Talk Talk Billed £233 for data on UNLIMITED Data Plan

icklechick13

Good Evening,

Firstly apologies for the looooong email. This IS the shortened version :-(

I am really hoping someone can help me with where to go next with regards to my complaint with Talk Talk. I have written to their CEO team (6 page letter) sent 6th January 2016 and just received a response today despite numerous chasing by me! (17th Feb 2016).

I had the internet installed in my property in August 2015. I can reel off several problems I experienced (all documented in the letter) almost straight away with the internet and all in all I have wasted numerous hours on the phone rectifying them.

When I purchased the internet at the same time I decided to take advantage of the All In mobile Sim they were heavily promoting at the time for £12. The deal was All In Minutes, Messages and Data. Again they struggled with the basic set up of sending the correct sized SIM twice but eventually I was fairly happy with everything until beginning of January 2016.

The SIM suddenly stopped allowing me to make calls, send texts and go on the internet. This in itself caused several problems but I will try keep this brief and stick to the main point, I was out of service for approximately 3 hours.

When I contacted Talk Talk they said I had used my allowance of data and that they had blocked my account so as to avoid 'high charges being applied to my account'. Obviously I explained this could not be the case as I was on unlimited. It was then pointed out that they had sent me an email dated 30th November telling me they intended to restrict my internet to just 3GB per month. The email (that I had obviously not seen) documented the following :

We’re writing to let you know our introductory All-in SIM will soon be removed from our SIM range. Reviewing the offer over a few months, we saw that most of our customers were using much less data than they were entitled to, and would actually be better off on a different plan. So we’ve made the decision to bring the All-in SIM offer to an end.

We know value is important, so based on your usage we have two SIM offers that’ll keep you talking, texting and internetting just like before, for the same or a little less each month.

Option 1 – Large 30 Day SIM
If you don’t want to commit to a contract, then this brand new SIM’s for you. It comes with 3GB data, 2,000 minutes and unlimited texts and you’ll stay on a 30-day rolling contract at £12 a month.

If you’d like to swap over to this SIM, you don’t need to do anything – we’ll automatically move you over on 30th December 2015.

Option 2 – Large SIM
This SIM will do it all and comes packed with 3GB data, 1,000 minutes and unlimited texts – on a 12 month contract. The cost? Just £10.50 a month compared to the £12 you’ve been paying.

The following day I received a call back and they told me that I would have to pay the charges on the account. These charges amounted to £233!!!! This was for internet usage between the 1st January and the 4th January 2016, so in 4 days I had apparently not only used the new allowance they had now restricted me to (3gb) but also incurred £233 worth of charges on top!! I am fuming and feel I am well within my rights not to pay this for the following reasons.

I never received any communication to the device or by post of this change of essential data restriction, yet they were able to contact me several times by post to notify me of updates with regards to the cyber attack. I would have also thought they would be well aware that customers may have not seen the email and therefore would want to help customers move onto the new plan in the most informative way possible.

I was also told that even when I am connected to a Wi Fi source if I do not deactivate mobile data I would still be charged!! Who actually in the UK goes around turning mobile data on and off even more so if you know or believe you are on an unlimited plan.

I honestly think they have realised the original deal was costing them too much money so they have put this plan in place to catch people out in to repaying some money back into their pockets.

Their response was quite vague despite taking forever to respond basically quoting me terms and conditions. They say they have sent letters but I know 100% if I had received them I would have cancelled it immediately as it was only useful as unlimited everything as originally promised!

I have cancelled the direct debit as I did not want such an high amount coming out of my bank and trying to fight to get it back but I also notified them on the 6th January in my letter and the direct debit is not due until the 20th February but now they are threatening further charges against me for not paying on time!

They have deducted £83.65 off the bill reducing it to £150.00 but I am still adamant I shouldn't have to pay anything other than the original £12 which I have rung and paid already.

They are saying we have a Deadlock situation if I don't agree to pay the balance

Any help would be much appreciated.
Thank you