TalkTalk refusing to acknowledge data breach and release from contract

elzbot · 20 August 2016 at 2:00PM

Sorry for the long post! After 2 hours on the phone to TalkTalk today - I need to get this off my chest!
I have 2 SIMS from TalkTalk on a 12 month contract which ends at the end of January.
Yesterday I received a call from someone pretending to be from TalkTalk Customer Care saying my IP address had been compromised. I did not confirm that it was me that was speaking with them and said that I thought it was a fraudulent call, asking them to prove who they were. They then reeled off all my account details, including an old email address which I only use for my TalkTalk account. The information they had was all they needed to get into my account over the phone.
Concerned I called TalkTalk this morning to alert them.
The first agent was very rude, refused to take me seriously and said I must have given my details out on Facebook or Twitter. I explained that the email was unique to my TalkTalk account (and that I'm not that silly). He called me 'disgusting' twice, oddly, and then when I asked to talk to his manager, was cut off.
I called back and spoke to a much more helpful gentleman who realised I was concerned about the security of my account (for good reason) and helped me set up a password,
I now have no faith in TalkTalk to keep my information safe, so rang back to ask to be released from my contract so I can move to another provider who's information these crooks do not have.
I was told that they are able to see that my information was not released in the October 2015 hack as they have a database of everyone affected. I explained that they have got my details from somewhere, and as they had quoted an email address which is ONLY associated with my TalkTalk account, it must have come from them. He then passed me to his manager.
The manager refused to accept that my details have been leaked and said that I must have given them to someone - which I absolutely have not! He said I will have to pay a huge amount to be released from my contract and if I was not happy to do that, to wait for a reply from him on Monday.
I asked for a written reply (email/letter) but have been told that I will have to pay £10 to have a transcript of the answer to my complaint which will arrive in 40 days.
I am beside myself, surely there must be some way of proving that TalkTalk have been breached and my information is now out there? And surely they can't charge £10 for written records of complaints? I just want nothing more to do with this terrible company!
Any advice is greatly appreciated.

trinidadone · 20 August 2016 at 2:23PM

why not write a letter of complaint, or better still find TalkTalk complaints policy, and follow that

elzbot · 20 August 2016 at 2:37PM

Thanks trinidadone. I have followed their complaints policy. I find it frustrating that I am allowed no record of having followed it though! I think a recorded-delivery letter will be the only way to go. There appears to be a lot of us who are getting these calls that are not on their database of hacked users. Perhaps they are only aware of the tip of the iceberg so-to-speak.

trinidadone · 20 August 2016 at 3:01PM

elzbot wrote: »

Thanks trinidadone. I have followed their complaints policy. I find it frustrating that I am allowed no record of having followed it though! I think a recorded-delivery letter will be the only way to go. There appears to be a lot of us who are getting these calls that are not on their database of hacked users. Perhaps they are only aware of the tip of the iceberg so-to-speak.

i am a talktalk customer, so keep me posted

Aquamania · 20 August 2016 at 5:22PM

elzbot wrote: »

Thanks trinidadone. I have followed their complaints policy. I find it frustrating that I am allowed no record of having followed it though! I think a recorded-delivery letter will be the only way to go. There appears to be a lot of us who are getting these calls that are not on their database of hacked users. Perhaps they are only aware of the tip of the iceberg so-to-speak.

What do you mean by " I find it frustrating that I am allowed no record of having followed it though!"?

The £10 quoted is the maximum cost permissible to be charged for information requested under the DPA. Actually it's the price many companies will charge.

But I don't think that is what you want is it?

You say you have followed the suppliers complaint procedure. It's not really clear from your post as to what stage you have followed it. The third stage is to send your complaint in writing to the CEO's office.

A recorded letter at this stage would be belt & braces should Talktalk play SB and say they have never received a complaint from you. But a certificate of posting (free) would almost invaraibly suffice for the ombudsman unless Talktalk really want to dig their heels in.
(If they do that, then claim for a lost item from Royal Mail. RM will usually contact Talktalk to confirm they never received the letter. So at that point, either they didn't receive it, or they they commit fraud - but that may be difficult to prove, unless they slip up later)

If you have already done that, then the final stage is to proceed to the ombudsman. You either need a deadlock letter from Talktalk for the ombudsman to agree to consider your complaint, or for 8 weeks to have passed since you first raised the complaint.

TalkTalk · 22 August 2016 at 3:28PM

Hi Elzbot

We would like to take a look into this for you. Can you contact us on twitter (@TalkTalkCare) or via our forum on our website please so we can obtain your details to help you.

Many thanks

Vicky

TalkTalk refusing to acknowledge data breach and release from contract

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