TalkTalk Refuses to Provide Phone Calls Which are Included in my Package

gord323

I recently downsized from Virgin Media to TalkTalk to save about £50 a month, having just retired. I bought their Full Fibre 150 Plan, which includes broadband, TV and PAYG phone calls. Here is a screenshot of this plan and what it includes.

I had to order their package by phone because their online purchase method failed (I had been trying to order online for two weeks and after entering all my information I was met with the same error screen.  See other screenshot. This is STILL happening, which means that TalkTalk have not fixed this bug on their website for over two months!

So I had to order by phone. During the first phone call I made to TalkTalk I was cut off just at the point of purchase, so I had to make a second phone call to their call centre and go through the whole thing again.

About 10 days later the equipment arrived. But they sent me the wrong router/hub, and I had to wait until they sent me the correct item the following week.

Their were no instructions about how to join everything together. So I used their chat facility (one thing which actually worked) but I had several conversations with various technical people (apparently) who all thought this was a big joke and just wasted my time. Two of these people got me to do completely irrelevant things. I have a transcript of these chats. They are ridiculous, all of them.

But I was still without phone calls. So I emailed them and asked them why they didn’t allow me phone calls. They refused to acknowledge that my package included phone calls!

I get an email every week stating that the complaints manager will contact me two days after that email, but s/he never does. This has happened four times now.

I keep sending them emails, showing them the same screenshot to prove that the package I bought includes phone calls. But they completely ignore this and say that the complaints manager will call me in two days between 12:00 and 14:00, but s/he never does. 

Was this person trying to contact me by phone, perhaps?

Incredible, mind-boggling incompetence!

I’ve been fined by HMRC because I was not able to file my VAT for the first quarter of this year (my ID is validated by a phone call to my number, which no longer exists). And I have been inconvenienced in many other ways as well.

I need to phone HMRC and another government department on another matter. So I used my mobile phone. All that happened was that I sat listening to on-hold recorded rubbish for 30 minutes until my mobile ran out of credit (thanks to the 44p per minute charged by EE) and am then cut off.

This has happened twice now. I buy £10 of credit from EE and wait listening to on-hold recorded rubbish while the call burns through the £10 and then cuts me off.

Does anyone have any suggestions about how to deal with this?

It is complete madness. My advice to people is NEVER to have anything to do with TalkTalk. TalkTalk are incompetent to a degree I have never experienced before. 

Alderbank

Any suggestions?

Don't bother paying for PAYG with EE. You can get unlimited free calls ridiculously cheaply on a sim for your mobile phone.

I'm a pensioner and I pay about £20 a month for broadband from Voda and less than £5 for unlimited calls (plus data) on my Lebara sim

powerful_Rogue

Did you tell VM you wanted to port your telephone number?

Do you have a landline connection to the house?

gord323

That's a yes to both. Thanks.

Alderbank

Copper landlines are considered a legacy service nowadays and are seen as on the way out. What remains of the service will be shut down completely and switched off in the next few years.

When I switched to fibre I was advised that if I wanted to retain my landline number (I didn't) that would be difficult for the telcom because they were increasingly obsolete and porting could not be guaranteed.

If you need a landline you should look to VOIP. Most providers give you a free line when you switch to fibre. I think though that calls cost the same as copper (so not at all moneysaving).

km1500

I must be missing something as the screen shot in your first post does not mention phone calls other than PAYG phone calls ?

Do you mean you can't use the phone at all, even PAYG ? Do you have a compatible VOIP phone to plug into the router ?

Ectophile

If you want to stay with EE on a PAYG basis, then go on their web site and check out the packs that are on offer to customers.  It can save you a lot of money compared with paying by the minute.

If you go for a pack that includes "boosts" every 3 months, then the longer you stay on that pack, the more generous it gets.

littleboo

Presumably you are on a FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) product with that speed? FTTP wont include a copper based phone service so voice will be delivered as VOIP to your router. Have they instructed you to connect a phone to the router?

35har1old

gord323 said:

I recently downsized from Virgin Media to TalkTalk to save about £50 a month, having just retired. I bought their Full Fibre 150 Plan, which includes broadband, TV and PAYG phone calls. Here is a screenshot of this plan and what it includes.

I had to order their package by phone because their online purchase method failed (I had been trying to order online for two weeks and after entering all my information I was met with the same error screen.  See other screenshot. This is STILL happening, which means that TalkTalk have not fixed this bug on their website for over two months!

So I had to order by phone. During the first phone call I made to TalkTalk I was cut off just at the point of purchase, so I had to make a second phone call to their call centre and go through the whole thing again.

About 10 days later the equipment arrived. But they sent me the wrong router/hub, and I had to wait until they sent me the correct item the following week.

Their were no instructions about how to join everything together. So I used their chat facility (one thing which actually worked) but I had several conversations with various technical people (apparently) who all thought this was a big joke and just wasted my time. Two of these people got me to do completely irrelevant things. I have a transcript of these chats. They are ridiculous, all of them.

But I was still without phone calls. So I emailed them and asked them why they didn’t allow me phone calls. They refused to acknowledge that my package included phone calls!

I get an email every week stating that the complaints manager will contact me two days after that email, but s/he never does. This has happened four times now.

I keep sending them emails, showing them the same screenshot to prove that the package I bought includes phone calls. But they completely ignore this and say that the complaints manager will call me in two days between 12:00 and 14:00, but s/he never does. 

Was this person trying to contact me by phone, perhaps?

Incredible, mind-boggling incompetence!

I’ve been fined by HMRC because I was not able to file my VAT for the first quarter of this year (my ID is validated by a phone call to my number, which no longer exists). And I have been inconvenienced in many other ways as well.

I need to phone HMRC and another government department on another matter. So I used my mobile phone. All that happened was that I sat listening to on-hold recorded rubbish for 30 minutes until my mobile ran out of credit (thanks to the 44p per minute charged by EE) and am then cut off.

This has happened twice now. I buy £10 of credit from EE and wait listening to on-hold recorded rubbish while the call burns through the £10 and then cuts me off.

Does anyone have any suggestions about how to deal with this?

It is complete madness. My advice to people is NEVER to have anything to do with TalkTalk. TalkTalk are incompetent to a degree I have never experienced before. 

Talktalk full fibre 150 is  data only.
You say you thought it included phone calls and tv the screen shot does not mention tv.
The current offer for the 150 is £32 your screen shot had a £34 figure the additional £2 is likely to be for the tv
If you type in a internet search talktalk full fibre with phone the reply is there is no current voip platform available
for residential customers 
As to the use of PAYG mobile at £10 a go.
That £10 could get you 40gb of data unlimited calls and texts so a call to HMRC doesn't have to be taxing 
Just had a another  look at your screenshot it says FIBRE 150  perhaps  you have full fibre 150 Installed which is data only
A photo of your router might be helpful.

35har1old

littleboo said:

Presumably you are on a FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) product with that speed? FTTP wont include a copper based phone service so voice will be delivered as VOIP to your router. Have they instructed you to connect a phone to the router?

Talktalk does not provide VOIP

littleboo

Really?
https://new.talktalk.co.uk/digital-voice