Talk talk charging me another month after service disconnected

strawberry217

We have switched broadband providers and called talk talk to give 30 days notice (our contract had already expired), we expected to pay up until the 2nov as we have notice on 2oct, however, the bill has come through for a full month!  After contacting customer service they confirmed that we gave notice on 2nd Oct and our service will no longer be provided from 2nd nov but have demanded we pay the full month still!  They said we pay now and at the end of the month they will apply a Credit to the account (this is because of the way their bills are generated monthly) But why do we pay money to company who are not providing a service to us? We gave 30days notice so that the final bill would be up until the service ended!  Any suggestions? We have been on for over an hour now and spoken to 3 different people.

strawberry217

We offered to pay for the service until 2nd and then they could apply the credit to close the account at the end of the month but were told that if we didn’t pay the bill in full then we would incur late payment charges!  🙈

Neil_Jones

This is normal.  You always pay in advance and if you leave halfway through a billing period you get a pro-rata credit later.

By the way, if you're moving provider to another one on the same BT line, you don't need to talk to TalkTalk.  You just pick somebody else and they do all the work.  The only time you would need to speak to TalkTalk is if you were moving to Virgin.

fred246

When I left Talk talk it was the same. They apply a credit to your account and hope you forget about it. If you hassle them you get it back. If you don't they keep it. Their standard practice for a long time I think. People that notice moan but stop moaning when they refund it. The rest just lose their money.

fred246

I remember now. They make you phone back some time in the future. It all seems geared to make you forget or just give up trying. Only the tenacious get the refund. It's stealing in my book but they say it's not because if you ask for it back at the correct time they give it eventually.

strawberry217

It just seems unfair to pay for something they have cancelled the service on!  We did ask for them to apply the credit to the account now and we would pay the balance but they couldn’t do that either.  We moved to virgin so this would mean we still have to talk with them 😢 thanks for your response

fred246

A lot of their staff don't seem to know the procedure. When I got through to someone who did they said phone back after a certain date weeks in the future. You then have to remember the date and phone back. All seems to be done so they have the greatest chance of keeping it.

ColinD1

TalkTalk Billing did does not seem to be under their control. If it gets it wrong, they do not seem able to correct it even if you manage to convince them they have got it wrong. Left TalkTalk for Vodafone and TalkTalk continued to bill me.

phillw

strawberry217 said:

We have switched broadband providers and called talk talk to give 30 days notice (our contract had already expired), we expected to pay up until the 2nov as we have notice on 2oct, however, the bill has come through for a full month!

They do this in case you change your mind. It's annoying, but everyone who charges in advance (energy providers, broadband etc) seems to do it.

fred246

Well when you have left they should initiate a refund. It shouldn't be their standard practice to just steal the money.

ColinD1

Their policy is that you have to make a claim through your online account. They do not automatically provide refunds. Strange but true. If there has been a glitch it can take months and even then they pursue you for late payment. I think I have finally killed it off, but I am waiting for a physical copy of the final bill to pin on the board next to my front door in case the bailiff turns up in a few years time demanding payment.
Martin Lewis campaigned for automatic repayments from energy suppliers. I believe this is done routinely. However, some rely on you leaving your direct debit live after you've switched so watch out.
There may be some telcos that do the right thing, but TalkTalk is not one of them.