Suffering and problems with TalkTalk broadband signup

[scyl]

The best advice I can tell you is to tell them to go take a runnig jump.

I emailed OFCOM, Office of Fair Trading and BBC Watchdog. Last night I got an email from Talk Talk saying they will give me a MAC code without ahving to pay any cancellation fee.

It would appear that Talk Talk cannot deliver what they say they will deliver

[The_Gatekeeper]

TalkTalk have blocked the use of P2P software
this block is removed between the hours of 01:00 and 08:30 GMT
If you signed up to TalkTalk with Unlimited Downloads
You have a contract for UNLIMITED DOWNLOADS
Blocking the use of P2P software means Downloads are LIMITED
and this means TalkTalk are in breach of contract.

I for one have spoken with solicitors and am preparing to take legal action
The solicitor has said that it would be beneficial to hear from other TalkTalk customers
Who also signed up for - but are not receiving Unlimited Downloads
( UK customers Only )


If you want to receive the Unlimited Downloads you are paying for
Contact me on 07835 437044 to discuss how we can help each other
( This is a mobile phone number and is used because my landline number is linked to my TalkTalk account )

If you are affected by the download restrictions burying your head in the sand will not fix the problem

[jwhite]

I signed up with talktalk landline and 1mb broadband 8/2/06. Before this I was just on dial up. My broadband was connected 27/03/06 and was fine for 2 weeks. Last Tuesday night the broadband dropped offline and we haven't been able to get back online again since. I was using a secured wireless modem / router which I was then advised by the broadband technical support to reset all the settings and restart the connection.

This didn't work.

I then rang D-Link's (wireless modem supplier) tech support and after 50 minutes of them trying to find the problem they advised me to plug in the talktalk modem. I installed the talktalk modem & tried the connection and got the message error 0721 - the remote computer did not respond. After various calls to talktalk's rude customer care team & relented & called the premium rate technical support number and was informed that it was some problem with BT (I didn't really understand what the problem was! Something about the computer thinks I'm already logged on somewhere and that they would put a request in to BT to get it sorted and it could take 3 days to reconnect). He advised me to just keep re-trying the connection and see if I could get back online. I didn't hold out high hopes and have tried re-connecting again but it still has the same error.

I sent a letter outlining the above as well as an e-mail to Carphone Warehouse - Portal Way and to cdunstone's email address on Sunday but have only had an automated response. I now can't get through to speak to anyone in the broadband team.

Does anyone have any advice on what to do or where I stand legally. Also did I sign the contract after they changed the wording about P2P usage. I use Skype and VoipCheap, is that classed as P2P?

[Dizzi]

As you have been with TalkTalk a relatively short time and they have not fullfilled their part of the contract by supplying you with a Broadband service, my best advice to you would be to get to away from TalkTalk pronto, they are rubbish and seem to be imposing more and more stealth capping yet still selling their service as UNLIMITED.

Things will not get better with them, I promise you.

My contract with them has just about expired and I am currently trawling ADSL forums looking for a decent ISP.

At least you had an automated response from Dunstone as yet I havn't had a response of any kind.

One more thing, if you have a TalkTalk landline, check if the calls to Technical support are charged at normal rates, they were when I signed up.

Best of luck to you.

[jwhite]

Just got off the phone from customer services. They said that we can disconnect but only if we pay £70 disconnection charge. When I said I am not prepared to pay this I would like to speak to a manager I was told that none were available and that someone could call me back within 24 hours. The CS advisor said that it states in the contract that they have 30 days to rectify a fault but I can't see it anywhere on my contract & she couldn't tell me exactly where it said that. Any ideas how we can get out without paying £70. They also said I would have to take it up with them afterwards about getting the money back for this month's service which we haven't had.
I hate them!!

[The_Gatekeeper]

Many contracts are based on you paying a regular fee
in return for which another party provides a service
If either party fail in their commitment
the other party has the right to terminate the contract

If you failed to pay your monthly fee
they would refuse to provide the service and you would be disconnected

Equaly if they fail to provide the service you can terminate the contract
You will need to demonstrate that they have failed to provide the service
ot demonstrate that the service has been unreliable
Keep a record of dates and times that the service could not be used

The Law in the UK states that one service provider can not refuse to remove their service from your phone line
thus preventing you moving to another service provider

I used to be with Tiscali
Their service was to be blunt - Completely Crap
I told them that as they had failed to provide a reliable service
that with Immediate affect I am terminating the contract
I informed them that they would receive no further payments
and that I would be moving to another service provider
Tiscali tried to prevent me moving to another service provider
stating that they would not remove their service tag from my line
they said this was because of an outstanding balance on my account.

I contacted OFCOM who told me that Tiscali were acting Unlawfully
They said that one service provider may not hinder the transfer to another service provider
Basically Tiscali were holding my line to ransom
OFCOM said that it is unlawful for a service provider to refuse to remove their service tag
regardless of any outstanding balance

A current service provider is not required to provide a migration code
that would make the transfer to another service provider quicker
But a service provider Must Not hold your line to prevent you moving to another service provider

A service provider may request you pay a disconnection charge
however this appears to be an oppertunist charge
( A charge thrown in, in the hope that people will not question it but will simply pay it )
and unless stated in a written contract signed by you, you are Not required to pay it
They Must by law upon request and within a reasonable time remove their service tag from your line
so that you may move to an alternative service provider

The above is asuming that your service provider has failed to provide a reliable service or to provide the service advertised
If however thay have provided the advertised service and to a reasonable standard
then you are bound by the terms of the contract and maybe subject to a contract cancellation fee.

If you have any questions you can contact me on the mobile number in previous message

[The_Bear]

KEEP AWAY from talktalk. They have been going downhill fast over the past few month, and since taking over OneTel - or should I say OneTel has taken over talktalk. I asked for a Mac code for migration to Beaming. I was told they would email me a form to complete, which I did. That was over a week ago and they said it would take 5 days. I phoned to complain and was told my broadband has been cancelled November 2004. Getting angry I screamed at the idiot on the other end of the phone that my account with them only started in April 2005 and as I had completed my contract. I demanded that they get me the Mac code, and guess what.. They have really choked my connection. I am now lucky if I connect at dial-up speed and I mean around 14k. Do yourselves a big favour and keep well away from this shower of bandits.

[madmaveric]

I'm currently trying to get them to stop taking my money for a service they are not providing to me. I can't even play Joint ops which is the main reason I wanted the 2Mb unlimited bb they were offering.

The quote below is from my latest email when they said that I would have to pay £70 to get out of the contract. I think it sums up their contract. Anyone know legally if this will stand up in court as it looks like that may be where this ends up.

-----------------------------------------------------
Quote from your fair usage policy:
"Our fair use policy restricts this high bandwidth activity in peak hours to allow the majority of customers to use their broadband connection for normal residential usage i.e. surfing, email, online gaming etc:"

1) Offering a "2Mb Unlimited" and then "restricting" it in the fine print is false advertising.
2) My games are appear to be capped at ~2.5% of the connected bandwidth ~2Mb. so saying that this capping is to allow gaming is incorrect breaking the rules of the contract.
-----------------------------------------------------

I also saw a 40Gb limit mentioned somewhere ... unlimited broadband eh!

[cheeky2004]

I work in advertising and design. We all know that when something is advertised as 'unlimited' it really should be unlimited. For alot of companies it probably IS unlimited in every way. However, 'fair useage policies' have become a big part of broadband and hosting contracts recently and as mundane as it may seem it has become more and more important to read small print.

It doesn't just happen on broadband. On the hosting side, some companies offer unlimited domains, unlimited webspace and unlimited bandwidth. These are not often the best deals. On many unlimited packages, many sites are crambed on the servers, or other small print restrictions are made otherwise we'd see a huge server slowdown. One big company who offers unlimited hosting and bandwidth, allows NO file downloads whatsoever on their webspace. If you think about it, websites with no file downloads use much much less bandwidth, so all in all this is how they can offer unlimited bandwidth. Good marketing on the surface, and underneath they KNOW you won't need much bandwidth. In this case it would have benefited the website owner to read the smallprint and go to another company who are open about their limits and do offer downloads.

Bandwidth costs alot of money for any company, and often the companies who are open, with advertised limits, can manage their servers, and offer a much more reliable service.

The same goes for broadband. Some companies use clever marketing and I think personally you'll find that they had the small print etc checked by a solicitor or lawyer before advertising the offer. They are probably on the borderline with what they can get away with saying.

If it does state in the smallprint at the time you signed up that there is a fair useage policy etc etc, you will find it very hard to get anywhere in court unless you can prove you were misled. I'm no lawyer so all I can offer you is my view from experience so don't take this as gospel. As soon as we sign something or click the box to say we have read small print, we are legally bound by what we are supposed to have read, and we are stating that we understand what we are reading.

Many who take on a leading credit cards offer of 0% on balance transfers forever, are shocked when they receive a state ment later with interest.
£1000 balance transfer at 0%, then they spend £100 on their card in the first month, and send a payment in to cover the £100 pound spend thinking there will be no interest. However, in the small print it tells you that any payments you make will be deducted from the balance transfer first. Therefore the £100 you sent in to cover your spends, infact gets knocked off the £1000 transfer and leaving £900 interest free and you are charged interest on the £100 spend.

Not so 0% after all... but in the eyes of the law and small print it is, and the person taking out the card should have read the small print. How many of us do? After all, there's usually pages and pages of it... Many companies hope we don't read it.

What I would do is get some legal advice on your broadband problem and see if a solicitor thinks you were misled by marketing. But be prepared to be told that 'you should have read the small print' and bear in mind that a solicitor and court could cost you more than the money they want to get out of the contract.

I am currently setting up web hosting services, and have looked deeply into many contracts. I have crossed so many companies off the list because of small print and I believe in offering honest, upfront services which clear understandable advertising and marketing. I admire those of you who are prepared to make a point and highlight misleading marketing, as that encourages honest marketing. However, always remember, you are dealing with companies who are huge and often have their own internal law departments.

If you do persue anything, good luck and stand your ground but make sure you don't come off worst by it. We live and learn.

[madmaveric]

Thanks cheeky thats a well written post. You've summed up things very well and I agree with everything you've said.

These big companies bank on people not reading the small print. The problem I have is that I read their contract and it stated that p2p downloading was restricted to allow users who wanted to get email, browse the web and play games to be able to do that without having a saturated network. On this point alone I feel they have not lived up to the contract (although it can depend on what the meant by 'majority'.
I read it to mean that the majority of the customers want the service for these activities.
They could state that it means the majority of customers will not be affected by these limits. If this is the case then they are basically saying that you may not be able to get the bandwidth for email, Internet and games that your paying for.

I'm so annoyed at this that I am now going to get rid of my phone and mobiles with them once the contracts are up as well. I only want to be able to play one bloody game when I get in from work or on a weekend every now and then and they are making me spend hours on the phone and emailing in the hope that I will pay up.

It seems that I only have a couple of options at the moment.
1) pay £70 (that is not going to happen)
2) take them to court and risk paying out a lot more money if I loose or getting what I want if I win.
3) Just cancel my direct debits and let them take me to court, this would save me the cost of a lawyer but cast them a lot more.
4) Hammer their connection with some script downloads from HTTP and in the hope that they will cancel the contract.

The money involved in this is not really important to me as I have a good job. The principle on the other hand is the key factor. I am the kind of person that holds grudges so I'm getting close to the point where I just take them to court and publicly get them some bad press in any way I can. Once I get started I can get too focused on things though and then spend every waking hour concentrating on getting my own back. I do feel duped and even though everyone I've spoken to has been pleasant they are really getting my back up.

In my last email to them I said they leave me no choice but to go to the ASA and my solicitor. I'm currently looking to see if there is anything else I can do before this though as once I go down that route I know that I will then not back down even if they agree to cancel it and I will want to take it all the way so more of Joe public will see haw bad they are.

All this just because I want an hour of gaming once in a while. I'm really getting ****ed off with this now.

[madmaveric]

If you do pursue anything, good luck and stand your ground but make sure you don't come off worst by it. We live and learn.

Originally Posted by cheeky2004

I should have said that I'm the kind of person that will use a sledgehammer to crack a peanut. By that I mean that if I set my mind to do something I will often come off worst by it. But in cases like this I would rather spend lots of money to get them to court and give them a public flogging than pay them £70 as I feel they were deliberately misleading me and now just robbing me of my money.
I could well end up out of pocket as far as my time and money goes but to me I would look at it in the same way as I do with those gambling machines in the pubs. If I win then great, if I don't then at least I've had a few minutes entertainment for my cash (I don't play them very often though).

[widdow]

Im roughly in the same boat wife likes to p2p i like to game online contract 6 or 7 weeks old, bang no p2p for the wife and no gamming for me unless im prepared to log on at 1 am all this happened around a week ago. i think im goner pay the diconection fee and say good ridence i want my mac code first though i just do not trust them at all,
paying the fee and never tradeing with them again bad mouth them to your friends and make sure you never forget should hurt them more let there pr people sort this out they can wave the flags now but when the dust settles they will be left with nothing but a bad rep:

[widdow]

Sorry should have added
15 second lag at best not being able to log on at worse if you have any joy getting away from these people let me know,
im very interested BTW i went to the carephone warehouse to get one of ther office staff to get me through on the phone and was told by whom ever answered that the game i played was classed has p2p.

[speedtouchguru]

Going back to the "problems fixed in 30 days" in the t&c's....Most people who work for tech or customer support aren't aware of the exact contents of the t&cs....I worked for one provider once where agents would routinely say "you must phone prem rate for tech support" even though there was nothing in the t&cs to say that.

It really does my swede in...Don't lie to the customer, be honest, admit it when mistakes are made and then resolve the problem as quickly as possible.

Half the time the problem is lack of supervision, lack of communication between departments (i.e...don't talk to me, talkto your supervisor who will talk to me instead), pressure to answer calls as quickly as possible, low wages, lack of decent training...I could go on but I'd be soliciting for money for razor blades by the end of this post.

It's hardly rocket science is it?

[widdow]

today the 28/04/06 ive tried to contact talktalk to resolve my issue and request my migration code on 4 occosions just got disconnected once after a 30 minite wait listening to music think it was called ( WE GOT TO GET TOGETHER) i gave up the wife kept on trying for around another 8 or 9 attempts all the same result passed around from pilliar to post
till she finially got dumped.i dont do e/mails much never really use them so the only action available to me was cancel the direct debit im sure that should create a response some where along the line, way i see it is i refuse to pay for a service i cannot use.

[Zer02004]

You need to be really careful when cancelling payments to an ISP. It may create a response you won't like! First of all, the ISP will squat your line so it's not possible to use another ISP on the same telephone line. Most will credit blacklist you and many will send in the heavy mob.

You must ensure that all other reasonable avenues have been explored and exhausted before cancelling payment! This includes recorded delivery letters to the companys registered head office. It would also be wise to contact the companies ADR provider.
A visit or call to Trading Standards is also advisable as at the very least, records of your complaint are kept.

[madmaveric]

I've now contacted several people to try and sort this out.
ASA (advertising standards agency): They replied that as the advertisement wasn't 'paid for' as it was on their own website then they do not have to conform to advertising standards. If it had been a banner ad where they pay etc then they would be able to do something.
Otelo (talktalk's independent claim company) I have received a reply but have to follow up on this as I've had other things to do.
Watchdog: Request for investigation put in.
talktalk: last response from them was ... and I Quote
"The majority of our customers that use online games have no problems at all, however there are other online programs that may use the same ports as P2P, we have no control over this.
Our network controls are under constant review and we are aware of the concerns some customers may have regarding these controls.
These controls are in your terms and condition, and if you intend to cancel your contract on the grounds of these controls, then a cessation fee of £70 will be charged."

I'm currently waiting to get the terms and conditions that I digitally signed when I signed up. This is because the ones I saved on my pc are now different from the ones on their website "yes they have changed the terms and conditions". The one I have here does not state a 40Gb limit but does have a catch all cause for the bandwidth though

from one of the the contracts I saved:
"If, in our reasonable opinion, we believe that your use of the Broadband Service has or may adversely affect such network integrity or may cause network degradation we may change your Transmission Speed or manage your use of our Broadband Service as we see fit in the circumstances. This includes, but is not limited to, any circumstances where you are running an application or program that places excessive bandwidth demands on the Broadband Service for continued periods. Although we have not applied a fixed limit or a cap to the amount of data that you may download and / or upload, we may impose a limit on your usage capacity at any time at our sole discretion if your usage is affecting or may affect other users’ enjoyment of the Broadband Service."

I have a few more people to complain to before I get my solicitor involved but if it comes to that I will be claiming all expenses I can from this and getting as much publicity as possible to make sure other people know what they are signing up for. The publicity in itself may be worth the cost even if I fail as at least I may have stop some other people from falling into this trap.

Legally I may or may not have a case but whatever the legal state of this, morally I don't think this is a fair that they got me into a service that I don't have any use for. It's not as if I want to flood their network with music downloads ... I only want to play a game occasionally.

If I don't get a resolve for this then I will make it this years project to be a thorn in their side. I have already managed to persuade 3 friends who were thinking of signing up to go elsewhere so they have already lost more money than they want to get me to cancel. If they had admitted that their claims about games may be misleading and let me go for free then my rating of the company would have been completly different (I'd have recomended them).

A company is only as good as its complaints handling.

[widdow]

I've now contacted several people to try and sort this out.
ASA (advertising standards agency): They replied that as the advertisement wasn't 'paid for' as it was on their own website then they do not have to conform to advertising standards. If it had been a banner ad where they pay etc then they would be able to do something.
Otelo (talktalk's independent claim company) I have received a reply but have to follow up on this as I've had other things to do.
Watchdog: Request for investigation put in.
talktalk: last response from them was ... and I Quote
"The majority of our customers that use online games have no problems at all, however there are other online programs that may use the same ports as P2P, we have no control over this.
Our network controls are under constant review and we are aware of the concerns some customers may have regarding these controls.
These controls are in your terms and condition, and if you intend to cancel your contract on the grounds of these controls, then a cessation fee of £70 will be charged."

I'm currently waiting to get the terms and conditions that I digitally signed when I signed up. This is because the ones I saved on my pc are now different from the ones on their website "yes they have changed the terms and conditions". The one I have here does not state a 40Gb limit but does have a catch all cause for the bandwidth though

from one of the the contracts I saved:
"If, in our reasonable opinion, we believe that your use of the Broadband Service has or may adversely affect such network integrity or may cause network degradation we may change your Transmission Speed or manage your use of our Broadband Service as we see fit in the circumstances. This includes, but is not limited to, any circumstances where you are running an application or program that places excessive bandwidth demands on the Broadband Service for continued periods. Although we have not applied a fixed limit or a cap to the amount of data that you may download and / or upload, we may impose a limit on your usage capacity at any time at our sole discretion if your usage is affecting or may affect other users’ enjoyment of the Broadband Service."

I have a few more people to complain to before I get my solicitor involved but if it comes to that I will be claiming all expenses I can from this and getting as much publicity as possible to make sure other people know what they are signing up for. The publicity in itself may be worth the cost even if I fail as at least I may have stop some other people from falling into this trap.

Legally I may or may not have a case but whatever the legal state of this, morally I don't think this is a fair that they got me into a service that I don't have any use for. It's not as if I want to flood their network with music downloads ... I only want to play a game occasionally.

If I don't get a resolve for this then I will make it this years project to be a thorn in their side. I have already managed to persuade 3 friends who were thinking of signing up to go elsewhere so they have already lost more money than they want to get me to cancel. If they had admitted that their claims about games may be misleading and let me go for free then my rating of the company would have been completly different (I'd have recomended them).

A company is only as good as its complaints handling.

Originally Posted by madmaveric

I wish you all the best and good luck ive also convinced friends to not go there this linky gives you a idea even a CPW employee has got or had trouble with my issue in my eyes thats proof enough and could help you

http://myeve.eve-online.com/ingamebo...=329221&page=1
hope you can access this as it could be fuel for your quest

[peterlawther]

I have had a similar appalling service with TalkTalk. I consulted my brother, who is a solicitor, about legal action, but he thought their terms and conditions had me tied up. He propossed taking a 'material breach of contract' line that is mentioned in their t&c.

I e-mailed Charles Dunstone himself and got an immediate personal reply and apology, 8 phone calls from senior staff, everything fixed and a wavering of charges.

Have a look at my letter as it may be of help.



-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Lawther
To: Charles Dunstone
Sent: Wed Apr 19 23:02:51 2006
Subject: Dissatisfied customer

Dear Mr Dunstone,

I am writing to you regarding a number of problems I have experienced with TalkTalk. I applied online in January for a combined Talk 3 and broadband package. I have never received Talk 3 with line rental and while I did receive broadband in February I lost this last Tuesday after phoning up yet again to complain that I still had not received the phone package three months later. Despite numerous phone calls to various departments of TalkTalk and two visits to your branches I have still not received any information or help regarding what is happening. I am extremely disappointed with the service that has been provided and the lack of answers from any of your staff. I have been promised that advisers will phone me back and this has never happened. No one seems to be able to help me in any way and I am still waiting for an apology from any of your staff regarding all of this.

Below I have included a copy of an e-mail I have sent to your customer services department outlining your company's material breach of contract.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours Sincerely,

Peter Lawther



Dear Sirs,

I am writing to you to highlight the numerous problems I have experienced with TalkTalk since I signed up in January.

On January 23rd 2006, I signed up online for your Talk 3 phone package with line rental and 1MB broadband to enable me to save money on what I was already paying with BT. The broadband went live on 1st February and we were told that the landline would activate within two weeks.

When this did not happen I contacted you by phone and was told that the computer system had failed to process the Talk 3, but this would be rectified and activated within two weeks.

This failed to happen and after a number of promises from you that the process would be started I am still paying my bills to BT.

On Tuesday 11th April I rang yet again to ask why nothing had happened and was told that an unexplained fault on the computer system meant that my order could not be processed. Your adviser suggested that the simplest action would be to cancel my Talk 3 order and that a member of your Sales Team would ring me at 6.00pm that evening to retake my order.

I am still waiting for that phone call from Sales.

When I went to use my broadband after the phone call to your adviser I discovered that my broadband was now inactive.

I rang you the next day, Wednesday 12th April, to be told that the computer system now showed that my broadband was ‘pending,’ but would be active again within 24 hours. I also asked why a member of sales had not phoned me as promised and the adviser said that he would email the sales adviser with an urgent message to phone me.

I am still waiting for that call and I am still without my broadband despite the assurances it would be active within 24 hours.

I rang back that evening and spent an hour on the phone at a cost to myself being passed around different advisers whose only help was to say that, ‘they didn’t know how this could have happened and I would have to speak to somebody else who would be able to help me.’

I am still waiting to speak to that person!

However, one of the broadband advisers did say that the computer system showed I had an outstanding charge of £77.00 on my broadband account. This is incorrect as I signed up to a package that gave me the first three months of broadband free.

On Tuesday 18th April I was so frustrated speaking to phone advisers who could not help that I decided to visit the Carphone Warehouse shop in Lisburn, County Antrim, to speak in person to a Sales Adviser, Fiona Morrison.

She was sympathetic and helpful, but after 90 minutes of phone calls was as unsuccessful as I had been in rectifying the problem. The only answer she was given was for me to ring the Technical Support Helpline at 50 pence per minute. I refuse to do that as I have already wasted enough time and money ringing TalkTalk helplines to still have no phone service or broadband. I also do not think that I should have to pay for a problem that you have created. On top of that, this is not a technical failure at my end but a system failure at yours and so speaking to your Technical Support would be of no benefit.

At this point in the shop I asked to have everything cancelled and taken off your system. The adviser told me that I would be charged £70 to cancel the service. I told him that I would not be paying £70 to cancel services, both phone and broadband, that I was not receiving. I object to paying this charge for a broken contract as it is your company who has failed to supply what I signed up for.

As things stand I am still paying my phone bills to BT and have no broadband.
I regard this as a material breach of the contract between you and me and in accordance with the terms and conditions of this contract I hereby give you notice that if you do not remedy this breach within 30 days I will regard the contract as terminated and cancel my direct debit.

I will also be sending a copy of this e-mail to your Chief Executive Officer, Charles Dunstone, and referring the matter to the Telecom Ombudsman and the BBC “Watchdog” programme.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Peter Lawther



Dear Mr Lawther

Many thanks for your email, I am very sorry to hear of the problems with the provisioning of your Talktalk account. I am travelling at present, but have got someone back at the office investigating for me. We will be back to you shortly.

Regards

Charles Dunstone

[widdow]

Im not the brightest spark in the fuse box but to resolve my issue ive thought of a extreme way but money isnt the problem my end its the service.
Im having another line from BT connected to the house and then get another isp on that line when im up and running I will cancel the old line and give the 7 day notice as required to BT we have had that line for many years no contract crap I am doing this so i can transgress to anther isp without all the delays I feel talktalk will incurr.
extreme I know but resolves my issue if anyone sees flaws in this please let me know asap line is ordered and I can cancel any time before the line goes live.

I DONT TALK MUCH BUT I LISTEN QUITE A LOT I HATE MULTI-TASKING.

[tomwil01]

I have had similar problems to most of you guys - although my downloading and P2P etc was fine for many months.

Once they started restricting me (to a point where I noticed it) I was near the end of my contract so decided to wait so that hopefully my migration to a new company would be trouble free.

Mistake.

After nearly an hour on the phone, I finally got through to somebody, but, what a struggle. I don't like to refer to people as "thick", but jesus!!! Eventually, they sent me an email with a link to request a MAC, and guess what? The link doesn't work. It just gives me a "Our web site is so busy because everybody wants free broadband, and why wouldn't they?? Please try again later" error message.

This has been going on for four days now. I check every half hour in work, and all through the night at home. They are either doing this on purpose, or just totally useless!! So now I cant actually get a MAC, and face the prospect of another hour on the phone to speak to somebody who probably dropped out of primary school.

My message is simple, having experienced all of the other postings problems, AVOID THIS COMPANY AT ALL COSTS!!!

Even their own employees cant stand them, as this general anti CPW blog run by disgruntled employees shows http://www.peterbe.com/plog/blogitem...-20050624-765v

[hbuswell]

Please consider posting a complait against TalkTalk on the website that I've just set up. Being a Warcraft player I've heard plenty of bad things said about this dreadful ISP over the past couple of weeks and I'm hoping that through better organisation of our efforts we can force TalkTalk into taking some action - either that or at least warn others about their terrible business practices.

Anyway, you can find the site through the following link...

http://www.nomoretalktalk.com/

It's just a simple wiki, but hopefully it can serve a purpose!

[Dizzi]

I too have emailed BBC Watchdog regarding TalkTalk and looking round the various forums a fair number of other people have too. I must say I'm a bit disappointed there hasn't been a mention of TalkTalk on Watchdog (yet), not even an appeal for the regular viewers to log any feedback they may have regarding TalkTalk.

PS I did miss a couple of programmes, so please ignore above post if Watchdog have already addressed the issue.

[undercover]

Want to skip that 70 quid fee?? tell them your moving..you can't automatically switch with TT into a new property, and they don't even ask any questions about it.

As for p2p; the hours for p2p usage via TT are 12p.m. to 8 a.m. and yes they log everything you are doing (i can't tell you how i know :P). The problem is TT arn't accurate in their blocking and place generic bars on ports. If you ring up and give and tell them to fix it, theres a minimum of 24hours before that bar can be lifted, even if its TT's fault!! I've seen people who've used outlook express as the only thing on their computer and the servers blocked them.. email god, don't get me started. The email server goes down for roughly 45 minutes a day without fail, so if you can't log into webmail or outlook its them again.

The whole process of TT is pure crapola, you can't get anything fixed because departments have no knowledge of who fixes the problem, and often when you finally get through to the right department the person you go through to isn't willing to help anyway (even though they can).

If your waiting for your TT broadband then i'd say cancel, cancel now. The reasons; you can't wait for more than 23 minutes without being dropped by their phone system AND even if you do get through to an advisor 28% (accurate figure) of calls are dropped by the phone system with out the advisors knowledge (i do quite love the "we have thousands of advisors taking calls, yesterday agents logged on topped 400). Cancellation fee of 70 pounds is there to stop people signing onto bt (who are launching free broadband in the middle of next year i believe). Of course if you've signed up for TT broadband then your buggered for getting that because of the 18 month contract you've signed up for. Availability is another query, your put onto ipstream until they can put you onto LLU (local loop unbundled; i.e TT equipment in exchanges) HOWEVER there is no current schedule for when opal (tt engineers) will visit sites and its still being evaluated so the dates your given for LLU are incredibly inaccurate. Your switchover is probably the most painful thing in the world, your BB actually goes active before TT send your modem/password etc, and as for your welcome to TT heres your account number and general info..you'd be lucky ever to recieve it. Email support, if you email anyone at TT you've got 0% chance of getting a reply, the team for dealing with correspondence is tiny, i believe theres around 20 people tops handling correspondence for a company touching 3million customers. Oh and just so your all aware, if theres a problem with your BB its now going to cost you two pounds to log the fault speak to 2nd line support (thats on top of the 10p a minute charge) funny thing is, if someone has to come out to help you, he'll be in a bt van, wearing a bt t-shirt showing his bt id. Yup, no-one can help you from TT lol.

one big thing i know they don't want getting out is there is an escalation procedure for LLU (get your exchange at the top of the list). If you ring up and tell them your adamant there is a "melon" form they can fill in, it'll goto the bloke who manages the queue for LLU and he'll red flag your exchange meaning your high priority which of course you all are but TT don't realise that.

Its a company for making money its that simple, they care nothing for their customers or even their workers. Money is the only thing on their minds...

But one thing to make you chortle, old charlie dunstone is suggesting internally that in august (when bt become unregulated as it were) that he'll put in a bid for them..wahahahaz


Hope thats explained a little bit about the details of support from TT, any questions gimme a holla


UC

[widdow]

That about explains everything thanks a lot Undercover last ditch attempt to get rid recorded delivery and a phone call with trading standards.
I traced some bills which ive been overcharged as well, contract £17.99 for 2 meg bb with option 3 package billed for £30.00 since i started with them 10 weeks ago. If the port blocking had not happend I might not have even noticed. again thanks.

[undercover]

that sounds about accurate if you've signed on for the whole package, its 20.99 as standard, but they take a month ahead on your talk package (9.99) and wlr (11.00) most people have much larger bills in the first month. Check your line rental services breakdown on the back of your overall breakdown, if you check the dates you'll notice you've been charged a month ahead.

[argyll]

Wonder if anyone can supply me with a tel number or email address that gets me around the dreaded 0870 customer advice line. My line went 'TalkTalk' this morning but all of the features like 'call transfer' are missing. Cant talk to anyone, can't get an email response. After wasting most of this morning hearing 'thank you for waiting etc', I feel like driving over to W3 6RS and throwing my handset through their window. Since I doubt if there is anyone there either, it would probably be a wasted journey.
thanks

[Zer02004]

I'm not sure if these will help -
Customer services from Carphone Warehouse:
08704441820 = 08454565599 = 02088965000 = 08000855900
Cancellations:
08704441820 = 01925554000

Courtesy of:
SayNoTo0870.

[argyll]

Cheers and thanks for that. Much appreciated.

[The_Bear]

Still on the subject of that thieving shower from the CarPhone Warehouse! I have just been emailed from them with a bill for £80. They say it's to cover my account since April. I parted company from these bandits in April. So I say it again "DO NOT SIGN UP WITH TALKTALK" Anyone who is foolish enough to go with this company after being warned has no sympathy!