Tiscali Broadband - Where to complain

Here is a copy of the letter I have sent to Tiscali, ISPA, and a few other people. After 24 hours, I had Tiscali on the phone, offering me compensation of £225. This was graciously accepted. Three weeks after it was promised in my bank account within 7 working days, I have received £6.37 into an account they said they couldnt pay money into. Utterly useless.......... oh yes, ignore the 13 months part, its now 15......

I am writing to complain about the ineptitude of your customer service department over a quite incredibly prolonged amount of time.

I first called to cancel my account on 04/09/07, and I was told that this was done, and as it came out of a bank account I barely used, I didn’t bother to cancel the direct debit. I had to cancel my account instead of simply transferring, as I was moving into my parents for a month in between houses. I then set up my new account with yourselves in October when I moved into my current address. Much to my dismay, when I next checked the bank account in May/June 2008, I had become exceedingly overdrawn, thanks to the fact that my Tiscali account at £17.99 a month had continued to be debited for 8 months.

I then called you to complain and make sure my account was cancelled. This was promised to me again. I have since spent the best part of two hours on the phone, on an 0845 number costing me more and more money, just trying to sort out the mess that has been caused by the lack of communication between departments.

In my next call to the billing department, I was promised a cheque to be sent out within 7 days for almost £143.00, and this never arrived. After another 30 minute plus phone call, where I was promised that it was being sorted out after being passed to the finance department, as it was a claim for over £100, I have still received no cheque. This phone call also promised me a return call from the member of staffs supervisor, which didn’t materialise. Needless to say, I wasn’t surprised by this in the slightest. To add insult to injury, Tiscali has continued to take the money out of my account, so I now have another case on my hands for the extra £35.98 which has been taken out after the account has been cancelled TWICE, when I already have an account at my current address, which I have had to explain in almost every call.

So far I have spent 179.90 (10 months @ £17.99) on something which I have now cancelled a grand total of THREE TIMES, and the best part of £24 (2 hours at 20p per minute) on the phone to, apart from the last person I spoke to who finally gave me a correspondence address, a shockingly badly organised customer services team, who seemed to be acting like the right hand didn’t know what the left hand was doing.

I am owed at the very least, an apology and a full refund of the amount of time and money that I have wasted with the company on this matter, as I am sick of stressing out over more than £200 that I had no need to spend. The fact that I have a contract with you at my current address, which you are quite happy to send me offers and correspondence for, is really getting beyond a joke.

Now to round off matters, the cheque has been sent o my old address, as I had explained not to, in EVERY SINGLE phonecall to the company. After it was promised that I would have it sent out in the next 2-3 weeks over a month ago, I am now at the end of my patience and I am taking the matter to Watchdog. You have had 13 months to sort this out

Hi,
I have been with tiscrapi bb for at least 8 yrs, this summer, a sales person from tiscrapi called and asked if i wanted to upgrade to talk, bb and tv for £25, so i said, ok.
I eventually got my stuff(router, tv box) put in at the end of Nov. All seemed fine, till the 8th dec. my phone was cut off!
Nightmare begins, i call them, and get put through to various different depts. India, airdrie, and each time i had to explain, no one knows why i was cut off, i had to phone, my old supplier, and they said, "Tiscalli asked BT to stop your line from the 8th Dec". So i phone BT, and they said"that i should not be phoning them, it should be Tiscali who phones them". So i phone Tiscali,(india, which is the phone dept.) explain all over again, and all i hear from them is, i am sorry for your trouble, please phone this number, and they should be able to sort it out for you...phone again, options again, and its airdrie now, "sorry, this is the tv dept, we can't help you!" So i am ripping my hair out! I have spent over 6hours, in 5 days on my mobile phone, mostly waiting time.
I have wrote to someone called Richard Lawrence? Someone posted his e-mail address on here. He replied, but he said he is looking into it!??!!HELP I WANT TO CANCEL! But reading to all the horror stories on here, i am terrified!

[marylynne9]

for even more evidence of Tiscali's ineptitude, especially where cancelling one's account is concerned just type or copy & paste this URL into your address bar.

http://www.broadband-guide.org.uk/pr...tml?c#comments

My own disgust with this company is expressed there somewhere too.

I'm currently trying to get some money back from Tiscali after they continued to take payments from my account even after I had notified them of my cancelling the account (always cancel the direct debit yourself!). I have joy going via their UK based Customer Relations department:

Email: www.complaint@uktiscali.com - looks strange but works

Tiscali
PO Box 14505
Birmingham
B46 1BF

I hope this helps.

[silver]

I'm currently trying to get some money back from Tiscali after they continued to take payments from my account even after I had notified them of my cancelling the account (always cancel the direct debit yourself!). I have joy going via their UK based Customer Relations department:

Email: www.complaint@uktiscali.com - looks strange but works

Tiscali
PO Box 14505
Birmingham
B46 1BF

I hope this helps.

Originally Posted by redders

thanks for the heads-up

I'm sure tiscali has ppl working for them who can sort out issues - only problem is getting through to the right person (last time I tried their call center it was worse than useless!)

another route that also seems to work http://www.the-scream.co.uk/forums/t28068.html?

[marylynne9]

I have, eventually got my issues sorted out by Tiscali. Here for anyone wanting it is the contact at the High Level Complaints dept at Tiscali

(Nicolas.Piere@uk.tiscali.com)

He was the first person to be remotely helpful, and sorted out my problems in less than 14 days.

i aggree tiscali is unreliable. cancel your direct debit .

c

thanks!

I hope more people do complain, tiscali do not listen to their customers and using the links above are the only way to get any response from tiscali and hopefully get them to change their ways Sil
PS, I split the thread and made it sticky - hope that's ok?

Originally Posted by silver

Subject: our ref: 09012-002980 dated 04.02.09 cane you please look to this matter
because you upon checking the account (U19NFM5O09) WAS CANCELLED ON 04-09-09.

IS NOT BECAUSE I DID CANCELLE THE ACCOUNT ON 01-08-08 AND THEY DIDENT CANCELLE THE ACCOUNT BECAUSE THEY SAID WHENE IS ACTVE THE NEW ACCOUNT AND THAN HE WELL BE CANCELLETHE OLD ACCOUNT THAT IT WAS ON 18-08-08
AND THEY SEND ME LAST BILL FOR THE OLD ACCOUNT TO THE NEW ADRESS AND IT WAS ON 04-09-08 FOR £17.99 AND YOU SAID ON 10 NOVEMBER 2008 CREDIT FOR 25.53 TO MY ACCOUNT AND ITWAS NO CREDIT GO TO MY ACCOUNT.
10 NOVEMBER 2008 IT WAS THE OLD ACCOUNT IS SUSPENDED THAT BECAUSE CANCELLEION THEY DONT CANCELLE THE OLD ACCOUNT SO IF YOU DONT SORT THIS MATER I WILL TAK ACTION BECAUSE

THIS IS MASS IM NOT PAYING TWAYS BECAUSE IS NOT FAIR. THEY DIDENT ACTIVE THE NEW ACCOUNT FROM 18-08-08 TEEL OCTOBER AND I WAS PAYING THE OLD ACOUNT IS THAT FAIR.

[silver]

easiest thing to do is to get someone at tiscali to call you, follow instructions in http://www.the-scream.co.uk/forums/t28068.html

Friday, April 10,2009
I desperately want to get away from Tiscali. They're driving me mad. My contract began o April 16 2008 and as far as |'m concerned it ends on the 16th of this month but they don't see it that way and are telling ME!!! that I have to give them one months notice to be free of the contract. I can't find their terms and conditions anywhere on their site. Can someone help?
Thanks,
Dancer

[tommy t]

Firstly the months notice is required by all isp's and is standard contract rules,it's no use telling tiscali anything like that on the telephone as they never process your requests,you should of done what i did,write to them (snail mail) head office address and Milton Keynes address ,use registered post too,as so they cannot say they never received you letter of cancellation and don't forget to stop the direct debit too don't believe the bull they write in their correspondence to you saying to not to cancel it as they will do it after they have taken the final payment,then after they have had the letter for a week,get requesting the MAC code they have a 5 day time frame to furnish you with it from the day you make the official request,should they fail to do this then contact ofcom,as they are in breech of the law basically,hopefully cancelling as per contract,getting the mac,that will be the last you have to do with tiscali,keep us posted on progress

[stroller]

Tiscali ? forget about complaining . My advice to anyone who is with them to get away as quick as possible . The call centre setup is a total waste of time , they don't listen . Does not matter what your original problem was , you end up with constant calls that can end up costing you a lot of money . Nothing ever seems to ever get resolved . India just seem to be robots in front of a computer . The call centre in The Philippines not the same . They seem to listen and attempt to resolve issues . Been with Lineone since the early days then Tiscali . Gave them Broadband , Line and call package in Nov 2008 . Spent hours trying to resolve an issue . Cost me about £15.00 in calls to their 0871 . As far as I am concerned , think about it , why go to a communications company that charges to solve their problem ? Never again . Eventually back to BT (god forbid ) . If they don't get to grips with it soon you probably be looking for a new provider soon anyway . Never as glad to see the back of a company .

I had 2 bills in one month from Tiscali, for taking up an internet security package on pay monthly. I set it up on 29th April and was charged for the whole month! I wasn't expecting to be charged until the following month and so I didn't have the funds to pay for both of the bills. So I paid the most expensive bill, leaving the other one for pay day. However they have taken the money from my bank account, without my permission, as a debit card payment!! I know I didn't pay for it as I didn't have the money for it as well as the bills that were due out before money went in. I don't have a direct debit set up with them, they just took it without my consent. No doubt if I argue the toss over it they will run rings around me with their legal department and I'll have no chance of getting anything positive out of it. But I had to cancel my TV license payment. A payment that I had set up on a contract after having trouble to pay for it. In that contract, if I do not pay on time they will automatically take me to court and put charges on. Now I've got that hanging over my head. Surely what they've done is not legal???!! What can I do about it though? :-( At least I don't have to pay them for another month though (sigh).

[captainblighty]

Reply to the address below and say that as you have not got the package that you requested you are going to contact CISAS.

HIGH LEVEL COMPLAINTS DEPT
TISCALI UK LTD
TORRENCE HOUSE
ERSKINE HARBOUR, PA8 6A6

tel: 01236 634590

Originally Posted by smallship

I have telephoned this number to check if it is a bona-fide address. It is not, so don't waste your time. I appreciate it's a year too late posting this but like others on here I too am fed-up with Tiscali. This number and the location are delivery agents for John Lewis. Obviously somebody's idea of a joke. Not a funny one either. Idiot's are everwhere.

Five years ago when I first signed up with Tiscali, I used my ordinary Credit Card number as a means of payment. They deduct my monthly bill from my credit card and then the credit card company send me a bill, every month. Then a couple of years ago, Tiscali switched me off. When I called Tiscali and their accounts dept to find out what happened, I was told that no payments had been received. I explained that they had my credit card number. Just take the money from that number. Tiscali insisted they needed a debit card number. I said NO. I insisted they continue as they had been doing. I suspected Tiscali were merely setting me up for a scam. Where they could continue enriching themselves at my expense should I ever try to leave them. I held my ground and eventually they gave in. The result is that should there ever be a problem with them trying to swindle money out of me, I can use my credit card company for recompense, as well as stopping Tiscali ripping me off. Tiscali are aware of this, and tried to stop customers from using Credit Cards.
Google 'free ISP's', or 'pay as you go ISP's'. There are plenty out there. And set up a Pay as You Go account as a backup.It's about a penny a minute. Then if you have any problems being cut off by your contract ISPs, you are never cut off from web access.
And do NOT give your debit card number. Always use a Credit Card number.
Uncle Jack. London

[silver]

yep., also worth noting that paying by direct debit gives you a direct debit guarentee, so if payments are taken incorrectly (possible with tiscali in the past!) then your bank will refund you directly

Call 020 7087 2000 (Head Office)

Tell them their cs team was being unhelpful / uncooperative. They will connect you to a customer relations manager and it will be sorted out. I was refused a refund for a service that should have cancelled. After speaking to head office I was offered three times the amount! I'm still not sure if I will stay with them

i would recommend it to all my family n friends, as i myself work for tiscali ie talk talk as i have seen the pain and efforts taken by every one in the company, obviously not everything will work according to the way we need coz there are company policies that we have to stick to. b ut if we have a closer look n see wat happens inside. its really gr8, we take care of each n every customer. if any customer is not getting broadband for few days or phoneline is not active for few days the company can remove those charges if the customer complains, also the customer is called back right the next day. if he is facing some problem, not only this we also help the customer with third party devices. which the agent will check for on the website. and accordingly help the customer, wat more u expect if u dont like an agents service u may even complain, the agent is put on training n then u can be rest assured that such thing will never happen again.....

[gem]

Well hotdude407 you are obviously biased and blind. You only have to look at the posts on The Scream! that contradicted and I'm rather more inclined to believe the users than the supplier!

Which department are you in, PR?

[tommy t]

i would recommend it to all my family n friends, as i myself work for tiscali ie talk talk as i have seen the pain and efforts taken by every one in the company, obviously not everything will work according to the way we need coz there are company policies that we have to stick to. b ut if we have a closer look n see wat happens inside. its really gr8, we take care of each n every customer. if any customer is not getting broadband for few days or phoneline is not active for few days the company can remove those charges if the customer complains, also the customer is called back right the next day. if he is facing some problem, not only this we also help the customer with third party devices. which the agent will check for on the website. and accordingly help the customer, wat more u expect if u dont like an agents service u may even complain, the agent is put on training n then u can be rest assured that such thing will never happen again.....

Originally Posted by hotdude407

You must think that we all came down in the last shower,

I have been with tiscali for over two years and the service has always been poor. I have had no inernet at home for over two month, i tried to contact tiscali three times about this and was on hold for over 20 minutes before having to hang up. I called them last night (7th july 10) to get my mac code this took me 64 minues on the phone i was passed between four differant people two of which i could hardly understand and called me by the wrong name. They are also saying i cant get my money back for the time i have been without internet. oh and how could i forget they increased my monthly bill from £14.99 to £19.99 without informing me. I want everyone to know how bad tiscali/talktalk are and for people to beware of them!! I am still full of rage and will now have a huge phone bill to pay thanks to them to!!

My mother (in her 70's) has recently moved over to Tiscali for her phone and broadband. She has been (and still is) without a phone and broadband connection for nearly two weeks. Every time she complains she is fobbed off with promises to call her back and being put on hold. She has racked up mobile phone bills while they put her on hold indefinitely. My parents are awaiting a hospital appointment so it is essential they have a phone line working - how on earth do Tiscali justify their existence when they treat their customers with utter contempt? My mum asked for the CEO's name and address and the call centres don't even know that! - what hope is there of this getting resolved if they don't even know the basics. I am consulting solicitors on her behalf and writing to the newspapers to highlight their appalling service as I think this is the only way to get something done.

[silver]

try the method outlined in http://www.the-scream.co.uk/forums/t28068.html - has worked previously and do keep us updated