TalkTalk are holding me to ransom...........................

[newbie]

Sorry but this is a very long story

I made the worse decision of my life when I agreed to take Talk Talk broadband. I am already a customer of theirs as I pay for my phone calls through them. But I noticed that their call charges were beginning to creep up dramatically. So when they rang to offer me various cut price plans including broadband I agreed. Later on that evening after checking out various forums it became apparent that Talk Talk just do not have a good reputation. So less than 24 hours after agreeing I cancelled. That is where the problems began. Over the next couple of months they sent out welcome letters, a welcome pack, they informed BT that they were taking over the line rental, they sent a modem (which I immediately returned unopened. They then sent me a bill for the modem, connection fee and new plan fee. I cancelled my direct debit and sent them a cheque for the call charges including the VAT with a letter explaining why. I decided I would move to BT call anytime plan and as far as I was concerned end of matter. No! Talk Talk kept ringing me to say there was an outstanding balance and I had to keep explaining the situation. Then last Friday when I went to make an outside call I got an automated message to say that Talk Talk had put a restriction on my line until I had paid the outstanding balance. I can receive calls but not make them. Literally hundreds of increasingly frustrating phone calls later I had 4 separate promises that the account had been cleared and the restriction would be lifted wthin 24 hours. This has not happened. All they keep saying to me is that there is not a restriction on the line and there must be a fault. I have queued for over 2.5 hours trying to get through to technical support - it is impossible.

Please please help someone before I have a heart attack due to frustration and irritation.

[Ice.Maiden]

Contact Oftel. You can Google means of contacting them.

[salb]

Hi! Deepest commiserations! A friend of mine had a prob with Talk Talk very recently which meant that a 96 year old was without her emergency alarm for ~3 weeks with nothing but broken promises and silence. They got in touch with OFCOM and the problem was rectified almost immediately. Have you tried that: www.ofcom.org.uk

[tigwig]

I can only agree with the above answers but can fully sympathise. I had horrendous problems with them too and just thinking about it makes my blood boil! Thankfully my problems are now history but I would never go near a Carphone Warehouse store or have anything to do with them again!

[newbie]

I telephoned Ofcom this afternoon and they are going to email them and give 5 days to sort it out. But I have no faith and I am truly at a loss to see how I can get myself out of this situation given that Talk Talk themselves admit that they don't know either!

[roseycheeks]

hi there i am a talk talk customer and although internet access is quick, i was away on holiday and came back to a restricted phone line after calling talk talk i was told a bill was outstanding and i had to pay it i couldnt understand why as it had left my direct debit account and here they were demanding urgent payment for something id already paid for they said they didnt receive it and i had to pay it i said im not paying it and moving to BT they took the restriction off my line and i am now in the process of moving to BT. I understand you problem and hope all this gets rectified soon regards,

[newbie]

Just to give an update. Talk Talk applied a �70 cancellation fee to my account for moving to BT and breaking a contract I never took up! After several heated words with them they agreed that perhaps I should be credited and they also admitted they had the modem back. After a week of being unable to make a call I went to check if by some miracle they had cleared the line only to get a different message saying 'you are not registered to use this service'! It seems TalkTalk have abandoned me. HOORAY! Just spoke to BT who inform me that it will take 11 days before they can take over as TalkTalk have only just notified them. Why it takes 11 days to flick a virtual switch is beyond me but the end of a stressful situation seems to be in sight. I am however going to write individually to all the directors of Talk Talk and acquaint them with how rubbish their company is! They will probably take no notice but it will make me feel better.