Mum charged for broadband which she doesn't have

PandaMon1um

Mum took out landline contract initially with the Post Office. The package included broadband which my mum doesn't want or need  it was then bought out (?) by Shell and finally is now with TalkTalk. Each month her account is charged for landline costs and broadband with charge for broadband duly deducted. Each time her contract was transferred it remained the same in accordance with the letter each company sent reassuring her that her bills would not change. Until TalkTalk took over and they are discounting broadband slightly but still charging £20+ per month for something she does not have.

A letter was sent containing evidence of bills with Post Office and Shell along with a copy of letter advising the amount would not change etc. This was sent in December and the Royal Mail tracking info shows they received it. To date she has heard nothing. My mum will be 90 this year and can't contact them online as she doesn't have broadband. I have tried to contact them whilst she is with me to give them permission to speak to me, but they only send messages and claim the reason mum is being charged for broadband now is her contract expired in 2016 with TalkTalk although they only took over mid 2024.

Just applied for POA but advised it will take several months so wondering if anyone knew a way to get them to stop ripping my mum off? She is 89 but not stupid just not tech savvy.

Hoenir

Change to a more appropriate package. 

ButterCheese

This has worked for me in the past and may be worth trying:  Phone them whilst you are at your mum's and explain that you are phoning on her behalf because she is old/infirm/whatever.  They can usually ask for your mum to be put on the line to authorise the account, and then you can take over.  Say that your mum has not signed a contract with TalkTalk and you wish to cancel.  They will either let you cancel, or charge you to cancel (given that the "contract" is not up yet), or they'll just take the broadband charge off.  They try to say that they can't do it, but they can.  If they make it difficult, say you are going with someone else.  Have a competitor's quote handy so you can say "x compnay are offering me £x/month for landline only".  See how you get on.

Contractually though, it all depends on what the small print was in the original contract your mum took out with the Post Office.  It may allow transfer of contract to a new company without re-signing for consent.  This happened to me with Virgin and O2, who sent me a SIM card which I stated 3 times I did not want.  They activated it as soon as it was posted, so I never took it out of the box but was still charged £14/month.  It was a battle to get it taken off, but they did it in the end.  Just stay polite but don't back down

p00hsticks

Are you sure that the landline does not require broadband to operate (VOIP) ? If it doesn't now, it probably will do within the next eighteen months or so ...
Moving landline phones to digital technology: what you need to know - Ofcom

Olinda99

The old copper phone-only lines are being changed over to broadband and the landline handset plugs into this broadband signal to work (it is called VOIP)

Thus your mum will need broadband in order to have a landline number

iniltous

TBH , taking a package that included broadband to get a phone service with the company discounting the price to something acceptable (equivalent ) to a standalone phone service was always going to be problematic especially with the type of part time players the industry attracts , the PostOffice selling their customer base to Shell , then Shell flogging them to Talk Talk .

I’m not defending TT , but they  (as far as I know) haven’t sold standalone telephony for years , arguably when the Post Office got out of the industry your mother should have not been a customer sold off to Shell ,  but advised to find an appropriate provider at that point and Shell should not have flogged your mothers account to TT .

You will struggle to find anyone who now offers telephony only , BT are the only company obliged to offer this , and presumably BT were the company that initially were your mothers provider prior to the Post Office , and presumably you moved to the PO fir a reason …….but now with the Openreach stop sale of PSTN , you will struggle to get just a phone service from anyone, even from BT , the new BT  ‘DV’ phone service needs ‘broadband’ to work , even if it’s supplied but not charged for .

Your best bet is to cancel completely and rely on a mobile , far and away the most cost efficient, but this may not be suitable and obviously the landline number has to be given up , but TBH , there isn’t that much difference in price between the cheapest broadband and phone deal and a standalone phone service .

BT charge around £30 for a standalone phone , albeit with a ‘no broadband’ discount available, you have to speak to them to get it , that brings it down to around £20  on a PAYG basis , if you want included calls it’s around £30 after the discount , that’s if you can get an order raised for that , then again as you left BT previously you may not even consider returning to them.

If you are getting TT to provide a phone for £20 ,even if they seem to be charging for a broadband service you don’t want ,  it is around the correct price for telephony only irrespective of apparently paying for something you don’t want .

Out if interest, what do you expect to pay for a ‘landline’ phone only service ?

molerat

Until recently my Plusnet plan was line rental £26.99 with BB thrown in for free so having BB is not necessarily adding to the cost of the telephone service.  Things have moved on from them being separate services.

Neil_Jones

PandaMon1um said:

Mum took out landline contract initially with the Post Office. The package included broadband which my mum doesn't want or need  it was then bought out (?) by Shell and finally is now with TalkTalk. Each month her account is charged for landline costs and broadband with charge for broadband duly deducted. Each time her contract was transferred it remained the same in accordance with the letter each company sent reassuring her that her bills would not change. Until TalkTalk took over and they are discounting broadband slightly but still charging £20+ per month for something she does not have.

A letter was sent containing evidence of bills with Post Office and Shell along with a copy of letter advising the amount would not change etc. This was sent in December and the Royal Mail tracking info shows they received it. To date she has heard nothing. My mum will be 90 this year and can't contact them online as she doesn't have broadband. I have tried to contact them whilst she is with me to give them permission to speak to me, but they only send messages and claim the reason mum is being charged for broadband now is her contract expired in 2016 with TalkTalk although they only took over mid 2024.

Just applied for POA but advised it will take several months so wondering if anyone knew a way to get them to stop ripping my mum off? She is 89 but not stupid just not tech savvy.

You say "the package included broadband" and then you say halfway down that she doesn't have broadband.

To be honest if you're paying £20+ a month it should include broadband, the regulation was changed ages ago to have one price for phone line and broadband combined, rather than £x for phone and £y for broadband.  Just because you have it doesn't mean you have to use it.  I would expect (as highlighted above) to pay more for landline on its own - a quick search suggests Line Rental on its own is £30 a month, so its probably a no brainer to have the phone/broadband.

Post Office sold to Shell in 2021 (Shell being TalkTalk in different packaging) and the Shell migration was migrated in 2024.  Where has the 2016 year come from?  If it has been out of contract since 2016 then that changes the ballgame as to where "ripping my mum off" lands.

PandaMon1um

iniltous said:

TBH , taking a package that included broadband to get a phone service with the company discounting the price to something acceptable (equivalent ) to a standalone phone service was always going to be problematic especially with the type of part time players the industry attracts , the PostOffice selling their customer base to Shell , then Shell flogging them to Talk Talk .

I’m not defending TT , but they  (as far as I know) haven’t sold standalone telephony for years , arguably when the Post Office got out of the industry your mother should have not been a customer sold off to Shell ,  but advised to find an appropriate provider at that point and Shell should not have flogged your mothers account to TT .

You will struggle to find anyone who now offers telephony only , BT are the only company obliged to offer this , and presumably BT were the company that initially were your mothers provider prior to the Post Office , and presumably you moved to the PO fir a reason …….but now with the Openreach stop sale of PSTN , you will struggle to get just a phone service from anyone, even from BT , the new BT  ‘DV’ phone service needs ‘broadband’ to work , even if it’s supplied but not charged for .

Your best bet is to cancel completely and rely on a mobile , far and away the most cost efficient, but this may not be suitable and obviously the landline number has to be given up , but TBH , there isn’t that much difference in price between the cheapest broadband and phone deal and a standalone phone service .

BT charge around £30 for a standalone phone , albeit with a ‘no broadband’ discount available, you have to speak to them to get it , that brings it down to around £20  on a PAYG basis , if you want included calls it’s around £30 after the discount , that’s if you can get an order raised for that , then again as you left BT previously you may not even consider returning to them.

If you are getting TT to provide a phone for £20 ,even if they seem to be charging for a broadband service you don’t want ,  it is around the correct price for telephony only irrespective of apparently paying for something you don’t want .

Out if interest, what do you expect to pay for a ‘landline’ phone only service ?

Mum was paying £38 pm with Post Office and Shell. TalkTalk are charging £59.26 pm after their generous £8.74 discount!

She has never been provided with any equipment from any of the providers so can't receive the broadband they are charging for anyway!

I know that landlines are being phased out but it was mentioned on a consumer programme that older people will be offered an alternative. 

PandaMon1um

ButterCheese said:

This has worked for me in the past and may be worth trying:  Phone them whilst you are at your mum's and explain that you are phoning on her behalf because she is old/infirm/whatever.  They can usually ask for your mum to be put on the line to authorise the account, and then you can take over.  Say that your mum has not signed a contract with TalkTalk and you wish to cancel.  They will either let you cancel, or charge you to cancel (given that the "contract" is not up yet), or they'll just take the broadband charge off.  They try to say that they can't do it, but they can.  If they make it difficult, say you are going with someone else.  Have a competitor's quote handy so you can say "x compnay are offering me £x/month for landline only".  See how you get on.

Contractually though, it all depends on what the small print was in the original contract your mum took out with the Post Office.  It may allow transfer of contract to a new company without re-signing for consent.  This happened to me with Virgin and O2, who sent me a SIM card which I stated 3 times I did not want.  They activated it as soon as it was posted, so I never took it out of the box but was still charged £14/month.  It was a battle to get it taken off, but they did it in the end.  Just stay polite but don't back down

I did try this but trying to actually get someone to talk on the phone is a challenge in itself. You have to message them then get into a WhatsApp chat and despite asking numerous times they would not talk to me on the phone. 

I have read through all correspondence about transferring to each new provider and all letters state that nothing will change for her.

I posted in the hope someone might have a contact number for them so I can initiate a phone call from the outset. 

elsien

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/money-legal/consumer-issues/changes-to-landline-telephones/

If talk talk are not going to offer an alternative without broadband then her only option will be to move to a different provider. Which if she’s out of contract should be simple to do if she can find what she is looking for.