globe!!
I will say a prayer for you :A