Computers and Internet

TalkTalk complaints from customers
We get sent so many complaints regarding TalkTalk here at The Weekly Gripe that we genuinely don’t know what to do with them all. I’ve included below some of the gripes sent in by TalkTalk’s unhappy customers.
23-Apr-11 14:23

Why are people still using Internet Explorer?
Why on earth are people out there still using Internet Explorer, let alone IE6? I read a news article recently that stated Microsoft are practically begging users to stop using IE6 because it is so old.
9-Mar-11 16:51

Companies take too long to respond to email
My gripe is really about the lack of timely communication and there are quite a few companies out there that are guilty of this. How hard can it be to respond to an email from a customer within 24 hours?
31-Jan-11 19:58

Too much time wasted on E-mail?
When my other half was introduced to the world of e-mailing, I noted a change in her pattern of behaviour: time is frittered away so that lunch is missed; supper is late or overlooked; grocery shopping postponed...
17-Jan-11 18:03

Why is 3 mobile broadband so slow?
I'm sick and tired of 3 and their mobile broadband. I began using the service a couple of years ago when it first started and it was pretty good, but when I did have issues I found them difficult to resolve with customer services.
7-Jan-11 16:50

Fed up seeing and hearing Facebook everywhere
I choose to live my life without Facebook and I do get the odd puzzled look now and again. So, have any of you out there tried to get by without Facebook and is anyone else fed up with seeing it everywhere?
3-Nov-10 09:47

Why can't eBay sellers leave negative feedback?
eBay is now designed to protect buyers, not sellers in my opinion. Not only can buyers dish out negative feedback while sellers can only leave positive feedback. Why can't sellers leave negative feedback?
28-Oct-10 10:44

Computer game serial numbers and keys
I hate them and why do they even exist? You spend $20 for a game for your grandchild who is chomping at the bit to play it. During installation you find that you need a serial number or key which is of course missing.
4-Aug-10 16:21

Smartphone data plans are too limited
Mobile phones are great for making calls on the move, but it doesn't end there. These days you can do much more with your mobile phone, or at least you could if you weren't restricted by your network provider.
25-Jun-10 14:43

Since when did the Internet become The Cloud?
My girlfriend has just emailed me to ask me my advice about Cloud Training for around 15-20 people. I can tell you that it took all my willpower to resist the temptation to send her the link to the local DZs website.
11-Jun-10 16:42

Trying to cancel deceased father's TalkTalk contract
My Father passed away in January this year and had previously changed his phone line etc. to TalkTalk. On behalf of my mother I tried to contact them on the 16th February to advise them of the change in circumstances.
16-Mar-10 18:35

Slow download speed with Virgin Media
The final straw for me was when my downward speed was reduced to less than 300kb/sec one Sunday evening.  In the past I have had a reliable 2MB/s, even though I live in rural Wales and am some distance from the exchange.
23-Nov-09 19:12

Orange dolphin pay as you go free Internet?
Beware of Orange's pay as you go package called 'Dolphin'. The so called 'Free unlimited Internet acess' actually means you can visit Bebo, Myspace and Facebook for free. Visits to other websites will incur additional charges.
3-Nov-09 16:53

Besieged by random followers on Twitter
There's one thing I find really annoying about Twitter; it's those random followers that latch on to you just after you have posted an update. This was actually quite exciting at first until I realised what was going on.
22-Oct-09 18:20

Technology acronyms and abbreviations
Today as I searched various online shops to buy a new graphics card I was reminded of something that I find a little irritating - the vast number of 3 and 4 letter acronyms used in technology these days.
21-Sep-09 14:51

Can you have your say on the BBC website?
I would like to gripe about the media, and in particular the BBC. Their 'Have Your Say' forums seem to reject many valid and non-offensive post. Why is there a need for so much censorship?
12-Jun-09 13:23

Frustrated by inept support staff
Foreign call centres do my head in! I'm sure it's cheaper to operate them but the people you end up talking to rarely know the subject you are calling about well enough to support it.
20-May-09 16:31

BT customer service, truly dreadful
Like many other 'gripers' I am a BT customer. The problems began in ernest when I accepted an email offer for the total broadband package in September 2006. I have spent hours on the phone to BT customer service since.
11-May-09 12:00

Mobile broadband problems with Vodafone
I recently purchased mobile broadband from Vodafone to use with my laptop. The problem is it doesn't work because of the signal strength in my area and I ended up locked into a contract for a service that I couldn't use.
20-Apr-09 18:10

Is Facebook getting too complicated?
All my family use Facebook, so I thought I would subcribe to see what all the fuss was all about. Well, either I am thick or Facebook is so complicated that I cannot use it.
1-Apr-09 17:16

No Internet connection - help!
I have no Internet connection and I haven't had any connectivity since Saturday night. It feels like my right arm has been cut off because I use the Internet so much. How did we live without it?
30-Mar-09 16:51

Google Street View UK, why so paranoid?
What a sad bunch of individuals, harping on about privacy concerns and spoiling it for the rest of us. Come on, you can't see anything in Google Street View that you wouldn't see walking down the road!
20-Mar-09 18:06

Frustrated by usless Internet Service Providers
TalkTalk woes... yes it's a common enough complaint topic but all ISPs jump to threats once you try to exit a contract, its probably the only time you'll get immediate response from them - it might just be my last and only option.
16-Mar-09 14:37

D600 latitude password problem, no support from Dell
I have been quite frustrated by the lack of support provided by Dell in resolving the issue of a bios password on a laptop I recently purchased on eBay. I understand why they wont help (proof of ownership) but it's still a pain!
14-Mar-09 13:58

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 cancellation fee. Unfortunately we've got the same connection / speed issues.
10-Mar-09 13:20

Talk Talk connection and phone line problems
I've been with Talk Talk Broadband now for around 11 months (connected for maybe 5 months) and all I can say is, how the hell can they call themselves a Internet service provider when they don't provide a reliable service?
12-Jan-09 17:55

Sky TV and broadband complaints from customers
Here at The Weekly Gripe we receive a lot of email from people who have had problems with Sky, either the equipment, the service or sometimes the customer complaints department. These are some of the latest...
13-Dec-08 12:34

UK Internet censorship by most ISP's
Yes, you read that correctly. UK Internet censorship, surely that can't be right - after all that kind of thing only happens in places like China and Iran does it not? Well you'd be wrong, because it's happening right now!
8-Dec-08 15:10

Flash websites are a pain
Adobe Flash websites, assuming you actually are lucky enough to stumble on them via Google in the first place have got to be the most annoying websites ever because they often take a while to load.
7-Oct-08 10:12

Talk Talk, problems getting online
I signed up for Talk Talk free broadband package in March 2007, at the beginning I was told that for whatever reason the area I lived in was unable to provide free a broadband package at that time...
22-Sep-08 16:43

Onetel email problems and customer service
Over the last two to three years I have been aware of gripes about Onetel's service, but hey, being a regular user off Internet and email, whilst I did have spasmodic problems they were of a minor nature.
8-Aug-08 13:43

Internet marketing / SEO company - why I avoid them
Website marketing companies, you can't help but wonder if they get their consultants from the same place double glazing companies do. As soon as you get a website up and running they're hounding you with promises and lies.
5-Aug-08 15:35

Getting online with WiFi at the local pub
Free WiFi, well it sounds too good to be true doesn't it?  Maybe that's because sometimes it is and I really dislike having to write this gripe because I'm actually a very big fan of Wetherspoon pubs in general.
22-Jul-08 13:26

Stuck between TalkTalk and BT
I have just spent 8 hours on the phone to Talk Talk, and have probably spoken to more than 15 people. I have been told ''you need to go back and speak to BT', when BT had said, 'you need to go back and speak to TalkTalk'.
17-Jul-08 18:31

Fibre to the home, a missed opportunity
Fibre to the home, or FTTH as it's know. Here's an opportunity to do things properly, with a real domestic network that could be a beacon to the whole world, and instead it appears to be being run more like a protection racket.
8-Jul-08 18:51

Phorm, something you should be aware off
What is Phorm? Here's a brief summary of what it is and why it may be of interest to you. Phorm might not be big scary big brother watching your every move, but I think that it should at least be an opt-in service.
16-May-08 22:49

Cyber affair wrecked my marriage
Although we had been living together just over eleven years, my husband has gone and found a new woman on the Internet. Our marriage is over and she is going to move over 800 miles to be with him, and they haven't even met!
19-Mar-08 23:15

Finding a good all round web browser
I haven't got much memory on my laptop and to be honest I found the latest version of Internet Explorer a bit of a memory hog.  I have always been a fan of IE in the past but there's some good competition out there these days.
18-Mar-08 20:50

TalkTalk connection problems driving me mad
I have been on TalkTalk for about a year and I did ecperience a few problems every so often and even changed my modem on three occasions. Recent problems however have led me to seriously consider switching provider.
27-Dec-07 17:05

Problems with PayPal refund
I accidentally duplicated a payment on an eBay order, but the seller kindly refunded my via PayPal straight away. Both payments went out of my PayPal account immediately, but nearly 10 days later I am still waiting on a refund.
28-Nov-07 13:21

Captcha codes are often too difficult to read easily
I really hate web sites that use Captcha's when you need to log-in or fill out a form. These little blighters can make filling out a form a complete nightmare, almost to the point where you hit the back button.
21-Nov-07 00:47

I'm not really stealing my neighbour's Wi-Fi, am I?
In my opinion, logging on to someone's unsecured wireless network is NOT theft and how can it be seen as theft when the individual concerned in most cases doesn't even know and doesn't experience any actual loss?
16-Nov-07 19:17

Annoying pop-up adverts and bubble ads
Quite often the link has a dotted underline, sometimes a double underline and woe betide the foolish surfer that casually grazes his or her mouse down the screen as they are reading.
2-Oct-07 12:50

Trouble getting Sky Broadband
The salesman told us that Sky Broadband and Sky Talk would be installed approximately 2 weeks after installation of the Sky TV, however two weeks later I was informed the package was not available in this area.
24-Jul-07 19:32

Moving house and taking your broadband
I'm moving house in the near future, and as I work from home I am trying to organise the transfer of telephony and Internet services ahead of my moving date. Ideally I would like to have a near continuous Internet service.
20-Jul-07 14:07

Broadband fair use policy - limits are too strict
What's with this fair use policy anyway? I've just received an email today from my ISP advising me that they would be making some changes to my existing broadband service. Is fair usage really fair?
11-Jul-07 23:27

BT Total broadband activation problems
I have had a very, very bad experience changing to BT Total Broadband. The technical staff that I spoke to have a very basic technical understanding and try to fob you off with less information than is available in instruction book.
25-Apr-07 17:56

PowerPoint presentations are so boring
In the brave new world of PowerPoint, amateurishly scrawled overheads have been replaced by their electronic equivalent complete with transitional fades, fancy bullet points and text layouts in multiple vomit inducing colours.
4-Apr-07 23:24

PC games are too expensive these days
My gripe is with the computer games industry and how they have us over a barrel these days. PC games aren't cheap and they can basically get away with charging whatever they like and we just buy them.
22-Mar-07 15:25

Problems cancelling Tiscali broadband account
Not going to go into all the detail of my dealings with Tiscali when they were my service provider, but the bottom line is due to the problems I’ve had cancelling my account I really can’t recommend them.
19-Feb-07 16:16

A poor choice of broadband providers in Hull
Everybody in the country has a reasonable choice of broadband providers except us in Hull. Kingston Communications has a monopoly here. Why can't the regulator force them to open up to the competition in this area?
13-Feb-07 16:25

Why I dumped Talk Talk for BT
When I moved to Talk Talk they really were good. The line went over on the day promised and, although we had to wait 3 months the broadband went live on the day they said. All that changed when we were upgraded to LLU.
31-Jan-07 11:55

AOL broadband helpline can be patronising
With other Internet service providers, when I speak to them on behalf of the customer, they get the message straight away that I know what I am talking about. So why is the AOL helpline so patronising?
7-Dec-06 01:27

PC World problems - inept staff
My gripe is about PC World, how completely inept their staff can be and how useless the online store feedback questionnaire is. I needed a Netgear DG834 router. I just needed that exact make and model, and I needed it quickly.
30-Nov-06 20:39

Email security issues, spam and viruses
Just lately I have been receiving a large number of unsolicited emails from various sites. My gripe is about security, or rather the lack of any security on the Internet and the intransigence of Internet Service Providers.
24-Oct-06 18:07

Sorting out my noisy phone line
I have the dreaded crackles on my phone line and it gets so bad that I can hardly hear the other person speaking whilst on the phone. So far four BT engineers have called and two of them have found faults.
13-Oct-06 13:50

PlusNet broadband problems
I bought a monthly contract from PlusNet online and my ADSL line was finally activated on 15 August. Since then I have had nothing but problems and no reliable service, poor customer care and I am now unable to cancel.
7-Sep-06 18:03

Talk Talk and their very poor customer service
Here is yet another Talk Talk gripe for you. I don’t think for a minute that we are the only ones who are seriously disappointed with their poor customer service or have had trouble getting through to them in the first place.
1-Sep-06 12:44

Problems with BT phone and broadband
Since I moved house I've had endless problems with BT. First of all it was my phone line and then when I got broadband things got worse. None of the BT engineers seem capable of sorting the problems out.
25-Jul-06 14:23

Broadband problems with Sky Plus
I decided to get Sky Plus and was told that it would cost £42.00 per month with the basic package. However, I had problems with my broadband and a bad experience with their customer service department.
29-Jun-06 23:48

Why do people send these stupid chain emails?
I'm fed up with people sending me these stupid hoax, friendship and chain e-mails. Have they got nothing better to do? It’s not difficult to spot an urban legend, so why do they forward this junk on?
13-Apr-06 16:14

Difficulties getting broadband, BT and DACS
I have been trying to sign up for broadband since last October. After much pressure BT put 50 new lines into our village, however because the availability checker still says we can't get broadband.
15-Mar-06 10:20

Fingerprints all over my computer screen
I just hate it when someone comes up to your workstation and prods at your screen getting dirty fingerprints all over the display. Why do they feel the need to actually touch the display when pointing at something on screen?
8-Mar-06 12:55

Pinnacle Studio problems are so frustrating
I tried out Pinnacle Studio recently, to edit some home movies and I wish I had just stuck with Windows Movie Maker. It would have been a lot less hassle and a lot less crashing.
9-Feb-06 16:08

IPTV - a licence for watching TV on a computer?
With ever increasing broadband speeds (for some), IPTV is set to take off. But what about the threat of a PC tax to replace the TV licence?
1-Nov-05 17:21

HTML files are better than PDF documents
Why are people so obsessed with using PDF (portable document format) files? In my opinion they are the work of the devil and cause more problems than they solve.
18-Oct-05 17:34

True unlimited broadband with no fair usage cap
We want unlimited broadband! Why do broadband providers such as BT, Wanadoo, Freeserve and NTL etc have a capped service that restricts us to between 3 and 30 gigabytes a month? We don't want a limits on our broadband service!
12-Oct-05 17:13

Spyware and viruses slowing down my computer
Spyware, adware, viruses, malware and rootkits. If you own a PC and you're not an uber geek then there's a good chance that you've had a run in with one or more of these things and they can be difficult to get rid off.
7-Aug-05 17:30

eBay should not ban ticket sales
I am really cheesed off that eBay has decided to ban the sale of Live 8 tickets. Its plain and simple just another case of the moralistic few few trying to impose their will on others.
15-Jun-05 16:18

Annoying mobile phone ringtones in the office
Please can we have some sanity in the office because these stupid ringtones on mobile phones are driving me nuts!
9-Jun-05 17:31

Why is Firefox better browser than Internet Explorer?
Not sure which web browser to use? If you are a geek you are quite likely to jump into bed with Firefox and the chances are that you are probably running on Linux rather than Windows. True? False?
25-May-05 01:09

Hotmail and Yahoo spam email annoying
Just when you thought it was safe to open your inbox, along comes another huge helping of spam mail from hotmail and yahoo along with so many other culprits it's impossible to list them all.
21-Sep-01 00:00

Broadband - superhighway or dead end
I've used the internet now for a number of years both at home and at work and have been waiting for the day when I can have an 'always on' high speed link at home at a relatively low cost.
6-Jul-01 14:00