TalkTalk Customer Poll

msamateur

Signed up with TT in late June07, after offer of 30 day trial. Had been deliberating for ages whether to stay with Orange and upgrade from dial up. Then I thought why the hell not try it, if it goes sour within 30 days I'll say thank you and good night.

Everything went smooth as could be initially, broadband was great for one week but then one day I couldn't login to ebay account and send email (although I could receive ok). However, I could see bbc.co.uk no probs.

After several calls to support (I must say they did answer within 2 to 3 mins most times, and the call is free) I was finally put thru to a chappy in South Africa. I spent 2 HOURS on the phone and we went through all the settings on the modem. He couldn't see the problem so ordered a new wireless modem.

Meantime the problem was unresolved. Not good enough.

So I did some googling for a forum which might help (good old forums!).

I found this excellent TalkTalk help forum
http://www.the-scream.co.uk/forums/f62.html?

After posting my problem, I received a reply telling me to enter specific values in the MTU SETTINGS of the modem. This cured the problem in an instant and I have never looked back. The original settings were zero (which probably causes the modem to default to a value). Quite why it worked for a week and then stopped remains a puzzle.

So all that grief, effort, phone calls AND talktalk having to send a new hardware unnecessarily came to nothing when the problem was a simple 30 second fix.

I will say that throughout this ordeal the broadband signal on the line was always present, and never had any issues with the voice connection.

My conclusion is that this could have happened with any provider (and some would have charged for support calls maybe), but I would have expected more from the TT tech support.

So if you are having the same symptoms, check your MTU settings.

wrexhamandy

Sooooooo sooooooooooooooooo bad.

- Broadband didn't work for about a month. Over £40's of calls to their tech support (45 mins waiting at whatever it is per minute then disconnects, if do get through then some rude, some hung up on you when couldn't help, some promised to ring back but but never did, the rest just useless) with no result until it magically worked again one day.

- Their Biling dept charged us twice and refused to refund until I went higher up with bank statements.

- Arranged for and informed calls out to Ireland were barred (to stop bad little brother calling there). They weren't, cue huge bill which they wouldn't refund.

- Cancelled orally to two people and in writing to the appropriate address. It somehow 'wasn't done' so bills and letters afterwards for months.

- Never EVER responding to emails from their 'contact us' form thingy.

- Other constant problems which will take me all night to list! Many of them with a promise to call at certain times (with me taking mornings etc off work to answer) but no calls.

Customer service was ridiculously bad.

In the end after about a year of hell I terminated the contract early stating they hadn't provided a service with reasonable care and skill (and other legal arguments) and finally they were actually really helpful!

Good look to anyone who's with them!

If anyone wants copies of the letters I used to terminate with no cancellation fees or notice required etc then PM me, be glad to help.

Andy


P.S. ALWAYS email the charles dunstone email address (can be found by googling, cdunstone@ something I think, let me know if can't find) with your problems, never call/email/write to normal customer services, you then actually get someone sorting it within a few days.

wrexhamandy

Sooooooo sooooooooooooooooo bad.

- Broadband didn't work for about a month. Over £40's of calls to their tech support (45 mins waiting at whatever it is per minute then disconnects, if do get through then some rude, some hung up on you when couldn't help, some promised to ring back but but never did, the rest just useless) with no result until it magically worked again one day.

- Their Biling dept charged us twice and refused to refund until I went higher up with bank statements.

- Arranged for and informed calls out to Ireland were barred (to stop bad little brother calling there). They weren't, cue huge bill which they wouldn't refund.

- Cancelled orally to two people and in writing to the appropriate address. It somehow 'wasn't done' so bills and letters afterwards for months.

- Never EVER responding to emails from their 'contact us' form thingy.

- Other constant problems which will take me all night to list! Many of them with a promise to call at certain times (with me taking mornings etc off work to answer) but no calls.

Customer service was ridiculously bad.

In the end after about a year of hell I terminated the contract early stating they hadn't provided a service with reasonable care and skill (and other legal arguments) and finally they were actually really helpful!

Good look to anyone who's with them!

If anyone wants copies of the letters I used to terminate with no cancellation fees or notice required etc then PM me, be glad to help.

Andy


P.S. ALWAYS email the charles dunstone email address (can be found by googling, cdunstone@ something I think, let me know if can't find) with your problems, never call/email/write to normal customer services, you then actually get someone sorting it within a few days.

MartinRosen

Well there are some good results and bad ones !!!

I have been with TT since last year. I have had many problems.

I have had a complete loss of telephone service - albeit very infrequently, but the fact that it has happened is not good.

However two main problems. Caller display. Works intermittenly. (it was supposed to be fixed last April!). To be fair TT have refunded my £1.50 for missed months.

However, what is worse is "missed" calls. Caller thinks they are calling me, but nothing happens in my house. Not until we check the voicemail we find we have missed a call. As not everybody leaves a message it is impossible to know how many calls have not come through.

I have had BB drop out a few times, but normally reconnects itself within a couple of minutes. Never got the web space or e-mail account sorted would like the web space, but don't really need their e-mail address !


When you ring the call centre, they always want a list or details or else they transfer you to another department. Never have I had it resolved there and then.

I have just bought a property elsewhere and at the moment there is no phone connected. Do I go with TT or pay out a higher bill to go with BT or someone else?

Ho hum!

hayton2k3

i have been with talktalk a number of months and my internet used to go off but i have had a huge response in help and have been delighted to be up and running again,i am able to reach download speeds that i was never able to reach before and my internet is working perfect

i had a conversation on the phone and was kindly sent a brand new router free of charge,im not saying that they will give everyone these but i was lucky and they did understand all the problems i used to have

i just want to say talktalk if you keep up the good work you will soon be respected a LOT more

also not every company is respected but you will gain some when the customers become aware that you are dealing with the problems as fast as you can

also i would like to say if you only have 1 computer and are using a router it is more reliable using the modem
when i had a modem i used to upgrade the driver which is downloaded for free and i also reached amazing speeds with the new drivers,
these are worth getting as talk talk drivers would have been around a long time problies without changing it and puting it on disk so it is worth getting them

dbarcl10

I have never had such a problem with customer service than I have received from TalkTalk.They're agents do not have a clue what they are doing and will deliberately lie and contradict themselves in order to get you off the phone. The Indian call centres are worse as they hang up on you if they dont understand your query.

Luckily I have had dealings with 'customer liaison managers' and am in regular email contact with them. However don't expect better customer service from the managers, they lie more than their staff, even in writing.

If you want to raise a formal complaint against TalkTalk, write to:
TalkTalk Telecom Ltd
Customer Services
5 Portal Way
London W3 6RT

If still not happy, complain to:
Customer Liaison Manager,
PO Box 344
Unit 19
Southampton
SO30 2NP

If they doesn't resolve your complaint, you can complain to there regulator, Otelo. (Otelo, PO Box 730, Warrington, WA4 6WU)

Also watch them for Data Protection. I made a request for details of all my personal information held on their systems 36 days ago. Only today was I informed that a standard form will be sent which will require to be completed and returned before they will start the 40 day statutory deadline in which they must reply. I have already made a complaint to the Information Commisioner about this. Oh, and I was also informed that it is 'company policy' to refuse a customers first subject access request!!!

theowler

I have had a few problems but the biggest problem is when i got a problem and had to call the customer help lines after waiting ages to be seen to the language and accent problems were very hard to deal with. With the one major problem i did have i basically kept a diary of dates times and problems occuring, when the problem was resolved i emailed a letter of complaint with relevant dates times etc. and to be fair it was sorted quite quickly and with some compensation
:beer:

Grizzlyadams

I switched back to BT this week. After years still paying £22 for 1mb speed. Actual download near 20kbps. Talktalk said that is the max my line will take. Current much cheaper offer "for new customers only".Free check using 'phone number and using Post code..6MB!! Talktalk talk the talk but are last in dodo BT helpdesk are also based in India but thats the way of the world.They all work off fixed questionaires that miss the point. Profit first, customer last!!

BaobabAmy

Technical support is now free from TalkTalk landlines.

Initially no problems - broadband and phone working fine. getting speeds of 5mb, and good phone quality. No broadband cutting out.

However my biggest gripe is that they seem to have done something to block peer-to-peer software, even though their website says that they allow it (although may limit it during peak hours). It used to work fine - I could download a TV show in a few hours. Over the last 2 months, it now takes 2-3 days. Technical Services have been near useless, so I'm thinking of swapping when my contract runs out. But it's soooo cheap...

matrix999

No problems - Excellent Service so far!!

We get our line rental, unlimited anytime calls to 01/02 numbers and broadband from Talk Talk for £14.49

The advisors at their customer options team in the UK are superb!! I called them to say that when we were with BT we got Free Caller Display as part of the BT Privacy product, the advisor said no problem you now have it Free with Talk Talk. The advisor also arranged for a £5 loyalty credit to be applied to my account each month as we were thinking of moving away from Talk Talk to Tiscali's new line rental and broadband package.

£14.49 for line rental, unlimited landline calls anytime and Broadband its a clear winner!!