MSE News: TalkTalk plans phone, broadband and TV price rises

Caddyman

mm_80 wrote: »

I'm a talktalk tv customer and I want to cancel as I'm fed up of the awful service! I keep reading that I can cancel within 30 days of them informing me of the price increase, however OFCOM states this is for contracts starting in Jan 14. My contract is 18 months old, so will I be able to cancel or not? So confused!!!

Firstly, you need to find out exactly how long your contract was for. It could be that you were only on a 12 or 18 month contract anyway, in which case you should be able to leave penalty free as long as you give TalkTalk at least 30 days notice. At least that is my understanding. If however you are on a 24 month contract, then there will be a penalty if you leave early and you would have to speak to TalkTalk about that. Basically, find out when the contract ends.

I left TalkTalk at the begininng of March 2014 and believe me, I found it an unbelieveably stressful experience. My contract was coming to a natural end, so I had a choice, just 'phone them up and renew or wait for a letter or email inviting me to renew. TalkTalk didn't contact me and so I took the initiative and contacted them. What subsequently happened when I told them I wanted my line disconnected once my contract came to a natural end, is too long and messy to discuss. Quite frankly I was absolutely appalled in my experience, at the difficulty involved in simply just leaving with no obligations involved.

Thankfully, I am now completely free of the burden of a landline telephone and I'm very happy.

Beaker_clueless

Moved to Talk Talk this January from BT. Have paid the line rental 12 months in advance & gone for Unlimited Mobile Saver option (We spend more than £5 each month talking to our daughter at Uni so we're quids in!). Looked at all the TV packages and opted for the Unlimited Broadband only @ £2.50 per month - then bought a refurbished BT 500Gb YouView box for £110. Broadband speed is about where I'd expect given our distance from the exchange - had the odd hiccup where's it's stopped working for a minute or two - but early days - I'm monitoring that. So, yes, I'm not happy that something I bought two months ago is increasing in price but it still represents great value for money. And I've just moved my wife's mobile phone to Talk Talk - she didn't want a new handset and (for an existing TT customer) this was easily the best SIM only deal.

afmfifgh

I must say that since switching to TalkTalk from Zen Internet I have actually had no issues but used to with Zen but their customer service was very good but I can't comment on TalkTalk's as I have had no need to use their C.S.

One big improvement was the speed we got - it almost doubled and for my parents who I also switched it did double!

We took out our contracts back in September 2013 on a 12 month contract, this was for Landline and Unlimited internet. For my parents we opted also for the Daytime Landline calls add on after looking through the last year of bills it made sense.

I paid £114 upfront for 12 months line rental and then £3.75 a month for Evening (7pm - 7am) and Weekend calls to Landlines, the 50% off introductory rate lasts for 12 months so it will be £7.50 a month after 12 months. But I also got £60 cash back via Quidco so it worked out for the year for me at £99.00.

With the price hike to £8.50 I assume I will pay £4.25 a month instead of £3.75 so an extra £2.50 over the contract duration making the total cost £101.50 or £8.46 a month.

I used to pay Zen internet £25.52 a month and then had Landline costs on top.

So overall I have to say I am very satisfied with TalkTalk as are my parents who also saved several hundred pounds a year by switching from BT and Zen Internet to TalkTalk.

Now if only I could get my sister to ditch Virgin! She could have an iPad each year with the savings!

GolfBravo

Anyone received TT's price increase notifications yet?

CptBlack

If I wanted to switch because of the price rise, should I cancel with TalkTalk first, or start the switch from another provider?
I'm currently inside a contract (I also think it restarted recently because I moved house)
I had the email on the 29th about the price increase

GolfBravo

CptBlack wrote: »

If I wanted to switch because of the price rise, should I cancel with TalkTalk first, or start the switch from another provider?
I'm currently inside a contract (I also think it restarted recently because I moved house)
I had the email on the 29th about the price increase

I am yet to receive a letter/email from TT, but my understanding is that you need to call TT first and give them at least 10 days notice.

I'm hoping to get the letter/email soon, so I can go ahead and cancel TT and then order Sky (6 months 50% off fibre or standard broadband, £100 Quidco cashback , £25 M&S voucher, only 12 months contract) which takes about 2 weeks to transfer from TT to Sky. BTW I'm inside a TT contract as well (14 months to go).

PS
Last week they were offering £100 M&S vouchers, but no 50% bb discount.

Bunson

I have just spent two and a half days trying to deal with TalkTalk call centres trying to work out the cost of adding fibre to my package. I may be leaving the UK to work abroad and nobody can give me a consistent answer what the termination fees would be. Contractual certainty is a fundamental principle of UK law, and a customer should know exactly how charges will be calculated- however TalkTalk seems unwilling or unable to answer this question. My experience with dealing with TalkTalk call centers - including rudeness, dropped calls with no call back, inconsistent information, endless waiting on hold and complete lack of empathy and understanding about what I would like has been appalling. Most galling of all is that I have paid my bills to them on time every month for 8 years. I have also complained to OffCom.

chriswedge

I've never had any issues with TalkTalk. I renewed in November to pay £1.75 for unlimited BB for 12 months after paying line rental up front (50% off plus £2 per month discount). They also offered me a free new router, which turned out to provide worse speeds than my Belkin, but nothing lost there.

I'm obviously not impressed with the price hikes but I reckon when I look around I won't find a better deal for unlimited BB even with the rise (£.2.25 per month). I think TalkTalk know this!

Just wish it provided faster d/l speeds than 5.7mb/s.

chriswedge

To add to this, the price hike email quotes "We're pleased to let you know that your package now comes with TV included", however you need to order the youview box to get TV, and that means renewing your contract. If you do not want to renew your contract you have TV included but no means to watch it!

DerekFB

At the risk of repeating what others have said ...
For us Talktalk are good value pricewise. And so far, reliable. However they continually play fast and loose with contracts. This latest issue is a 20% increase for us, and the extra TV channels are of no interest. What if my energy company said "we're charging you 20% extra 5 months into your fixed price contract, but never mind, we'll throw a few logs in for that woodburning stove you havent got." It leaves a bad taste in the mouth, adding to previous experience. We were customers of the old Talktalk/Tiscali TV package, now superseded by the Youview option. As they wound that down we lost channels and additional essential services with no warning, but we still had to pay the same rate!