TalkTalk new-look bill

SacredStephan

TalkTalk took over my landline account from Shell Energy in July 2024.

I make no outgoing calls from the landline.

I received a letter from TalkTalk dated 16/09/26 telling me:

• new account number
• next bill will look different
• "there are no changes to how much you pay"

When my next bill arrived, the total is £2.75 higher than the previous month. This appears to be due to a new "paper bill charge".

Looking back through all my previous bills, this charge has never previously appeared.

I'm also puzzled by the amount owing on the new bill being presented as a negative number, unlike on the previous bill. This makes it look like the account is in credit. None of my other household bills are presented this way.

Anyone else noticed this?

Neil_Jones

So you've had no correspondence for two and a quarter years?

TalkTalk have always charged for paper bills, and it was £2 back in 2018. You should be able to turn this off in the My Account section;

Its plausible TalkTalk honoured the pricing and contract in place at the time of the transfer of the Shell service, and since most of them would have been 24 months at the most, they'll have all expired by now so you're under TalkTalk's T&Cs and if Shell didn't charge for paper bills, that's probably been honoured, but TalkTalk do so…

SacredStephan

So you've had no correspondence for two and a quarter years?

I've had a monthly bill paper bill from TT ever since they took over. The 16 Sept letter said "no changes" and now they have increased the bill, without warning.

JSmithy45AD

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82167930#Comment_82167930

No changes to the BB bill presumably as a paper bill charge is an add-on. Just deactivate it in your account.

jbuchanangb

I have been with TalkTalk since it was Tiscali. I can't remember a paper bill. I have downloaded and stored every online bill since April 2010.
Probably when TalkTalk took over Tiscali.
The new look bill does indeed record the amount owing as a negative number, whereas the previous version did not.
It also has a huge bubble encouraging me to "go digital with my account" to save £33 per year. That seems to be 12 x £2.75, the paper billing charge. As I do not have this charge on my bill, I do not need the suggestion to "go digital". I agree with the advice, log on to "My Account" and switch off paper billing.

Neil_Jones

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82172303#Comment_82172303

Tiscali originally wasn't TallkTalk, it was the UK arm of the Italian company of the same name and said arm was later bought out by TalkTalk in 2009.

Tiscali had its roots in Pipex and Freedom2Surf.

jbuchanangb

I joined Tiscali in December 2002 with a service called SmartTalk. Then on 20/09/2007 I switched my Line rental to Tiscali. Sometime in 2010 Tiscali morphed into TalkTalk, and I have every TalkTalk bill since April that year. Having escaped from BT for call charges in 2002, and for line rental in 2007, I find that very soon, if not already, I will be back where I started. Don't pay any call charges now, just line rental of £30 pm for Fibre 65, and £6pm for Supersafe. Fixed until April 2028.

SacredStephan

I've been unable to find the option to switch off paper billing. I downloaded the app and also couldn't find the option to switch off paper billing. So I started a chat and eventually they switched it off for me.