Hi all, Sad (but happy!) to be back on the CAG - as it means another legal issue.

For my sins I took out a contract for fibre with TalkTalk a few months ago. Previously I was with BT directly and never had problems. Once the switch was done to TalkTalk it was dire and never worked fully since - dropping connection, slow speed, awful CS, and so on. I initiated a complaint with them internally and they gave themselves 28 days to fix it; over a month later it still isn't fully fixed so I have given up with them.

I have written several letters and CC'd them to the CEO but just get boilerplate letters back. All I want to do is leave and move to another provider. TalkTalk have relented here but are saying they are owed the rest of the contracted amount - £300 odd!

I am concerned cancelling the Direct Debit will mess up my credit history so I am minded to let them take the funds out, then go to MCOL to recover the funds + minor costs that way via 1982 Supply of Goods and Services Act and their failure to follow.

OFCOM refer me to some pointless and drawn-out "alternative complaints procedure" but frankly I have wasted enough time on this petty issue and just want to move on. My question is, given that TT have failed to fix the issue despite being notified within a lengthy timeframe, can I go directly to MCOL and recover costs that way, or will MCOL look down on me for not following OFCOM's useless alternate resolution garbage?

you would need to comply with the new

PAP rules

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?481827-The-Pre-Action-Protocol-for-Debt-Claims-is-made-by-the-Master-of-the-Rolls-as-Head-of-Civil-Justice.-1st-Oct-2017

however upon your initial question also..

8. Subject to the above, should the alleged amount claimed include an early termination charge(s) amounting to the total balance of the remaining contract, OFCOM guidance clearly states that any Early Termination Charge, that is made up of the entire balance of the remaining contract, is unlikely to be fair, as it fails to take into account the fact that the provider no longer has to provide and pay for their service.

Thanks. Just to clarify I am an individual and registered with TalkTalk as such:

"The PAP will apply to any business (including sole traders and public bodies) claiming payment of a debt from an individual"

Hi

Regarding the slow speed and drop outs. Have you run tests at certain times a day to make sure it isn't traffic management in operation. This is where an ISP slows down certain parts of the network so that others can use the internet at busy times.

If the download speeds are significantly lower than expected or even promised then you should be able to leave with no penalty.

Talk Talk are members of the voluntary Broadband Speed Code (residential)

http://tinyurl.com/y8kf66wg

Have a read and see if it applies in your case.

Hi,

Thanks for replying. I don't think I have been fully clear so let me clarify the entire situation with you all, and see what conclusion you come to.

1. Joined TalkTalk 2 months ago, immediately was getting 0.7MB/s rather than the promised 15MB/s+. Previously was with BT, same phone jack, same equipment, same everything except the ISP where I was getting 25MB/s. I was also getting dropouts between 7pm and 10pm every day, i.e. no internet at all.

2. Reported this to TalkTalk. Firstly they blamed it on line attenuation and settling down, and all this nonsense.

3. A few weeks passed and I kept getting passed off, until I made a complaint with them and asked to leave. They then set up some meaningless "internal complaints procedure" and gave themselves 28 days to fix the issue. I was 1 day outside the "cooling off period" , sods law. They said I'd need to pay the £300+ to get out the contract or wait 28 days for them to fix the problem.

4. During those 28 days I was lied to and cursed at repeatedly. I always remain calm on the phone, but they really tried me. One of the most memorable moments was when I was waiting for an Openreach engineer who failed to turn up, I was told he was "late", then "lost", then "sent to another address by accident" - smelling a rat I rang Openreach and pretended to be from TalkTalk, it turns out there was 'no fault reported'.

5. At this point I had given up, it wasn't worth the stress, and sent them a letter to their Head Office and MD saying I want to be relieved from the contract immediately without penalty or charge. I got back some general letter.

6. I then sent a Letter Before Action, telling them they had failed to provide services and I would not hesitate to initiate a claim if they did not agree to terminate. Didn't hear anything, although yesterday I got a phonecall from them stating they were cancelling my contract but I had to ring them after I had changed over to another provider. Of course this likely a ruse for them to take out the £300. So I suspect I will be taking them to MCOL after all.

Thanks for that explanation. One question if I may. Where did you get a number for BT Openreach? As far as I knew, they made no contact details available for anyone.

You have two choices to make.

1 Sign up with another company and take the risk they will not chase you for the £300

2 Pay the £300 then sue them for it back in the county courts.

Personally, I would sign up to another company and not pay, Follow the complaints process then go to the Telecoms Ombudsman. The drawback is that Talk Talk will likely file a default for breach of contract even though it seems it is their fault. This can be challenged.

You have the slow speed and the drop outs (these will be caused by the slow speeds) so they should have let you terminate with no penalty.

I actually got the number from TalkTalk! I didn't ask for it, she gave it out. I had to Google what the questions they were asking were, as they were asking things like Press 1 for 21 CN, press 2 for Fixed subscriber (or something like that). It took about 5 goes of hanging up when I got one wrong.

If you want it I can dig it out, although I did Google the number at the time and it seemed to be quite widely known.

The disconnection / changeover day is today so I will see what happens and update this thread.