ITalk advice

alexbfru

Hi,

My elderly grandad has been with iTalk for many years now with landline only sold under the guise that they were for the vulnerable. He has received a letter to say they are switching his landline to digital and he will be paying £40 a month for a package he didn't ask for.

Last year, we contacted sky around getting a package deal as he already had TV but were told that he was unsuitable for their digital landline due to poor mobile signal. ITalk then ensured us that they were able to keep the original landline so we stayed with them.

We have contacted iTalk to cancel his landline with them and to move elsewhere however they are saying that he is in contract and it will cost £380 to terminate. And he won't be able to take the phone number he has had for 30+ years to another provider. We have never received any contract through the post and he doesn't have an email address.

Is there anything we can do here other than going to Ofcom? We are going to ask for a detailed breakdown but to charge that much when they are changing his contract to a digital landline and broadband from talk only seems excessive.

Thanks

flaneurs_lobster

Are you registered with iTalk as being able to act for your grandfather?

You need to get the details of the contract and services that are currently in place. Get online with them to see the details or get them to post them out/email to your address.

Is there broadband in place? Via copper?

Last year, we contacted sky around getting a package deal as he already had TV but were told that he was unsuitable for their digital landline due to poor mobile signal.

That sentence makes little sense. Could you give details of the Sky package that's in place? Is it delivered via broadband or dish?

alexbfru

My auntie is authorised to speak but she's less confident in dealing with stuff like this. Trying to get some advice so we can try and sort it together.

He has sky TV through a dish. His TV contract was coming to an end so that's why we enquired about sky and phone. He has no broadband right now as he doesn't have any need for it.

Thanks.

flaneurs_lobster

He has no broadband right now as he doesn't have any need for it.

That's the thing you need to verify, does seem that iTalk are a broadband supplier who will support a phone alongside this but their somewhat minimal website doesn't make this crystal.

Get the details of the contract that's in place. It will probably have been agreed over the phone, there's no need for anything to have been physically 'signed' but there should have been a copy of the agreement sent in the post, especially as no email address is available.

JSmithy45AD

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6662808/italk-advice

"ITalk then ensured us that they were able to keep the original landline so we stayed with them."

When you state the above, does that mean they agreed to an extended contract at a new price and minimum term? Also, when you say "us" did you speak to them yourself or were you just present when they spoke?

alexbfru

I was just there but we agreed to extend his contract. We can't remember when it was though because it was a phonecall and a copy of the renewal wasn't received. The package he is receiving is no longer available online.

The issue here is primarily that they are changing him to a new contract and product with no consultation and an excessive charge to terminate.

iniltous

You may be aware that the PSTN legacy phone network is being retired, I’d guess that ITalk simply resold BT telephony under their own brand , especially if you never had their broadband, and that’s why things need to change , presumably they are either going to provide broadband and telephone via that , which may be why the price is going up , or a pre digital phone line PDPL .

PDPL is BT’s way to provide telephony after PSTN retirement without needing a broadband router at the customer house , I’ve no idea if Italk are reselling that BT product and just putting the price up because they can , but as a comparison, BT telephone only customers in the same position are not paying more for this new type of telephone service , they are being moved into it but it’s costs the same , it’s a seamless transition, presumably you left BT for Italk at some point in the past .

The number portability thing is probably bullsh*t but unfortunately Italk would be involved and if they don’t play ball then you may lose the number if you change provider….lastly no one offers telephone without broadband anymore, even BT may not be interested, your initial point about Sky and mobile reception makes no sense , Sky telephone (via broadband) has nothing to do with mobile reception , but to get Sky Talk ( or whatever it’s called ) you need to buy Sky broadband, you can’t just have a telephone service with Sky , that’s probably why the confusion with Sky Mobile , which is independent of any other Sky products.

alexbfru

When we spoke to Sky they asked us if broadband was to go down and his landline be unavailable, is his mobile network good enough to which we answered no and they said they would be unsuitable to provide a full package. We were open to getting him broadband as there were deals at the time even if it wouldn't be used.

We're aware that he is going to need to change to a digital service. However we have seen a lot of reviews where other elderly customers have been moved without consultation and were hopeful there could be someone on this forum that had been through that with them already.

iniltous

The only customers I’m aware of that have been moved from one type of landline only service to another are BT customers moving from PSTN to PDPL , this needs no visit to the house or local power etc , all the work done is done in the exchange (the customer gets told to expect a small period of no service during the changeover ) and there is no change to the price or anything else , ( apart from having to dial the full number even for local calls ) , but because you are not a BT customer there is no reason to expect the same treatment from ITalk or the same type of replacement service .

It may be worth asking ITalk to explain exactly what they are providing if they need to shift you off PSTN and why the price needs to go up , as they are primarily a broadband company (judging by their website) I recon they are expecting to provide broadband to enable a new IP telephone service , and that’s why the price is increasing.

iniltous

it also sounds like Sky didn’t really want to provide service , for customers adjudged to be vulnerable, who don’t have a decent mobile signal they need to provide a battery back up for the router so telephony still works during a power cut , it sounds like rather than providing a BBU , they just say they can’t provide service ….if you call back and when they ask about the mobile signal in the area , just say it’s OK , that’s if you really want Sky broadband and telephone ( but you need to accept that when the broadband is off because of a power cut the phone service is also off ) , in my opinion this is only really an issue if power outages are something that happens regularly, but you may think differently and want the reassurance of a battery back up .