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


< ![CDATA[[...] 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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[[...] 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&#8217;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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[Hi All, I was with TalkTalk for both LandLine &#38; 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 &#38; 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 &#38; 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 &#38; time again `no we cannot change the date &#38; 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 &#38; 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 &#38; 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 &#38; 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, &#38; I let them have it out loud in front of everyone (in fact I had a audiance) &#38; after I had let everyone know what the talktalk service was really like I got a round of applause &#38; 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 &#38; 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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[For the record peeps, TT is a member of Otelo (www.otelo.org.uk) &#38; 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 &#38; 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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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&#38; 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


< ![CDATA[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 &#8220;unlike&#8221; 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


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

Archives

August 2006 July 2006 June [...] ]]>

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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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 &#38; 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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[[...] 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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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&#38;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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[A question to Walkerx

I have checked the T&#38;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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[Msg to Lifesabeach:

Here is the section from the TT Ts &#38; 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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[I, after reading this forum mailded both C Dunstone &#38; 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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA['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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[[...] 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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[sethi.. you don't *have* to use a TTBB modem, if you've got another one, you just need your username &#38; 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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[[...] 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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA["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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[Peter: not know of one!

Kaz: sounds like TT hogging the browser &#38; 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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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&#38;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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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&#38;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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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&#38;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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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 &#38; 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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[The problems with SmartAX MT882 modem are explained on another site http://forums.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/forum_posts.asp?TID=5341&#38;PN=1&#38;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


< ![CDATA[@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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[Want to see something done about this excuse for a company?
Sign the petition at
http://www.petitionthem.com/?sect=detail&#38;pet=3170>

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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[**** 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&#38;PN=1&#38;TPN=2>

Mick M on Sat, 14th Oct 2006 7:13 pm


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[&gt;&gt; pop.talktlalk.net

That was obviously pop.talktalk.net]]>

Talk is cheap on Mon, 16th Oct 2006 9:17 pm


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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 &gt; Internet Options &gt; Connections &gt;
Dial up and Virtual Private Network Settings
Talk Talk Broadband(Default)
Always dial my default connection.
Then Click on Settings Tab &gt;
Tick automatically detect settings.
Dial up settings &gt; 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


< ![CDATA[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 &gt; Internet Options &gt; Connections &gt;
Dial up and Virtual Private Network Settings
Talk Talk Broadband(Default)
Always dial my default connection.
Then Click on Settings Tab &gt;
Tick automatically detect settings.
Dial up settings &gt; 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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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&#38;cat=small_claims&#38;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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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 &#38; 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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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 &#38; 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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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&#38;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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[** ** 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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA["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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[Yeah, Paul, everything is wonderful... NOT

http://talktalkissues.blogspot.com/>

and there is more... on Mon, 13th Nov 2006 11:34 pm


< ![CDATA[Total farce....

http://timesbusiness.typepad.com/money_weblog/2006/06/talktalk_servic.html>

Paul Harris on Tue, 14th Nov 2006 4:48 pm


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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


< ![CDATA[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 yeah one more thing I forgot to mention, Paul you forgot to mention one BIG thing. The other isp’s are buying lines from BT wholesale and selling them on for a profit, so you stay with that line for as long as your with the isp. Where as you lot are paying BT to use their lines at a loss and then swapping people over to your equipment which just does not work. TalkTalk do not have the experience, technical expertise or manpower in the telephone/internet services industry. CPW should stick to selling rip off contracts to naive buyers, oh did I forget to mention that for every customer sign CPW pocket £400 plus a percentage of the calls made. Stay away from TalkTalk stay away from CPW.

Imran Khan on Sat, 2nd Dec 2006 2:16 am


My suggestion is everyone here start to record your conversations with customer services and then upload them to a website for everyone to hear talktalk legendary customer services in action.

Shivonne on Sat, 2nd Dec 2006 12:55 pm


< ![CDATA[I won't go into the numerous problems that I have had with Talk Talk because it's the same as nearly everyone of the complaints I have read. Bad landline/BB service although interestingly since I have asked to cancel my package I have only had two disconnections in a week.

If you want to cancel your package and revert back to another telephone service folks, this will be the biggest challenge you've ever had in your life because I have been trying to do this for three weeks. You are passed from one customer centre call centre to another between London, India, South Africa and anywhere esle one exists.

You are told that your package will be cancelled in 24 hours and then when this is not done 48 hours, which then turns into 4 days, which in turn results in three weeks still waiting. I have written to the CEO and although he replies to you, it is exactly the same reply he gives to everyone else, he does not care.

Three weeks later I find out that the difficulty in transferring back to BT lies with the my line, it is in the process of being transferred to Talk Talk's local network but has not been completed. In order for BT to take it back Talk Talk needs to cancel it. In the end I was forced to cancel my direct debit because I felt this was the only way Talk Talk would cancel my package. Unfortunately, they used this as an excuse not to transfer my line. I paid by debit card over the phone for some reason it did not go through. I sent a cheque in and am still waiting for confirmation of this.

To cut a long story short, I complained to OFCOM was given a number that bypasses all the idiots in the usual customer services centre, but folks the person allocated is not much better. He told me he was going to investigate the matter and return my call in 24 hours. 3 days later, I'm still awaiting the call.

The saying you pay what you get for is true. Does anyone have any ideas how to force Talk Talk to cancel the order they have to transfer my line to their network so that BT can pick it back up, as I am at my wits end.

Shivonne]]>

TheLawyer on Sat, 2nd Dec 2006 7:23 pm


< ![CDATA[To Kev: Debt collectors aren't God. They must get a court judgement first. So if you get a claim form DON'T SIT ON IT. File a defence. If you have spent money sorting your problems out, file a counterclaim with you defence, though that will incur a court fee. It will however make them think whether you are worth pursuing. Don't be frightened by court legalese. The claim they issue against you is likely to be a small claim, and judges do not expect professionally drafted paper work.

I am a TalkTalk customer and also a former OneTel customer which, for my sins, was taken over by CPW. I am fed up by the level of service and that I constantly have to plug out and back in my phone connection before I can send email. (It doesn't alway work.)

I'm thinking of going back to BT for my land line. Can anyone advise if Bulldog are OK? They have an 8mb connection for 9.99 pm. Are they rogues like CPW, or a solid outfit?

Thanks!]]>

Paul on Sat, 2nd Dec 2006 9:20 pm


< ![CDATA["TalkTalk do not have the experience, technical expertise or manpower in the telephone/internet services industry."

Ahh right....So I guess I shouldn't mention that it is actually BT that is changing people from BT equipment to Talktalk equipment. So I guess when it goes wrong it's Talktalk at fault, not the BT engineers screwing something up?
Oh, and once they AOL UK deal goes through, they will have fully activated LLU exchanges, and a proper setup process, thus ironing out even more problems.
Wow...sure does seem like you may be wrong yet again.

"CPW should stick to selling rip off contracts to naive buyers, oh did I forget to mention that for every customer sign CPW pocket £400 plus a percentage of the calls made. Stay away from TalkTalk stay away from CPW."

Where does this hatred towards CPW come from? Did Charles eat your hamster?
You seem to spout a lot of nonsense and state it as fact.
CPW 'pocket' £400? And where is this going? Into a cayman islands bank account?
How dare they attempt to make a profit from customers, that's just unethical.
They should stop at once, and start doing business like everyone else. BT for example, CPW should start charging triple the price for all services purely because it can. Hows about you go dig up how much BT were pocketing per customer before talktalk launched free broadband and BT were forced to slash their prices and increase what their packages offer?

Yes Talktalk Broadband has had a lot of problems. No-one has ever denied that.
But standard Talktalk voice, and moreso Carphone Warehouse are completely reliable and tend to be near the top of any kind of best retailer list generated.]]>

Imran Khan on Sat, 2nd Dec 2006 11:45 pm


< ![CDATA[Well Paul, lovely to see your on first name terms with "Charles" or maybe even "Charlie" when you two are alone in his office, wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Well Paul you stupid muppet, if you ever had the experience 99% of talktalk customers have had then believe me you would know why the hate for all things TalkTalk and Car Phone Warehouse exists.

Why the hell are you blaming BT, all they do is take the friggin plug out of their working equipment and stick it in to your made in "Charlies" shed piece of broken unworking LLU piece of kit. The reason for the problems is not BT it is 100000% TalkTalk and Carphone warehouse and e2save group and anything connected with talktalk.

TalkTalk is an utter and total shambles and should be fined by Offcom and investigated by trading standards. Oh yeah I can not believe AOL is also now owned by TalkTalk, so I guess AOL is headed for disaster as well. Please everyone who is having problems with talktalk, record your phone calls to customer services and upload them to some website so people can actually here what talktalk customers have to endure.]]>

Imran Khan on Sat, 2nd Dec 2006 11:52 pm


< ![CDATA["Yes Talktalk Broadband has had a lot of problems. No-one has ever denied that."

When talktalks own employees are saying that its riddled with problems and no one is denying it, then I guess that just speaks volumes for TalkTalk. Also that music you have to listen to on hold has to be the worst selection of music.]]>

Imran Khan on Sun, 3rd Dec 2006 12:10 am


< ![CDATA[I dont know if this is allowed, I hope it is, but after searching the web I've found a few more sites dedicated to discussing the marvels of talktalk:

http://paler.com/forums/message-view?message_id=4857

http://talktalkhell.wordpress.com/

I was just reading talktalkhell and the owner of the site is saying that Carphone Warehouse is threatening them with legal action, LOL. Also in the link I posted you get car phone warehouse employees responding to these threads saying how wonderful talktalk is and that the 99% of users who are finding it awful are just not telling the truth. It doesnt take a long search on the web to find out why talktalk and carphone warehouse are soon gonna be out of business. Good riddence.]]>

Jose on Wed, 6th Dec 2006 9:20 am


< ![CDATA[Hello you all...

I am also experiencing problems with the broadband, I have spent hours on the phone with them (and lots of money) but still I can access broadband 7 months after I signed.

My problem is when I use the CD to download the broadband, all is fine, but when checking to the MODEN, NETWORK and TALKTALK connection, the first one, CONNETION TO MODEM is SUCCESSFUL, however, the second one, CONNECTION TO NETWORK always fails... ... so I can't go any further than that.

I keep calling them and they tell me to click on Panel Control, etc, etc, etc but I am not sure that is anything related to my problems, they just want the money and keep me hanging for hours!

Any charitative soul here that might be able to help and Talk Talk refuses to help?

Thanking you all.]]>

Paul on Wed, 6th Dec 2006 10:10 pm


< ![CDATA[In response to Jose:
"My problem is when I use the CD to download the broadband, all is fine, but when checking to the MODEN, NETWORK and TALKTALK connection, the first one, CONNETION TO MODEM is SUCCESSFUL, however, the second one, CONNECTION TO NETWORK always fails… … so I can’t go any further than that."

First things to do are:
1) Check the modem - Which lights are on? I'd guess that the first light, Power, is obviously on, and the second light (Probably labelled Link) is flashing?
2) If above is true it means your modem isn't getting a broadband dial tone. Double check that it's not a problem within your house by plugging the modem into your main phone line and seeing if the Link light will stay lit.
3) If it's still flashing, you've basically got two options.
A) Call tech support, and just keep telling them to have 2nd line support call you.
B) Visit a store and ask them to raise an Escalation Form - This will get someone to call you back within 8 working hours - And these guys do actually call you.
Once they call, explain the situation, and they should arrange for 2nd line support to call you.

And for Imran
"if you ever had the experience 99% of talktalk customers have had then believe me you would know why the hate for all things TalkTalk and Car Phone Warehouse exists."

I have had more experience of what these customers are going through than any single customer has, I've had it every single day since the free broadband was launched.

"When talktalks own employees are saying that its riddled with problems and no one is denying it, then I guess that just speaks volumes for TalkTalk."

Good to see that you're not twisting what is said there.

"Also that music you have to listen to on hold has to be the worst selection of music.

Agreed, I have to hear it several times an hour via our in-store music.

"It doesnt take a long search on the web to find out why talktalk and carphone warehouse are soon gonna be out of business. Good riddence."

Perhaps you should search a bit longer then, because CPW or Talktalk aren't going anywhere soon.
Anyway, it's pretty clear that you've some deep hatred of Carphone, seemingly unrelated to Talktalk. So I'll leave you to it.]]>

maryann on Sat, 9th Dec 2006 1:56 pm


I would just like to say that i ve never, seen or dealt with a company that has poor commucation and poor customer sertvice. i lasted a week with their phone and brodband service which was a complete falure. bILLING MYSELF WITH PAID OUTSTANDING BILLS. When dealing with them giving edvidence of proof of payment, i would still receive letters from debt collectors which is really upseting.

Mick on Mon, 11th Dec 2006 1:28 pm


< ![CDATA[@Paul

Obviously you are an employee of Talk-Talk/CPW and your loyalty is impressive, if ill-judged.
The bottom line is simply that TT were totally unprepared both technically and organisationally for the take-up of their free broadband offer. This, compounded by the problems caused by the unbundling of exchanges, has meant that the level of customer service to thise experiencing problems has been unbelievably poor. For the first few months of our free service I had no complaints whatever and was mightily impressed by both the telephone and broadband service. However, since our exchange was "unbundled" on 12th September, the broadband connection has been sporadic to say the least. We had three weeks with no service whatever, followed by a couple of months of reasonable service at off-peak times and extremely slow, poor service at peak times, together with frequent disconnections. Over the past few weeks the telephone service has begun to suffer as well, with frequent "crossed lines" and disconnects. Throughout this period, attempts to contact customer service has been appalling - endless hours of hanging on the telephone waiting for someone who you know won't be able to help is disporiting to say the least. I for one had no "deep hatred of Carphone" prior to signing up to TalkTalk - far from it! Even my initial period with free broadband was great. Since September 12th however, bitter experience has caused me to change my tune and agree with those who say that TalkTalk is a mess, is a con and should be taken to task by those with the power to force them to get their act together or get out of business.]]>

Carphone Warehouse - Oliver Brown on Tue, 12th Dec 2006 11:33 am


[...] explanation was in order. As a final personal disclaimer I would like to say that unlike many others I still haven&#8217;t had any problems with TalkTalk as a customer. Tags: [...]

lee on Thu, 14th Dec 2006 8:21 am


i have been with talktalk for years and like it very much i think the business is working very hard to make it work for the uk so just wait unit next year when it become talktalk/aol

Imran Khan on Fri, 15th Dec 2006 9:27 pm


< ![CDATA["Anyway, it’s pretty clear that you’ve some deep hatred of Carphone, seemingly unrelated to Talktalk. So I’ll leave you to it."

@ Paul, from september 13th to mid december my broadband stopped working, the number of times i phoned, the number of times my calls were transferred to dead ends. The hours i wasted, the unacceptable service i received. These are the reasons for the hatred, and yes it is hate. I hate the cpw for duping me in to believe they could provide me free broadband when obviouisly the only thing they can supply is a headache. If you give me your email address i can send you my customer number, all the records, including names and dates of the people i spoke to, their team numbers, their location.

Its quite obvious CPW are very concious of their PR image, and this is why you are being paid to do damage limitation with your useless inputs. I dont even know why CPW even care what people are writing on here just shows a paranoid and claustrophobic outlook you people have in your company. You want to present a good business image even when your service is very sub standard and wasnt car phone ware fined by offcom for making silent calls to customers. I mean Car Phone Warehouse can be summed up as a third rate company and prank calling with todays technology and scaring so many customers just proves it.

I cant wait for your next half year results when clearly talktalk and your aol churn is gonna hit your bottom line and your share price drops.]]>

Chris on Sun, 17th Dec 2006 5:01 pm


< ![CDATA[I haven't read in detail all the comments above but as a talktalk customer I just want to have a rant and get my frustration off my chest.
TT really are the WORST company I have ever dealt with. I have been experiencing problems since Monday 11th December and for the first 3 days thought it was to do with software I had downloaded for my digital camera. Only when my Father got back from holiday on 14th, who is on TT as well, did I find out that he had problems as well. On Friday 15th phoned TT but as usual rude and incompetent and wanted to talk me through my settings as though I was a new user: I've been with them since May. When my post came later on the 15th there was a letter from TT dated 11th Dec saying they were to be changes to my broadband connection on the 11th! How stupid are they to think I would have any warning that they are going to muck up the service!
Since then probably been 15 phonecalls and the majority of them are to people who don't give a monkeys about customer service, and are you ever able to talk to a manager - NO.
I hope they go bust and I never hear of them again.]]>

Luke on Mon, 18th Dec 2006 11:43 am


< ![CDATA[I have a fast web host with unlimited space and would love to host anything anti talktalk on my site http://www.shanoz.com including voice recordings etc etc email me on talktalk@shanoz.com

I have had no broadband for 3 months since joining which makes it VERY hard to maintain my other website

I await emails and will try to reply personally to each one if i have time depending on volume received and will host most stuff.]]>

Sandra on Tue, 19th Dec 2006 11:21 am


I have today switched back to BT having spent a very frustrating two and a half months trying to get (paid for) Broadband from Talk Talk. During that time I have spent a fortune on calls to their Customer Services / Tech Support/ Second Line Support Teams. Might I suggest to others that they do as I have done and log every conversation and contact with Talk Talk and, when their patience finally runs out, they can then send the log to Trading Standards who appear to be the only organisation to get them to handle a complaint seriously. Even the CEO doesn’t answer Recorded Delivery letters! If enough people complain to Tading Standards about this shambolic company they will have to either clean up their act or go out of business!

Imran Khan on Thu, 21st Dec 2006 5:57 pm


Just read the new proposals being made by ofcom on dealing with “rogue” broadband providers such as Car Phone Warehouse talktalk. If they get enough complaints they will fine them 10% of turnover. Right everyone lets get writing to ofcom, for all complaint procedure details just visit http://www.ofcom.org.uk/

Imran Khan on Thu, 21st Dec 2006 6:04 pm


< ![CDATA[Just had a read on a website

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&#38;newsId=20061204005457&#38;newsLang=en

December 2006 and talktalk have just decided to buy the equipment they need to offer broadband services to their customers. Are these guys thick or just stupid, shouldnt they have bought the equipment ages ago. Looks like talktalk customers are gonna be in for a long spell of trouble as this new kit comes in to action.]]>

Rachel on Fri, 22nd Dec 2006 11:36 am


My parents have talk talk and the service is so bad that i will tell anyone who asks to avoid them like the plague. My parents haven’t had a phone line for over a week now and talk talk just keep saying they are upgrading! They also haven’t got broadband – i think they’ve only had that about 3 days out of two months, What i want to know is how to get them out of this contract – my dad is 80 and has cancer so he won’t want to battle, but i can’t bear the stress of never being able to get through to them. Talk Talk stink – beware!

Paul on Fri, 22nd Dec 2006 2:37 pm


< ![CDATA[Yes, Talktalk have only just bought any equipment at all to provide broadband.
Up to now they have been using rainbows and bunny rabbits to provide thousands of customers with free broadband.

Also, do you have link to the article about Ofcom dealing with "rogue" broadband providers, I checked their website and couldn't see it.
Does it actual name CPW as a "rogue" provider, or did you add that bit?

As it does seem that you are doing your best to twist any information you can find or are given to serve your own purpose, rather than just opening your eyes, accepting the fact that CPW is not the anti-christ. And that talktalk is doing everything they can to sort these problems out as quickly as possible.]]>

Luke on Sat, 23rd Dec 2006 3:12 am


< ![CDATA[Well Paul I would be exstatic if they told me what they were doing but instead they insist your route is incorrectly configured etc, they have lied to me many a time about so called upgrades so to me they are the anti christ as i have had little broadband for months now and been billed and lied to throughout.

When i said i had a reading of Line Attenuation of 60 DB (For 2MB) they told me it doesnt exist on talktalk and to turn it off and refused to allow me to speak to 2nd level support as my router isnt compatible if i have line attenuation.??

If they dont even understand the most basic of things how are they meant to offer me support with my BB. So far i have had the settings sheet read to me at least 20 times and i can quote them by heart but that hasnt helped my case.]]>

MysteryMan on Sat, 23rd Dec 2006 8:19 am


< ![CDATA[I have had TalkTalk since 2005 (for phone only mind!!!) and have been quite happy with the service I recieved....I had a fault on my line that was resolved within 48hrs of reporting it and I was given a free months line rental for my trouble...

I find the 'Options' department quite helpful.....It would seem that their customer service skills and knowledge of the actual job is superior to the rest of the company???

Feel quite priviliged to have had good service...]]>

Chris on Sat, 23rd Dec 2006 9:48 am


I help lots of people with computer problems etc.. but TT beats me. One of my friends signed up for TT and I helped her go ‘live’ at the end of July. In the middle of August her ‘username or password’ became invalid. Many,many.many e-mails and phone calls later, numerous tests by BT on the line (all reported OK) TT have admitted the problem is with them, but they do not know how to resolve it!!!! On the 18th December they have said they will ask BT to test the line yet again!! Talk about limited service, she has had no broadband connection since the middle of August. Is this a record?

Mike on Sun, 24th Dec 2006 10:28 am


< ![CDATA[Chris....
No broadband since August is not a record. Its just an acceptable service for Talk Talk.
Ask Paul. Although he obviously wouldn't admit it.
I suspect he's Charlie Dumbstone's love child!!
Merry Christmas.]]>

MARCELO on Tue, 26th Dec 2006 1:04 pm


i can describe talktalk broadband as my “HORRIBLE NIGHTMARE” MY PROBLEMS ONLY STOP WHEN I DECIDED THAT I SHOULD STOP TO FIGHT AND CALL FOR A CANCELATION, AND NEVER HAVE TO TALK TO THEM AGAIN I KNOW I WILL LOSE MONEY, BUT I THINK AT LEAST I CAN KEEP MY DIGNITY AS A CUSTUMER. FOR WHO READ THIS MY ADVICE IS: NEVER USE THEIR SEVICES, YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!!!!

ImranKhan on Wed, 27th Dec 2006 5:02 pm


< ![CDATA["I find the ‘Options’ department quite helpful….."

Thats the dept you phone to cancel your contract you muppet.]]>

Ray J on Sat, 30th Dec 2006 1:49 am


I was ‘signed up’ for Talktalk broadband by one of their door to door salesmen on 17 January 2006 – I’m still waiting!! (and paying). The salesman, an Irish chap called Jeremiah, lied through his teeth to convince us that we MUST switch from Onetel to TalkTalk as Carphone Warehouse had just taken over Onetel. For the best part of a year now I’ve been paying TalkTalk for my phone line -International 3 – £20:99 per month (which should include broadband) – plus I’m still paying Onetel (also a Carphone Warehouse Company) £23:99 per month for my Broadband. Am I being over suspicious or should I smell a rat here?

MysteryMan on Sun, 31st Dec 2006 12:17 pm


< ![CDATA[“I find the ‘Options’ department quite helpful…..”

"Thats the dept you phone to cancel your contract you muppet."

No need to call me a muppet!!!

I know they are supposed to do cancellations (and try and convince you to stay) but if you just call through to them, there training is obviously better and they all seem to be in England!!!! They have always helped me when needed and also helped a friend of mine to get his internet working where the other departments have failed.......although I think it is wrong that the 'cancellation' line should be the only way to get decent support it may be worth knowing if your are stuck in an 18 month contract.]]>

Ron O'Toole on Sun, 31st Dec 2006 1:23 pm


< ![CDATA[I have been with TalkTalk now for just over three months - problems, problems! The main one being customer service - most of the time I just cant hear the person at the other end, when I do I dont understand what they are telling me to do - oftentwo of them will give conflicting adice. The latest is my "last staw" I just cant renwew the Online security - e mail after e mail all telling me what to do, which in the end cant be done because ---- wait for it! last e mail tells me they are having problems and its not my fault. I would like to get ou of TalkTalk but I am a pensioner and I just cant afford the penalty.
Thats enough, I think - Ron O'Toole]]>

Tina on Sun, 31st Dec 2006 3:56 pm


< ![CDATA[Talk Talk my a**e! What a c**p company!
After the usual long wait for broadband to be set up - whilst paying the price - and a load of mess when it was set up, I thought I'd cracked it. BUT THEN.......
I have had no working phoneline or internet connection all over Christmas and the operators in customer service are clearly all robots who have no feelings. Everytime I ring (10 times since 18th Dec) I get told something different. I actually barely have the energy to repeat every time I ring what the problems are. Apparantly, I have been upgraded!! If that means losing everything then I suppose I have. No-one can tell you when the problem will be dealt with - they just log it (but beware, little fairies come along during the night and your fault log disappears into thin air).
I am tired and frustrated to say the least - my kids are up in arms without their MSN messenger or a phone.
Report them everyone - I hope Charles Dungbog goes bust!]]>

Paul on Sun, 31st Dec 2006 9:39 pm


< ![CDATA["Ray J Says: December 30th, 2006 at 1:49 am

I was ’signed up’ for Talktalk broadband by one of their door to door salesmen on 17 January 2006 - I’m still waiting!! (and paying). The salesman, an Irish chap called Jeremiah, lied through his teeth to convince us that we MUST switch from Onetel to TalkTalk as Carphone Warehouse had just taken over Onetel. For the best part of a year now I’ve been paying TalkTalk for my phone line -International 3 - £20:99 per month (which should include broadband) - plus I’m still paying Onetel (also a Carphone Warehouse Company) £23:99 per month for my Broadband. Am I being over suspicious or should I smell a rat here?"

From what I remember, the door to door guys (employed by a company called Cobra, not Carphone Warehouse) were not authorised to offer the full free broadband package when it was first launched.
If you haven't already, you should be able to just contact Talktalk, ask them to add the free broadband onto your account and it'll take about 2-3 weeks usually to go live.
You may need some kind of MAC code from onetel, but I'd doubt it considering it's owned by CPW.

"Ron O'Toole Says: December 31st, 2006 at 1:23 pm

I have been with TalkTalk now for just over three months - problems, problems! The main one being customer service - most of the time I just cant hear the person at the other end, when I do I dont understand what they are telling me to do - oftentwo of them will give conflicting adice. The latest is my “last staw” I just cant renwew the Online security - e mail after e mail all telling me what to do, which in the end cant be done because —- wait for it! last e mail tells me they are having problems and its not my fault. I would like to get ou of TalkTalk but I am a pensioner and I just cant afford the penalty.
Thats enough, I think - Ron O’Toole"

Ditch the online security, there really is very little point in paying for any kind of security package from anyone. You can go to this website http://www.free.grisoft.com and download a free anti-virus software from there, and it’s a fantastic piece of software.

And lastly in response to Tina:
They can’t tell you when the problem will be dealt with because they honestly don’t know. They are sending your fault to BT’s fault department, who currently don’t have enough engineers to be able to give any kind of timescale on when problems will be looked at. They have no contact with the engineers of any kind other than when the engineers send them notes in regards to a customer problem.
And before someone jumps on the blame talktalk bandwagon, I have actually gone through BT Wholesale faults process for several customers with these kind of problems just in case it was a talktalk cock-up, and all I get from BT is, “We will contact the customer within 24-48 hours” And the customers never get a single call.]]>

Ray J on Mon, 1st Jan 2007 9:11 pm


< ![CDATA[Thanks for your response Paul.
I have already sent FOUR Onetel MAC codes to Talktalk, but last week they asked me for yet another one (which I have requested from Onetel).
Incidentally, my neighbour (also previously with Onetel), who 'signed up' with Talktalk on the same day as me, was connected very quickly and has had no problems at all! ???]]>

David E. Alexander on Tue, 2nd Jan 2007 11:35 am


< ![CDATA[Well it is one way a relief not to be alone, but in another deeply sad too. I took on Talk Talk broadband at the recommendation of their sister company onetel, who were effectivey getting out of the broadband business. The saving was huge, the speed was initially three times what I got with onetel 1.4mb download and 512k upload. Life was better.

Then suddenly after two weeks thwe speed dropped to 356k download and about the same upload. Since then it has only gone up to 426k upload and 356k download. I rang in December to complain, they told me this was normal during the first month as they assessed the speed of the line to ensure they could support the maximum speed possible.

They told me to call back in first week of January if no better. Well it is no better and now I am getting the runaround with customer support now offshore somewhere, before christmas is it was UK based and helpful, now they cannot transfer you without cutting you off and seemingly to be nonsensical. I have tried the email support route, useless reply saying they know nothing and call the 10p per minute support line. Just come off the phone, having been cut off for the third time with no results. They suggested using the http://speedtester.bt.com site to test my connection, got an error then. BTW they do not have the ability to call customers back if cut off, it takes 2 weeks to arrange a call back as they cannot make outgoing calls from the call centre!!!!!!!!!.

Just got a letter from Charles Dunstone apologisng for disruption to service due to new equipment installs taking longer than expected and implying they have not control of the BT team that do the work.

For the record I use a belkin wireless DSL router which is very stable, I have also tried it with a speedbooster modem, bit work well and are reliable. I am now in a worse position than when with Onetel, which is something I thought not possible. I cannot use Skype effectively for voice or video and email and other such tasks are very slow.

If anyone has any direct numbers to the talkt talk broadband support team to get past the call centre please let me know.
thanks]]>

Luke on Tue, 2nd Jan 2007 3:05 pm


< ![CDATA[Well I emailed Charles, so far there response has been extremely helpful. Goto my Forum here to see.

http://shanoz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2>

Peggy on Tue, 2nd Jan 2007 9:03 pm


Hi I have just been reading all the reports about talktalk and am so pleased that I am not alone ! Because the customer services people have a way of making you feel as if you are the only one who has a complaint. I started with them in September and it was relatively easy getting started, but since then like others, have had lots of problems. My internet connection would just cut out for no apparent reason and it is irrating when you are in the middle of something. However since about 13 December I have been unable to gain access to any of my emails, I have a message that says you are not connected etc but I am as I am able to use internet. I kept being asked for my password, again and again and all to no avail. I contacted the customer services and was told that they were having problems with the emails and were aware of this and dealing with it. I was advised to leave it for a few days and then all should be ok. However I left it over a weekend and once again rang up and after being cut off a few times, eventually got to speak to this chap who told me again that they were aware of the problem and were dealing with it, when I asked how long it would it be before the problem was dealt with ie. would it be today, tomorrow, He replied well it could be tomorrow, the day after, next week , next month or next year ! He obviously never went to a Charm School. Tried again a few days later, but after a long wait advised there was still a problem and still no email service. I then left it over the Christmas period hoping that the problem may have been sorted, but no way. In the meantime I managed to set up a hotmail message service, and advised as many as possible of new number. I rang again middle of last week, and as others have said, got through to someone who asked me to wait to be put through to the right person, but after about 10 minutes phone went dead. So once again back on the phone and eventually got through to someone who again couldn’t give me any idea when the email problem would be solved. I then said I wanted to cancel the Broadband altogether and was assured that there would be no charge for this. I asked about the Mac Code and was told they would send it to me by email ! I said you can’t send it to me via your email service as it doesn’t exist and gave her my new email number. I did receive that very promptly, with a paragraph mentioning a disconnection charge ! Today I contacted OFCOM and explained all the above and they made a report out and gave me a telephone number for talktalk and I actually spoke to someone who was pleasant and helpful and I have been assured I will have someone contact me within 5 days. I await with anticipation. Yes I had thought of contacting Charles Dunstone, but I will await the outcome now. Does anyone know if Sky is any good for Broadband.

Fred on Wed, 3rd Jan 2007 9:27 am


< ![CDATA[My son and brother in law are both talktalk subscribers. Recently all the e-mails I have sent to my son have not been received by his PC mail reader. On going on to webmail all of them are there marked as SPAM. Similarly many of the e-mails to my brother in law are not being received, spam box not yet checked but I reckon that is where all the missing ones are hiding.

I have just e-mailed Charles Dunstone about this and am awaiting a response.

If you want good broadband I recommend Demon, I have been a subscriber since 1992, though of late their support has deteriorated.]]>

Jake on Wed, 3rd Jan 2007 1:51 pm


< ![CDATA[What Carphone Warehouse/ Talk Talk say about YOU!

To find out what Carphone Warehouse have said about you/information they hold about your account serve them with a Subject Access Right's Notice (SARN). Under the Data Protection Act I believe they have 40 days to send you all the information they hold on you. They can charge a max of £10 for this.

I have just submitted one as I know from my many calls to their 'customer services team' that there are some serious omissions and errors in the information they have recorded.

More details and template letter (Page 6) from the link below.

http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/library/data_protection/practical_application/subject_access_-_guide_for_data_subjects.pdf>

Spencer on Wed, 3rd Jan 2007 1:56 pm


< ![CDATA[What does one say to all this?? I was a happy and content customer of talktalk for almost 2 years until I received a letter in late Nov stating I was about to be upgraded to LLU (that gives up to 8meg download) on 4 Dec. The letter said I would lose my connection for up to 20 mins but we are working hard to improve services.... 13 days later and many frustrating hours on the phone later it appeared out of nowhere! Mysterious to say the least. All was fine again for a further 10 days when the ADSL line suddenly disappeared. Again hours on the phone and 3 days later it popped back into service.

The problems are that now I can only connect using the supplied Sagem Modem (I had to upgrade the drivers from a mates PC!). I was connected using Netgear Router that now wont connect - and yes I have tried it on other systems and it does work. If it goes again, I will cancel and move back to BT straight away.

At least I have a connection now!!. My advice is make to say to those dimwits in India or wherever they are (the first line 'support' people - ha ha!), that you have been through all the first line checks and INSIST they put you through to someone in 2nd line support straight away. These are the only ones that can run line checks, arrange for technicians to go to your local exchange and physically check the equipment setup. You can also understand them! Also, INSIST on them compensating you for loss of service and dont take the crap that it's a free service and they cant. After some haggling, they agreed to refund me £3 per day for loss of service but this has yet to appear on my bill as a credit - dont worry I'll be on to them quick as flies round sh*t if they dont!!]]>

mark on Wed, 3rd Jan 2007 3:11 pm


< ![CDATA[today i have installed the talt talk software that i recieved over a month ago everything went well !! The activation day on the letter was 12/12/06 bearing this in mind you would asume everything would be in place (WRONG) after several attempts at trying to understand the basic set up guide (diploma required) i decided to call the nice people at talk talk i was then bundled around the world starting off with india (BRIAN) the nice man was called then back to bligty then so on and on eventually i had to hide all the pointy things in the house to avoid causing myself an injury after a coffee and a fag i decided to follow the simple hows my order coming on behaviour on the net baring in mind i carnt get on the net so i went elsewhere it confirmed my problem stage three has been completed only 12th of december so WHERES MY BROADBAND YA GONKS
thanks to all above inspiring me to write]]>

butch on Thu, 4th Jan 2007 4:02 pm


< ![CDATA[I so sorry to hear of all these complaints people are having with talk talk, ive been with them 3 years and hold the international package with free broadband ,but because of bt s useless exchanges (old gear ) i am paying £10 a month for 1mb of braodband that has sometimes disconected me now i have fitted a router and not been kicked off so much i play a game called freelancer and have been on it for hrs at a time with no problems,alas when i try to go peer to peer for downloads this doesnt happen! so i dont go for peer to peer, what am i missing? nothing as far i can see after all isn't most peer to peer illegal and copyrighted, well never mind so sorry folks i am happy with the service except as you say in the help dept which i do agree is shight and needs something doing ,but at least so far i don't end up talking to an indian call centre as one does with bt plus the bonus of being able to call in at a car phone warehouse shop
for the help needed butch]]>

ROGER WEBB on Thu, 4th Jan 2007 4:59 pm


I am a self employed consultant; and my telephone/broadband has been out of action for 6weeks due to talk talk. Has anyone had success in filing a loss and expense claim in the courts?

Tina on Thu, 4th Jan 2007 11:07 pm


< ![CDATA[Thanks for the reply Paul but a BT engineer who checked our 'upgraded' line said that all the equipment was working correctly and the problem lies with TalkTalk - no surprise there then.
I picked up my phone to call my Mum tonight and imagine my joy when I had a crossed line (one of my many problems) and discovered another unhappy customer actually on to TT services complaining. We were both able to talk to the chap at the same time from different homes 2 miles apart, although he still didn't seem to get the gist of our complaint!
I have now been assured that I am a priority customer (oh, there's a pig flying past the window).
Incidentally, if anyone is considering stopping their direct debit - don't. They will barr your phoneline making the problem unsolveable, although frankly I don't see any difference there.
I wait in anticipation.]]>

Nigel on Fri, 5th Jan 2007 12:07 pm


< ![CDATA[I've been reading all the complaints about talk talk and am amazed at the level of disgruntled customers.
I signed up to talk talk at the begining of July last year and was given 2 dates for going live, my phone line went live around 2 weeks after and was given a go live date of end of August for the broadband, the broadband went live 1 week later than the date given to go live and have not had any problems with talk talk whatsoever.

The customer service can be poor, i'e holding for a bit then being cut off, but in my experience 99% of the time i have not had to wait any longer than 10 minutes to get through to the relevant department, infact i can safely say talk talk is heaps better than Tiscali who i was with before changing.

I hope all of you having problems can get it sorted as soon as possible!!]]>

Denis on Fri, 5th Jan 2007 4:13 pm


< ![CDATA[Talk Talk's engineers managed to bungle the unbundling of my exchange on 29 November. I've been without a phone line or internet access since then. Constant calls to the service centre get me absolutlely nowhere. Letters are unanswered as are emails. Of course, I've cancelled my DD because for the period it would have covered I've had nada from TT. Given that I haven't had a phone line for over a month, I can't see that TT barring my phone would make any difference - hang on, it would mean that they are capable of doing something rather than the big fat nothing they've done so far!
They may have laid on loads more call centre staff but none of them know what they're doing and seem programmed only to lie and prevent callers getting through to anyone with any sense.]]>

Imran Khan on Fri, 5th Jan 2007 7:30 pm


Its quite funny reading Pauls replies. Its like he just can not accept that talktalk is an utter load of rubbish, even though nearly 1000 people who have written on this page seem to think it is crap. I am thinking of uploading conversations between talktalk customer services to a website for people to hear first hand what a load of bs talktalk is.

Talk Talk any better ? - SkyUser - The unofficial support forum for everything Sky! on Sat, 6th Jan 2007 1:36 am


< ![CDATA[[...] click="urchinTracker ('/outgoing/http_www_oliverbrown_me_uk_2006_05_17_talktalk_problems_');" href="http://www.oliverbrown.me.uk/2006/05/17/talktalk-problems/" target="_blank"&gt;TalkTalk problems - Oliver Brown

[...] ]]>

John Gair on Sat, 6th Jan 2007 3:35 pm


Just joined Talk Talk from B.T. Tried to connect to web by wireless. Talk Talk supplied a Phllips Wireless modem router. I had problems connecting phoned tech support 4 times . After been given phone number for Phillips helpline which goes not now exist I was told Phillips have withdrawn their helpline and no one at talk talk could help for2 days(until Monday). Why sell equipment they cannot help with for 2 days. Why has Phillips withdrawn their helpline. Trying to contact help from talk talk is a joke.Not impressed.

Adrian Rowley on Mon, 8th Jan 2007 10:07 am


< ![CDATA[Hi,
What a surprise.My ASDL line has been flashing since late Dec, now have a logged call.
Will be ringing 01925 556494 (the level 2 support line) to chase.
read on talktalkhell that I have been disconeected by a software problem, some IP addresses that begin with 89 or 84.
Will be demanding the £3 per day compensation and will keep you posted as to how they resolve this matter, if not by then end of Jan then I depart, ask for MAC code and they will not get the £70 as they have broke the contract.]]>

Paul Merchant on Mon, 8th Jan 2007 1:42 pm


< ![CDATA[I wish I had not found this information, but I was just about to log on to my Talk Talk account, and found these related sites. I am now worried about what kind of company I am now a customer of !
I was, yes I know - sucked in by the unlimited broadband offer and also got my mother to join, for the free calls.
Although so far WE have no problems with Talk Talk and its service, apart from two modems arriving - when I cancelled one. I am now keeping everything crossed, in the hope nothing goes wrong for my mother and I.
I will keep you all posted.]]>

Another Paul on Mon, 8th Jan 2007 11:16 pm


< ![CDATA[Talk Talk SUCKS!! DO NOT REGISTER FOR 'FREE' BROADBAND if you haven't done so already. If you've just received it, and you aren't yet experiencing problems, note this site as you will be complaining very shortly...!

Just a few tips,

~Do not shout abuse down the phone to Talk Talk Advisors. They will cut off all outgoing calls at the very least.

~Each time you call the customer cervice number you are charged £2, and then 10p per minute ON TOP of that.

~Please PLEASE make an OFFICIAL COMPLAINT against Talk Talk, hopefully they will be forced to shut down for good, and maybe even give us all our money back.]]>

DR James on Tue, 9th Jan 2007 2:31 pm


< ![CDATA[Talk Talk, very appropriate! This outfit is a joke......My previous ISP was Onetel which was owned by Centrica, (now owned by Dunstone) never had a problem. These cowboys at Talk Talk should be closed down, they have been unable to cope with the response to their "Free Broadband". Since signing up with Dunston's "Clowns", I have experienced nothing but, problems. I have now discovered that my phone line has been barred! I am advised it is a technical hitch? (I pay by direct debit which they have managed to cock up twice).
I intend to complain to OFTEL re the appalling customer service meted out by these jokers.
I wish I had never heard of Carphone Warehouse.]]>

John Tennent on Tue, 9th Jan 2007 4:06 pm


< ![CDATA[Where will I start?
Reading the other posts is like deja vu joined Talk Talk October 06 phone line changed over from BT ( why did I ever leave you) no probs.
3 weeks later still no broadband still no starter pack in fact nothing!!
Must have spent hours on the phone to India.
Was actually told by one operative to take pc to PC world and they would install it for a fee!!!!
My wife suggested going to local Carphone Warehouse in Glasgow was handed router and disc got home found router and disc incompatable!!
One week later received my starter pack.
3 weeks after that received another!!
Since installation have never had one full week of broadband.
Before xmas stopped all together ended up reinstalling and this worked in a fashion till 3/01/07 then stopped tried everything then 8/01/07 in my wisdom decided to phone £2 connection 10p a minute "help" desk.
Approx 5 mins to access help desk (thats £2.50 and nothings actually happened) phone rings at other end is lifted from receiver and placed on a desk I can hear them all chattering in background all having a great laugh I'm whistling and shouting like some lunatic down the phone hoping for some acknowledgement to no avail after hanging on for 10 mins I hang up.
Like a fool 15 mins later try again yes your one step ahead of me ...same again!!
Phoned again this morning to be told by the operative? (is that the correct word?) that she couldnt help me but she would arrange a Technical Call back, and that she would fill in a request form on line as she kept asking the same questions again and again I am now of the opinion they must be on a bonus system which relates to the amount of time they can keep you on the phone (approx half an hour).
Now you will all be wondering when will I receive my Technical Call back would you believe 5 to 7 days!!!!!
Or I can phone the "diddy" number back tonight and they will transfer me!!!
Have emailed Charlie Dunstone now I've found his email address (from the work of course as I've no home email).Why oh why did I not search "Talk Talk problems with" on the net prior to leaving BT.
They are the most incompetent Company on the planet.
Hindsights a wonderfull thing!!!
How can we stop this menace please any suggestions??????]]>

John Tennent on Wed, 10th Jan 2007 9:05 am


< ![CDATA[Reference previous post, the emails (sent from work as no home connection!) I sent Charles Dunstone were not what you could call pc friendly in fact they were downright insulting on a personal level as I was very angry regarding the whole situation.
Got home from work last night broadbands up and running??
Could'nt understand it as I'd tried every thing from my side of things.
Then came in to work this morning to this email:
Dear Mr Tennent,
Thank you for your emails, we have changed the profile of your line and you should now have no problem. I can see that you are currently online and you are getting an 8 meg service.

Regards

Charles Dunstone

Maybe Mr Dunstone is finally listening??]]>

Another Paul on Wed, 10th Jan 2007 8:58 pm


I’ve just e-mailed Charlie, so I’ll keep you updated.

Another Paul on Wed, 10th Jan 2007 11:13 pm


< ![CDATA[Just got this reply,

'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'

Automated?]]>

Another Paul on Wed, 10th Jan 2007 11:17 pm


Oops, I should have read ALL posts first. This IS an automated response. I just wonder if it’s actually being investigated or not…

Colin on Thu, 11th Jan 2007 7:20 am


< ![CDATA[We switched a while back, they were geat while we were signing up for it then customer service went rubbish. TT Broadband seems to be working at least. But I cant even double click on the talktalk ibroadbad icon to connect to inter. I have to go via network connections.

The state of the installation cd was rubbish, it was all scratched. We even applyed for a new one to be sent out to us, but we never heard back from them.]]>

Jimbo on Thu, 11th Jan 2007 12:53 pm


< ![CDATA[Hi,

I signed up recently to TalkTalk. (Nov 2006)

I wish I had read this blog previous to doing so.

I wish I watched Tv more than I do, i.e Watchdog"

My nightmare though not as prolonged as some of the folks on here follows the very same catalogue of errors, incompetence and inexcusable poor customer relations.

I am still not connected to BroadBand despite 3 activation dates, the Activation letter containing the user name and password and the installation CD.

To top all this my phone suddenly went as dead as a door nail on 8th Jan.

The CSR in SOUTH AFRICA( when I eventually got through to her, which is a story familiar to most here, so I wont bore you with the details) was about as helpful as an ash tray on a motor bike. She

couldn't give me any information other than "You are a priority customer". No estimate of repair time at all. 24 hrs?...er...48 hours?...er....72 hours!!!.

I tried sending an 3 emails to report the fault, no answers other than the automated tripe to any of them. I tried sending an Email to Mr. Dunstone - No reply as yet.

Strangely my broadband was still working though, they hadn't changed that from my previous supplier, who I have been with since the early days of 28 bps... good old BT. I checked through my

wireless router (my own, not Talktalk's and could not sign on using their username and password, only Bt's.).

By the way BT informed me the only way TalkTalk could change over was to ask me to request a MAC code, something they haven't done. I wonder how may months down the line they would have tried to
say it was my fault I wasn't connected as I hadn't sent them this MAC code.

I contacted BT 0800 121 8085 who were very helpful and only to willing to accept me back, they would do all the arranging with TalkTalk and it would cost me nothing!. I would have to wait 10
days for this to happen though, (a small price for peace of mind). All this to a freephone number where people actually answered the phone and talk to you!

They even said they would repair my phone line (if TalkTalk hadn't after the 10 days).

Interestingly a relative rang my number and it was answered by a lady who cheerfully announced it was her number and she was getting calls all the time asking for me!

BT However said my number would remain the same as it was a ex-directory number and I could have it back without any problem.

Cancelling and settling with TalkTalk was my responsibility though. No Problem there as they have about as much chance of getting any more money from me as you have of getting a bone away from my

dog...(dont try it fgs!)

I will be sending TalkTalk a cancellation letter immediately detailing the complaints and my views as to how they have broken their contract under the sale of goods act (merchantable quality and fit
for the purpose it was bought for etc. etc.

My belief is TalkTalk are breaking what we the public would consider fair trading and standards, whether they are breaking the law is another matter. We ALL know how fair the law is!

It seems to me that a company that continues to accept orders KNOWING it has failed to supply its existing customers with what they have ordered is dishonest, disreputable and disgraceful.

Against my better judgement (I'm A Mobyphobe) I had to get myself a mobile so my family and friends could contact me, needless to say It wasn't purchased from CarPhone Warehouse!!!

To any one thinking of changing to TalkTalk...you have been warned here by people more eloquent than I.

I would rather have my teeth pulled by a pair of pliers, without anesthetic than EVER consider a product or service from this bunch of charlatans again. (not my hair though, I've already pulled most of that out!).

Once again its good to (NOT) TalkTalk.

I wouldn't touch them with yours let alone mine.

Good to have you back BT no matter you are more expensive!]]>

Steve at whingewhinge.com on Thu, 11th Jan 2007 3:31 pm


< ![CDATA[What a pain!

I have spent ages on to the talk talk support line being sent round in circles changing this and that setting and plugging and unpugging modem leads.

I have also contacted the high level complaints number on 0800 049 5743 but this is just a messaging service - they tell you they will pass on a message and that's the last you hear from anyone. 5 times I have called!

I have had a contract since August and had sporadic Broadband for about the first three months, nothing since then.

I called the BT ofcom referral team 0800 671 502 who were more helpful - and they advised me that talk talk have cocked up my connection when they changed their landline deal to Opal telecom a few months ago.

I have cancelled my Direct Debits and sent an email today to Charles Dunstone to try to find out what's going on.

For God's sake don't sign up to talk talk - I realise that all the providers have their problems but this lot prenez le biscuit.

What to do know? Will anyone recommend an alternative supplier of landline, calls and Broadband?]]>

Andy Bell on Thu, 11th Jan 2007 9:06 pm


Does anyone know of any ‘workarounds’ to get faster speeds. I got TT bb yesterday, I switch from NTL to try and save money…. big mistake, I know NTL have their problems, but my connection was spot on, TT is crap, my average speed for today is 300k, incidentaly, has anyone else been given these speed tests to do, I had to do 9 tests throughout the course of the day, I reported back to them and they simply said that the speed will gradually get faster over the next ten days, bollocks, I know my stuff and that sounds like crap, I cancelling tomorrow if it not improved.

Jimbo on Fri, 12th Jan 2007 12:50 am


< ![CDATA[Mr. Dunstone replied today, have to say it seems like an automated reply as it is practically the same words used to reply to people on here.

I have made arrangements to go back to BT anyway.

I wouldn't have talktalk in my home now if they offered it to me for life for FREE. I don't deal with dishonest, incompetent companies more than once!

My bill is paid up to the day my phone went off and I am not receiving their broadband (confirmed by BT I am still connected to BT Broadband). They are getting Zilch money from me.

So I will ride out any storm they raise over cancellation they may make. Defending if necessary any court writ they may issue. Fortunately I am luckily in a position to afford this financially and will do it on a point of principle. (and my cousin is a solicitor specializing in Company Law)

Bye Bye TalkTalk, my life is my own again and any cost is worth that.

Aint life grand.

P.S I would sincerely hope TalkTalk, Car Phone Warehouse and any other companies in this group go bust if it wasn't for all the good folk who would be left stranded if they did.

To you all, good luck, to the rest of the country, DON'T TOUCH TALK TALK WITH A BARGE POLE!]]>

Luke on Fri, 12th Jan 2007 3:29 am


< ![CDATA[Today I got my first ever reply on my TalkTalk sucks forum!
http://shanoz.com/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=1
I await more!

Also, Imran Kahn, You say you are thinking about putting some telephone conversations online to their tech support. If you want to I have my site screaming out for it so get in contact via forum or mail. admin(AT)shanoz(DOT)com Either you can get rid of the personal info they ask for time after time even when not required! or I will.

Regards, Luke]]>

Jimbo on Fri, 12th Jan 2007 2:40 pm


< ![CDATA[Result,

An Email from Mr. Dunstone's office, someone was looking into it urgently for me.

Replied asking them not to bother, just agree to cancel the account without any messing me about.

Another email from Mr. Dunstone's office agreeing to do just that and no Charges for cancellation etc.

Still without my phone, though BT will eventually sort that out when they take over. got my broadband still with BT.

But,

Wonderfully, gloriously, tremendously, superbly and any other words ending in "ly" you can think of...TalkTalk are history, a bad dream woken up from.

I think I'll go for a walk to celebrate, to my Brother's (I would phone him normally but ......ah forget it! old territory.)

Unless my bubble is burst by talktalk for some reason....and I aint counting my chickens till I get the cancellation confirmation this will be my last post. good luck to you all.

My advice, cancel, dust yaself down and start all over again, you'll get more sleep at night.]]>

Sheila Mallett on Sat, 13th Jan 2007 8:50 am


< ![CDATA[I have been with talktalk for the phone for 18 months and never had a problem. I signed up for broadband in 2006 and was connected 2 months later in July.

My problems started when the exchange was upgraded in October and the modem couldn't cope and I could never get a connection.
I have to admit, the call centre staff are no help.

I eventually contacted Charles Dunstone's office by e-mail (from work) on a Saturday night and received a reply on Sunday morning. By Monday customer services and the support team were in touch.

On Tuesday they had me connected to the internet but they considered this only a temporary measure. They sent me a different type of modem, altered the settings on my line and by Friday I was up &#38; running perfectly.

It's certainly worth contacting Charles Dunstone's office! Given the chance to sort the issues, Talktalk did right for me and I'm more than happy to stay with them!]]>

Colin on Sat, 13th Jan 2007 9:36 am


They also said it was 8mb broadband, and still it is only 2.2mb and has’nt changed since we signed up.

Jim on Sat, 13th Jan 2007 6:20 pm


After asking to be copied in on an email that one of talktalk’s customer service people was going to send out about my account, i have now found that if you email broadbandteam-cpw-uk@cpwplc.com it will go to everyone who works there. send your complaints to this address as well, so the whole company can hear how annoyed you are!

sharron on Sun, 14th Jan 2007 1:23 am


I signed up for tt about three years ago been very happy, swaped my bt line every thing ok, swaped to free bb as soon as i saw the offer everything has been fine, then the up grade 24nov didnt happen they tried again on 1nov i have had no phone or broad band since then till today i know most of the customer service staff by name i think i have spoken to all of them over the last 10 weeks. i would love to know if any one knows anythig about what sort of conpensation i shoud ask for or is being offered

andy on Sun, 14th Jan 2007 10:23 pm


< ![CDATA[We signed up for TalkTalk in May 2006 with a connection to Broadband In August 2006. Up until this time we had not had any problems with the internet, Previously used Tesco's. At first we used a friends spare modem until ours arrived in november.
From day 1 we had problems , and as other people have stated , what a waste of time there customer service is.
We were told our modem settings were correct and the problem lay with our internal phone lines and our computer was at fault. using our settings and the computer on somebody elses line we had no problem. this baffled customer services.
So maybe it was our internal line that needed checking even though we could make perfect phone calls.
Asked TalkTalk to send an engineer out to sort this out, but we managed to get a BT engineer visiting next door to give our system a once over, surpised that nothing was found wrong with our internal or external line.
At this point we were told by the BT engineer that this is common fault. and there were a lot of people in the area with the same problem. A communication problem between BT and TalkTalk, the line had not been swung over for broadband.
Tried to pass this info onto TalkTalk but got absolutely nowhere.
Beginning of January asked politely to be disconnected, because nothing was happening. this time we were told thaty we could not be disconnected until the problem was resolved.
4th January our lines went completely dead, we thought, hoped we had been cut off. but then we recieved a call from a BT engineer , that the fault had been cleared, When we asked about the Broadband connection. the answer came back, 'you had not been connected'.
In the next couple of days we will be moving on to another ISP.]]>

Roger Jackson on Mon, 15th Jan 2007 2:01 pm


< ![CDATA[I signed up with Talk Talk in July to get away from AOL. However, I was not connected until 5 Jan.

I managed to get up and running pretty easily on the supplied modem (arrived in about October) and then, with a few bits of trial and error, got my Netgear modem router up and running with wireless on 10 Jan.

TalkTalk broadband ran really well until the evening of 12 Jan when it mysteriously stopped-no ADSL light on the modem at all even after putting the TalkTalk modem back on.

I e-mailed broadband support from work as I am not prepared to pay for the Technical helpline and got a reply requiring me to carry out diagnostics which are so obvious that I have already done most of them and then call the help line.

To add insult to injury, I have received an e-mail saying that TalkTalk are now joining AOL to supply services. The dreaded AOL software clogging my computer was one reason I wanted out of AOL.]]>

MacDuff on Mon, 15th Jan 2007 3:17 pm


< ![CDATA[Talk-Talk

9 Sept - opened A/c for Broadband
13 Oct - Received modem
21 Oct - installed modem but it was faulty &#38; did not work
22 Oct - several calls to helpline etc (no satisfactory response)
23 Oct - returned modem with personal letter to Mr Dunstone (no reply)
27 Oct - phoned re modem replacement
3 Nov - phoned re modem replacement
17 Nov - phoned re modem replacement
24 Nov - phoned re modem replacement
1 Dec - in frustration and exasperation phoned Talk-Talk to cancel service
11 Dec - renewed contract for phone calls with BT and requested details of Broadband
5 Jan - BT requests MAC code
8 Jan - phoned Talk-Talk for MAC code
9 Jan - phoned Talk-Talk for MAC code or line release date to BT Wholesale
10 Jan - phoned Talk-Talk for line release date.
11 Jan - phoned TalK-Talk for line release date OR MAC code.

* Although we have phoned Talk-Talk on at least fourteen seperate occasions,
NOT ONE call has been returned

We have been charged for a modem and for having a broadband installation since Sept, but the modem did not work and broadband has never been enabled.

Four months on and we are no nearer fulfilling our plans to have broadband!
We are now in limbo with no MAC code and no release date.
Until we get one of these we cannot enable broadband with any other supplier.]]>

spike on Mon, 15th Jan 2007 6:33 pm


< ![CDATA[JOHN TENNENT: *** My wife suggested going to local Carphone Warehouse in Glasgow was handed router and disc got home found router and disc incompatable!! ***

How can they be incompatible? There is no such problem. However, if you are using the Ethernet connection on their SmartAX modem/router then you do not need the disk at all. Simply access the setup screen at 192.168.1.1 using the username and password of "admin" for both, and then enter your broadband settings in the "WAN" options screen and then **SAVE** the settings to the modem. If you are using the USB connection then you need the disk to install the USB drivers, then you use 192.168.1.2 to access the modem setup. You can ignore all the other trial software on the CD if you already have installed firewall and anti-virus software from any other vendor.

*** Before xmas stopped all together ended up reinstalling ***

Sounds like you switched the modem off and it lost the password because it hadn't been saved in the modem memory. Full instuctions are several hundred posts back on this page. Alternatively it is some fault with the line, and BT (who are contracted to fix faults) are not very quick at looking into and fixing things if your provider is not BT.

COLIN: *** But I cant even double click on the talktalk ibroadbad icon to connect to inter. I have to go via network connections. ***

Of course you can't. The SmartAX modem/router stores your user name and password inside itself and IT dials out for you. The router is simply a device on your local area network (inside your house). You don't "connect" to it at all. It dials out for you. It is also a DHCP server and IT allocates an IP address to your PC in the first minute or two that you switch the PC on. You'll probably find the IP address of your PC is 192.168.1.3 here.

JIMBO: *** By the way BT informed me the only way TalkTalk could change over was to ask me to request a MAC code, something they haven’t done. I wonder how may months down the line. ***

They ask for it when they get the nod from BT engineers that BT are ready to switch your line over. They don't ask for it when you sign up because the MAC is only valid for 28 days. So you would receive a letter or more likely an automated phone call asking you to approach BT for the code and ring them back with it as soon as you can. Once you give the MAC to TT it then takes 10 days to transfer your broadband connection to them. If you never supply a MAC you never get transferred.

ANDY BELL: *** I reported back to them and they simply said that the speed will gradually get faster over the next ten days, bollocks, I know my stuff and that sounds like crap. ***

You obviously know sod all about the LLU process then. Once you are on an LLU line, the broadband equipment tries different speeds on the line trying to get the fastest it can while still being reliable. If you are close to the exchange building where the equipment is located then you will get 6 to 8 MB, and slower if you are further away. The equipment has a 10 day training period and this is well documented on hundreds of websites. A Google search for http://www.google.com/search?num=100&#38;q=broadband+LLU+10+day+training+line will fill in your gaps.

COLIN: *** They also said it was 8mb broadband, and still it is only 2.2mb and hasn’t changed since we signed up. ***

They say “UP TO 8MB”; and while you are still on the old-style Broadband you will never get anything faster than 2.2 MB. You will only get the faster speed when your telephone line is “unbundled” from BT (the LLU process). At that point your broadband will no longer come from equipment owned by BT OpenReach as it does now, but will come from the NEW and faster equipment that TalkTalk are installing in exchanges all over the country. Several hundred exchanges are converted every month and the conversions started back in 2006 August I think. You can check at http://samknows.com/broadband/checker2.php making sure you select “LLU” from the results screen.]]>

John Tennent on Tue, 16th Jan 2007 5:06 pm


< ![CDATA[Spike,
Reference the start up disc the router type supplied was not on the disc i.e. click type of router!!
BT: play disc follow instructions installed not one problem in 2 years!!!
All right for all you PC geeks but I required to put disc in slot follow instructions easy!!!!
If I had all the knowledge you guys have I wouldnt be on here complaining I'd have managed to install with all the i.p. numbers etc ( dont even know what that means????)]]>

Jimbo on Tue, 16th Jan 2007 5:46 pm


Sorry, my previous post should have been addressed to Spike

Mark Firth on Wed, 17th Jan 2007 4:03 pm


< ![CDATA[I'm not sure if people read the posts this far down but if you do, here's how to end your agreement with Talk Talk...

Governments do very little to stop these rouge companies from trading in such a disgraceful manner so as a consequence the consumer has to find ways to fight back, even if this means bending the rules a bit. the companies bend the rules every day in name of profit so as a consumer I shall follow suit to release myself of such companies.

For a start Talk Talk (Carphone Warehouse) are in constance breach of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 http://www.dti.gov.uk/consumers/fact-sheets/page24702.html

You’d be surprised just how often they breach this act, from little things like leaving you in a queue for 10 minutes to not providing you with a working internet connection.

For further advice about your rights you should ring the OFT: Consumer Direct advice service on 08454 04 05 06. They will answer the phone after just a few rings and are very helpful and kind. It really is a good service.

Basically 99% of Talk Talk customers are liable to end their contracts prematurely and hold them in breach of contract. You may also be liable for compensation for lack of services, the OFT on the number above will advise you on this.

To end your contract you should put in writing and send via “RECORDED DELIVERY” that they are in Breach of Contract under the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. Explain what issues you have had and ask them to reply in writing to you ASAP with a copy of their internal complaints procedures.

I have been advised that Talk Talk take on average 28 days to reply. If they agree with your complaint you should be free of their service within a month. If you find you are having trouble with them, e.g. they do not reply etc, you should contact http://www.ispa.org.uk/ on 08700500710

If they cant help you (rare) your final method would be to contact Otelo – Office of the Telecommunications Ombudsman http://www.otelo.org.uk

If you follow the correct legal procedures you can expect to wait a minimum of 30 days to be release from Talk Talk, but you will also have to wait another 30 days to connect to a new ISP. In the worse case sanario you could be waiting over 4 moths before you up and running with a new ISP.

Even 60 days is far to long for me to wait to have an internet connection with a reliable ISP, so I decided to look into other QUICKER methods of switching.

The legal way involves lots of writing letters and being very academic, then waiting for replies and making many phone calls over a 60 day period. After some thinking and research I found the following way to be the quickest and easiest, even though you will be bending the rules a little.

I am bound to a 12 moths contract, however; I found that if I move to an area that Talk Talk doesn’t cover, I can immediately be disconnected and will not have to complete the remainder of my contract. Its that simply. However, I do need to provide a new address for end of contract documents to be sent to. I’m lucky and have family in Spain I can use. But I’m fairly sure you can just say your going travelling and to send letters to your present address where you have set up a redirection, cough cough!

I hope this helps )

Mark

PS. If Talk Talk tell you its your equipment that’s to blame, 99% of the time its a lie and they are just trying to cover up their problems and fob you off.]]>

Gilly on Wed, 17th Jan 2007 9:16 pm


< ![CDATA[Hi all, like the rest of you I'm having major problems with TalkTalk broadband and their lack of customer support. Resorted to emailing on a daily basis which is just as unhelpful as ringing on a daily bais, but at least by email I'm not being charged unlike some numbers they tell you to ring, which charge you just for the privelege of listening to an automatid voice saying too busy, try again later, but never tell you that your being charged each time!!

Anyway just wondering if anybody else has had problems with connecting MP3 players or USB storage devices since installing TalkTalk wireless modem - I've got what I beleive to be a Philips wireless modem with router and since transferring to TalkTalk Broadband my PC wont recognise my MP3 player or USB Memory stick.]]>

Colin on Thu, 18th Jan 2007 8:16 am


been having more trouble with it today. The modem keeps disconnecting. I’m getting really fed up with it.

Emma Cochrane on Thu, 18th Jan 2007 3:20 pm


< ![CDATA[This is a letter I sent to onetel, talktalk, carphone warehouse or who ever they are calling themself these days! Oh I still have had no response to this letter...

10/10/06

Dear Garry Poole

I am writing to you in regards to an on going series of complaints, with ONETEL I have followed the procedures and tried to sort out these complaints via communication with Onetel but have been getting know where, and the errors are constant. Let me first start by letting you know exactly what has been happening.

I joined up with Onetel 20/05/05 account number ....... tel: .........

And by 06/0605 the phone and internet dial-up was then active. Not long after I started experiencing a problem with my answer phone which was also provided by Onetel, it was stating that there was a message which changed the dial tone, when I tried to listen to the message it said "you have no new messages", because of the change in dial tone I was unable to get on to the net. I would then phone Onetel to tell them of this fault to which they reply it will take 4 working days to fix it. This happened a number of times to which I never once received any kind of apology for inconvenients caused or a deduction from my account for not being able to use the internet until they had sorted the technical fault out their end. To this day it is still happening, so every time (I have found out) if I ring from my mobile and leave a message, listen to it and then delete it, it then clears it, but is not long before the problem is back, each time costing me money!

I am at present trying to set up a business, which I do most of, via the internet. I could not get on line to do this.
I moved house at the end of December 2005 and still had this problem. But this is not all. I wanted to get broadband for the quickness. So I rang Onetel in March 06, they said that the broadband was free but would be £10 per month on top of my bill, I only have one phone socket in this house so I have a extension lead to the computer, I was worried this may effect the broadband, but they assured me it wouldn’t and that I would not have to pay a cancellation fee of £50 if the broadband did not work properly. So I agreed.

! received a letter 17/03/2006 to say that I can take advantage of my new broadband by 28/03/2006 stating my user name and password. When this date arrived I still had not received a disc or anything to get me started. So I rang and they sent me out a disc a week or so later but still no joy, so I rang them again. I spoke to a range of customer advisors, one of which said you haven’t paid for the speed touch modem £59.99. This I was shocked at. I was not told that broadband with Onetel would cost £59.99 I was told it was free! I wrote another letter of complaint 12/04/2006 and had a reply 21/04/2006. In between this time I kept ringing to sort this out and they then said that if I pay for the modem first I would then be reimbursed for the £59.99. They stated in the letter "unfortunately they can not suspend the billing on my account from 28/03/06 because I was using a third party modem" which is completely untrue as I only had a dial up modem, not broadband! I was also told by a customer advisor that I would be reimbursed for the time up until the date I actually received the modem which was 22/05/2006.
After all this I set up broadband using the set up disc. I had to ring Onetel a number of times as the broadband would not start up, then automatically start up, and disconnect sometimes within a minute of using it. It would cut off repeatedly.

I feel constantly on the phone to Onetel, and rather stressed out as you can imagine. They even told me to ring the people who make the modem my self! And if I was to cancel they would charge me £50 for the service I haven’t been able to use. And received nearly two months late and not even working properly, in fact not working at all!

I rang Onetel start of June to find out when the payment of £59.99 was going to be paid back to me (for the modem) he said that it will be paid back on the 5th June so I rang my bank on the 9th June and no payments had been made by Onetel.
So I rang Onetel again. I asked why the money had not been paid back into my account as stated by Hamid. And they said "I don’t know where he got that from!" I then asked to speak to someone who might know why he had said this, as I am sure he did not make this up out of thin air!! After 20 minutes of being on the phone I did not get anywhere, they also refused to call me back and would not let me speak to a manager!

So 09/06/2006 I contacted OFFCOM, I told them the entire situation who gave me a number for OTELO who were very helpful.

I have also contacted my solicitor who has seen this letter.

This is what I would like to happen. I would like to cancel with Onetel. I am also not going to pay £50 for the service I was not rightly provided with. And a sincere apology for the way I have been treated.
Onetel has cost me a lot of money with all the phone calls, the lack of usage via the net for business purposes, and time for which I could have been online. Today I have been getting all this together and looking after my son. My new business has suffered and could have been up and running.

I await your earliest response

Thank you

Emma Cochrane]]>

Gails_man on Thu, 18th Jan 2007 11:41 pm


Like many, many others, my wife and I had Internet &#38; phone problems since the upgrade took ‘effect’ on Nov 20. To cut a very long story short, I ended up spending £100 on a new wireless router &#38; £50 for an engineer to come out and get us back on line. The Internet is working fine, but landline calls are still being diverted to my wife’s mobile. I did send a complaint letter Recorded Deliverys. A woman rang &#38; my wife suggested that they ring back after 6pm, when I’m home from work. Guess what? No call. Before Chiristmas I sent another complaint letter Recorded Delivery &#38; as yet have had no response. My wife cancelled our direct Debit in December, as she thought that might wake them up. No. Today we’ve had a letter suggesting that we might like to set up a Direct Debit account! I came across this site tonight. What an eyeopener. I’ll be sending an e-mail to Messers Dunstone &#38; Myers tomorrow.

Paul on Fri, 19th Jan 2007 5:55 pm


< ![CDATA[Firstly, A quick tip for everyone.
Canceling your direct debits won't do anything to solve your problems any quicker. All talktalk will do (just like any other telecoms companies do) is eventually bar the line, and then refer your account to a debt agency. They won't even waste the time to contact you to ask why you're not paying your bill.

Secondly,
For anyone who was thinking of trying Talktalk Broadband and is reading all these complaints.
Talktalk Broadband now has a 30 day trial from when your broadband goes live (not from when you sign up). So if you try the service and you do encounter problems like this, you can cancel the contract no strings attached.
This should also be in effect for anyone that signed up in December and has had an active broadband line for less than 30 days.

In Response to Gilly:
"Anyway just wondering if anybody else has had problems with connecting MP3 players or USB storage devices since installing TalkTalk wireless modem - I’ve got what I beleive to be a Philips wireless modem with router and since transferring to TalkTalk Broadband my PC wont recognise my MP3 player or USB Memory stick."

The wireless router shouldn't interfere with stuff like that at all. I would suggest uninstalling whatever software you use for the MP3 player and USB stick, and reinstalling them from scracth.

And Spike seems to have nicely summed up the other questions I was going to comment on.

One final comment for the doom-mongers about Talktalk "going out of business" It ain't happening - They are now the 2nd largest broadband providers behind NTL.
They also have the best response times and service in call centres compared to other broadband providers. And that's from independent research and mystery calls made.]]>

Pete on Sat, 20th Jan 2007 2:31 pm


< ![CDATA[I tried one of those SmartAX MT882 routers out the other day. You really do not need any disk for it at all. There is no software to install at all.

When using the Ethernet connection, make sure that you set "Never Dial a Connection" in the Connections tab of the Internet Options screen from the Control Panel. If you don't then your PC will continue to try to use a dial up connection, or do nothing at all.

Enter 192.168.1.1 in your web browser. When prompted for a user name and password use "admin" for both. Click on Basic and then on WAN. Select the "edit" icon at top right (a pencil) and enter your broadband user name and password (from the TT letter) in that screen. Hit Submit. The click on SAVE ALL (bottom left) and OK. Wait a few seconds and then switch the modem/router off and then back on. It will now connect to the net for you.

** ... because of the change in dial tone I was unable to get on to the net. **

In the modem dialling properties, change it so that it doesn't wait for dial tone at all.

** They also have the best response times and service in call centres **

They might have some of the best now, but 6 months ago they were a disaster zone.

** no modem delivered **

Go to your local shop. They can mail order one for you. It will arrive next day, or the day after. Do not use the CD that comes with it. You do not need it. The mail-order modem will appear as a Speedtouch 330 on your recepit, but after 2006 October you actually get the SmartAX MT882 modem/firewall/router which is a much better piece of equipment.

Phone the TalkTalk automated helpline for your username and password if you didn't receive the letter from TalkTalk or you have lost it. You MUST do this from your OWN phone line. You must do this AFTER your connection date. The call is an automated service and it takes less than 90 seconds to complete. There is no queue. There is an option to "hear your user name and password". You have to ring from your own line to hear your own user name and password.]]>

Pauline on Mon, 22nd Jan 2007 5:57 pm


It was no suprise to me that so many people had written about Talk Talk. I must say I have been lucky with the fact I have had no problem with my connection or phone line – but the modem well thats another story. Talktalk modem sucks and does not work, I resorted to buying my own (working perfectly) but tried in vain to return theirs so I would not be charged. I tried for 2 months phoning their ‘modem return line’ and got either cut off or put on hold. I emailed several times and got no reply. I phoned every person I could on their helpline and constantly got told to phone ‘modem return line’. I have shouted, cried, pleaded and even threatened them with complaining to newspapers – still no luck. I gave up as I had never been charged for modem. Then 4 months later I have now been charged £29.99 for it. Once again I phoned and complained – was informed they couldn’t put me through to anyone higher up as supervisor was in a meeting and they are not authorised to put me through to anyone else! Having tried modem return line again and another complaining email, they are under the impression I have nothing better to do than stay at the end of a phone and wait. You cannot return the modem without an authorisation number, won’t get a refund until I return it and can only get number from the modem authorisation line. They are so keen to get your custom but have no interest what so ever in helping anyone with a problem – use bunch of *******! Anyone any solutions?

Steve Matthews on Tue, 23rd Jan 2007 2:32 pm


< ![CDATA[--- Talktalk modem sucks and does not work ---

I have helped about 25 people, so far, that all said the same.

Every one of them had failed to set it up correctly, though several also had line faults that had to be cleared first.

Check the instructions to be found on many forums on the net.

Most people seem to have failed to:

- click "never dial a connection" in the internet options, in Control Panel, or

- actually SAVE their user name and password permanently in the modem, or

- correctly attach the filters to all their telephones, answering machines and Sky TV boxes.

I'll bet that at least one of those also applies to you.]]>

Aaron on Tue, 23rd Jan 2007 4:04 pm


< ![CDATA[I have just been told that my broadband was never proccessed after waiting 8 weeks and umpteen phonecalls and emails. This tipped me over the edge saying 10-15 days to start the proccess. I have now emailed them to cancell my broadband order AND to have my phone line switched back to BT.

I can not handle there customer service department or lack thereoff which is the case.]]>

Pauline on Tue, 23rd Jan 2007 10:46 pm


< ![CDATA[To Steve Matthews:

I did actually get the modem to work a bit but the connection was that slow it was worse than dial up. I had umpteen problems but none were to do with the set up. I did try enough times to have me nearly tearing hair out and the connection never did speed up. I can assure you it was not the set up. The whole point was that you can't return the modem without a number and you can't get the number because their phone lines are useless and they really don't know the dictionary definition for "help" (line).]]>

Paul on Wed, 24th Jan 2007 11:39 am


< ![CDATA[The modems return helpline isn't as quick to answer their phones as the normal customer services, but i've never had to wait more than 30mins to get through to someone there, and have never had any problems once someone has answered the phone.
I suggest you keep trying.]]>

JM Routier on Wed, 24th Jan 2007 2:20 pm


< ![CDATA[Got a strange problem with TalkTalk emails: I cannot log on to MSN/Hotmail, I can log on to my Yahoo Mail but can only read recent emails and cannot reply. Finally I even opened a @talktalk.net email and that receives fine and I can read the emails but I cannot reply or upload files!.
I am in the process of changing my router (from a BT to a talktalk product) to see if that does the trick.
Reading the different comments, everyone seem to be able to log on the web based emails. Has anyone encountered my problems or have any tips for me? And no it is not my configuration as I have trid with 2 different computers.
By way the speed sucks, ranging from 0 to 2mbps at best, mostly around 700kbps.
Cheers - JM]]>

barry stafford on Thu, 25th Jan 2007 4:53 pm


Well guys if over 1ooo+ and counting letters of complaint about Charlie boy sat on his yacht counting his £400mill .he is worth.Does not seem to be working .Can Imran Khan or another disatisfied customer set up the web site for us all. I wont bore you all wiith my e mails, letters ,(recorded del. ) to Dunstone,Steve Rescoria Cust Serv Director.phone calls to India,Sth Africa,once on hold for 49 mins. then cut off .Calls nor returned. told my laptop was at fault.NO!! had it checked £50 They should rebrand as NO TALK.I cancelled went to cable no MAC needed The main fault lies in the Bt exchanges and broadband on the Local Loop. THe company in the middle seems to bo Opel who seem to deal with the software at the exchange .Opel is owned By TalkTalk. I have a complete file going back to last Sept of contact with this pathetic operation. Will pass it on to Otelo ,or even Hamlet with what is a tragedy and a farce.It was a great package totally wasted by incompetance and a lack of will by The bosses in London.

Defan Hughes on Fri, 26th Jan 2007 12:20 pm


< ![CDATA[Dear All,
I am (or thought I was) a Tiscali broadband and talk customer.
Last November I received a letter from Tiscali saying they're sad to be losing me and that my account will be taking over by my new service provider.
I immediately called Tiscali to find out what the hell was going on and they explained that my new sevice provider ( as requested ) would take over on December 14th 2006.
I hit the roof because I have never once requested a new provider, and the really unbelievable part of this was that Tiscali nor Bt could tell me who my new provider was going to be.
I eventually received a bill from Talk Talk which had a ladies name from three doors away an address from four doors away and my telephone number.
I phoned Talk Talk to try to sort it out, after dozens of calls and being put on hold many times the phone either went dead or someone would say they'll call me back. NO ONE has ever called me back and my phone I guess is still with Talk Talk although I have never once approached them.
Today I went to call a client of mine on his mobile and a voice came on telling me that I can not phone out and the call directed me through to Talk Talk.
After explaining about three times to different people they eventually transferred me to their credit control department and then yet again the line went dead.
I am a self employed Architect who's right arm is a telephone and now cannot even phone out. Is there anyone out there who can assist, I am in the process of contacting Ofcom.
There must be an awful amount of horse shit outside their offices, because I have dealt with cowboy builders but never to the extent that these lot offer.
If my young lad want's a cowboy outfit for Christmas could someone tell me how much Carphone Warehouse is going For. HELP]]>

holy shit... on Fri, 26th Jan 2007 8:39 pm


< ![CDATA[Have you asked the other people mentioned on the bill what interaction they have had with TalkTalk?

Presumably, at least one of them is still waiting to be connected to TalkTalk and wondering why it is taking so long?

Is their phone number similar to yours?

Talk to your neighbours and then all three of you get hold of TalkTalk together at the same time....]]>

Paul on Sat, 27th Jan 2007 10:26 pm


< ![CDATA[In response to Defan Hughes:
When talktalk connect a line, they check that both the telephone number and postcode match. If they don't match what BT have on their records the order will not go through. So no idea how they've managed that cock up.

To get it sorted, I would head for your nearest Carphone Warehouse store and get them to sort it.
It's basically a case of a mis-sold contract, so they should just cancel it for you and you can re-sign up to Tiscali if you want.
As for a timescale for this, I assume the broadband won't have connected yet, so it will just be the phone and line rental to change, which at a rough estimate shouldn't take longer than a week or so at most.]]>

Pauline on Sun, 28th Jan 2007 11:33 pm


Success! After approx 4 months of trying I eventually got through to the modems returns line. One modem promptly returned, be nice to see if I actually get my refund! My heart really does go out to everyone with problems worse than mine was – I know exactly how frustrating it can be talking to so called help line. To everyone else with problems – keep your chin up, there is light at the end of the tunnel and unfortunately, you certainly arent the only one with your problem! Good luck all.

chris on Mon, 29th Jan 2007 2:43 pm


< ![CDATA[Had to call Talk talk to report a problem with the phone and Broadband following our recent speed upgrade (don't they tell people anymore in advance that they are getting faster BB speed?).

I was not looking forward to this given the known issues of call centres etc.

Got ready for that long wait and being placed on hold with trendy upbeat music playing to keep you amused.

I was ready - a hot cup of tea, a music CD in the PC, biscuits etc etc but hey within a few seconds I was talking to a very helpful Talk Talk person who, after listening to the problems, did some initial checks, phoned me back on my mobile to check out the phone, documented my problem and escalated to their technical team for investigation and advised that they would pass it out to BT if they couldnt fix it.

OK its still not resolved but we are off to a good start.]]>

harvie on Mon, 29th Jan 2007 4:53 pm


my TT internet keeps going off every 10mins for a few seconds, which is annoying because i can play on my Xboxlive and my MSN keep going off, anyone know how I can fix this problem?

John on Mon, 29th Jan 2007 7:09 pm


< ![CDATA[I have had Talk Talk telephone and broadband for about a year now and have upgraded to the free 8 "up to 8meg" a few months back.
I have found the service absolutely brilliant with free national &#38; international calls. I called Miami free a few times!!!
However for the past 5 days I cannot send e mail. I can receive, I can access the web, in fact I appear to be getting 11 meg ps!
I have got through twice now to the technical sevice (5 days apart) which is apparently in India in some blokes front room on his laptop, with respect he has an accent which is difficult to contend with, but this is not helped by his computer not being able to stream audio fast enough, so apart from getting half sylables and digital glitches in the words, they are in a foreign accent. This service is abolutely abysmal. I have phoned the English site numbers as a new customer and said I need to spek to someone in England who can converse by phone or good audio stream. They were helpful, but after looking into possible problems with my router, account settings, ISP, Firewall etc.etc. I STILL CANT SEND E MAIL!
I also cannot FTP to my webspace either.
I did a windows check on connection and it says No problems with HTTP &#38; HTTPS, but ftp had problems.
I think at the end of the day everything is coming down, but nothing will go up and Talk Talk don't want to admit theres a problem. So as a previous person asked how to get out of their contract, if I do get that way inclined, I would be Stopping the direct debit, printing out as much info as you can find as to how many people are having the same trouble. They I can assure you will contact you!
You then say I don't want to cancell but I'm not paying for half the goods. get me up and running properly within 48hrs, or sue me for the outstanding contract and money. Then go back to BT. I reall hope this won't be necessary.
Good luck to one and all - keep phoning them in the UK, dont press the button for technical! ring on the upgrade or new customer line - be polite! but if we all do it they are going to get very busy their end. I had a feeling this may go tits up when AOL came into the frame - Oh dear.]]>

My first experience with TalkTalk customer support - Oliver Brown on Mon, 29th Jan 2007 9:13 pm


[...] le use to get here with), I&#8217;m a TalkTalk customer. Now quite a few people are having problems with TalkTalk. Luckily I&#8217;ve had no problems with TalkTalk (although tha [...]

Paul on Mon, 29th Jan 2007 10:03 pm


< ![CDATA["I had a feeling this may go tits up when AOL came into the frame - Oh dear."

AOL is being going to be effectively left alone as a seperate company. It's customers will remain AOL, and we will be offering the AOL package in stores alongside Talktalk Broadband.

The only place they are going to overlap is at the exchanges. AOL currently has more LLU enabled exchanges than anyone else, so once they figure out how to make these compatible with talktalk broadband, things should get even better for everyone.

As for your problem, you seem extremely quick to jump to conclusions. Talktalk don't want to admit theres a problem? Pretty far fetched really.
The job of technical support is to try the simple things first, eg settings, equipment etc, and if that doesn't work, then you'll be passed on to 2nd line tech support who will run more intensive line tests.

You seem to sound like you know a bit about computers, so you should be aware that fixing problems like yours really does come to down to trial and error. So just keep trying.]]>

Alleluia on Mon, 29th Jan 2007 11:52 pm


< ![CDATA[Local loop unbundling (LLU) is the regulatory process of allowing multiple locally- and national-based telecommunications operators to make use of connections from the telephone exchange's central office to the customer's premises. The physical wire connection between customer and company is known as a "local loop," and it is owned by the incumbent local exchange carrier, (also referred to as the "ILEC," "local exchange," ).

UK
As of 14 January 2006, 210,000 local loop connections have been unbundled from BT operation under local loop unbundling. Ofcom had hoped that 1 million local loop connections would be unbundled by June 2006. However, as reported by The Register, on 15th June 2006, the figure had reached only 500,000, but was growing by 20,000 a week. Ofcom announced in November 2006 that 1,000,000 connections had been unbundled.

By June 2006, AOL UK had unbundled 100,000 lines through its £120 million investment, making it the largest single LLU operator in the UK market.

On 10 October 2006, Carphone Warehouse announced the purchase of AOL UK, the leading LLU operator, for £370m. This makes Carphone Warehouse the 3rd largest broadband provider and the largest LLU Operator with more than 150,000 LLU customers.

The latest LLU status of individual exchanges in the UK can be checked on http://www.samknows.com>

Peter on Tue, 30th Jan 2007 8:35 pm


< ![CDATA[Got a letter from TalkTalk last Wednesday saying that they would connect me to an 8meg line on Thursday and that my broadband connection would be unavailable for 20 minutes. The connection duly disappeared on Thursday morning and has never reappeared (it's now Tuesday evening). I have phoned the help line 20 times or so. It takes 2 minutes to get through the nested menus and then one of the following happens:
&gt; I get cut off
&gt; I get a bad glitchy line to someone speaking in a strong indian accent so conversation is impossible.
&gt; 1 occasion in 4 I get a reasonable line.

When I do get through I find it impossible to persuade the TT staff that the problem lies with them. They think it is something to do witth my router configuration. I eventually persuade one of them to escalate. This has resulted in two phone calls from a service team 9:03 in the morning - when i am at work. The third and final call will come at 9:03 tomorrow, when I am at work .......even though i gave them my mobile number they insist on phoning me at home, when i am at work. I have tried several times tonight to get through to the technical team but failed every time - for reasons 1 and 2 above.

I have now given up. I have phoned BT and begged them to take me back. They are reconnecting my telephone in 10 days time, and broadband 5 days later.

This is, without doubt, my worst ever customer service experience.

My Belkin router tells me that I am receiving at 8127 units and transmitting at around 500. My ADSL light and internet lights are on. So, I think that I am connecting with my local exchange. My guess is that the problem lies somewhere between my local exchange and the TT server.]]>

James on Tue, 30th Jan 2007 9:50 pm


< ![CDATA[Hi, I have read that a few people have the same problem as me. I am a talk talk customer and I also have a problem logging into Hotmail. I can't access the page.

Also, I can get to other e mail accounts but I can't upload files. Does anyone else have this problem and know how to solve this? Thanks!]]>

Paul on Wed, 31st Jan 2007 12:30 pm


< ![CDATA[They insist on phoning you at home, due to the fact that it's pretty hard for them to run tests on your line and computer when you're not sat in front of the computer.
Now if you had requested them to call you on an evening, they should be able to arrange that, but it will take longer for them to call you, as you can imagine that there are more people who want evening calls.]]>

Roy on Wed, 31st Jan 2007 3:53 pm


< ![CDATA[I think every Company has a 'Paul'.

A member of staff that beleives the sun shines out of the Company's backside and can do no wrong. Any problem will always lie with the Customer rather than the Company.
Don't get me wrong, on some occasions I would fully expect a customer to be at fault, however, it seems that with CPW and TT, the sheer number of repeatative complaints would indicate that the fault lies with the Company.
You cannot honestly expect anyone to beleive that so many people (many with Computer/IT professions) would have a problem of their own fault.

I think there also must be a 'Paul' in the Dixons/Pc World group, because whenever I have had the misfortune to purchase a piece of crap from them which is faulty...it has always been my fault. My telephone line gain is too low...my plug socket is too powerfull....its too near a window....you had pie for dinner last night....whatever the excuse...its nothing to do with them!!

The problem is that we the British public complain..but nothing ever gets done. I think that its just the British way. All those 'Pauls' out there are too engrossed in making money than providing a service. If this was the USA and these amounts of complaints were made to an official body...the company would have a lot to answer for.

What makes it even worse is the fact that TT call centre is in Durban. I have a South African girlfriend who informs me that the level of Service, as a general rule, in SA is second to none. You want something..the company's bend over backwards to serve you. Sofa's and the like don't take 6 months delivery like they do here. So i get the sense that its CPW practices and crap investment / training that creates this problem.

NatWest have realised that the UK want UK call centres only...i.e..you can talk to and understand what people are saying...and they know exactly what you are talking about.
When i phoned TT and complained that my Broadband wans't working and their line prevented my dial-up from working...it took me 15 minutes to explain that dial-up and broadband are two seperate things!!]]>

Peter on Wed, 31st Jan 2007 6:19 pm


Well Paul, I’ll try asking them to call in the evening. Last night I did call them four or five times. After sitting through the two minutes of menus I was cut off at least once, maybe twice. On the other occasions the line was so bad that conversation was impossible, so I hung up. It was then I decided that my talktalk experience must come to an end. But Paul,your response is pretty weak. Three times they left a message on my voicemail….at 9:03, 9:03, and 9:25 am. Each time they said they had called and would call again – except on the third occasion they said they would not call again. They could have left a message to the effect that I had to be at home when they tested the line, because (you may find this difficult to grasp) not everyone knows that kind of thing. They could have used their initiative and made the three calls at different times of day. Hell, they could have called me on my mobile and agreed a time when I could be at home. Or am I supposed to sit at home all day waiting for a call. They are not trying very hard. I might nd up paying a disconnection fee of £70. But they are going to lose £300 from me this year, and next, and next…. and I am going to bad mouth them whenever I get the opportunity. So, it could pay them to show a bit of initiative. And anyway, why can’t they test the line without me being at home. My router is switched on all the time. BT regularly check my company line without me being around.

Dave on Wed, 31st Jan 2007 7:38 pm


< ![CDATA[Someone help i have had Talk Talk for the past 6 months for the first 4 months it worked perfect. Then they made some changes at the exchange and since then i cannot keep a connection for more than 10 mins. The modem shows i am connected and so does my pc but my Explorer freezes then i am disconnected. This happens up to 12 times every hour, sometimes only once, the only way to reconnect is to unplug and re-plug the usb cable or re-boot.
The ammount of times i have rung TT is unreal, i have been rudley cut off on 4 occasions , told to ring back in the evening, told to ring back when the problem occurs, told me 2nd line would ring me never did. told me they would do a check and ring me back never did. Tried to ring 3 times tonight at a cost of 10p per min wasting 40 mins trying to get through and got cut off on all 3 occasions.
Great Service Talk Talk !!!
Why can't i speak to a member of customer services who i can understand and who speaks the same language as me (i tell you why , because you pay for what you get , cheap money gets u cheap service wish i had seen this site first before signing up)
I shouldn't take 20 or so phone calls to get the service i am paying for !!!!
Oh by the way got disconnected 3 times while trying this out.]]>

james on Wed, 31st Jan 2007 10:44 pm


I would strongly advise that you do not even consider using talk talk broadband. I got sucked in with the great value phone, broadband service talk talk offered and it has been hell ever since i joined this company ( unrealible broadband and really poor helpdesk support). I have now contacted BT asking them to transfer my service back.

Mike on Wed, 31st Jan 2007 11:37 pm


< ![CDATA[Just thought I'd let everyone know I've seen sites wit similar comlaints about BT, Tiscali &#38; Pipex.....

It would seem that all ISP's have their problems and people really think it makes a difference posting the experiences.

People threaten court, etc that all has no effect and canel direct debits that just worsens the situation when they get to a debt collectors and wonder why.

Half the reason you dont get help is because you don't allow the technical people to do their jobs - Just assume the worst and get frustrated.

My TalkTalk Broadband was out after my LLU upgrade but after 7 or so days it was up and running fine- I did everything that was asked of me - I didnt touch my computer, just left it on like they asked and I recieved a text message after a week saying the fault has been resolved and it had. job done]]>

Beatriz on Thu, 1st Feb 2007 1:32 pm


Well, after the change my connection stopped working. And, of course, it’s been impossible to get any reply from Talk Talk. If the problem is not sorted in the next couple of months I will be cancelling my account with them, as I don’t have the time or energy to write/call e-mail millions of time.

Mike on Thu, 1st Feb 2007 5:20 pm


< ![CDATA[Well said Roy.
Paul, you are obviously on the promotion trail, but give us all a break and face the fact that the hundreds of contibutors to this site have a point. They're not just complaining because they've got nothing better to do.
Can't you occasionally get your head out of the sand and admit that Talk Talk has major problems which need to be addressed.
We don't want excuses and buck passing.]]>

Bob on Thu, 1st Feb 2007 6:41 pm


< ![CDATA[Like hundreds of other people, I have had nothing but problems with TalkTalk. It took me over 7 months to get on to their "free" broadband package. I received MAC code after MAC code, only to be told that BT hadn't received it from Orange (£27 a month, but at least the service was consistent). Then, when, I finally got onto it my hotmail account doesn't work (and with no way of getting this working) and the Steam game provider doesn't work either (no bother, I only spent hundreds of pounds on games so as to not have DVD boxes littering all over - what a waste of money). I guess, we should have all realised that by "free" it really meant utterly crippled.

To say that I'm a little PO'ed is a little bit of an understatement. Not once did they mention that they had restricted P2P traffic (by restricted, I mean zero-to-zilch) and now I'm tied into an 18 month contract (or only 11 month since it took me 7 months to get onto this poorest excuse of a broadband service).

Just thought I'd voice my opinion amongst many here and wish that TalkTalk would really talk and not just pretend to respect a vast amount of customers. They really are a joke...]]>

Les on Fri, 2nd Feb 2007 12:28 am


< ![CDATA[As with many of these posts, I wish I'd never signed up to TT.

I only got my BB modem yesterday after a 2 and a half month wait.

Used the install CD bypassing the supplied security installation (I have Nortons ), and after 5 attempts at getting my computer to talk to the modem, gave up and set it up myself using XP's set up procedure. Re-inserted the CD and got a connect to the modem, then the ISP and finally TT's service.
No password came with my welcome letter; so I rang the password service only to be told by a machine that my phone number is not recognised.

I work nights, so this is all happening in the early hours. I then had to wait for a few hours to call a helpline because they only open 8am -8pm. (I work 5pm - 2am and normally sleep 8am - 3pm) After two redirections from barely intelligible operators I was put through to a woman who put me on hold for 5 mins whilst she retrieved my password. She took great pains to make sure I understood her through her strong Indian accent. I entered the password and guess what!? IT DOESN'T WORK. I also have voicemail I cannot retrieve because 1570 is not recognised!

After reading other TT forums I feel I'm on the precipice of a long drawn out battle with TT to get the service as advertised.

I've seen many instances of individuals refering to small claims courts, trading standards, ofcom and ombudsmen; but the reality is that such individual actions are not going to make TT revise things on a big scale. An individual may, on occasion get a result, but what is much more effective and will hit TT and CPW where it hurts is a major CLASS ACTION brought about by thousands of dissatisfied customers coming together on this issue and taking TT to court. Any lawyers out there?

On a positive note, Carphone warehouse did withdraw from sponsorship of Big Brother over the Jade/Shilpa episode and so some of their advertising was prevented from enticing innocents into becoming customers of this shambles of a company.]]>

Les on Fri, 2nd Feb 2007 1:09 am


< ![CDATA[Of course 1570 does not work for voicemail, a helpline operator gave it to me. The number, as I've found on TT's site, is 1571.

Surely the call options should be included in a pamphlet or something with the welcome letter???

Aaaaargh!]]>

craig on Fri, 2nd Feb 2007 10:12 am


< ![CDATA[Guess what, I was a talk talk customer since august last year, I recieved my modem with an invoice that said £0. I was not told There was a charge for it, But I used my own anyway. Just after christmas I recieved a letter saying they was going to take £29.99 from my account for the modem, I called and said about this and checked my original invoice and told them it said £0 so what is going on, They said sorry and to ignore this but the payment would still come out my bank as they could not stop it, So I said I will cancel my direct debit and they can send me paper bills, All was well.

Then early january I was loading some software on my pc and registering it when my pc crashed and I had to re-install windows (I lost everything). I then could not view any web pages but my connection was on so the next morning I called talk talk and after 3hours of phone calls and all stages of technical support, Even a phone call from America ( Technical support company that charge talk talk for help) They suddenly re-alised they had barred my internet as I had not paid my modem charge. What a joke this company is. I was not happy and after calling them and even sending them a fax of my original invoice they said sorry but could not put my internet back on until i paid this or sent the modem back and they recieve it, At this stage I am loosing out as I am trying to sell on ebay, I could not access my ebay account ( had to drive all the way to family to use a computer.

You can guess what I said to this and now I am with BT, I pay a bit more but recieve proper customer service, My speed is over twice as good and I always have a connection.

I think talk talk need to start again, each department has not got a clue what the other is doing, They have no clue how to treat customers and the phone system is a joke as it takes half a day to speak to them as you go from person to person and get cut off at least 5 times before you get to explain the problem.

I am going grey because of all the stress they give me.

Do not make the mistake of the Talk Talk Experience.

They could not organise a p--- up in a b----- for one person alone. You know what I mean.]]>

cliff on Fri, 2nd Feb 2007 1:00 pm


< ![CDATA[SECURITY SECURITY SECURITY this is an issue.
Readers should click on the tools menu in Internet Explorer, then on the manage add ons, then on the get more add ons, then from the list available click on privacy.
From the list find Mcafee Site Advisor, download and install.
You now have an addition to your browser both in Explorer and Firefox.
Now do a search with Google for talktalk.net and yo will see that your results page now has green or red flags against the sites.
Go to the talktalk.net site IT IS RED. Hover your mouse pointer over this red flag and a pop up will tell you why Mcafee found the site unsafe. Click on the find out more in this pop up and you will be taken to the full Mcafee report on this issue.
You will be able to read others comments and add your own.
Nice one Carphone Warehouse on top of everything else.

But it does not stop there.
Go to http://www.gfi.com/emailsecuritytests/ and read what it says.
Now enter your talktalk.net email address and wait for the test emails.
Your security system will go mad trying to deal with all the viruses and other malicious content that have been passed through the talktalk.net servers and straight on to you.
Indicating that talktalk.net have no security on the servers and that hackers and other malicious people might be able to exploit this weakness.

Finally do not forget to do a full antivirus sweep and remove all these items from your system. They are harmless, just tests so do not worry.]]>

m hawkwind on Fri, 2nd Feb 2007 3:55 pm


< ![CDATA[Defan Hughes,
your best bet is to bring this to the attension of Charles Dunstone
DunstoC@cpwplc.com]]>

Pauline on Fri, 2nd Feb 2007 6:42 pm


Well said Roy – you are a legend! I did start to wonder if Paul was an employee as he always seemed to think it was everyone else with the problem. According to him I was also at fault lol. Everything you said was so spot on!

Mike on Sat, 3rd Feb 2007 2:53 pm


< ![CDATA[- - - - I only got my BB modem yesterday after a 2 and a half month wait. - - - -

Sounds like you had an extra few weeks delay in the BB provisioning. It does happen in some areas that it takes longer. TT still rely on BT OpenReach to actually do the physical work of connecting things up.

- - - - No password came with my welcome letter; so I rang the password service only to be told by a machine that my phone number is not recognised. - - - -

It may be that you got the modem a couple of days in advance of BT actually doing the work. Just because an engineer is scheduled to work in a particular place on a particular day doesn't mean that timetables get moved around by a day or two at the last minute, for example if someone goes off sick or some equipment fails. And, while they are trying to contact you about that, that gives them even less time available to do the actual job of connecting you up, so wait a few days and see what happens.

It is also possible that there is a physical fault on your line. Some of the cabling back to the exchange could be 50 years old. BT haven't invested much in the local loop in the last few decades. If the TT password line doesn't recognise your telephone number, then it is likely that your line hasn't actually been fully provisioned yet. Wait a few days, then try again.

Make sure you are fully conversant with the correct way to set up the modem and make sure that you do actually SAVE the settings into it. A lot of people forget to click on SAVE.]]>

Imran Khan on Sat, 3rd Feb 2007 10:43 pm


< ![CDATA[TalkTalk the future?

With NTL and Sky offering multi packages that include television, phone and WORKING broadband at a reasonable price.

I dont think talktalk will be around long and it looks like some major shareholders in CPW agree!

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9076-2544854,00.html

GOOD RIDDANCE to talktalk and its PARENT COMPANY CAR PHONE WAREHOUSE]]>

Milan on Sun, 4th Feb 2007 2:47 pm


< ![CDATA[I have been experiencing impossibility to use properly my TT internet since an upgrade on the line which took place on 26/1/2007. Although before my internet hadn`t been running as fast as promissed, however, it was stable.
since mentioned upgrade...my connection has kept droppig down, and although my router shows 8000 down/440 up stream it is usually somewhere around 20kb to 1600.
I have rung both TT tech support and D-link (my router`s manufacturer) support countless times and haven`t found any solution yet...(TT declined any foult on their side)
Finally, I started to believe the problem is with my router and was planning to purchase new one...when all of the sudden I found this forum and realised I have been sharring this problems with many many others....
Good is: I do`t have to buy new router
Bad is: I cannot use my internet properly and TT tech support (I spent about 5 hours talking to them since problem occured) seems not to be able either to solve the problem or even to admit it.
Do you know what happen if I cancel my contract with TT?
It`s been over week and problems still persist...I cannot bear any more.]]>

craig on Mon, 5th Feb 2007 7:20 pm


Phone them up and tell them they are not keeping to there contract as you are not being supplied broadband full time and there is no excuse for this. Tell them you want to cancell and ask for a final bill with no extra charges or you will go to offcom. Get your mac code and say bye to a company that is full of idiots. Talk Talk is a load of rubbish and be sure to spread the word to all, I wish I could go live on tv and radio and tell the whole world.

Gazza on Tue, 6th Feb 2007 5:45 pm


No broadband on “go live” date. A few days later, intermittent broadband for a couple of days, and then nothing at all for at least two months now. Terrible excuse for customer services. “Helplines” (sic!) generally in foreign countries with language and other communication problems. That’s if you can get through to them, and are not cut off after being put on hold for ages. I’ve wasted hours on the phone to their technical teams, had false promises made, and no service delivered. Don’t touch talktalk – you’ll regret it if you do.

craig on Wed, 7th Feb 2007 7:45 am


Just spread the word and if you see any other sites to tell, Be sure to do it. Lets tell as many people as possible. Be Gone with Talk Talk

P Mistry on Wed, 7th Feb 2007 11:08 am


< ![CDATA[serious problems here. switched over to TalkTalk to be my provider during sept 2006. no broadband since day one. one problem to another. please kindly check all the details loged on my account. see how many calls i have made and the duration of each call i have made. this will tell you all about it. there is no one to solve the problem. ring up the 08704441820 number, get connected, hold on for minutes, finally get through, explain the situation and the poor guys try very very hard to be polite and be helpfull. log on the details-- and the problem has not been solved yet. you ask for a supervisor or a manager on duty to come on the pahone, but there has never been a supervisor or a manager on duty-- ever . you leave a message for a supervisor or a manager to study the situation and ring me back. but i have never had a call back. problem not solved but just hanging in the air. made my complaints to so many different departments, but no joy. then you get cut off. start all over again-- this takes time. try to get connected to your 2nd line people-- they are very busy and cant get through.
i have so many refrence numbers, names etc but no positive responce at all. its Feb 2007 and still today i vano no internet at all. this is since sept 2006. no one has come forweard wit a solution or a positive responce for the problem. i have basically given up. as you can imagine what goes through when you have a problem as such. yoiu have no one to turn to for a solution.
my direct debit is still on since day one. i am paying for no servise, talk talk is a big talk, they have failed to provide the kind of service they have been promising. bridge of contract. paid for ner router and a new modem- nothig yet.
it must have cost me so much in money, my time, telephone call charges and stress within my family to be without the internet for 6 months. i canmnot see this problem being solved soon. see how far we go this time. what would you do if you were in my situation?]]>

Paul on Wed, 7th Feb 2007 4:33 pm


< ![CDATA[Firstly I've made no attempt to hide that I work for CPW, I've mentioned numerous times how I have spent my own time fixing customers problems for them. When I read through the problems here, it's pretty clear to me which ones are actual problems, and which ones are customers fault. And yeah, I have a blunt view of things due to being tired of people pointing fingers and blaming me or CPW for problems, either Talktalk or Mobile phone related, only for me to spend my time sorting it out, and in the end the problem being solely the customer's fault.
The simple fact is, a high majority of these "problems" are people expecting too damn much, not understanding how things work, and being completely blind to how other companies work.

Roy: I think you'll find that I have repeated many times that CPW was at fault for many of these problems. I support what CPW has done purely because I agree with the idea of Talktalk. The UK is vastly behind the rest of the world when it comes to broadband, and a lot of that can is courtesy of BT mainting a stranglehold on the market for so long. Now CPW come along and offer something that nobody else has ever done. They perform an industry first, and offer free broadband. It was an extreme cock up at first due to the demand, but there was no way to prevent or predict the amount of demand there would be. They did the best they could and have got through it. But what does the fantastic British public do? They grab their pitch forks at the first sign of a hiccup, completely forgetting about the terrible service BT and other providers offer. Nothing new to me unfortunately though, I'm used to the general public with no idea how things work demanding that everyone stops what theyre doing to fix their problem, right there and then.
"The problem is that we the British public complain..but nothing ever gets done."
More to the point, you all complain, but do nothing to help solve the problem, you don't accept compromises or reasoning. Or the fact that these kinds of problems unfortunately do take time to fix, and it's not due to lack of caring, or incompetence. It's due to the fact that there are so many variables to check.

Dave: Are you using the Talktalk supplied modem or a different kind? I assume you've done the usual stuff like uninstalling all the modem software, and reinstalling it all using a different USB port? You shouldn't get charged 10p a min from your Talktalk landlline, if you do call the billing team (in UK) and they should credit it on the next bill. The charge is only for customers needing help with non-talktalk faults.
And even if the call centre was in England for tech support, they'd still be reading the same script and would be just as useless. All I can suggest is when you call tech support, just tell them to transfer you to 2nd line support, they should do this as they'll have notes on the system showing that you've called up and done the obvious stuff already with them several times.

Beatriz: As far as I am aware, if you have a problem that Talktalk has been aware of for more than 3 months and have not been able to fix for whatever reason, you should not be required to pay any kind of disconnection fee and should be free to leave Talktalk.

Bob: I think you may want to check computer and internet settings, as Hotmail works perfectly fine on every talktalk line I've seen, and Steam does too.
As for P2P, they did mention that it is limited at peak times, and heavy usage of that kind of system would not be tolerated, purely because it slows down the network for everyone else. But that said, I know people that have continued to download "average" amounts of things via eDonkey and other programs perfectly fine, so it begs the question just how much were you downloading?

Imran Khan: Entertaining as usual, especially your lack of reading comprehension. That article states one investor has pulled out, but then goes on to say how regardless of all that, CPW was one of the few retailers on the high street to have an increase in sales this December compared to last year. - Hardly sound like they're going bust, so let me reassure you, CPW and talktalk, along with the newly acquired AOL UK are not going anywhere :)

Milan: I really would suggest trying a new router. Is it possible that you could borrow someone elses modem or router just to test it? I don't think there is going to be too much Talktalk tech support can do until you test your equipment first.

And lastly

P Mistry: You haven't made it very clear what exactly the problem is at the moment. If you email me your landline number, and an in-depth description of the problem, I could try looking into it for you and hopefully provide some advise or a solution. My email is paul.cpw@btinternet.com

Same goes for anyone else, if you really do feel at a dead end, feel free to email me paul.cpw@btinternet.com and I’ll see what I can do.
Bear in mind though, that it may take a few days to get a response from me, as I have a store to run and other customer’s problems to sort, but I will do my best.]]>

Dave Child on Thu, 8th Feb 2007 9:46 am


< ![CDATA[I'm on UKFSN. Or I was. I switched from TalKTalk to UKFSN (after months of apalling service and speeds - everything but HTTP and email traffic were running at dial-up speeds - since switching everything has been fine - tech support unable to help), and two days ago TalkTalk switched me back onto their 8meg service. Without my permission.

I'm sure an ISP really shouldn't be allowed to just steal customers from another, but I don't know who to contact other than OFCOM.]]>

Ed Balleny on Thu, 8th Feb 2007 3:32 pm


< ![CDATA[My broadband was fine until about 2 weeks ago and it still doesn't work. As is usual with these sorts of problems the support asked me to check the equipment and speak to their technical support team.

Spoke to an IT engineer friend of mine and confirmed that all the connections were working and there was a broadband line out of the house. So the problem must be at the local exchange/server.

Called again and was told about the upgrade to 8Mbs and that it would be available in 24 hours. I was a bit sceptical as it had been out for a week so 24 hours sounded like a standard answer but would be pleased to get 8Mbs.

No internet 4 days after the call. Now I would be happy with any speed at all!

I can't be the only person suffering this unbundling nightmare in North London - N22. Anyone else has this problem fixed already...desperate for some idea of why this is taking so long and for any light at the end of the tunnel...PAUL CAN YOU HELP ME!!!]]>

Sam on Fri, 9th Feb 2007 6:44 pm


< ![CDATA[TalkTalk are the absolute pits! A family member has had no 'phone connection now for over a week, this means no internet facility either thus homework can't be completed either. The helpline can't even be described as a joke - nothing's that funny. Various excuses for non-repair have been given and numerous calls to the faultline made. On a couple of occasions when the subscriber rang to enquire when the repair would be completed they were told in no uncertain terms that the fault has been rectified 'because the engineers have said so'. Well, you can't argue with that can you?

Let's make life hell for companies such as this, they don't deserve our business.]]>

Paul on Fri, 9th Feb 2007 7:15 pm


< ![CDATA[Ed Balleny: Unfortunately with the unbundling all you can do is log a fault with them. Ask for the LLU faults number from customer services.
Once a fault is logged they have to wait for a BT Openreach engineer to go check the exchange, but as soon as they get any information updates they should contact]]>

Garry on Fri, 9th Feb 2007 9:58 pm


Paul, I am a talktalk customer with 2 x accounts (2 x homes Essex/Devon). Both fine, have not had problems so no gripes. But…….as a CPW employee, why are you with BT and not talktalk????!!!!!! Odd that.

Steve F on Sat, 10th Feb 2007 11:31 am


My poor old dad fell for TalkTalk’s advertising last year and signed up on 5th October 2006. He still doesn’t have a broadband connection. The first bit of the process to transfer the phone account happened promptly (not surprising as this gets them the money!) but after that nothing more happened. After a month I called the help line (The web site did say it could take up to a month) and was told there was an untransferable broadband connection already on the line. This was cearly rubbish as there had never been anything on that line apart from voice traffic. Having thought about this for a while we decided to check the phone extension wiring and found a fault which was immediately corrected. So the actual problem was probably that line failed the test but this doesn’t really excuse TalkTalk from not bothering to tell us they had found a problem and just stopping the process. At this point they tested the line again and confirmed it was now clear (16th November 2006) and provision of broadband could take up to a month from that date. From then onwards I have been making weekly enquiries as to why nothing has happend and only ever get back rather hollow appologies and no idea if or when the broadband will be connected. The last reply I got a week ago said they were passing the matter to the “escalations teams” and they would write to us shortly – needless to say absolutely nothing has happened. BT are starting to look really good now compared with this, and I’m looking for a way out without disconnection charges, even if it means OFCOM or taking legal advice.

Patrick Pritchard on Sat, 10th Feb 2007 2:35 pm


< ![CDATA[In all my time in commerce, I have never experienced such appalling customer service as that at TalkTalk. I signed up for the free Broadband offer on 22nd. August last year. I was given to believe that I would be online by end of September. On 10th October, no modem having been received, I telephoned the customer service department. I was passed from pillar to post, the last person said he would have to transfer me to someone else, and then the line went dead.
You can never speak to the same person, and everyone you can speak to requires your full details before they will deal with the call. I do not know where TalkTalk obtain their clones, but it seems to me they are all pre-programmed o tak the details, promise faithfully that they will deal with the matter, and then foget all about it as the call is ended.
I wrote three letters to the Chief Executive, not one of which received the courtesy of an acknowledgement.
I set a deadline which was not fulfilled, so sent an e-mail saying that unless I was actually connected by the time my January direct debit was collected the contract would be at an end. I have also told them I will not pay any cancellation charges.
This outfit, in my experience does not deserve any custom.]]>

craig on Sat, 10th Feb 2007 9:54 pm


< ![CDATA[I have just got the result I wanted after phoneing off com and they gave me a freephone number of high level complaints from talktalk, I called it and told them the problems and How all I want is the final bill without extra charges and they said they will look into it and call me back in an hours time.
They did and behold me they took of some charges and I paid via credit card and all is well. But its such a shame that we have to go to such trouble to sort these things out, Why can't these big companies not get it right and sort it out. My experience with talk talk has been the following:-
1- When you phone them its 99% of the time a call centre abroad which the line is so quiet its hard to sort it out and get anywhere.
2- You get a different story every time to which leads to one truth and that is we get lies. Sorry talktalk but its true.
3- You wait ages to get put through and 50% of the time you get cut off or when they say please wait while I transfer you to someone to help, They cut you off, RUDE or WHAT.

As a ex customer of talktalk now, Thank heavens, I wish they would re-alise that the public deserve an internet provider to be honest and give the service they promise, I am now with BT and within the first week have had a problem but to my surprise when I phoned them about it they checked on the problem and then called me back to say HONESTLY that they made an error and it is now sorted out. My service was running great again after 1hr and 17mins. WELL done to BT, I am actually begining to believe there is hope yet. I am pleased with my service and thats the first time ever. I think I have made the right choice with BT, I recommend them.
Good luck to all you people with troubles and I hope you get them sorted fast.
Take Care
Craig]]>

How to get TalkTalk broadband working - Oliver Brown on Sun, 11th Feb 2007 3:14 pm


[...] portantly the guide tells you how to do it without using the setup CD – quite a few of the problems people have had might not have happened had they not used the CD. It&#8217;s [...]

Phil Jones on Mon, 12th Feb 2007 12:06 am


< ![CDATA[Attention suffering TalkTalk subscribers that can't get started. I have written an "Unofficial TalkTalk Broadband Setup Guide" which is online here:

http://www.pjls16812.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/talktalk/index.html

Please let me know if you find it useful.]]>

keeren on Mon, 12th Feb 2007 7:49 pm


modem returns jesus wat a shower of s”t when i signed up to tt at carphone warhouse store they gave me a free modem to take away with me. that was in nov 06 my live date was jan 07 then 2 weeks after my live date i recieved another modem which i never asked for. i phoned customer services what a joke no joy so i went down to the local carphone warehouse store were i signed up they refuesd to take the modem of me but told me it was freepost to send it back my reply was if its freepost why dont u send it back still no joy then i recive a bill in the post for the modem which i never asked for and it would come out of my bank via direct debit so i sent the modem back and was told i would be refunded via check in 28 days 35 days later still waiting tt wat a shower of s”t

sodall2doo on Wed, 14th Feb 2007 5:02 pm


ok I have also had major problems getting adsl connection from TT …….. but all up and running now and very happy after a month online. Just checked speed and i’ve got 1907 down and 224 up that’s fine with me ……. only one problem that maybe somebody may be able to help me with ? I use MSN messenger live and use sharing files on same , recently I have not been able to synchronize my files with my friends sharing files ….. the sharing files pane just sits there saying trying to sync but never actually manages to. Now the question i’m asking is this ……could this be something to do with TT or may it be due to the fact that i have recently gone Vista ?

Mick M on Wed, 14th Feb 2007 5:13 pm


< ![CDATA[For the thousands of you out there who are forced to sit for hours on the phone because you made the mistake of signing up with this crap company, I have some good news.
You no longer have to pay for your sins (and watch TalkTalk rake off their fee from your phone call).
Go to http://www.saynoto0870.com where you will find alternative 0800, 01 and 02 numbers for TT and other companies who are ripping you off.
Good luck.]]>

craig on Wed, 14th Feb 2007 9:17 pm


< ![CDATA[TRY THIS Before you make your mind up
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/isp/compare.html
This is done from customers experiences Not the provider’s.]]>

zoe s on Thu, 15th Feb 2007 1:35 pm


please please please please please DO NOT sign up with Talk Talk Broadband. I have never had so much trouble in all my life and feel as though I am about to keel over with sheer frustration!! I am writing to them today (you don’t get any joy on the phone) to cancel my broadband and return my modem. I do not intend on paying any fees – wish me luck!

craig on Thu, 15th Feb 2007 9:57 pm


Good luck zoe, Have you contavted offcom, They will tell you what todo.

Jean Ralph on Fri, 16th Feb 2007 4:44 pm


< ![CDATA[I have the complete package from TalkTalk and was annoyed to find that my Bankdid not pay January Bill but, I phoned and paid when received letter
but, talk talk blocked our phone and we could not make outside calls.
I was disgusted and told the girl so but all she kept saying was sorry and enjoy
your day. Why could'nt talk talk phone and say there was problem with bank
payment and we would have paid the account there and then.
It happened at a time when we had a medical emergency so that did not help
and again the call centre were not interested. 2 to 24 hours to unblock a phone!!!!!! Just not on. Jean Ralph]]>

Imran Khan on Fri, 16th Feb 2007 5:42 pm


< ![CDATA[Bye Bye talktalk, February 14th was the day talktalk died. Now people can get their mac codes without a hic cup I am afraid talktalk is either going to lower their prices to 1.99 per month or they are going bust.

GOOD RIDDANCE]]>

Sue S on Fri, 16th Feb 2007 9:24 pm


Oh Zoe – good luck. It was the worst thing we ever did to sign to TalkTalk – after 37 calls to their help desk (and in some cases they hung up on us) – we pulled the proverbial plug on them. Went to BT and everything has worked since day 1. Now having to take TalkTalk to small claims court to recover money owed to us.

jama on Sat, 17th Feb 2007 1:18 pm


the worst thing i have ever done was sign up to talk talk, they are using the someone else’s details and billing me for it, i tryed to sort it out but the data protection act comes into play, so i can not get rid of their mistake untill i trace the person that they made up.

Kevin on Sat, 17th Feb 2007 10:46 pm


< ![CDATA[Hello there!

I started up a website called WanadooProblems back in April 2006 after Wanadoo (now Orange) left me without my broadband for over 9 weeks! Their disgraceful customer and technical service was useless to say the least. The website grew unbelievably quickly (especially after the Orange rebrand... we rebranded too - to http://www.OrangeProblems.co.uk ) and it was soon apparent to me that there were more than just a few customers who were unhappy with their internet service provider.

I also bought the domain name TalkTalkProblems.co.uk which I have only just got around to setting up. Feel free to drop on by – Orange have been watching OrangeProblems (on a daily basis – we know!!!) and we imagine that Charles and his team at TalkTalk will start watching TalkTalkProblems.

The idea is not to shout abuse at TalkTalk (though you can do this in a civil manner if you wish), but to get a community together to share experiences and offer technical (or moral) support.

We are not trying to “spam” our site here, we just thought that action needs to be taken and with the success of OrangeProblems, it is clear there is definitely a place on the web for these types of consumer forums.

We have added a link to your site from both of ours Oliver!

Kind regards

Kevin]]>

Paul on Sun, 18th Feb 2007 10:02 am


< ![CDATA["jama Says: February 17th, 2007 at 1:18 pm

the worst thing i have ever done was sign up to talk talk, they are using the someone else’s details and billing me for it, i tryed to sort it out but the data protection act comes into play, so i can not get rid of their mistake untill i trace the person that they made up."

If your bank details have been put onto someone elses account, all you need to do is visit your bank and they will be able to sort it out for you. From what I remember you process an indemnity claim with them (don't quote me on that though, the bank will know what to do)]]>

jarael cameron on Sun, 18th Feb 2007 1:56 pm


< ![CDATA[STAY AWAY!!!!!
iv been with talk talk since september 2006 and all was well until november when i got into some financial difficulty, and had 2 cancel two direct debits. sice i dont have a credit card i was told the only way to pay is at the carphone warehouse shop.so the months of december and january i paid in this way.
then last thursday i realise my phone is dead, so i call them from my mobile an they tell me they have cut me off due to me not having paid anything since november.
i say to them yes i have, i tell them the dates i paid into their carphone warehouse and they say yes i see you have paid but unfortunately the payments have gone to the broadband department not the phone department, so we have already started proceedings to cancel your line.
i have transferred the money back accross but u will need to ring bt to reactivate ur line.
now that really peed me off for two reasons, my ex ran up a big bill with bt in my name before getting it in his name, so i cannot go back with bt and also when we switched to talktalk from bt we had already done a 12 month contract, signing up to bt again will just be another contract that i would of had to stick to. so now i am left with no phone and soon to be no internet, i am well pissed off, also not happy with customer service, sometimes u cant understand them, disconnections, long waiting times, u get through only to hear we are experiencing technical difficulties ring back later.
other then that i did not have any problems with the broadband, but i think i have been disconnected unfairly and with no warning email, phone call or letter.
if u need to ring these scammers use this number i found it on a website and it does work,
if its not the department u want get them to transfer you. also ring them on a mobile, when i do that they rung me back.
the number is 01925 554949 and i also have 01925 554955]]>

Paul on Mon, 19th Feb 2007 11:33 am


< ![CDATA[That all sounds a little strange. Carphone Warehouse stores have been unable to take payments for talktalk accounts with broadband since it was launched last summer.
And you can pay your bill via cheque, or paying it into Barclays bank.
So it seems odd that you would be told that paying at a CPW store is the only way.
Now, granted the people in the stores that you paid the bill in should know better than to take the payments aswell.

As for not being given any warning, unfortunately this seems to be the current trend in the telecoms business, all the mobile phone networks will just bar phones without warning as do talktalk. Which I agree is really annoying when it happens to you.
But I assume it's done purely as calling every customer that doesn't pay their bills would cost the companies too much.

As for getting your line sorted, if you reactivate with BT, you should be in contract for around 3 months usually, unless you take extra services like broadband which tie you in for longer.]]>

craig on Mon, 19th Feb 2007 10:07 pm


Paul, That is not correct, When I cancelled my direct debit and asked for a bill in the post, I was told the same, They said I could go in carphone shop and pay but I said no as I am a single dad of young children and it is to much trouble. I am not saying they can take payment but thats what they said. I think the problem is that these call centres are abroad, So the staff do not have the knowledge as if they was local, Do not meen to put them down but this is the problems that arise. Its all about money at the end of the day, I understand its buisness but A good company should always provide proper customer service or its never going to get a good name for it. Lets be honest no one likes to be messed about and waste time, what ever we pay for we expect it to work no matter the price being cheap or not. No one can deny that can they.

Rod on Tue, 20th Feb 2007 8:49 am


I joined Talktalk and waited till September for broadband which would not work reliably. Many hours spent on premium rate calls, several modems waited 5 weeks for replacemnt) but to no avail. Got fed up sent letter in December (Recorded delivery) cancelling contract. Letter ignored. after many more calls managed, in January, to get reseller number but could not get my original number back becuase TT do not have arrangement with NTL. So TT have lost my number of 37 years ( No mention in contract ).

craig on Tue, 20th Feb 2007 11:00 pm


Try BT, I am well impressed so far

Derek Luke on Wed, 21st Feb 2007 2:53 pm


< ![CDATA[Have been with talktalk now for about a year. Suddenly I am hit with loads and loads of SPAM. 500 a day.
How do I get talk talk filters for this.

Recently unable to connect to server, Error No. ox800cccof
Could these two things be connected.

By the way till now no probs wit TT]]>

Gill B on Wed, 21st Feb 2007 6:03 pm


< ![CDATA[I agree with all the negative comments posted on this site! I had initial problems setting up broadband in July, but once up and running everything was fine. I thought TalkTalk were OK. Then in mid-October broadband kept dropping out every afternoon. I have spent countless happy (!?) hours on the phone to India, talking to people with impenetrable accents (they could not understand me, either). I wrote to Mr Dunstone (snail-mail) TWICE. No response or acknowledgement. Eventually managed to talk to 2nd line support (aha, someone intelligent, who does not treat me as though I am a moron). Turns out all the problems are down to LLU. HOWEVER, since then the problems have still not been resolved. Broadband drops out as soon as peak time arrives (kids home from school). Last time I spoke to 2nd line support they promised to ring me back withing 48 hours. That was 2 months ago! What with Christmas and a prolonged stay in hospital for a major operation I lost the will to chase them up.

Lately I have been having endless problems picking up e-mails, there appears to be something wrong with the e-mail server (overloaded?). Broadband is unusable after late afternoon, no chance of using it in the evening.

Now I am feeling a bit stronger I will try phoning their (haha) Support again.

Ooh, LOOK - it is almost 6pm and I am still on-line, there must be something wrong, should have dropped Broadband a couple of hours ago.

The other thing is - connection speed dropped considerably after the switch to LLU. Incidentally I was told I should have received a letter about LLU, but if it was sent, it never arrived.

Reading all these posts and realising I am not alone has done me a power of good - thanks!]]>

Ray on Wed, 21st Feb 2007 6:14 pm


< ![CDATA[Well I have been with Onetel for around a year, and was recently advised to change to TT as they now own Onetel.
My broadband is fine so far, but I have intermittant problems sending and receiving emails, I have worked out that I am only able to send and rec for about 1 hour in 24.
So my question is what are we the unhappy customers going to do about it.

Its about time we all banded together and marched to their HQ and picked until we get an answer. Come on for god sake lets sort these money grabbing sods out onec and for all.

Ray]]>

Bob on Wed, 21st Feb 2007 10:48 pm


< ![CDATA[I will never recommend anybody to go on talktalk broadband. Mine works when it wants to and is a hit and miss affair each day.

I have been on the phone to there technical support to different people, unfortunately they cannot seem to understand what I am saying and I cannot understand them. I have given up. Do not get talktalk broadband under any circumstances, if it breaks you are lumbered with no internet for the rest of your 18 month contract]]>

Mohammad AbuSalah on Thu, 22nd Feb 2007 11:14 am


< ![CDATA[Talktalk is the worst service provider so far. I had BT and Wanadoo before with no problems whatsoever.

For the past 3 days (until now) my phone line is dead and therefore no broadband access. NO WONDER WHY IT'S FREE.!!!!!!!

Stay away from talktalk.]]>

peterB on Fri, 23rd Feb 2007 10:28 am


I too am pretty fed up with TT. When I signed up last September, I understood there would be a slight delay before I got the full free monty, since then, like so many users, I am really disgusted at the standard of service, I feel quite lucky when I am able to send and receive email, but most times I fail. I have tried phoning and emailing TT, but thats a bit like p…..into the wind. About time that some of us got together and like the ants, many can move mountains.

emsi on Fri, 23rd Feb 2007 3:46 pm


< ![CDATA[All these posts make a scary read indeed! I was with one foot out of the door to go to CPW and get TT when I thought I would check this site up and see if things were any better since last year when TT got all the problems and bad press... I have stopped dead in my tracks.

It is clear that their broadband is rubbish and their customer service is no better. I can do without the broadband as I already have cable telewest (only 2mb admittedly but uncapped) but can I put up with bad service? Having just survived the nightmarish experience of being a Bulldog customer (believe me their customer service is just as horrid as TT.. infact, come to think of it.. I think they must be sharing the same call centres and the same rude morons!) the answer would have to be no. But the next question is: how likely is it that I would need to use their customer service though if I am only going to use their phone line? It seems their phone service is ok and as their international plan is very competitively priced..I wouldn't want to miss out on that. Any comments/advice anyone?]]>

Chris Fifield on Sat, 24th Feb 2007 3:12 pm


I foolishly joined talk talk “FREE” broadband in November. What anightmare. Iam still being charged £10 a month even though I@m told it should be free in my area. I’ve been barred at least 8 times during that period due to “ARREARS” on the account. Impossible they take the money by direct debit. Sometimes they forgot to take it, sometimes they tried to take it from someone elses account. The modem was faulty but I am still waiting for a refund. I sent the faulty modem back but even though modem returns admit they have it and have given me a returns number I am still not believed by these useless people in India who get all customer service calls. At the beginning of the month I had to send them £39:99through the post as they refused to re-connect me until I did. This included the £29:99 for the broken modem that returns agreed they had received back. I sent it off but guess what they say they haven’t received it but it has been cashed and so they cut me off again. That’s twice in the last week. I’ve asked for paperless bills but I’m still getting them through the post with a £3:50 invoice surcharge every month. I am at the end of my tether. I just want to take both the phones and the broadband away from Talk talk. At the moment I don’t care who I Change to. Anyone has to better than talk talk

Keith on Mon, 26th Feb 2007 3:52 pm


< ![CDATA[I'm having problems because of a reactivation of my line after moving house. OneTel have charged me £104 because the line needed reconnecting. The BT engineer said it didn't and a visit wasn't even necessary. All the guys in India can do is quote me my bill and say I must pay and if I disagree, I should take it up with BT. Well of course that's not right as it is BT who have been employed by OneTel therefore it is OneTel as my provider who are liable.

I've just used the email address here for Charles so I'll reply back here when/if I get a response.]]>

Imran Khan on Mon, 26th Feb 2007 7:21 pm


< ![CDATA[Have a read of this:

http://www.people.co.uk/news/tm_headline=we-save-ill-cath-from-blundering-phone-firm–&#38;method=full&#38;objectid=18672867&#38;siteid=93463-name_page.html>

Keith on Tue, 27th Feb 2007 8:46 am


Had broadband since August last year and nothing but trouble.On a regular basis we lose the broadband connection and when I speak to TalkTalk I’m told it must be the router I’m using.This is not the case, I’m experienced enough to know how to configure a router correctly, but there appears to be no effort or intention on their part to provide the service they advertise.Customer service is a complete waste of time, and I’m now seriously considering cancelling my account and going elsewhere.Any suggestions?

Keith on Tue, 27th Feb 2007 9:15 am


< ![CDATA[I received a surprisingly rapid response from Mr Dunstone. Yes, just a standard auto response as has been detailed here before.

At least I've informed them of the problem and that I've stopped my direct debits, so they'll have no way of charging me a fee for missed payments (especially as I paid the call charge part of my bill anyway).

I'll post what happens next when it does!]]>

Mick on Tue, 27th Feb 2007 7:03 pm


< ![CDATA[Thanks Imran,
I know exactly how Mrs Brocklebank feels. Her treatment from Talk Crap was very similar to my experience.
Keep up the campaign.
No doubt Paul will now say her treatment was quite acceptable and no worse than other ISPs !!......]]>

Alice Hickie on Wed, 28th Feb 2007 3:33 pm


< ![CDATA[I joined TT international some weeks ago and am currently waiting for the free broadband.

I must say that I have no problems with the phone line, and the rates are excellent. It is by far the cheapest landline telephone provider in the country.

There is no charge for ringing customer services as some subcribers seem to think, and I am prepared to give the broadband service a fair chance.

They did fail to demand the direct debit from my bank, but there was obviously a mistake somewhere. But they did not cut me off, only wrote a letter advising me that it is more expensive not to pay by direct debit. I rang customer services free on 08704441820 and hopefully put things right.

I shall wait until the next direct debit is due and make sure everything is working ok.

Things have gone wrong but I am sure that in the long term I feel I am on a good thing, and maybe it will encourage other providers to reduce their prices.]]>

Vj on Wed, 28th Feb 2007 4:20 pm


< ![CDATA[Has anyone been experienceing landline faults for the last 10 days. Since I had a exchaneg upgrade the broadband works (I now have 5.6 Mbps) but my landline drops every 5 - 7 minutes for both incoming and outgoing?

I have never had this problem until they did an upgrade?

Thanks]]>

Soon to be unbundled to TalkTalk - Oliver Brown on Thu, 1st Mar 2007 9:43 am


[...] in my local exchange and that I would be connected at the end of March. Which according to some people may be the same time that I lose my internet access and phone lin [...]

John B on Thu, 1st Mar 2007 12:51 pm


i signed up for the free broadband on saturday. i haven’t had an internet connection for some time so i was getting pretty excited until i found this site. i am not the sort of person who takes this kind of crap, if i have any problems i will get really angry. If so many people have had problems since may last year why the hell hasn’t talk talk done anything yet. At least 60% of people on this deal must not have any problems, else the company would of died months ago, it would be on the news every day surely?

Paul King on Thu, 1st Mar 2007 6:27 pm


< ![CDATA[We signed up for talktalk in aug 06, 2 weeks before the first BBC watchdog report...doh!

We finally got the broadband connection in nov 06... xbox live didn't work with the smart ax modem they sent so i went back to my speedtouch 330 that i used without fault with Orange for 2+ years.

Since then we've had no end of problems, mostly dropped connections &#38; occasionally no landline. On every occasion I contacted talktalk via their broadband 2nd line support direct dial (01925 556470, free from a talktalk landline) &#38; told them I suspected a line fault (35-40 y/o alu lines where i live)...

&#38; then...

21-02-07 - no boradband connection... totally dead!
talktalk wanted me to reconnect their (imo) rubbish smart ax so they could analyse the connection... except the smart ax wouldn't connect either... diagnostics on the smart ax showed a 'LCP' (Line Card) fault at the exchange.

Everyday til tues 27-02-07 I contacted talktalk asking when the problem would be rectified... at first it was 24-72 hours for Opal (network engineers) to look into it &#38; report back, then a definate 72 hours, then 5 days, then 5 working days...

Well, the connection came back &#38; died again... I blew my top... &#38; then within an hour the broadband connection was back &#38; has been stable since.

Today i got a phonecall from talktalk to tell me what the fault was...
a line fault!!!!

Sometimes the customer is right :)

Anyway, if you get through to the 2nd line support, the best operator I found was a guy called JJ (operator # aa21... ask for him :), i don't know if he had any influence on proceedings, but he did give me his manager's name (Absolam Adams) and went thru a whole load more diagnostics than any other operator I'd dealt with.

So now we're back online, xbox live works thru the speedtouch 330 modem just fine &#38; my wife (a paralegal for a law firm) has her 'finger on the button' for the next time talktalk messes up :)

Good luck to anyone &#38; everyone who has 'experienced' talktalk.
paul]]>

Martin S on Thu, 1st Mar 2007 8:13 pm


< ![CDATA[I seem to have 'fixed' the problem with some authenticated sites being slow or timing out all-together:

Configured my TalkTalk branded router to use an MTU of 576 (usually preferred by dialup internet connections I'm told) and it's like magic. It had been set to 1400 which I understand is more normal for broadband.

Please try this and if it works, pass on the tip to other forums where you know TT users are frusteated by this issue. It might just offer some folks some hope.

If this seems odd then OK, but it seems to work without causing any slowdown in my 1mb connection ... and I was only promised 512k:)

Anybody care to comment whether this is a simple configuration problem that talktalk could be asked to resolve ... or have I just been lucky?]]>

Paul King on Thu, 1st Mar 2007 9:37 pm


< ![CDATA[p.s....
when you experience problems with anything to do with talktalk, contact them...
make sure that your call is logged + make your own log.
Then when you cancel your direct debit &#38; contract, you will have the amunition to show breach of contract.]]>

Keith on Fri, 2nd Mar 2007 12:01 pm


< ![CDATA[I have just received call from Onetel following my email and letter. They're still saying i was informed of the charges and the work was needed. They still can't or won't provide any evidence of work carried out because they say BT won't give them any information. They have offered to credit my bill with £50 (almost 50% of the charge) as a goodwill gesture. I've said I will consider that when they can provide evidence the work was required and that I was informed of the charge.

I do now have a direct number for senior customer services- its a UK based person: Shola (a guy) 02071817808.

Good luck everybody.]]>

John Taylor on Fri, 2nd Mar 2007 8:51 pm


< ![CDATA[I dont know what people are talking about TalkTalk is great. They connected my broadband on May23rd. I received my Welcome pack to get connected on November 11th.

Ive tried calling the USA but I cant get a call through jst says number not recognised..

Yes I have webspace but can I hell get anything onto it.

Customer Service. Dont thin TalkTalk have heard of that yet.

I cannot receive TalkTalk on 8Megs. Talktalk reckon its the volts drop on the telephone cables with me living so far away from the exchange. I didnt think there would be a sizeable voltage drop I only live 300 yards away from the exchange.

Never mind only 8 months to go and I will wave "V" to talktalk]]>

Imran Khan on Sat, 3rd Mar 2007 5:53 pm


@John Taylor, u do not have to wait 8 months, just phone talktalk ask for your mac code and transfer service. If they charge you a cancellation fee, contact OTELO and they will make them refund it, most of the time they are not charging the disconnection fee.

Andrew on Sat, 3rd Mar 2007 6:19 pm


< ![CDATA[Has anyone else had issues with Talk Talk billing. I've got the line rental plus caller package with free broadband with standard sevice (1571) also free on one line and merely line rental on the other. The first bill has arrived. The more I look at it the more wrong it is.
The agreed line rental fee for each line was different but Talk talk have charged them both the same at the higher rate.
The caller plan with free braodband is £10.00 p m higher than agreed.
Needless to say I'm being charged £4.99 for that 'free' standard service
ESSENTIALLY VIRTUALLLY EVERY SINGLE DETAIL ON THEIR BILL IS INCORRECT - OVERCHARGING IN THEIR FAVOUR. So far getting evasive answers at best from Talk Talk. Fully expect that despite the fact I've told them of these errors they will help themselves to the wrong amount by direct debit in 4 days time. Beginning to suspect a confidence trick here?]]>

James on Sun, 4th Mar 2007 7:45 pm


hey, ive found something really crucial for those of you that find youre games being blocked by the TalkTalk service, all you have to do is rename the exe. application of the game and talktalk will not recognise it!

Cecilia on Mon, 5th Mar 2007 3:40 pm


< ![CDATA[Well, I am getting really frustrated too... Sometimes the phoneline or internet are not available, not necessarily both at same times.

Now, my computer died and I bought one with Vista. I was first told that I would need to buy a new modem. I called back to complain, I was told that they would send me an updated driver on a CD by post or that I could download a patch from another computer on the Speedtouch website. Today I called again because the red LED keeps flashing even with the patch and I am told that my modem is probably faulty. But how long should I wait before I can actually get a new one.

Oh, and thank goodness for http://www.saynoto0870.com>

Ian on Mon, 5th Mar 2007 6:08 pm


< ![CDATA[Hi all,

I must say that TalkTalk is indeed an appalling service. Carphone Warehouse seems to adopt a 'pass-the-buck" approach to customer service, transferring calls here and there and always assuring that the problem will be resolved shortly, when I very much doubt that anything is being done. It is just a tactic to get you off the phone.]]>

Keith on Tue, 6th Mar 2007 8:30 am


< ![CDATA[Hi guys. Following my previous posts I have now resolved my dispute with Onetel. They still tried to bluff their way through saying I had acknowledge the charges, but I just kept saying I wouldn't apy unless they could provide evidence. They fobbed me off with a £50 gesture, but I still said they needed to provide proof I knew about the £104 charge or that any work was actually done.

The guy who's number I mentioned previously eventually phoned back and said the phone conversation recording file was corrupt and they would remove the charge from my bill. (I don't believe they ever had a record seeing as a guy in India said I hadn't made the application to move house by phone anyway.)

Victory to Keith then. My advice to everyone here is keep trying- keep a record of your calls- stop your direct debits but tell them in writing. It worked for me.

I move house next month- Onetel or any other company to do with Talk Talk, CPW will have no part of my tele comms ever!

Good luck.]]>

wendy roscamp on Tue, 6th Mar 2007 5:21 pm


hi guys and gals was just about to sign up to tt for its free broadband and phone package when i found this site think youve all saved my insanity ta very much tt have just done a sign up campaign in my area so will be interested to hear of any complaints and will be directing friends to this site thanks again

John P on Wed, 7th Mar 2007 1:49 pm


Have just gone live with talk talk and everything is working OK However, didn’t get the welcome pack so phoned for username and password and received OK by phone For some reason their settings are not working on outlook express but my username and password work on their webmail site Lets see what the first bills look like

Talk talk suck on Wed, 7th Mar 2007 9:11 pm


I totally agree with wat every1 has said i personaly regret signing the stupid 18 month contract. I have had a fault with my line for the past month and all that talk talk have to say for themselve “we undergoing a investigation on your line”, personally i think putting a new line is faster then them investigating the line. If anyone has the problem whereby when there is a incoming phone call the internet diconnect, if by miricale talk talk have fixed the problem please email me.

anthony on Thu, 8th Mar 2007 4:31 am


I HAVE TALK TALK PHONE AT HOME AND HAVE ALWAYS HAD ON EVERY BILL £250 LIMIT ON THE TOP RIGHT. I BELIVED THAT WAS MY LIMIT YET THEY BILLED ME £700 FOR DECEMBER ALONE AND £240 INTEREST. I HAVE BEEN CUT OFF BUT HAVE CALLED 13 TIMES AND EXPLAIND.I KEEP GETTING TOLD I WILL GET A MANAGER TO CALL ME BACK BUT NOT 1 TIME HAVE THEY. I HAVE NEVER RECIVED THE BILL FOR DECEMBER AND NOW THEY ARE SAYING THEY ARE PUTTING THE BILL IN THE HANDS OF DEBT COLLECTORS. I HAVE PAID THE £250 LIMIT AND THEY HAVE NOT PHONED ME 1 TIME TO SAY HOW I AM OVER A LIMIT LET ALONE BY THIS MUCH WHEN THEY SAY “250 IS ALL I COULD USE. NEVER USE TALK TALK IT IS A CON, I AM DISABLED AND BEING TREAT LIKE A CRIMINAL AS ALL THEY DO IS IGNORE MY CALLS, THIS SUCKS AND MAKING ME VERY UNWELL. DO NOT USE TALK TALK FOR ANYTHING !

Jan W on Thu, 8th Mar 2007 10:41 am


OH YES! I FORGOT TO SAY! I HAVE GONE CABLE….. VIRGIN MEDIA. IF YOU CAN GET IT, DO. THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE IS FANTASTIC. I HAVE TV, PHONE AND A FAST BROADBAND CONNECTION FOR £30.00 PER MONTH. WHEN I GET TALK TALK OFF MY BACK I WILL BE A HAPPY WOMAN AGAIN!

Mike10613 on Thu, 8th Mar 2007 2:29 pm


< ![CDATA[if you have problems with talktalk - get through to the right department. Technical will tell you how to plug it in and the basics and costs 10p a minute. If you have serious problems ask to be passed to escalations. If your line keep dropping - technical can't do anything call 0870 444 1820 free from a Talktalk landline - go through the voice mail menus to broadband serves. Select option 2, then option 3 and then option 2 and then option 3 and you're through! Tell them you're losing sync and can they alter the settings. They are based here in The UK. The guy I talked to was ex-Microsoft and we chatted for an hour. Remember, in the year 2000 most people were on dial up and Broadband was only available on cable. Phone lines were designed to work at 100K not 8 Mbs - so it's a miracle it works at all. It is fast moving technology and TalkTalk are expanding fast and work on the basis of pile it high and tell it cheap and their competiveness has brought down prices from other suppliers. I have had a worse ISP charging 50p a minute for technical support - bloody useless - and cost me £15 for the call. I'm OK with TalkTalk. I can call Australia, all the EU and North America on Talk3 international for £20.99. My speed is at 2.2 Mbs - they are trying to fix the line and improve that. My website isn't too bad for a 15 Mb site - take a look! But I do have 500Mb on Googlepages! LOL

Mike10613]]>

Roger Winter on Thu, 8th Mar 2007 2:44 pm


< ![CDATA[I've just gone through the joy of Local Loop Unbundling with Talktalk.

I have not been able to receive any calls since it happened on 14 February. OUtgoing calls get dropped after a few minutes.
My broadband has varied between 1 and 4M, when it was a nice steady 2M before.
My broadband drops out every time I pick up the phone, in spite of working filters.

After a week of getting nowhere, I rang BT, and I'll be reconnected on 13 March.

Talktalk never did fix the line, and have now decided to disconnect me early (today), instead of waiting for BT to import the number.

So I have no phone or broadband until BT reconnect me next week.

I signed up for the 18 month contract, but good luck collecting the early termination fee. I'll see Talktalk in court before I give them another penny.]]>

Mike10613 on Sat, 10th Mar 2007 1:33 pm


Things have improved on TalkTalk. they have bought the UK part of AOL; so have some more experienced staff in the UK. but the merging of TalkTalk and UK AOL isn’t perfect! For technical advice of a general nature go to a forum or yahoo answers. If you have problems with the actual Broadband connection or the speed of connection call them on 0870 444 1820 then whizz through the voicemail by pressing 2,3,2,3 in response to the questions and get through to broadband support – not sales or technical support. I got an ex- microsoft guy who made some adjustments on the line from his computer. That can stop it dropping the connection. But there is a line fault – because BT lines are crap! They were only designed to carry 100K and carrying 2.2 Mbs is good – if they get anyone up to 8Mbs on ADSL they will be lucky – regardless of provider.

t-higgins on Sat, 10th Mar 2007 9:25 pm


< ![CDATA[Talk Talk! -- SHUT UP --SHUT UP ,and sack your sales and marketing team,(they are absolutely first class by the way)-- far ahead,--much too far ahead of your customer service team,--you will be lucky if there is any more than eight people,trying to service the whole of the united kingdom's talk talk related problems.(and there is many problems).After my own bad, bad ,bad ,bad ,bad ,bad ,bad ,bad, bad, bad,
personal experience regarding trying to set up with their own special deal on telephone and broadband services, I ended up being deprived of much needed, and desired broadband services for over three months.The whole carry on was unbelievable, and trying to find a agreeable solution to our simple problem, proved
to be impossible.
I am now delighted to be paying for my broadband services from tiscali, I am sure they are not the best deal on offer ,but at least ,their house is in order.]]>

Talk Talk is OK...... on Mon, 12th Mar 2007 2:41 pm


Talk talk is ok but mines is slow

mrs paprika on Mon, 12th Mar 2007 7:15 pm


< ![CDATA[Some hard won contact
details for those with a Talk Talk Complaint

Escalations Department
01925554000
Kerry Bell (Head of Department)
Tom HUNTER, manager, x4174
Adam DOWER, x 3037
Ashley WARD, x3037
Glyn HARRIS, x3292

Sir Charles DUNSTAN
Talk Talk
1 Portal Way
London
W3 6RS

OTELO
PO Box 730
Warrington
WA4 6WU

Obtain your MAC code
01925553000
If Will on Team 30, or Brendan McKEE on Team 33, say that they can't get you one, they are lying. Adam DOWER (see above) got me one in two minutes.

Don't be fobbed off with "go through customer services" and "they don't have and address", or "we don't give out our surnames" - only deal with the escalations team

Copy and paste this advice to other forums and add your own hard fought raw contact info to it.

Up the workers!]]>

Ben on Mon, 12th Mar 2007 7:31 pm


< ![CDATA[Talktalk 'Tech support' are useless.

Do not go near these ignorant idiots.

They will do anything they can to keep you at 512kb per second.

threaten them with your soliciter and taking legal action. they soon cave in.

moral of my post

" If they say you can only receive 512kb P/S, they are probably lying, demand to speak to there supervisor and threaten to sue them"]]>

Ben on Mon, 12th Mar 2007 7:42 pm


Another thing. The Stupid Indian Tech will tell you that the program which tests your line to see if its upgradable is not working. its a pack of lies. Ignore this and speak to his supervisor

Nisar on Tue, 13th Mar 2007 9:51 pm


We have had internet for over a month now and I can safely say that we have rang talktalk tech support nearly EVERY SINGLE DAY since 14th Feb. 07!!! Wehave now said to them that we want a full refund of all line rental since we were connected, and if the fault in our line is not fixed by the end of the week, we will swich back to Bulldog, our previous service provider. Our phone goes dead half way through calls, and the internet barely works at all!

Mick on Wed, 14th Mar 2007 3:16 pm


After serious problems when our exchange was unbundled in September, we have had a more or less reasonable telephone and (very slow) broadband service since November. However, yesterday evening both phoneline and broadband service went completely dead. TT don’t know what the problem is and say it might take up to 48 hours to sort it. Just have that “here we go again” feeling. Can’t wait to get back to BT (they suck too, but nowhere near as badly).

Steve F on Wed, 14th Mar 2007 9:36 pm


Has anyone had any experience of the Micro Filters that TalkTalk Sell? The three that we bought all stop the phones from ringing at all. I don’t know if this is faulty filters or if they only work properly once broadband is connected as TalkTalk have never managed to complete this part of the deal. We will be moving to another provider shortly so I would like to know if these filters are junk or if I can at least use them elsewhere.. Any information would be appreciated.

stevek on Fri, 16th Mar 2007 11:13 pm


< ![CDATA[The filters that TalkTalk supply with their name on them don't have pin 3 connected inside for the extension ringer.

Get a refund for those and buy some made by some other brand name from elsewhere. They are likely to work.

There are two ways of wiring up a UK extension telephone socket. You lucked out and got filters opposite to what you needed (and no-one could have predicted that in advance).]]>

tim on Sat, 17th Mar 2007 5:17 pm


It worked for a bit then died! Oh such a surprise, we were getting about 1/2hour broadband a day which the tech guys denied, I took printouts of the router logs to Car phone whore house in town on a busy saturday afternoon, poor sales girl just didn’t have a clue but rang india for me. Then I had a loud, VERY loud conversation with what can best be described as a rude, ignorant “techincal support” guy. the whole shop went quiet as I pointed out that ringing them from my own phone had already cost me more than £20 to solve THEIR problems. They simple dont understand anything technical -like English. After putting the phone down the shop assistant did say it was pretty point less then played about on her till for a few minutes. Left the shop with £25 credit on my account got home and it works! For this hour at least 08704441820 cost you 10p\min its a mask onto 01925 556486 which is free. saynoto0870.com has loads more use them and make the buggers suffer!

Steve F on Sun, 18th Mar 2007 11:09 am


Thanks to Stevek for the comment on the filters. I did some research into the design of micro filters and you are totaly correct the filters TalkTalk supplied would never have allowed the phone to ring on our system (which as far as I know is a standard UK extension layout). However as I thought there was zero chance of getting a refund given the way we have been treated by TalkTalk so far, so I pulled one of the filters apart and compared it to the circuit diagrams on http://www.adslnation.com/support/filters.php Haveing figured out the connections it cost 32p for a couple of 0.47uF capacitors from Maplins and 5 minutes of wiring and soldering – the phones now ring as expected! I have no idea how well these filters will work on Broadband as we haven’t managed to get a connection yet.

Marlyn on Sun, 18th Mar 2007 2:05 pm


< ![CDATA[I do not have any problems with the phone but the internet is a different story,when I am on line it cuts of several times a day a message comes up saying ERROR 680 no dial tone (There is dial tone) then it reconnects
Anyone got any suggestions
Thanks]]>

jpjohns on Mon, 19th Mar 2007 9:05 pm


< ![CDATA["No Dial Tone" usually means there is no ADSL signal on the line, or it is intermittent.

Get on to TT "second line support" on the number above and get them to test the line, and arrange for BT to fix that fault.]]>

Marlyn on Tue, 20th Mar 2007 1:45 pm


Thank John will try that and let you know

imran khan on Thu, 22nd Mar 2007 8:16 am


< ![CDATA[Hello All,

If your broadband was working and has stopped working please read on.

Congratulations you are now a previlaged talktalk "localloop" customer which unfortunately looking at talktalks experience means your broadband connection will malfunctioning daily until they correctly configure their equipment in your local exchange. This can take anywhere between 8 and 16 weeks.

However as you are now a talktalk "localloop" customer your a very high profit margin customer who talktalk just can not afford to loose.

TalkTalk has been a shambles from day 1, i am going to addressing my complaints to OTELO and if that doesnt prove satisfactory, well lets not even go there.]]>

cathyj on Fri, 23rd Mar 2007 1:54 pm


< ![CDATA[Heh [i]SteveF[/i] ...

Can you post your filter circuits over at http://forums.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/forum_topics.asp?FID=27>

Carrie on Fri, 23rd Mar 2007 3:20 pm


I’ve been with TT bradband (Huh! part time that is) since beginning of November ’06.Every day and I mean every day my line drops in early afternoon and have to re connect but wait fot it lol every evening 6pm-8am cannot access internet at all no dial tone… you see error 680.(This i have never came across with any of my previous ISPs)Tech Support (Now they’re a laugh)God I cant tell you how many times I’ve phoned them.Its the same……re-install your modem….re-install your modem…blah! blah! WHY..? THE BLOODY THING WORKS!!!They(tech supp) are just going down a list telling us to re-install modem straight from BT socket with their USB lead only.WHY I ask…. could it be because their filters suck??What! Do they expect all us cuctomers,who have this problem with line dropping/disconnecting, to carry our computers.where ever they are,upstairs maybe a couple of flights up maybe another part of the building to the BT box just to pacify them on item two on their list.lol After talking to them then customer services(another joke)then 2nd line techs all have said they do not now understand why my line disconnects..Well if they dont understand how the bloody hell am I suppost to!!!!They have not helped me at all so now I’ve decided to cancel broadband contract,I pay £10 a month(well actually £18.99 a month ’cause bb is bundled into the price),Eventually got my MAC code and going back to BT.By the way if you want a MAC code when you phone TT they will probably say( well not probably gauranteed they will tell you it will take a few weeks/months)they’re lying refuse to hang up until you get your code there and then.They’ll fold trust me.And all I can say about TT is that it is the worse service I have ever used.And be warned out there. By the way my line has disconnected 3 times Hey!Ho!

Tony on Sat, 24th Mar 2007 9:37 am


< ![CDATA[Losing Connection (intermittant)
After having my line upgraded to 8meg i started to recieve 4meg BB - Great i thought but the line kept dropping intermittantly. So i bought a netgear router thinking this would automatically reconnect saving the problem. unfortunatly not.

any way cutting a long story short after several calls to talktalk and them blaming everything but the line quality i did some research myself and discovered if your recieving a 4meg line for example and your far from exchange it will cause a decrease in the line quality so i spoke to TalkTalk and after a lengthy conversation managed to persuade them to cap me to just 2Meg..... Hey Presto it works - I now have a good BB connection with no problems.. so if your experiencing the same fault get onto talktalk and ask to have your bandwidth limited to 2 meg.]]>

AmY on Mon, 26th Mar 2007 3:42 pm


We have successfully completed part of the installation but dont know how to access the internet or do we have to go through the whole process again we don’t understand. could you help us please?

jpjohns on Tue, 27th Mar 2007 7:30 pm


< ![CDATA[What "part" have you "completed"?

What do you mean by "access the internet"? If you have a combined modem/router then it does that for you...

Your question is not very clear, and lacks any detail.]]>

Simon on Wed, 28th Mar 2007 4:51 am


< ![CDATA[Hi sorry to bother you guys just wondered if any one can help??
We got talk talk broadband and just got a very BIG bill but my wife says to wait to see what hapens next month as this is the 1st bill we have had. when I try to refresh any web page it take a while. I have a netgear router and 4 pc conected if I hover over local area connection it says 100.0 mps how do I find what the speed is. Sorry if this is a silly question but it seems to run slower than our old tiscali

Ps sorry about spelling
Hope someone can help
Thanks Simon]]>

Alice on Thu, 29th Mar 2007 7:51 pm


< ![CDATA[I moved to TT telephone service in January, and am now waiting for the broadband connection.

If the broadband connection is anything like the phone service than I shall be delighted. My bills are much less than on BT and I can dial over 28 countries abroad for 70 minutes for free. I cannot fault the phone service at all. I have never been cut off or had any of the numerous complaints that I have read.

I have never had any trouble telephoning cusomer service and it is free from TT landline.

I am a silver surfer, and have been on broadband for several years, I am sure I can deal with any problems if they arise, without writing abuse to the providers.

Perhaps my generation had more patience, but I for one cannot wait for the go live date shortly.]]>

DaleMK on Fri, 30th Mar 2007 3:20 pm


< ![CDATA[TalkTalk or not talk talk.... they upraded the exchange to give me 8 meg broadband on the 19/3...since then i can only make outgoing calls with a loud buzzing noise..no incoming calls no broadband.. am very frustrated with customer services, call ofcom..they give you a freephone number to a dedicated t/t dept which gets answered quickly..can't fix fault but was put thru to options dept and am now on way back to BT.. up yours talk talk...i've had enough!!!!
My advise to anyone thinking of using TT...DON'T!.. its cheap for a reason... cust services is a contradiction of terms!!]]>

Colin on Sat, 31st Mar 2007 9:33 am


I have been trying to login to my email account today (sat 31/03/07), I logged in with no problem on friday, but now it says email not found. I am really getting annoyed with talktalk.

Terry Carse on Sat, 31st Mar 2007 12:09 pm


I signed up for the Talk 3 package on 16th February this year at my local Carphone Warehouse,the phone line and calls transfer took place on 16th march as quoted and Broadband went live on 29th March,one day later than the indicated date.Download speed is 5+mbs.Only problem was that no one asked for a MAC from my previous ISP pipex,I had asked for one about 10 days prior to my go live date,unfortunately Pipex emailed it to a previous non active address.When I telephoned TalkTalk help line I was answered from South Africa by someone who didn’t know what a MAC was,she transferred the call to Antoinette in Jo’Burg who fortunately did and all is well at present!Installed using my own Ozenda wireless router and did not use installation CD as advised in sme other posts.

Hussein Patwa on Sat, 31st Mar 2007 7:40 pm


< ![CDATA[Wel I am very surprised at the sheer number of negative comments. I've had a relatively good experience so far, and anyone that knows me can tell you that I'm a stickler for stellar service and won't put up with any nonsense. Phone connected without problems in June 2006, broadband live three weeks ahead of schedule in August. No problems with anything, customer services e-mail response time averaging 3-4 days. No problems with telephone support.

LLu took over on 28 March, broadband now running at 5.4Mbps. 1471 went down intermittently, but they're looking at that. Admittedly it does say on their website, and is mentioned elsewhere on this blog, that you need to update the speedtouch USB modem drivers to be fully compatible with 8M lines - I'll do that when I get my laptop back from repair (nothing to do with TT), and see what happens.

I admit that TT severely underestimated the demand for their service, but given that I can only commend them thus far for a fairly good experience. E-mail downtime in February (that affected most people) was unacceptable, but then again there are few companies that have never had a technical issue and admittedly webmail was functioning.

Here's hoping, the remaining 9 months go well.

H.]]>

jpjohns on Sat, 31st Mar 2007 8:00 pm


< ![CDATA[*** I have a Netgear router and 4 PCs connected if I hover over local area connection it says 100.0 Mbps how do I find what the speed is? ***

Get into the router Admin screen at http://192.168.1.1/ or http://10.0.0.1/ or whatever the manual for the router says is the access address. Look in the connection statistics (or similar) page that the router will display in your web browser.

*** I have been trying to login to my email account today (sat 31/03/07), I logged in with no problem on Friday, but now it says email not found. ***

See if you can get on at https://webmail.talktalk.net/ — Note the “S” in the https part of the URL.]]>

Radcliffe on Mon, 2nd Apr 2007 10:48 pm


I joined talk talk broadband 5 days ago. I am using my own modem but I have not been able to get into ANY of my email sites (yahoo, hotmail etc) In some I can sign in and view my mail but cant reply, in others like hotmail I cant even sign in. I have adjusted my MTU to 1400 as suggested by someone but no use. Is there anything I need to do? TT technical assistance are hopeless. Spent 1 hour with them without sorting it out. HELP SOMEONE!!!

Paul on Tue, 3rd Apr 2007 10:55 am


< ![CDATA[***Hi sorry to bother you guys just wondered if any one can help??
We got talk talk broadband and just got a very BIG bill but my wife says to wait to see what hapens next month as this is the 1st bill we have had.***

On your first bill you may be charged for more than one months line rental. You pay your line rental in advance, so depending on your billing period, you may have been using talktalk for 2 weeks (for example) before getting a bill. So you will be paying 11.99 for the following month, plus about £6 for the 2 weeks previous.]]>

Angie on Tue, 3rd Apr 2007 12:12 pm


< ![CDATA[Hi Can you help? I am having problems setting up my broadband router. I bought the Talk Talk wireless router but could not set it up. I got as far as entering my
user id and password, pressed enter and I got an error message saying id/password not reconised. Phoned 0800 router Helpdesk number they suggest typing 192.168.2.1 into windows explorer but I get no response. Helpdesk suggest faulty router. Go to Talk Talk shop on busy saturday afternoon to exchange. They do not have any as thay have all been sent back! They suggest a different router. Get home set it up, type in 192.168.2.1 as per instructions still no response. Phoned 0800 No for Talk Talk router problems, they have no other ideas. Any ideas on how to fix this problem and what I should do next ie which help line to phone for free advise and what I should ask them to do?]]>

ian d on Tue, 3rd Apr 2007 2:37 pm


16th of last month no land lins no internet. £85 of mobiles calls to talktalk still nothing, customer service? customer care what care. moving to virgin media. stuff the contract

Radcliffe on Tue, 3rd Apr 2007 10:52 pm


come on guys HELP! Still cant send emails on ANY email sites including TT. Can access all other web sites. It is now almost 1 week since I joined TT and still email doesnt work. What can I do?

sjm on Wed, 4th Apr 2007 9:37 am


< ![CDATA[I assume that you have chosen a TT email address, chosen a password, and verified the account at http://bbdashboard.talktalk.net/ first.

After doing all of that try https://webmail.talktalk.net/ and see if you can get in, as noted above.]]>

Mike on Thu, 5th Apr 2007 1:28 pm


< ![CDATA[Anyone with a MT882 usb connected modem?
What is the colour of the Link light when connected? Mine is orange but the manual says yellow.
What is the ATM connection result in diagnostics? Mine are both Fail. TalkTalk responded to my problems email but ignored the two questions above.

TYIA]]>

jasonD on Thu, 5th Apr 2007 11:14 pm


< ![CDATA[The Link Light goes Orange when you are connected and logged in.

Green is when there is a BB signal, but the username/password failed to log you in.

Flashing Green is when it is looking for a BB signal.

The manual seems to be for an older version of firmware than what is currently installed.

As for the Diagnostics Results, those are different depending on what type of BB you are being supplied with -- ADSL up to 2 Mbps or LLU up to 8 Mbps.

In the screen where you type your BB username and password, click on the magnifying glass icon and look at the "Oper. Status" line in that pop-up window instead. That will tell you if you failed to connect, and why.]]>

gordon on Sat, 7th Apr 2007 8:17 am


< ![CDATA[I joined talktalk in June 2006 after being a Onetel customer which was taken over by talktalk.

My experience of talktalk has been horrendous nothing but trouble.
I have been cut off for no reason!!

I have had 'Final Notice Letters' when I pay by direct debit and was a customer of Onetel for years without any problems.

The speedtouch Modem was useless, the new modem they sent me was a problem until after hours trying to talk to the help dept to a reasonable person I was told 'Oh sorry but if you ever have a power cut whilst the modem is live you will need to reinstall the modem'

However things appeared to be going ok until 29th March when they allegedly improved service at the local exchange, since then my incoming line from about 11am each day has been breaking up making it impossible to understand I have severe problems trying to recover messages from the 1571 service, it took 3 days to get thro to faults I was given a fault no and told it will take 72 to repair after that period I again spent hours trying to get thro and was eventually told the first person I reported it to didn't take enough detail which is a lie because he gave me a fault no so it will take another 48hours AND nothing has happened I phone thro to faults every day

I have phoned the service dept a Chris Dunham he said faults we will phone you back in about 10mins aftert 2 days faults THEY have not phoned back.

I have lost a fortune in business as a result of no understandable telephone incoming line!!

This is without doubt the worst company I have ever had the mispleasure of dealing with.

MY ADVICE TO ANYONE IS WHILE YOUR PHONE IS WORKING GET OUT BECAUSE IF YOU HAVE A FAULT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]]>

Gary on Sat, 7th Apr 2007 1:24 pm


< ![CDATA[This is the worst company I have ever experienced. Talktalk informed me my line was being upgraded, after working fine for 6 months.
Since then, 3 weeks ago, I have had no service at all. No phone line or broadband. I have had to use a phone box to call their fault reporting line, each time I call I am held in a queue for 45 minutes. Each time they say they will text me with an update.
I havent had a single update. I have phoned,emailled &#38; written.
The only response I got was from higher complaints. Go straight to them, the normal customer complaints dont respond, but the higher one will let you out of your contract.
Im off to a cable company as my line still doesnt work]]>

jasonD on Sat, 7th Apr 2007 9:05 pm


< ![CDATA[*** The speedtouch Modem was useless, the new modem they sent me was a problem until after hours trying to talk to the help dept to a reasonable person I was told ‘Oh sorry but if you ever have a power cut whilst the modem is live you will need to reinstall the modem’ ***

That is complete rubbish. The Speedtouch modem is a USB device. A power cut will have no effect on the drivers that it uses.

If instead, you are talking about the SmartAX router that they have been supplying since October 2006, then that will reset and lose your user name and password if you didn't click the "save all" button when you are setting it up.

There are hundreds of posts all over the net about how to set that unit up correctly. It has been mentioned several times on this blog too.]]>

Colin on Sun, 8th Apr 2007 6:14 am


< ![CDATA[HTTP Status 404 - /portal/servlet/gben-portal-home-Home

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

type Status report

message /portal/servlet/gben-portal-home-Home

description The requested resource (/portal/servlet/gben-portal-home-Home) is not available.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Apache Tomcat/4.1.31

I am still trying to access my email messages. I have been trying for a few days now and just get the above message. :-(]]>

gordon on Sun, 8th Apr 2007 4:34 pm


< ![CDATA[Dear Jason
The non believer WHY DONT you read it I did not say the Speedtouch Dialler neede to be reloaded when there was a power cut!!!
If you take time to engage brain first before mouth I said the new modem replacement needed reloading if there was a power cut it was not replaced with a Speed touch it is a smartax MT882 a quality precision piece of kit made in 'China' at least it works.

AND jason as you seem to be the only supporter of this TERRIBLE company,this is how good they are following me 7 day saga of trying this have a fault repaired, I was given a fault no on the 30th March on the 7th April at 4.30pm I received the first phone cal from a polite lady who actually informed me the truth and that was:

AFTER WAITING 7 DAYS FOR A REPORT TO BE REPAIRED THE FIRST AND ONLY CONTACT I HAVE HAD ON PROGRESS OF REPAIR IS:
"SORRY BUT THAT FAULT NO HAS BEEN CLOSED WE WILL GIVE YOU ANOTHER FAULT NO BUT WE DO NOT START WORK AGAIN UNTIL THE 9TH OF APRIL AND IT WILL BE UP TO 72 HOURS FROM THEN"

And the lady was polite enough to say "You have put up with hell if it was me I would have left by now"

SO ANYONE READING THIS MAKE YOUR OWN MIND UP.]]>

jasonD on Mon, 9th Apr 2007 12:00 am


< ![CDATA[*** I said the new modem replacement needed reloading if there was a power cut ***

NO. It does not need reloading.

You need to click the SAVE ALL button in the modem setup screen and it will then remember the settings after you switch it off.

In fact, if you use the Ethernet connection to the modem, there are no drivers or anything else at all to "load" on your PC.]]>

Expired Certificate on Mon, 9th Apr 2007 12:10 am


< ![CDATA[Pathetic! For the last day or so over at https://webmail.talktalk.net/ using IE7:

There is a problem with this website’s security certificate.

The security certificate presented by this website has expired or is not yet valid.

Security certificate problems may indicate an attempt to fool you or intercept any data you send to the server.

We recommend that you close this webpage and do not continue to this website.

Using FIREFOX you get to see that their Thawte Security Certificate was issued in 2006 on April 5th and has expired two days ago on April 7th.]]>

Chris on Tue, 10th Apr 2007 11:51 am


< ![CDATA[Hi all

I got the letter to say i was being unbundled, that was a month ago. I have now got a slooooow (if any) broadband service, which stops me playing online. Annoying, especially as i pay for certain games so can't sue them. This has been going on for almost 2 weeks now. I've also got a really crackly phone connection, but at least it works I guess.

I'm in Basildon, Essex, and according to the call centre the problem will be fixed tonight. hmmmm....I'll let you know what happens! (I was also told that last week so...)

Anyway, does anyone know if I can doing anything my end to help, or if I can get out of my contract without paying the cancellation fee? How long does it need to be done before it's deemed that they are not providing a service?! The worst thing is that sometimes it is working, I log online all excited and then it crashes afer 10 minutes :-(

Any suggestions, particularly from Paul who seems very helpful, would be much appreciated!

Just so you know, I have tried manually installing the modem, and have put the MTU down to 1400 but nothing is helping. I have also of course tested all connections, so am confident it's not me.]]>

The Ups & Downs Of Talk Talk on Tue, 10th Apr 2007 2:16 pm


< ![CDATA[Its great to see all these posts from disgruntled talktalk customers.

I myself have had a rocky road with them for a couple of years now.
The best advice I can give is don't believe 'Indian(Tech) Services' when there is a problem and they say it is your end, and don't believe them when they say "It will be fixed by Tomorow"

Remember Tomorow never comes.

Ohh and another usefull number for Customer services 01925 554 989

they will tell you that broadband support is not available on this number but IT IS.

As for drop out well mine depends on usage, Where the T&#38;C's state that excessive usage will result in bandwidth throttling, but not disconection I DISAGREE.

If I file share a 2gig file then I will experience frequent drop out, both during the share and after for a couple of days.
However TT tell me that it is impossible for their software to disconnect me due to excessive use but I'm sure they do.

All things considered Price V service

I get what I pay for]]>

jasonD on Tue, 10th Apr 2007 8:02 pm


< ![CDATA[If your phone line crackles then there is a fault.

It may be just a faulty microfilter, so try changing those first.

If the line itself has a fault, then broadband will always be unreliable. You will need to get TT to fix that problem. I would report that as a voice fault first.]]>

jaycee on Thu, 12th Apr 2007 1:54 pm


< ![CDATA[Hi
Have read some of these many many comments re Talk Talk
I am in the middle of probs with TT and am grateful for all comments which I hope will help me escape from their clutches.
Not the sort of person to use one of these sites usually but have felt compelled to write something - just think of all those people who are like us experiencing hell at the grips of TT and have not posted a comment - DOES NOT BEAR THINKING ABOUT !! How are these guys still in business.
Open the door BT im on my way back in .........]]>

Sandy on Thu, 12th Apr 2007 6:11 pm


< ![CDATA[Oooooh I am still fuming at TalkTalk. I've been with them a year (driven me to grey hair and drink but it's too difficult to leave) and for the last six months EVERY bill has been wrong, charged for Option 1 that I didn't want (so given a credit), next month the credit isn't on so I have to ring, get another credit and a goodwill gesture of £10 which isn't applied to the next month's bill, etc., etc. You know the score. Last month, due to overcharging, they promised me a £3 credit which showed this month as £2.65 (cheapskates) and then, on the bottom line, as £2.65 owing to THEM saying I had underpaid! One hour later after speaking to Delhi, South Africa and Northampton, I have been promised a £20 goodwill gesture on next month's bill.
I find the only way is to ring TalkTalk and press their "are you thinking of leaving TalkTalk" option - the operators there are much friendlier and UK based although still don't get it right. Anyway, we live in hope that one day I shall get a correct bill ... however, I suspect that long before that day I shall end up as a gibbering wreck in a straightjacket somewhere in therapy!]]>

rik on Fri, 13th Apr 2007 12:55 am


< ![CDATA[Oh, poor Carphone Warehouse. Due to having to spend an extra 10 to 15 million quid on improving their TalkTalk customer service in the next year, they are now only going to make a 220 MILLION QUID profit.

I wonder how much of that money comes from having tens of thousands of people on hold for hours at a time, waiting for non-existent, so called, "technical support", and all the people having to ring back several, to dozens of times, just to keep chasing up faults to be fixed?

http://www.talktalkproblems.co.uk/broadband/viewtopic.php?p=94#94>

Matt Pearce on Wed, 18th Apr 2007 8:55 am


< ![CDATA[WHAT HAVE I DONE!!! Why oh why have i switched from BT! I thought they were bad TalkTalk are shockingly bad. My broaband download speed is....wait for it....a massive 80kbs!!! Every negative post on this site is echoed by me...

Customer service on set up procedure 8/10
Post customer service 1/10
Email support 1/10
Technical support 0/10!!!

Fortunately i have the free 1month trial 21days and counting till i cancel!]]>

Matt Pearce on Thu, 19th Apr 2007 8:48 am


< ![CDATA[Update!!! Ok i tried to call TT 2nd line on 01925 556470, after 10mins of waiting i got through to an english person who new what they were talking about! He was empathetic and extremely helpful, even called me back on my mobile when i had to unplug my phone from the BT socket. He took time out to help me configure my router, despite TT saying they don't support any other routers.

We established that the problem was more than likely to be my Netgear DG8434 wireless router... I was somewhat sceptical about that being the case, but as it was 10pm and the poor guy was supposed to finish at 9pm...(yes he stayed on an extra hour to help me out!!!) i left it at that.

I had another router, so i plugged it in and managed to get 750kbs download, switched my PC on again this morning and Heypresto! i'm up to 2.5meg...1mb faster than i was with BT!!!

Now i'm not going to get carried away...i'll try it again later when i get home from work to see where i'm at...but seriously don't mess about with those muppets at Tech support ring the number above.

Good luck everyone]]>

Matt Pearce on Thu, 19th Apr 2007 7:45 pm


spoke to soon..back down to 74 kbs!!!!!

Martin on Fri, 20th Apr 2007 11:23 am


My TT broadband service was perfect at 8mb from Sept 06 – Christmas then it kept cutting out. After christmas it stabilised at 5.4mb. Then on April 1st (how fitting) it cut out. So far i have spent at least 12 hours on the phone, I have spoken to over 25 customer service people and i was told 2 weeks ago the problem was that my modem couldn’t handle the ‘high’ speeds (even tho it worked for 4 months) I waited 9 days for a new modem and guess what? that’s right it doesn’t work – no signal. Now they tell me it’s a problem at the ‘exchange’ and it will be fixed ‘within 6 days’ it’s now 6 days later and guess what? that’s right it’s still not on. I was also told, weeks ago, that the reason I kept getting cut off (once after 45 mins waiting) is they are upgrading all the customer service departments. Absolute nightmare! AVOID!!!!

rik on Fri, 20th Apr 2007 2:31 pm


Get back to them, and explain what is going on. It will take a day or two to diagnose exactly what the problem is… they’ll get BT to check the line. If you leave it, they will assume it is fixed and close the ticket after 48 hours. It is very likely to be a fault on the line.

chris on Fri, 20th Apr 2007 9:44 pm


When you people rig the call centres can you please chose the correct option and open your ears so you get through to the correct people, i am sick of answering calls that are for another department! thanks!

Conrad on Sat, 21st Apr 2007 10:53 pm


Please help. Have not had time to read all the above comments but is anyone in the same position as we are? Our landline was switched over from BT to TT 2 weeks ago and since then we have been unable to make calls out. You have to dial the number 15 or 20 times before you get through, if at all (says number unobtainable). The line crackles when you pick up the phone. We have had an engineer round – it’s not our equipment, it’s the line. Is this a bandwidth problem? If so, surely others are experiencing it? Presumably there is no quick solution to that and we might as well leave TT? Is there any solution in sight. We get nowhere trying to contact TT. We are sent a text every day asking if the problem is fixed – NO IT FRICKING ISN’T. My wife is going up the wall. I’d like to get hold of Charles Dunstone by the scruff of his neck and ………………………

rik on Sun, 22nd Apr 2007 10:35 pm


< ![CDATA[The fixing of the fault is down to BT Openreach irrespective of who you pay for the calls. TalkTalk are powerless to fix the fault themselves. It is BT engineers that actually do the work and then report back when they think they have fixed it.

http://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/aboutus/ourcustomers.do

Keep pestering them for a solution. When it is finally fixed and has been working for a week or two, ask what they are going to pay you for the inconvenience. You might get a month or two free for your trouble….]]>

Andy on Mon, 23rd Apr 2007 11:00 am


< ![CDATA[Talk Talk - Talk S**t

Reported problem to them on 01st April - bad choice as April Fool's Day! Can't recieve incoming calls - phone doesn't ring.

22 days later and the same old excuses - call back within 24-48 hours! My arse! It's not us it's the engineers! Don't care I don't pay the engineers! The morons even closed the original trouble ticket as resolved without even contacting us - haven't recieved one text message from an engineer, let alone seen one!

I can honestly say I have never come across a complete company full of incompetent people...

...and if another one of their foreign call centres says all their supervisors are in a meeting I'm gonna flip...]]>

rik on Mon, 23rd Apr 2007 7:26 pm


< ![CDATA[As above, it is BT Openreach that actually fix any faults with the line.

If they find a problem and fix it, THEY close the fault ticket after another 48 hours if they don't hear back from you that it is still not working.

That is, if they find one problem and fix it, they don't go looking for other faults. They assume they have it licked, and then allow 48 hours for you to say that it isn't.]]>

justin suth on Tue, 24th Apr 2007 9:30 am


< ![CDATA[What can i say! useless, waste of time, money, stress

I have today cancelled everything with talktalk THANK GOD!!!

I thought it was a new year and i would like to save money so switching to talktalk seemed like a good option (boy was i wrong)

I am today moving back to BT lets hope all goes well!

DONT NOT IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCE SWITCH TO TALK TALK!!!]]>

R.M.Langley on Tue, 24th Apr 2007 9:50 am


Contracted to upgrade! to broadband in January this year and was informed that a modem would be supplied. letter recieved giving go live date for 8th February. No modem recieved when i went abroad on 11th Feb so I thought it would be recieved when I returned back from holiday. NO MODEM. Phone contact with TalkTalk and after much hassle and several “menu’s” was told that my modem had not yet been recieved but another would be sent. NO MODEM. E-mail contact gained a reply promising modem in 3-5 days. NO MODEM. several more contacts gained another reply ” modem will be sent when your order is completed. NO MODEM. I am occasionally able to get internet contact using dialup on my home computer, but e-mail has to be done via a remote access from the Library or friend or relation. In addition my normal phone is playing up and calls do not always get through. TalkTalk is RubbishRubbish

james on Tue, 24th Apr 2007 6:30 pm


< ![CDATA[Get into your local CarphoneWarehouse and get them to mail order you a modem.

It will be delivered to store within two days; however it is useless to you until such time as BT have actually done the work to your phone line to get your broadband activated.]]>

Ken on Tue, 24th Apr 2007 8:42 pm


< ![CDATA[You are all complaining about TT
I cant complain because I signed up for B/Band
on Jan 29th 2007 and haven't heard a thing from them yet
No mail or phone call
luckily still on dial up so not cut off from world entirely
Does anyone know if 30 day trial begins from date of order
or when B/Band(eventually)goes live
Must admit from reading some of your horror stories
I am not looking forward to it and may cancel before it starts]]>

Craig on Fri, 27th Apr 2007 8:57 pm


Anyone know about traffic management on TalkTalk? Despite being connected at the full 8 meg I started experiencing slow downloads on Newsgroups, about 40-50k per sec!! Made a few calls and found out I had gone over the monthly allowance so Traffic Management had automatically kicked in on my account! They told me if I go easy for the next 30 days then my speeds should return to the max 800k per second next month but i’m rather sceptical ?? anyone know if the speed does return to normal or not?? If not its rather pointless having an 8meg connection solely for browsing!!!!

Dave on Sat, 28th Apr 2007 12:39 pm


< ![CDATA[Hey managed to get my connection / dropped line problems sorted !!!
I replaced the crap modem Talk Talk sent with a Lynksys wireless N router. Happy days no more dropped connections Yipppppppppeeeeeeeee!!!]]>

Rish on Sun, 29th Apr 2007 11:02 pm


< ![CDATA[I am so frustrated after nearly 6 months in the wilderness ... I cannot take much more of this. Charles Donstone's email doesn't work anymore so are there any other suggestions?
I'd really like to hear from people who have taken it a step further and sued the company - Is there anyone out there who can advise me? I am through with wasting time with a bunch of complete and utter idiots and think it is time we just went straight to the courts - we could waste our energy there and at least we'd be cmpensated at the end of it? Anyone?
Is there a reason why no one is pursuing this outrage through the courts?]]>

SteveF on Wed, 2nd May 2007 8:43 pm


< ![CDATA[After 6 months of total frustration we have finally got rid of TalkTalk. They are the worst company I have ever dealt with. It took BT 2 weeks to deliver the service TalkTalk failed miserably to even come up with a plausible excuse for not delivering, in 6 months.
I would advise anyone having trouble with them to read the complaints proceedure, contact OTELO at http://www.otelo.org.uk/ and go through the process of terminating the contract as it seems once anything has gone wrong, TalkTalk have no will or ability to put it right.]]>

Caine Shaw on Wed, 2nd May 2007 9:51 pm


< ![CDATA[GOOD JOB,
What a monster you have created, I mean that in complimentary terms.. great job...It is nice to see people using a bad experience constructively. I applaud whole wholeheartedly the guys who managed to get the contact details for the top rats at TT. I to have been mugged by TT , the promise of free and up to 8mb suckered me, I get 2mb and not free either, however the unlimited calling I have ripped the anus right out of.HEHEHEHE. My problem with these guys is not a biggy like the other poor souls I have read about about herein:

Billed for the same period 3 times and billed twice on the same bill for the same thing...lol

I am now noticing that you get dropped from time to time, not really to bad, but when they f**ked with my gaming I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT, they deny any such activity...

I am now sure they are terrorists, with the amount of disruption and anxiety they cause they may as well be.

I WOULD HATE TO THINK DUNSTAN MIGHT BECOME A TARGET OF MUSLIM EXTREMISTS, didn't he say something about Muhammed that was pretty bad?lol I hope that nobody with that type of inclination takes action against such a nice man.

Good luck Oliver Brown, great public service.

If any of you guys need IT help or software for virus eradication, give us a call, you can Google our clan to find us..

7SFG.GENERAL.CAINE (7th Special Forces Group) gaming clan for joint ops..]]>

R Payze on Sat, 5th May 2007 6:49 pm


I have had TT since 27 march 07 to save money,The BB drops out and the speach side is Bad,,,I have now gone back to BT, after spending £55 on my pc to get it working on TT BB, and £52 on 1 months line rental and 1 in advance, NOW £70 disconnection few,,,so in total £177 for a bad service,,BT is the best value

Rish on Fri, 11th May 2007 6:28 pm


I see that no one has any suggestions about how to get a hold of Charles Dunstone .. is there no one who has an up to date contact fr him or any idea how to get it? For those who don’t bother pursuing money lost for a lack of service with TalkTalk … you really mustn’t let them get away with it. I got 4 months of bills refunded because they were in breach for not providing a service i was paying for and also on top because they keep on failing to provide a service. Can someone tell me please … why no one is takig them to court?

Mike Jones on Wed, 16th May 2007 10:43 am


< ![CDATA[I joined TT's talk 3 service in January, with a scheduled date for broadband access set to March. This date still shows on my account information of the TT web site but so far I have not received a modem, nor any broadband service. I have also not been informed that there would be a delay, or indeed, why such a delay is occurring. All communication to the company has remained unanswered.

There is no such thing as a 'free' service - there are bundled services and they are not free. Having read this thread and articles/programs about the Carphone Warehouse in the press I'm convinced they use deceptive marketing and in effect run a fraudulent operation (I have other reasons to believe this, e.g. that they are accessories to and profit from, click fraud - see http://www.searchguild.com/tpage26344-0.html). I’m writing to the OFT about these issues today and I was wondering if there are people reading this thread who would like to join an effort to press class action against the company, claiming of course compensation for non-delivery of service but also for losses caused by non-delivery or loss of Internet access? I think that the Carphone Warehouse urgently needs to be taken to court!]]>

Chris on Wed, 23rd May 2007 2:51 pm


talktalk..why o why did my parents swicth me to them i know suffer with line disconnections, slow loading or non-loading sites, disconnections from online games, a crappy modem that never stops flashing..wish i saw this site before the switch over!

rik on Wed, 23rd May 2007 3:46 pm


Junk is everywhere. More than 20% of all registered domain names are owned by typosquatters hoping for a click.

Dave Mac on Mon, 25th Jun 2007 7:01 pm


< ![CDATA[You want a really good TT story. You know about the rubbish service, the unhelpful helpline and the joke of customer complains but there are hidden horrors waiting just behind the ubend. Get ready to hide behind the settee! Have you every tried to leave TT? Dangerous activity. I have been trying, and I do mean TRYING, to get rid of this * company for over six months. They keep sending me bills, despite having disconected me in Jan! Debt collectors -0 the whole works! I have had verbal promises of refunds, of letters of appology, they will offer the earth - but they do not deliver - the only thing that does drop through the post is yet another ruddy bill! They did offer me a forty pound refund but then had the wonderful wheeze of sending me my next bill and using the forty pound of credit to pay it!
My biggest complaint is that i cannot discover the name or contact number for any senior manager in this joke of a company - anyone out there help?]]>

Rakesh Malia on Wed, 27th Jun 2007 2:50 pm


< ![CDATA[Hi I had talk talk phone and broadband. I regretted to join them. It was really slow connection and 3 out of 5 doesn't connect. I had it for nearly 4 months. The phone used to went out of dial tone. Sometimes we can receive calls and can't ring outside and one time it was other way around. I strongly advice people not to sign talk talk even it they offer me £500 I am not going to join back.

Rakesh]]>

mustafiz on Mon, 2nd Jul 2007 8:58 am


My talktalk connection was perfect from first; from starting from a 2.2 Mb i was moved up to 6.4 (LLU) A few months after the problems started and exsists till today. i can till this day only manage a max of 500 Kbit/s download speed, even though i could continually get 5.4 Mbit/s

Deb H on Sat, 7th Jul 2007 9:34 pm


< ![CDATA[Hi

We moved house on 5th April 2007 and the nightmare continues 3 months later!

It is possible that after 90+ minutes on a mobile phone we've finally convinced them that we no longer live at our old address and don't want a phone there but I'll believe it when I see it.

We rang TT on 2nd April to say we were moving on 5th. We were told that we would need to set up a BT line at the new house then ring them with the details, they would then put through an order to swap the new address to TT. We did exactly that. We were told that it would take 10-14 days to set up the phone line then a further 10-14 days to set up broadband. Having received no confirmation letter I rang them only to find that the order hadn't been set up. I was put through to another department and they did set up the order. I'd now lost 10 days. I work from home so this was a problem.

After discussion we decided not to go back to TT so we rang to cancel. No problem. In the meantime the people who bought the old house decided to go to TT. I rang to ask about the form I should have received to cancel our account so that the new people could take it over. I rang 4 times and never received a form. In the meantime they kept billing us.

We sent many emails and didn't get even the automatic acknowledgement. We wrote to their customer services director - nothing. We sent a letter via recorded delivery to customer services - nothing.

Today we received a letter saying that unless we contacted them within 4 days they would refer our account to a debt collection agency. The letter took 2 days to arrive! We were on our way to an appointment so we spent 90+ minutes calling them on a mobile. It was unbelievable!!

The credit control department couldn't cancel the account, only customer services could do that. Customer services couldn't cancel the account because we hadn't filled in the cancellation form (which we'd never received). They said they'd send out another form. Customer services couldn't put a stop on the account (even though they admitted that a stop had been put on the account on 14th April). The couldn't stop the credit control department referring the account to a credit reference agency because the credit control department hadn't said in the letter which agency they would refer the account to.

Eventually, having told them that either we received the cancellation form by next Friday or we'd sue them we were put through to the escalation department, who couldn't help us. They then put us through to the options department who called up our account. Suddenly the problem went away. She could credit our account with the money we don't owe. We would have to pay a cancellation fee because we cancelled within the 18th month contract but frankly we don't care. We'll pay anything to get rid of them.

The sad thing is that our broadband and phone service had actually been very good, after a few initial blips, but we would never, ever recommend anyone to take up their services. This has been a 12 week nightmare.

Thank you for all the information above. I've now emailed the CEO and found the complaints websites. One more problem and this goes all the way.]]>

Colin on Fri, 27th Jul 2007 6:24 am


I have been trying to download the latest linux distro (Fedora 7) with azureus. However the download never starts please can u help.

PeterC on Mon, 6th Aug 2007 10:33 am


< ![CDATA[Don't know if this tip will but it seems to have sorted out my problems.

I have been with Talk Talk for 12 months now and can identify with the majority of the posts on this site. Since they LLUed my line it has been; poor service, connection regularly dropping, atrocious tech support, (one female tech support even suggested that my username and password may have altered as they do "go off, like dairy products". Where do they get these muppets from?

Prior to being enticed by the hype and moving to TT I was with BT and paying through the nose for a number of years. I have a wireless network at home with a number of laptops all feeding from a Belkin router. As I was having problems with my connection and not realising that it was mainly due to the lousy service I changed my Belkin router for a a more modern Linksys. However, the service was still crap. Connection regularly dropping, ADSL connection freezing up, having to constantly reset the router and/or repair the network connection from the laptops, etc, etc.

And then I had a little brainwave. (I was aware a couple of friends of mine had TT broadband and they say that they have no problems. We compared our setups, all very similar but with one major difference. I was using my own personally purchased wireless router, they were using TT's own wireless routers.)

I decided to purchase one of these for £20, (as advertised on the TT website) and, well bugger me, everything suddenly seems well with the world. It is now three days since it arrived and I set it up and I have had continual connection averaging around 2mb since, ( I live too far away from the exchange, 3.5mb is my max). My kids are under the impression that I have changed service providers!

Obviously I'll keep monitoring the situation but perhaps that was all that was ever needed! My cynical side tells me that it's all a ploy to get us to buy their kit, but for £20... what the hell!]]>

Martin on Tue, 14th Aug 2007 3:55 am


in response to the comment above, try getting into the settings of your other routers and find a setting which shows MTU and set this to 1400. see the talktalk router sent to you will most likely have this currently there where as your others might be set to a differnt number. this could be why. its got nothing to do with talktalk wanting you to buy there equipment simply because when you sign up you get the routers/modems for free anyway. and if y

Martin on Tue, 14th Aug 2007 3:55 am


in response to the comment above, try getting into the settings of your other routers and find a setting which shows MTU and set this to 1400. see the talktalk router sent to you will most likely have this currently there where as your others might be set to a differnt number. this could be why. its got nothing to do with talktalk wanting you to buy there equipment simply because when you sign up you get the routers/modems for free anyway. and if y

Dominic on Tue, 14th Aug 2007 5:52 pm


Just joined TT (before seeing this). I ordered the modem (free), but it was the wireless router (£20) that was sent. The kit no longer includes a wireless adapter, but instead you get a message saying that you can buy them at the Carphone Warehouse. So I went round to CW: but they say they no longer stock them. They did however ring up TT and ask them to send me one; it never arrived (possibly sent to the wrong address, because TT don’t believe me when I give them my address in the correct form). I bought a microfilter from the CW, but it didn’t work, so I brought it back the next day. There seemed to have been a complete change of staff: none of the people from the previous day were there. Various experiences with the call centres in India and South Africa. I rang up and asked not to have voicemail; they said they would take it off but didn’t do so. The current issue is speed. About half the time the speed is “

PeterC on Wed, 15th Aug 2007 11:36 am


< ![CDATA[Hey, Martin. Can you explain to me why I would want to re-attach my previous router to check the settings? Especially after I have already purchased a new one! I know that I had the MTU set to 1400, along with all of the other appropriate settings for TT. I work in this field.

Incidentally, as an update to my earlier message, my connections problem has returned. It was pretty good for the week after fitting and then all of a sudden everything was back to its normal level of crapiness. The IP address changes several times a day dropping the connection and needing a reset of the router. It IS their problem, either with the line or the exchange, but trying to get these clowns to acknowledge this is almost impossible. "Can you check your microfilter?" or "What antivirus are you running?" or "Have I changed my password?"!!!

Clowns, imbeciles, numpties. I know it's a free 'service' and I know that you get what you pay for. If you need reliability and a decent support service go elsewhere.]]>

Holly on Thu, 16th Aug 2007 5:52 pm


< ![CDATA[*** I ordered the modem (free), but it was the wireless router (£20) that was sent. ***

The free modem only has one wired ethernet port. The wireless one has four wired ethernet ports. Bonus. You don't have to use the wireless part to get online.

*** The kit no longer includes a wireless adapter ***

The Huawei HG520 package has never included a USB wireless adaptor in the box.

The previous Philips/TalkTalk (GBP 50) and Belkin (GBP 50) and Netgear (GBP 70) offerings did include a wireless adaptor, but obviously at a far higher price.

Most laptops have wireless built in nowadays, and a USB adaptor costs under GBP 25 from almost any retailer that sells them.

*** they say they no longer stock them ***

The shops no longer stock much stuff for broadband. The offer is by mail order. If you know the product code you can pay at the shop, get it delivered to the shop, and collect it from the shop. If it fails to arrive, the shop can give you a direct refund.

*** I bought a microfilter from the CW, but it didn’t work ***

That is a well known issue. It depends on whether you need a ring capacitor in your circuit or not. If it doesn't work, get one from elsewhere. You have a 50/50 chance of getting the right one each time.

*** There seemed to have been a complete change of staff: none of the people from the previous day were there ***

People do rotate from branch to branch, and some stores have a lot of staff, with a third of the staff off on any particular day of course.

*** I rang up and asked not to have voicemail; they said they would take it off ***

You can alter this yourself online using the "My Account" options on their website. The changes usually take a few days to process at the most.]]>

Drew on Sun, 19th Aug 2007 4:50 am


I’m sick of people defending talk talk because they’re “happy” with the service they recieve. Sadly, happy just isn’t good enough for those of us who use the internet for more than just “sunday browsing.” As a recording engineer, the 40gb monthly download limit was what enticed me along with my phone package as my colleagues and I use the internet to transfer audio project files back and forth. We do this using a program called “Digidelivery” which works the same as a P2P. This was all well and good for the first month or so of service, when my connection suddenly stopped working. as well as losing a considerable ammount of money due to having to travel across the country to pick up and drop off discs, I was also being charged in full for this 4 week + period of no connection. Talk talk’s way out of taking responsibility was that “I wasn’t actually paying for broadband, just my phone calls,” which by this point were also coming and going as they pleased. Calling the customer services 20 + times a day proved useless, as I was constantly being led in circles by people who couldn’t even understand what I was saying, never mind the nature of my problem. Almost everyone I “spoke” with came up with some new and exotic reason for what was happening. When I finally found someone possessing the most basic of english skills (who worryingly enough was actually english), I was assured the problem would be fixed upon recieving a shiny new router. After another 2 weeks of spending all of my money driving around the UK to meet deadlines, my modem arrived. I installed it and hey presto ! I got a connection. unfortunately, I was only able to utillise 30kb/s of my 8mb bandwith !! after trying numerous alterations to my tcp/ip and NAT settings it became apparent that my download speed on Digidelivery was being capped. after another week long nightmare on the phone to customer services, I was told that I had exceeded my monthly limit of 40gb, even though I hadn’t been online for over 6 weeks ! it took me yet another 2 weeks to be contacted by someone high up in technical support. as direct downloading from the internet was working fine, the technical whizz suggested “why not use the internet for downloading?” it took me a while, but I managed to explain to him what Digidelivery was and my unfortunate situation. it took that guy a week to get me un – flagged as over – the – limit, which I clearly wasn’t in the first place. Even then, Digidelivery still wasn’t working. Yet another day of trying to speak to someone, resulted in me finally being told that talk talk customers weren’t allowed to use P2P programs. I read the terms and conditions fully, and at the time of my reading them, this was not stated anywhere. I was lured into this money hungry farce under false pretenses and there’s nothing I can do about it until the end of my 18 month contract, as talk talk also charge you for leaving them. It enrages me to think of the thousands of others with similar problems who are just unwillingly pouring their money into talk talk with no systems in place to help. Talk talk are also still refusing to refund me for the days where my phone line has been completely disconnected, as “technically, that is the only thing they have done wrong.”

Dominic on Mon, 20th Aug 2007 10:23 pm


< ![CDATA[Thank you for these comments, Holly. I can see that the wireless router is better than the modem, but all the same I ordered one thing and was sent another. Similarly, the information on the CD said I could buy a USB adapter from CW: if you can't in fact buy them from CW, then the information should be amended to reflect that fact. As it happened, when the TT adapter failed to arrive, I went out and bought a Belkin one from Curry's. I was able to connect this up so as to access the internet wirelessly -- but only for one session. After that, I could not get back onto the internet, and it took me a 2-hour session with the Geek Squad (cost £25) before things were sorted out. The Geek Squad told me there was a problem with Belkin adapters; basically they had to uninstall the Belkin software and get my computer to connect up wirelessly using the Microsoft software that was already in the computer. So I had to pay £20 for the router + £27 for the adapter + £25 for the Geek Squad when I had not particularly wanted to have a wireless connection in the first place.

The rest of my earlier post was cut off for some reason, but I had gone on to say that having overcome all these obstacles the speed I get is only "]]>

Dominic on Mon, 20th Aug 2007 10:26 pm


< ![CDATA[I don't know why my entries keep getting cut off, but here is the rest of it:

...having overcome all these obstacles the speed I get is only "]]>

Dominic on Mon, 20th Aug 2007 10:29 pm


What is wrong with this thing? I am trying to say I only get

Dominic on Mon, 20th Aug 2007 10:30 pm


56 Kps about half the time, and only rarely in the 1-2 Mb range. I am supposed to be able to get 6.5 Mb (since I have good cables, live almost next door to the exchange etc). TT and the Geek Squad both told me that there must be too many other people using the internet at the same time, but in the centre of Edinburgh at 3 a.m??? It doesn’t seem very likely. But whatever the reason, I have a service that is barely faster than Freeserve dial-up, and too slow to handle most You-Tube clips, for instance. I can live with it since I only need the internet for checking my emails from home and for general surfing, and the service is after all cheap, but potential customers do need to be warned that the reality with TT is a far cry from what they lead you to expect.

Roy on Tue, 21st Aug 2007 10:35 am


< ![CDATA[I had this a few weeks ago. My speed dropped so considerably that it would take 2 hours to download a 10mb file. That's worse than dial-up. Also, my phone line was very intermitent.
I knew that it wasn't my PC and was a fault somewhere past my telephone socket, because my PS2 failed to connect to the Net as well.
After 10 phone calls to Johannesburg i was still not getting anywhere. The call centre do the usual crap of blaming it on my PC, my Anti-virus, Spyware, my hair colour, my hobbies...blah blah blah...anything but acknowledging that it is their fault.
After 2 weeks of total frustration and the inabililty for anyone in South Africa to find a manager, phone me, or put me through to someone in Britain....i phoned them and told them that they had one hour to get a manager tophone me back or i would cancel my direct debit.
Low and behold, an hour and a half later (good enough for TT i suppose), a Technician rings me from Newcastle and explains that they will do a thorough test.
9:00 am next morning, i recieve a call from High Level Complaints in Northampton apologising and saying that my fault is being looked into.
12:00 noon the same day...phone and Broaband back to speed!!
All i wish is that they would have beleived me on my very first call!!]]>

Dan on Sat, 25th Aug 2007 2:38 pm


< ![CDATA[All these comments make an interesting read, I too have experienced problems galore with TalkTalk.
I'm amazed anyone would sign up with now, a quick google of TalkTalk brings up loads of sites that do nothing but slate them, and i now i know why. Thankfully i got out while i could, i sent them i delightful letter with a cheque for my final bill minus the so called 'cessation' fee for leaving before the end of contract. They can kiss my ass as far as i'm concerned. As i stated in my letter, i won't be financially penalised for having to switch providers all because of their lies, false promises, landline faults, appauling customer service, and broadband service that never existed.
If there's anyone reading this and you're thinking of switching to TalkTalk, take my (and thousands of others) advice. Don't.]]>

Dave on Tue, 28th Aug 2007 9:54 am


Does the invoice surcharge of GBP3.50 get added to all invoices for not paying by direct debit still, including customers who just have a land line (no broadband or line rental)?

Paul on Thu, 30th Aug 2007 1:41 pm


< ![CDATA[Oh Hell!!!

Talk Talk brought AOL who are at best a third rate service provider as it is and since then their service has got worse.

Anyone know any good service providers they can recommend with a UK call centre as i'm sick of explaining faults in words of one syllable to someone in india!]]>

MR RAFIQ on Thu, 30th Aug 2007 3:55 pm


< ![CDATA[I HAVE HAD TT FOR ALMOST A YEAR. ALL WAS WELL UNTIL LLU EXCHANGE UPGRADE. MY ADSL LIGHT KEPT FLASHING ON MY BELKIN MODEM/ROUTER WHICH I BOUGHT FROM TT. TWO WEEKS LATER AND DAILY CALLS TO 2ND TECH SUPPORT, I ASKED FOR A TT MODEM TO BE SENT. PROBLEM SOLVED. IT SEEMS THAT TT ADSL2+ CASUES A PROBLEM WITH MY BELKIN ADSL MODEM/ROUTER. THE ROUTER WORKS FINE BUT SOMEHOW DOES NOT WORK WITH ADSL2+. AS YOU KNOW KNOW TT CUSTOMER SERVICE SUCKS. THE TALK ME THERE WAS NO DIRECT NUMBER TOP HIGH LEVEL TECH SUPPORT, BUT IF YOU ASK THEY SHOULD ALLOW YOU ACCESS FOR 30 DAYS ON A DIRECT LINE NUMBER. AT LEAST IT SPEEDS THINGS UP AT LEAST 45MINS.

I HAVE NOW ORDERED A NETGEAR ADSL2= MODEM/ROUTER, LETS HOPE THAT WORK!]]>

gordon on Sun, 2nd Sep 2007 2:23 pm


Read Ebay for sale: modem talktalk for a good laugh

Dan on Wed, 5th Sep 2007 11:44 pm


< ![CDATA[Why is it a laugh?

TalkTalk must have sent out about one million of modems in the last 18 months.

There must be tens of thousands of people who didn't need one, received two, or have since bought something else with more ports or with wireless facilities.

Of course a few thousand are going to turn up on ebay! D'oh!]]>

Dan on Wed, 5th Sep 2007 11:48 pm


…. one million of … those … modems in …

stevej on Sun, 9th Sep 2007 1:25 pm


< ![CDATA[Thank god that I found this post, I'v been considering changing from orange to TT for a while, but as most posts are about the problems you are all having none of which I want. So my minds made up to carry on paying a bit more for my present BB package which is working ok and keep clear of TT at least until changeover is better and all the problems you all talk about are solved (this could be some time yet)
thanks everyone]]>

Agnes on Tue, 11th Sep 2007 10:44 pm


< ![CDATA[I had nothing but problems with TT after months of frustration Nove 23rd last year we switched bck to Bt. It is Sept 11 2007 and after being assured at least 20 times even though we are not connected anymore, We are getting calls fom a Collection agency for "outstanding payments" TT owe us over £66 that they took by Direct Debit for a service they no longer provide. We have a long list of names of Customer service people who assure us that they have sorted it for us, Only to get another letter or call a few weeks later starting all over again. I was never on line and the phonecalls made to the Tech dept cost me a fortune. I was promised a £10 refund in June or July 2006, needless to say I am still waiting for it. I sit with bated breath for our next communication from TT. As I access this site via BT. What a bloomin fiasco. I am so stressed with the idiocy of it all. So frustrating. Paid subscriptions to sites like Ancestry in 2006 but unable to access them. Money down the tube.
TT C***
Agnes]]>

Pete Loud on Sun, 30th Sep 2007 8:04 pm


< ![CDATA[Wow! before reading these comments and a few others, I had never realised how bad TT was. I thought that British Gas was Britain's biggest bunch of crooks, TT could be a close second :-(

At the moment I am having a very bad service from Talktalk with both my telephone and with broadband. It has caused me considerable inconvenience and I am very angry.

However, I have to admit that a couple of months ago I was enthusiastically recommending Talktalk to all of my friends. This suggests that some aspects of the business are very good but that customer services are very bad. By that I do not simple mean the people in the call centre, I mean that the managers who decide upon the strategy in customer relations are getting it badly wrong.

I have been so frustrated and angry these past few days that today I created a website to air my on-going complaints about Talktalk. Apart from my failures in the connections which have overwhelmed me lately and my personal feelings, I have started checking the download speed and have a chart of this on this website. You couldn't believe how bad it is :-(

Check out http://www.peteloud.co.uk/talktalk/

While your are at it check out ‘My Battle with British Gas’ at,
http://www.peteloud.co.uk/britishgasfraud/britishgasfraud.html
I had quite a battle with them. I think you will have a smile at the ending However this battle with British Gas does show how companies deliberately attempt to defraud their customers, lie, and harass them but are usually bluffing when they threaten court action.

It is bad that companies are now deliberately pursuing strategies of misleading customers, stalling on legitimate customer complaints and then harassing customers with threats of court. actions etc. Even tho’ I think my problem is probably a short term technical issue I shall drop TT at the first opportunity after hearing how it has treated its customers.]]>

Jo on Mon, 1st Oct 2007 9:54 am


< ![CDATA[I applied for Talk Talk in May 2007 still nothing. Every time I call up - I am told I will definately get a call back within (depending who you talk to) 2-4 hrs or 48 hrs. Of course I never hear a word, call again and again told exactly the same thing, obviously there is never any one there that can help you. I have lost count of the times I have called.

Thought I might try the e-mail rout...... don't you just love automated responses arrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Customer service, you have to be joking, this term is most definately a mis-interpretation.

I had a BT line installed specifically for broadband in May in preparation for Talk Talk who assured me it would be set up within 15 days, I have been paying for my land line since May and still no broadband. My company moved in July, the main reason for having broadband to enable me to work from home part time as the new office is much further away - I now have the added time travelling to and from work and the additional costs this incurs on a daily basis.

I was advised by talk talk to use my dial up and that they would reimburse me the monies, he promised to get everything sorted out - this was on the 23rd Aug 07 and no matter how many times I e-mail I have never had a response from him since. I have forwarded on my BT bill but again I have had nothing back at all. Unfortunately dial up is way too expensive to use especially as I am not convinced that I will ever be reimbursed. It is also much too slow.

This company is a total fiasco and run by idiots who have been taught a set of standard phrases of apologies and reassurances. Don't expect to get any customer service or any service at all.

BEWARE ALL - PLEASE TAKE HEED AND GO WITH ANOTHER SUPPLIER. DO NOT EVEN THINK FOR A SECOND THAT THEY WILL DO AS THEY PROMISE!!!!!!!!!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.........]]>

Francois on Mon, 1st Oct 2007 11:04 am


I haven’t read all the comments, but I am pleased to see that I am not alone in this disgraceful service. I have been with TT for about 4 months, and am ever so sorry that I signed up to this disaster. I have mailed TT a few times, and have received some replies, all telling me that the fault is mine, and that if I cancel my stop order at the bank, they will send the bailiffs around for the outstanding amount. I call the technical help (wot ever that means!!!) at least once a week, and EVERY time I get the same advice ie, to reset the modem. I get dropped connections, server not found, timed out, etc. Generally the connection is as slow as a dead donkey. Wot’s to do about this mess??? Does anyone know the address of Carlos ‘the Knife’ Spaglioni?

colin on Tue, 2nd Oct 2007 8:11 am


< ![CDATA[I am having trouble connecting to ftp via windows explorer in order to upload my website. Can u explain very basically how to accomplish this.

Thanku.]]>

emil on Wed, 3rd Oct 2007 12:59 am


< ![CDATA[Get yourself a copy of "Core FTP Lite" or "FileZilla" or any of the other free offerings out there, and use the proper tool for the job.

You'll need to load it up with the FTP address of the site, the starting folder, and then your TalkTalk username and password.]]>

John on Sun, 7th Oct 2007 9:57 pm


< ![CDATA[Well, having read all the complaints I should count myself lucky.
I have at least managed to unleash myself from this shambles of a company although I am still trying to resolve the final bill of £7.43p.
I've had demands for every amount except the correct amount and I have been threatened with a debt collecting agency. I have phoned, emailed and written to their head office at 1 Portal Way, London W3 6RS trying to resolve the issue for the past four and a half months.
Having seen the CEO's email address on this site, I have tonight emailed him with the problem. Will I get a reply? I ask myself.]]>

Ross on Wed, 10th Oct 2007 9:58 pm


< ![CDATA[Superglue yourself to the gates, naked, with a detailed description of your problems drawn on your back and you'll get a) in the papers, and b) a resolution. (And maybe c, banged up for a bit).

But really - TalkTalk - DON'T GO WITH THEM. Phone = Good. Internet = BAD.]]>

Andrew on Fri, 12th Oct 2007 10:19 pm


< ![CDATA[I signed up to TalkTalk beginning of August on their Talk2 deal. Eventually (late September) I received a modem but no letter. I phoned and finally 'discovered' the activation date was mid September. At the moment TT is running a '30 day trial - disconnect for free' offer on this type of deal. I'll be taking them up on this cos:

Broadband - averages 300-400kbps, even after calls to Faults.
International Phonecalls - highly variable, half don't connect, many with significant delay on the line, even after calls to Faults.
Billing - got charged for services (eg Support) that I didn't choose when I applied, Billing Dept claimed to have re-credited me but haven't.

Cancelling is going to be difficult too I'm sure - today I was informed by TT that if you cancelled and returned to a BT landline, they would charge £124. Apparently as long as you call BT and ask them to notify TT of your decision to cancel, there is no charge.

TT also offered to apply a £5 credit for 6 months to my account to make up for
poor quality lines. This is very nice, but then if they don't improve and you want to leave an 18 month contract, you're gonna lose more than £30 eh once that 30 day trial is over...]]>

carla james on Mon, 15th Oct 2007 3:19 pm


< ![CDATA[oh my god, if you looked on a hundred websites for all different suppliers, you would find that they all have the same amount of people complaining and the same amount of problems, in my personal opinion after being connected with most of the leading suppliers out there, they are all rubbish and not without their problems, I have had constant drop in connection issues and phone problems, i call them and am stuck on hold for hours
Then there is Virgin, whereby i only wanted to cancel the internet as i was moving out of the property, i got shunted around to at least 7 different departments having to repeat my info over and over again
utility warehouse disconnected my account in error and took 2 months to get my internet back, am now currently with talktalk, and granted i have had a few problems, but my point is doesn't every company, if i could create my own company just for me, with a small team of experts i would LOL they are all total rubbish, so please don't think that because you've had one good experience with someone else that it will remain that way, every company has its problems, oh and to previous comments i believe that talktalk states clearly that it offers UP TO 8 mb and not exactly that]]>

Pete Loud on Sat, 20th Oct 2007 8:46 am


< ![CDATA[For the past 5-6 weeks my Talktalk service has been unbelievably bad. Most of the time the speed of their "Up to 8Mbps" broadband is below 512 Kbps. Much of the time it is below 100Kbps. I have been testing the speed using a free broadband speed test from http://www.thinkbroadband.com I have a chart of the speed readings that I have recorded at, http://www.peteloud.co.uk/talktalk/ .
I suggest more people should use this free test and make their results publ;ic.

Apart from the broadband problems my telephone line loses connection part way through calls and people trying to ring me find my line dead.

I have contacted Customer Support several times and they have been ineffective. When I said that their service was inadequate and wanted to cancel my talktalk account they said that I must pay £70 cancellation fee.

My conclusion is simple, don’t touch talktalk with a barge-pole.]]>

Doughbake on Wed, 24th Oct 2007 12:03 pm


3 weeks. Thats how long my Talk Talk broadband has been acting up. I had a letter saying that they were going to carry out an upgrade on my exchange in July. Now I have always believed that an upgrade, by the very nature of the phrase, was supposed to improve things not as it turns out make them worse. I have been on the ‘customer helpline’ more times than I care to remember and find myself going round in circles because the people on the other end, be it in India or Scotland (yes I did actually manage to get through to someone in this country!) couldn’t really work out what to do once they had exhausted their diagnostics lists in front of them. My problem is this. On week days after 6pm and all day Saturday and Sunday I cannot connect to the Talk Talk service. If I do try then I am greeted with an Error 721 message, which basically means that thier servers are not responding to my request for a connection. This is really frustrating and damn right infuriating when put together with the inability of customer service to be able to help in any way! £21.99 a month for limited broadband and phone service. Value for money? Most definately not. I have apparently been moved up from second level technical help to somebody else but because they say they only accept incoming calls I still have to wait on hold to be able to find out if anyone even knows what is going on let alone fix it. I am gonig to try and email dunstone and see if I can get my account cancelled as it is complete kack. Leave Talk Talk well alone. I wish to god I had!!

Roy on Wed, 24th Oct 2007 1:21 pm


< ![CDATA[Pete...i had what you are describing happen to me a couple of months ago.
If you are getting the response from Customer Service that you need to reconfigure your Computer, line, spyware, Anti-virus etc etc etc...i can tell you now that you dont.
You will need a lot of patience...but basically your only option is to keep ringing Customer Service (if your phone works!!) and sternly request to speak to a manager and nothing else. Don't bother explaining your problem to 1st line support...just request to speak with a manager in the UK and keep repeating this. Depending on the time of your call (i.e during the day), ask for a UK manager to call you back within an hour or you cancel your direct debit. Make some other 'idle' threats as well if you can. After 3 weeks of explaining the same complaint to South Africa, i did the above and within an hour i had a technician phone me from Newcastle and go through some proper tests with me. The next morning, i had a manager from Northampton phone me about my complaint. Low and behold, by midday...my phone line was back to normal and my connection was up and running again...albiet slightly slower by about a half meg....but at least it worked.]]>

unknown on Wed, 24th Oct 2007 7:44 pm


< ![CDATA[Talktalk are terrible, i work for an ISP which i will not name. The amounts of complains about this company is unreal.. they 'hijack' lines (switch you from your normal line to an LLU)

Poor quality customer services, and useless service... or so i'm told from people migrating away.

The things they get away with is amazing.. surely Ofcom need to do something about these cowboys]]>

unknown on Fri, 26th Oct 2007 3:30 pm


waited 5 months for broadband to come finnaly came slow as ever its worse then wat i had in 1999 unreal talking to a bloddy indien who knows 3 word thank u and please com agian bunch of mugs dont do talktalk trust me that would be a stupid mistake expecaily if you read this

ack on Tue, 6th Nov 2007 12:11 pm


< ![CDATA[As a lot of peeps joined talktalk from onetel for the phone prices but had paid bb access £10 pm. No problems at all with connections,never lost it once in the time I was signed up from.Then 11th Sept letter in the post and I got free BB,thought great save me tenner,OH DEAR.Nothing but trouble connection drops weekly or daily sometimes.Dont bother with 1st line helpdesk in deepest India,their scripted help notes are useless to all but the most inept user,its your router/modem settings etc,(like they changed from yesterday when it worked).
2nd line tech help at least are english and try to do a good job of solving yer problems,but to be honest dont bother with talktalk for BB internet and I'll change as soon as me contract runs out,rather pay than have the problems.]]>

FacialTurd on Thu, 8th Nov 2007 7:23 pm


< ![CDATA[Yes, it is talktalk thats up its own arse
I used to have Orange Broadband, fine, i had my own wireless router and everything was perfect
My Mother decided to get one of talktalks shitty cheap deals (no idea why) and i notice the change immediately, i can't play on xbox live because of huge amounts of lag, caused by a poor upload speed
and High Average PING and my routers ADSL light starts flashing every now and again and disconnects]]>

Tina & Tim on Fri, 16th Nov 2007 11:49 pm


Are you thinking of using TalkTalk… well DONT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have read some of the above complaints and they are all happening to us too!!!! No one… and I mean NO ONE!!!!! Is interested in offering you a service at talktalk… BB drops often…. I dont live with my g/f but speak everynight at around 8pm and she sounds like shes talking under water…. the system is useless … really PLEASE… DO NOT JOIN THEM… as stated above you will be talking to someone in deepest India and they will say wait a few minutes and they never come back and so its back to square one! My g/f has only been with crapcrap for some 5 weeks and its hopeless!!!!!!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!!

Tina & Tim on Fri, 16th Nov 2007 11:58 pm


I agree with the above… DO NOT JOIN TALKTALK!!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!

dave on Sat, 17th Nov 2007 10:43 am


Got TalkTalk about 1 month ago the connection is ok once it does connect but still cant get email to go and i cant seem to understand the help line for the life of me. phone seems ok

Colin on Mon, 19th Nov 2007 7:55 am


I have recently been working on my website. However, the next time I cam to work on I found that it has dissapeared. I can’t even login to my ftp server ( using windows explorer, or any other ftp prgoram). It’s really annoying as it has happened before.

Jonathan Teoh on Wed, 21st Nov 2007 6:34 pm


< ![CDATA[I've been with TalkTalk for way over a year now ..... and am just about ready to move ( waiting till the contract period is up )

I've got to say I've never been satisfied with it , even though it's free broadband.

I've NEVER seen the download speed go over 400kbs ..... that's not even half of 1 megabyte .... never mind the up to 8mb speeds ...

Most of the time you'd be lucky to get 100-200kbs during the day ..... then during the evening it seems to plummet to below 56kbs ( sometimes an appauling under 20kbs ) making it just about as fast as dial up ....

Plus it just loves to randomly cut off ....

Also for some reason during the evening/nights , sometimes phonecalls cut off the internet too .... which is strange ... because it doesn't seem to happen during the morning/after ....

I am sure i have filters are set up correctly also ...

If that wasn't bad enough ..... for the past month and over ..... we've had a problem/outage on the landline covering our area ,which have yet to be repaired by engineers ..... which means the telephone and internet are cutting off and not responding at random moments ... especially at peak hours ....

Of course customer services are no real help with waiting over half an' hour to get through and their scripted responses ....
This problem is very annoying and they still haven't fixed it in over a month ..

I am also wondering whether talktalk have slapped a restriction on me for xbox live during the peak hours without telling me ....

All in all it's pretty sad , pretty slow and pretty unreliable and hopefully i will move isp/landline soon to rid me of such horribleness .....]]>

alienspider on Fri, 23rd Nov 2007 1:17 am


< ![CDATA[I have been with TalkTalk now for 15 months, and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that their service, and customer service lick the sweat from a dead chimpanzee's hairy testicles.

24 Hour disabling -not throttling - completely disabled P2P applications, domain blocking, and all for someone who only downloads stuff after 1 am, and NEVER exceeds the 40GB per month bandwidth limit.

I'm getting my MAC tomorrow morning - I've had enough now.

Best of luck to everyone else stuck with them - you'll need it.]]>

Marky on Sat, 24th Nov 2007 3:30 pm


< ![CDATA[Moved from Onetel in September to TalkTalk hoping to save a bit of money. I really regret my decision. The connection constantly drops during peak periods. I've tried everything to resolve this situation but to no avail.

Really wished I had done some more research before signing up! BUYER BEWARE! KEEP AWAY FROM TALKTALK!]]>

Elizabeth on Thu, 29th Nov 2007 10:26 pm


< ![CDATA[I have heard that some people have had problems with talktalk.

My freind who I recommended to TalkTalk from day one as she had no connection to her broadband.

I must say I have had no problems whatsoever with my line rental, calls or my broadband.

I have now ordered a new laptop and I hope I have no problem with the wireless connection.

I must admit I did not realise it would cost me £49.95 for the wireless router which has to be one of talk talk's (Huawei Rerouter) in order for me to get connected.

I also have to pay another £25.00 for the connection which I think is rediculous.

I am beginning to wonder if I should have ordered a new computer system.]]>

Colin on Tue, 4th Dec 2007 8:04 am


My ftp windows explorer was working recently, but know i can’t acces it. Really annoying. You would have thought with all these complaints TalkTalk would have improved their service.

Joan Dixon on Wed, 5th Dec 2007 2:13 pm


< ![CDATA[Found this site, and don't feel so alone with my Talktalk problems. I have been threatened with Court Action. My problem was not getting the broadband at all. 5 MAC codes, and still they could not connect me. Like most of you, I had the long wait on the phones, then to be told I needed a different number, E Mails now most of those had the same response. "We need a MAC code" Letters, that had no response what so ever.

I advised them on the phone I was going to cancell, I also mentioned it on an E Mail.............They just asked for another MAC code. So, as I could not afford to pay BT for broadband as well as the Talktalk charges, I cancelled my DD. I thought stupidly as it turned out, that Credit Control would contact me.........thus I would be able to talk to someone............Noooooooo, I just got the usual debters letters. I spoke to them yesterday, and told them that I would see Talktalk in court. I am now waiting to hear from their solicitors.

A result really, at least someone is now communicating with me.]]>

Mrs East on Wed, 5th Dec 2007 3:56 pm


Am so glad I found this site! I won’t be moving afterall.

Andrew on Sat, 8th Dec 2007 10:55 am


I have a problem with Carphone Warehouse – ordered laptop – 5 weeks later still no sign of it. Help staff useless, nobody returns calls. Next step Trading Standards.

Paulos on Mon, 17th Dec 2007 1:53 pm


< ![CDATA[I agree with many of those above, we moved away from Orange due to the deal, and the LLU lines are just unstable in my opinion. TalkTalk are expanding faster than the technology will allow, our landline cut in and out and the Broadband went from 2000 to 20 kbms in the blink of an eye. We were accused of having a sky/fax machine plugged in\DSL filters not working\wrong modem anything to deflect the blame away from them, turns out there are problems throughout our area. Why didn't you tell us this from the start TalkTalk....!!!!

Anyway, I'd advise against them for the while, in a year they may have their problems ironed out but this is a good place to look if you're still considering going to TalkTalk

http://www.talktalk.co.uk/talktalk/servlet/gben-server-PageServer?article=MAIN.UK.TALKTALK.STATIC.OUTAGES

BTW – Moving back to BT (which is what you’ll have to do to go with most of the other providers (Tiscali/Supanet etc) is painful both in your pocket (tied in BT for 12 months, and therefore can’t take advantage of other ISPs joint Home line &#38; Broadband offers (unless they are BT..!!)) and also takes 10 days.]]>

Peter Ridgers on Wed, 19th Dec 2007 10:42 am


TalkTalk offer a bundled service comprising Phone calls, line rental and broadband. The broadband service operates (I have just been told) with a contention ratio of 50% – that means that during periods of high congestion you have a high probability that your ip address will be seized for another: it happened to me at around 30 second intervals between 6pm and 10pm yesterday. if you don’t like this then tough – you move broadband to another isp and you have to cancel your ‘phone as well – and you still have to pay a £70 penalty. It’s all there in the small print.

sharmine on Mon, 31st Dec 2007 5:02 pm


so glad i read this page i was almost convienced at the good deals.

Barry on Tue, 1st Jan 2008 5:54 pm


< ![CDATA[I wanted to change my Talk Talk package from TT 3 at £9.99 per month to TT 2 at £6.99 per month. This is the reply I received. They want to charge me £70 "cessation" fee for doing so! This charge was not mentioned when I contracted the service in Dec 2006. Seems abusive to me. Anybody got experience of this and how to overcome it?
"Thank you for your e-mail regarding the talk plan change request.
I can understand the frustration this matter has caused you. TalkTalk views customer satisfaction as our number one priority, so it is especially disappointing to see that we have failed you in this manner.
If you do choose to change your talk plan you will be liable for the cessation fee of £70.00. The free broadband package that you have signed into is an 18 month contract.
We are unable to provide you the free broadband with the free broadband with the Talk 1 plan.
If you do still feel that you would like to change the talk plan, you can reply directly to this e-mail"

.]]>

Michael K on Tue, 1st Jan 2008 7:11 pm


I have had the most painful broadband experience since joining talk talk. I am soooo frustrated by it. Surely, there must be some kind of ombudsman you ought to be able to report them to. Similar to Peter Ridgers experience, my connection drops all the time, particularly at busy times. Tonight, for example, it is dropping every 30 seconds or every other page I try to load. I didn’t realise IP addresses could be seized – is that what happens, they give my access to someone else if it becomes busy??. Anyway, pages don’t load once it drops and I then have to go onto my wireless (Talk Talk) router, disconnect and reconnect to the internet in order to browse pages again…only for it to drop once more! This is madness. I feel gutted but I have no choice but to pay the £70 and leave them. Does anyone have any good experiences out there??

Mr Mobs on Thu, 3rd Jan 2008 9:44 am


Well I just found this page looking for someone to back up my complaints about Talk Talk and I seem to of found it. I have been with them for over 18 months and have had no real problems until recently, in fact a few months ago my connection speed became about 10 times faster than it was previously, as fast as the business connection at work. However, in the last few weeks I have had days of very slow to no connection, followed by a few days of normal or nearly normal connection. As I right this (at work), I have had no decent connection since Jan 1st. I can’t even load the Google page. When this problem first came up a few weeks ago I called Talk Talk and spent well over an hour going through some tests etc. only to be told that it was a fault at my end and I should call Apple to see if they could help. (I’ve got a Mac obviously). But it seems obvious to me that it’s nothing to do with my computer, which is otherwise fine, and all to do with my connection. Reading some of the posts above it seems I’m not the only one! Well I guess I’m going to call Talk Talk again at the weekend and get arsey with them… wish me luck!

donna harvey on Wed, 9th Jan 2008 3:23 pm


my msn will not work since i joined talktalk bt might be more expensive but worth it

philip on Fri, 11th Jan 2008 8:13 pm


talk talk was fine for like 1 year than after that. it keeps DISCONNECTING every 10mins or 5mins. its really pissing me off. but you get what you pay for. a shit broadband

Colin Whitley on Sun, 13th Jan 2008 6:39 am


< ![CDATA[TalkTalk has to be the worst ISP ive ever had the misfortune to use. Had a warning letter saying I'm excessively downloading. The only downloading I do is Linux updates and windows XP updates. And listen to internet radio.

Really wish we'd stuck with BT people complain about them, but at least their more friendly and more reliable.]]>

stevek on Wed, 16th Jan 2008 4:25 pm


< ![CDATA[All those who signed up to TalkTalk and later found the billing information was incorrect, read this...

http://money.aol.co.uk/firms-rapped-over-data-protection/article/20080116085509990023?rsp=money

Seems like they were routinely breaking the Data Protection Act and officialdom is now on their case.]]>

Roy on Fri, 18th Jan 2008 3:48 pm


< ![CDATA[I had the same as Philip above, my internet was disconnecting every 20 mins or so. It would lose its connection and then reconnect straight away, which made downloading and Xbox live impossible to use.
After 3 months of complaining to India and getting absolutelty no-where (apparently India are unable to call out (!!!) and are unable to put you through to someone in the UK (!!).)
In the end, i called second line support only, never calling the usuall number. After explaining that my system and set up had nothing what so ever to do with their connection....the final result was that they had to lower my connection to 2mbs from 5mps to ensure a stable connection.
It appears as though after there 'upgrade', the wires or phone lines or exchanges just couldn't handle there connection and it was dropping. Now i have a slower, but so far, constant connection.
As for their connection itself, every time i phoned they told me...."Sir, we are providing you with 5mbs...our system tells us its working". It took me weeks to convince them that what there system says makes no difference to the service i;m was getting. I used SPEEDTEST.COM for a couple of weeks and got results ranging from 348 kbs to 58 mbs !!!. TalkTalk know best!!
Apart from the dire broadband service, TalkTalk would get so much more complaints and faults sorted if only they would actually listen to their customers, believe what they say and transfer you to someone in the UK that know what they are talking about.
I spent 10 minutes on the phone to someone in the UK, who understood me and we got further than 3 weeks on the phone to India!!
Internet Service Providings..thank for you call..anything else i can help you with....NOOO!!]]>

Anthony on Thu, 24th Jan 2008 1:27 pm


< ![CDATA[I took out Talk 3 international 2 years ago. I was told that I could not have free broadband because they did not yet have an exchange in my area but that I could have Broadband for £10 per month with the promise that when the exchange was set up in my area I would receive free broadband.

Two years later I discover via their website that free broadband is now available in my area. So I emailed Talk Talk so called 'Customer services' dpt and asked them why I was still being charged £10 per month for broadband. They mailed me back saying they could not give me a date when free broadband would be available!!

I eventually contacted them by telephone - what a nightmare! spent 2 hours being cut off, put on hold, passed from dpt to dpt and person to person - India included. I eventually blew my top and asked to be put through to a Manager.
After speaking to a supposed Manager I was promised that my 'bundle' would be amended immediatly and that I would now have free broadband - YIPPEE!

Guess what? I checked my bank account this morning and they are still taking £10 from my account.

I have tried Emailing Charles Dunstone via the Email address above but it says 'not available' Does anyone have an up to date contact for Dunstone or whoever their Chief Executive is?]]>

Gill B on Mon, 28th Jan 2008 6:09 pm


< ![CDATA[I have now been with TalkTalk for over 18 months and could change - HOWEVER... We started off with problems in summber 2006. Then all was great for a few months until LLU (and I won't even start on the problems, you'll be here all night - just read everyone else's posts above and you get the picture). For about 3/4 months after LLU we nearly went hairless trying to get things fixed. Then everything settled down and (fingers and everything else crossed) I have to say it has been fine for almost a year now.

One of my sisters is with Virgin (forcible switch from NTL) and they are experiencing all of the problems we happy TT customers have had - dropped connections, inability to connect, "support" in India (say no more), etc etc. There seems to be no solution to their problems, either.

Is there a broadband supplier out there who is reasonably priced and gives a good service, including properly trained support people who are based in UK? At the moment, I am staying with TT and hoping my problems are behind me. Good luck to all who are going through what we did after LLU (which I thought was supposed to be an improvement??!)]]>

Colin on Tue, 5th Feb 2008 2:11 pm


I currently use talktalk broadband on a windows xp based PC computer. My mother is getting a Mac, does anyone know how I would use talktalk on a Mac?

Colin on Thu, 7th Feb 2008 10:05 am


TalkTalk we’re very quick to get in touch with me as I mention in my earlier post. But trying to get hold of their their customer support is a nightmare, spent ages waiting the phone with no luck. Sent them an email ruesting an explation of the letter they sent me. Absoultely no response.

Banking Business Plan on Fri, 8th Feb 2008 6:53 am


< ![CDATA[Ebay Business – Longer Bidding Time The Bigger The Bank Balance

Is this your first business venture – if so you must be excited just at the fact of being your own boss with no 9 to 5 job – that is if your Ebay business is going to demand your full time attention to keep the pennies coming in? No doubt you will have…]]>

Colin on Tue, 12th Feb 2008 8:12 am


Been trying to get in touch with talktalk customer services to find out why I was sent a let about excesive downloading. All I do is download updates for Linux and Windows XP, and listen to internet radio. Tried contacting them by phone and sent numerous emails to which I’ve had no response.

Mike S on Wed, 13th Feb 2008 11:41 am


< ![CDATA[Hello

I'd just like to share my father's experience of TalkTalk, well I'll briefly précis the experience as to go into detail would just be yet more wasted hours courtesy of TalkTalk.

Signed up after Christmas and finally got kit late January 2008. Had real problems installing, spent hours on the phone to India and also to Stornoway - 2nd 'tier' service. The gist of the problem was that it was all my dads fault...'are you sure you've connected everything etc etc.' I checked all his connections, he'd set up everything as per instructions and following TalkTalk disk instructions - no connection. He called me, not an expert but have experience of networking, checked all his connections, went through the talktalk disk, nothing, even the WLAN wasn't working. I then phoned up TalkTalk and said that we couldn't get connected if it wasn't resolved within 48 hours we'd take advantage of the 30 day cancellation. I was pretty sure by this point that we weren't connected at the exchange. Tried two days later and after having reset and deleted all talktalk files and manually set up router finally got connected...for about ten minutes, then the connection dropped, and then reconnected, and then dropped etc etc.....when we were finally connected the maximum connection speed, tried whenever possible over a five day period was 352k! Ironically on the site we tested the speed there was a banner ad for TalkTalk stating that it was 'fast broadband...' what a laugh. Basically the scenario of lost connection and terrible speed carried on for the next ten days, daily calls to TalkTalk, terrible excuses - "we cant control the speed" "your Sky conenction could be to blame"- repetitive questions - are you connected to the master socket, etc etc. Finally my father had enough and cancelled yesterday. The moral of the tale, not sure there is one bar the 'you get what you pay for'...would not recommend at all.]]>

TREVOR HERON on Wed, 13th Feb 2008 6:08 pm


< ![CDATA[I have been with talktalk now for around two years and was promised free broadband within a couple of months of signing up. [I live in northern Ireland] I am still waiting!!!! Sent an email to complain and asked why I should pay £10 when almost everyone else in the UK dont have to. Still waiting on a reply!
Does anyone know of an actual responding email address for TALKTALK?
No point in phoning India, they obviously dont have a clue most of the time and just leave me with bald spots where i have just pulled out my hair. I recommended them to my sister last year, she is only starting to talk to me now. They left her in a terrible state. Never again.]]>

David J Bethell on Tue, 26th Feb 2008 4:46 pm


Ha ha ha, have to laugh at just how horrendous this company is and the nodding dogs that work for them. Just been offered a free wireless re-router to re-sign with talk talk for another 18 months. As an idiot i did for the simple fact i have been with BT and NTLworld both of whom are just as vile and I thought at better the devil you know, right? Wrong! Talk talk have just sent me a bill for £50 for my so called FREE wireless router. And now I am stuck with these f*****s for another 18 ball-breaking months. If i come across anyone who works for them I will literally rip their eyes out, ha ha.

jama egeh on Thu, 13th Mar 2008 11:46 am


< ![CDATA[ha ha ha ha, i only got 2 months left, they did somthing to my broadband in october 2007 then it kep dropping, so it was totally rubbish for play online games or listening to music, then in november they killed of my phone for some unknowm reason, so i went to my carphone wearhouse for them to ring them up, i was told they was not a problem with my line it was with my phone, so the indian fuck put the phone down on me, but lucky the person at the shop call someone whos a brit, they checked my line and it was dead. that was the end of my rubbish broadband, they managed to fuckup a fuckup, now i am stuck with my broadband working when i pickup the headset and keep the phone of the hook, i keep getting speeds from 500 to 4800, i told them i can hear my modem in the background trying to connect "it sounds like a zx spectrum loading", they keept saying its my fault, now im just waiting for my contract to end, may 24 2008.

ps. it took them 4 months for threm to connect me to broadband, it worked for 7 now it crap.

please people "DONT TALKTALK TO ME"]]>

Colin on Thu, 13th Mar 2008 6:21 pm


I wonder if anyone at talktalk customer services reads this?

Roy on Wed, 26th Mar 2008 3:58 pm


I had BT Broadband, and a BT landline. I paid for each seperately. I ordered the TalkTalk phone line ONLY, and made it clear I did not want the broadband. Nonetheless they disconnected my BT Broadband too and changed the line so that I could not re-install the BT Broadband. I’m now stuck with TalkTalk and I’ve had no broadband for over two months. When I connect it disconnects after about 60 seconds. This is the worst broadband I have ever had in over 10 years !!!! DO NOT BUY IT !!!!

stevek on Wed, 26th Mar 2008 6:52 pm


< ![CDATA[One of near-neighbours had the same problem with the broadband only working when you take the telephone receiver off the hook.

After many weeks of TT "engineers" pissing in the wind, they finally got BT.

I took them about 10 minutes to find out that the cable from his gutters out to the pole had shredded some of its insulation (it used to rub on a tree branch several years ago), the wires inside were partly corroded, and the cable also had some water in it.

BT replaced said piece of cable and all the problems immediately went away.

If it does not work, keep on complaining until someone takes responsibility for getting it fixed, and then contact them every few days to make sure they are not sat on their finger.

If you are lucky it might be fixed in under a month.]]>

stevek on Wed, 26th Mar 2008 6:58 pm


first post (6.52) has typos in it. Please bin it in favour of the second post (6.55). thanks.

Stephan Smith on Fri, 28th Mar 2008 8:30 am


< ![CDATA[Switched from BT to TT for free BB
Got interrupted phone service .
Failure to recognize numbers ; even those provided by TT
Got billed for regular connections to Talking Clock , which was often the number
they chose to recognise instead of the one dialled .
Broadband functioned occasionally during first month of contract which I attributed
to my ineptitude.
Sought their Technical Assistance by phone , enduring hours connected to endless tape loop playing , ironically : " We've got to get together " , occasionally
interrupted by confused conversation with " overseas " technical advisor who
used English words and an inventive grammatical construction with which I am
as yet unfamilliar.
Being fair to TT , I calculate that out of the six months of the eighteen month contract
I have enjoyed about six weeks of acceptable service and no monthly bill has been less than£33.00 , which , added to the £75.00 severance of contract penalty I expect they will require, makes my present renewed contract with BTvery attractive , in view of my disloyalty to BT. However ,since connecting to BT all the Gremlins have mysteriously disappeared and I am enjoying faultless Broadband.]]>

stevek on Fri, 28th Mar 2008 10:33 pm


Thanks. You binned the wrong one. (6.55) was the one to be keeping.

stevek on Fri, 28th Mar 2008 10:44 pm


< ![CDATA[One of my near-neighbours had exactly the same problem with the broadband only working when you took the telephone receiver off the hook.

After many weeks of TT “engineers” pissing in the wind, they finally got BT out to look at the problem, but only after dire threats of huge charges being levied if BT found nothing wrong.

It took BT all of about 10 minutes to find out that the cable from his gutters out to the pole in the road had shredded some of its insulation (it used to rub on a tree branch several years ago), that the wires inside were partly corroded, and that the cable also had some water in it.

It took BT all of about half an hour to replace said piece of cable and all of the problems immediately went away.

If it does not work, keep on complaining until someone takes responsibility for getting it fixed, and then contact them every few days to make sure they are not sat on their finger.

If you are lucky, it might be fixed in under a month. Track record suggests it is often a lot longer. There seems to be a general aversion in getting BT involved. TalkTalk will do everything they can to postpone it as long as possible.]]>

Stevei on Wed, 9th Apr 2008 9:03 am


For those who are reading this who are able to get out of contract with talktalk I can highly recommend either Plusnet or Sky broadband. Both have good connection speeds (considering the distance I am from the exchange) and customer service has been faultless. For those Cynics amongst you I don’t work for either firm. With reference to Routers, I’ve never had a problem with Netgear kit, for about £60 you can get wireless router + either USB or PCI wireless card for your computer. Easy to setup and good security.

Graeme on Mon, 21st Apr 2008 4:53 pm


< ![CDATA[After a very brief and wholly unsatisfactory dabble with Talk Talk, firstly with a free Broadband trial which they could not get to work (apparently there was a wall in my telephone exchange which was causing the problem !), we extracted ourselves from their clutches. During this time we encountered all the problems highlighted here, particularly with outgoing calls being stopped if you tried to query anything, lack of any response whatsoever to complaints, spurious billign and numerous barely comprehensible telephone calls harrassing us for money.

We have been (praise be to every god, supreme being or whoever up there) with another provider (BT &#38; Sky) since September last year and have now just started being harassed again by Talk Talk for spurious payments which increase with each letter.

Has anyone ever had any success with legal or other action against these people ? I've had enough of them and want justice !]]>

Ali on Mon, 21st Apr 2008 7:25 pm


For the last two months have had a problem with the 18418 prefix code when calling Turkey, a reply saying the number is temporarily out of order, which we know it not to be. We joined talktalk in Sep 2007, the main reason being able to phone turkey at reduced rates. Talktalk are investigating but have already admitted in an e-mail that they have no control over the routing service. Does anyone else have a problem with the 18418 prefix?

Dave B on Fri, 2nd May 2008 4:32 pm


< ![CDATA[My mother used to have her normal phone service from Talk-Talk (TT) and was quite happy with it. Last year a salesman phoned her up and tried to get her to sign up for a new tariff, including broadband access and cheap international calls, costing twice as much a month. My mother declined as she does not have a computer and doesn’t know anyone abroad. The salesman was very persistent and, in the end, my mother just said “I am sorry I don’t understand what you are talking about” and put the phone down.

Imagine our surprise when, a few weeks later she received a broadband modem through the post. On checking it turned out that she had been signed up for the new tariff anyway! I phoned TT’s customer service to be told that she could not be returned to her original tariff as ( and I quote) “…the system doesn’t allow it”. Obviously the system does allow pushy salesmen to call elderly and vulnerable people and try to bamboozle them into spending money on something they cannot use.

After writing several letters of complaint plus making more (very frustrating) calls to their, so-called, ‘customer service’ department my mother became so disgusted with them that she changed her phone company back to BT. She wrote to TT explaining the situation and stated that, as far as she was concerned, TT had broken the contract between them by signing her up for a tariff she did not ask for.

Well, guess what happened next? My mother started receiving letters from a debt collection agency for money TT said she owed them. Unbelievable! Well, my mother has called TT on many occasions, spoken to numerous customer service agents, and written letters to them explaining the situation. Several times she has been told that it was all sorted and the debt ( not that there ever was one) has been cancelled. Various reasons have been given including the classics: “the letters were lost in the post” and “no one put it on the computer”. As you might expect, she has continued to receive letters asking for payment, including one today.

So, there you have it. TT are a company that employ salesmen who pressurise elderly, vulnerable people into signing up for services they neither understand nor are able to use. Their customer service team consists of people who appear not to care a jot about anyone, and their policy to is intimidate people with debt collectors for debts that do not exist.

Don’t touch them with a barge pole!!

P.S. I wish all of you the very best of luck in dealing with these people.]]>

mikey on Mon, 5th May 2008 9:25 pm


< ![CDATA[TT should have recorded the sales conversation, so what was said will be able to be verified.

Put in a complaint to OFCOM about it, and let them sort it out.]]>

Richard on Wed, 7th May 2008 8:46 am


< ![CDATA[I'm having problems with broadband connectivity disappearing erratically. I was trying to work out whether this was my computer, my modem, TalkTalk or BT. The above suggests Talktalk.
I will not even try calling Customer Service, but the descriptions above sound just like that of BT!
I'm certainly not going back to BT.
Which provider does provide reliable service (I don't mind paying a but more)]]>

Colin on Thu, 8th May 2008 11:34 am


Hi does anyone know how you can monitor how much you are downloading so that you can stay within your limit. Im really scared of going over my limit, with the amount of updates linux has.

mike s on Thu, 8th May 2008 1:09 pm


Just a quick update from my previous post, Jan 2008. My father cancelled TT and has gone back to BT, however he has since had bills from TT for calls made after the switch back to BT – bunch of cowboys – stay well clear.

Roy on Tue, 13th May 2008 2:38 pm


< ![CDATA[I've heard that PlusNet are one of the better people to go with.
On a personal note, my girlfriend has not long had O2 Broadband, and touchwood...so far they have been pretty good. Easy to set up, fast and reliable, Free MacAfee, and get this.....UK Call Centres...yipeee.

As for Colin...there is something on the net that you can download a free Download monitor. I think its something like Computertools or similar, but if you Google it...you will find it. Its a simple thing that pops up a little icon in the right bottom corner (next to the time) that tells you how much you have downloaded.
I used to have it, but i wanted it to check how much i used on XBox live...but it only noted the downloads onto the PC, not how much went through the Router. (i'm not that computer literate to know how i woudl do that).]]>

Estelle Beninson on Thu, 22nd May 2008 11:28 am


< ![CDATA[TalkTalk is the phone company from Hell!!! When I joined over a year ago, I asked for caller display. I still havent got it. I ring every few months and I have had all the excuses under the sun, from some charming person in India.

Cant wait for my contract to finish so I can join Sky!!]]>

Colin on Tue, 27th May 2008 9:50 am


I am trying to login to my talktalk account i enter the correct user name and password but it keeps coming up with “DBException in” error please contact us if the problem persists , anyone any ideas?

Colin on Tue, 27th May 2008 10:07 am


Sorry to post again so soon, just letting every1 know i solved the above probl;em, reboot my router seems to have fixed it.

Luke on Wed, 4th Jun 2008 10:45 pm


< ![CDATA[Hi all i have had talk talk pacage since december last year and from the 1st of january i have made around 23 calls to there service centre about my internet dropping and phone line going dead the line can go off from anything around 10 mins to 3 _4 hours even half a day,And when your on line playing games as i dfo on a ps3
it is more than anoying when you get booted off the net half way through the game hence reking your stats/recordes.
The service team gets you to go through the same steps as mentioned above and i have had enough of this now and am going back to bt.
SO ANY ONE READING THIS PLEASE DONT GO TO TALK TALK !!!!!]]>

Colin on Thu, 12th Jun 2008 6:49 am


< ![CDATA[Hi again,

Im getting so frustrated with talktalk. I have been doing my own website, really enjoyed doing , however it seems to have vanished from the internet it was working fine yesterday , allthough the hit counter did vanish. The only thing I did was submit it to search engines using TrafficSeeker 7.0.

It has happened to me before lucky I backed it up but it wont even let me access my website with filezilla so I could upload it again. I have really had enough of talktalk, it's been nothing but a headache.]]>

Ken Merry on Thu, 12th Jun 2008 4:48 pm


< ![CDATA[I think that the problem with TalkTalk is that they are not putting enough resource into providing the broadband service and I expect that they are reluctant to get an engiineer on the job in the exchange as it costs them money.
However, I do know of a few people in particular areas who do have a successfull broadband service via TalkTalk but my advice would be to dump them and go direct with BT or use Be as they provide a proper service. Do be aware that your intenal telephone wiring can give some connection problems and it may have to be renewed. I would also recommend the use of a Netgear router whenever possible as the USB modems are as bad as the TalkTalk service.]]>

Colin on Mon, 16th Jun 2008 5:33 am


< ![CDATA[Just a quick amendment to my previous post , when I do goto my website address it is now just a blank page with the following message :

Apache/2.2.3 (CentOS) Server at http://www.colswebsite.talktalk.net Port 80]]>

Colin on Mon, 16th Jun 2008 4:36 pm


Hi again solved my problem, it was something to do with the phising filter.

Colin on Tue, 17th Jun 2008 5:54 am


Thought I’d solved, can see my website now, but still cant access it through my ftp software

Colin on Tue, 24th Jun 2008 8:29 am


Gave up trying, deleted my website. Don’t think I’ll bother doing another one, not with talktalk anyway.

John on Tue, 24th Jun 2008 3:49 pm


< ![CDATA[I have had a web site on Talktalk since they first offered broadband.
It has worked well and I have been able to update it easily using ftp until a couple of weeks ago.

Now I just cannot get past the logon/password screen as the page just loops with a blank screen
until it times out.
Friends of mine have a similar problem with their sites as well.

when i find the time I will see if I can get any sense out of support and update here.]]>

Colin on Sat, 28th Jun 2008 6:16 pm


I gave up with talktalk webspace and gone with an indepent free webhost. Much better 10gb of webspace for free and no forced banner adds.

craig on Mon, 21st Jul 2008 2:24 pm


< ![CDATA[Talk Talk Telecom (Carphone Warehouse Plc) must (without any doubt) be the most unprofessional and incompetent Company in existence. I would certainly echo all of the comments stated by other people on the Internet, particularly those that have had numerous problems with this Company and its personnel to a point of utter despair. My advice, from my awful experience of this Company is to ensure you stick to you aim and do not let this Company get away with the unprofessional techniques that they adopt too try and extract money from people that they are not entitled too. This is the main reason why so much profit is being made and why shareholders are benefiting from extremely dubious techniques to gain money.

I was originally going to become a customer of Talk Talk in May 2007, yet since they failed twice to provide a service (as stated), I realised very quickly that the Company and its personnel are an enterprise not to be connected with at any cost.

I informed the Company that I would not be continuing and cancelled the service before inception. However, this is where the problems first began.

1. I was sent an account billing letter demanding money from May 2007, and had to write numerous times, including initially to Charles Dunstone CEO, who of course never has the professionalism to respond to people, presumably allowing his utterly unprofessional and incompetent Executives to do this for him.
2. I wrote to Mr Harrison (another Executive Officer), on 22 June 2007, again sending the correspondence recorded delivery mail to ensure its target destination.
3. This correspondence (like previous) was ignored.
4. I wrote again to Mr Rescorla (another Executive) on 10 July 2007, again the correspondence was ignored.
5. I received nasty threats for 'Demands' of money not owed, and continued to pursue the matter.
6. I received a letter from Roxburghe Debt Collection Agency (22 August 2007) informing me that I owed money to Talk Talk, when this was not the case.
7. I wrote to Roxburghe to inform that the Company Director that they had been misled and had been authorised illegally to try and extract money not owed.
8. Roxburghe closed the account informing me that they were unaware of the dispute, as they had not been informed by Talk Talk.
9. Not content with illegally sending false debt details to Roxburghe, Talk Talk this time used another debt collection agency, i.e. Fredrickson International Ltd.
10. I was sent threatening demand letter by this new debt collection agency.
11. However, after again writing to this Company, they too closed the account, as Talk Talk had not appropriately informed that there was a dispute and in fact that no money was owed in the first place.
12. I received an email from Mr Ucheghu (Executive) of Talk Talk, informing me he will "arrange for the balance to be cleared", and further informing me of his "sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused". However, no action is taken.
13. I received a letter (10 October 2007) from Mr Kelly (Customer Liaison Executive) of Talk Talk admitting liability for the fact that the Company were in "error", and also confirming that the account would "be cleared as it had not been cancelled when it should have been". However, this did not happen, which given other previous reassurance from incompetent and unprofessional Executives at Talk Talk is hardly surprising.
14. I wrote to OFCOM and OTELO about the situation. OTELO decided to investigate the situation writing a 'Provisional Report' in December 2007. Yet by this time the situation had been ongoing for 7 months.
15. The Provisional Report' (by Mr Allock) found Talk Talk guilty of extremely poor customer service. Informed the Company to compensate £100 as a goodwill gesture, asked for a written apology to be sent, and further instructed the Company to remove any adverse information (illegally) sent about me to the Credit Reference Agencies.
16. OTELO also found that my correspondence had been ignored, particularly as Talk Talk tried to claim that four recorded delivery letter had all been lost in their internal post system, a situation that OTELO was not accepting at all.
17. At this point the amount of damages was well above the meagre £100 'goodwill gesture' as suggested by OTELO, therefore I decided to pursue the matter through the County Court.
18. I filed the paperwork and subsequently had a Hearing date of 10 March 2008.
19. The District Judge (Mr Rank) looked at the case, and the details and found Talk Talk liable for the damages claimed, thus I sued the Company for almost £700 (including Court costs).
20. The situation now, having been to Court and this Company being found guilty, you might think would in any extreme be the end to the matter, it clearly wasn't, as I received yet another demand letter (23 June 2008) from a different debt collection agency, i.e. Buchanan, Clark, and Wells. Yet again illegally claiming money not owed.
21. When I wrote to the Debt Collection Agency, I informed the CEO that Talk Talk had tried this very same appalling tactic with two other debt collection agencies, thus providing proof of what had happened previously, including details of the Court case and the outcome.
22. Buchanan, Clark and Wells responded closing the file, thus referring it back to Talk Talk. Clearly yet another Company had illegally been informed to collect money not owed, and were not given the details in the matter.
23. Three top executives of the debt collection agencies must be very suspect of a Company providing details to try and extract money not owed.
24. I received an email (26 June 2008) from Mr Thirlwell (Customer Liaison Executive) of Talk Talk stating, " Notification has been sent to Buchanan, Clark, Wells to ensure they are aware you do not have a debt to us in regards to the above account. We will also notify Experian to ensure no adverse data is held on your credit reference file in relation to this matter".
25. This matter has taken 14 months of distress and expense, with numerous correspondence in all this time.
26. Talk Talk illegally sent my details to Three debt collection agencies.
27. Tried to extract money not owed.
28. Threatened me numerous times with nasty demand letters.
29. Ignored recorded delivery correspondence about the situation, including one to Charles Dunstone CEO (10 May 2007).
30. Threatened to debunk my credit rating by sending details to the various agencies.

I would ask you one simple question is this the kind of Company that you would want to connect with and be the customer of? Further to this, if you are a shareholder in the Company, would you condone such appalling behaviour?

If you are experiencing problems now or have done previously, which is protracted and still ongoing. It might be causing distress, pain and expense, but hang in there and fight you corner doggedly (as I did), and do not allow this Company to illegally take money from you when they have no right to do so.

OTELO are there to provide some kind of resolution, yet in my experience it is as a matter of goodwill and not merely enough to rectify the situation. The best bet is, make sure you have all your evidence and paperwork. Keep all aspects documented and recorded (including correspondence) and file a claim at the Count Court for damages, including all paperwork, time spent in correspondence, ink, envelopes, paper, postage, and any other legitimate costs that you have had to pay for as a result.

My advice to anyone experiencing problems with Talk Talk is to ensure you keep the matter as formal as possible and do not engage in telephone conversations that can be denied as ever happening. Use a system that you can refer back too that is well documented, and set in formal proof. Clearly if this appalling Company and its personnel are going to try and claim to OTELO that four formal recorded delivery letters have been lost in their system, then you wont have much chance with trying to prove a telephone call, especially if they deny it ever happened.

Good Luck to anyone experiencing problems with Talk Talk. Ensure you are steadfast, determined and pursue the matter to the end, clearly the evidence is on the Internet of how many people this has and continues to happen too.

C Greensmith]]>

Lee on Sat, 9th Aug 2008 12:46 pm


< ![CDATA[Hi Guys,

If your having problems, register on the TalkTalk Members forums. I'm sure we can resolve any problems for you :)

http://www.talktalkmembers.com/forums/>

IT Guru on Tue, 12th Aug 2008 4:07 pm


What if i said that I have Sir Charles Dunstones personal contact details?

Chris Stevens on Mon, 25th Aug 2008 4:25 pm


I have problems with security settings and cant get into any secure sites which require passwords (banking, e-mail, shopping etc etc). Hours spent on useless help lines. Has anyone any suggestions to resolve? Heellpp!

lin on Sat, 30th Aug 2008 4:45 pm


have just moved house (22.aug.2008) and terminated service from talktalk,(27.aug.2008 despite giving them more than a fortnights notice on my initial phone call) HOWEVER I see I was unsuccessful as I have now been sent an online bill for line rental and talk 3 for next month,(september). Has anyone any idea how to get through to these sharks as I am spending time and energy trying to get someone to cease this account properly and send me a final account just like any other service provider e.g.thames water etc

Bo on Thu, 4th Sep 2008 3:23 pm


Last October when my son split from his then girlfriend I paid off the Talk Talk bill that was in his name. Since then I have been ‘forced’ to pay another three bills since I can get noone to pass the cancellation information over to the cancellation department although everyone I speak to promises to do so. All we receive are threats of court action and I can find no way to stop this, it simply goes round and round. All I want is to be free of this damn company.

Mr.Duncan Brown on Mon, 13th Oct 2008 6:28 pm


Hi to all i have haqd many problems with my broadband since Carfone shithouse oops warehouse tok over Time warner AOL i m in t5he process of issuing a writ against Mr Dunston for fraudulenty obtaining money by not supplying the service he claims….anyone that want to be included on my application in court contact me on my e mail address Dannyboise1@aol.com assuming its not been turned off lol

Intention Session - Stress Relief Audio Recording. | 7Wins.eu on Thu, 16th Oct 2008 3:18 pm


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john on Mon, 27th Oct 2008 4:12 am


for many years i had talk talk phone.excellent,i then took their phone line as well .Excellent again.none of those B.T. bills for i know not what.Then the phone calls started,many to take their broadband,no thanks i have great broadband,more calls some impossible to understand in a tongue foreign to me.I am getting a bit afraid to pick the phone up by now,,postman delivers a modom!!!.you have to ring them to get a returns number done sent back at my expense.comes the first of the month my broadband disappears.Contact talk talk.i have no broadband.Yes you have you are with us.Oh no i am not ,i want my broadband back,we cant do that.Its ok it gets worse,many calls many emails later its obvious that they are not going to let me have it back.What to do?change phone line,so go to virgin they have cable in the street.Virgin sorry we can not give you your phone number of 40 years talk talk are the only people not signatory to the agreement that allows this.more calls emails to talk talk they will send me a cheque for £40!!!!,will i accept this yes i just dont want anymore to do with your company i want to be left alone..not by talk talk you dont do you? bill for last phone calls £29 oh no i am finished with you.I write in reply sent signed for but no reply, you have guessed it roxburghe debt collectors..did email daily mail,mistake charlie yes dunstoc is an non executive director!.tried ofcom,no reply writing my M.P. and now going to try small claims court.i have lost £s over this and friends of 50 years or more who live overseas and contact me by my old stolen phone number…so if you are miss sold by talk talk accept or you will punished serverly,at 76 i dont need this but i wont lay down,watch this space..bet lee cant sort this one,,,

Angi on Sat, 1st Nov 2008 1:03 pm


< ![CDATA[I was supposed to change over on the 16th Oct. So far nothing has happened other than the cost of my mobile will be double this month due to the cost of extra calls and esp. those I've made to their 'customer support'

I'm going to be making my FINAL call to them today to tell them they can stick their 18 month contract - as far as I'm concerned there is no contract as I have never been connected and so they've broken it.]]>

john on Sat, 3rd Jan 2009 10:14 pm


its true talk talk (you dont know how typing that make me feel)oh yes we do…well at last the debt collector has given up after i said how much i was looking forward to my day in court…so sad to hear mr ross has left the company.suppose theres no chance of the other co-founder doing the same?you never know,ive read all the stuff about how the co was set up with ethics in mind.not my ethics mind…good luck for 2009 …

Simon on Wed, 11th Feb 2009 5:32 pm


< ![CDATA['Lee Says:
August 9th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Hi Guys,

If your having problems, register on the TalkTalk Members forums. I’m sure we can resolve any problems for you

http://www.talktalkmembers.com/forums/‘

Lee – if this is irony, I salute you.

If you are actually from Talk Talk’s heavily moderated forums – go to Hell.

To Hell.

Your company is, I believe, guilty of fraud and I am taking you to court.]]>

Mystery87.5-DJ-Funkatronic on Fri, 13th Mar 2009 2:00 am


< ![CDATA[I must be honest and say how much of a tit I feel after signing to talk talk.
Firstly I like to point out that all the customer services people LIE!
I asked about P2P and Gaming and was assured I'd be able to do both.
After we were connected I found our line would constantly drop, the P2P, BitTorrent, would not connect and using xbox 360 online was damn near impossible.
I continued to call the customer services which may i add - took 1hr 30mins on hold - every time i rang them, yet when I called to sign up, it rang for 3 seconds.
Then I was given 8 different numbers to call thier service engineers and so on.
As if I should be chasing these B*&#38;*&#38;T$£DS!
Then I was told if an engineer came out, checked my line, found no fault but a fault with a device in my house, ie Router, TV, Sky, Microwave etc, I would be charged.
Anyway... A few months on now and I found many ways to improve Talk Talk Internet... 1) Don't install the Talk Talk Router Software! Just run it direct to your PC via cable! 2) Run Google searches on how to Improve Router settings and Ports and follow instructions!
3) When your Talk Talk contract runs out.... Tell Em' Where to stick it!
Sorry for the rant but I need to get it off my chest!
Thanks Talk Talk! May you Rest in Pieces!]]>