Stranger applied for TalkTalk at my address

Cuilean

I bought my house a few years ago. Only one other person had ever lived here since it was built, and he moved in to a nursing home. We had Virgin Media installed, and we're very happy with it (Mostly ).

At the start of this month, we got a letter addressed to an unknown lady, at this address. It thanked her for signing up for TalkTalk, and said that TalkTalk equipment would be sent, and an engineer would be on the way after that to connect everything. I contacted TalkTalk on their website, by email, by social media and by phone, and all they'd say was "It's being investigated by back office".

Then we got another letter, about the mystery lady's direct debit. Her bank details were on it. I contacted TalkTalk again, and was given the "It's being investigated" line.

A few days ago, a courier turned up with a parcel for the mystery lady, from TalkTalk. Presumably her TalkTalk equipment. I declined it and asked the courier to take it back. I contacted TalkTalk again, and they just said the complaint was being investigated.

Today, a nice man from Openreach turned up at my door. He said he was here to install fibre broadband for the mystery lady. I explained that the mystery lady did not live here, and had never lived here. He admitted that the mobile number he'd been given had connected him to a man with a northern accent, and he'd been a bit concerned when the northern guy had said he was fed up with the mystery lady giving out his number.

Whether this is an admin error, or someone having a joke and using my address, I'm fed up with it now. Since TalkTalk have gone way past the 3-5 days they promised it would take them to investigate this, can I escalate it to another organisation for help?

[Deleted User]

Help for what exactly? They can't charge you for anything, just send back any mail not addressed to you.

AndyPK

Thank you for the amusing story.

If it were me and my vm contract was up I would probably let um install as they went to the effort to comeout. Could be a pain to get it removed in 12 months though not being in your name though !

lammy82

Because you're with Virgin, nothing that TalkTalk do can result in your disconnection, so you just need to keep returning any letters marking them "not known at this address" and the problem will eventually go away.

Cuilean

AndyPK wrote: »

If it were me and my vm contract was up I would probably let um install as they went to the effort to comeout. Could be a pain to get it removed in 12 months though not being in your name though !

It was tempting to let the guy try to install. After all, if ever we ditch VM, it would be convenient to have another option ready to go

Colin_Maybe wrote:

Help for what exactly? They can't charge you for anything, just send back any mail not addressed to you.

I'd just like the help of someone who's able to let me know what's going on. I've got no experience of TalkTalk, so I don't know whether they're just merrily fobbing me off. By Openreach guy's own admission, him recording an inability to install services won't make it any higher than the sales team at BT, so it's not even like refusing his installation would flag anything to TalkTalk.

lammy82 wrote:

Because you're with Virgin, nothing that TalkTalk do can result in your disconnection, so you just need to keep returning any letters marking them "not known at this address" and the problem will eventually go away.

That's the plan. Looks like the local postbox is about to get an increase in mail! It's just inconvenient, and frustrating that TalkTalk seemingly won't take it seriously. Virgin already confirmed TalkTalk can't take over any services because they use a different infrastructure, so at least my VM services are safe.

iniltous

The Openreach person flagging up the TT install as 'no access' won't go to 'BT' , as 'BT' have nothing to do with this, OR will in effect advise TT to make a new appointment and probably charge TT for the no access visit, in normal circumstances the 'TT' customer would get the OR charge passed onto them by TT for the no access visit but obviously you are not the TT customer.

It's odd in a way, because you would think if a genuine person wanted to use TT and either they or TT messed up the address ( by entering your address instead of the correct one) by now they would have become aware of the error, and if it was malicious ( someone deliberately messing with you ) they would have to have entered legitimate bank or credit card details when they raised his bogus order so will potentially cost them money to **** with you.
TBH , it's only your problem if it somehow affects your credit history , and although it's your address, it's not your name on this dodgy order so it shouldn't ( in theory )
I would be the same though, insisting TT sort it out

AndyPK

TalkTalk are a mightmare to deal with!

I wouldn't put it past a TT employee doing it to get commission!

They signed me up, when I couldn't get fibre and put someone else's mobile number on the account.

The permitations could be endless to a TT sales person.
I'll use this guys bank details, at this address...

pmduk

Alternatively, you could try your local Masochists Society!

Cuilean

pmduk wrote: »

Alternatively, you could try your local Masochists Society!

Thank you, that's the best laugh I've had about this so far. At this point, I'm 99% sure the other members will be people who've had to deal with TalkTalk :rotfl:

AndyPK, I agree that there are many ways this could have happened. I want to believe it's an innocent admin error. However, I've come across many experiences like yours while I've been looking for help from TalkTalk. As Iniltous says, if it's a wind up, it's likely the bank account details are made up and when TalkTalk don't get their money, they might start to pay attention. They may be choosing to ignore me, but money definitely talks.

On the good side, I've come up with one definite conclusion from all this. I will never sign my household up for TalkTalk if this is the kind of service they provide!

AndyPK

luckily someone did it for you then :lol