PSA: Talktalk has a 1 month notice period even when out of contract

sareenz

Hi folks,

Just wanted to provide some background on my current situation.

My TT contract was ending on 7th of July and I moved out of my old house on the 4th of July. I phoned them up on 2nd and asked for a cancellation. I was told that it would be beneficial for me to "hand-over-the-line" to someone else as I can save money if someone takes over. I said sure, I'll check if this is possible. The agent never mentioned cancellation notice period of 1 month.

Fast forward to today, I called them up and mentioned that a takeover won't be possible and I would like to cancel my account. They mentioned that I'll be billed till the 20th of August! This is very surprising given that I had already requested a cancellation on the 2nd. Doubly so because I'm no longer in the contract period. Totally caught me off guard and the rude agent over the phone didn't help; she even said "oh god" when I wanted few things clarified in detail!

Just wanted to put this out there for folks who are soon planning to move away from TT -- make sure you are very clear when cancelling and get all the nitty gritty details sorted out. I have been their customer for 5 years and their behaviour over the call today has ensured I'll never ever recommend them to anyone!

Hope this helps someone and good luck with your switch.

The_Fat_Controller

Once a fixed period contract has expired, you are on a rolling month to month agreement and therefore 30 days notice is required.

Clause 15.2 of the Ts and Cs, which you obviously did not read !

https://assets.ctfassets.net/aycrbiawo3x3/6BLWHhfDvZLitx2uT7JhY7/f70df7dd41d5630ef3bc3872db4c44df/TalkTalk_Customer_Terms_and_Conditions_22_15_20.pdf

Your "sure I'll check if that is possible" can in no way we construed as "I want to give notice of cancellation"

Being clear works both ways !

Neil_Jones

Well considering you pay a month in advance for line and broadband it should be obvious if you want to cancel its 30 days notice, otherwise you wouldn't be paying in advance, you'd be paying in arrears like you do for calls.

sareenz

I agree and admit I never read the T&C hence the PSA since I'm pretty sure a lot of folks don't know about this and don't read them.

iniltous

TBH , if someone wanted to quit a provider on the date the minimum term expires , then notice need to be served the month before , if you wait until the day the minimum term has expired and then ‘cancel’ you serve the 30 day notice ( or whatever period is specified ) , you have service during this time , so it’s not like you are paying for ‘nothing’, but obviously if you cannot use the service during this period ( because you have moved out for example ) that’s unfortunate but It isn’t really the providers problem.

TT statement to you about ‘handing over the line to someone else ‘ seems to be at odds with ‘normal’ policy…the only time I can think of a legitimate handing over to someone else is in cases of bereavement when the widow or widower becomes the account holder, I suspect  the TT rep was talking nonsense 

sareenz

iniltous said:

TT statement to you about ‘handing over the line to someone else ‘ seems to be at odds with ‘normal’ policy…the only time I can think of a legitimate handing over to someone else is in cases of bereavement when the widow or widower becomes the account holder, I suspect  the TT rep was talking nonsense 

The TT rep mentioned that I can save some money by handing over my line to the next tenant so I won't have to pay for the whole month. When I called up on the 2nd, I had already paid for July and as per the TT rep, if someone starts living at the property, let's say by 15th and they use TT or any other BT service, I would get back the excess 15 days I had paid for.

But since I don't control the choice of broadband for the new tenant, I mentioned that I'll have to check with the new tenant on what they are going ahead with. I spoke with the new tenant a couple of days back and they are still tied up with other things and haven't yet decided on a broadband provider. Hence my call to TT today.

Now that I think about this after skimming through the T&C, I can see no mention of the arrangement which was proposed to me during my first call so