TalkTalk connection and speed problems
Hello to anyone out there who can save my sanity after I foolishly took my TalkTalk account with me when moving house recently, partly due to the threat of a cancellation fee, but also because I am a carer for my husband. We are on a low income, finance has therefore dictated our choice of ISP and TalkTalk are one of the cheapest.
I have had nothing but a history of horrendous problems with this company. I have found their customer service department lacking with advisers that sound hostile to the customer and hang up when they feel they've had enough of not being technically competent (I guess that's the only way out). Not to mention constant bandwidth cuts, varying speeds and dropped connections which have just become an accepted part of the price we pay for being with TalkTalk. The connection and speedd problems are a real issue when you rely on the Internet.
I am now in the unhappy situation of having a repeat performance following my recent move. My go live date was the 5th March and I couldn't get connected so I spent all morning on the phone to TalkTalk, trying to understand the accent of some call centre adviser in a far away land who had no idea what what the problem was. After being shunted from pillar to post for a couple of hours I asked for a supervisor, he was also hostile and told me it was myNetgear router and to call them. I did and had to pay for the privilege, they referred me back to TalkTalk saying my user name and password was incorrect!
I have tracked my order tonight on their website only to find out that some clever member of TalkTalk's staff (the customer service people I spoke to today), has cancelled my order with them - not at my request needless to say! Presumably there will be the inevitable cancellation charge now as well!
Can anyone tell me is there a place or person in the UK who is able to address all these issues? I have no where to turn to and due to family health issues, we badly need the Internet. Is there anyone who is able to bring this shocking company to task for the discourteous and incompetent way they appear treat paying customers. My bill is always at least over 300 a year with them. This is a great deal of money for us to find for a less than satisfactory level of service in return.
I'd be grateful if some some knowledgeable and kind soul could advise me where to resolve this dilemma and mistake I have made, albeit done with genuine reasons? Any input to that will empower me to sort this out, but that could also lead to these practises being stopped would be of great benefit.. Thanks to those patient enough to read my gripe and from personal experience, no matter how hard financial circumstances are I couldn't really recommend TalkTalk as an ISP.
By: Jane
Comments from visitors
I started off with Line One on dial-up. The line and phone were BT. In actual fact the line was terrible and it suffered from corroded joints and tree-rubs. When I paid to have the line installed about 30 years ago the BT "engineer" was aged about 60 so I assumed that he must have known his job, WRONG! He fitted a lightning surge arrester block then didn't bother to earth the centre tap of the gas-gaps. Later my expensive fax equipment was destroyed. BT brazened-it-out claiming that "the house had been struck by lightning" and that "it was an act of god". Nether case was true as the rumble of thunder came several seconds after the bang from the fax equipment. Since completing BTs negligent work there have been no further instances of electrical storm damage, this over a period of about 25 to 30 years. Anyway I digress, Line One were taken over by Tiscali. Tiscali were then taken over by Talk Talk. At this point I was able to be rid of BT and change over to Broadband. The service is poor (it drops out) and this has lost me auctions on eBay. The alternative is to pay for a firm to bid (snipe) for you. 40 years since man walked on the moon and we had most of the streets ripped up for fibre optics. These are not for the locals however, duh!
-3
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Talk Talk is cheap because they provide the worst service you will find anywhere on the Internet and that is a 100% copper bottomed,cast iron ,set in stone GUARANTEE! If you still decide to go with Talk Talk after getting this advice then you only have yourself to blame. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
+6
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I've been with Tiscali, latterly TalkTalk, for many years, but enough is enough. Do not ever, ever contemplate signing-up with this company. Their system screwed up when taking a direct debit from my account (which had many hundreds of pounds in it). They took £39.81 on 27th Jan and returned it on the same day - then barred my telephone and broadband because the bill was unpaid. I then found out what a nightmare their 'customer service' is (two unanswered 20 minute calls, unanswered emails). Take my advice, get a migration code (MAC) from TT (contact Oftel if they make it difficult) and move to any other suplier!
-6
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jane-ring ofcom on 020 7981 3040 they will have the address of the person to contact
-2
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I have tried over many months to complain to talk talk, they have totally ignored my letters, not even the common decency to acknowlege them.Iam fed up with the poor variations in speed downloads, crashing,jamming, especially on the tv side, you put down something to record, come home only to find, Failed in place of the recorded program and I am paying for this pleasure. I wont phone, as I refuse to have to pay to complain about a poor service and by other peoples comments, it gets you nowhere, its about talk talk, listened listened.
+1
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talk talk are without doubt the the worst broadband providers ever.
-2
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We've been with Tiscali for years with no problems at all - not one. Since TT took over, speeds dropped. In August 2010 TT un-bundled our local exchange (Cheddar). Our connection has randomly dropped regularly since then. Numerous phone calls, emails, call-backs, foreign call centres, more emails, more phone calls etc etc and finally an engineer said here was a fault at the exchange. It worked well for about a week. Now our connection drops whenever the phone is used. Not a problem with the phone - tried the test socket/wired phone/other sockets etc. No difference. I have complained by email and on the automated system. No reply. Now our speeds are comparable to dial-up.
I'm off to someone else. Not sure who yet, but anyone has to be better than Talktalk. Truly awful service.
I'm off to someone else. Not sure who yet, but anyone has to be better than Talktalk. Truly awful service.
+6
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Without a shadow of a doubt Talk Talk is most definitely the WORST ISP on the planet. I have been with BT, AOL and Virgin and they were poor but believe me they were sensational compared to Talk Talk. Slow, slow , slow and I just couldn't understand the Talk Talk people whom I contacted by telephone. My advice to anyone thinking of going with Talk Talk is a most emphatic DON'T!
+9
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like you I was told talktalk was a good deal, my BT bill each quarter was around £80 to £85, talktalk said they would give me a similar package for £23 a month, so I agreed, my first bill, £33, second bill £37.45 and my latest £38.89, and for this I have very very slow broadband, we had a fault on our line which I reported on the automated service, because I couldnt get to speak to a person, the automated service diverted my landline to my mobile, 1 week went by and my wife and I tried every day taking in turns to try to speak with someone to find out if anything was being done to fix the fault, finally we got to speak to someone in India, I think, and they told me no fault was reported, how come, I said, youve diverted my landline to my mobile, I dont understand she said. Ive just spoken to talktalk,[26 minutes to get through] compensation for 3 weeks of not being able to receive incoming calls, our phone did I beep, then we had to do 1471 and return the call at our cost and also 13 pence for calling 1471, said I could have £2, Im now canceling my contract which will cost me £105, but sod it, im going back to BT.
-5
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I just join TalkTalk end of last month, after 2.5 weeks, my phone line not working. I have tested all the possibility on the web, still not working. Try to call a few time to technical support, have been put on queue for a long time, this cause too much on my mobile cost. Then I log a call on-line, according to the web site, it will take 1 day business response time, but it has been week already no response. I also check the daily service disruption website, a lot of problem on other site related to service disruption on phone and broadband, but still no update on my line. VERY FRUSTRATED. Can someone please help.......
+2
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why was I told that when I went with talk talk from pipex that it was high speed !! I have had anything but high speed !, they try and sell their download speed but the upload speed is bloody diabolical ! how long do you need to wait to have your homepage loaded ?? So talk talk if you dont get your act together I will be stopping the payments till you get the digit out ..........
+2
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I was a Tiscali customer for years-problem free. I was forced to TT when they took over Tiscali and put their price up by 50%. I had months of aggro with incorrect charges-eventually I told TT that I would only communicate with them in writing after I waited 59 minutes for customer payments and was promptly charged £5.90 for the privilege.
Now my service is awful as my connection drops off every few minutes. They are cheap in every sense of the word.
Now my service is awful as my connection drops off every few minutes. They are cheap in every sense of the word.
+2
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I have been with Talk Talk for 11 months and without a shred of doubt they are the worst ISP in Britain. I have lost count of the number of times I have had connection problems,currently I have been without my email facility for almost 2 weeks. I have telephoned them time after time and all they seem to do is fob me off with one excuse or another. If they were giving out Oscars for the worst ISP then Talk Talk would sweep the board. My strongest advice to anyone contemplating subscribing to Talk Talk is don't.
-9
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James Mollison - 18-Oct-10 11:59
The change is minor, it merely sustitutes talk talk for tiscali. You need to delete the existing tiscali dial up and substitute via the new connection wizard talktalk and 0,38
In reality I lost not only email (they say slight difficulty (wrong, all skype, email and internet ability but in reality I could connect, BUT THAT was ALL)
I was promised second line engineers (x2), they never called so I want my refund for 5 days loss on internet (and compensation for my valuable time -40 min after I told them my rate £120) and refund of the higher priced calls, about £2-4)for about 2 hrs, at half of which goes balk to Talk Talk, but Talk Talk, being the bunch of shysters they are will ignore my mail.
They still owe me the balance of excess charges from 2 yrs ago when they sent their debt collectors after me for a debt I didn't owe ( they owed me) and the time wasted because the debt collectors were too thick, dense, stupid and moronic to understand they talk talk owed me.
They were probably collecting more in telephone charges than they were spending on their foreign advisers!
And their connection was slower than Tiscali. I said shysters........
In reality I lost not only email (they say slight difficulty (wrong, all skype, email and internet ability but in reality I could connect, BUT THAT was ALL)
I was promised second line engineers (x2), they never called so I want my refund for 5 days loss on internet (and compensation for my valuable time -40 min after I told them my rate £120) and refund of the higher priced calls, about £2-4)for about 2 hrs, at half of which goes balk to Talk Talk, but Talk Talk, being the bunch of shysters they are will ignore my mail.
They still owe me the balance of excess charges from 2 yrs ago when they sent their debt collectors after me for a debt I didn't owe ( they owed me) and the time wasted because the debt collectors were too thick, dense, stupid and moronic to understand they talk talk owed me.
They were probably collecting more in telephone charges than they were spending on their foreign advisers!
And their connection was slower than Tiscali. I said shysters........
+1
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Talk Talk started off ok, but over the last few weeks connection is erratic, speed is easily the slowest thing since snails!! This is my first experince with the internet, it will be my last unless Talk Talk can get their act together. Contacting Delhi etc, is not an experience I want to continue with - do you have a UK person worth talkung to? All my equipment has been checked - so stop avoiding the issue and sort out the cronic signal + connection please!!!!
0
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Talk talk are the worst ISP ive ever been with. at first everything was fine 6mb broadband but all of a sudden bam 150kbps and 80kbps.
Ive phoned them and they are getting someone to check the line at the exchange this better work or I will be switching ISP's very soon as I work from home and need a strong speed
terrible
Ive phoned them and they are getting someone to check the line at the exchange this better work or I will be switching ISP's very soon as I work from home and need a strong speed
terrible
0
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I have recently switched to a TalkTalk package including broadband. On the day I was due to go live, the router they sent me was faulty and took three days to replace. As I work from home I was unable to connect to the office and lost three days pay. TalkTalk thought 3 days was good service and were totally unaware of or interested in my situation. I also asked for changes to the 'bundle' but nothing was done for a month until I had to call and ask if the instruction had been actioned.
Having been offered this deal with zero connection charge I have now been sent a bill that includes £29.99 connection fee. I was told this would not have been the case - until I told them I had it in writing. After being referred urwards twice I was eventually told it was free, but it was also standard practice to charge £29.99 on the first bill and credit it 2 or 3 months later. Other call-centre agents would not have been able to tell me this as TalkTalk don't tell them (ignorance is bliss!). Can I now refuse to pay this bill until the £29.99 is removed?
Having been offered this deal with zero connection charge I have now been sent a bill that includes £29.99 connection fee. I was told this would not have been the case - until I told them I had it in writing. After being referred urwards twice I was eventually told it was free, but it was also standard practice to charge £29.99 on the first bill and credit it 2 or 3 months later. Other call-centre agents would not have been able to tell me this as TalkTalk don't tell them (ignorance is bliss!). Can I now refuse to pay this bill until the £29.99 is removed?
-4
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Talk Talk have got to be the worst company I have ever had the misfortune to have dealings with.I changed isp from utility warehouse at end of february to TT purely for the price.They firstly got the package wrong and only took over phone line.In the meantime utility warehouse turned off my bb so I had none because TT messed up my order.After weeks and weeks of phone calls and messing about they finally put the order in and told me the welcome pack would be with me in a few weeks,no welcome pack arrived and on contacting them was told order was cancelled.
So they put new order in and 3 weeks later I did receive a modem and bb went live.Unfortunately the speed was less than 1mbps but they said it would stabalise and increase.It never so after many many more useless calls I was told I was only on the low package up to 2 mbps,so they changed that to the up to 8mbps wich I was always on with utility warehouse.It is now end of august and despite 6 weeks ago being told I was on the up to 8 mbps package I am still getting less than 1mbps.Ihad a ticket opened with their secondline technical which was closed without the issue being resolved so I have just gone through all the rigmorole again to get another ticket opened...so feb-august and no workable bb from TT...and they really do need more british call centers...yes the people in delhi or wherever can speak english..but there native accent is too powerful and they become unintelligable as well as they speak far too fast
So they put new order in and 3 weeks later I did receive a modem and bb went live.Unfortunately the speed was less than 1mbps but they said it would stabalise and increase.It never so after many many more useless calls I was told I was only on the low package up to 2 mbps,so they changed that to the up to 8mbps wich I was always on with utility warehouse.It is now end of august and despite 6 weeks ago being told I was on the up to 8 mbps package I am still getting less than 1mbps.Ihad a ticket opened with their secondline technical which was closed without the issue being resolved so I have just gone through all the rigmorole again to get another ticket opened...so feb-august and no workable bb from TT...and they really do need more british call centers...yes the people in delhi or wherever can speak english..but there native accent is too powerful and they become unintelligable as well as they speak far too fast
+1
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I have been with TalkTalk for around 4 years now. Up until recently I have not no problems with the phone or Broadband. However over the last could of months I have had nothing but trouble the billing and Broadband cutting off.
When I have phoned up it is very difficult to talk to anyone about the problems as the call centre line is of terrible quality (probably overseas) and there is a delay between you speaking and the call advisor hearing what you have said and vise-versa, making conversation tedious.
When I have phoned up it is very difficult to talk to anyone about the problems as the call centre line is of terrible quality (probably overseas) and there is a delay between you speaking and the call advisor hearing what you have said and vise-versa, making conversation tedious.
-8
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How much slower can talk talk get mine is going at 0.48mps and paying 14.99 a month
+7
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