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I wish to seek advice from the Hive Mind!
TLDR: TalkTalk are trying to charge me from something I shouldn’t be. What recourse do I have?, Where can I seek appropriate legal advice?, Would OffCom be interested?
I live in an area supplied by CityFibre 1Gb Internet. I have a contract with TalkTalk for an internet connection. I have had this for around 6 years now and was part of a trial in the area.
I received an email from TalkTalk recently stating that they are due to switch off the service in the area on the 29th of May, due to obsolete infrastructure. The contract I entered in to was until 22nd of June. The email also stated that I could chose to leave "without any charges" for another provider. I needed to act by the 8th of May to ensure that service was not lost.
So picked provider, organised new install, let TalkTalk know I wished to leave on the 26th May. 4 Days later I receive another email informing me of a contract breakage fee. So ring customer service after 45 minuets of discussion the customer service call handler says she'll put notes on my account and the call is recorded to the effect that contract breakage fees would be waived. I ask for an email confirming that, not possible apparently.
Next step write email to only email address I can find for them, detailing the full details with copies of the emails I have received attached, explaining that I am acting based on the communications from TalkTalk and citing the statement that charges would not be applied.
Today I received an email stating that charges will be applied as I am breaking my contract early.
I have responding outline all of the details again. Requesting that, as I am acting as they are breaking my contract a Month early, they remove the charges.
If they continue to hold the position that I am to be charged. What next? I have said I would contact the Ombudsman to complain. Not sure if they would be interested though.
Any experiences, knowledge and tips gratefully received.
Sorry to inflict this on you all, but I had to take it out on someone! ;o)
Be interested to see how you get on...
I'm in a simmilar bind at the moment with plusnet, they hiked my 39mb broadband (inc basic line rental) from circa £22pcm to circa £26pcm.
Contract not due for renewal until december, even though they are charging new customers about £26pcm 69mb or whatever the next fastest package is.
1.5 hours on the phone, getting passed around the houses, and in short they wont upgrade my speed or give me a discount, and if I terminate early I get a circa £100 cancellation fee.
Needless to say I'll be cancelling at the end of my minimum term as most providers, plusnet included are doing 60mb+ for what I'm now paying.
trying to charge me from something I shouldn’t be
Whats is the something?
take to twitter?
@mattyfez are you sure that isn't the increase due to interest rate or something?
If so, it is covered in their terms and conditions. (I'm with Plusnet too)
@bruneep - Unfortunately other than here and a Google acount I don't have any social media accounts. I closed that last 2 years ago because it was sucking the life out of me. I also find social media anything but social.
@dawson, yes it's due to a CPI rate rise or something (built into the contract) so theres no getting out of it, but my beef is a new customer can sign up on a package almost double the speed for about a quid per month cheaper.
Anyway @blue77 Sorry I hijacked your thread... what's the thing they are charging for that you didn't sign up for?
Make a formal complaint to the company. You should find details of how to do this on the back of your bill, on their website or by asking customer services.
If your provider is unable to resolve your complaint, ask for a deadlock letter. This enables you to take your complaint to an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) scheme.
ADR schemes act as an independent middleman. They will examine the case from both sides and reach a decision they think is fair.
If eight weeks have passed since you first formally complained you can contact the ADR scheme directly. There are two ADR schemes: Ombudsman Services: Communications, and the Communications and Internet Services Adjudication Scheme (CISAS). All providers must belong to one of the schemes. Your provider will tell you which scheme it is a member of, or you can use the Ofcom ADR checker.
So if Talktalk won’t deal with your issue then the ADR schemes can.
Cancel all your direct debits with them. Contact new company and let them.know the score just in case Talk talk flag something to them.
Raise an official complaint and give copies of all evidence.
@mattyfez - no worries. They are trying to charge me for early termination of contract, despite the fact they are turning off my service a month earlier than the contract end date (due to the end of a trail in my area) . And I've asked to leave 2 days before turn off so that I can maintain an Internet connection.
@J-R - thank you. Some really helpful advice in there. I'll add it to my arsenal if they won't shift.
@DickBarton - stopping the direct debit is on the to do list as soon as I'm disconnected. They've said final bill will be raised 10 days after disconnect.
Try Resolver, worked for me in the past.
turning off my service a month earlier than the contract end date
That's breach of contract right there. Whether you have the energy to fight it, is another matter.
@dawson, yes it’s due to a CPI rate rise or something (built into the contract) so theres no getting out of it, but my beef is a new customer can sign up on a package almost double the speed for about a quid per month cheaper.
That’s been SOP for telecommunications and insurance companies for decades. Welcome to the 20th century, sorry 21st century.
Are TalkTalk really switching off the service? - the mind boggles.
Guessing that you are on a copper service with them and they now only want to deliver fibre to the premise (FTTP) connections?
The City Fibre link would be delivered over a separate infrastructure (I think) so can you not just get that and let the TalkTalk service lapse? - if it is only a couple of days then the cost would be minimal and you would avoid the stress of the whole thing.
@Cletus - yep. About 6 years ago full fibre (1Gb) was installed on a trial basis. TalkTalk have now decided that the infrastructure is obsolete so they are turning off the network. I can however decide to stay with them and pay £10 more a month for the same service, through the same fibre cable. Or in their words leave for a new supplier with no charges. And here we are with charges being applied and unable to talk to someone who know what's going on.
How much effort do you want to put into this?
Not much;
Email the ceo address with detail of your issue
https://ceoemail.com/s.php?id=ceo-9625&c=TalkTalk%20Group-Chief%20Executive
More/no response;
Write a stiffly worded letter to the ceo with copies of previous correspondence, get a posting receipt.
If no responses/they continue to chase for the payment send a second / final letter stating you will look forward to defending the matter in court.
Continuing to engage via telephone is likely to be a pointless frustrating exercise that leaves you with no evidence at the end.
Get one of the AI chat bots to write the next email with all the legal language. That may get noticed.
You have a six year contract? 👀
I suspect that the later email is automated and can be ignored. They'd have a hard time justifying a charge when you're jumping ship because they're terminating the service, and are breaking the contract early themselves. You should be charging them. 😁
Presumably this "obsolete" network won't be required to deliver the new service. So don't cancel it, just leave it. There's no harm in having both services live for three days, and you're guaranteed continuation of service on switchover day. It's what I did when I went from Virgin cable to an FTTP provider.
Email the ceo address with detail of your issue
I'm sure that the CEO has nothing better to do than personally handle complaints emails from individual consumers. Back in my support days I used to have people tell me they were going to email Bill Gates because their computer crashed. All I can say is, good luck with that.
They are in breach of contract, send back their letter word for word and charge them an early termination fee. Copy in their complaints team.
I’m sure that the CEO has nothing better to do than personally handle complaints emails from individual consumers. Back in my support days I used to have people tell me they were going to email Bill Gates because their computer crashed. All I can say is, good luck with that.
You’ll notice as you quoted it I said
Email the ceo address with detail of your issue
Not email the ceo, there is a subtle difference, I suspect we all know that despite wishing otherwise the ceo does not sit behind these email addresses, quite often though there are a group of employees who look at resolving issues & there are numerous reports of such, is this the case with Talk Talk who knows, perhaps you want to be less snarky…
Perhaps.
It's a common suggestion though, and IME it's pointless. I've worked in or adjacent to Support in multiple companies for many years. Large companies have support desks for a reason. If you email the CEO then - at best - it'll likely just get passed on to the support desk anyway.
I'm sure there are exceptions to this. Julian Richer was once famous for dealing with customer complaints personally, whether he still does I do not know. It's possible that Talk Talk has a dedicated helpdesk sat behind the CEO's direct email address I suppose, but it is unlikely that a company like TT is going to have someone sitting there waiting from an email from Disgruntled of Tonbridge Wells when they probably don't have enough staff to man the main Support departments.
What's far more likely is that in emailing the CEO all you're doing is slowing down the process by introducing an extra step, and possibly marking your card as a cleverbollocks within Support and getting your query kicked to the back of the queue in the process.
IMHO, etc.
You have a six year contract? 👀
Sorry, trying to keep posts as short as possible, I 've been with TalkTalk for about 6 years, current contract is 24 months.
I suspect that the later email is automated and can be ignored. They’d have a hard time justifying a charge when you’re jumping ship because they’re terminating the service, and are breaking the contract early themselves. You should be charging them. 😁
I put this in the last email I sent to them. Still waiting to hear a response.
Presumably this “obsolete” network won’t be required to deliver the new service. So don’t cancel it, just leave it. There’s no harm in having both services live for three days, and you’re guaranteed continuation of service on switchover day. It’s what I did when I went from Virgin cable to an FTTP provider.
Actually the fibre cable entering the property is a CityFibre cable that can be used by a number of providers, including TalkTalk. I am somwhat confused as to what is becoming obsolete and means they are unable to continue providing the current service. Especially as if I enter a new contract, as is one option, with them the service will be delivered via the same cable. The new provider will also use the same cable to the property.
That's... special.
I suppose it's plausible if the cable is fine and whatever they're retiring is further upstream. 🤷♂️
I had TalkTalk issues and was a bit bloody minded. Eventually got helped and talked to a reasonable man called Lee. Address here from my previous email trail. Might work. I've ended up splurging on Zen Internet who have been magnificent and don't appear to throttle at all. TalkTalkReply@talktalkplc.com
@Cougar it could be that TalkTalk don't have access in the OP's area. I had to move away from Zen to IDNet when we had full-fat fibre installed. Zen are a City Fibre partner just not in our part of the world. Shame really as the previous FTTC from Zen was rock solid though a bit over-subscribed on Sunday evenings when there would be TV buffering.