TalkTalk continues billing after slamming

Legendary_Aced

Hello MoneySavingExperts,

I am posting here my story in order to get advice and inform other members about my recent experience with TalkTalk.

I had been a BT customer for phone and broadband services and my contract was to expire early February 2016. I looked into offers and decided to move to TalkTalk despite the bad publicity. I applied to TalkTalk mid January 2015 and got an activation date of 10 February 2016. BT gave me an offer which was worse than TalkTalk's but in order to avoid all the hassle I decided to accept it and cancelled the TalkTalk order. TalkTalk gave me a cancellation reference number, however they took over my services on 10 February 2016 without my consent. Ofcom calls this practice 'slamming'.

I made an official complaint via post letter which was received by them on 12 February 2016. They disconnected the services one week later and contacted me from the CEO office. They agreed that I had cancelled my order before activation date and refunded the first bill. Also, they gave me a small amount of money as compensation and asked me to contact them in case of further charges. Please keep in mind that I have been left without internet and phone for a total of three weeks. (One week they providing the services, where I had disconnected all equipment in order to avoid any charges and claims from them AND Two weeks until the new provider connected me)

One month later, on 15 March 2016 they issued another bill with ~£481 contract breakage fee. I have not paid this amount with was due on 23 March 2016 as this is not what we have agreed and TalkTalk has already agreed that they should have taken over my services. On 16 March 2016 I tried to contact them in the CEO office numerous times without any luck. I also tried the following days. My calls are always not answered and forwarded to voicemail. I left voicemail but again, I had no communication. I sent another complaint letter which was received by them on 18 March 2016. Also used Twitter to contact them and I have been informed that they have escalated the case to the CEO office.

On 29 March 2016 I received a text about the outstanding balance meaning that their systems indicate that I am in debt. And obviously now risking to be reported to the Credit Reference Agencies for late payment or even worse a default. Obviously, I will not accept any of these as it is their fault not closing the account properly and/or preventing their systems to issue additional bills for my account.

I don't know what else to do to get this sorted. I know that I can escalate to Ombudsman after 8 weeks of making a complaint if the issues are not resolved. I should be able to escalate the case to Ombudsman on the 8th of April 2016, because we have agreed that TalkTalk should not have taken over my services and provide refunds for any additional charges, therefore the case is ongoing.

Any additional advice would be much appreciated.

TalkTalk

Hi


I am sorry to hear this and do apologise for any inconvenience caused!


Please get in contact with us on our Twitter feed @TalkTalkCare or TalkTalk Community






Thanks
Abbie

forgotmyname

This is one thing that bugs me and puts me off TT no matter how cheap.

WHY should i need to signup to Twitter to make a complaint or have a complaint dealt with?

NeilJ66

Twitter is useless for complaining, 140 characters maximum.
There's an e mail option in their Customer Complaints Code: concerns@talktalkplc.com
There's also the CEO's office: talktalk_ceo@mailgb.custhelp.com
I'm currently complaining to them and I've e mailed the latter address, it took them a week to respond but at least you can write more than 140 characters!
Good luck.

Legendary_Aced

TalkTalk_Company_Representative wrote: »

Hi


I am sorry to hear this and do apologise for any inconvenience caused!


Please get in contact with us on our Twitter feed @TalkTalkCare or TalkTalk Community






Thanks
Abbie

Hi Abbie,
As I mentioned in my original post, I have already done that and the only reply I got after 2.5 weeks trying to get official communication was that my case has been escalated to the CEO Office. Your system though still thinks that I am in debt and I am risking being reported to the CRAs for late payment or default, something that will initiate court action by me as this is unacceptable.

I am really sorry that this has to come this far. On the 8th of April 2016 we will reach the 8 week deadline that will allow me to escalate to Ombudsman.

forgotmyname wrote: »

This is one thing that bugs me and puts me off TT no matter how cheap.

WHY should i need to signup to Twitter to make a complaint or have a complaint dealt with?

NeilJ66 wrote: »

Twitter is useless for complaining, 140 characters maximum.
There's an e mail option in their Customer Complaints Code: concerns@talktalkplc.com
There's also the CEO's office: talktalk_ceo@mailgb.custhelp.com
I'm currently complaining to them and I've e mailed the latter address, it took them a week to respond but at least you can write more than 140 characters!
Good luck.

Thanks for the tips. I have written a letter to their official address with signed for service and I have kept the proof of delivery.

TalkTalk

Hi Legendary Aced,

I'm sorry to hear you're still having problems. If you have a complaint with the CEOs office you would need to speak to your complaints manager directly for further help.

Thanks
Emma

Legendary_Aced

TalkTalk_Company_Representative wrote: »

Hi Legendary Aced,

I'm sorry to hear you're still having problems. If you have a complaint with the CEOs office you would need to speak to your complaints manager directly for further help.

Thanks
Emma

Hi Emma,

The complaints manager that had originally contacted me for the slamming case asked to contact them in case I see further charges. I tried to do that by replying to their emails and calling their direct phone number, however I have not received further emails from them and my calls are always unanswered and forwarded to their voicemail. I have also left a voicemail which didn't result in a reply. From my point of view, I have done everything possible from my side and I have exhausted all ways of official communication with your company to get this issue resolved. This includes email replies to the manager's previous emails for the slamming case, direct calls to their phone number, second complaint letter to your official correspondance address and Twitter messages.

Calls to your call centre and older post to your official forms (for the original slamming case letter) have been dismissed with the reason that the case has been escalated to the CEO office.

Legendary_Aced

I just tried calling TalkTalk customer services again and after explaining what happened they applied a refund in my account. I was able to see that in the transaction history.

I only hope that there will be no further billing/charges and no markers on my credit report. We will find out in time and I will keep this thread updated.

TalkTalk

Hi

Let us know how this goes, if you need any further help please contact us on twitter (@TalkTalkCare) or via our community on our help page.

Thanks

Vicky

Legendary_Aced

Legendary_Aced wrote: »

I just tried calling TalkTalk customer services again and after explaining what happened they applied a refund in my account. I was able to see that in the transaction history.

I only hope that there will be no further billing/charges and no markers on my credit report. We will find out in time and I will keep this thread updated.

TalkTalk_Company_Representative wrote: »

Hi

Let us know how this goes, if you need any further help please contact us on twitter (@TalkTalkCare) or via our community on our help page.

Thanks

Vicky

Unfortunately, the bad news came. My Equifax credit report now shows a 'Query Outstanding' status for March 2016 for the TalkTalk account that should never have been opened and should never had outstanding charges as TalkTalk agreed to refund everything. Obviously, because you refunded after the bill's due date your system has reported something to Equifax. Can you please remove that asap?

TalkTalk

Hi

If you contact us on twitter (@TalkTalkCare) or via our community pages on our website we can certainly look into this for you.

Vicky