Never in all my days have I had to deal with such a **** poor company.

I've just spent the last hour trying to get through only to be told that they can't deal with Option 2 customer right now and someone will call me back. Yeah right....

The problem started 4 weeks ago when we started receiving calls for someone else. After umpteen calls to TT they established that the line was crossed and said they'd fix it. It took 3 weeks. 3 weeks on a dial-up connection and 3 weeks with no phone.

So, we were worried about getting billed for the other persons calls and were ADVISED to pay by bill over the next couple of months until the situation panned out and I cancelled the direct debit. I was assured that this wouldn't be a problem. Yeah right...

Last night a restriction was placed on my line, so I called TT this morning and explained what the problem was, I was waiting on my bill to see if it was correct and had been TOLD to do this. I have never ever ever missed a bill payment with TT and they place a restriction on the line over £60!?

So, f*ck this I thought and got put through to disconnections where they tell me there is a £70 disconnection charge!? I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than pay some shi*ty telephone company money to disconnect me over a fault that they were responsible for!

Seriously, anyone even contemplating going to TT forget about it. The phone service is crap, the broadband disconnects at random and is pathetically slow, and when you need help you get transferred around between England and India and never, not once, get to speak with someone that actually knows what they are on about.

Useless useless b*stards...

i had far worse problems with talktalk. it went on for months. i didnt pay the disconnection fee, or my last bill (over £200 worth)

taking ofcom's advice i wrote a letter explaining that i was only willing to pay what i owed (explained what that is and why), and said i wasnt willing to pay the disconnection fee because talktalk had not provided the services they were contracted to.

if a supplier can not supply what is in your contract, and to an acceptible standard, and you then complain, and give them a fair amount of time to sort it out, then the contract is null and void and you are free to join another supplier. dont worry ofcom will back you up. talktalk cant legally charge you for leaving a contract that is null and void. in the end they didnt even charge me the money i actually owed them either.

also remember that no matter what you owe them, they cant stop you leaving and cant refuse to give you a MAC code.

i've join up with BT now. you pay more because they actually have customer service. its well worth the money when something goes wrong. plus BT manage the phone lines so faults are fixed, rather than ignored.

Yeah, I think I will go back to BT. Unfortunately I can't call them though because Talk Talk have barred outgoing calls...

bt website (its quicker)

Steve said:

Yeah, I think I will go back to BT. Unfortunately I can't call them though because Talk Talk have barred outgoing calls...

Click to expand...

you should be able to override the CPS and route the calls through BT.

What contract have you got 12 months?

If you have then you will face termination fees.

You should write a letter of complaint, or send me an email to my work address and i will forward it on.

H is with talktalk and hasnt had any problems.

We had a guy canvassing for talktalk coming round our house the other week and my dad said "my daughter works for talktalk and she thinks they are crap, coming from someone who works there then i dont think i'll bother thanks"

I do think their customer service has a lot to be desired. I have my number on the letters that i send out just so that if the customer has a problem they can ring me direct rather than trying to get sense out of the crap customer services.

I have people phoning me about allsorts now, i dont even work for the customer services department, but i will always try my best to get whatever the problem is resolved.

I am suprised how grateful the customers are, even if there isnt amything i can do but they say they are grateful to speak to someone who is willing to help....

Sammi, how can I route calls through BT? I have both line rental and call with TT. Is this still possible?

Steve said:

Sammi, how can I route calls through BT? I have both line rental and call with TT. Is this still possible?

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Lines arent owned by CPW, we rent the lines from BT and charge the customer. I know you used to be able to dial a code so you could route through BT. I have done this myself when i have CPS'd a line and the calls arent routing properly, so i would dial the code, it would route from BT and i could check to see if there was a problem with the line itself or with the CPS.

not too long ago when other companies CPS'd a line they would have dialers you plug in the wall, and also you would have to prefix dial to override BT.

I can make some enquires if you want and see if this is still possible, i havent done CPS properly for a while. I used to mainly do Wholesale Line Rental. And now i am on broadband.

I work for opal and talktalkbusiness, so i dont have direct access to residential accounts. But I know people that work downstairs in residential side.. so there are ways round things

Steve, you brought this on yourself for your original NTL letter You're on like a database of customers than companies can cause hell to

Paul, you may be right, I think it's time for a scathing letter copied to every Talk Talk contact I can find!

Sammi, I'll let it go, I'm moving back to BT. Thanks though.

send letters to the directors of the carphone warehouse. its more satisfying.

I'll keep that in mind jug.

sammiboo said:

H is with talktalk and hasnt had any problems.

Click to expand...

They can't spell my name right.
H

poor hammissh

Skate2create said:

poor hammissh

Click to expand...

Who?
H

or maybe even huey LOL Infact they might as well call you the bloke from steps

OK, email sent to every email address I could find on the net...

Dear Sir/Madam,

Before you continue please note that I am a customer of Talk Talk. I use your company for both line rental and calls. As a customer I fully expect this communication to be taken seriously, considered and acknowledged. I also trust that the reply will be favourable.

Let me commence by saying that Talk Talk's idea of customer service is laughable, intolerable, wrong and downright foolish. I thought NTL were the pinnacle of **** poor customer service. How wrong I was... In my vain attempts to contact a member of your staff that can string more than three words together in one sentence I have been cut off, hung up on, transferred and then cut off, been put through to an automated system, been put through to an automated system and then cut off, been misdirected, been misinformed and, worst of all, been transferred to an Indian call centre where everyone is called David and nobody can understand a word I say. Although this is all very amusing, it is also incredibly annoying. I can think of at least 10 other things I would rather do with my time than spend it trying to get sense from your staff. Tell me, does your recruitment process involve touting for staff outside pubs/zoos/lunatic asylums?

My problems started approximately 4 weeks ago. I apologise for the lack of dates in this email, I'm sure a look at my account on your computer systems will show you not only that your staff can't spell, but also the time and date of each of my calls which, incidentally, must average appoximately 10 minutes each of my wasted time. Anyway, 4 weeks ago I started receiving calls for someone else. A mistake I thought at first, but no, it persisted. I contacted Talk Talk "customer services" and was informed that the line was fine, no problems here. But still the calls kept coming. During what must have been my tenth call to your "customer services" it was discovered quite by accident that the number showing on the phone in your call centre was not the same as my house number. From this is was deduced that the lines had been crossed at the exchange during your recent upgrade work, local loop unbundling I believe it is called. So, it was reported to an "engineer" (also apparently recruited from the local looney bin) to fix.

The days went by and nothing, my broadband service vanished, I couldn't make calls from my house, I was a social outcast. To allay the tedium I arranged a pay-as-you-go internet connection through Tiscali, I told myself that Talk Talk were a competent company, the problem will be fixed in no time. Not for the first time, how wrong I was... The weeks went by, I called almost every day to no avail. In various accents of broken English I was told that the problem was being worked on. Eventually a nice lady in India agreed to arrange updates by text message. It was so nice to be updated at 3am, thankyou for waking me nice lady.

So, one Saturday I received a text message saying that the error was fixed, but guess what? That's right, it was a wind up. The error was most definitely NOT fixed. Oh how I laughed. Still no broadband, still no phone service, still accrueing charges for pay-as-you-go internet access and mobile phone calls. Another half dozen calls later over the next week or so and incredibly, no, miraculously, the problem was finally repaired. Fantastic!

Now, allow me to backtrack a little. During this feast of comedy screw-ups I realised that there was a possiblity that as my line was crossed I might actually end up paying for someone else's phone calls. A call to a very pleasant young Indian chap did nothing to allay my fears and his advice was as follows, now this is important, so read on:

"I would advise you to cancel your direct debit and wait for a bill to be delivered. Only then will you know that the calls you are being billed for are in fact your calls".

So, following the advice given by this very nice and apparently competent young gentleman I did just that, I cancelled my direct debit. Previous to this you will note that not once have I missed a payment on my account. So, I waited for a bill, and waited, and waited and waited. That was fun. Now, jumping forward again (I do hope you are keeping up) my wife decided to make a phone call on 20th February only to find out that our line had a restriction placed on it. "How can this be" I thought to myself, "I'll call those nice people at Talk Talk and ask them". So, the following day I did just that. Imagine my horror when I found that the restriction was placed on the line because I owed the vast sum of £60.00. This debt was accrued because I followed the advice of the young Indian gentleman, remember him? Apparantly, and get this, I had failed to pay my bill so Talk Talk were justified in cutting me off. I explained that if I had actually received a bill it would have happily been paid. I've never missed a payment and you people restrict my service over £60!? That's nice.

Despite 3 conversations with your staff yesterday, 21st February (and 7 unsuccessful attempts during which I was repeatedly cut off, misdirected and hung up on) a chap in England (wow!) agreed that the situation was unjust and that he'd try to reinstate the line pending a bill being paid which was supposed to be with me "soon". Let's pause here for a second. What does "soon" mean. Does Talk Talk have it's very own language that nobody else is privy to? Soon could be days, weeks, 2 months? Anyway, I still have a restricted phone service so that is irrelevant. When that elusive bill eventually arrives it's payment or non-payment hangs very much on your response to this complaint. My business with Talk Talk hinges on how this is dealt with.

I was also informed yesterday that a £70 disconnection fee would apply if I left Talk Talk. At first I was shocked, then amused, and finally I was furious. I wouldn't pay that £70 if you personally picked me up, held me upside down and beat me about the kidneys with big sticks. How does breach of contract sound? No acceptable phone service, an iffy broadband service where you restrict and throttle gaming traffic, etc, etc, etc.

Please note that this email has been sent to various email addresses at CPW, Talk Talk and most importantly, OFCOM. I trust that a response will be forthcoming, but I won't hold my breath. Get your act together, have you any idea how unhappy your customers are?

Regards,

Steve, I'd remove the "...I thought NTL were the pinnacle of **** poor customer service. How wrong I was... " part as I can see them dismissing the rest of the letter because of negativity from the off. Actually, most of the first paragraph...Although it makes for amusing reading to us
Might just be the way that I see it though.

Too late it's gone. In the actual email I start with my telephone number and account number, so they can't dismiss it.

thats fair enough, its just I thought that if its going to OFCOM etc that it best sound professional to get a response out of any of them.

Fingers crossed for you.

Dan

ofcom respond quickly to any letter, but all they say is put a formal complaint in, wait 8 weeks, then contact the alternative dispute resolution scheme for your supplier, wait another 8 weeks, then contact ofcom again and they will take it further. i appreciate there is a process but 16 weeks is too long.