728 Comments on TalkTalk problems

RyanC on Wed, 17th May 2006 11:29 pm


I worry about a world where “unlimited” can mean anything you like, but free bundling doesn’t mean free, on a technicality…

TalkTalk internet active - Oliver Brown on Sat, 20th May 2006 6:00 pm


[...] lk internet active
May 20th, 2006 by Oliver

Well with my various posts about problems with TalkTalk I should probably point out that I did sign up. Less than a mon [...]

Talk Talk and Sky by Broadband - Oliver Brown on Thu, 25th May 2006 3:40 pm


[...] 7;s a smart move by Sky since it saves them lots of bandwidth. I was worried about whether TalkTalk would limit Sky by Broadband. It all depends on their reasons. If they truly [...]

paul ripley on Mon, 29th May 2006 3:55 pm


i have talktalk “free broadband” package and i wish i had the sense to check the internet for info on these muppets before i ordered. My broadband connection is regularly dropped by TalkTalk. (I have checked and rechecked settings on my pc and the fault is not mine and i should know, i repair computers so i know what im talking about).

I transfered to this package from Bt.. (a sevice i had no problems with whatsoever because i thought i would be saving money) but now i am paying for a service i cannot use because when i connect to online game “SOE Everquest” my dsl signal is disconnected every 30 – 40 mins which means the game crashes and i have to wait for 5 mins for game to resett itself before i can log back in.

This has left me unable to play the game i originally got broadband for and if you ring “customer support” (laughs aloud at the name irony) you will be on holdat a cost to you for about 10 mins and then get cut off. Also during peak hours the service provided is abysmal, its slower than a 1 legged dog whith a twisted ankle and is disconnected apparently at whim by talktalk quite regularly. I presume they have no idea about running either customer service departments or a broadband company because i will be advising every living soul i meet to avoid this companies products as they would a “smelly Plague pit”. If you are considering this companies offer of “free broadband” i can only tell you that i believe it is free because they know the service is so bad they could not bring themselves to charge anyone for it.

Check out some of the other horror story posts about thgis company.. I wish i had before i signed up for thier joke of a companies package deal.

miffed, disgusted and never buying jack from anything to do with carphone wharehouse or any related company,
Paul Ripley

Ralpharama on Thu, 8th Jun 2006 9:18 pm


I’ve had a lot of Talk talk problems, which continue even today. Full report including posts by people who work there here (starts off about throttling issues and moves onto general bad customer service issues): http://www.ralpharama.co.uk/?page=Talk+talk
Good luck to all who struggle with them!

keith kirkby on Sat, 17th Jun 2006 4:30 am


I have had talktalk broadband for about 5 months and in that 5 month have had nothing but problems, customer support is a joke. I have a 12 month contract and pay 14.99 a month have read the contract from back to front, does anyone know a way out or do i have to suffer it for the next 6 months?

malcolm house on Mon, 19th Jun 2006 8:49 am


Customer support, you either wait for at least 10 minutes or it tells you that its busy and cuts you off,if you want to cancell your talktalk it rings 3 times and goes dead. Also you dont get voicemail or exdirectory services unless you keep calling them and they say it takes 3 days then the next person says 3 to 5 days and the next time you call them to complain about the same thing your told 10 days. I think they employ future MPs who have not got a clue and are learning to lie as a profession. And as anyone had probems with their PC crashing being caused by a divice driver mine has and this is the only thing Ive installed for ages.

Suspiciously devoid of TalkTalk problems - Oliver Brown on Mon, 19th Jun 2006 11:31 am


[...] y devoid of TalkTalk problems
June 19th, 2006 by Oliver

Well the comments by people having problems with TalkTalk are still tricking in and I’ve still yet to [...]

Viral Christian on Fri, 23rd Jun 2006 10:40 am


The Talk-Talk customer support is a total rubbish and a waste of money ……. The customer support number directly takes me to some place in India ….. and the guy on the phone knows just 10-15 steps …. and repeats itself whatever the problem may be ..!!!! I don’t know how a freak sitting in India will help me solve my problems ??? Its all really crap ……..

TA68 on Tue, 4th Jul 2006 8:09 am


How on Earth does this company manage to get it so wrong?

Customer service is the worst I have experienced from any service provider, broadband or otherwise.

Dropped connections from websites are common place, so those of you who love playing poker etc online avoid at all costs. Various traceroutes show that their routers drop more packets than a drunken postman.

Migrating in or out is supposed to take days, it took me three months to migrate in. They told me that my MAC key was being rejected by BT Wholesale. BT Wholesale said it was never submitted to them! It then took me 5 weeks to get them to give me a MAC key to leave. Over that 5 week period I was lied to on a daily basis and only finally resolved the matter with an email to Charles Dunstone. Anyone who needs to contact him should email dunstonec@cpw.co.uk.

They are currently offering free broadband to all their subscribers, but you are tied in to a 18month contract. Believe me when I tell you that you’ll want to leave well before 18 months.

Jonathan G on Wed, 5th Jul 2006 11:59 am


My Talk-talk internet was running well for my hotmail and outlook express accounts on 19 June when I went on holiday for 4 days. On 22nd June (evening) on my return, I couldn’t access any hotmail accounts or even the hotmail web-page, some other web pages were still working. I spent most of that night trying to get it to work and next day connected another laptop to see if that had the same problem.. It did!!

I tried on the friday and the following weekend, several times, to get to customer support, likely in total 7 hours on the phone.. never once did I speak to anyone in customer support or cancellations department. However, the SALES lines were accessable, and on the several times they offered to put me through to the right department, I was left holding a dead line or was told that all operators are busy, please try later!!!

Some documents from Talk-Talk say there is a £2 connection charge and 10p per minute cost for these calls… but this is NOT mentioned on all documents where this number is listed for help.

IMPORTANT!!!
The TalkTalk message informs you that all calls MAY BE RECORDED… I strongly suggest you make full use of this permission in case you end up in the Small Claims Court

My direct debit was due to be paid at the end of the month.. I contacted my bank and asked them to withdraw this access as I could not trust TalkTalk to make proper use of my bank account while there is obviously no way of contacting them if there is a problem.

I sent TalkTalk a registered letter stating my complaints 9 days ago… I have had no response.. My phone now can not make outgoing calls and I have therefore now even lost the dial-up service I had to resort to when TalkTalk failed to deliver.

TalkTalk is great fun if you get off abusing sales operatives in the eastern continent.. but for phone and internet usage .. FORGET IT !!

I am going on to Bulldog in 10 days… and I will then take out a claim in the Small Claims Court against TalkTalk for breach of contract and for compensation for time wasted on the phone to their customer support lines. I will also claim back any connection charges and costs billed via the direct debit. I have recorded several of the (lack of) conversations and recorded messages…

tom bach on Thu, 6th Jul 2006 2:33 pm


All these complaints about TalkTalk. I don’t know they are lucky. My phone is not working and I changed my landline account to TalkTalk. There is no chance they will ever answer their Line Faults number or respond to emails. I take it back my speakerphone was just answered afyter 20 minutes by them and an engineer will be sent out next week.

Denis on Thu, 6th Jul 2006 3:57 pm


HI,

I moved my broadband to TT (TalkTalk) some time ago and have had no problems. I then moved my calls and evrything fine. I then moved my lone rental in January with some reservations that if anything went wrong we would not get it fixed quickly.

BT take ten days normally to fix a line fault from reporting to finish so if we have to call TT and they have to tell BT ….. etc etc

Two weeks ago voice calls stopped working but broadband did not. I followed TT advice on web and unplugged everything etc and voice still did not work.

I tried calling TT and no one answers apart from the person whom you talk to if you thinking of moving service!! They rang me back on my mobile and said they would put me though to faults. 40 minutes later I was still hanging on. At which point it was after 6 when faults closes and I went home.

The next day I continued my quest to talk to some one and failed.

The next day service started again.

Today voice service has just gone off again. TT faults are not answering calls. Neither is customer service. Sales are and promised to put me though to. But they dont answer.

Anyone know how to talk to to any one in TT ??

I have emailed so lets see if I get a reply.

Nicola Edwards on Thu, 6th Jul 2006 4:18 pm


My Mum switched to talk talk and her phone didn’t work for 2 weeks! She spent £50 calling their fault line from her mobile phone on numerous occasions only to be told (when they finally answered) that there wasn’t a problem. Her line was finally reconnected after a lot of frustration and numerous letters of complaint to head office but after being live for only 10 days they sent her a bill for £29 (bearing in mind the line rental is supposed to be free for the first month). Her treatment has been absolutely appauling and I am truely disgusted with what I have witnessed.

Jemima on Wed, 12th Jul 2006 3:44 pm


TT’s customer service is SO appalling that we are at our wits end. A few weeks ago, our broadband was cut off. Turns out it was because their computer had neglected to ask for a direct debit to be paid. Ended up paying the balance owed with a credit card and was told it would be reconnected within 24 hours (24 hours when it was their fault..?). Called a couple of hours later to double check that it was, indeed, going to be reconnected. Oh yes, they said. Next day – nothing. When I called, there was no record of the reconnection being authorised (despite me having names and times of calls). We then had to wait another 24 hours before it was reconnected. I followed up a week later to double-check that the direct debit was properly reinstalled. Yes they said. Three weeks later we got another letter threatening to cut us off because the DD had not been paid (again, because their computer hadn’t requested it).

But this pales into insignificance with the treatment meted out to a friend of course, Steve, who had a light-aircraft accident three months ago and was in hospital for over six weeks. Because a bill went unpaid during this period they, reasonably enough, cut him off. When he came out of hospital, desperate to catch up with the world via his broadband connection (he’s in a wheelchair so it’s a great way of him keeping in touch), Talk Talk told him it would be two weeks before it could be reconnected because it had been disconnected at the BT exchange. Irritating but, anyway, the bill was paid (and indeed, TT were given some additional credit on the a/c) and we waited. Two weeks later, we called to check where it was and, to our astonishment, they denied all knowledge of the previous conversations. They then promised to get it back up and running within another two weeks. Two weeks later: nothing, and again, denials that any arrangements had been made. Finally, this week, Steve was told they couldn’t reinstate the old account and he would have to apply again. Connection date: September…

Absolutely unbelievable.

Clive Woodley on Thu, 13th Jul 2006 8:23 am


Can relate to all the problems from other TT users.

Should have been able to connect to broadband 26 May, still not connected, accepted passward etc, message remains the same “unable to connect to the server at this time, try later yea right. still using by BT dail up at great cost.

Can anyone tell me where I get my claim form for my £1,000. my bills are more than with BT. Has anyone found a real number for the head office? so i talk to David Thatcher direct and let him know what TT are really like.

Mohammed on Thu, 13th Jul 2006 6:25 pm


The level of service from talk talk has been absymal to say the least…

Both my uncle and I joined up to this so called “Free service”, I was migrated from my previous supplier, which took 2 months, i mean come on, it only took Pipex 5 days to connect me when I first joined them..

My uncle on the other hand has not been so lucky. His go-live date was June (No specific date, just june), its july now and still nothing… He even rang the automated username/password service, but all he got was “number entered not recongised” Their main number is always busy and when its not and he does get through, the line just goes dead….

And by the way despite their promise of an 8meg link, I still was only connected at 2mb even though my local exchange is 5.5mbit and my line was tested.

I guess that I may as well request a MAC code from them now, considering that it probably will take them about 18months or more to give me one…

its not good to talk talk!!!

Poonam Lakhani on Thu, 13th Jul 2006 11:05 pm


Im really worried i just joined talk talk today and me being stupid i should have read all your comments in the forums i would have NEVER joined once i read these. I tried to call back to cancel, after over an hour and a half being spoke to 3 different people, i finally managed to get through to someone who said that i cant cancel my order yet becuase its not on their system so i have to wait for the confirmation letter to come through which will take 7 days and then i have 14 days from the order date to cancel. I just emailed the CEO (thanks fr the email address) and will write to the Acton Call Centre or wotever and really hope they reply.

Poonam Lakhani on Fri, 14th Jul 2006 12:43 am


im going to cancel my order by writing and if they dont confirm in 6 days then i will say to them that i will report them to the fair trading commsion

Oliver on Fri, 14th Jul 2006 8:31 am


Well the 8 Mb that anyone offers is also a little dubious. BT’s website claims that with the distance to the exchange I should be able to get about 4Mb, but I only sync at 2.2Mb.

And just a for little bit of balance I have to say I haven’t had any problems with TalkTalk. Although after all this I can’t really say I’d risk recommending them to anyone…

Poonam Lakhani on Fri, 14th Jul 2006 12:58 pm


Thanks TA68 for Charles Dunstones email address he actually replied and said that he will investigate the matter and get back to me. Its just a cancellation, im sure he can sort it out. I think il write the letter aswell. From what you guys are telling me and your bad experience and also the really bad customer service and being put on hold for ages, i think id rather stick with BT, who said they can probably offer me a better deal on the broadband. I dont really make that many calls during the day anyway and on my mobile i get free evening minutes. Jonathan G i cant beleive you had to wait 7 hours, im really worried i really hope they can cancel my order.

Poonam Lakhani on Fri, 14th Jul 2006 2:47 pm


Guess what this is so amazin, the CEO actaully got somone to call me and cancelled my order. Anyone having problems should defiantely try and sort it out this way instead of calling customer services, TA68 did mr Dunstone reply? I hope everything works out for you guys. Thanks so much for the tips

sophie on Fri, 14th Jul 2006 2:59 pm


After i read all the comments above, i am really sorry for everybody and i do understand what kind of feeling it is, i am also the one switched from BT to talktalk over 3 months ago, and i have got nothing apart from a bill, and of course i am very unhappy with it and call the bank to cancel the direct debit with talktalk.
So i tried to switch back to BT, and of course i need a MAC code, but the thing is i’ve spent over 4 hours to call them to get the code, they just kept giving me different number to call and i called again and again, once you told them to cancel the contract and ask for the MAC code, they just hang up. I was so pissed off by that………….
Does anyone know what to do with it?? How to get the MAC code from talktalk????
I am desperate for broadband, and once i switch back to BT i won’t leave them anymore, the customer service is just not comparable at all!!!
thanks for your help, look forward to any one’s reply

sophie on Fri, 14th Jul 2006 3:04 pm


Dear Poonam Lakhani,
How amazing it is! can’t believe you got it done, can you please tell me more details about cancelling your order?
Have you got the address or phone number to get to that CEO?
Cheers

sophie on Fri, 14th Jul 2006 3:49 pm


hi, guys, sorry that i haven’t read the comments carefuly, but i found that CEO’s email above, and i have sent him the email just now, hopefull i can get it cancelled very soon as well!! finger crossed
Thanks very much for all your helps!

Murray on Wed, 19th Jul 2006 5:41 pm


For all of those having problems with connection on TT, especially secure sites such as hotmail etc, I found that changing the MTU setting in my router down to 1400 solved those problems.
Still have no joy with VPN though as that must be down to the port throttling used, so emailed Mr Dunstone about that since the tech support never replies and I can’t bear to try the telephone support again, the only support line worse than HP.

Paul on Thu, 20th Jul 2006 10:42 am


Hi, reading all these Talk Talk problems prompts me to ask someone for the email address of the CEO. If someone could let me know I would be grateful – before I slash my wrists then hang myself after taking a 100 sleeping pills…..aghhh

Oliver on Thu, 20th Jul 2006 10:44 am


dunstonec@cpw.co.uk

Rus on Thu, 20th Jul 2006 2:48 pm


Hi all

I was having problems with talktalk then found Chales Dunstones email address on the net so emailed him constantly and not just one at a time but about 60 so he would of got about 1000 emails by the time he replied. This is what I put in the email and his reply.

For the attention of Charles Dunstone or any other clown employed by
TalkTalk that cares to read this!
Today’s update: I called yourselves again last night and was put on hold for
1 hour 17 minutes then someone decided to hang up, is that a record, do you
give prizes to your minions for this?
I then called your help desk again this morning and was put through to
cancellations. I was told that if I made a further payment of £72 the
suspension on my line would be lifted, so, I have paid my bills over the
counter at the bank because you never took the money from my account so you
suspend my line and then because of your mistake I now have to pay another
£72, I am sure there is a logic in this but I must be to thick to understand
it, that’s probably why I signed up with TalkTalk! I was then told that if I
did not cancel I would be sent another modem as I had not received the first
one and it was more than 8 days since it was sent. Now we both know that the
likelihood of me getting this modem in the next 7 days is a joke if you
could not get the first out in that time so I declined this offer. I was
then told that you are providing the cheapest package and I agree you are, I
don’t think any other telecommunications company charge £21 a month for
nothing, no broadband and now no phone, so yeah, I think you should be
really proud of that Charlie! I am now going back to BT and will be telling
them all about your scam in the hope that they can use my story in
advertising why people go back to BT. I would rather pay more for a service
than pay less to you and get nothing in return.

Dear sir
Please could you advise me when I will be receiving my broadband equipment
from your company. I have tried calling your helpdesk if that’s what you can
call it and each time I am told something different so I thought I would cut
out all the clowns you employ and ask you seen as your supposed to be the
brains behind your scamming company! I don’t expect a reply as that seems to
be the normal with Talktalk (ha ha) but hey, feel free to prove me wrong. I
no longer have an order number as I gave up looking at your website to track
it so you can maybe use my home number 0191 3982106.
You may be free but god how I wish I had stopped with my other ISP who
charged £24 per month and after 2 years I never had any problems with them
at all.
Now I find that whilst I was writing this email you have suspended my phone
line for none payment. I made a payment on Monday although I had set-up a
Direct Debit twice with you clowns. This surely has to be a record for
incompetence on your behalf, do you actually care what your doing to your
customers? I now want to cancel my account with you and go back to BT and I
will be taking out a small claims prosecution against you for not providing
the service I have paid for. I am also posting all this onto the NHS website
and hope that this will deter the honest people in this country to stay well
clear of Talktalk and carphone warehouse and as the NHS employs roughly 1.2
million people I reckon that could be a big loss to you.
Totally unhappy with you and your dodgy firm and I am sending a copy of this
email to Oftel, Watchdog and my local MP to see if they can help.

he wrote back…

Dear Mr Lynch

Many thanks for your email, I am very sorry that you have had to contact me to get this issue resolved. I have got someone investigating for me and we will be back to you shortly. In the meantime please accept my sincere apologies.

Regards

Charles Dunstone

I got a call a couple of hours later offering to refund my money and to cancel the contract without charge which I accepted and went back to bt, result!

Rus on Thu, 20th Jul 2006 2:50 pm


forgot to supply his email address

DunstoC@cpwplc.com

TalkTalk down to £8.99 - Oliver Brown on Fri, 21st Jul 2006 8:27 am


[...] will increase sign ups much. Before you jump ship you may want to read about some of the TalkTalk problems or look at the alternatives such as Orange Broadband or Sky Broadban [...]

TalkTalk down to £8.99 - Oliver Brown on Fri, 21st Jul 2006 8:46 am


[...] will increase sign ups much. Before you jump ship you may want to read about some of the TalkTalk problems or look at the alternatives such as Orange Broadband or Sky Broadban [...]

John on Fri, 21st Jul 2006 12:07 pm


Hi All, I was with TalkTalk for both LandLine & Broardband before the Broadband free forever offer came in. Recently due to a change in my finacial situation due being unable to work, I rang TalkTalk & told the asian lady I wanted to change the date of my Land Line direct debits from the 5th to 17th so my payments came out a day after getting my new income. I was told they were not able to change the date & if I was unable to pay than I should leave TalkTalk. I argued that other companies had obliged with the date changes with no problem, but I was told time & time again `no we cannot change the date & if u cannot pay you must leave`. So because of being a single parent father of three, I switched to BT option 2. It was when I got my 1st Bill for TalkTalk Broadband after leaving which showed just how Evil & greedy Carphone Warehouse really are. The cost of my Broadband had risen from 17.99p to 29.99 for 2.3meg BB.
I cannot afford to get out of my 12month contract & for two months I have rang TalkTalk to challange there charges or at least get 8meg BB but so far I have been unable to get through. I have sent 6 Emails, each answered some 12+ days later with a standard reply & no information to the questions I posed. I was fortunate yesterday to come across two people trying to sell broadband to potential customers of sainsburys, & I let them have it out loud in front of everyone (in fact I had a audiance) & after I had let everyone know what the talktalk service was really like I got a round of applause & a pat on the back (cheered me up that did), I suggest you do the same if you have had problems like me. Let the public know Broardband is not free, yes they are cheaper then BT but only by a fraction of a pence & the customer service they provide has to be rated as one of the WORST this country has ever had to suffer

Benito on Fri, 21st Jul 2006 4:30 pm


On the 31st of August talk talks broadband goes live on LLU and they will have meltdown on a massive scale believe me.

Bulldog, wanadoo/orange and the other LLU providers had major problems using the unbundled network at first but the issues have mostly been resolved through trail and error, but it did take time and lots of work.

talk talk customers will be clicking to get online from that date and many will have outages lasting many weeks and months.

you heard it here first.

Ben Shaw on Fri, 21st Jul 2006 7:14 pm


Just been trying to call Talk Talk billing for the last hour only to eventually get through to their call centre and be cut off.

Once again they failed to set up my two direct debits and then charged me for the pleasure. I have now contacted them 3 times to set-up my direct debit and had my phone cut-off once.

I will now be using Charlie’s e-mail address in order to have my contract cancelled also.

Charles Nunn on Sat, 22nd Jul 2006 7:47 am


As a former onetel customer I changed to talktalk when they took over the company. Everything they promised has worked out well. A recent upgrade at my local exchange by talktalk gives me the promised 8mgb. My line was off for 36 hours following the work and talktalk rang me regularly on my mobile to keep me informed. They claimed it was a BT fault. With two daughters in U.S. and friends in Australia the free,unlimited, international calls are wonderful. The help line is slow in answering but never longer than 10 -15 minutes. So far so good but I now how Mr. Dunstone`s e.mail address on file should I need it.

Oliver on Sat, 22nd Jul 2006 11:32 am


It’s good to see I’m not the only one that hasn’t suffered any problems… I was beginning to feel “special” for a moment there.

Mark D on Sat, 22nd Jul 2006 12:40 pm


If you are with Talk talk cancel your direct debit and move to another supplier as soon as you can-they are a disaster and cannot sue everyone!

Jon Ward on Sat, 22nd Jul 2006 1:17 pm


When my previous ISP was switched over without warning and no means of connecting to TT for a week, I fould out just how little ‘customer service’ one can expect being with TT.

This site says it all – now all I hope for is to get out of TT with my MAC code intact!

It seems that by holding on to ones MAC code TT can prevent people using another ISP, surely that can not be right?

Haydn on Sun, 23rd Jul 2006 5:46 pm


I so wish I found this entry before I signed up. I have been plagued with problem after problem with TalkTalk… and getting through to their customer service team is very pointless. Grrr! lol

RyanC on Mon, 24th Jul 2006 1:12 am


Holy crap thats a LOT of bad press for TalkTalk, I’m amazed they are allowed to continue trading with such appaling levels of service.

For anyone experiencing problems, if you cannot get through to them, cancel your direct debit and report them to Ofcom (UK communications regulator) as soon as you can. They can’t force you to pay because they are breaking their end of the contract by not providing you with a service.

Jon Ward on Mon, 24th Jul 2006 4:52 pm


Becareful about cancelling direct debits – they can charge £5 for each failed direct debit – the ‘not providing a service’ would only stand if the lack of service was ‘unreasonable’ in the eyes of a court!

Following advice on this page, I wrote to Charles Dunstone, who, surprisingly, replied, agreeing to arrange disconnection if I am unhappy with the service!

nicholas king on Tue, 25th Jul 2006 8:44 am


Just joined TT,Webmail works ok but can’t get Outlook to work – my password isn’t recognised despite it being ok on webmail – any ideas anybody ?

GUD1940 on Tue, 25th Jul 2006 3:10 pm


I signed up for TT on 12th of april lots of calls to the robots got nowhere
lots of e mails to senior robots still got no broad band I have never delt with such a rubbish company in all my life. I have tried to cancel but they just wont talk talk Steer well clear people

Oliver on Tue, 25th Jul 2006 7:40 pm


Slow to connect is not necessarily a good indicator. When I signed up in March I was originally told that broadband would be activated “by July”…

GUD1940 on Wed, 26th Jul 2006 10:58 am


Thanks for the co `s e mail I will try to get him to cancel my account.

Thanks Oliver

buddug on Wed, 26th Jul 2006 8:39 pm


HAVE SPENT THE LAST MONTH CHASING AN ELUSIVE 48HRS WITH TALKTALK (THE TIME THEY TELL ME IT WILL TAKE TO RESOLVE MY PROBLEM) ONLY TO BE INFORMED DESPITE CONFIRMATION FROM BT THAT THEY ARE NO LONGER SUPPLYING MY PHONE AND THAT TALK TALK IS THAT TALK TALK HAVE NO RECORD OF ME AND MY PHONE HAS NOT BEEN ACTIVATED ONLY MY BROADBAND. WHO THE HELL HAS BEEN PROVIDING MY PHONE FOR THE LAST TWO MONTHS GOD ONLY KNOWS. ALL I WANTED WAS CALLER DISPLAY AND VOICE MAIL ADDED. ANYWAY I CAN NO LONGER PHONE OUT I AM SICK OF PHONING EMAILING ETC AND HAVE BEEN TOLD AS MY PHONE IS NOT REGISTERD AS ACTIVE I CAN CANCELL. THANK GOD FOR THAT BACK TO BT JUST NEED MAC NOW OFF THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

royzap on Thu, 27th Jul 2006 12:04 pm


excellent set of reads and can only agree talk talk custoner service is appalling at answering the phone, I have however managed to get through 3 times by bouncing through sales departments, once to complain about loss of landline and twice for an update on my transfer of broadband from bt to talk talk ( and what a mistake that is turning out to be).

the 2 answers I received last friday were your modem is in the post and you are not receiving broadband till the end of august.

guess what today modem arrives and broadband has been activated by talk talk.

I am just in the process of transferring my landline back to bt, so will be interesting to see how long my broadband continues for free as I have also cancelled my direct debits.

if worst happens I can ask bt for a new broadband account which I believes
creates a new mac code…..

I would also suggest everyone phones and complains to oftel

GUD1940 on Thu, 27th Jul 2006 12:50 pm


Thank you for the c o`s e mail after months trying to get tt broadband April
they said my second mac code had not been accepted I asked the guy to tell me what the mac number was guess what he chirped out my first mac
code. I then e mailed the CO after many frustraiting e mails they agreed to cancel [at no cost to me ] THANK GOD FOR THAT thanks Oliver I will now get on with my life.

buddug on Thu, 27th Jul 2006 5:57 pm


many thanks to whoever posted mr dunstone’s email. sent him copies of my emails to talktalk plus details of numerous phone calls and stated still waiting for my mac. that was yesterday evening had replyand appology from him plus my mac today. it pays to complain to the top. hope everyone else gets sorted this site has been a god send

Lizzie on Fri, 28th Jul 2006 8:46 am


I used Charles email address just as today its not about Bad Service its NO service! Can’t get a line out and no one can phone me!

He replied within minutes so I am hoping :( I am losing money as I use my landline for my job! I can use the net though so it has to be a talk talk landline problem.

Jon Ward on Sun, 30th Jul 2006 9:26 am


For the record peeps, TT is a member of Otelo (www.otelo.org.uk) & that is who you complain to, not Oftel. The downside is that ‘normally’, you have to wait 3 months before complaining!

There is a short cut – write to TT and ask for a final offer to solve your problems (set out your requirements, this is known as Deadlock letter) and give them 14 days to supply it. I am told by Otelo, if they don’t give a satisfactory reply then you can complain.

Service quality update: Phone works fine, broadband / email works but will several cut offs throughout the day (never used to happen). Email replies from customer support actually arrived – approx 5 days late – 1st totally nothing to do with my problem, 2nd regarding lack of modem, “will arrive within 10 days” it said, modem arrived next day – and worked!

Have noticed that the Connect & Go software doesn’t seem to like people using outward email addresses that don’t contain @talktalk.net names (i.e. own domains), probably because it’s less advert for TT! Seems also to be a snoop program, so have uninstalled it – the software warns that it is needed for Technical Support, but I’m guessing since there isn’t any TS, then it’s not needed anyway :-)

Ben on Tue, 1st Aug 2006 11:22 am


I signed up for this wonderful service on 14th April. Landline has been fine and was up and running within 2 weeks – seemless switch from BT.

Still waiting for my Broadband – oh and I can’t wait, it seems so good.
20weeks I have been waiting now and now response to email, phone or letter. Just send an email to our new best mate, Charles! We’ll see what happens there.

I wonder if I cancelled now, if I could get out of the 18 month contract as I havn’t actually recieved part of the service? I know they argue that I am paying for the international phone package and the broadband is a freebie that they are supplying through the kindness of their own heart but the advertising standards authority didn’t see it quite like that!

ged on Tue, 1st Aug 2006 12:28 pm


Serious problems with TT.
Ordered on 2nd April still not had a modem.
Customer services never answer the phone and the help desk (even though you pay) still never answer.
I have also sent an E mail to the boss and he answered saying he would look into the matter.
I used my old AOL modem and it did work for 30 mins then stoopped.
I live 1/4 mile from the BT exchange yet I only got 2.2 speed.
Not looking too good really but they say “You have signed a contract”

colin s. on Tue, 1st Aug 2006 12:50 pm


I too have been very disappointed with TT.
Has anyone considered going to Carphone Warehouse itself and staging a few protests?
Perhaps loiter in the shops, waste the sales assistance’s time with stupid questions, stop talking mid-sentence and playing dumb, fall on the floor comatosed for a little while, pretend to buy something then walk away, then present them for a bill for services rendered!
Once we’ve all had a go at this then maybe they’ll change their attitude.

lynn on Tue, 1st Aug 2006 2:32 pm


i to have joined talktalk and have never been able to connect for longer than 1hr and4 minutes before getting disconnected so is this a common problem with talktalk and are then many users having this problem .the only problem is ive signed up for 18 months but cannot put up with this as i never had this with my pevious supplier

Tracy on Tue, 1st Aug 2006 3:27 pm


I am so angry at Talk Talk and I also wish along with thousands of others that I had not signed up for them. Their customer service is appalling and the broadband section is impossible to get through to. Even when through to the broadband section I have gotten nowhere. I received my landline in April 2006 and then I gave them a mac code which they did nothing with and then sent me a letter saying they had to cancel my broadband because I was still with AOL. I then after days of trying to get through gave them another mac code as the other one expired after a month. They gave me another go live date 31st July. I have received no welcome pack and low and behold have not got broadband either. I spent the whole of yesterday and today trying every number they have and I just get absolutely nowhere. Most of the staff have basically given up and will freely admit there is a massive problem of which they can do nothing about. I was in tears today just in sheer frustration as I was told by Talk Talk I have not got broadband because of a tech problem and I would have to phone AOL to get a third mac code which I am sure they will do nothing with as well.

I phoned the ombusdman (spelling?) and Offcom and the bottom line is I have to write a letter of complaint and then Talk Talk get another three months to jerk me around before they have to do anything. All of this was planned as they must have known people would complain. I also phoned to cancel and was told that I was welcome to cancel my broadband (which I do not have) but would be tied into an 18 month contract for the phone service. Surely they cannot get away with this it is outrageous. I will never ever whatever the deal buy anything from carphone warehouse again. Now I am reading many horror stories of people when they have broadband it is rubbish anyway. Can anyone pleasssssseee tell me if they have managed to cancel their contract so I can as well as I want absolutely nothing to do with this awful company.

lynn on Tue, 1st Aug 2006 3:28 pm


just an update to my previous comments , once again ive been on and off the phone to talktalk today as i have every day for the last 2 weeks , but was informed by the nice man in technical services that he couldnt help , and that he would get a qualified engineer to phone me on the 2/7/06 so im sitting here still trying to figure out just how many hours ive spent on the phone to talk talk .
lynn

Jill S on Tue, 1st Aug 2006 3:42 pm


I think that you are all lucky to get the chance to prove that the system has problems. I signed up in April, broadband went live in June – still no start-up pack or modem.
I have given up with phoning customer services. Otello gave me ttescalations@cpw.co.uk fao Gary Poole. Promised to reply within seven days – now ninth day.
I have sent recorded delivery letters to customer services Director and Gary Poole.
I have sat for hours in Carphone Warehouse and I keep emailing to any address that I can find.
Cannot even find someone who can cancel the wretched contract because the phone works O.K it is the “free bit” that is the problem.

steve chambers on Tue, 1st Aug 2006 5:34 pm


How did you contact CEO? He must be made to know of appalling customer (lack of) service

buddug on Tue, 1st Aug 2006 9:01 pm


i emailed c dunstone had my mac sent next day but they went an activated my line which they previously cut off. I complained by email again and gareth roberts pa to steve rescorla (customer service director)has replied straight away he has appologised and credted my acount to cover any phoneline rental and telephone calls to talk talk. will be back with bt as from 7th august. keep nagging dunstone& co folks, he has even admitted in the press that they have cocked up big time with their underestimation of numbers signing up and ability to cope with such a demand.

andy on Wed, 2nd Aug 2006 5:30 am


I have had talktalk for 18 months or so and they are a complete nightmare.

I have been trying to cancel for 2 weeks now amd everytime I get to an advisor – advisor in inverted comments, as soon as I mention the cancel word I am put on hold, the line goes dead or I am transferred to another department that says they can’t help.

I have e-mailed them several times – no response, I have added comments in their contacts us section of their website – again no response.

I have even tried faxing them only to find that the number supplied is a phone and not a fax machine at all.

I am at my wits end, I have now written to them and sent it via registered mail.

I am amazed that in this day and age they are allowed to get away withthis, they are shambolic.

Besides this the service is appalling, the broadband connection regularly trips out and has to redial, the mail box excludes anything above 5Mb which halts photos etc. Games, P2P, Voip, you can forget and if you are banking its very hit and miss.

Talk talk – try walk walk as far away from these clowns as possible.

“Unlimited” is getting sillier - Oliver Brown on Wed, 2nd Aug 2006 8:42 am


[...] y are they “unlike” each other? On a related note, the number of replies with TalkTalk complaints is getting really high. The irony is none of the broadband compani [...]

charles dunstones email address on Oliver Brown on Wed, 2nd Aug 2006 9:33 am


[...] ? Almost ready for a public viewing Back to language learning Free broadband from TalkTalk TalkTalk problems

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GUD1940 on Wed, 2nd Aug 2006 9:39 am


After trying to get broad band started early April I e mailed CO .I got a e mail from a Mr Duffy [Talk Talk] saying that he had cancelled my broadband [ that never was] AT NO COST TO ME and if I wanted to cancell my line I would have to go to BT. [THATS WHAT I DID] BT was great it was a treat to talk to a good company and they said they would transfer my land line back same number no problem and all my calls on 10th of August And I am going to to stick with bt.

Khal on Wed, 2nd Aug 2006 2:36 pm


I have read nearly all of your comments and im now bored of reading them, but hey what a joke this company is huh? and do u know what? im pleased to announce to u all that ive not bothered with this rubbish company, im with Aol, and they are absolutley brilliant, ive never had a problem with them at all. I feel sorry for all you guys out there with talk talk, they are just ridiculous, that company needs to be shut down! coz they certainly aint keepin it real! i think you guys need to report this company as to what their customer service is like, they doing a cow boy job.

Powelly on Wed, 2nd Aug 2006 5:56 pm


Have just moved over, lots of issues inc. loss of broadband until they could be bothered telling me how to connect. Now have serious issue only being able to connect to some websites.. cannot even connect to talktalk themselves??????

What a big mistake.. I guess I’m getting what I have chosen too pay for! Buyer beware?

Kevin Hewson on Wed, 2nd Aug 2006 11:21 pm


Well I have been waiting to get connected to TalkTalk since the first week they launched the free broadband deal in April and still neither my phone or broadband has been transfered!! TalkTalk keep saying there are incompatable products on my line, please contact BT, which I do but BT assure me there are no incompatable products on the line and I believe them!! So I go back TT and round and round in circles we go I am getting dizzy!!! Anyway I agree, terrible customer service, dont answer the phone, 4-5 days to answer email, actually get this !!! I sent them an email with a MAC code from BT, TT then copied me the email back 4 days later asking for a Mac code how incompetent is that!!!!

So after all this and reading all your dreadful coments I have cancelled my order before I get in too deep!!!!

Lesley on Thu, 3rd Aug 2006 10:26 am


I had tried to get a telephone and Broadband account from TalkTalk for two months from end March 2006. After no sucess I then told them to forget it and I will go elsewhere. After several telephone calls, letters and emails which they have ignored I have received first a bill for £47.00 then today a bill for £80.50. I do not have any Broadband service provider and my telephone is with BT. As they keep chosing to ignore me I will now do the same to them and return all their mail unopened. This has to be the worst case of inefficiency and poor customer service ever. Please DO NOT USE TALKTALK.

jon on Thu, 3rd Aug 2006 4:35 pm


Ben (and others), my understanding of TT’s blurb is that the 18 month contract runs from when the landline is switched, which would suggest that you are partly into the 18 months at least!

I don’t expect a ‘free’ service to be as good as a fee paying one, but I wouldn’t like to be paying more for this than I was paying before.

TT CEO thinks 90% of this blog is crapcrap, and having read the comments, I know who I am inclined to believe.

My main concern is getting away after my contract expires (if the service lasts that long). Of course it should be a simple matter of asking for a MAC code and switching ISPs. What if you don’t get a MAC code?

One route (and not the best), cancel TT period. Start with new ISP after a break – since you’re not transferring, you won’t need a MAC code. If TT is still hogging the line, you can go through Oftel and report a hog!

A thought… when 90% of customers leave TT after their 18 months are up, won’t service improve since TT should be able to cope with 10% of existing customers??? I won’t hold my breath!

lynn on Thu, 3rd Aug 2006 6:12 pm


well just another day in the life of my talktalk been disconnected at least 15 times so far today with every error in the book ,but thats talktalk for you but hey ho i got an email back today from customer service liason officer sayin they would be investigating my complaint , a new fairy story hey ive not heard this one before , but at least its a start, oh how i wish i had never heard of talktalkand just wish i could wake up and it had all been a bad dream , but when i read all the comments on here at least i know im not the only one with problems

Valerie on Thu, 3rd Aug 2006 6:42 pm


I am horrified at all the above reactions to TalkTalk, and wish someone would give me Charles Dunstone’s e-mail address. I am supposed to be changing from BT, but TT have messed up with my MacCode, and they keep asking me for the number, though I sent it to them in June. I now find I’m still paying BT and have begun to pay TT. I can’t get anyone at TT on line at the moment, and am hoping I can change back to BT – fat chance, I suppose

Mark on Thu, 3rd Aug 2006 6:57 pm


I too signed up for TalkTalk in April with a broadband go live date of end of July. The transfer to the landline went smoothly, I was requested for MAC at the beginning of join which I promptly obtained and emailed back and to date no sign of modem or broadband. Of course they are only valid for 30 days so its no out of date? When I track my order it still says connection by the end of July. Have tried contacting support on countless occasions but end up getting cut off or transferred and cut off. Tried emailing and to no avail – no answers. I have waited four months to be connected and it has not happened which is just not good enough. I am considering writing to the CEO and asking to cancel my contract with no charges as the service is terrible.

buddug on Thu, 3rd Aug 2006 7:29 pm


apparently you can cancell your contract with TT up to the day before your phoneline activation date and should not incur any charges

Jon on Thu, 3rd Aug 2006 8:14 pm


scroll above folks
———————————————–
# Rus Says: July 20th, 2006 at 2:50 pm

forgot to supply his email address

DunstoC@cpwplc.com

Jon on Thu, 3rd Aug 2006 8:23 pm


Re: TTBroadband.

What happened to me (and is probably happening to others), I was switched OVER from my old ISP to TT (as opposed to ‘disconnected’).

Those that are still waiting for the TT modem & CD (like I was), can probably in the meantime connect to TT *if* they aready have an ADSL modem and their TT username/password.

Incidently, I’ve had more dropped lines since pluging in the TT modem than what I had before, so I think I will try switching back to the old one!

Finally, the TT modem connects at 2.3Mbps whereas the old one only managed 2.2Mbps (I can live with that since the upgrade to 8Mbps is not due until December!).

Jackie Farnhill on Fri, 4th Aug 2006 8:02 am


TalkTalk – I don’t think so! Customer Services, what Customer Services – they leave you hanging on as much as they can, then once they have your £2 they disconnect you – that’s my experience. I’ve been signed up since 14 July 2006 and had nothing but problems – when I do get a connection it last around 5- 10 minutes then crashes. I too am in a 12 month contract – however, if TalkTalk are not providing the service then we DO NOT HAVE TO PAY. You wouldn’t go into a shop, buy a Mars Bar, only to find it was hollow, without taking it back and getting your money back, now would you? We all need to contact the CEO at TalkTalk and bombard them with how poor their service is – ultimately we need to cease our contracts with them, as they are not providing the service we require.

Topas on Fri, 4th Aug 2006 8:32 am


Talk Talk – yeah what ever……don’t bother……..
I’ve just signed up; received my modem and starter pack, so far so good.
Can surf the internet for 1 day, then disaster.
For some apparent reason, the internet connection just dropped when I was using p-2-p sharing and now I cannot connect anymore. I always get the same error message Error 0721 Remeote computer did not respond…..
I’ve tried calling custmer service and technical support, after 1 minute the line drops off/disconnect. I’ve even tried to install the pack again, but it does not get pass the check network status; always fail on this.
Any ideas what t do next, maybe cancel my contract as I am hearing alot of issues from other people.

TalkTalk service could change - Oliver Brown on Fri, 4th Aug 2006 9:25 am


[...] alk service could change
August 4th, 2006 by Oliver

To all those people with TalkTalk problems, the quality of your service may change. I found this page on Sam K [...]

Dave I on Fri, 4th Aug 2006 9:59 am


I had no problems until last night when I couldn’t connect. Everything seems Ok at my end but seems that its the ISP is at fault. I’ve tried calling TT but can’t get through so I’ve sent a tech query form in. Anyone else having trouble connecting today?

Dave I on Fri, 4th Aug 2006 10:17 am


Spooky having just written the above post its started working!! Reminds me of when I first installed the modem etc and tried to connect without success. Called the 10p a minute help line which was answered after 15 minutes of being on hold. Just after I’d told the women my account number it connected and she swears blind she hadn’t done anything. Is Charles D that hard up for £1.50 that he has that little trick up his sleeve.

yvonne on Fri, 4th Aug 2006 12:15 pm


Ive been with TT since March and had no problems with TT or customer service who were very helpful when I called back in May. Last night though I could not connect and it was the remote computer that was down. This morning at 9 all was ok again. I have had a few disconnects lately but have connected again relatively quickly until last night. Hopefully last night was a one off problem. I use p2p and have not seen any significant problems in fact at worst I d/l faster than when I was with aol. So I am still happy and because my kids live in the US I use the phone to call them a lot and I am actually saving a lot since I changed to TT.

Sure hope I don’t start to experience what everyone else here seems to.

I am a happy customer so far!

Topas on Fri, 4th Aug 2006 1:19 pm


Wow… I got an email response from Charles Dunstone…..

From : Charles Dunstone
Sent : Friday, August 4, 2006 9:10 AM
To : xxxxxxxxxxx
Subject : RE: Talk Talk Broadband Issues

Dear Mr Txxxxxx

Many thanks for your email, I am very sorry that you have had to contact me to get this issue resolved. I have got someone
investigating for me and we will be back to you shortly. In the meantime please accept my sincere apologies.

Regards

Charles Dunstone

Topas on Fri, 4th Aug 2006 1:20 pm


Then I got another email from the Customer Liaison officer…..
I must be doing something right…

From : CustomerLiasonTalktalk
Sent : Friday, August 4, 2006 12:44 PM
To : xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject : PLEASE DO NOT REPLY

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your communication.

I can confirm that the points you have raised are now in the process of being fully investigated.

We will endeavour to contact you within 7 days with a resolution to this matter.

Thank you for your patience.

Yours sincerely

TalkTalk Customer Liaison Department

PLEASE DO NOT REPLY

Rob E on Fri, 4th Aug 2006 1:45 pm


Hi all

Thouroughly cheesed off with TT now after a month on persistant failures – site unavailability being the main issue – e.g. google, tesco, ebuyer unavailable (timeouts)- but I dial up and all is OK, or use a neighbours broadband connection temporarily and all is well… anyone else got this problem??? and is Charles d’s address above correct?
Ta very much
Rob

iain on Fri, 4th Aug 2006 1:59 pm


I was an exisiting talktalk custoemr on one of the old packages and had no problems until i moved house.It took me 3 hours to get rhough to someone in customer service who knew what they were doing but then once I had moved I heard nothing.i kept trying to get through to CS ..no luck. eventually on 20/06/06 i emailed Charled Dunstone at the email address in the CPW catalogue from the store I aslo sent a hard copy of my complaint. To date I have 4 emails allegedly from Mr Dunstone telling me it is being looked into. 2 froma a liason offcier and ive lost count of how many from CS asking for my personal details before they can look into it as I didnt send thes in my email ( thye are quite learly in the complaint)Eventaully after weeks i was finally advised to sign up as a new customer ( why did I do this )Everyting is now up and running BUT i am being charged over £20 for broadbanf=d because they have not linked my broadband to my talk3 plan even though I have alerted them to this. they are chasing me for 12.99 from my previous account even though i had moved and the line had been disconnectd. Now i cannot log on as the remote computer is not responding ( have they all gone home)Also my 2 meg broadband is slower than the 512 kp i used to have from them…discuss

Kevin Hewson on Fri, 4th Aug 2006 2:30 pm


Topas, Very impresive when you get that first email from Charles the main man isn’t it !! Unfortunately I believe it’s a standard response because my one reads exactly the same word for word!! I guess he must have his email filtered. What a shame and I thought I was getting somewhere!

Powelly on Fri, 4th Aug 2006 6:20 pm


OK after about 8hrs of trying everything… I cracked my problem, without the help of talktalk.. something called the MTU setting in my netgear router was set to 1500, I set it to 1400 and it now works fine, although download speed is not as fast as it could be…

Jon on Fri, 4th Aug 2006 10:17 pm


The problems of disconnecting could be speed related as they are similar to old dial up problems, i.e. line dropping. Re-using my old modem which is a touch slower hasn’t been dropping the connection anything like the TT modem did.

If they can’t cope with 2.3Mbps, whattheygonnado with 8Mbps ?? :-(

Benito on Sat, 5th Aug 2006 9:09 am


Ok guys….

In the talk talk contact small print it says………if they do NOT provide your broadband service within 28 days of you signing the contract then you can cancel with no fee.

So if you have them for the phone and it works fine but you have no broadband after 28 days then you can go with some one else.

BTW the posts about P2P above, Talk Talk block the ports for file sharing and online gaming during peak hours, which IMO is a disgrace this day and age.

George on Sat, 5th Aug 2006 11:05 am


Hi everyone,

Have any of you guys actually managed to fix any of your problems with “free” Talktalk broadband. I live away from civilisation and all i wanted to do was get some low price meat flavoured snacks from tescos and when i went to log in, surprise surprise connection failed. please reply if anyone gets any joy.

But hey, I guess the best things in life aren’t free

George S on Mon, 7th Aug 2006 12:47 pm


Hi folks

Anyone having problems with talktalks email. Mine keeps saying I have an automatic pop up blocker but I don’t. The one time it allowed me to access my email account I retrieved the mail and then it started playing up again. Calls to technical hep have been the same as everyone else i.e. cut off after a minute or two. One person I spoke to said the email problem was not at my end but problems with the server (big surprise) but there was no timescale for fixing the problem. Why cant they even be honest and send out alerts saying this.

Nish on Mon, 7th Aug 2006 1:25 pm


For God’s sake dont join Talk Talk, unless you want a life of misery and you have a spare 10 hours a day to soend on the phone talking to customer services!

Talk Talk is the most incompetent, useless and farcical company in the whole wide world. I have had nothing but problems ever since I joined. You can never get through to customer services, when you do finally get through to Bombay or Durban, you are likely to be cut off, re-directed to the wrong deparment and then cut off or get some moron trying to help you (by reading commands of a screen). If you try and complain, they dont listen and try to stop you from making an official complaint. None of the customer advisers ever listen you, they just read a script of the screen.

This is the worst customer service I have ever experienced. I am soo angry and pissed off I have written a letter complaining to head office but I doubt very much I will get a reply as I dont think they are the least bit interested in what customers think. My advice stick with BT, it might be more expensive but talk talk is just not worthe the hassle. I have spent hours and hours on the phone to them, getting no-where! My broadband service is very bad, I cant visit many sites and my service intermittent and I get cut off all the time and I can never get through to help or when I do get through I am cut off!

Here is an excerpt from my complaint: On the 4 August 2006 from around 12.30-2.00 I rang and I was mismanaged no less than 12 times! When I finally got through after 20 minutes, 1. I was cut off straight away, 2. then I rang again and I got through to someone called Angelica but she hung up on me and 3. then I got through to someone else and I said I wanted to cancel my service with you and she said she would put me through to someone but I was cut off again yet again, how incompetent, can one company be. 4. I rang again, got put through to a gentleman who said he would put me straight through to someone from broadband department but he just put me through to an automated service and I got cut off. 5. I rang again got through to someone and was then cut off again, 6. I rang again and was hung up on. 7. I rang again and was asked to hold and then cut off. 8. I rang again and was again cut off. 9. Then I rang to complain and cancel my service again, but I was told I could only complain if I had been mis-sold a service and a compliance form would be filled, otherwise he could just help me with the problem but that was it. He then said he would put me through to broadband helpline and I was cut off again.
10. I rang again, was waiting on your automated service and was cut off. 11. I rang to cancel my service and was told I would have to contact options the department and was just given the wrong number. It is hard to believe you are not doing this on purpose!

Here is another excerpt: Then on August 2 after a lot of trouble I finally set up my broadband but I could not set up my e-mail addresses and webpage via any of your pages including the bbdashboard link, it kept on rejecting my username and password. The person I spoke to, did not seem to have a clue what he was doing, he said he would try and set up a new e-mail address but fumbled around for 15 minutes and then told me to use my old username and password, when the whole point I had rung up was because they were not working. Your staff never seem to listen to what I say. In fact when I told him my name was Nishan Dharmaindra for security, he said are you Indian? I said no I am Sri-Lankan. However he kept on assuming I was Indian (a perfect example of how your staff simply don’t listen). He could not sort out my problem and said he would ring me the next day but unsurprisingly he did not call after he promised and I waited all day, two days later he still has not bothered to call. When I asked whether he would definitely call as it’s near impossible to get through, he said ‘yes of course because you’re Indian’ what a creep! I am still waiting…it is infuriating, maybe he realised I am Sri-Lankan and could not be bothered!

I HATE TALK TALK, I think I may make it my life time ambition to tell everyone I know how incompetent they are!

Jon on Mon, 7th Aug 2006 5:00 pm


Nish,

Quote: “I HATE TALK TALK, I think I may make it my life time ambition to tell everyone I know how incompetent they are!”

I somehow don’t think that you’re the only one! :-)

walkerx on Mon, 7th Aug 2006 6:11 pm


At least someone got broadband and was only on the phone for 20 mins, I was on the phone over 2hrs each time. They reckon I can’t have broadband even though I have it with onetel (and have had BB for 4 years), and supplied my mac-code. They pass you from one department to another, if they give you other numbers to ring they are non-existent or the wrong ones.

I finally managed to cancel everything with them today after being with them since June, I got out of paying any cancellation fees due to me quoting them their code of practice (section 5) which they failed on, and their T&C’s (section 11.13) which they also failed on.

It’s so stupid that onetel and talktalk are the same company, yet onetel has better customer service and a lot easier to contact, so told talktalk everything is going back to onetel. If they decide to move onetel customers into talktalk then I will be moving on, until then I will stay with onetel and wished I had never bothered trying moving away……

Bart Simpson on Thu, 10th Aug 2006 12:15 pm


I feel for all you guys….Talk Talk service looks like crap…
BUT – YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. Nowdays, what is “FREE”???

FREE BB – theres always a catch!

Peace out

Adrienne on Thu, 10th Aug 2006 12:17 pm


Well i think i had a lucky escape. wanted to upgrade from calls package and BT line to talktalk full broadband service. all they did was cancel my calls package without telling BT so I currently have to use an override code to make any calls for the next 2 wks. suddnely BT is a very attractive proposition.

G on Fri, 11th Aug 2006 4:09 pm


I have written 3 letters, sent numerous emails, spent hours on the phone. Signed up end April still no broadband. Checked ofcom website which said call BT Wholesale. Still on hold after 1 hour. As someone who ran a company providing technical support that was complimented by T-mobile and begrudgingly told by Ericsson that we were the only time they recieved a commendation. I find it hard to believe that their customer services director has a job but then he is probably fictional rather like their support. DO NOT use TalkTalk

Bul Alve on Sat, 12th Aug 2006 2:50 pm


Talk talk is totally crap. Very poor service. You can not use Free calls to EU and non EU coutries if you want to hear the other site.

I am waiting for Free BB since April this year.
3 months ago I submitted my first MAC code to two times talk talk. But they ignored. 3 weeks ago BT cut my connections since I received my MAC code.

I have my BT wireless modem but do not know how to configure it for talk talk. I waiting for talk talk modem and software. Each time they say 3-4 days.

I sent mail to Charles Dunstones hoping to get my broadband.

Anybody knows how to configure BT wireless modem to be used with talk talk?

Again never be TALK TALK customer unless you have plenty of time and energy to strugle with their system.

Nazar Rabi on Sat, 12th Aug 2006 6:09 pm


This talk talk is completly rubbish. They trick you into a deal which is completly use less. My advice to anybody never ever sign with these people. I have been with tiscali for the last 2 to 3 years. I never had any problem. They are very straight forward. This car phone ware house or talk talk is a waste of time.

John on Mon, 21st Aug 2006 4:30 pm


Like many others, I applied for the TT International plan in April, with “free broadband”, and the phone got connected before they advised me of the handover date – in fact BT gave me the date. Anyway, that part seems to work OK, even though it costs me more than BT used to charge me.

But my promised broadband date (end July) has come and gone, and now TT tell me that the MAC code I gave them in mid-July is invalid and I need to get another one from my current ISP. Presumably, unless I give them a valid code, they cannot transfer me to their service? Maybe I should hold off from getting another MAC code from my current ISP until either TT have got their act together or my phone contract expires. I have to pay for my ISP, but it is a solid reliable service which delivers the claimed bandwidth (OK, it’s only 500k) and has a helpdesk which answers the phone, is helpful and is not a premium rate call.

Li on Mon, 21st Aug 2006 8:35 pm


I just called Talktalk and they said that they do not have a predetermined date for accepting LLU Mac codes, does anyone knows? A QUESTION to Benito, is your news reliable that Talktalk is going live on 31 August?

Lifesabeach on Tue, 22nd Aug 2006 3:40 pm


What an absolute nightmare with Talk Talk, decided to go with them so ditched Wanadoo Beginning of May, still no starter pack received ,have been of line almost 4 months, by June 28th decided to cancel with them couildn’t wait any longer for them to give me a definite date. T

The nightmare continues I am waiting for a MAC code from them to enable me to move. Many emails (unanswered) and calls costing 10p pm to someone who has no idea what you are taking about. I was promised it 3 times. All I want now is to get a MAC code and forget about Talk Talk. I came across this email address see below) by accident and behold after 1 email the guy sent me my MAC code, I am now waiting for BT to send me a starter pack.

But I am afraid it doesn’t end there – sigh – I have today received in the post a Final demand for £69.30 – There havin a laff. It has cost me more in time, emails and calls I reckon they owe me!!

To be continued ……….

Barry Richardson [RicharB@cpwplc.com]
High Level Complaints

Lifesabeach on Wed, 23rd Aug 2006 10:55 am


A question to Walkerx

I have checked the T&C’s but there is no Section 11.13 could they have removed it.
If you have this paragraph could you post it and I can cut and paste on to my email to TT, re: My final demand for £69.30.
Cheers

Kevin Hewson on Wed, 23rd Aug 2006 11:16 am


Nice one Lifesbeach, I email that Barry guy RicharB@cpwplc.com and got a hand written response within 20 minutes, unlike the standard letter responce I got from Charles Dunston the c.o.
Everyone should send there problems to this guy, you might get some action.

benito on Wed, 23rd Aug 2006 6:16 pm


Yes in response to the question they do plan to go live on LLU on 31st August.
It will be a nightmare for all concerned.

Damo on Thu, 24th Aug 2006 11:23 am


Please please don’t join these sc*m. They have alienated the entire younger generation by their endless incompetence, but think they have success because they managed to sign up the naive older generation. hopefully they will be remembered in the same light as the present labour government in the talent stakes. Here’s my letter I sent to fat useless Dunstone…

Dear Mr Dunstone,

On the advice of Otelo I sent an letter to you a few weeks ago asking for compensation for your company’s continual abuse. As the period before Otelo is takes action is approaching and I have (rudely) had no correspondence from you. I have decided to email you to see what stage my case has reached. I assume nowhere, according to your staff’s previous history of incompetence. Your company has continued to send me bills etc, but the final straw has been today’s bailiff letter threatening me…even mentioning how my credit rating will be affected. You can’t even cancel these ‘bills’ (or attempts at theft) although it has been brought to your atention on at least 20 occasions.
This stupidity has gone on now since I moved house four months ago, For a service I never signed up to. Today the BBC has invited me to talk about your appalling abusive behaviour and lack of action to compensate me for the the wanton destruction your incompetence has caused to my life. I’ll give you an hour before I contact them.
Although my girlfriend has passed this onto your secretary, since they became acquainted recently, and one of my best friends is a director at Carphone Warehouse, I wanted to contact you direct and hear you show some remorse.

Here is the letter already sent to you…

Dear Sir,

I am writing to you as a result of a catalogue of catastrophic blunders by TalkTalk over the last few months, for which I have not been given compensation. I have been advised to write to you by Ofcom and Otelo, with whom I have lodged official complaints, as to your conduct and refusal to compensate me adequately for your appalling behaviour regarding my internet connection. I have been asked to write to you before Otelo can begin to reclaim my money and levy fines. It is always hard to describe in full detail the terrible damage you have inflicted on me, but I will get straight to telling you a summary of the story…

In the middle of April I visited Carphone Warehouse shop in Sunninghill, with my father, to sign up to the new Talk Talk Broadband deal. My ‘go live’ date was July, so having considered it necessary to have the internet as soon as possible (primarily with regard to job hunting) I decided July was too late to be connected. Taking advantage of the 7-day cancellation period with the female employee before I signed, I decided I wanted to cancel. I returned, in person, to the shop the following day to ensure my account was cancelled, having been unable to get through on the phone for an hour or so. I witnessed her making the call to Talk Talk and her request for cancellation, she even stated the request hadn’t even gone into the system yet. That same night I perused my father’s internet and read a review criticizing Talk Talk’s customer service, as a result I rang yet again to reconfirm this cancellation. Customer services assured me the account was cancelled, telling me not to worry. A week or two later I received a letter (computer-generated) welcoming me to Talk Talk Broadband! Gobsmacked by this incompetence, I worried that it still hadn’t been cancelled, so I rang again for a third time. Again I was told that the cancellation had happened. The operator apologised and I was instructed to discard the ‘welcome’ letter.

Now I want to emphasise that the following period takes place after I’ve moved into my new home. An experience made miserable by TalkTalk’s ineptitude. My ongoing problem is I have only one bar (out of 5 bars) of reception on my mobile phone, so every other call just drops at the slightest movement. I had no choice because Talk Talk had made my landline go dead. I want you to imagine the stress from waiting half an hour on the phone only for the call to fail, on many occasions, while the stress of a new hosemove goes on around you. This happened to me on about twenty phone calls to the varying telecoms companies involved. On some occasions it happened during the telling of this story each time I rang your company. To spend ten minutes endlessly repeating the details of what happened (needed before I can even begin approaching the problem with your operator), coupled with the constantly disconnecting phone was one of the most upsetting times I have been through. To have to suffer at peak rate while signing on the dole, has crippled me.

To continue with the saga, in the mean time, I had signed up to “PlusNet” monthly contract with the plan of signing up to TalkTalk in a few months time, on a monthly contract I could get internet now in my new home then change to TalkTalk. In late April my ‘PlusNet’ account became active with an initial cost of £34 then £15 a month thereafter. Having had ‘PlusNet’ for only a few days,(as there had been a scandal with the company repairing my laptop – delaying that by a month), unbeknownst to me Talk Talk then took over my landline without my consent (obviously) . When spending hours on the phone seeking the reason for a dead landline Plusnet’s website annouched an upgrade which made internet access inactive for 14 days. I then proceeded to wait for the end of this period and at which point I would request from them half a month refund for being inactive. When this period reached over 3 weeks I became livid, proceeding to make numerous calls (on my mobile) to BT and PlusNet, each of them said it was not their fault. I was then advised to ring Ofcom, only to discover who had stolen my landline – TalkTalk. I was stunned. The 1st week of June I was informed, (shockingly after all my efforts) that Talk Talk were responsible for the problems all along. I doubt you could imagine my anger.

I have now spent easily more than ten hours calling the companies involved, on my mobile, as Talk Talk took away my landline. I have now explained this long story to 12 different people amongst the three companies involved. Only Talk Talk have failed to document this episode until recently, another malpractice. Ofcom were similarly appalled at the abuse and negligence of a customer, advising me to pursue justice through Otelo. So I began listing, aside from the time and stress, the problems that Talk Talk has caused. To name a few…

The payment of approx. £50 to Plusnet for the internet which has been inactive due to Talk Talk

Hours and hours of calling at peak rate, on a mobile, to sort your stupid mistakes, to no avail. The double-checking and triple checking of the cancellation, a particular gripe as I made so much effort to make it easier for you.

The loss of job opportunities from lack of use of the internet. I’m sure I don’t need to mention the destruction caused by this.

A £15 loss joining Fantasy Golf game

£5 loss on Football Fantasy league game, where I have also missed out on a manager of the month cash prize (£1000)

The missing of important events such as engagement parties (lack of internet)

The waste of at least two weeks of my life dedicated to sorting out your abysmal screw-ups. Not to mention the stress of coping with all the details mentioned above, while moving house!

This is just a few examples of the damage your incompetence has caused, I can supply more if you wish. Other incidents I have documented include:

* Left waitng on the phone waiting for twenty minutes, while an employee named Sarah (ext 3123) discussed my situation with the supervisor, only to receive the insulting reply that came back was that they would waive the £11 I apparently owed Talk Talk for a service I never requested (or in other words Talk Talk would generously not steal £11 from my bank account). This same supervisor offered me a disgusting £20 in costs.

So, the £11 not being yours to take, I had been offered a measly £20 for damage to many aspects of my life ranging from £100 or so to £25,000 (the loss of a job). What made this pathetic offer even more revolting is that I bet few other people had made so much effort to cancel a similar service.

* The arrogant male employee in one of my final calls, who actually denied anything was wrong in the final stages in the whole saga. Plus his refusal to do a 24-hour line cancellation (pre-arranged with BT), even though it had already been organised with a different operator. (The mobile phone had cut out again, hence the need to speak to different operators, you get the picture). This denial was, according to Ofcom and BT, a serious incident and will be reported and dealt with by the relevant bodies. As a result of his stupidity I had to wait a further week or so to get my line back.

* The sending of a direct debit bill to me at the end of June (a week ago) and another letter a couple of days after that. You certainly know how to bring up the darkest of anger.

There are other incidences but I’m not spending my life writing this letter.

Ofcom have now asked me to contact an organisation called “Otelo”, which will levy a large fine on your company for the sickening behaviour and malpractice, depending on your reply. Otelo, in turn, have asked me to claim costs off you, but if your reply is not to my satisfaction, then they will take up the case and punish TalkTalk accordingly. Your actions have certainly given me the desire to carry this through to the bitter end. I have also been advised to contact BBC “Watchdog” and, in particular, write internet posts on the relevant internet provider sites such as ‘ADSLguide’ etc, outlining this dreadful story. For the sake of other people who would suffer the terrible consequences of your incompetence, I’m spreading the word as best I can. I am ashamed at having championed your company as a telephone customer last year. I would appreciate a capable TalkTalk employee addressing these issues.

I await your reply.

Yours,

John on Thu, 24th Aug 2006 9:09 pm


Msg to Lifesabeach:

Here is the section from the TT Ts & Cs. I have the whole PDF saved on my PC in case TT decide to change it.

“11.13 If you signed up for certain of our products (which may include without limitation our ‘combined’ products i.e. being ones under which you receive our LR Service and our Call Service together with our Broadband Service), and we do not supply you with our Broadband Service (being an
element that forms part of such combined product) within 28 days after the last day of the month given to you from our ‘availability checker’, then
you will have right to terminate your Contract for the combined product at any time prior to your actual Commencement Date for the Broadband
Service. Any right you may have to terminate your Contract in these circumstances, will be lost as from the point at which you are able to access our Broadband Service.”

I hope this helps.

Regards,
John

Lifesabeach on Fri, 25th Aug 2006 9:08 am


John

Thats excellent thanks so much, hopefully now can get out of the £69. 30 they say I owe.

Regards

Carole (lifesabeach)

Lifesabeach on Fri, 25th Aug 2006 9:28 am


msg to Damo

I feel for you I have been without Internet access for 4 months because of them, they will not take the marker of my line to enable me to move.
I now have a solicitors letter from them to pay £69.30. NO WAY
Talk Talk more like tw*t tw*t
From – Lifesabeach – until you get involved with TT then its a bitch

Jon on Fri, 25th Aug 2006 7:41 pm


for problems with markers/tags on the line, visit Ofcoms site:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/complain/internet/tag/

Ian D on Sat, 26th Aug 2006 6:09 am


In addition to the issues already aired. On my enquiry to Talk Talk, re their up “to 8mb service”. I am advised by Talk Talk that this will not be available until next year. I have spoken to Trading Standards and they are inetrested in taking up this issue of amarketing offer for a service that is knowingly not available, but require the evidence.

If anyone can get this evidence speak to your trading standards office.

Jon on Sat, 26th Aug 2006 6:45 pm


Ian, good point, but don’t they hide behind the bit “UP TO” 8mbs?

Myst on Mon, 28th Aug 2006 2:16 pm


I, after reading this forum mailded both C Dunstone & B Richardson.

Just had a phone call from the latter.

He has admitted that many people are being given duff information from the tech or sales people.

He said he would keep in contact with me regarding my experience and personally oversee my connection.

Seemed a nice enough guy – will now wait and see how good to his word he is.

Michaela on Tue, 29th Aug 2006 1:20 pm


Joined talk talk, gave mac twice to connect to their website, chased up the modem pack three times, never received welcome letter, had to chase up user name, after two months it finally went live, but the disc didnt work, my email doesnt work, and now the pissing internet dont work, I cancelled my broadband, she said mac will be 5 working days, 2 weeks later, I chased up (with being on hold 20 mins at time, being cut off, being told system errors blah blah blah) only to be told by someone whom I couldnt understand that it will be 48 hours, left it for longer, only to be told that it will be another 72 hours!!

Feel like crying I am that frustrated, TALK TALK DONT TALK

THEY ARE THE MOST SHITTEST COMPANY I HAVE EVER COME ACROSS, YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU GET AND I CERTAINLY HAVE LEARNT AND AM STILL LEARNING MY LESSON.

ps sent an email to that c dunstone asking for a simple request of getting my mac, watch this space! What else can I do except go and kidnap the bloke to get it sorted JESUS!

Jon on Wed, 30th Aug 2006 8:40 pm


Welcome to the club mate :-)

Buzz on Wed, 30th Aug 2006 11:01 pm


After 16 phone calls, 3 emails and 3 unused MAC codes we finally threw in the towel and got disconnected for a fee of £70, we thought the fee was unfair given the circumstances but we wanted TalkTalk out of our lives.
Then we saw the email address “dunstonec@cpw.co.uk” on this website and gave it a try, we got a reply and 2 phone calls and on return of the modem the disconnection fee will be waived, so don’t give up, just tell all your friends to STAY AWAY FROM TalkRubbishTalkRubbish
Thanx TA68 for the email address

Dawn says on Thu, 31st Aug 2006 8:03 am


I wish I had read these comments before we signed up for Talk Talk. Anyone thinking of signing up – my advice would be a big definite DON’T!

For all those who are having problems (as we are) my advice is to fight back in the only real way that consumers can. If the company fails to respond to its customers as with Talk Talk, then the thing that will hurt them most is telling all our horror stories to the press, to OFCOM, to BBC Watchdog etc etc. My next action is to write to the BBC’s Watchdog program. If enough of us send complaints to them I am confident that they will pick up on the issue. At least we may then be able to save some other poor souls who may be considering going with Talk Talk.

If anyone else wants to send details to Watchdog you can either email:
watchdog@bbc.co.uk or go onto their site and fill a form in.

Graham Thurston on Sat, 2nd Sep 2006 8:27 am


Does (or did) anyone have problems with TalkTalk and Outlook? I say “did” becasue the first time I used TalkTalk with my Outlook (back in July) was the last time I ever saw my Outlook.

All my mail for the last 3 yrs gone in a trice. No amount of reinstalling would fix the problem and query message to Talktalk for help go (apparently) ignored.

grateful for any feedback on this: and yes, by all means directly to my e-mail address.

Regards, Graham

PS I didn’t get any other problems with TalkTalk except the customer services line to S Africa (not India) and no 8Mb service yet despite being given a date in mid July – subsequently deferred to Oct.

Lisa on Sun, 3rd Sep 2006 2:04 pm


Hiya, I’m feel very sorry for all you people who have been disappointed by the service that Talktalk say they will provide. I have been connected to “free” broadband now for two months, I have had NO problems what so ever, after reading these messages I feel I am the luck one. I do not ring their customer services at all for any problems, I always email them and I do get a prompt reply. Like I said I must be one of the lucky one’s. Although the only problem I do have since leaving BT, is the constant telesales calls that I get, even late at night.

Paul on Mon, 4th Sep 2006 11:05 am


Quick reply in regards to the previous post by Lisa – Head to your nearest Carphone Warehouse and get them to check that you are registered for the TPS option, it should stop the marketing calls.

And as for the rest of these posts, just spent an silly amount of time reading through as many as I could stomach.
As an employee of Carphone Warehouse, I have this on a daily basis.
And I’ll just say that the majority of the posts on here could have been solved by a visit to the nearest store.
At least 80% of the problems I recieve are nothing to do with Talktalk, their either customer created, or down to their previous ISP or BT.

But just to re-iterate – If you can’t get through on the phone. GO TO A STORE!!
We have priority lines to the talktalk call centres, an most times we’ll know a solution to your problem without even needing to call anyone.

Sam Long on Mon, 4th Sep 2006 9:22 pm


Just thought i would share my experience with Talk talk below, I think after reading all this i will cancel my account for good tomorrow.

I signed up for Talk talk bb on May 1st of this year, and as of today Sep 4th, I still have no broadband. I gave my MAC code to the customer service guys in India about 4 times, and each time they either lost it, got it down wrong or hadn’t put it in the system. When they did finally put it in about 2 weeks later, it was rejected, then it expired (talk talk had been mucking around for over a month). I then was told to cancel my service with Tiscali (whom i had never had any problems with in the past), I did this, then i was told by talk talk that there was still a marker on the line, and that i had to go back to tiscali and ask them to clear it. I did that, but then I found that i still couldn’t connect to bb.

After about 20 calls to customer service, (who are useless – please don’t bother calling them) technical support (and in the process being hung up on hundreds of times, told that they were too busy or to call back later), i finally got through to someone, and each person I have spoken to has told me a completely different story about the state of my bb and waiting times for my bb varying depending on what TS guy i was lucky enough to get on the day.

I finally had enough last week and told them that if they didn’t fix my bb within the end of the week i would be cancelling my contract and i wouldn’t pay the £70 seen as i had no bb. The girl on the end of the phone spoke to her supervisor and assured me that my bb would be activated within 24 hours. All she needed to do was to push a button (???).

Of couse when i phoned back the next day after finding that i still had no bb, i discovered that they had actually cancelled my service altogether. Saying that i had asked it to be cancelled when i clearly had not!

I decided then that enough was enough, I would keep the cancellation that i did not ask for in the first place and close my account for good. I paid my final bill and then discovered that the billing dept had decided to charge me 3 times what i owed to them (now a separate issue i have to sort out with my cc company). To be honest i wasn’t really surprised that they couldn’t do this properly.

Then all of a sudden i received a text message today saying my bb has been fixed! (yeah right) And what a coincidence on the day i was supposed to switch back to BT. However i have tried again today (and this is about the 50th time i have installed that bleedin’ disk) and no luck.

Checked today the My Account link on the website and it says my go live date is now July 2008. What a fantastic offer. I am due to get my bb 8 months after the end of my 18 month contract.

Today’s story the technical support guy told me is that another modem pack and welcome letter is in the post to me and should arrive in 3-5 days. (likely story). Not sure why i need another modem and cd, when i already have them.

All in all this is the worst experience i have ever had with any company in my life. My parents have reminded me of a certain hoover offer which couldn’t deliver what they offered years ago………………………………

Derek on Mon, 4th Sep 2006 9:28 pm


Talk Talk have to be the worst company Ihave ever dealt with, I sent them the following, to 3 of their senior staff plus I emailed it to Dunstones office, that was 4 weeks ago, they havent had the decency to reply, this letter is only an outline of the grief they have caused me, in a nutshell broadband ordered in May gave up in August cost so far £150 no broadband at all in fact after torrents of lies about imminent connection was told by one of their advisors in August that they had no date of connection for me, so gave up and cancelled but the shits are still demanding another £35 for doing nothing, what a con what a bunch of crooks,
lettewr to talk talk:-
Thank you for your letters dated 21/7/06 and 4/8/06 I note your efficiency in collecting payments exceeds your ability to provide the service for which I am paying by 100%.

Having signed up for line and Broadband on 24th April I was told by your staff at Carphone Warehouse Beckenham that I would be on Broadband in 4-5 weeks, some 12 weeks later I have still not received Broadband but have had nothing but bills and total frustration.

I ordered a phone line from BT in order to get your service which cost me £95 for the connection, as normally I only use a mobile I have no need for a fixed line other than to use your service. I was duly transferred to your phone system in mid may but as no broadband was forthcoming I have had to use a dial up connection to Wanadoo for which you ripped me off 10p per minute.

I finally received a letter saying broadband connection was scheduled for mid June which was confirmed on the internet site.

Mid June came and went with no connection forthcoming , I then started to visit your Beckenham shop every Monday only to be told a series of untruths. For three weeks consecutive I was told the modem was in the post, (obviously untrue) I was then informed twice that I would be connected within a week, finally I was told that my letter was in error and that connection would be mid July still the internet now said I had been connected mid June, as it generally takes a minimum of an hour to contact you by telephone I have wasted many hours trying to contact you the final straw was last week having been told there was now no date for connection by one of your telephone advisors, on the same day I received a letter from Talk Talk stating what a wonderful service you were offering and reminding me that yet another payment was due.

Because of your lack of service and basically misleading information I would expect reimbursement of my wasted costs i.e £95 to install a phone line and £55 which was your first debit from me, ( i was quoted £19:50 pcm but as usual you manage to charge more than advertised) the cost to me personally and emotionally has been much higher as I am currently using the internet for business I have had to go to other providers who actually fulfilled there promise and connected me within a week

Yours disgusted

what do I do now ???????

Alex Holstead on Tue, 5th Sep 2006 9:17 am


Derek, I read with horror your post, and would suggest next stop should be laywers.

George on Tue, 5th Sep 2006 10:33 am


You people really don’t understand how difficult it is to work in this environment. All you people can do is just pass judgement, without even finding out facts. I worked in a call centre in South Africa for Talk Talk and the reason for leaving is you people. I-rate, i-rate and i-rate. One thing we learnt in training was to always deliver what we promise. Nothing is made up and the timescales we were given was from a higher authority, so people before you lay judgement on something you don’t know please find out the facts. Talk talk is a good company, if your problem can not be resolved in first line wait for 2nd line to give you a call.
No hard feelings

Mr Nav on Tue, 5th Sep 2006 4:00 pm


dunstonec@cpw.co.uk.

DO NOT CONTACT ME UNLESS YOU ARE SENIOR MANAGEMENT…….
ALL OF THE 2 YEARS OF SHEER HELL FROM THIS WILL ALL BE SENT TO EVERY PRESS DESK I FIND OUT YOUR JUST A CALL CENTRE CUSTOMER CARE PERSON.

I WILL CONTACT EVERY PRESS DESK I FIND IF YOU DO NOT DO THIS
THEY WILL BE SENT A VERY LONG AND DETAILED ACCOUNT OF THE SHEER HELL I HAVE BEEN THROUGH INFORMING THEM ABOUT HOW YOU MESSED UP VODAPHONE CARPHONE WAREHOUSE SO MUCH THAT THEY TOOK IT BACK!!
AND NOW VODAPHONE WILL NOT HELP ME SINCE THEY SAY IF THEY SCRAPPED THE MONEY OWED THEY WOULD LOSE TOO MUCH SINCE THERE IS FAR TOO MANY CUSTOMERS COMPLAINING ABOUT FALSE PROMISES AND LIES FROM CARPHONE WAREHOUSE I AM SO CONFUSED TO WHY THIS HAS CONTINUED FOR SO LONG I CANNOT UNDER STAND HOW YOU COULD MESS PEOPLE AROUND THEN PASS THE BUCK TO SOME BODY ELSE!!!!
TELL VODAPHONE YOUR SORRY THAT YOU HAVE LIED AND NOT DONE WHAT YOU SAID AND INFORM THEM I OWE NOTHING!

I CANNOT STRESS HOW MUCH I WILL BE ANNOYED IF YOU DO NOT DEAL WITH THIS THIS WEEK
DO NOT CONTACT ME UNLESS YOU ARE SENIOR MANAGEMENT.

customer-care@cpw.co.uk wrote:
Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you for your email, which we received on 31st August 2006. I appreciate your patience in awaiting a reply.

I have tried to contact you on your mobile, however there was no reply.

I will be happy to investigate your query, if you provide me with your full name and the bank registered with us. This information is required as it complies with the Data Protection Act (DPA).

The government introduced the act as a standard to which we must adhere. This is to provide privacy and to offer customers complete peace of mind in knowing that their details are secure with us.
Please accept my apologies for any inconveniences caused.
I look forward to your response.
Should you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact our Customer Care Team on 0870 0870 168 or visit our website: http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/contactus

Regards
Arrzooh Anifi
Correspondence Department

—————————-
To: cdunstone@cpw.co.uk
CC:
Subject: Very annoyed!

i have been messed about on my phone account for 2 years running- on my carphone-vodaphone account 0779*****.. I bought a phone in store, this then became faulty 3 phones later the manager said well mine still works what do u want… he then informed me that the only way to get a better phone was to upgrade, i then agreed an upgrade no mention of this being another 12 month contract or that he put me on the highest tariff available. this phone turned out to be faulty if you check my account on 077****** you will read all of the trouble i have had, the manager has since been demoted not sure if it was because of me or the massive problems he caused with others. i tryed to end my contract after all of this —-3 months after my contract ended ( i have since sought legal advice. and since this contact was not explained and major elements not mention in any shape or form. this is wrong because i was miss informed on a lot of the details within the terms and conditions)i have been accused of lying, subjected to lies by a manager who put me on a contract without my full knowledge.
I bought a new phone on O,2 i was still being charged for my old phone even after i tryed to end the contract many times.. when in store they charged my old phone because i had little battery left when i was buying a new contract —-some how they heated the phone to the point of burning it, nobody could touch it it was very hot i lost all of my games ringtones recordings videos of my honeymoon wedding etc only to be told that phone wasnt under contract so tough…. we can only give u a second hand HAB phone no compensation for all of the services i had bought and videos of precious moments of mine.. i now owe money to vodaphone they are refusing to help as they say they have no mention of you ending my contract untill months after i canceled, i have rang so many times and have been bounced around i am getting very angry. If a manager does not look through my Vodaphone account 07****** read all of the problems i have been subjected to, compensates me for my phone which the shop destroyed a written apology to me, and informs Vodaphone i no longer owe money on a contract that is void because of the proven lying manager who was demoted for very bad working procedures… i will have no other alternative to contact the local press and everyone else interested in carephone warehouse stealing lying and having no problems with zero customer care. To sum this all up i shouldn’t be subjected to pay for any money to carephone warehouse or Vodaphone after this massive malpractice. i am giving you 5 days to contact me on 078*******. if i have to explain all of this for the hundredth time to a general customer care person i will hang up and contact the press as I’m sure Charles Dunstone would love to see how bad this company can get, every one knows that Vodaphone took its service back since you messed it all up.

he Carphone Warehouse Group Plc (Registered in England No. 3253714) 1 Portal Way, London W3 6RS

Sorry for the rant but AAAARRRRGGGGGGGGGG im mad mad mad lol

Derek on Tue, 5th Sep 2006 5:32 pm


Cheers George just the usual total lack of empathy one has come to expect from talk talk, I have contavted the firm time after time and never had a reply from Dunstone down, I was told in writing, on the talk talk site and person to person at a talk talk shop that connection would be five weeks after five weeks I went to talk talk beckenham every week, even the staff there told me they were disgusted I spent £150 and never got a service, it may be ok in South Africa but it aint ok here, staff even apologised having told me 4 weeks running that my modem was in the post which they were told from whoever they call at the centre, they knew it was a lie and said so, I knew it was a lie so take off your rose tinted glasses, I am on a pension and can ill afford the time and more importantly the money dealing with this rubbish organisation, by the way phone calls rarely ever got answered, in the early days my record was 10 am to 1130 am then the phone was answered the so called advisor then said he would transfer me to another advisor instead after another 15 minutes the line went dead, this was a frequent occurence, however I understand your atitude George as it seems to be Talk Talk policy i.e. the customer is always wrong treat with contempt, never reply dont provide a service and keep sending in the bills, what a diabolical shower
Very hard and stressed feelings
derek

Mick on Wed, 6th Sep 2006 9:58 am


Well done to all those who have had success with emails to Charles Dunstone. I only wish I’d found this site months ago.
Unlike the majority of you, I was with TT before they introduced their “free” offer. As my srvice was getting slower and slower and I was no longer allowed to use P2P I decided to leave, as I could see their service getting a whole lot worse.
To cut a long story short, they took 4 weeks to supply me with a migration code in April and then cut me off early. leaving me with no internet connection. Yet they are still billing me for my broadband charge 5 months later.
They are not honouring a 1 month’s broadband refund, for poor service, that a Carphone Warehouse branch managed to obtain for me.
They’ve employed a debt collection company to get money out of me that I don’t owe. They have damaged my credit rating and of course they will not respond to phone calls, emails or even letters sent by recorded delivery.
I have been in touch with Ofcom and the matter is now in the hands of Otelo, the Telecommunications Ombudsman.
My advice to anyone thinking of moving to Talk Talk is DON’T.
George, I feel sorry for people like you who have to deal with justifyably “i-rate” customers. The people who should leave Talk Talk are the management not you poor chaps who have to apologise for their ineptitude or, as is more often the case, ignore us.
Talk Talk is a hopeless company who I will never deal with again.

David G on Thu, 7th Sep 2006 8:31 am


There seems to be some One.tel people that have moved over to TalkTalk.

Is the One.tel International Talk still offered or do you now have to switch to TalkTalk? Wonder how that stacks up cos you used to get good cheap international calls from Onetel

Graham on Thu, 7th Sep 2006 6:01 pm


Not sure about the value of Otelo who have completely sidestepped my complaints about Onetel who for weeks refused to accept email cancellations of my broadband and phone accounts because ‘ it would be against the data protection act’

mekon on Fri, 8th Sep 2006 8:23 am


A great big thankyou to all the subscribers to this site. !

No Really !

I thought I was on my own, in a small dark corner of this world, and now I know there is this massive community of NoTalk NoTalk peeps out there!

I won’t bore you all with my lack of progress with NoTalk NoTalk but suffice to say my phone line is switched over from good ‘ole BT but no broadband after 3 months.

So to-day its Damage Limitation Day…looks like I’m stuck with the landline connection, which on its own is quite a good deal, but as the robots continually request MAC codes after 3 months (which of course I’ve sent) I am sure, as they have not supplied the broadband, I am free to go elsewhere.

MAC code requests seem just a delaying tactict as they cannot cope with the demand. I’m one of the ‘lucky’ ones as I’m still with Tiscali due to NoTalk NoTalk,s incompetence. So the plan is to stick with NoTalk NoTalk for the land-line connection and find another ISP?

Thoughts please!

Bombarding NoTalk NoTalk with emails and colour copying dozens of the prepaid MAC code request forms and posting them off doesn’t work but makes you feel better, briefly

Wish I’d not listened to Charley being interviewed on Five Live…what a mug I was to be drawn in by his clap-trap

Worse still I reccomended NoTalk NoTalk to friends in the early days..ah well back to the dark corner

Billy No Mates

Simon M on Fri, 8th Sep 2006 12:55 pm


It took me 4.5 months and submitting 3 Migration Authentication Codes and numerous phone calls and e-mails to eventually get talktalk broadband. They didn’t tell me it was live, I had to phone them and ask for the login details. I logged in on 22/August/2006 and everything was fine. On 25/August/2006 talktalk cut off my phone (but broadband still worked). When I called them to report the ‘fault’ they told me that I had requested cancellation. I’ve spent the last 2 weeks calling them to get them to sort out the problem but each time they say it will take 10 days. Last night I got so feedup because the broadband ceased working, I went to a pay phone and phoned BT at 6pm – by 7pm I had a working phone. Now I need to work on getting broadband again. Called talktalk this morning and they tell me that my broadband is active and that the transfer to talk3 calls is….,. yes you’ve guessed it ……10days away. In the meantime I need to call technical to get my broadband working.

I don’t think they have a clue what they are doing.

Lisa on Sun, 10th Sep 2006 5:46 pm


In reply to Paul’s message on September 4th, 2006 at 11:05 am, thank you. I will pop into my local CPW store and check out if I am registered for TPS. These telesales always seem to call at the wrong time. THANK YOU.

TalkTalk Fan on Mon, 11th Sep 2006 4:41 pm


Half the problems in Talk Talk are caused by thick customers who dont have a clue what asdl is and phone up causing queues in the wrong departments because they are to simple to press the right key for the right department. If your thick leave talk talk and give so clever customers can get even better service

Jon on Thu, 14th Sep 2006 5:00 pm


Obviously TalkTalk Fan doesn’t know what he/she is talking about also – otherwise he/she won’t be writng the above comments! :-)

Mike on Fri, 15th Sep 2006 5:42 pm


‘Talk Talk Fan’ is clearly the type of customer Charles Dunstone loves.
He/She is thick enough to think that Talk Talk are wonderful because he/she has probably been lucky enough to have not had a problem, or is thick enough to accept Talk Talk’s hopeless service without question.
Not surprisingly he/she cannot write or spell, and cannot even write ADSL without making a mistake.
Yes, you’re an ideal Talk Talk customer!

Len on Fri, 15th Sep 2006 5:56 pm


I suggested to a friend that TT was a good value package, although I had experienced much of what has been said above. Shen is with NTL.

When she contacted TT they insisted that they could not possibly connect her because that had no agreement with NTL for customers who wanted to migrate to them. She explained that she was not on NTL cable and still used a BT line for her Dial Up. They were adamant that she could not have TT. I contacted OneTel, knowing that TT customer Service was absolutely useless, and asked them, as they were a part of CPW, if there should be a problem – answer, NO. She then got back to TT and got the same response. She then used my suggestion that she wanted to speak to someone more intelligent. She was put through to another advisor, we think in Ireland(!), who accepted her application and said she will be connected in 3 weeks. What an absolute shower they are.

I hope I haven’t lost a friend.

PS Has anyone realized that their holding music is “We have got to get it together”? Never a truer word!

TalkTalk unbundling - Oliver Brown on Sat, 16th Sep 2006 11:39 am


[...] k unbundling
September 16th, 2006 by Oliver

Firstly, some of the posts about TalkTalk problems are getting a little heated, especially now some TalkTalk call centr [...]

sethi on Mon, 18th Sep 2006 10:32 am


Hi Everybody,

I have lost my talktalk broadband modem and because I am not on talktalk broadband so I can not request for the CD. Can anyone tell me where I can get the installation CD or talktalk broadband modem. I have checked the talktalk website and there is no download link.
or
Can I have a copy of this CD, If anyone has got the installation CD.

any help would be highly appreciated.

i bell on Tue, 19th Sep 2006 9:17 am


Here you go a telephone number for Charles Dunstones office in London…

0208 753 8000

I rang and got the usual Fob off “i will get someone to ring you back” but i insisted on staying on hold untill the operator got really pissed off lol , i am making it my mission to ring them every 10 mins untill i get to talk to someone high up. I suggest you all do the same :)

Lets hope u melt melt the switchboard

Fletch on Wed, 20th Sep 2006 8:37 am


The brother in law called me over at the weekend to sortout his talk talk connection issues having just been connected. Being in IT I can follow click next… We have a number of issues which to be fair were not all talk talks fault.

The first was down to their sky box. A filter had been fitted on the phone line extention but at the start, fitted it at the end, near the box (hidden behind his TV) and suddernly the connection worked… …Strange.

The second was the daft disk. It took three goes to make the settings stick but after three hours we had a connection.

(Important note: For the software to work TURN OFF any Firewalls that you have running or it will not connect during setup)

Then was the email. No way could I get this to work with Email Express and had to admit defeat. The Brother in Law spent £15.00 talktalking to their ‘technical support’ who also admitted defeat after recreating his settings both at the backend and on his email. Last night I spent an hour going through them again and could not spot anything wrong – off went a very stiff compliant to be swallowed up and ignored.

This morning, on my own system I recreated his email account and suffered the same problems of not being able at attach. Then I spotted something:

I changed emailname@talktalk.net to emailname@TalkTalk.net

(note the above case change) – And it worked immediately!

Obviously there is an extremely slim chance that their technical dept did something at the same time and if I could be arsed I would change the settings back to confirm it, but why both it if its now working.

To be fair the answer was staring us in the face as this is the format in the screen shots on the website

Obviously this leads to the question of the £15.00 and what he would have done if he still could not get an email connection – another expensive call?

In conclusion:

The software is awful, and a big sign is needed to say turn off the firewall.
If I am right about the emailname@TalkTalk.net then the word needs to go out and talktalk need to get this sorted as the setup disk we used put it in lowercase…

Finally, their support has to be cheaper and more accountable and distictly more visible, staff have to be better trained and bust a gut to resolve issues as quickly as possible. Perhaps tt should consider a bonus for staff based on positive out come – Oh and their IT Manager/Director should should have the guts to publish his email address… I have a my bill to send them :-)

Now the question is: do I save £10.00 a month by switching to tt now I know the answers… ….difficult…

(I also see uswitch.com were giving tt 87% customer satisfaction this morning…)

Jon on Wed, 20th Sep 2006 9:13 am


sethi.. you don’t *have* to use a TTBB modem, if you’ve got another one, you just need your username & password and set up a connection using the Network set up wizard!

You can get a TT modem from TTs website, and the drivers for it (probably) from Sagem website, depending which modem you actually get.

Ben on Wed, 20th Sep 2006 9:57 am


Hi all, just like to add to all of the above that Talk Talk is a complete waste of time and am looking forward in switching back to BT (although this looks like a challenge as well)

I have been connected to Talk Talk Broadband now for 2 weeks and I have had nothing but problems. The ADSL connection keeps being dropped and has become increasingly worse to the point where it is now dropping every minute.

The helpdesk was of no use what so ever and he didn’t believe that there could ever be a fault on the line. I used to be a BT customer and have had a similar issue with them and they found that there was a fault on the line and managed to rectify the issue within a 24 hour turn a round.

I find the comments posted by Talk Talk fan laughable. I work for a large IT outsourcing company in the UK and find that Talk Talk do try to “fob” customers off with potential issues so the customer has to waste more time checking out PC configuration etc. I was even told that I must have Spy Ware on my PC which is why the connection was being dropped (even though my broadband modem writes a log to itself which tells me exactly what is going on). It would also be a great help if the call centres were all brought back to the UK and you can talk to someone who can deviate from the useless written script that they have to follow about simple diagnostics or get rid of the 1st line support completely and give us the 2nd line engineers who can actually answer some basic networking questions.

Anyway, I have been told that I should expect a call from the 2nd line support within this next 2 days. If not then I shall be cancelling Talk Talk along with the voice and going back to BT where I had no problems what so ever

mart on Wed, 20th Sep 2006 11:41 pm


hi got out of my contract today with talktalk. i was getting 2meg bb from them when the contract started in jan 06 i was told as speeds became faster i would get an free upgrade i found out yesterday that i could get 8 meg bb for the last 4 months so i rang them up and told them this they said if i start an new contract with them i would get the 8meg i told them i did not wont a new contract as i cant wait for my old one to finish to get away from them . i told her that in the contract it said as faster bb came on my line i would get a free up grade but i never got it to cut a long story short after 2 hours on the phone she said that i was miss sold my bb and did not have to pay the £70 charge so if there is anyone who is paying for the £17.99 2meg bb to do an check to see how fast your line is and if the case is the same as me you will be able to get out GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL

Paul on Thu, 21st Sep 2006 8:13 am


In response to Ben:
You work for an IT outsourcing company, but yet believe that getting rid of the 1st line support would actually help matters?
You don’t think that putting people straight to 2nd line would just clog up their lines even more with non-issues, causing people like you who actually do have a problem to wait even longer?
As for the Spyware/tech support script reading, I’ve had that mulitple times with BTs Tech Support, when I had told them time after time, that it was a problem on their end.
Unfortnately all you can do is go through the 1st line as quickly as possible and then let the 2nd line call ya back.
If they don’t call ya back within a few days, you can go into a Carphone Warehouse store, and ask them to fill in an escalation form – This form goes directly to 2nd line support, and they will call you back within 8 Working Hours.

Ben on Fri, 22nd Sep 2006 2:00 pm


Paul, I was simply meaning that the call centre staff need far more training and understanding of basic IT issues etc and to stop advising customers of an absolute load of rubbish which they are just reading from a script. It would of been more help if they were just a catch and despatch 1st line support and nothing else. As for the being called back by 2ls within 8 working days, thats just appalling.

Anyway, problems all resolved. Their 2nd line guy didn’t ring after the 48 hour period that they had promised and I have cancelled the whole package and only took them 24 hours (which to be fair was very good) to provide me with a MAC code and have not had to pay any cancellation fee. BT advised that I should be back up and running with them within the next 10 days.

I wish Talk Talk all the best but I’m afraid the package isn’t for me at this moment in time.

Gabriel on Fri, 22nd Sep 2006 3:11 pm


The below communication had been sent to talktalk three days ago. Not any answer yet…but a call requesting the same MAC code I did receive today…I did call them and surprise…the operator answered in less than 10 seconds…I told him the problem, but he failed in giving me a registration number for my complain.
More than this you should be aware that the international “free” calls are not working proper at all.

“The requested information about MAC code had been sent to you by post the day after I did receive your request form. Since I did not have any Internet broadband service provider up to date, I can not supply you with any MAC code and this was stated also in my reply sent by post to you. Please be aware that I am not responsible for the non receiving of the reply form and the only responsibility is on behalf of Royal Mail and yourself. Please be also aware that the indicated electronic form for the same request on the link https://www.talktalk.co.uk/portal/servlet/gben-LLU-UpdateMAC is not accepting the “blanks” or “zeros” on the dedicated windows, expressing the statement that I am not having a MAC code.
Your current diligences for having a duplication of an information already sent to you is very much looking as an attempt to delay the process of broadband installation. Please be also aware that the broadband service, even as free one, is included in the agreement that I have with your company and on the top of this, you had been charge me the full services for the latest 2 months and another month in advance, but you fail in delivering it. If your company is not taking immediate actions reducing my bills for the undelivered services and not making my broadband service fully operational within a week from today, I am reserving the rights to unilaterally breach the agreement with your company and I will further consider registering an official complain about this issue to the customer care authorities. Furthermore I will have to take proceedings without further notice.
Your early and competent reply to all the above issues will be appreciated.
Regards,”

I will be not take any further action up to the end of the month, then I will start proceedings.

Could TalkTalk software be the problem? - Oliver Brown on Sat, 23rd Sep 2006 11:45 am


[...] problem?
September 23rd, 2006 by Oliver

A few recent entries to the list of problems with TalkTalk seem like they could be software related. People not being able [...]

Jon on Sat, 23rd Sep 2006 4:28 pm


International calls require a prefix of 18418 in order to work… they have been working okay on my line :-)

Obvious on Sun, 24th Sep 2006 10:24 am


Im having trouble getting a friends vpn to work on his talktalk connection and so far have received numerous different answers from cust services.

After reading many posts splashed across the internet im going to tell him to try and get out of the contract if he can.

I feel sorry for everyone who has problems with TT but have to say “what did you expect from the cheapest reseller of bt broadband who use advertising phrases like FREE BROADBAND FOR LIFE”

There is no such thing as free and any company using the word free will undoubtedly have massive problems with maintaining customer service levels.

Maxine on Mon, 25th Sep 2006 5:47 am


I was with TalkTalk from April until early September. They would not let me cancel. They would not give me a MAC to go elsewhere. They put a restriction on my line. They failed to set up a direct debit. They should not even have been speaking to me as I was not the account holder. But my husband refused to spend his time off on hold, so I had to do it. One day I was on continuous hold for 6 hrs. Eventually we had to resort to having another BT line installed and now I have debt collectors after me for a service I never had! A joke, from beginning to end. But watch out America! Yesterday I read that Dunstone is planning to open CPW shops in New York. I tell you, the guy is after world domination. Maybe he is related to Blofeld. Good luck all – like someone said, they can’t sue us all.

Maxine on Mon, 25th Sep 2006 6:01 am


Oh…btw…I DID contact WAtchdog, and they have contacted me. They were VERY interested to hear what I had to say. Keep an eye out for October 3rd, that’s when the new series starts, I think.

Derek on Mon, 25th Sep 2006 12:57 pm


Further to my rant against talk talk on 4th September just to let talk talk fan know I do not consider myself stupid as I have a degree in electronics and have built and designed computer systems for the last ten years, I also know the correct designation for an asynchronous digital subscribers line is adsl not as talk talk fan calls it asdl whilst calling us morons, what a dope doesnt even put his name on line.

Am still awaiting reply from Dunstone and his minions but to cap it all have had another bill for £32 pounds sent from a credit company and threatening me of dire things if I dont pay as talk talk arent prepared to wait any longer, have reluctantly paid it as I dont want a bad credit rating but spoke to the firm who were careful what they said but did tell me I was in no way alone, these thieves have left me £180 out of pocket and have at no time supplied me with broadband as I said before what a shower of shit, if I had the money would take them to court but as a pensioner cant afford it, if a private person had inflicted a fraud such as this on the nation they would surely be on trial by now, dont suppose anyone of importance at talk talk reads this but they would do well to as I know of large organisations taking a great interest in whats going on
derek

Jon on Mon, 25th Sep 2006 4:18 pm


When I read all the things that people say about TT I find it hard to believe that someone somewhere hasn’t yet pulled the plug on TT!

It is very difficult to imagine another retail or service providing this level of customer service and actually getting away with it!

My worst nightmare is that others might follow TT’s lead, then we’re all done for! :-)

Martin Marriott on Wed, 27th Sep 2006 8:54 am


I am on the TalkTalk 3 “free broadband” plan. On the 15 September 2006 my TT broadband was upgraded and since then it has not worked due to a loss of broadband signal. Despite numerous calls to technical support, customer services and LLU with some calls lasting 30 minutes, nothing has been resolved.

When I ring up to cancel the broadband, I am told that it could take upto a month for their hardware to be removed and a further few weeks for the other provider to be set up.

They suggest I wait a further month to see if they can resolve the matter and then leave. So then it would be two months + weeks without an internet connection.

I suggested that the only way to resolve the issue would be to cancel my direct debit as only then would their attention be concentrated on my situation.

If I did that I am told, they would take me to court for breach of contract. The cheek of it is that they say that since it is free broadband they have not breached the contract if it doesn’t work.

Andy Mckerell on Wed, 27th Sep 2006 10:18 pm


I used to be connected to BT Broadband without any problems whatsoever at a constant speed of 2mps.
( just tried to check my speed with talk talk for comparison and guess what ..
I’m disconnected )

Well in general it connects at around 7mps for anything between 1 second and 1 hour.

It’s been like this for months, in fact since the very first day that this company used my MAC code to transfer over from my account from BT.
I too phoned the helpline and got an idiot in India telling me to connect directly to the main socket so that they could test the connection, utter rubbish as this main box is right next to my front door.

Eventually after literally hundreds of calls to them, I recieved a call from their 3rd line support team telling me that it takes a month for the “smart card” to settle down and the fluctuation in connection was due to this.

I am truly fed up of being fobbed off by this ludicrous company.

This company has insulted my intelligence and put me and my family under enourmous stress, after all a lot of people use the internet for information, gaming, banking etc…..and to relax!

I suppose I’d better try to reconnect now so that i can submit this letter.
(just connected at 6.2mps) this is all over the bloody place!

Andy Mckerell on Wed, 27th Sep 2006 10:21 pm


Point to note:
While i was submitting the last comment, guess what, it disconnected.

That connection lasted approximately 35 seconds.

Steve Richards on Fri, 29th Sep 2006 6:44 am


Happy Talk Talk is there anyone out there.
Strange how many customers are having the same problem as we are, is it possible we all bought bad Pc’s at the same time or is it we have all been sold a package that cannot provide a service because their advertising was that good. What a pitty I did’nt listen to my grandmother if something looks to be good to be true then generally it is. which perhaps needs looking at under the trade descriptions act. Of course the broadband is free if you spend £30 on the router and like talking to customer services eventually?, but not connected to the broadband and their excuse sheet. Is there anyway out of their contract PLEASE HELP

Irene Hussey on Fri, 29th Sep 2006 7:38 pm


Hi All Glad to have read all the comment so will not waste anymore time trying to connect with the CD (of which I have been sent 2 for no reason) Just annoyed to think that after 70 I have proved myself such a sucker but I will spread the word about the lack of service and everything else. I must cancel all as I can’t afford to pay for nothing. Think I will start a ficticious broadband service and make a million – nice little earner eh?

Jon on Fri, 29th Sep 2006 10:13 pm


You can always pay the £70 disconnection fee if there’s no other way!

Jo on Sun, 1st Oct 2006 3:16 pm


I applied for talk talk free broadband as well as their phone service. We had problems with them straight from the off. It took them 24 hours to connect our phone and then we waited at least a month for all of the gumpf to come through. When it did we couldn’t connect and we had no problems with our p.c. We would phone the customer service line and we would get pushed from pillar to post. We were stunned when we got a bill for the broadband especially when we went with their free broadband services. After a while we got fed up with being disconnected all of the time so decided to move back to b.t for the phone and the broadband. B.T overtook the phone lne within 2 hours but the MIGRATION number which we needed from Talk Talk took 3 months. They were nothing but problems.. It wasn’t just us either it was our families who coulkdn’t get online for any amount of time without problems and waiting hours on end for someone to correct the mistakes, everyone of us expressed our regrets in letters, phone calls and emails to no avail. They cut off our phones without any warning and then refused to put them back on for 48 hours. We are disgusted with talk talk and will NEVER recommend them to anyone especially if they have disabilities (which most of my family do) unless they want a hard time and the mickey taken out of them…

Paul on Sun, 1st Oct 2006 5:29 pm


TalkTalk erm what can I say b4 forum rejects post for flooding…..
I must say phone calls no problem, BB nice when u can get it….dont have any problems getting through to there help lines, just find it impossible to get any help. Ok being a geordie makes it hard for ppl to understand me but it comes to something when a geordie doesnt understand said HELP LINE…B4 u even think it no it is not coz im thick ( trained as an Engineer ( tool maker ) and also Cisco based (networking ,routers, switches, servers etc )…I phoned up for settings for a router only to be told …Sorry Sir we do not support routers all I can give you are the vci/vpi and dns first/secondary ip ranges
VPI=0
VCI=38
Authentication=Chap
Primary DNS=62.24.199.13
Secondary DNS=62.24.199.23
ok I know thats all i really need but after 2 months line outage and connection as solid as water, i finally checked what the router was reporting for the outages, nothing much there till i looked at DNS ok its nearly within the ip range specified….
DNS Primary IP address is 62.24.128.18
DNS Secondary IP address is 62.24.128.17
Ok fingers crossed ( coz i keep loosing DNS server ) everthing has been running smoothly for the last few hours…Connecting First time, each time…..Even when primary DNS gets lost
I know this won’t help USB modem users but anyone with a router it might…
I hope everyone sorts out there problems with TALKTALK or gets a smooth Migration
Will post back if i manage to keep a connection..

Paul

Elise Hey on Mon, 2nd Oct 2006 7:49 am


As you can see, I DON’T have TalkTalk broadband. This is not for lack of trying. I got my free modem kit on 27th July, and made 28 attempts to install the broadband. It seems you cannot install broadband if you have “caller number withheld” – but no-one at TalkTalk Customer Services or Technical Support knew this! Also, they said I could install their broadband with Windows 98 V2 (which I have), but when I finally had to call in a private technician (at £ 35 an hour!) he said that the protocol needed for the modem signals to be decoded could only be found on Windows XP. TalkTalk Technicians had said I needed a High Speed Broadband Modem cable (cost £ 25), which didn’t work, either. so my “free” broadband cost me £ 29.99 connection fee, £25 for a useless modem cable (which I couldn’t return as it wasn’t faulty), and £ 70 for a private Technician! And I STILL didn’t have the broadband! When I asked for the £ 29.99 connection fee to be refunded because it wasn’t my fault I couldn’t get connected, they wanted to charge me £ 70 for breaking the contract, and despite me returning the modem, microfilters and CD to my local Carphone Warehouse (on their instructions) they still haven’t refunded the £ 29.99 connection fee! I’m going to wait until Sky broadband is available in my area, get Windows XP, and go with them!

Maxine on Mon, 2nd Oct 2006 8:27 pm


WATCHDOG 3rd October..i am SURE its’s Cowbag Worehouse on tomorrow. I wonder f those nice nurses will let me watch the television without the restraints of my straitjacket so i can stick 2 fingers up at Charlie ‘Chuckie’ Dunstone? Ah wel, basket weaving soon…

mcloughlin on Tue, 3rd Oct 2006 9:42 am


I was on the verge of giving up. All the usual complaints regarding support,
and phone contact. After my initial complaint voiced on BBC breakfast TV I received an e-mail from a Wesley Richardson who promised his personal attention in resolving any problems I might have but when I tried to get help he told me to refrain from e-mailing him as he was no longer involved. Never did get any support this route. I was told,when ordering, that I coold keep my existing dail-up as I did not trust talktalk entirely from telephone experience. This was not he case. I had to uninstall diel up. Another talktalk lie. I am at last connected but it disconnects at regular intervals . Takes about 15mins to make initial connection. When connected is no faster than good old AOL dial up,or so it seems. Peter Mac

Kevin Hewson. on Tue, 3rd Oct 2006 10:09 am


Customers free to leave TalkTalk 18 month contract, see http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/29/talktalk_lets_customers_leave/

petermac on Tue, 3rd Oct 2006 12:22 pm


Having just spent 12m34s trying to connect toTT I am now there.
The many comments made above frighten me. I was under the impression that broadband was free. How to all these extra charges referred to accrue. Can any one help

Mark on Tue, 3rd Oct 2006 1:08 pm


Talk Talk have just broken yet another go-live date for Broadband to me.

I don’t think that promising free Broadband for Aug 29, October 4th then saying it “may go live within the next 14 days” is accepitble behaviour from a major UK company. So far I have been waiting on the phone for over 50 minutes and still nobody will accept responsibility or pick up this problem and run with it.

Mr Dunston – y0u will be getting an official complaint by registered mail, a copy sent to offcom and Watchdog on the BBC – you company’s customer service and complaint management is one of the worst I have ever encountered. others please4 take note and avoid if you wish.

Mark on Tue, 3rd Oct 2006 2:09 pm


Latest – STOP PRESS

After pointing out the inconsistencies in what I had been told, I have now been told by Talk Talk in Mumbai that I should be connected within 2 working days.

I’ll keep you all informed – keep everything anatomically indecent crossed for me please!

Maxine on Tue, 3rd Oct 2006 6:59 pm


What a tosser.

Maxine on Tue, 3rd Oct 2006 7:00 pm


Dunstone, that is, not you, Mark.

Peter on Tue, 3rd Oct 2006 8:30 pm


Does anyone know if it is possible to check the status of the TalkTalk servers? (like a live portal status)

Most ISPs give you a link from their main web page to show the status!

Paul on Wed, 4th Oct 2006 9:56 am


“Also, they said I could install their broadband with Windows 98 V2 (which I have), but when I finally had to call in a private technician (at £ 35 an hour!) he said that the protocol needed for the modem signals to be decoded could only be found on Windows XP.”

The broadband software works fine with Windows 98, as I’ve personally installed it several times on different systems.
What the private technician said sounds suspiciously like he couldn’t fix it and wanted an excuse, unfortunately.

“I was told,when ordering, that I coold keep my existing dail-up as I did not trust talktalk entirely from telephone experience. This was not he case. I had to uninstall diel up. Another talktalk lie.”

Lots of my customers have retained thier dial-up services until their broadband went live, and most (with my advice) have kept the dial-up accounts active just in-case anything does go wrong with the broadband ever.

And Mark, if your broadband isn’t connected within the next 2 days, if you email me your landline number I could try looking into it for ya, can’t promise anything, but might get some new information.
Email = paul.cpw@btinternet.com

Kaz Brush on Wed, 4th Oct 2006 11:07 am


I was asked to help out two 70 year olds who’d signed up to Talk Talk -their problem was simple – everytime the talk talk broadband connection fired-up (albeit occasionally), they would be defaulted to the Talk Talk home page and secondly everytime they tried to print anything from their PC it would first print two pages of Talk Talk advertising.

So I set aside a couple of minutes to change the default home page in IE’s Internet Options menu – problem was everytime I changed the default and disconnected and reconnected up would pop dear old Talk Talks home Page.

I assumed that the installation makes some registery override change – so I phoned technical support (also known as the unhelpful desk)..was put through to a 12 year old who couldnt speak english but assured me her name was Janet – her response to my 2 queries?? It cant be anything from us it must be your firewall! Ok – so having managed to get my chin off the floor i proceeded to ask her about what is written to disk on the installation from the CD and she kept telling me it was nothing to do with them and that I’d got a virus…..after 20 mins of her drivelling I gave up – I have now spent 4 hours trying to track down the cause of both problems and cant – has anyone experienced this?

I’m blonde and female but bloody hell please dont tell me that its a firewall problem!! Agggggggghhhhhhhhh

Kevin Hewson. on Wed, 4th Oct 2006 2:39 pm


Anyone see Watchdog last night?? TalkTalk got a right slating! Watchdog were invited to there head office in London, Firstly there was a que of people in reception waiting to put complaints in!!! Then all’s Dunstone could say was I’m sorry I’m really sorry!!! and that things should improve, he didn’t say when though! Apparently Watchdog have had 5 times as many complaints about TalkTalk than any other company EVER!!! Think that says it all, best to stay away.

MickB on Wed, 4th Oct 2006 3:41 pm


Up to 12th September, we had been very fortunate in never having had any problems with TT broadband (other than the fact that the first modem they sent us was US and we had to wait ten days for a replacement once they had agreed with us that it was damaged – unless they are supposed to get really hot and smell of burning plastic). On the glorious 12th however, we weee promised an (up to)8meg upgrade. We were warned that there may be 20 minutes service loss on the day. In fact, from that morning the connection via our wirless router was so slow that it was impossible to access any website before being timed out. On the advice of TT I reinstalled the TT Speedtouch modem, and couldn’t connect at all!!!
Yesterday, some 23 days (and many many hours hanging on the telephone trying to reach a sensible human being) we finally got our service back. I am crossing my fingers in the hope that we will stay connected, but I still think I’m going to change provider.

Jon on Wed, 4th Oct 2006 5:12 pm


Peter: not know of one!

Kaz: sounds like TT hogging the browser & I assume you using IE. Viruses have been known to hog browser pages, but I can’t think why a virus would want to hog a TT home page!!

Try changing home page to ‘blank’, otherwise the only option is to reset it via ‘regedit’, but BE CAREFUL. (I have instructions how to do this from MSoft, contact me via my web comments if you want me to send them to you).

BigDave on Thu, 5th Oct 2006 11:17 am


Kaz: Use Firefox!

BigDave on Thu, 5th Oct 2006 11:22 am


Paul: I have got TalkTalk working for two relatives one with the Sagem800 one with the Speedtouch330, both dual-boot Win98SE and Linux, there were no driver problems with the Sagem and getting a driver from the Thomson web site got the Speedtouch going (Win98SE).

This link

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php?topic=10481.0

describes how I got them working in Linux (PCLinuxOS).

benito on Thu, 5th Oct 2006 1:07 pm


I told you all about the probs when they went live on LLU and I have been proved right.

The free broadband is only free if you live in in Unbundled exchange (LLU)
talk talk have messed up big time and have not unbundled even half of the customer base they said they would……so that means 150.000+ people are are not getting the free broadband they thought they would get.

The firm is a joke the people who work for them do not even know what is going on, it will go the same way Bulldog Broadband went.

stick with an ISP that has been around for a few years, unless you dont mind getting all the hassle from talk talk after all it is free.

Dave on Thu, 5th Oct 2006 1:36 pm


HI All

I have just come across this page and I am horrified – I have exactly the same experience, 3 months to get the modem/passwords, had to supply the mac code half a dozen times, on the phone for hours and then the phone hangs up etc etc

But to top it all off, I have finally received the modem and passwords , it took about a million attempts to get the software and modem installed and then I find the connection is slower than dial up , keeps crashing and sometimes the connection dropping altogether!

I have tried on 2 different PC’s, with and without a router, and I have reinstalled everything from scratch!!!(including xp!)

Is it my PC or is the TT network cr*p?

Mark on Thu, 5th Oct 2006 7:59 pm


Talk talk talk sh*t again – what a surprise! TT have now missed thier 3 consecutive delivery date after being promised faithfully that the service would be delivered today. The broadband costuimer lines are permanently busy leaving you frustrated and annoyed.

I am now definitely complaining to Ofcom about TTs breach of contract (both written and verbal). Mr C Dunstone, may I suggest you fire all the people in your firm who talk about of their rear end and can only win awards for the worst customer services award.

Storm on Thu, 5th Oct 2006 8:01 pm


My poor friend joined up with talk talk, thanks 2 me!!!!!!!!!!! and she set up her direct debit, 2 months later they stop taking it, put her incoming calls and she paid £120. in september and they disconnected her and then they sent debt collectors round!!!!!!!!!!!! But alas she has gone back 2 BT and she has TALK TALK broadband. Impossible 4 her 2 get a mac code, so I said leave it until broadband gets disconnected and start a new broadband connection with BT.
PLEASE DO NOT JOIN UP WITH THEM I HAD PROBLEMS GALORE BUT NOW EVERYTING IS WORKING EVEN GOT £10 COMPENSATION WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you have joined up and have problems, cancel direct debit and then start afresh with another ISP provider and do not pay the cancellation fee, b cos they have breach their contract!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no matter what anyone says.

STORM on Thu, 5th Oct 2006 8:13 pm


Y didnt u show my comments!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

STORM on Thu, 5th Oct 2006 8:13 pm


Sorry I take that back

Leigh and John on Thu, 5th Oct 2006 8:27 pm


Not sure if anyone saw Watchdog the other night? Well we were the couple that complained along with the many thousands.

After going on national television to complain about TT, we havent even had a phone call or an email?!?!?!?

I cannot express how disgusted i am with the company, infuriating doesnt come close to what i am feeling with them.

When we went to London to be filmed we were back online (so far so good) maybe we were a little leniant in what we said about TT. Because right now after experiencing more problems i wish i had let rip on film!

Needless to say we have had the same problems as all of you, Disconnecting/dialing in/ waiting 2 months for connection/ faulty installation discs etc etc etc etc etc

DO NOT GO WITH TALK TALK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
All talktalk and no trousers!

Chris Elliott on Fri, 6th Oct 2006 8:54 am


Recognise all the posts, talktalk are s…t, first of all it was direct debit problems, that took 4 months to resolve. The bank mandate was filled in 100% correctly, but kept getting letters stating that I had cancelled my direct debit and will have to pay a penalty charge of £7-00 or something, as I say that went on for months. I contacted a senior manager in my bank (A&L) who stated that they have had a lot of problems with customers direct debits with talktalk and its the clowns in talk talk who are not applying for their monies correctly. Also have connection and speed problems, have sent many many emails to thier technical support, guess what…!!! not one has been answered, am now looking for a cheap way of getting out of this nonsense.

Ben on Fri, 6th Oct 2006 9:21 am


It’s taken me SIX months to get nothing from Talk Talk, I wnat to cry!!!! I could not, and would not recommend them. I’ve never been this patient!!! And it seems we all have the same problem talking to them. And when I got a direct number for a team leader, I rang it right away after another Marathon call, and the number wasn’t recognised.

Well done Talk Talk, lets hope you go bust. I feel sorry for the staff that have to try and make excuses for Dopey Dunstone and crappy idea of service.

Just called BT and Keith answered in less than 1 minute. Thanks BT, and I’m sorry I doubted you.

mekon on Fri, 6th Oct 2006 10:40 am


If you have trouble getting through to ‘customer service’ and get cut off redial 0870 4441820 and do not, repeat, do not press any further digits, the automated response will cycle round 3 or 4 times and will eventually ring and a ‘real’ person will answer!

Oh well! still waiting for my Broad Band promised for the start of August!

Missed the Watchdog program Leigh and John, incredible to hear they have not contacted you!

Is Steve Rescorta, Customer Services Director, a real person? !

Paul on Fri, 6th Oct 2006 11:12 am


Dave try my settings i posted for the dns servers as the ones TT supply keep going down.
DNS Primary IP address is 62.24.128.17
DNS Secondary IP address is 62.24.128.18
Since i set my router to these addresses i have had a connection, ok its only a few days (fried last router during a firmware update but thats another story lol ) but the router has never lost a connection. Sometimes the primary dns goes down but so far there has always been a dns available
Alas dave this would only fix your connectivity problems dont think a mere mortal can speed up there slow connections lol
I did hear a rumour that BT was tampering with the line voltage to try and reduce its overheads which if true would explain why half the UK cannot get the speeds promised by the ISP’s

Leigh and John on Fri, 6th Oct 2006 12:27 pm


Hi Mekon,

Yes apparently complaining on National Television isnt enough to get a response from them either! I have emailed the famous Mr Dunstone last night, fingers crossed ill get a response.

Im definatley going to try the Customer Service tip Thank you :D

Did anyone not have connection all of a sudden yesterday evening? Apparenlty their server had reset everyones passwords to the same things and noone was able to get on, at least that is what Technical support told me hhhmmmm!

Roy on Fri, 6th Oct 2006 1:25 pm


I too was suckered in to the Talk Talk thing.
My partner has a relative in Australia, so the big appeal to us was the international calls. We also needed Broadband so took advantage that it all came in ‘one’ package.
I am now up and running, but had to go through the now, commonly recgonised path, of spending my life outside of work on the phone to India!
I had to phone CS to discover that i had gone live with TT BB. I never recieved a welcome letter with passwords and activation dates!
After being fobbed off for 3 weeks at a time about when it was to go live…i was continually told it was due to a ‘cooling off period’…whatever that may be!
My BB is working at the moment (touch wood), albeit that i have had to remove the BT socket case from the wall to plug the telephone connection directly into the wires to revieve any kind of service.
Ever since TT took over my phone line i have lost the abililty to use a 56K dial up. I also hold a DU account with Freeserve and keep this active as a stand-by, but low and behold the day my line switched from BT to TT, my dial-up now refuses to send and recieve data. I have complained to TT, but guess what…its Wanadoos fault. Funny coincedence that it worked fine for 7 years and the day i switch to TT..it stops!
When i was setting up my BB, i did it manually with some ‘guidance’ from TT technical support (after waiting 3 weeks for them to call me!). As such, i only installed the drivers for the modem and the shortcut to TT network on the desktop.
The other day i decided to install the whole thing via the C&G disc. I decided i wanted my TT email address for my partner to use. All went fine and after installation i found that my computer was automatically connecting to the net upon start-up. Great I thought…now i don’t get the annoying TT internet page load everytime i connect to explorer.
24 hours later…my computer crashes with a serious error!
I have managed to recover my PC and now back to to double clicking the icon and being directed straight to the TT internet page!
The only way i have found to stop this is to connect via the connections in the start menu and then open IE separately.

I am one of those people that got hood-winked into signing up! More Fool me. I must admit that the CPW and TT surpass any other company for poor Customer Services! They even out-do the Dixons Group (PC World / Currys etc)…and i have a deep hatred for them.

Roy on Fri, 6th Oct 2006 1:35 pm


Leigh and John…..Yes…i could not connect last night either. I thought it was me and my PC. I was installing an re-installing everthing because i kept being told invalid username and password!

I thought it was just me!

Dave on Fri, 6th Oct 2006 1:45 pm


Thanks Paul I Will give that a try – just had a letter from BT (my former ISP) threatning the baliffs over unpaid broadband bills! (LOL)

TT have taken so long to migrate the broadband I have been stung for another months service (or lack of)

Dave on Fri, 6th Oct 2006 2:19 pm


BTW – I wrote to the two e mail addresses above for Charles Dunstone and Barry Richardson yesterday.

I have the standard “sincere apologies” letter, but nothing else yet , I have insisted on cancelling the service a waiver of the disconnection fee and a MAC code.

How long to respond do you reckon? 2 weeks ? 4 months ? never?

I wont hold me breath!

Leigh and John on Fri, 6th Oct 2006 5:22 pm


After contacting charles Dunstone last night via email (see below) the infamous Steve Rescorla called me today with his sincere apologies and has offered me … see below.

Thank you to whoever emailed C Dunstones address as i have finally got somewhere.

Lets see if those promises will be kept!!

MIKON- the answer to your questions is YES Steve Rescorla is a real person lol

—–Original Message—–
From: leigh*****[mailto:li*****@hotmail.co.uk]
Sent: 05 October 2006 21:49
To: Charles Dunstone
Subject: RE BBC Meeting

Dear Mr Dunstone,

As you are well aware of the recent issue about Talk Talk Broadband shown on
BBc’s Watchdog this week?
I would like to resolve my problem with you personally.

We are Leigh Skuse and John Cowles, one of your ‘customers’ that was filmed
for Watchdogs programme on Tuesday.

I have not got the time or the energy to go into the problems we are having,
not that you will be that interested from what i can gather. Considering we
had to resort to National Television to try and get answers from you and
still have yet to receive even a phone call with an apology, disgusts me to
say the least.

Whatever you problems are with connecting is just that.. Your problem.
Paying customers should not have to suffer because you have allowed more
than your current limit for your so called ‘free’ broadband.

If you cannot provide the service then DON’T! Simple!

We signed up with you in June 06, its is now Oct 06 and we have had about 3
weeks connection in total, i have had countless problems with your company
from Day 1, literally.

I stated on Watchdog i was willing to give the benefit of the doubt and not
leave, IF you provided me with the service we signed up for and gave out at
least a standard customer service, instead of the abysmal one you have at
present.

Maybe we were too confident in thinking you would at least TRY to resolve
our issues after Watchdog, obviously that would take a company who cares
about their customers to do so, i suppose that doesn’t include yours.

What do i want to do now….? Its clear you are too incompetent to provide
me with the service i signed up for and am paying for, so we want out! As
simple as, one customer may be nothing to you but rest assured i will do all
in my power to ensure no others i know of move with you.

I think it may be within your powers to arrange a straight forward
disconnection for us, so we can move to a real provider, who knows i may be
getting a step ahead of myself again here.

I will provide you with basic details as im sure you still wont know the
account: *********
Tel number: *******

I look forward to receiving a speedy response and rectification of the
matter.

Regards

Leigh ***** and John ****

and the reply…..

Dear Ms Skuse.

Thank you for your time this afternoon, and for allowing me to apologise for the
issues which you have experienced with your Broadband service.

Following our call, I would like to summarise the following actions, which are
currently being taken

1) The outstanding balance on your TalkTalk account is being cleared, and we
will also ensure that any collections activity is ceased immediately.
2) John Livesley (one of my customer liaison team) will call you at midday
tomorrow to talk through your Broadband speed issues, and ensure that your speed
is being optimised.
3) I have arranged for a period of three months free service from today to be
provided to you, and this will appear on your next account. During this period,
you will only need to pay for calls made over and above your current tariff.
4) I will call you on Monday evening to review progress and confirm that these
actions have been completed.

Once again, please accept my apologies for the obvious inconvenience and
frustration that these issues have caused you. If you have, at any stage, any
further issues, please call me directly on 01925 554621.

Yours sincerely

Steve Rescorla
Customer Service Director

Leigh and John on Fri, 6th Oct 2006 5:23 pm


After contacting charles Dunstone last night via email (see below) the infamous Steve Rescorla called me today with his sincere apologies and has offered me … see below.

Thank you to whoever emailed C Dunstones address as i have finally got somewhere.

Lets see if those promises will be kept!!

MIKON- the answer to your questions is YES Steve Rescorla is a real person lol

—–Original Message—–
From: leigh*****[mailto:li*****@hotmail.co.uk]
Sent: 05 October 2006 21:49
To: Charles Dunstone
Subject: RE BBC Meeting

Dear Mr Dunstone,

As you are well aware of the recent issue about Talk Talk Broadband shown on
BBc’s Watchdog this week?
I would like to resolve my problem with you personally.

We are Leigh Skuse and John Cowles, one of your ‘customers’ that was filmed
for Watchdogs programme on Tuesday.

I have not got the time or the energy to go into the problems we are having,
not that you will be that interested from what i can gather. Considering we
had to resort to National Television to try and get answers from you and
still have yet to receive even a phone call with an apology, disgusts me to
say the least.

Whatever you problems are with connecting is just that.. Your problem.
Paying customers should not have to suffer because you have allowed more
than your current limit for your so called ‘free’ broadband.

If you cannot provide the service then DON’T! Simple!

We signed up with you in June 06, its is now Oct 06 and we have had about 3
weeks connection in total, i have had countless problems with your company
from Day 1, literally.

I stated on Watchdog i was willing to give the benefit of the doubt and not
leave, IF you provided me with the service we signed up for and gave out at
least a standard customer service, instead of the abysmal one you have at
present.

Maybe we were too confident in thinking you would at least TRY to resolve
our issues after Watchdog, obviously that would take a company who cares
about their customers to do so, i suppose that doesn’t include yours.

What do i want to do now….? Its clear you are too incompetent to provide
me with the service i signed up for and am paying for, so we want out! As
simple as, one customer may be nothing to you but rest assured i will do all
in my power to ensure no others i know of move with you.

I think it may be within your powers to arrange a straight forward
disconnection for us, so we can move to a real provider, who knows i may be
getting a step ahead of myself again here.

I will provide you with basic details as im sure you still wont know the
account: *********
Tel number: *******

I look forward to receiving a speedy response and rectification of the
matter.

Regards

Leigh ***** and John ****

and the reply…..

Dear Ms Skuse.

Thank you for your time this afternoon, and for allowing me to apologise for the
issues which you have experienced with your Broadband service.

Following our call, I would like to summarise the following actions, which are
currently being taken

1) The outstanding balance on your TalkTalk account is being cleared, and we
will also ensure that any collections activity is ceased immediately.
2) John Livesley (one of my customer liaison team) will call you at midday
tomorrow to talk through your Broadband speed issues, and ensure that your speed
is being optimised.
3) I have arranged for a period of three months free service from today to be
provided to you, and this will appear on your next account. During this period,
you will only need to pay for calls made over and above your current tariff.
4) I will call you on Monday evening to review progress and confirm that these
actions have been completed.

Once again, please accept my apologies for the obvious inconvenience and
frustration that these issues have caused you. If you have, at any stage, any
further issues, please call me directly on 01925 554621.

Yours sincerely

Steve Rescorla
Customer Service Director

Mick on Fri, 6th Oct 2006 6:20 pm


Mekon,
I also have my doubts about the reality of Steve Rescoria. For that matter is Simon Rawlings a phantom too?
These two idiots are happy enough to send out threatening emails and letters, but when you write to them explaing what the actual facts of your case are, they become very anonymous.
Without boring you with details, the farce that this pathetic company created for me is now being looked at by Otelo. I wonder if they will have any success getting these ignorant cowards to say anything.

By the way. I wonder if any of you out there, like me, have been getting prank phone calls from Credit Solutions, the debt collection company that TT employed to force money from me that I don’t owe?

It still find it incredible the amount of stress and money this once reputable company is costing me and you lot out there, just because you wanted to innocently subscribe to their product.

When is something going to be done about them?

Maxine on Fri, 6th Oct 2006 6:47 pm


*Hums theme tune from ‘Muppet Show’

Claire Marks on Fri, 6th Oct 2006 10:40 pm


Having read all these comments how could anyone want to sign up with talktalk. I have, and I still have yet to get my broadband up and running. Although I purchased the modem they insisted I have, I already had a perfectly good modem. Can I get it working? Like other subscribers, I too have held on for hours on end, only to be cut off or told that everyone is too busy to take my call. On the occassion I have been put throught to India (thankfully at no charge), I have had trouble in explaining my dilema (as if they even care). I think its time we all admitted that BT are the only reliable company and we all boycott any other communication system. To hell with it all, I have cancelled my direct debits and I am calling BT in the morning.

Paul on Sat, 7th Oct 2006 12:20 pm


Think they might b telling the truth Leigh and John
My router has a log recording 1011 restarts due to loss of signal started about 19.24pm. Didnt even notice was to busy stuffing my face with a curry. Would have been a different story tho if i was uploading to my web site. Never nice to loose a connection but during a mysql database renewal its punishable by death in my eyes lol

Winston on Sat, 7th Oct 2006 1:11 pm


I can fully sympathize with all the complaints listed on this website as I have experianced them all. This company, TalkTalk, is absolutly ridiculious when it comes to their customer service and LLU departments. Last night, for example, I spent 2 hours on hold to the LLU department, (0870) 087 – 3527, and was not able to speak to a single person. Not one in 2 hours.

My broadband shut off oin the 21st September for what was supposed to be an upgrade from 2mb to 8mb, free broadband. It hasn’t worked since. On 24th September, I received an email, which I saw from webmail in an Internet Cafe, from TalkTalk stating the broadband was working. Check my computer an hour later and it wasn’t working. I have spent so far over 15 hours on hold, as in not actually speaking to someone, when calling TalkTalk.

And yes, I have been bounced from India to South Africa to England and then back to India; some times in the same call but mostly in different calls because I have been cut off. Each time, the representative tells me something different and each time they promise an engineer will call back, they never do.

I cancelled the service yesterday and was told told both the telephone and internet service would be shut down in a few hours. The telephone service is still working today which makes me think they will never shut it off. I want to move over to BT broadband. Fortunatly, the only piece of good news, TalkTalk DID NOT try to charge me for terminating the contract before it terminated. So for anyone who has read this post, take note because you can get out for free.

Steve on Sat, 7th Oct 2006 5:59 pm


HELP – i set up a new ADSL modem router a US Robotics one. I tried connecting to TALKTALK broadband today with the settings found on their website. I keep connecting and then getting disconnected every single minute the log on the router shows ADSL up, PPP connecting, IP address …. connection successful then after about 30 seconds it goes ADSL down, PPP lost. It keeps doing that over and over again, during the time it is connected (about 20 seconds) i can browse the web and its pretty quick but it doesnt last for long..has anyone seen this problem or know what i can do to fix it?

Mick on Sun, 8th Oct 2006 3:41 pm


My experience with talktalk!
Signed up to talktalk international with free broadband, June 2006!
Connected straight to talktalk telephone!
Given date of September for Broadband connection.
Received modem, username and password and go live date for broadband August 2006,
Computer used: 1.67 Ghz AMD Athlon XP Processor with 500MG RAM, Windows XP Home Edition and protected by AVG Free Antivirus.
Attempted to connect using “Connect and Go” CD supplied with Modem.
Took 4 hours to set up connection. Many (many) freezing of screen and hence crashing of computer before I finally managed to set up connection and email address. Never managed to set up an account for billing. Gave up! During this time detected many virus attacks which were dealt with by AVG. (Had to set up a Firewall connection manually for the talktalk network connection.)
Had several hours of high speed surfing 2.3 Mbps. Decided to upgrade Windows XP SP1 to SP2 from the Microsoft site. Immediately had problems whereby the download speed became very slow and after the first page loaded in Internet Explorer, “Page cannot be displayed” started to appear every time a link was hit.( Eventually discovered that this was an incompatability problem between SP2 and Internet Explorer, no cure!. )
The next time I turned the computer on it cut out after 4 mins. and gave up the ghost!
4 weeks without a computer!
Set up talktalk broadband on this computer.
This time I loaded the modem driver on its own from the Connect and Go CD as explained in one of the above postings. (Didnt want to go through the previous nightmare!) and set up the network connection manually.
Had three weeks of surfing at 2.3 Mbps (Hastings, East Sussex talktalk server) until Thursday 5th October 2006. Attempted to connect the next morning at 10.30 and received the message “Username and/or Password Incorrect!”
Attempted to phone Customer Service several times but just received message that I should ring later and was then cut off! Managed by late in the day to get through on 5 (yes 5) different occasions. On one occasion the woman could not understand me and I could not understand her. On another the woman could not unerstand what I was talking about. On another a man said he would help but left me on hold and then rang off etc., etc. All of these people were based in South Africa and had names like Ahmed etc.
I rang the automatic number which detects the number that you are ringing from and gives you your username and password to check if something had happened.
The automated answering service informed me that my number could not be recognised! This still occurs today, Sunday 08/10/2006.
I appear to have been wiped from their Broadband Database and there is no one at Talktalk that appears to be capable of telling me why or or how the situation can be correced!
Need I say More!!!!
Buyer beware!!!
Sending this message via tiscali, standard dialup!
PS.Have just managed to get through to a customer service department in Northampton by a devious route!
English girl who understood? Was told that my records showed a request for disconnection from Broadband which had been forwarded to BT Wholesale. ie. my adsl line was in the process of being removed and there was probably nothing that could be done! What are these arseholes up to!
Anyone else currently having a similar experience?

Martin Marriott on Sun, 8th Oct 2006 4:12 pm


All TalkTalk and no action! Just found a petition being put together in respect of problems with TalkTalk. Feeling exasperated like me, why not sign it at http://www.petitionthem.com/?sect=detail&pet=3170

Steve on Sun, 8th Oct 2006 6:07 pm


Still no broadband, still doing the same connect/disconnect every minute. have now tried with another router and even usb modem and have the same problem so there is something wrong with adsl on my line even though the check says i can get up to 6mb/s. ALso have a slight clicking noise on my line now after moving from BT to talktalk. SO free broadband is not free as you cannot use it. Talktalk are going to destroy broadband in the UK they are going to get people to move to them as it looks cheap but then people are going to find they can’t use it, my advice? if your broadband currently works stick with that provider, cheap is not always best and it’ll cost you more ringing their tech support and customer services at 10p a minute from landline and 40p a min from mobile. This LLU is a disaster no one seems to care about fixing the problems anymore i can see the whole uk broadband falling to pieces in the next couple of years unless the government steps into sort these cowboys out!

dazbaz70 on Mon, 9th Oct 2006 12:07 pm


Oh how i wish i had seen these posts before signing, but why would i look before experiencing this company. I signed up and within three weeks had all i needed. So off i went and installed it all on Friday eveing, after a few attempts i managed to get it running. Got up Saturday and thought i’d check the web out at a decent rate, guess what…. could not get online. great. changed user on my pc and opened up on firefox, something my user would not allow, which made me think i had done something wrong. no worries i thought i will sort it later. Sunday no internet at all. Bloody marvellous. Does anyone know a link to a site that gives all the settings my internet options should be set to. When i go to the connect to menu its status is online but still wont open any pages up. what am i doing wrong or is it the gonads at TT. No offence will be taken if you treat me like a simpleton!!!
Also has anyone managed to escape the contract bearing in mind i only signed up on september 20th. please help with any advice as i am sure there are other who would welcome the help too.
thanks

Dave on Mon, 9th Oct 2006 1:01 pm


Just a little update.

E mailed Mr Dunstone and Barry Richardson on friday.

I got a phone call saturday morning from high level complaints.

They have apologised( several times), and they are investigating a possible fault with my line (and will persue with BT).

I wont hold me breathe , but at least I got a call !

Dave on Mon, 9th Oct 2006 1:50 pm


Dazbaz , your experience seems similiar to mine.

You show as connected , but you cannot open any web pages. Eventually everything grinds to a halt and/or crashes.

I bet it aint you or your hardware – its TT.

I have tried 2 PC’s with modem , and a router, the result is the same.

There must be something up with the connection/line :(

steve on Mon, 9th Oct 2006 2:06 pm


OK, all that stuff above looks like a complete nightmare for those involved, but how representative is 200 complaints about totally shite service, out of the 600 000 people that signed up for it? Have they got half a million very pissed off customers, or half a million very satisfied customers?

As for my experience: three weeks for voice calls to switch over, and loss of service for half a day at that time, then broadband took another two weeks, with a downtime of a day.

Modem setup was easy, worked first time. It is a SmartAX MT882 (never heard of that one before, but seems to be widely used in India, Spain, and South America). It has both USB and Ethernet Connnections, and is capable of up to 24MB speed on ADSL/2+ lines. I get just over 5MB speed at the moment which is more than good enough.

Oh, and first bill was correct, money taken was the correct amount, and just one day late from what it said on the bill (though to be fair it did say “on or after..”).

dazbaz on Mon, 9th Oct 2006 7:11 pm


Thanks for the post dave. Does anyone out there know the cure for the problem? or am i going to pay for a service that doesnt work for the next yaer and a half. any advice is very welcome and much needed.

Jon on Mon, 9th Oct 2006 9:11 pm


I suppose we’ll know the answer Steve, if they stay or walkwalk when the 18 months are up! :-)

Buzz on Tue, 10th Oct 2006 12:33 pm


After cancellation (see August 30th) and after being told that the latest MAC could not be used as it was too late, TalkrubbishTalkrubbish actioned this MAC code on the last possible date. As we had returned the equipment we had an ISP that we couldn’t connect to and needed yet another MAC code to get rid of them. We have only just got on line again and we are having problems now with BT. Just received a letter telling us that TalkrubbishTalkrubbish broadband will go live for us at the end of October

Garry on Tue, 10th Oct 2006 4:52 pm


I know lots of people appear to be having problems, but I changed to TalkTalk being a previous E1net customer (and F2S prior to that), and I have to say talktalk are the most geared up to simple and easy straightforward connection. Particularly with their connect and go CD which automatically configures outlook etc. and the very good website/help section. I appreciate the difficulties with getting through to customer support, but trust me all ISPs seem to be a bit like that (particularly as they grow). My phone switched when they said it would, as did my ADSL. No speed/continuity issues. I have no axe to grind either way, but do wonder that lots of the problems encountered (not all) are due to people not following the instructions/using the help sections etc. and panicking, especially since because of the offer it is attracting many ADSL “newbies”. I have a second home which is also in process of going over to talktalk (fingers crossed that no problems here either)

At least Charles Dunstone has had the courtesy to answer criticisms etc. Try getting the same from other large companies let alone ISPs. Whilst I don’t naively see this as some altruistic venture, I do believe C/W to be a fairly decent organisation and not solely profit driven. Perhaps I am naive?

I do hope that all of the people suffering problems are able to get resolved, it would just be a shame if we ended up “throwing the baby out with the bathwater” so to speak. Happy surfing!

Andy on Tue, 10th Oct 2006 10:06 pm


Steve, are you still waiting for your line to be switched to LLU? That’s when the problems started for me.

All the same stuff as above. I couldn’t get a connection at all for 3 days after the upgrade and I now have an apparent connection speed of between 3.5 and 5MB but pages struggle to load or time out altogether.

If you want a bit more ammo when calling to complain and you can get a connection for a more than 5 minutes, try downloading the trial version of Visual Route at http://www.visualroute.com/ When IE starts to struggle, copy the URL into the textbox in the app and it will give you some useful stats about your connection speed and where packets are being dropped. In my case, the problems start when the packets hop from/to the opal network which is the owner/leaseholder of TT’s network. My complaint has now apparently been handed to opal after I gave these stats to the engineer who had called me back in no less than 10 working days (which doesn’t sound too bad after reading some of these posts!) The TT engineer is going to call me back again this weekendto see if the problems have been resolved. I’ll keep you posted………

Live wire on Tue, 10th Oct 2006 10:17 pm


Dave/Dazbaz
signed up early Sept at local Carphone Warehouse store, phone line transferred 27/9, Broadband date by end of Oct
Letter received 7th Oct confirming username, password and go live date of 6th Oct!
No modem received- went to Carphone Warehouseand was given welcome pack with SmartAX MT882 (see Steve Oct 9th). Connected via Ethernet and installed via CD, all working in 20mins- but-
Having shutdown computer (and powered off Modem) on 7/10, switched back on 8/10 but could not access internet via Internet Explorer- DNS not found. Reloaded via CD & ok again. Shutdown computer and modem, same problem.

Reloaded CD everything okay- shutdown computer but left Modem on (SmartAX MT882 modem has its own power supply).

Switched computer on today and I can still connect to internet.
Switching off the Modem connected to the Ethernet seems to loose Internet Explorer Settings, the Ethernet connection is still connected to broadband (confirmed via control panel and internet connection properties).

Have tried to log into modem via its IP address but it is username and password protected- by TT?- so cant confirm connection speed or settings.

Mick on Tue, 10th Oct 2006 11:46 pm


Gary, your’e being very naive!
Imagine driving along a road with no problems until you come around a corner and meet a lorry crashed in the middle of the road, but you forgot to put you’re seat belt on!
To update from my previous post on October 8th 3.41 pm.
They now tell me that they are totally unable to provide me with the broadband that I was receiving until Thursday last week!
They are sorry that they have unfairly removed my free broadband but their is nothing they say they can do about it!
Their Options team confirm that between Thursday and Friday lastweek many but not all of their servers deleted everyones password and replaced them with a password which no one obviously knew. The only difference is that with me (and I dont know how many others) they instructed BT Wholesale to remove my ADSL line. They say they cannot correct this! BT Wholesale tell me that they have until tomorrow to do this!
My advice!
DONT SIGN UP WITH TALKTALK FOR ANYTHING!
DOES GARY BELIEVE THAT I AM LYING!
GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mick on Tue, 10th Oct 2006 11:47 pm


Gary, your’e being very naive!
Imagine driving along a road with no problems until you come around a corner and meet a lorry crashed in the middle of the road, but you forgot to put you’re seat belt on!
To update from my previous post on October 8th 3.41 pm.
They now tell me that they are totally unable to provide me with the broadband that I was receiving until Thursday last week!
They are sorry that they have unfairly removed my free broadband but their is nothing they say they can do about it!
Their Options team confirm that between Thursday and Friday lastweek many but not all of their servers deleted everyones password and replaced them with a password which no one obviously knew. The only difference is that with me (and I dont know how many others) they instructed BT Wholesale to remove my ADSL line. They say they cannot correct this! BT Wholesale tell me that they have until tomorrow to do this!
My advice!
DONT SIGN UP WITH TALKTALK FOR ANYTHING!
DOES GARY BELIEVE THAT I AM LYING!
GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A.Furness on Wed, 11th Oct 2006 7:55 am


I signed up to the talk talk phone/free BB offer a couple of months ago.
I was sent a letter giving a go live date of the 3rd of September and it said they had done a line test and I would get 5megabit BB.

A few days before the go live date, I dropped into a CPW shop and went to verify this information and they said it would actually be the END of September.

So they gave me some number, which I rang, got patched through to Sth Africa, India and various other numbers.
They told me they never promised me that date, (even though I have a the letter with me)..After an hour debating with the TT reps, they DID say they would raise my priority.
Interestlingly, one of the TT reps told me I should be grateful I’m not waiting until Xmas!!!, you can imagine my reaction.

So, I waited until the 3rd, no dice.
Another 45 minute debate to TT, they promised it by the next day..
Nothing, rang back, they then promised it by the next day.
on the 5th, it worked, but was only 512k line, which is pretty bad and upon ringing them, they said that was all the line could provide, which is lies, since when I was with BT I had 2megabit no problems.
Even so, they promised me 5megabit.

Now for a bit of my background, I’m a computer programmer by trade, so know quite a bit about computers, I use a wireless gateway for my internet connection, so I don’t use their software or hardware at home.

I then call back, asking about my promised 5 megabit, after some debate, they up me to 1 megabit, which works, the next day I ring back and demand to be raised to at least 2 megabit (since I had that with BT anyway), which they finally do.

So now I’m on 2 megabit.
After more enquiries about my promised 5megabit, they tell me that my area is not unbundled yet and won’t be able to provide it until after Xmas.
Fair enough, but why did they initially promise me 5megabit straight away then?

So, now I have my BB at 2megabit.
All seems to be woking fine, but it took a lot of work hassling the TT “support” to sort it out.
I should add, on all of these calls to TT, I had to wait upward of 20 minutes to actually get a rep on the line.

All in all, the old adage “you get what you pay for” rings true.
I would not recommend T to anyone else.
And I consider myself one of the more fortunate TT customers, I did get my BB only a few days late (after a LOT of hassle and not at teh promised speed).

I used to be with BT, which worked from day 1 perfectly.

A.Furness on Wed, 11th Oct 2006 8:20 am


Regarding the 200 odd posts here not being representative of TT free BB quality.

I knew 1 person at work who attempted to get TT free BB, but he gave up after 3 months of waiting and having sent his MAC code about 3 times.
But I went ahead with it anyway, thinking he was unlucky.
You know from my previous post my experiences.

However, since then, I have been asking about with people who have tried to get or have TT BB.
Out of about 15 people I found, 1 of them had no problems.
about 4 out of the remaining just gave up trying to get connected after a few months.
Several of the rest are still waiting and having to deal with terrible customer services.
The few remaining of those I spoke to managed to get connected after many phone calls and demanding to be connected (and using threats of legal action).

croydon on Wed, 11th Oct 2006 9:52 pm


i have given up calling TT, after spending serveral hours on the phone and not getting any help. i figured out all the troubleshooting i can think of. Thank God it all works fine at the moment. sometmes you find out that the firewall stop your connection, it took me time before i figured this out after trying to reinstall the TT software . i was also able to set up my email account to avoid the charge for send bills. this is so funny. at the moment no problem. another thing is the 8mb . i have’nt got that . after check my connection speed at http://www.speedtester.bt.com. it wasn’t what i expected this is ridiculous still waiting for them to roll it out to me and i dont know when that will happen :(

Garry on Wed, 11th Oct 2006 10:08 pm


Mick, I certainly am not being naive, merely conveying my experience. Your analogy somewhat misses the point since I am certainly NOT saying I will not suffer problems, just have not done so. Incidentally since my posting, I have now been updated that my telephone line (at my second home in Devon) has now switched and that ADSL to follow. This was a problem to begin with since the line was still under CPS from the defunct E1Net Talk and Surf. My home (Essex) was previously BT and E1Net Just Surf.

Furthermore, a colleague who also signed up for Talk Talk has now successfully been connected, a friend’s parents recently, my next door neighbour’s daughter, as well, all with no problems.

Notwithstanding the sucky telephone support (anecdotal, since I have not needed to use thankfully), I can only say what I have found. Incidentally I have absolutely no connection in any way to CPW, am a Principal Electrical Engineer with reasonable ICT capabilities (but not an expert)

Also Mick, I did not suggest or allude that you or anybody else for that matter is lying, just trying to constructively join the thread with my experience. After all, surely it’s not being suggested that posts should only relate to those encountering problems? Perhaps conversely, it is thought that I am lying!

I would again say I sincerely hope those experiencing problems get them resolved, but to add balance to the discussion and let people know that it is not all doom and gloom.

Inicentally, there are lots of comparisons being made to previous ISPs and that they had no problems etc. This begs the question why change then? Surely not just price? Selective memory perhaps? I can tell you with no uncertainty why I have changed. I had problems previously with F2S support (even with a route as a corporate major customer-work related). The connection was reliable generally though. I migrated to E1Net Just Surf, and more recently added Talk and Surf to second home. I don’t think I need to explain what happened with that…….

james on Thu, 12th Oct 2006 12:40 am


The problems with SmartAX MT882 modem are explained on another site http://forums.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/forum_posts.asp?TID=5341&PN=1&TPN=2 where are links to the full manual, drivers, etc.

The MT882 Router’s default user name and password are both Admin, when you access the settings screen at http://192.168.1.1/

Once inside, in the WAN Settings screen you need to enter your Broadband user name and password so that the modem can dial out and connect for you.

Finally you need to click on save and submit and OK, so that the modem remembers them after you switch it off and back on again. Most people aren’t saving the settings, so they work once, and are gone next time you switch on.

james on Thu, 12th Oct 2006 12:48 am


@Live Wire: There is a bit of paper inside the SmartAX box that details exactly how to log into the MT882 configuration screen.,,,

It says that it is for Mac Users but really it is for anyone using the Ethernet Port instead of the USB connection.

Otherwise see the manuals and files listed on the page linked to just above.

Chris on Thu, 12th Oct 2006 11:56 am


Just thought I’d try and balance things a little bit here. I signed up for talktalk on Friday 29th September. Yes, I was concerned about all the problems, delays etc that people are having, and spent a good hour on the phone sorting out the “issue” they had with me (continually asking for a MAC code when the house had never ever had broadband before, they just couldn’t understand it).

I was told that I would get broadband by end of November. Amazingly, my modem turned up on Monday (9th October), my username/password turned up on Tuesday and my go live date was yesterday – under 2 weeks from first applying!!!

I have had only 1 problem so far – my wife installed it (she is in IT so is the best one to do it!) but insisted on installing the talktalk anti virus software despite us already having Norton. Lo and behold the computer slowed massively, and took 15 minutes to load up. As soon as I deleted that though everything is back to normal.

I did a speed test from a website (good old google search) and it came up at 1.52mb, so not quite the 8mb promised but then it was 8.30pm, so prime time surfing I guess. I’m only 300 yards (ish) from the local brodband exchange in Basildon though, so a little surprising.

I’m not bragging, and I feel for everybody here, but things seem to be ok at the moment (touch wood). Will let you know if things change though!!!! (at least I know how to complain after seeing everyone else do it!)

Now to download my 14 day trial of eve-online…..

Chris

p.s. funnily enough my phone has yet to be swtiched over, meant to happen on the 16th October – you woudl have thought that broadband would have been after that!

Gabriel on Thu, 12th Oct 2006 12:41 pm


On September 22nd 2006 I’ve added my thoughts to this website.
Now I’m coming back thanking to Oliver Brown for the initiative, to the guys advising for addressing the complains to the top CW company executives, to all advising for configuration, etc and especially to Charles Dunstone who let things happened… YES!!!, FROM YESTERDAY I AM ON-LINEEEEE.
My advice…please write to Charles Dunstone…he is a great guy, is not having an automatic reply to his e-mail box and you will be treated as a customer.
Believe me, THIS IS REAL!!!
Below is a copy of my last e-mail sent to him…nothing can be perfect…

“Dear Mr. Dunstone,

I would like to express all my gratitude for your valuable diligences in solving the broadband installation issue.

Remarkable responsive, yesterday lunch time Mr. Nick Daniel one of your company senior engineer contacted me to find the details about the problem, at 17.00 hrs. the broadband connection “go-live” and at 17.30 hrs. a technical expert was calling me again, offering his support for modem and connection configuration. Fortunately everything was working well and no support was needed. I am little bit disappointed about the connection’s downloading speed of 30 Mbytes/second at the evening rush hours, but I may reach even 230 Mbytes/second today morning (07.00 hrs.). I am very much hoping that this last minor issue will be of your future attention. Just few minutes ago Mr. Nick Daniel was calling me again for ensuring that everything is sorted out…this is the excellent customer care we are waiting from you all.

I am very happy now because I did not lose my confidence in you and TalkTalk services, and finally the promises had been achieved almost professionally.

Definitely the “customer support” should improve themselves performance and I may kindly remind them that the answer to my queries (tracking number: A00000361692-00001198209 and A00000358844-00001189555) are pending from 03/10/2006. Also some improvements in the TalkTalk billing department should be done, since the bills’ numbers displayed on the website are updated later then the billing date and the Nectar points are not properly allocated.

Because I am scrutinising also the possibility of having the whole family communication from a single services provider, I would like to address the following questions:
1. Will it be the new comers in EU (Bulgaria and Romania), and Israel included in the TalkTalk3 International Extra calling plan?
2. Are any planes to include in the TalkTalk Mobile service free calls to/from TalkTalk mobile to TalkTalk mobile, as well as international calls similarly with TalkTalk3 International Extra?

Again, Mr. Dunstone, many thanks indeed for your support and please convey the same to your team, hoping that the imperfections would soon go away.

Kind regards,”

Skirmish998 on Thu, 12th Oct 2006 2:23 pm


I have not had one problem with the phone service provided by talk talk even during the switch over to their broadband service package (after reading the above I feel bloody lucky and priviledged.
My gripe come from the modem sent with the pack a Smartax MT 882.(A WHAT?????) I’m sure its great but as the usb driver doesn’t have a digital signature for windows. it won’t load the driver properly and connect to IE. I check on the network and modem settings in the control panel and it says it has a connection at 10 meg!!! I thought they only did 8 meg broadband????.
Either way its useless as I still can’t get it to work and when I speak to india south africa and england I get the same thing check with microsoft or try reloading the software. What idiots!!! Does anyone know where I can get a driver or can help Iv’e event tried ignoring the signature on driver settings but no joy. I have just googled smartax mt882 and I have endless results from around the pacific and india saying problems with the modem.
The feckers are the single most annoying bunch of retards I have ever had the displeasure of doing business with. Hang on thats an insult to retards. I retract that part!!
Can anyone help or do I demand a different modem???

Mick on Thu, 12th Oct 2006 6:43 pm


Want to see something done about this excuse for a company?
Sign the petition at
http://www.petitionthem.com/?sect=detail&pet=3170

Sandra Van Damme on Thu, 12th Oct 2006 8:33 pm


After being approached by representatives from Talk Talk, being assured that their service wouldn’t affect my Virgin Broadband connection and the only difference would be that I would pay Talk Talk instead of B.T. also I would notice a significant reduction in my telephone bills I decided to change to Talk Talk.
It took three weeks to connect and almost immediately I began having trouble getting onto the Internet.
On a number of occassions I phoned Virgin, who tirelessly went through all my settings with me on my computer and they assured me that my settings were correct.
I eventually managed to get through to TalkTalk and they insisted that the problem was with Virgin and not with them.
Finally, after much toing and froing I happened to mention to the Virgin Technition that I had changed from BT tp TalkTalk, there was a long silence, and then the comment that they had come across this problem quite frequently of late and that they needed to reinstall my ASDL connection.
When I eventually managed to contact TallTalk again I was told that I needed to use their broadband service which was free.
I told them that I had a long and very satisfying history with Virgin and that I was not willing to change whereupon the person on the line became very abusive and would not listen to anything that I had to say.
He was so rude that I told him that I wished to return to BT.
My internet connection was never reinstalled and my phone was limited to incoming calls only.
By this time I had no internet for three weeks and I was unable to make a call for over a week.
BT was unable to connect me because TalkTalk would not relinquish the line.
My average monthly bill from BT (taken over a year) was less than £14.00.
TalkTalk then sent me a bill for nearly £75.00. for just over two months. When I contacted them they said that I must have used my phone more than I normally had which was ridiculous.
I Instructed my bank to cancell my Direct Debit as I was concerned that TalkTalk would behave in an irrisponsible manner regarding my account.
Given these most stressful circumstances I am most reluctant to pay this extortionate bill.
Does anybody know the legal impliications of this and would I be able to institute legal proceedings against them for not providing the services promised and for the aggravation and stress caused.

Paul on Thu, 12th Oct 2006 9:30 pm


Our initial speed was 2.2 and this week they upgraded us to 7.6 mps. Since then it has been impossible to log into Ebay and from within Yahoo Mail we CANNOT ANY LONGER reply, forward email or open email attachments. I guess it’s a firewall problem – so why should increasing the speed effect the firewall.
Has anyone else had this problem? Does anyone know a solution? Thanks

James on Fri, 13th Oct 2006 1:34 am


Skirmish998 — look at the two posts from “James” several back above yours…. (25 hours before this one).

James on Fri, 13th Oct 2006 2:23 am


Skirmish998 — look at the two posts from “James” several back above yours…. (25 hours before this one).

Oh, and the 10MB speed that Windows is telling you about is the Ethernet Network Connection speed from your computer to the modem. It always needs to be faster than the Internet connction itself.

You can measure how fast the actual internet connection is, once you get online, by using some online test sites.

Roy Alexander on Fri, 13th Oct 2006 10:02 am


When plugging a microfilter into the BT phone socket, the phone ringer doesn’t work, si I can’t receive incoming phone calls whilst I am on the internet. Anyone no the reason and the cure. BT engineers dont know. Roy Alexander

Andre on Fri, 13th Oct 2006 11:08 am


Hi Guys, I just thought I´d share my horror story and how in the end I was able to settle with TALKTALK due to the small claims court…
http://n0comment.wordpress.com/2006/09/24/talktalk-taking-them-to-court/

Dave on Fri, 13th Oct 2006 1:41 pm


Just a little update:

Mailed Charles dunstone and Barry Richardson on Friday last week.

Got a call Saturday morning from high level complaints – they referred me to 2nd line.

2nd line called on Tuesday evening – they ran me through all sorts of checks. They said they could detect my router/modem – although they acknowledged the line was fluctuating a lot (decibels dropped from 25 to 11 back to 17 back to 12 again – 11 is a dropped connection apparentely).

They are now referring to a BT engineer – havent heard from them , but 2nd line said if they find its anything but the line or BT internal connections I may end up with a substantial charge !

..and I thought I had left TALKTALK behind me…. « anyone need my comment? on Fri, 13th Oct 2006 5:40 pm


[...] re is my first post on Talk TALK taking them to court another talktalkblog is the one from Oliver Brown, if you like sign the petition for a better customer service [...]

Paul on Fri, 13th Oct 2006 11:08 pm


In response to Sandra Van Damme:

“Does anybody know the legal impliications of this and would I be able to institute legal proceedings against them for not providing the services promised and for the aggravation and stress caused.”

If you flat out refuse to pay it, talktalk will just refer it to debt collectors without a thought, which results in a lot more hassle and stress for you.
I’d suggest, if you haven’t already, requesting a fully itemised bill for the £75.
Once you’ve got that you’ll at least know where the extra charges have come from.

D J Long on Sat, 14th Oct 2006 8:40 am


I can only concure that talktalk risk going the way of Hoover, Rolls razors and RER tv rentals (remember them?) over the Broadband and telephone fiasco.
You CANNOT get anywhere with them, and as for this India bit, who wants to listen to a non english speaker trying to placate you when all or she can do is read some uselss gen on the screen in fornt of them.

What I can offer is this:-
The modem I have (white with green belly) has a error. Other modems may be the same.
IF you remove the supply or there is a serious manis dip the modem looses its intialiation. To corect this you have to get the CD out, and start agian this time choosing ” re-install modem”. However this will cause you to corupt your acount as the Cd does not have a button to omit the “OnelineBilling” bit.
What you should do is crash the program as soon as this screen apears, run the machine up agian and after Firefox or what have you runs, the “line” LED on the modem should go Orange.
The Cd has the last laugh though, because next time you do this, the intro sys ” do you want to start where you left off” – choose No.
I have writen tothis W****r who runs talktlak and told him to send me a new modem that withstands mains interuptions. If not least because with the world at the point of melt down why leave the thing on when you do not need it.

No wonder they arer chasing thie own arses when they have hardware like this.

I suspect all of us should write ot our MP’s and complain and get the licence to operate removed. Unfortunatly OfCom should be called Wetcom. Aparnatly they allow 12 weeks before they will intertvine!!!

Best of luck – Tesco broadband looks good

Dan on Sat, 14th Oct 2006 10:22 am


Frustrated and confused.

Have just joined TalkTalk with “free” broadband. I am totally confused about the IE setup. The Connect and Go disk sets up a connection account in IE called “Talk Talk Broadband”. When I open the Tools/Internet Options/Connections menu of IE the account is in the dialup window! Even more confusing is that when I click on this account and follow Settings/Properties then the “Connect Using” box contains my internal PCI 56k modem.

I can only connect to the broadband using the ConnectandGo software. If I restart TalkTalk Hauwei modem at any point I get an Error 678 message. The remarkably unhelpful Assist software then proceeds to attempt to dial TalkTalk and I get the some sounds from my internal modem. What on earth is going on? The only way I can connect again is by using the TalkTalk connect and Go disk again, and again, and again…

Can anyone please tell me how to configure my settings manually and explain this dialup business?

This “magic” configuration software clearly doesn’t work.

james on Sat, 14th Oct 2006 3:01 pm


**** The modem I have (white with green belly) has a error. Other modems may be the same. IF you remove the supply or there is a serious manis dip the modem looses its intialiation. To corect this you have to get the CD out, and start agian this time choosing ” re-install modem”. ****

No. You just need to read the SmartAX MT882 instructions more closely, especially the bit that says “Click Submit, then Save, and finally OK”. The modem will not remember settings that were not saved. Nothing needs to be reinstalled.

See also: http://forums.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/forum_posts.asp?TID=5341&PN=1&TPN=2

Mick M on Sat, 14th Oct 2006 7:13 pm


Paul, you’re right about them refering you to debt collectors if you refuse to pay; but getting an itemised bill is like asking Tony Blair to say sorry over Iraq.

I have been asking ‘Talk Talk and Ignore’ since April (when I thankfully left them) for an itemised bill. Instead they just make empty promises, ignore all communications and keep sending more bills.

An employee of the debt collectors, who have been employed to obtain money that I dont owe, told me unofficially that they are powerless to do anything if you refuse to pay. Since I told them that Otelo, the telecommunications ombudsman, were dealing with my case they have left me alone.

Sandra, I shall wait to see if Otelo can get Talk Talk to talk talk to me. If that is fruitless then my next move is the Small Claims Court.

John K. Andrews on Sun, 15th Oct 2006 5:47 am


I fully support Paul Ripley above. I’ve been suffering this TalkTalk farce for a couple of months now. Before that, I was on a long business trip in some so-called 3rd world countries. I used ADSL (Broadband) there, at real high speeds and full-time, truly always-on service. So, there you have it. We’re now here in the UK and have to suffer this dirty dirty joke. Sad.

As Paul Ripley (again) said, I will do my best to pay back!
You see, in the first month of using this ’service’, I kept saying I cannot recommend this to my x-wife, nor to my son, nor my friends for that matter. Then, I started saying: I can never recommend this to friends or foes!

However, in the last month, I’ve decided that I must go out of my way to advise friends and foes to keep away from TalkTalk and the Carphone Warehouse et al.

Best Regards

John.

Jeffrey on Sun, 15th Oct 2006 11:01 am


Thanks all just about to have TT you all saved me thanks again

Graeme on Sun, 15th Oct 2006 5:35 pm


I successfully helped a friend in Scotland set up a Netgear router for her talktalk Broadband connection in August, but despite several hours helping my father have yet to connect for him.

He had bought an Intel i-Mac and I eventually worked out that despite downloading drivers for OS10.4 for the supplied Speedtouch modem it was not compatible with an Intel Mac (small print on modem website) although this was denied by customer service – rubbish! Therefore bought Netgear router (identical to one that worked before!) for him, but the set up did not work. I got some totally spurious DNS settings from customer services helpline, but could not get through to technical helpline at all. Any ideas please? My father is in his 80s and would like internet access before too long!

Allecluia, Epsom on Sun, 15th Oct 2006 8:49 pm


I have had problems in connecting to broadband and have found customer services at talktalk not at all helpful. Basically talktalk is overtrading and should delay signing up any new people until it can provide the excellent service it proports to provide. It is nothing more than a disgrace to good business practice!! I think that have managed to sort things out myself . Firstly, the drivers for speedtouch 330 for home xp needs updating. Go to
http://www.speedtouch.com/support.htm and download the update. You do not need to disconnect the modem. Simply double click and upload the new drivers.
Your system should run more smoothly and you should be able to connect without a problem. Incidently I have recently downloaded Internet explorer 7
that has some useful benefits. I suggest always to keep things simple and if you do not like the addons delete them. I had a clich with the talk Talk assist and Go and decided to remove the program. ( Go to Control Panel then ‘add or remove programs’ then remove assist and go) . This does not appear to make any difference to connecting with broadband. Should you find you cannot connect with broadband it may require you to restate your password if it has got corropted. Failing that reload your modem updated driver by clicking on the updated software. I hope that this resolves some issues for you out there. There
are other other updated drivers on the speedtouch site and also some excellent troubleshooting advice. Good luck and God bless

Alleluia, Epsom on Sun, 15th Oct 2006 8:57 pm


Further to my recent message it is a good idea to close down your computer system in an orderly sequence. Before closing down my Internet explorer I always click on my broadband icon at the bottom of my desktop and disconnect. I then click on the X on my Windows Internet Explore and close that program . If any of you out there are having problems with setting up your emails I may be able to help you with the settings . Let me know.

Nigel on Sun, 15th Oct 2006 9:09 pm


So I am reading this to find out the current status. My father 92 has talktalk or rather has not got talktalk BB. I cannot send a mail to him because the server disk is full and get rejected! He has been persuaded by the help line that his service will be restored in 5 days-I wonder!

Dave on Mon, 16th Oct 2006 10:03 am


Alleluia,

Can you help me with the e mail settings please? I can receive mails , but I cannot send them doh!

I finally got connected over the weekend – not sure if it was something I did or TT did?

Only one draw back , all the fiddling around with the security settings meant that I had a shed load of spyware/viruses etc on my machine. It took me all day to get rid of everything ( I had to download about 4 different spyware programs!).

Once I got rid of all the spyware stuff , the connection speed is really quite good now.

I am using a netgear router – which seems to help. It seemed to get a lot better once I connected and reconnected in the router settings. Dont know why?

Lets hope it continues!

James on Mon, 16th Oct 2006 11:12 am


You can set up your 5 email addresses at http://bbdashboard.talktalk.net/ . To log in there you will need your user name and password that were sent in the letter from TalkTalk. The user name is your telephone number in the format 01234567890@talktalk.net and the password is 8 characters in this format: a1b2c3d4 – alternate letters and numbers.

Once logged in, you can allocate 5 email addresses and specify an individual password of your own choice for each one. Your 01234567890@talktalk.net is your user name and it is NOT an email address. You have to make up your own email address. You can have up to five. After filling in the screen to choose the email address and password, you will need to activate the account.

To activate the account you need to ask someone to send you an email to your new address, and the account is usually active after 5 or 10 minutes to do this.

Mail settings for TalkTalk:

I believe that the outgoing mail server needs to be smtp.talktalk.net

For incoming mail try pop.talktlalk.net, otherwise try pop3.talktalk.net or mail.talktalk.net

To collect your incoming mail you will need to specify your email address and the password that you set up for the mail account. Fill these in, in the relevant boxes in the email program email account setup screen.

Finally, send an email to yourself. If it sends OK and you then get it back after a few minutes, then everything is working.

James on Mon, 16th Oct 2006 11:14 am


>> pop.talktlalk.net

That was obviously pop.talktalk.net

Talk is cheap on Mon, 16th Oct 2006 9:17 pm


Im having the same problems as Paul, since the speed has been upgraded to 8mb no internet. Wrote to Dunstone, received a dodgy reply which looks like an automated response. Signed up for dial up in the mean time until the problem gets sorted out and guess what, looks like talktalk have blocked dialing to freephone friaco numbers begining with 0800 and 0808. Wrote an email a few days ago still no reply, not phoning up a national rate number to be put on hold. All in all the worst service/customer service experience I ever had.

Dunstone needs to stop getting his staff to write blag reviews on ciao and other product review sites such as dooyoo and start getting em to sort out the problems of his customers.

Alleluia, Epsom on Mon, 16th Oct 2006 11:07 pm


Dave (Oct16 10.03) I think James (Oct 16 11.12) has answered your question.
I had problems connecting with Talk talk this evening (it may be something to do with mains dipping and modem losing its initialisation- (See James 14Oct 3.01) a dialogue message was coming up that I could not be connected with remote computer. My Speed Touch 330 Modem left hand indicator light showed a intermittent red light as it was trying to connect. (Both left and right indicators lights should show a steady green) So this red light was a malfunction. How I have got round by opening up and executing the updated driver file for the Speed Touch Modem (See 15Oct 8.49). Eureka! I then connected. I now keep a short cut of the file on my desk top in case I have to perform the same action again. I don’t know why I could’nt connect with broadband I’ll have to take this up with them.
I did have a lot of problems trying to connect with TalkTalk Broadband until I downloaded the updated drivers for my Modem from http://www.speedtouch.com.

Here are my settings for Talktalk Broadband:
Tools > Internet Options > Connections >
Dial up and Virtual Private Network Settings
Talk Talk Broadband(Default)
Always dial my default connection.
Then Click on Settings Tab >
Tick automatically detect settings.
Dial up settings > type in the Username and Password that were given in your Talktalk Letter.
Leave everything else blank.
Click on Properties.
Under ‘General’ I have connect using then a tick against -’ ISDN – channel- Speed Touch USB ADSL PPP ‘ (This will vary depening on your Modem).
Next significant Heading is ‘Networking’. I have dial-up server type PPP Windows 95/98/NT4/2000 , Internet.
The connection uses, and then a tick agsinst Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

Hope this is helpful…..if anyone out there wants email settings I can go over these. It is also possible to connect your Microsoft Outlook with Yahoo which means you don’t have to use Yahoo Mail. Generally one can receive messages from a previous ISP but not send. I think one has to contact your previous ISP to get the function to send. I have kept my previous Supanet email address and use this for selected contacts in my address book.

Blest wishes, Alleluia

Alleluia, Epsom on Mon, 16th Oct 2006 11:08 pm


Dave (Oct16 10.03) I think James (Oct 16 11.12) has answered your question.
I had problems connecting with Talk talk this evening (it may be something to do with mains dipping and modem losing its initialisation- (See James 14Oct 3.01) a dialogue message was coming up that I could not be connected with remote computer. My Speed Touch 330 Modem left hand indicator light showed a intermittent red light as it was trying to connect. (Both left and right indicators lights should show a steady green) So this red light was a malfunction. How I have got round by opening up and executing the updated driver file for the Speed Touch Modem (See 15Oct 8.49). Eureka! I then connected. I now keep a short cut of the file on my desk top in case I have to perform the same action again. I don’t know why I could’nt connect with broadband I’ll have to take this up with them.
I did have a lot of problems trying to connect with TalkTalk Broadband until I downloaded the updated drivers for my Modem from http://www.speedtouch.com.

Here are my settings for Talktalk Broadband:
Tools > Internet Options > Connections >
Dial up and Virtual Private Network Settings
Talk Talk Broadband(Default)
Always dial my default connection.
Then Click on Settings Tab >
Tick automatically detect settings.
Dial up settings > type in the Username and Password that were given in your Talktalk Letter.
Leave everything else blank.
Click on Properties.
Under ‘General’ I have connect using then a tick against -’ ISDN – channel- Speed Touch USB ADSL PPP ‘ (This will vary depening on your Modem).
Next significant Heading is ‘Networking’. I have dial-up server type PPP Windows 95/98/NT4/2000 , Internet.
The connection uses, and then a tick agsinst Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

Hope this is helpful…..if anyone out there wants email settings I can go over these. It is also possible to connect your Microsoft Outlook with Yahoo which means you don’t have to use Yahoo Mail. Generally one can receive messages from a previous ISP but not send. I think one has to contact your previous ISP to get the function to send. I have kept my previous Supanet email address and use this for selected contacts in my address book.

Blest wishes, Alleluia

Paul on Tue, 17th Oct 2006 8:53 am


Re my earlier mail – has anyone had problems following the service upgrade to increase speed? Following this we can no longer send, delete yahoo email or log into ebay and amazon. The help lines are useless. When you eventually get through to someone on the £2 then £0.10 a minute 0871 226 7146 they tell you to ring 0870 0873527 and guess what happens when you get through to the technical support area?! “All our agents are busy – please call back later” then one is cut off! Anyone else feeling this frustration? Any on-line petitions or sites to get this appaling service and company closed down?

Paul on Tue, 17th Oct 2006 9:11 am


I just got thru to the call centre again and had a really bad line. It turns out the call centre is in SOUTH AFRICA! The lines are awful and the people do not understand the problems – remember you are paying £2 plus £0.10 a minute for this service. I explained that when in Yahoo mail it was now impossible to send, delete email and what did they say?!!? ………..wait for it………’you should be using Outlook Express’, ‘No’, I said ‘I’m using Yahoo webmail’, ‘Well you should be using Outlook Express’. I was then put on hold for a further 10 minutes while the operator went to consult her supervisor………

Dave on Tue, 17th Oct 2006 11:31 am


Hi All

Thanks for the advice on the e mail settings – but alas I still cannot send mail! :(

I can connect to the internet, and receive mails but it just wont connect to send mails.

Any ideas?

Michael Gardiner on Tue, 17th Oct 2006 1:00 pm


I am so angry with Talk Talk. I share the frustration suffered by others on this page.

I’ve spent this morning configuring a forum for everyone to share their experiences. I simply cant believe they can get away with it!

Please feel free to share your views on my Talk Talk Broadband complaints forum:
http://talktalk.hostyourself.net/

Thanks,

Mike.

Alan Marples on Tue, 17th Oct 2006 3:28 pm


Hello people! Please read below my email that I sent to Mr Talktalk this morning, followed by his reply. I want you to note that until recently I had no major gripe with Talktalk, I actually found them to be ok. But if it can go wrong it will!!!

My mail:

—–Original Message—–
From: Alan Marples
To: Charles Dunstone
Sent: Tue Oct 17 10:25:42 2006
Subject: Talktalk

I have been a TalkTalk customer (Calls only) for a while now, and changed over to your line rental and free broadband offer. Apart from an small issue of non-delivery of my modem I had no real issues with talktalk.

However 10 days ago my broadband stopped working! When I click connect it just hangs on the “Verifying username and password”, and then shows “Error721: Unable to connect to remote computer”. At the same time my digital cordless phone stopped working. When I plugged my old analogue telephone in it appeared to work fine. I had an engineer friend check the cordless phone over and he could find no problem. This coupled with my broadband problem leads me to believe their is a bandwidth problem with my line. Alas, when I plugged the digital phone back in to test two days ago it was working again. But I have tried my broadband connection everyday and had no joy!

I have sent four complaints via the talktalk website, and have rung you customer services department on numerous occasions. The first few times I was merely “fobbed-off” and passed around the houses. I have spent many hours now trying to get through to a customer services advisor and on average I am left holding for 45minutes before being cut-off!

I require the use of the internet for work and study purposes, it is a vital tool in my everyday life!

I am at my whits end with the incompetent customer care on offer from talktalk, quite frankly, its a joke!

Alan Marples EngTech MIET
Medical Engineer
Medical Engineering Department

His response!

Dear Mr Marples

Many thanks for your email, I am very sorry that you have had to contact me to get this issue resolved. I have got someone investigating for me and we will be back to you shortly. In the meantime please accept my sincere apologies.

Regards

Charles Dunstone

Colin G on Tue, 17th Oct 2006 6:26 pm


I have found the TT to be ok as a whole, just a long time to get the broadband connected (2 months) and then they didn’t tell me. I just found my old ISP wasn’t wotking one day. My modem arrived almost 3 weeks later, good job I had a router setup anyway!!

Now, as from last Friday I noticed my VOIP router flashing. I use it for VOIP calls from Sipgate. I tried the usual rebbot, check username and password etc…, try another router, change adsl modem etc… nothing!!!

Phoned TT, forwarded to India, usual list of checks then blank response. I explained numerous times it wasn’t from my browser, but they still wanted a browser settings check. I gave up!! They took my number to get someone else to phine back, and guess what? nothing !!!

Next day, lucky enough to get an English customer care assistant, the usual ten point browser plan!!! When I said the problem doesn’t even reach the PC’s browser, but the router doesn’t even authenticate, I was told TT cannot give router support!!! Gave up again !!

I asked why I can reach Sipgate, the German telephony service from other peoples’ ISPs, and from my own laptop on other peoples’ networks, I got a blank response, and denials that TT are blocking other services. I cannot even ping Sipgate via TT!!!

I have since read stories of TT trying to block Skype during the day, and a work colleague has told me that her old ISP’s email address will not authenticate since moving to TT. We are both computer lecturers!! I have a Masters Degree in Networking.

Anybody else had “blocking” problems? as I think this needs to be addressed.

An email wanting a mac address so I could migrate got me a reply saying I would have to pay a fee as it was within the 18 month contract time.

james on Tue, 17th Oct 2006 7:43 pm


Are you trying to use a talktalk email address, or one from some other email supplier?

Mick M on Tue, 17th Oct 2006 8:52 pm


Colin,
They blocked P2P even before the ‘free’ broadband con was offered, which is the main reason I left this awful company last April.
Boy am I glad I did, even though they are still billing me 6 months later!

Colin G on Tue, 17th Oct 2006 9:08 pm


They have even blocked access to the Sipgate website!! Please, anybody on TalkTalk, can you try accessing http://www.sipgate.com, .co.uk or .de, and see if you have the same problem.

Daniel on Tue, 17th Oct 2006 9:08 pm


I’ve recently joined Talk Talk and I was VERY impressed with the hand holding they did through the migration. Having been with companies like NTL before this was blessing. They did make one mistake though – they didn’t send me my logon details before I was switched! It took a good 30 minutes to figure out what had happened and whether it was the old ISP, but their customer support was pretty good when I asked the right questions.

I’d actually tried migrating to Tiscali previous and that just… kind… of… never happened. Gave them MAC codes and everything, chased for a month and they were rubbish… bye bye

I think TalkTalk are really trying hard and not throwing their hands up and blamming it on massive demand. Customer services are if anything over the top polite. I now have faster broadband, that costs less, and free phone calls. Couldn’t be happier really…. well maybe 100mbit would be nice :)

Francescowestco, East Grinstead on Wed, 18th Oct 2006 5:11 am


Simple, if you are not getting the product that you paid for you should claim a full refund plus any expenses phone calls etc, through the Small Claims Court.
Also continue to contact BBC WatchDog!
For small claims go to:
http://www.lawpack.co.uk/small_claims_kit.asp?source=google&cat=small_claims&gclid=COegi9ftgYgCFUAdMAodB2rSIQ

Maxine on Wed, 18th Oct 2006 6:14 am


I read this page every day. I USED to be a TT customer until I simply had had enough and paid for BT to put another phone line in. That was £125. A small price to pay for constant BB and good customer service. I dont have to do any of this ’shutting down in the right order’ or ‘connecting seperately to BB’ or waiting for my modem ights to settle down…I just turn on my pc and its there. I have had BT BB now since September and not once have I had to phone Customer Service. Their modem arrived on time. Their engineer arrived on time. I’m beginning to doubt very much that CPW even HAVE any technicians anymore, if indeed they had any if the first place. I suggest to all of you that you just bite the bullet and get another BT line installed. It’s costly….but what price is peace of mind?

John on Wed, 18th Oct 2006 2:37 pm


Last week in total frustration and rage i cancelled my direct debit with TT and called BT. How wonderful it feels to be putting TT behind me. After waiting 4 months for the go-live date, my modem and passwords arrived. I had continual problems connecting to the network. I managed to connect once in 10 days. I would have persevered if the help lines were any good. Like everyone else on here i spent several evenings hanging on the phone for 40 mins, just to be told ‘the systems are updating please call back tomorrow’! When someone did offer ‘help’, the advice was useless.
They have now sent me my MAC code and informed me there will be a cancellation charge. I have noted other posts that advise going through the small claims court. I am going to take out BT’s option 2 which offers a free wireless router. Yes it is more expensive, but i just want a stress free broadband experience!

jenny on Wed, 18th Oct 2006 8:48 pm


I have been very disappointed with talk, it has cut off my email completely, their technical assistants are completely incomprehensible and usually inaudible on account of very poor pronunciation. I suggest that everyone goes to their local citizens advice bureaux and seeks advice on taking talktalk to the small claims courts, if enough people take this route, one should be be able to get a judgement of fraudulent misselling and all contracts therefore being null and void. If a company sells a service and then does not provide it , it is committing a fraud.

Clusky, Southport on Wed, 18th Oct 2006 11:50 pm


Having connection problems? Do you need to update the drivers for your Modem?
Go to the website of the manufacturer of your modem. example http://www.speedtouch.com.
Having email problems? This is what the settings should be like for Microsoft Outlook. The Talk talk ‘Connect and Go’ CD should set these up automatically. Here they are if you want to configure the settings manually. Care!! I have discovered that if you make an error the system may not accept your editing and it is better to remove the setting completely and start again. Once the settings are finished click on ‘Test Settings’ on the Internet E-Mail Settings(POP 3) page to see if your settings are accepted.

EXAMPLE:

User Information
Your Name: Fred Bloggs
E-mail Address: fbloggs@talktalk.net

Logon Information

User name: fbloggs@talktalk.net
Password: ***********
(This is your password for the email account that you have set up with Talk Talk)

Server Information

Incoming mail server (POP3): mail.talktalk.net
Outgoing mail server (SMTP): smtp.talktalk.net

Internet email settings

Mail Account: Talk Talk

Outgoing server. Place a tick in the box next to ‘Log on using’
User Name: 02083426978@talktalk.net
(This is the username given to you by talk talk and is made up from your telephone number)

Password: ****** (This is the password given to you by talktalk)

Tick against ‘remember password’

Connection

Connect using my phone line.

Modem.
Use the following dial-up Networking connection.
Talk Talk Broadband (This can be selected from drop down menu)

Properties

General . Connect using:
Tick against ISDN channel – SpeedTouch USB ADSL PPP
(This will vary depending on type of modem that you were supplied with)

Tick against ‘All devices call the same number’.
Tick against ‘Show icon in notification area when connected’

Networking

Type of dial-up service I am calling:

PPP: Windows 95/98/NT 4/2000, Internet

This connection uses the following items:

Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

These are the main settings. Other tabs should be completed automatically.

If you have email accounts with other ISP’s POP3 is ok. With Hotmail you have to use the HTTP option.

Colin G on Thu, 19th Oct 2006 9:37 am


Well, after an email to Charles Dunstone, the blocking has been lifted. He forwarded my email to Paul Halliwell [mailto:HalliwP@cpwplc.com] who is the Chief of Operations for TT. He replied to my email, I gave him my telephone number, and hey presto!!!!

They still have not explained why it happened though, I am still waiting for an explanation on this, but an email straight to the top did the trick. I am still waiting for a reply from customer services from Sunady & Monday though !!!

Apart from that, I have a good service with TT, just took a long time to get going.

James T on Thu, 19th Oct 2006 3:15 pm


Hello everyone,, all i need to do is say one thing!
“DONT SIGN UP WITH TALK TALK! WHATEVER YOU DO!”
It will be a MASSIVE mistake, and you will regret it.
Nothing but problems.

Peter M on Fri, 20th Oct 2006 6:43 pm


Well, you’ve really put me off TalkTalk! I was attracted by the price. Perhaps next year they might have got their customer service sorted out…

Could someone tell me if they make it mandatory to have Internet Explorer? Like AOL do? Or can you use anything you like?

Colin G on Fri, 20th Oct 2006 7:11 pm


If you use a router, you can use any browser you like. For AOL, you might have to set the MTU value to 1400. (this is a value inside the router, the default is 1458)
AOL run MTU (maximum transmission units) at a lower setting than anybody else. Therefore, you don’t have to fire up their bulky browser everytime you want to browse the net.

Anna on Fri, 20th Oct 2006 8:01 pm


For God’s sake dont join Talk Talk, they are the most CRAPPIEST internet service ever, i wish i had never changed from ntl to talk talk.From the 4/10/06 to the 19/10/06 i haven’t had no phone or internet service. I have been waiting for 45 minutes or longer but all they have done is cut me off! I cannot use the computer at all, and my daughters need it for theirwork,

Paul on Fri, 20th Oct 2006 10:05 pm


Can anyone help? Since upgrading speed to 8mbs I have been unable to log on to sites such as Amazon, Ebay and cannot send or delete email from within my Yahoo and Hotmail accounts. When I finally got through to the help desk they suggested reloading sll subroutine (DONE NO EFFECT), upgrading modem driver (DONE NO EFFECT), reloading software and internet explorer (DONE NO EFFECT).
It must be a sll encryption problem – anyone any ideas??

Paul on Fri, 20th Oct 2006 10:07 pm


I meant SSL Encryption or is it something else?!

peter on Sat, 21st Oct 2006 9:00 pm


I applied for talk talk begining of Oct. and just yesterday discovered this and other sites full of complaints about talk talk service. Therefore, this morning I called the company to check their cancellation terms. The first person who spoke to me mentioned that I have 3 weeks time from my request to cancel my order without further liability, while the second person I spoke to told me I only have 2 weeks from my order date to cancel their service without further liability. This information together with everything I had read made me decide to cancel my subscription. Therefore, today I cancelled my order with them and advised BT to prevent my phone from being transfered to talk talk service. I bought a new orange mobile to get their free broadband and think this is the best way to go for the time being until carphonewarehouse can get their act together and assure that customers can have timely, reliable, and consistent service and information. Just out of curiosity, I wonder how Anna changed her provider from ntl to talk talk that resulted in her not having any phone services for 2 weeks (did you cancel your ntl line and subscibe to bt/carphonewarehouse simultaneously)?

Pixsell on Sun, 22nd Oct 2006 1:18 pm


I have just got through reading a lot of these posts, I haven’t read all as I don’t have that long to sit here and mull through all the negativity.
I have to say that I switched to TalkTalk for my phone service and waited three months to go Broad Band live with them. This was due to being locked into a contract with Tiscali.
After the contract expired, I called TT and asked to switch. It took me a long time to obtain the MAC code from Tiscali I might add.
Anyway, long story short. The switch was easy. TT answered the support line quickly and although I never got the hook up package with router and software, (which I didn’t really need because I have my own wireless hub) I got all the info I needed to set my router up in that one phone call.
I’ve had one period of no service which lasted a few hours and nothing bad since.

Peter on Mon, 23rd Oct 2006 9:31 am


I was stupid enough to fall for TalkTalk’s lies in their advertising and moved to them in July – however, with that said, I “moved” from Onetel who had just been taken over by TalkTalk anyway.

I won’t go detail all my bad experiences from them – suffice it to say, outages lasting an entire weekend (because they have no support available during that time) and throttling/bandwidth congestion during peak periods to US sites (and this is NORMAL web traffic, I don’t game online or use P2P!) are not acceptable and I’ve told them to shove it. I’m going to BT – more expensive but my work pays for ADSL charges because I work from home so it’s no big issue to me.

However, here’s some good advice as to how to get out of TalkTalk’s grasp:

1. Ring them up and request a MAC code via email – you will need this before you can go to another provider. This takes up to 5 days to get but the guy I spoke to about this (not one of their (ab)normal agents)) did do exaclty as he said he would do and emailed it to me.

2. Send a recorded delivery letter to their Portal Way address. State in there that you are terminating their service due to frequent outages and problems. Make sure you tell them that they have not delivered the service they contractually agreed to deliver to you, that their contract is now null and void and that therefore you are not paying any cancellation charges.

3. In your letter, state that you are happy to pay call and line rental charges up to the point of service cessation by cheque as soon as you receive an invoice from them. But CANCEL YOUR DIRECT DEBIT TO TALKTALK with your bank – you do not want them taking the cancellation charge first and then try to get it back from them later!

I have seen on another site that if you provide good reasons as to why they have not delivered the service you ordered, they will void the cancellation fee but since I’ve just sent my letter to them today, we’ll see how that one goes.

benito on Mon, 23rd Oct 2006 7:56 pm


Update on the free (ahem) broadband……..
only 20.000 of the 300.000 who signed up for talk talk have been unbundled!!!!
so in other words the company is running at a massive loss untill it unbundles the rest of the country,
however Talk talk are 1 year behind it’s unbundling programe already and I see major problems ahead with it just buying AOL as well.

Dont do it folks this company is bulldog broadband part 2

Mick on Mon, 23rd Oct 2006 8:48 pm


Can you believe it? I read in yesterdays paper that TalkTalk’s free broadband service is being extended to small businesses from today.
Does this mean all the problems have been ironed then?!!
To me it smells of ‘don’t worry about customer satisfaction, lets just rip off as many people as possible’
Short sighted indeed.

Tony Biddlecombe on Wed, 25th Oct 2006 9:44 am


I go around helping people with computers amongst other things. And I have to say Talktalk is a complete nightmare. I really feel sorry for people who are using it – well trying to use it. The support is poor – line goes dead whilst waiting on hold, getting through at 10 pence per minute can be quite expensive! The connection drops for no reason. For me it has tended to be older people who are less familiar with computers who suffer the most. I ended up working for free for one elderly couple who were getting rather stressed by the whole affair.
I do not know why talktalk find it so hard to provide this service I regularly set up my own broadband service for people locally and have never needed to call support – it just works. http://www.telecomplus.org.uk/tonysunshine
Of course please recognise that I resell the package from the Utility Warehouse, so my comments must be tempered by acknowledging that I have a vested interest in talktalk failing to deliver on its promises, but it really upsets me to see people going through this stress.
I don’t know how long talktalk will be around they are backed by Carphone Warehouse so hey have a great high street presence as well, but that part of the business is not doing so well since Vodaphone and O2 decided withdraw their contracts. I don’t know enough about the financial strength of the company but they are going to need very deep pockets to ride out the storm.

Webmaster on Fri, 27th Oct 2006 12:36 pm


Set up info, manual and rivers for the SmartAX MT882 can be found at http://www.weblinksonline.co.uk/webtools/index.php

Brian on Sun, 29th Oct 2006 2:21 pm


My father who is in his 80’s signed up for Talk Talk Broadband .

It took over 4 months to receive his modem and connection during which period they cancelled his dial-up and wouldn’t restore it.

I am an IT consultant and have set up many complex networks and connected a lot of Broadband/ Wireless and Local Area connections up for both individuals and small businesses. I have never encountered incompetence like that we have received from TT.

Having spent the last month or so actually getting my father all connected up and working. TT generously changed his passwords without informing him. He can now receive emails but not send them despite the fact that POP3 and SMTP settings are absolutely perfect. Since an “upgrade” that allegedly happened on 26th of October upgrading to 8mb. The whole connection has become totally unstable and practically unusable.

With my father being in his eighties, his broadband is a lifeline. I seem to be spending half my life trying to fix problems that TT have caused. This is a pain firstly because I work for myself and am having to take time out from work, but also he lives 50 miles away and I am having to travel there and back 2-3 times a week.

Is anyone else having problems sending emails via SMTP??? It was working perfectly until the upgrade on the 26th.

TT Helpdesk just keep giving me the settings and saying it should be working.

VERY FRUSTRATING………..

alison white on Sun, 29th Oct 2006 11:13 pm


If you are having problems with talk talk not letting you into web pages intermittantly like hotmail for example…which i have had for 3 weeks and spend a fortune on technical support lines, change your mtu settings from 1500 to 1400…….then it works right away!!!….I HATE TALK TALK!!….they told me to buy a new router, buy a new computer, delete my cookies and loads of other random bull……

Ahem ... on Sun, 29th Oct 2006 11:42 pm


I understand that BT have made a huge mess of the unbundling process …

Might not all be TTs fault …

Rome on Mon, 30th Oct 2006 2:12 pm


TalkTalk are a bunch of scam artists. Their ADSL2+ service is typically as slow as dial up, there are frequent outages and there is no service level agreement. This is typical in the industry and it means that they don’t actually have to provide any kind of service but that you DO have to pay for it.
TalkTalk are hopeless and if you want to switch back you have to go via BT so its a seriouslybad option. Wait for others to reduce their prices.
Whatever happened to the Monopolies commission or Trading Standards? Corporations can do what they want now that they control government.

Roy on Mon, 30th Oct 2006 4:37 pm


I have TT and i am in the process of purchasing a Netgear 834 router/modem so that i am able to get my playstation back online. Is there anything i should know?

Are there any hints/tips/points i should be aware of. Is this an easy swop with TalkTalk Broadband?

At the moment, i do not want to go wireless. I have not got the technical knowhow / funds to set up a fully wireless system and make it secure, so i went foe a wired modem. However, if things are going to get complicated, as much as i would want my PC and playstation running off the same modem, i’ll settle for just running the PS2 of the Netgear and keep my USB for the PC.

RAB on Mon, 30th Oct 2006 10:45 pm


My letter to TT after another day chasing my tail…

Hello,

You told me that my go live Broadband date was 21/9/06. All you sent me was a username and pswd. As it turns out about as useful as a kilt in the North Pole. No CD, no advice, no help guide, nothing. I have my own modem and am reasonably computer literate.

Despite this I have dicked around endlessly trying to interface to your server. A DSL signal is present and no matter what settings I try, including manual configuration, no joy.

After going around that endless loop you call a website (using somebody else’s internet service) until I got dizzy with sheer frustration I finally discover one clue…that you have surreptitiouly changed the date of BB availability to the end of October. Brilliant, utterly brilliant. Not only have you misled me and wasted my time but you make AOL seem half civil and everyone knows they are a bunch of control freak, substantially incompetent, scamming grabbers.

All I want is a Connect & Go CD but can I get that? Not a chance, I’d have more chance of playing the lead role in the second coming. You send me to your shop and they give me an advert on CD, you send me to the support line and they repeat what I already know and then charge me for the privilige but will they send me the CD, not on your life. Is sending your customers around an infinite causality loop your speciality or your perverse idea of fun?

I am tempted to ask for the name of the person(s) presiding over this calamitous version of the keystone cops in the forlorn hope of getting some resolution but I know it would be far more liberating if they were strung up from a yard arm by their nethers, pelted with TalkTalk flyers and subjected to a tongue-lashing from your countless frustrated customers who pay your wages and still don’t understand why.

I feel about 0.5% better getting that out but please, please, please, please I beg you send me the CD and end this waking torture.

Yours frustratedly,
RAB

gary on Tue, 31st Oct 2006 12:14 pm


i signed up in june and still waiting for broad band my complaint mail keeps gettin
redirectid stating wrong address how do we all get out of this scam does any body
know if we can take them to small claims court this is doing my head in

gary

Gimli on Tue, 31st Oct 2006 2:39 pm


I signed up for TT in May, was given a date for going live as 11 August. Was asked for a MAC code in July. This was not used, neither was the one after that. I am currently on my 3rd MAC code.
“Ring back in 8 working days if nothing happens – the error has been that we have been trying to ‘provision’ the service and not migrate” ???? Needless to say, nothing happened.
I have just been told that there is an ‘open non-cancel order’ on the line and I must contact my existing provider…. My existing provider says, “bullsh*t, the MAC code we gave you will sort any line marker out”
If TT fail to provide a functioning broadband connection by the time this 3rd MAC code expires, I shall follow the advice in some of the postings above and cancel the contract…

COME BACK BT – ALL IS FORGIVEN

karen on Tue, 31st Oct 2006 9:42 pm


i joined talktalk 3months ago and its by far the worse service ive been with. It all seems like a big money scam, gettng people to join and leave us waiting on there service lines until the phone cuts off!!.. but money scam 2 me. my internet is so slow and switches off after 10-15minutes and pages do not load. ive been given stupid advice from the call centre- who dont have a clue what they are talking about! its defo a wrong decision. i’d happily pay for a decent reliable service instead of getting it for free! i only hope i can cancel without all the grief.. and from what ive read, i dont think i can!. My advice to any readers- DONT JOIN!

barbara on Wed, 1st Nov 2006 1:50 pm


Thanks for charlie boys e mail address and all the good advice I shall be sending him an e mail about his shambolic organisation . He should be ashamed. DONT TOUCH THEM WITH A BARGE POLE ITS GRIEF ALL THE WAY.

Roy on Wed, 1st Nov 2006 6:38 pm


I emailed TT about online gaming and this was the response!!

“Thank you for the e-mail dated 30 October 2006

We can understand to how frustrating this is to you and apologise for the inconvenience brought
forward to you. We inform you that we do not provide any restriction but advise the you contact
your gaming manufacture due us not supporting P2P.”

So….their website says they restrict P2P and their employee says they don’t support it!! This is in complete contrast to what ‘Trevor’ from TT’s Customer Services in Bangalore says. Upon speaking to Cust. Serv they informed me that there is no restriction at all and online gaming is fully supported by TT.

I wish someone would make their mind up!! 2006 and a Broadband company cant even provide a service for internet gaming!!

Roy on Wed, 1st Nov 2006 6:44 pm


Just as a side point…

Does anyone else immediately think of Apu from the Kwik-E-Mart when they ring Customer Services??

Thank-You…Please Come Again!!

Paul Cascarino on Wed, 1st Nov 2006 10:51 pm


I think it is disgusting that a company like talk talk can have so much power on the general public with their terrible service and you just cannot do a thing about it. There should be a bill put through Paliment to stop such a company operating such bad service and have you at ransom, if you stop their standing order you would be blacklisted, and they would have the law on their side to send in the bayliff. They will also charge you £70 in you try to stop their service. I would love to take them through the small claims court, but I am sure I would have no chance at all. I have sent recorded delivery many corespondences of my complaints to Charles Dunstone and have all been ignored… And as for Otelo, I wrote to them and they said I would have to wait a year before they would look at my case, so it is waist of time writing to them…. So at the end of the day a company like TalkTalk can do just what they want and no-one gives a damm ….

Paul Cascarino (Business man and University Lecturer)

Ted Walker on Wed, 1st Nov 2006 10:51 pm


For all you unfortunate people. It’s not all bad my broadband has been up and running for over a month with no problems, in fact I would go as far as to say the service is excellent!! I phoned Customer Services with a small problem and it was solved very very efficiently!!

Bul Alve on Wed, 1st Nov 2006 11:51 pm


I feel sorry for all TT customers. I struggled to make “free” calls from my TT landline and use TT “free” broadband for 5 monts. Result was simply disaster. I used my mobile phone and my neighbours wireless broadband.

I hope that the new TT customers will read this message and not be customer of the TALK TALK.
NEVER NEVER USE TALK TALK and anything related to their company.

Now I am back using BT and I am happy to pay them. In fact after experiencing TT disaster I realised that BT is charging nothing. For me now BT is free.
Do not waste your time and money on TT to get achieve that conclusion.

Note: Talk Talk is filtering the internet pages and imposing proxy and they will keep telling you that your computer is causing that problem. (The poor call center guys are not aware of this filtering. ) You can just read pages and you can not download or upload files even in your email.

ant on Thu, 2nd Nov 2006 3:18 am


say hi to the gangster at tt who are ripping us off what a joke

Roy on Thu, 2nd Nov 2006 4:10 pm


I like the way Charles Dunstone’s blog on the TT website says

“Back on Track”

I’d like to know what ‘track’ it is exactly they are travelling on. Probably Connex South East…..twice as many travellers as there are trains!

A Non E. Mouse on Thu, 2nd Nov 2006 8:47 pm


TalkTalk Blog?

Chucky D. hasn’t even had the decency to update his blog in the last 8 weeks…

Ran out of steam within months. Completely out of touch.

Mick M on Thu, 2nd Nov 2006 8:50 pm


Paul,
I wouldn’t be so hasty to write off Otelo. What you say about them is not strictly true. If you make every effort to complain to TT and they don’t respond then Otelo will arbitrate for you three months after your first complaint.

Don’t leave it for a year because Otelo actually state that they will only deal with your complaint up to nine months from your first complaint.

I employed Otelo to intervene because that bunch of crooks at TalkTalk took an unacceptably long time to supply me with a MAC code. They cut me off early. They failed to supply me with an accurate bill and just kept on sending ever increasing bills. They employed a debt collection company to get money out of me that I didn’t owe and they damaged my credit rating.

Otelo took about six weeks to look into my case. They have decided that TT’s customer service was woefully inadequate and have instructed them to remove any outstanding balance, send a written assurance that my credit rating has not been damaged, send a written apology for the way they have treated me and award me with a £50 cheque to compensate for all the hassle they have caused me.

However, although it is only a couple of weeks since I agreed to their proposal, I have yet to receive anything from TT apart from yet another bill for my account that was closed last April!!

If anybody out there intends to pursue this course of action, keep a record of every communication you have with Talk Rubbish. Sorry, TalkTalk. Every phone call and what was said, every email, letter etc etc. The more evidence you can supply Otelo, the more chance of success you will have.

Finally if there is anyone out there still foolish enough to be considering signing up for TalkTalk. DON’T.

Imran Khan on Fri, 3rd Nov 2006 1:29 am


Hi guys, if your talktalk was working fine and then suddenly started messing up the problem your having is that talktalk have stuck their Local Loop Unbundling equipment in your exchange and it looks like they have no idea how to do this stuff. Best thing to do is phone up talk talk and speak to their LLU department to see whats going on.

George on Fri, 3rd Nov 2006 7:21 am


You people are crazy. I work for orange broadband and I am one of the people that will have gave some of you people mac codes to move to TT lol. I must admit it’s harsh but I feel a small sense of “told you so” more people need to know of their useless service! People are so quick to jump when something is offered “free” paying for something isn’t bad if it does what it’s supposed to! Even the people who had problems with there other IPS’s will have got a better service or at least a friendly chat if they where having problems. I’m a fond belier that if it isn’t broke don’t fix it, companies will bend over backwards for you if you say you wanna leave. Just hear them out and get a good deal with the service you are accustomed to!

Ian Choyce on Fri, 3rd Nov 2006 2:51 pm


Hi

I am experiencing a problem with talktalk broadband whereby everything is fine when I first turn the computer on but if I then minimise or close either Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer and then open either later in the session I get a message stating “unable to find server” or “the page cannot be displayed” when I try to open a search engine or even talktalk.

Also when using Windows Media Player to find album information I can only get info for one album before the above occurs.

The only way round this seems to be to restart the computer as disconnecting and then reconnecting talktalk produces a message saying “remote computer did not respond”.

Has anybody else had a similar experience and is there a solution?

Regards Ian

Tony on Fri, 3rd Nov 2006 7:53 pm


I have 2 talktalk subscriptions for the free broadband package and have never had 1 singal problem with the service! everything has run as smooth as a baby’s botom and i shall be recommending them to everyone!

its not as if I had simple requests either.. one line i needed to request a MAC code for to transfer provider, which was done promptly and efficiently and the second was a new line from bt which i broke the standard 3 month contract on to leave.. both types of connections and generally known to cause issues with the previous provider putting markers on the line so that talktalk could not take over but, i had great service!

also with regards to mac compatibility.. i knew the dial up modems probably wouldnt work with my macintosh because (and lets face it mac users) not many do! so i purchased a belkin wireless router from a cpw store (which i would like to add was the cheapest retail price for the product available!).

setting up the router was a little bit of a trial but i called belkin’s freephone number (highlighted to me by the consultant in the store, possibly because people have been having installation problems) belkin tech support, freephone 24 hour tech support and i had to wait for a whopping 1 minute!! i couldnt believe it! i work in the industry and i expect to hold for ages to these sort of companies at expensive 0870 rates but i was through straight away! they got me connected within 5 minutes and i was surfing the net! my rate of speed was 2.5 meg which was a bit of a blow cause i thought i might get a bit more but, it does say UP TO 8mb and many different broadband companies advertise like this but due to the current state of adsl lines 4mb is usually VERY max in most areas.

on both lines i am running 1 mac and 1 windows system which happily connect to the internet and share files between each other on the network and I have NEVER had a drop in connection.

I have heard though that some people are experiancing issues with their lines and broadband being cut off due to llu (telephone line) upgrades almost in some cases for 3-4 weeks! but if mine gets cut off im not too botherd i shall call tt get a re-imbursment for the line rental i have paid for while the line has been down. (which i have checked with customer services) and as for the broadband if it gets cut off then im not too fussed if its fixed within a month… jeez people its FREE for heavens sake!

if your business relies on broadband to do business i wouldnt recommend it i mean come on! if you relied on a mobile to do business and u dont pay for insurance, if u lost it you could lose thousands of pounds! if you relied on a car for your business for long journey’s would you buy an old fiesta?

im sorry if it seems im a cpw lover or if im rubbing it in your faces but, you do have to realise if something is free dont expece it to be served with caviar!

Filthy Stinking Rich... on Fri, 3rd Nov 2006 11:50 pm


TalkTalk are making millions…. revenue UP 40% on last year….

http://www.talktalk.co.uk/talktalk/servlet/gben-server-PageServer?article=MAIN.UK.TALKTALK.COMPINFO.PRESS.2006.INTERIMREPORT

I wonder how much of that has come from the suckers ringing their joke “Technical Support” line?

Lemme see? 1000 lines x 10 pence per minute x 12 hours per day x 6 months…

A Bill on Sat, 4th Nov 2006 9:56 am


Just to let you know regarding the comments above about business problems. The Free BB deal if for residential purposes only, and it even says that in the very 1st T&C of the contract.
So to be honest if you are trying to be a cheap skate bum of a business and buy a residential service.which BT can prosecute for as it isnt allowed, then it is you fault.
Cheers

Darren Owen on Sat, 4th Nov 2006 12:24 pm


Hi folks! Just wanted to add – don’t do it! Don’t sign up to anything that Carphone Warehouse or Talk Talk have to offer. It may be “free”, but it’s complete rubbish. My dad has had similar problems too, neither of us can connect and I am currently on hold to talk to somebody in the LLu department! Please go to an alternative supplier and get a better deal.

mekon on Sat, 4th Nov 2006 7:27 pm


Well just an an update. After sending TT a MAC code in excess of 35 times and making the usual numerous phone calls I was informed I would be going ‘live’ on the 18th October ( over 2 months late) only to find out I had no broadband from my previous ISP, Tiscali, on the 9th October!!

Nothing unusual you may say as we are dealing with TT but this is the wierd bit..

..I got through to TT broadband support on the first attempt, Sally, bless her, was able to supply me with the password which should have been in the ‘welcome pack’ which never arrived.

I changed my dial up properties (username and password) and connected immediatley to TT and have never had another problem!!..it always connects..never drops out…really!

Bizzare..

I daren’t ask for the modem they should have sent as the ‘old’ one works fine, I think its best to keep my head below the the parapet!

There seems to be a bit of sea change at TT so maybe it worth sticking at it!

Don

Imran Khan on Sat, 4th Nov 2006 9:52 pm


TalkTalk the inside story.

If you have not had problems with TalkTalk broadband yet that is because you are actually being supplied your broadband by BT which talktalk is subsidising at a loss.

I know it sounds complicated but what TalkTalk are doing is a recipe for disaster. They are signing people up and giving them BT broadband connections and slowly putting their equipment in exchanges and then transfering the broadband connection from BT to the TalkTalk equipment they have just installed in the exchange.

Therefore if your internet was working fine and then just stopped working its because talktalk have switched your connection from BT to their own equipment in the exchange. This just shows that TalkTalk has absolutely no idea when it comes to telephone exchanges and broadband equipment.

Out of the 400 000 people who signed up, talktalk only have about
40 000 who are using talktalk LLU equipment in their exchange. The rest are all on BT lines which are paid for by talktalk. Therefore talktalk are actually spending about £10-£20 million pounds just subsidising their current customers whose exchanges have not been upgraded with talktalk equipment and as soon as your exchange is upgraded you will know about it because your broadband will stop working.

If you have no idea what I am talking about this just prooves the mess talktalk are in with regards to broadband, local loop unbundelling and telephone exchange and I have not even begun with the customer services side (lol) of the whole talktalk debacle.

Barry on Tue, 7th Nov 2006 11:06 am


Oh my god where do i begin.

I have had talk talk for two years, the first year was fine, but at the start of the second year they called us about their bullshit “8 meg, unlimited free forever” plan.

The guy that called went through the deal with me and told me all the reasons why i should upgrade from my 512 connection to the free forever plan. He said i would receive a brand new modem that would allow me to connect at 8megs. I asked if the 8 meg was operational and he promised me it was. He also said alot of other crap but i cant remember it all now. Anyway. It was ment to take one week to setup and within that time i would get the new modem in the post.

One week pasted, still no modem, still no internet (my 512 internet was cut off) so i had no internet, no phone line, no nothing.

Two weeks pasted, nothing. So i called, i was told the problem was down to BT and they were trying to get it sorted. By the third week it was all up and running, but i still had not received the modem and my internet speed was still 512..

I called talktalk again about why i was still connected at 512 and was told that my local exchange (that is about 2 minutes away from me) couldn’t handle 8 meg.
While the person was still on the phone i did a quick check on the internet and found out my local exchange could indeed handle 8 meg. I told them this and they said they ment it had not been unbundled at my local exchange. I asked why i had been lied to when i signed up and they couldn’t give me a reason. They promised everything would be unbundled by july2006. I bit my tongue, hung the phone up and waited.

I remember it was about march 2006 when i started getting hardcore problems, i couldn’t download anything from anywhere (Http, p2p ect) None of my online games worked, counterstrike, world of war craft and a few others. My internet would just disconnected constantly and wouldn’t work again till the next day.

This is when the customer service became a joke. i wont go into every call i made(at least 100). ill just finish this post with the calls i made this week, November 7th.

Now remember i was promised by a shit load of these wankers that my 8 meg would be working in july2006.

So i call, to hear for the millionth time, that annoying automated bitch “welcome to talk talk, your call is important to us” So im on hold for 40 minutes and then finally i get an answer, i explain my problem.

“Hi, i hope you can help me. I signed up for the 8 meg deal in January, and im still yet to receive my modem and be connected at 8 megs, can you sort this out for me as i’m paying for something i’m not receiving…….

This is what they say every time. “i can’t help you, you will have to call the technical support line”

So i call the technical support line. I am on hold for 1 hour! and I’m being charged 10p per minute while i am on hold and it chargers you 2 pounds just to call the number in the first place!!! when i finally get through and explain my problem yet again and the guy tells me hes going to look on the computer and see whats going on, i say okay no problem. He puts the phone down on his desk (i can hear office noises) for 20 minutes and then hangs up on me!!

This happened three times in a row in one day, im so pissed off with it that i cant bare to call them anymore as it causes too much stress.

So my situation now is the same as in was months ago, no games, no downloads no nothing. i cant even get through to these cunts to end my contract because every department talk talk has, hangs the phone up on me. Complete and utter arse holes. I hope Charles Dunstone and all his staff get cancer.

Oh, walk into any carphone warehouse and explain your problem and they will agree with you that talk talk is a rip off, one girl in there told me to get ntl.

I have had a rough few days with talk talk and other things in my life, i have also been up two days without sleep so excuse this post if it doesn’t make sense.

Good day.

Jon on Tue, 7th Nov 2006 10:33 pm


Four months later… It’s good to see that somethings never change.. TT’s still crap!

Not quite, but almost... on Wed, 8th Nov 2006 1:05 am


** ** I signed up for the 8 meg deal in January ** **

You could not have done that. They didn’t start offering that package until the middle of April.

But all the rest of what you said sounds true.

I recently heard that the sales people in the shops get a proper bollicking if they don’t sign up two people every day — whether you want the service or not. Guess they would rather sign people up and then fob them off, than lose their jobs.

Carphone should have just stuck to selling mobiles, they were a reaonably good service for that. I guess somehow they now have to find a way to pay off the purchase of AOL. 370 million quid. Shit! And deep in it now, I think.

Martin on Wed, 8th Nov 2006 4:56 pm


as someone who has seen the results of cancer many times please refrain from these threats. the reason you are not getting anywhere with TT IS PROBABLY BECAUSE OF YOUR RUDE AND IGNORANT NATURE

Barry on Wed, 8th Nov 2006 6:36 pm


Okay, i signed up in April, the exact month isn’t important.

Martin, everyone has seen the results of cancer, thats the reason i used this particular disease. Talk Talk are con artists that ruin peoples lives for their own personal gain. Therefore their lives should be terminated. You become rude when your constantly fucked around.

the reason you are not getting anywhere with TT IS PROBABLY BECAUSE OF YOUR RUDE AND IGNORANT NATURE

????

Nobody can get anywhere with talk talk. Thats why the title of this page is, talk talk problems. Get your head out your arse mate. :-)

Rozia on Wed, 8th Nov 2006 11:48 pm


wow, this web page is long…. i think ive jus spent 40 mins reading the above missing HUGE sections out.

TT is rubbish.

i signed up in May, got my line in June, on time too which seemed normal procedure. expected to receive my broadband soon….

whoever thought soon would turn into 5 months and still no luck whatsoever.

the original delay was caused by them not registering me for broadband when i signed up… so they cocked up from the beginning, never have they apologised for their shit service, nor have they recognised their mistakes.

having waiting a month for the amazing 8meg broadband, i ring them up to chase it… only to find theres a “marker” on my line.

problem is – i was NEVER on broadband.

its now november, i still have a marker on my line apparently, despite having BT confirm to me they have NO products on my line at all!

ive rung TT soooo many times, i just want to cancel and go back to BT and NEVER leave them again! but u ring the cancellations dept (whoever would have thought a company would have a whole dept dedicated to cancellations! – but in TTs case they must need it!) only to have nobody answer and the line goes dead.

i was even willing to pay the stupid £70 fee. i just want them to let me cancel!!!!

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kev on Fri, 10th Nov 2006 2:31 pm


Well been there done that, signed in April and had 5 months of going round in circles loads of phone calls, loads of emails, NO SERVICE ever materialised!!
I gave up and cancelled at the end of Sept!! no fee because they never provded a service. I found out last week Sky Free Broadband is now available on my exchange provided you have any TV package, called Sky last Thursday 2nd Nov, wireless modem and starter pack arrived Wednesday 8th Nov, Phone call last night to say I will be live next Tuesday 14th Nov. Whats that 12 days!
and that is on local loop unbundled llu connection
I guess some companys have great customer service and some have no customer service!!!

You can check the status of your telephone exchange here http://www.samknows.com/broadband/search.php Look at the llu section Sky is under Easynet they brought then up. So if your exchange says Easynet enabled you can get the Sky Broadband.
Most exchanges seem to say Carephone Warehouse connect date “UNKNOW” what a supprise!

Ian Roberts on Fri, 10th Nov 2006 10:36 pm


Hi all…(STUDID IDIOT here applied for the TT ‘FREE’ BB 10 working days ago…so can’t cancel)….came across something by mistake about P2P getting blocked. I read something about a “third party” piece of software being loaded onto your pc when you install TT. I think this could be the SW that blocks your ports etc. You probably don’t need to install any of the TT software as you can just make a manual dial up connection using your existing modem if you have one (phone number will be 0,38 probably). If you don’t have an ADSL modem yet….dont install the SW….plug in the new modem you get…and let the “New hardware wizard” find the modem driver on the disk. Then set up a new internet connection using 0,38 as the phone number and your username and password from TT. I’m not sure if this will help, but it will keep their crap off your PC, I will try it when I get mine on 2nd Dec…..2007 no doubt.

Ian Roberts on Fri, 10th Nov 2006 10:38 pm


I actually meant STUPID…as you can see I am, I carnt spell.

James on Sat, 11th Nov 2006 2:10 am


NO, they block the P2P stuff at their end. You cannot control it from your machine.

The stuff on the TT CD is the trial version of F-secure (free for three months, then a couple of quid per month after that), their “Assist and Go” diagnostics software, the USB drivers for the three different modems they have used now, and the stuff that sets up your username and password to connect, and your email address and password to get on email.

The latest modem they send out needs no drivers at all, because it can use the Ethernet connection from your PC. The new type modem also has a router and firewall built in too. It takes about 5 minutes to set it up without the CD.

steve on Sun, 12th Nov 2006 2:19 pm


please make sure you keep a record of all communications either via email or phone you’ll need this for the small claims court. LETS SHUT THIS COMPANY DOWN.

Maxine on Sun, 12th Nov 2006 4:46 pm


Rozia

Had very similar problems to yours, marker on the line etc etc. I paid BT to install a new phone line, £125 well worth spending just to get out of TT’s evil clutches. No probs with BT broadband and good customer service. Its a bit more expensive but if you pay peanuts…

Paul on Sun, 12th Nov 2006 11:33 pm


Try not to be so quick to blame Talktalk for problems concerning markers on lines.
Talktalk has no authority or power to remove markers from lines, regardless of what BT customer services imply.

And you don’t need to have previously had any kind of broadband to have a marker on your line. There was a period when I was coming across numerous customers a day all with BT Homehighway markers on their lines, none of which had ever had it, and all of which were told by BT that it was Talktalks fault, and only they could sort it.
Which was a load of rubbish as I got everyone of them removed by speaking to BT Wholesale (which BT Customer services seemingly ‘forget’ to tell customers)

To Ian Roberts, you say you signed up 10 working days ago (as of the 10th), you can cancel talktalk at any time within the first 14 days, so it’s possible you still might be able to.

But in regards to P2P, I’ve not overly looked into it, but from what I’ve heard it’s only peak periods where it is throttled if you are downloading too much, but I think that’s perfectly fine.
A collegue on Talktalk downloads full TV series without any problems.

In regards to Steve. You really are living in a fantasy land if you think that Talktalk is going to be shut down. They’re now the 3rd biggest broadband supplier in the UK. The majority of customers connect absolutely fine. The customer service is getting back on track. And there is a much better system in place now to get problems resolved if you do visit a store.

To Imran Khan, nice to know you’re such an expert on Talktalk’s telecoms system…though would you do me a favour and answer me the following question.
If the people who haven’t had problems, are just the ones that are really getting BT Broadband, and we only have about 40,000 actually using talktalk broadband.
How comes there are so many people here having problems???
Surely if they’re getting problems, and are recieving BT broadband really, then a lot of these problems must be caused or traced back to BT??

Now, what is actually happening, is that talktalk is acting like EVERY other ISP to start with and signing customers up to broadband using BT equipment, just like every other ISP.
We are also slowly unbundling exchanges, which does usually result in some loss of service, which is unavoidable, but at worst case scenario, will last 10 days. (The most I’ve seen so far is 3 days), after which the people I’ve spoken to during these change over have recieved faster and more stable talktalk broadband.

This post is getting longer as I read more replies…

“I recently heard that the sales people in the shops get a proper bollicking if they don’t sign up two people every day — whether you want the service or not. Guess they would rather sign people up and then fob them off, than lose their jobs.

Carphone should have just stuck to selling mobiles, they were a reaonably good service for that. I guess somehow they now have to find a way to pay off the purchase of AOL. 370 million quid. Shit! And deep in it now, I think. ”

First part is completely false, the retail part of Carphone Warehouse is no longer actively trying to sign people up to talktalk broadband.
The focus is now back to just regularly Talktalk Voice, which is simpler and easier.
As for getting bollicking for not signing people up, it’s a commission and target based job, if you don’t hit your targets for New contracts, talktalk or insurance, then yeah, you’re going to get challenged on it, but that’s nothing new, the severity of which is purely down to individual managers, and nothing to do with the company as a whole.

Reasonably good service for selling mobiles? Last I checked we actually had the best service, but that aside, i’m fairly sure they will have put just a tiny bit of thought into things before buying AOL UK, not exactly an “impulse buy”

“I don’t know how long talktalk will be around they are backed by Carphone Warehouse so hey have a great high street presence as well, but that part of the business is not doing so well since Vodaphone and O2 decided withdraw their contracts. I don’t know enough about the financial strength of the company but they are going to need very deep pockets to ride out the storm.”

Really? Last I heard that part of the business is doing better than ever. Vodafone was such a small percentage of the profit, that we sold all the vodafone customers we did billing for back to vodafone months ago (That helped pay for part of the talktalk launch), and I’m sure Phones 4 U are going to regret their decision.
As for O2, I think you’ve heard wrong there, as we do the billing for every one of our O2 customers, and that isn’t going anywhere.

“You people are crazy. I work for orange broadband and I am one of the people that will have gave some of you people mac codes to move to TT lol. I must admit it’s harsh but I feel a small sense of “told you so” more people need to know of their useless service! People are so quick to jump when something is offered “free” paying for something isn’t bad if it does what it’s supposed to! Even the people who had problems with there other IPS’s will have got a better service or at least a friendly chat if they where having problems. I’m a fond belier that if it isn’t broke don’t fix it, companies will bend over backwards for you if you say you wanna leave. Just hear them out and get a good deal with the service you are accustomed to!”

Oh right, awesome!! So you’re one of the people at Orange Broadband that gave our hundreds of MAC codes to customers that were on LLU enabled exchanges and didn’t bother telling them that no ISP provider can use those MAC codes, instead just letting customers think it was Talktalk to blame??
Quick to accept free offers and some things worth paying for…it’s a good job Orange aren’t offering free broadband then ;)

Webmaster on Mon, 13th Nov 2006 3:22 am


“The latest modem they send out needs no drivers at all, because it can use the Ethernet connection from your PC. The new type modem also has a router and firewall built in too. It takes about 5 minutes to set it up without the CD. ” James.

True, however you do need to use the CD to set up the connection. They apparently had a problem with the CD in that it would not save the Username/Password correctly.

If you have to keep resting the Username/Password then try

http://www.weblinksonline.co.uk/webtools/?page=Talktalk

James on Mon, 13th Nov 2006 8:27 pm


If you use the Ethernet connection then YOU DO NOT NEED THE TALK TALK CD at all.

That’s right. you DO NOT NEED THE CD at all.

That is, you can throw the CD away, because it is NOT NEEDED to set anything up.

If you use the USB connection, then you’ll need the USB drivers either from the CD or from any place online that has them.

You set up the modem from its own configuration screen, at http://192.168.1.1/ or at http://192.168.1.2/ putting your TalkTalk user name and password in the appropriate places (you should have received them in a letter) and then hit submit and then SAVE and then OK. You should then be able to get online immediately.

Once online, visit TalkTalk’s email setup website at http://bbdashboard.talktalk.net/ and once logged in that website you can nominate an email address and choose a password for that email address. You log in using your user name (that’s the one like telephone number @ talktalk.net ) and the password that was sent in the letter.

Finally, you’ll need to set up your email program. For that you’ll need to know that the two server names are smtp.talktalk.net and mail.talktalk.net – the other boxes take your full email address (note that user name here is your full email address too) and the password for that email address.

anonymos on Mon, 13th Nov 2006 10:53 pm


Yeah, Paul, everything is wonderful… NOT

http://talktalkissues.blogspot.com/

and there is more... on Mon, 13th Nov 2006 11:34 pm


Total farce….

http://timesbusiness.typepad.com/money_weblog/2006/06/talktalk_servic.html

Paul Harris on Tue, 14th Nov 2006 4:48 pm


Hello all,

I too fell for the misleading ad campaign by talk talk, fortunately I found it quite easy to dump them, it took just one e-mail to customer services stating that they were clearly in breach of contract by not providing the service they stated in the contract. ie; 8meg was promised as soon as it was avaliable in my area, and I would be advised by letter or e-mail if my download limit was exceeded, neither of these points were initiated by talk talk.

I requested a MAC code to go to another ISP stating my points, I then recieved a rather nasty e-mail saying that they would send a MAC code in 5 days but if I migrated they would then disconnect my phone service under the talk 3 plan and I would have to find another telephone service.

I rang BT and had my line transferred to them and then signed up with AOL broadband for a seamless migration, problem solved.

Please – stay away from carphone warhouse – it will cost me about £10 a month more but worth it. You get what you pay for. Talk talk is supposed to be free, so on that premise they dont care about the level of service provided to customers.

Gordon on Tue, 14th Nov 2006 6:44 pm


I’ve been on talk 3 international for 4 months now, with free broadband. My line went live on time and my broadband connection never drops. I’ve friends abroad whom I now can yap all night for free. I was so impressed I joined talk talk mobile so I can phone all my friends who have talk talk landlines for free. Never had a free call yet and always have to complain!!!! Feckers.

steve on Tue, 14th Nov 2006 6:55 pm


with regards to my earlier message i have today recieved an email back after emailing charles dunston the owner of carphone warehouse (email adress dunstoc@cpwplc.com) who had passed my email for urgent investigation . 2 days later i recieved another email from keith myers (Myersk@cpwplc.com) who is the customer liaison executive at talktalk who has as a gester of good will ensured that there will be NO disconnection fee £69.99 and has waved my last months bill of £21.99 also giving me my Mac code. I PERSONALLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU ALL EMAIL CHARLES DUNSTON THRETENING WITH LEGAL ACTION DUE TO BREACH OF CONTRACT TO HISELF AND HIS COMPANY TO ITS CUSTOMERS. This really works as he was baffled as to how i’d got his personal email address that came of this site thanks alot you guys.

Kev on Tue, 14th Nov 2006 9:52 pm


Well update on my previous post on 10th Nov at 2.31pm regarding major problems with Talktalk!! I had Sky broadband connected today 12 days after ordering as promised, All working well no probelms as yet! Well done Sky!

vic on Wed, 15th Nov 2006 4:32 pm


Just thought I’d share my nightmare with some fellow sufferers. I too was seduced by the low price and thought that surely the problems were over exaggerated…of course now I know differently.

I was assured that my BB would go live at the end of Septmeber, that was moved twice until the 9th of October. I had bought an IMac G5 in August and was making the move to BB. I bought a Belkin wireless modem and router which I was going to set up on my old Dell laptop before getting the Mac running. Well, setting up the modem was fine, except I was being told that there was no connection to the internet. I spoke to Belkin tech support who assured me everything I had done was right and that the problem was either TT fault or a faulty modem. I tried out BT modem that AOL had sent me (in a bid to keep my custom when I told them I would not be staying with them), and it’s LEDs also failed to light up.

TT tech support assured me that the line was active and that they could not help me any more so they arranged for someone from second line to call back. They did so when I was not expecting the call so I missed it and had to ring to arrange another – the same thing happened and all the while I was being put on hold and charged for the pleasure. This time I was asured that due to all the problems they were having, calls to the 08712267146 number were not going to be charged and that as I was calling within 14 days of my “go live” date there would be no charge anyway.

Nobody rang me back…I had made sure I was in during the call back period (3 days) I rearranged the call and waited again – this happened another 2 times – over a period of 17 days, during which time I received my first phone bill and guess what, the only call charges I had were those made to their free tech support line, for which I was apparently not going to be charged! I had also been in John Lewis looking at new printers when I mentioned my problems to a member of staff, even though I had not purchased my modem from them, they said I could take it in and they would try it out in their office, I did this and using all my cables, they had no trouble getting on line, browsing and connecting witelessly with an Mac as well as a wired pc. So, I knew for certain by this point that the fault was on the line. But, I was still waiting for that callback. Well, when I rang asking again why I hadn’t been called I was told that the request would again be generated but that because my modem was not TT issue, they probably would not help me anyway, regardless of the fact that it was a problem on the line. So, I had to go to CPW and have them send me one out, which they did, it arrived the next day. I couldn’t get the drivers to install on my laptop but everything was going well on the IMac aside from not being able to connect to the net. Still no call back.

I went into a CPW and had them call their helpline number where I spoke to an American called David who said he thought he knew what the problem was and assured me he would call me when I was at home at 10am the next day. He didn’t call me back. I called them about the second line call back I was still waiting for and was told that I would receive it the next day. I didn’t, by this point I was not expecting a callback, and I still don’t. I rang again and informed them that I wished to end my contract due to the appalling service I had recieved, that I was not going to pay the £75 charge and that I had been wrongly charged for the earlier calls, I was again assured that my case would be given top priority and that someone would call me within 3 days. This was last frifay. I have since called and been told I must pay the £75 but have been assured that someone will call me on friday evening. This is their last chance, I am going to email C.Dunstone once I have finished this and I intend to get as far away from TT as possible…I’m am pretty much resigned to the fact that I will have to hand over £75 now.

I should say however, that my mother has had no problems so far with TT and was online sooner than they had said-I guess she’s one of the lucky few.

Imran Khan on Wed, 15th Nov 2006 4:47 pm


To get talktalk back on track everyone needs to write a letter to Ofcom and Otelo explaining the wonders of talktalk.

Maxine on Thu, 16th Nov 2006 6:32 am


Hah! Last night – knock on the door. It was a TalkTalk sales representative. He asked me if I wanted to sign up. I said no. He asked if I had previously had TalkTalk. Then he saw the look on my face and nervously said, ‘You’re not going to hurt me, are you?’ He asked me what it was about TT that made me move away from them. I said it was the appalling customer service. To this he looked genuinely surprised and said that they’d won Best Customer Service Award or something or other. I asked who did the research….but he didn’t know. I have NO idea how they keep winning this Best Customer Service crap.Most likely Chuckie D is paying someone to say nice things. Oh well, he can afford it. That TT rep was lucky to leave my front door with both his legs intact.

vic on Thu, 16th Nov 2006 9:12 am


Following my post yesterday, I sent of and email to Charles Dunstone and had been offline for no longer than 15minutes when I got a call from someone about said email (which stated everything I had put in my post on this site). It, of course was not the man himself but someone from a UK call centre who actually did a more expensive test on my line. It came back inconclusive so the matter is now being referred to BT. I’m not expecting any miracles and I’m still not happy about giving them my custom due to their appalling customer service, but, if the problem is on the line then better to fix it now before I sign up with anyone else and have to go through the same painful process again.

mas patel on Fri, 17th Nov 2006 1:02 am


Dear all,

I stumbled across this excellent website yesterday after suffering a three week black-out on both telephone and broadband (since 26/9/6) and unsure what to do especially after being messed around by TT’s Customer Services.

After reading the comments I quickly understood that it was better to email all the top people in the company and tell them my problem rather than bother dialling the numpties on the support lines. These were the people i emailed:

1. Myersk@cpwplc.com – apparently some important director
2. HalliwP@cpwplc.com – some bloke who is in Director of customer services
3. DunstoC@cpwplc.com – this is Charles Dunstone the top man!!!

my letter was the same I just changed the name, it reads:

Dear Mr. Dunstone,

Re: (i inserted my tel no and billing address here)

I am writing this email after being told that you do reply to problems and issues with customers who are at their wits end. I originally moved from BT to Talk Talk in September. I signed up with the Landline/Brodband offer for £20~, I actually received OK service until the 24th October, when I received a letter a few days before informing me that my service would be interupted for 20 mins due to an upgrade in my local exchange after which i would get 8MB broadband. That was the start of my problems and I have been without Broadband ever since and the Telephone line only got re-started on the 14th November 2006.

I have made numerous complaints to your customer services team but to no real effect. It was only yesterday that I managed to get my telephoney services resumed (a full 3 weeks after I had complained) but the broadband is still not working. I have also asked customer services for compensation and have give told three different answers:
1. That I should write to Carphone Warehouse Complaints Team
2. That no compensation is available
3. That I am only entitled to a meagre £10 as a goodwill gesture.

I have spent many hours and wasted much money calling the 0870 customer services and faults line through other people’s phones. Although these numbers are free from a Talk Talk line, it is only free if my talk talk line is working!

I humbly request you help me resolve this situation. I am a self-employed person and rely on my broadband to do all my transactions and earn money. I have complained yet again to Customer Services and they have told me that I must wait another 48 hours for the fault to be dealt with by the engineers. I do not believe this is the service you anticipated your company would offer, and unless I see some substantive response and adequete compensation, I fear I will be forced to go back to BT due to the non-receival of service from Talk Talk.

I await your reply in eager anticipation.
Yours Faithfully,

Mas Patel

……….and lo and behold I got a reply that very night at 11.30PM ( i sent the email at 8PM)

The reply reads:

Dear Mr Patel

Many thanks for your email, I am extremely sorry to hear of the problems you are experiencing with your broadband account and concerned that you have had to contact to me in search of resolution.

I have got someone investigating what has gone wrong and we will be back to you shortly.

In the meantime, please accept my sincere apologies

Regards
Charles Dunstone

……..UNBELIEVABLEY, the very next morning I was back online and in contact with the world…with a super fast reliable internet service.

I then received a telephone call from his secretary or the like, who offered me a months free subscription and £10 (total of £30~). I accepted this although if I had pushed her I would have got more (I was just emotionally drained to argue anymore……just relived to have got the problem solved).

So thanks to the posts that pointed me in this direction and I hope my experience can help others!!!! It worked for me…and I’ll give TT 1 final chance…

BTW I also got her telephone number (BT Landline) so I could contact her if similar problems arose!!!!!!

Best of Luck

Mas

mas patel on Fri, 17th Nov 2006 1:05 am


just a follow up I also sent the email to Charles Dunstone 2nd email:

dunstoc@cpwplc.com

and I just checked that THIS is the email I got his reply from…

Mas

Jean on Fri, 17th Nov 2006 3:41 pm


Hi Everyone
I’ve been with TT for years with the phone and then I took advantage of their offer to take over my landline. How please I was at the time as it saved me several £s per quarter from BT. So I thought I’d take up their offer of free broadband and upgrade from my old dial-up back in Aug. Having only had to wait 6 weeks for my modem to arrive (no welcome letter) I thought Yippee! Until I tried to run the CD to install (quick,easy!!! took me 5 hours and 2 phone calls) But now the problems really begin……… It was reasonably ok until the beginning of Nov when they were doing some upgrading? And now it just keeps hanging up on me. Not being technically minded, I’m at the mercy of TT, but I do know that it’s not my computer that’s at fault. How I wish I’d discovered this website before I signed up. But perhaps there is a light at the end of the tunnel? We can now break free from the contract that binds us according to website The Register? This I shall be investigating. Now all I have to do is find another (reliable) ISP. I’m having to write this at work in my own time and use their broadband as I don’t stay connected long enough to do this at home.
Incidentally, do talktalk still advertise on TV with all those wretched people going round in circles forming shapes? I don’t watch TV anymore. I’m far too busy shouting down the phone to someone in India.

Bill on Sun, 19th Nov 2006 1:29 am


Personally, I find that the service from TT is excellent. In my own case, I applied for their Talk3 international package in May of this year. Activation date June 2006.
Phone services transferred to TT July 2006. Must admit though that broadband connection/activation had a few minor hiccups.
1. TT failed to use first mac code provided until after it had lapsed
2. TT ‘ lost’ the second mac code provided
3. Broadband finally ‘activated’ in August 2006, except password/user name invalid on domain. After a call to TT service centre, where I was informed that support was not available because I was not using a TT provided modem (I own a netgear wireless router modem, DG834PN which worked a treat with BTinternet. I requested a TT type modem which duly arrived several weeks later. Still no internet access) Several calls later to TT service centre, where operators seem to be restricted to reading from a fixed script, no joy.

Blame put on BT. Several calls to BT service centre, also somewhere in India, (Probably the same operators as TT, Eventually fault referred to BT engineers.
4. BT engineers gave connection clean bill of health.
5. Still no internet access, same problem with PW/User name,
6 More calls to TT service centre, same script.
7. More BT testing, clean bill of health
8. Some real technical help from technical service staff, Try accessing the BT main server with test user/password. Perfect access 1st time.
9. Try TT server access with test PW/user name, no chance
10 Referred to BT engineers yet again. No fault found. Still no internet access.
11. text message sent to mobile saying ‘ All is well with the world” Oh yeah?
12. text message to technical staff saying ‘ no way Hose’
13. Follow up call from technical services, after test message, try these tests again. Same result
14. Referred back to BT engineers, ‘Allow a couple of days for engineers, but keep trying meantime.’ (???)
15. Broadband finally available 17 Nov 2006, nut guess what……
16. Setup CD can’t access the network. Software can’t access the network.
17. manual load of drivers and setting up with DNS etc (without help of service staff) finally got access to the internet. Mind you, I still had to manually set up emails etc.

Result – I now have access to broadband services which, to date, over a period of some three days, have performed admirably

So I have absolutely no complaints whatsoever about TT internet services.

Incidentally, TT’s Sagem modem now acts as a not very good paper weight. I set up my Netgear wireless modem/router for use on the internet. Easy as pie to set up. Do reset to factory default, the let the modem auto detect internet settings. Worked first time.

David P on Sun, 19th Nov 2006 2:06 pm


Hello my fellow sufferers.

Seems im not alone cos as soon as my tt broadband was upgraded to 8mb it all went tits up.
I need not to tell you all the horror story cos im sure you have experienced the joys and delights of this so called free service.
Just want to say what a great site this is.
And thanks for the tips and ideas.
Good luck everyone….Lets kick some ass!

kym on Sun, 19th Nov 2006 3:51 pm


Hi there ,
having had many problems with talktalk broadband this week i have kicked them into touch and gone back yo my previous broadband provider on a much better package than i had before may i add,the problem i now have is i cannot get rid of there anti virus and firewall i have deleted everything relating to talktalk and f-secure but it still comes up that talktalk online security 6.02 is still protecting my computer any ideas please………HELP!

Maxine on Sun, 19th Nov 2006 9:51 pm


I had to reformatt the whole sodding computer. Uninstall Windows etc then reinstall. Gets rid of shitloads. But make sure you save everything to disc.

barbara on Tue, 21st Nov 2006 1:42 pm


I sent the Charlester an e mail (i got his address from this site ) that made me feel a whole lot better actually thinking that the bloke who needs the tongue lashing may actually be getting what he deserves and not some poor bloke in downtown Bombay ….i did get a response, and a phone call from one of their high level complaints agents who seemed to be pretty on the ball and on a mission to sort my 1/2 meg connection problem out ….. that was short lived ….. he lost interest after realising he was flogging a dead horse.

So i am going back to BT …i did make sure that the “special “agent sent me an e mail stating that i would NOT be charged the 70 quid cancelation fee due to their inability to uphold their side of the deal. Whether they actually do try to take the 70 quid from the bank remains to be seen , but i have cancelled my direct debit and asked for a paper final invoice , just to be sure ! Make sure you get your “special ” agents name and e mail address.

Mick on Tue, 21st Nov 2006 4:03 pm


Kym – I had exactly the same problem. E-mail F-Secure and they will send you a link to an uninstall download which works. F-Secure must be pretty pissed off with TalkTalk too!

David P – our broadband was “upgraded” on 12th September – we then had three weeks of no service at all, followed by a slow and intermittent service which at least works sometimes! Still crap after all these months!!

Kirsty on Sun, 26th Nov 2006 2:43 pm


My broadband didn’t work after my “upgrade”. All the usual call centre nightmares followed. 5 weeks later I found this site and emailed dunstone. My high level complaints guy was great, but it still took ten days before they could fix it. They tried about ten different things. eventually they did something to the MASN port ??? and it’s been working for 4 days now without a problem. (touch wood) but i’m not at all confident it will last. It’s worth emailing and persevering if you can’t afford to pay extra for broadband. If you can afford it, or you rely on it then try elsewhere. You don’t get much for free. Thanks for this site. It saved my sanity!

Mick M on Sun, 26th Nov 2006 3:50 pm


Babara – Congratulations for breaking out; but be prepared for months more hassle. They hate it when you cancel your direct debit so that you have the upper hand.
As for expecting them to send you a paper final invoice. Were you born yesterday?
You aren’t dealing with a normal company here. You are dealing with a complete bunch of morons who can’t communicate with each other (not to mention their customers).
As you seem to know, make sure you keep records of every email, letter, phone call etc. I know from experience. This could go on for a long time!
Good luck. May the force be with you!!

Ian C Evans on Sun, 26th Nov 2006 5:06 pm


Hi

Let me tell you about TalkTalk and what bunch of crap they are …

I was a Tele2 customer and was forced to transfer to TalkTalk in Feb 2006 on the basis that prices would not change but the service would be improve (both were lies from the start).

Most of my calls are international and I notice (once I analysed the bills) that I was paying between 250-300% per minute more for international calls on TalkTalk then on Tele2. I complain vigourously (and continually) and eventually they admitted I had been over charged and gave me a £ 65 odd refund.

We agreed that I should be on the International 3 plan which means free international calls for a set monthly fee (and £ 29.99 which they did not tell you about; they just put in on you bill). I was told it would take a month to set up the plan and that I would use the prefix 18418 to get the cheap rate international calls (i.e. same price as Tele2).

Two months went by and still no Welcome letter (despite numerous calls). Then I analysed by two bills and found I was paying the same higher rate for international calls. I phoned again and was told that :-

a) No International 3 Plan had been ordered for me !
b) The prefix I was given (18418) is not for Plan 1 (which I was still on) but only International 3. The girl had given me bum info to get rid of me. They would not give any refunds (absolutely no way).

Meantime, I organised again the International 3 plan. I called up a week later. Nothing on he system so I done it again. This time (3rd time) it is on. I was told I would get a Welcome letter and all the instructions for the plan. Nothing ever arrived (this is 18th September it started).

So I was prepared to accept that I had been overcharged again on the basis it was finally sorted out and I could now make free international calls for a fixed monthly fee.

For the next two months I carried on and they realise that my bills were even higher, £ 65.93 for September and £ 35.52 for October – this is on a plan which is costing supposedly £ 9.99 per month !

I phoned up and complained vigourously (again) and was told was that I had not used the 18418 prefix. Nobody had told me to do so to use this 18418 for the International 3 plan ! They apologised for no Welcome Pack (which gave all the information inc the prefix) and absolutely refused to give any refund stating that the info re the 18418 prefix is on your 17th Sept bill – one day before I was on the International 3 plan !

I demanded that a Manager call me and I was told that one would within 2-48hrs. None did. I called and asked my this didn’t happen. I was told “you’ll have to ask Faghry yourself” ! This guy was a really arrogant SOB and to say we didn’t get on was an understatement.

I am complaining to Offcom, local Trading Standards, Charles Dunstance, CEO of TalkTalk (which I was told is a waste of time by the South African call centre) and pass it on to BBC Watcdog plus a letter for all UK national papers warning potential customers re the dangers of TalkTalk.

They are an absolute shower. I have never met anything so bad (except Ryanair) in the life.

amber on Sun, 26th Nov 2006 5:14 pm


what can i say that hasnt been said, im not able 2 disconnect, no 1 i ring will disconnect me even when they say they have, then after being on hold for 45 mins at 10p per min and ten people later i get no help, ive sent all the modem back recored delivery with my 5th letter sayin i dont want this service i closed it all down within 14 days due to no1 helpin me set it up and 20pounds of calls later, and even duo they have no information of this on thier screens of me doing any of this (my phone bill clearly shows i was doing somethink) i still have not heard anythink . the joke off it all is there still billing me, even when i dont have any of there aquiment in my home, and its never been up and running, how do they get away with this, we dont get to breack contracks like this, but wrong cookie the more they get me maddddddddddddddddddd i will get them, im not payin 1more penny. small claims dosnt sound bad at all REMEMBER ONE PHONE CALL TO SET UP A LIFE TIME OF GREY HAIR AND NO SEVICE WHICH YOU WILL BE PAYING FOR.

STEVE on Thu, 30th Nov 2006 9:12 am


HI ALL, MY STORY IS THE SAME AS ALL THE REST SO WONT BORE EVERYONE. I HAVE CANX MY DD AND HAVE ARRANGED BT TO TAKE OVER THE PHONE LINE IN 2 WEEKS. OK THAT’S THE PHONE SORTED. I HAVE ASKED TT FOR MY MAC CODE BUT WHEN I DO THEY HANG UP, LOL. HOW THE HELL CAN I SWITCH BB WITHOUT THIS OR WILL THEY JUST ‘DISCONNECT’ ME WHEN THEY REALISE THAT I NO LONGER HAVE THEIR INTERNATIONAL PLAN NOR AM I PAYING FOR IT? TO BE HONEST, I WILL NOT BE CONTACTING THEM AGAIN AND INTEND TO JUST IGNORE THEM AND ANY REQUESTS FOR MONEY. I’M NOT BOTHERED ABOUT THE CREDIT BLACKLISTING AS I’M LEAVING THE UK IN ABOUT A YEAR ANYWAY. A TASTE OF THEIR OWN MEDICINE WILL DO THEM GOOD. SO ANY IDEAS PEOPLE?..THANKS

Kev on Fri, 1st Dec 2006 11:26 am


Have Bt told you that you need a MAC code? I heard somewhere “could be a load of ball” that as BT own all the equipment in the exchange you dont necesarily need a mac code, BT can just pull the plug on them!
Also heard that although they are crap with dealing with customer problems, they are very swift with the dept collectors and baliffs!!! Be careful!!!

Talk Talk Victim on Fri, 1st Dec 2006 2:16 pm


I can’t believe just how bad the talk talk service really is.

I signed up to this package almost 2 months ago now and still have not recieved the modem or any details. And contrary to what they initially advised they did not contact my current provider to cancel.

Everytime I’ve spoken to their so-called ‘Customer Services’ I had different dates
and no-one seems to have any information about what is going on.

Talk Talk are absolutely useless – and now I read about those people who do finally get connected and continue to suffer from poor service.

I for one will defintely be cancelling and never going back.

Mick M on Fri, 1st Dec 2006 6:35 pm


Kev
You’re absolutely right about the speed with which this crap company can instigate the debt collectors
Without boring you with all the details, my 7 month dispute with TT was resolved when Otelo ordered them to write off all my debts, close my accounts, stop debt collectors hassling me now and in the future, guarantee that my credit rating has not been damaged, send an apology and a £50 good will cheque.
TT begrudgingly did all that and I thought, silly me, that that’s the last I’ll here from TT.
Guess what. Last week I received a demand from another debt collection company, newly employed by TT. This week another bill from TT for ‘this month’s broadband’ (that was terminated last April) and a second threatening letter from the debt collectors plus an auto dialled phone call from them requesting that I get in touch via an 0870 number at my expense to discuss my debt!!!
Talk Talk are the pits.
AVOID AT ALL COSTS

Imran Khan on Sat, 2nd Dec 2006 2:00 am


Just got off the phone with someone from cancellations from talktalk. She said that cancellations are so busy shes been called away from her normal position to take cancellation calls. Just shows what a mess talktalk is. This internet/telephone service grab by cpw is going to cost them so bad in the long term and they dont even know it.

Imran Khan on Sat, 2nd Dec 2006 2:05 am


Oh y