Are TalkTalk in breach of contract?

eggyf7

Hi

I believe talktalk are in breach of contract as we keep getting intermittent service. The contract states that a wired connection is covered yet we keep getting a loss of service with a wired and wireless connection.

I have spoken to TalkTalk who want us to pay an early termination fee, however i believe they are in breach of contract and i have requested to cancel the contract within 28 days of reporting the fault as ofcom suggests. Anyone know where i stand?

transient

What issue have you had with the wired connection? Timings?
How long have these issues being going on for?
When did you take the contract out?

susancs

I had a similar problem a couple of years ago with Talktalk and it turned out to be a fault with the wiring from the telegraph pole to our house which the engineer had to replace (we were with BT before that). We were informed at the time if the fault was with any internal connections that we would have to pay but if it was an external fault it was free. My mother who is with BT recently had a similar problem recently but on unplugging an answer machine and an extension socket and ensuring filters were on all the phone sockets it fixed the problem. When she plugs back in the answerphone she gets the drop out.

I know Talktalk tech services are based overseas and can be hard to deal with as they seem to be reading from a script and their spoken English is not of a high enough standard IMO. If you can get it escalated to the higher tech dept you usually get better service I have found. My internet both wired and wireless would cut out, but if I picked up the phone to ring it would come back on, which apparently is typical I was told with an external fault. If you have done all the internal checks such as wiring to the main socket only then insist on an engineer visit.

knightstyle

A couple of years ago TT send a man round and he sorted out our similar problem. First thing to do is to unscrew the face plate on your main telephone socket and remove it. Then plug in your modem to the phone socket behind it. Note you will have disconnected the home phone. If you still have problems it it in the house wiring, if not it is external and TT should sort it out.

bod1467

I think that last sentence should be (in relation to being plugged in to the TEST socket) ... if you still have problems then it is external and TT should sort it, if not then the problem is internal (perhaps with house wiring).

Note: The easy way to check for obvious line issues is to plug a corded, analogue phone (a few quid from the likes of Argos) into the TEST socket (behind the faceplate) and dial 0 then listen - any line noise should be obvious as the line should be absolutely silent.

I usually suggest dialling 17070 option 2 for the quiet line test, but 17070 on TT only returns your line number - the other options are not available on unbundled phone lines like TT and Sky.

susancs

knightstyle wrote: »

A couple of years ago TT send a man round and he sorted out our similar problem. First thing to do is to unscrew the face plate on your main telephone socket and remove it. Then plug in your modem to the phone socket behind it. Note you will have disconnected the home phone. If you still have problems it it in the house wiring, if not it is external and TT should sort it out.

I remember we had to do that for 24 hours and report back. The internet was still going off so they said it was an external fault. The Talk talk engineer who came out was really nice and sorted out the external wiring (he said there was a slight fray in an external wire). I hope that you get it sorted out OP. If it was like my fault I found lifting the phone for a few minutes seemed to bring it back on for a while, which might help until you get ithe fault fixed.