Complaint against Tiscali

[gemmabe]

Hi all
I would appreciate some advice on this matter.

I have been with Tiscali Broadband since August 2007, firstly with a consumer account. I work from home as a contractor for 2 companies. My job is based solely on the Internet. The second company I joined (In August) required me to have a static IP address. Tiscali would not provide this to me on a consumer account, so I had to upgrade to Business Broadband at an extra cost to me. Ever since then I have had nothing but trouble. I will try and summarise this as best I can.

Firstly, I was suffering from an intermittent connection immediately on moving to Business Broadband. After several calls to an 0870 number in India they eventually identified a line problem with BT, although they were previously adamant that the problem was with my hardware. I had tried different modems, filters, etc. and was still suffering the same issue, so knew this was not the case. India did not listen. Anyway, after the problem was sorted by BT, I had a normal connection for approximately 3 days.

Then started the next issue. I was suddenly only able to view certain websites! Not good for accessing the webpages I needed to do my job through! I was told that a server was down but this problem was now fixed. It was not.

Tiscali tracked down the problem to an issue with my static IP address. They mentioned something about it being duplicated. I have been given several different static IPs and each time, the same problem occurred.
I finally spoke to someone honest yesterday in India, who admitted that this is an ongoing issue that they cannot solve. What is happening is that their system is so rubbish! that each time they assign me an IP address, someone else will soon have that same address, causing me to suffer an intermittent connection. For several weeks now, the connection has been cutting out EVERY FEW MINUTES, so you can imagine the effect this is having on my jobs, not to mention my stress hormones!

Honest Man in India, yesterday finally offered me a MAC code which is on its way to me so I can transfer my account to a more competent provider and continue my work in peace. HOWEVER, I am so angry at this whole issue, and wish to complain about the following:

-Tiscali's inability to track down the problem
-Tiscali's dishonesty
-On a number of occasions being promised a call back that never came
-Why Tiscali are still advertising and providing static IPs to other people
-The length of time this issue has been ongoing
-Why when I upgraded my package and paid more money, was I only able to ring Tech Support Monday to Friday 8-8 (previously 24/7 on my cheaper package!)
-The incompetence shown by Tiscali Technical Support
-The amount of money it has cost me
-The risk this has caused to my jobs
-The amount of stress this has caused me
-The measly £10 compensation I was offered!
-Why on a number of occasions Tiscali attempted to call me, did they fail to leave messages
-Why Technical Support transferred me back to a static IP address without my permission nor even notifying me!
-Why I have had no response from their complaints department for weeks
-Why it has taken this long to offer me a MAC code when it was known to them they could not solve the problem

I am sure there is more but that is all I can think of for now lol. As I write this I am typing it offline in Wordpad as my connection won't hold longer than a few minutes today, even though I am currently back on a dynamic IP! It is beyond a joke now. I have been in tears over this on a number of occasions as I have lost so much money and have been in fear of losing my jobs. I would have done if my employers had not been so understanding.

I have complained to Tiscali officially through their internal procedures but they have failed to resolve my issues so it is now my intention to file a complaint with the CISAS (Communications & Internet Services Adjudication Scheme). They state I can claim up to £5000 in losses I can prove I have suffered. What I need to know is what I can reasonably claim. I intend to recoup all monies paid to Tiscali for their "services" but I also wish to claim compensation for loss of earnings, stess, etc.

Sorry this is so long-winded, and undoubtedly ill-written! I have just about had enough today

I thank you in advance for any help and advice you are able to provide.
Gemma

[adagioofwight]

Have you looked at ISPA - Home ? A claim in the County Court for losses incurred may be possible. You would need to check Tiscali's T&Cs for exclusions. Unfortunately you may not be classed as a consumer contract and hence it is possible that you cannot claim unfair terms if they have excluded consequential loss.

It will only cost a postage stamp (recorded delivery) to send your complaints in writing together with a claim for your losses to Tiscali. Named senior executive if you can.

Hope this is of some help.

[grizzleguts]

On the connection problem, it sounds similar to mine, that I had a couple of years ago.
Each address is supplied with 4 units of gain, these units are used as per follows, the house phone uses 1, each internet connection uses 1, each extra phone counts as 1, and interactive t.V counts as 2.
So if you have 2 phones, 1 internet connect, and interactive digital T.V, this would count as 5 units of gain, the result is unstable connections.
The remidy is as follows, phone BT, explain that you have had the line checked by BT, all clear, you have had your P.C hardware and software checked, all is fine, all the internet connections are up and running with no faults or restrictions, tell BT, you have been told that you may have too many connections for the signal gain, and could BT increase the gain by 1 unit.
When I did this BT told me it would take 24 to 48 hours for this to happen, after a couple of days had no connection problems again.
As with the other situation, check out the Sale of goods act in the statute library, If you was not receiving the advertised or service you had agreed or paid for, then you have every right to cancel the contract, write a letter stating this fact with the relevant section of the Statute law explained, and send it recorded or special delivery.