Talk Talk Broadband - they won't stop billing me!

[Andy999]

Hi,

 

Wonder if anyone can help? I used to get my Broadband from TalkTalk. I tried to cancel it earlier this year, and after two months of being lied to by their call centre, and my emails being ignored, I finally got my MAC code and migrated my Broadband to a new ISP. They took over providing my service on 10/07/2006. I cancelled my Direct Debit around this date so Talk Talk couldn't take any more money from my bank account.

 

Shortly after, I recieved a letter from The Carphone Warehouse saying I owed some money, and threatening me with all kind of nasty things if I didn't pay within four days. I thought this was for the period between my last payment being made and the new ISP taking over, so I paid it.

 

I have today realised, whilst checking emails, that they have continued to bill me and I apparantly now owe about £65. I phoned today and was advised by the Indian call centre to "ignore these bills". He told me he would get his manager to investigate and call me back although, based on past experience, I don't believe this will happen.

 

I have now more carefully checked my bills and realised I actually over-paid by about £12. I have emailed asking for a refund, confirmation that the outstanding bills are void, and confirmation that they have not and will not report any late payments to the Credit Reference Agencies.

 

Any ideas/advice about anything else I can do to get these stupid clowns off my back?

 

PS - it goes without saying - I wouldn't recomment this service to my worse enemy!

[tom3131]

Hi,

 

Wonder if anyone can help? I used to get my Broadband from TalkTalk. I tried to cancel it earlier this year, and after two months of being lied to by their call centre, and my emails being ignored, I finally got my MAC code and migrated my Broadband to a new ISP. They took over providing my service on 10/07/2006. I cancelled my Direct Debit around this date so Talk Talk couldn't take any more money from my bank account.

 

Shortly after, I recieved a letter from The Carphone Warehouse saying I owed some money, and threatening me with all kind of nasty things if I didn't pay within four days. I thought this was for the period between my last payment being made and the new ISP taking over, so I paid it.

 

I have today realised, whilst checking emails, that they have continued to bill me and I apparantly now owe about £65. I phoned today and was advised by the Indian call centre to "ignore these bills". He told me he would get his manager to investigate and call me back although, based on past experience, I don't believe this will happen.

 

I have now more carefully checked my bills and realised I actually over-paid by about £12. I have emailed asking for a refund, confirmation that the outstanding bills are void, and confirmation that they have not and will not report any late payments to the Credit Reference Agencies.

 

Any ideas/advice about anything else I can do to get these stupid clowns off my back?

 

PS - it goes without saying - I wouldn't recomment this service to my worse enemy!

 

I've heard so many bad things about TalkTalk and their owner, CarPhoneWarehouse.

Your doing all the right things already mate.

Although I heard that you shouldnt cancel the DD's but to be honest I totally disagree, if they want more money from you, let them take you to court.

Are you overley worried about the £12? If not, I'd reccomend you ignore the whole issue until you get a court summons etc. If the £12 is quite important to you then keep demanding it back, but with all the postage costs and all the effort etc. I'd reccomend being glad you've got out of the TalkTalk nightmare earlier.

If they add a default to your Credit Reference, then contact them and demand they remove it immediatly or face legal action.

Anything else?

 

Regards,

Tom3131.

[Thailand]

I totally agree with Tom. Please bear in mind that I don't worry about my credit rating these days, but I doubt they will even stump up the fee to take you to court. Please don't forget you are dealing with a joke of a company that didn't learn to walk before it could run, it just wanted rapid fire market share. My contact at TT via CPW would probably resolve this matter in a blink of an eye if you want it, P.

[Andy999]

To be honest, the £12 doesn't bother me, except that if they're going to try and bully me into paying money I don't even owe, then they can bloody well pay back every penny that they owe me.

 

I have looked elsewhere and seen that certain people in similar situations have recieved a court summons. Whilst I really don't want the hassle, I'd love to see a judge telling them to get lost...

[HaleeFactsVictim]

I have signed up for the TalkTalk and was told to wait two months. I never got it so I transferred my land line account back to BT who dealt with everything. Now TalkTalk is constantly sending me bills saying I owe them £47.32 and I never once used their phone line. When I contacted them I was told that it's charges for my line rental and all of that even though I never even got the broadband they still charged me for it.

 

Now I have gotten a Bailiffs letter and I am angry and scared as I am useless when it comes to the ins and outs of the system when it comes to Bailifs.

 

Halifax is a whole other story. Every month I got payed they took my salary to pay off their bank charges and even tho I came out of my overdraft they dragged me right back in with charges, they stopped paying most of my direct debits thereby making me incur further debt and never once called me to say a thing or write to me. I just kept getting the standard letter saying we weren't able to pay your bill this month. But I never worried as most of my bills were like £20.00 and I work two jobs to pay them all. Anyways long story short, I am in debt to my landlord to £1,500.00 due to Halifax not paying several weeks of my rent even though I have a weekly salary and one monthly one coming in and not to mention a Standing Order for them to pay my rent every Friday.

 

One CS at the bank said to me that their Bank Charges took precedence over my bills so for three months they were absorbing my entire monthly salary thereby leaving my account empty so that when bills were due there was no cash in the account. Twisted vicious circle. I am going to be evicted and I never have enough money to travel, or eat (I live on toast and oats).

 

So depressed I just wanted to give up. Then I googled and I discovered this site. I have sent the first letter and recieved a standard letter saying they are sorry to hear that I was not happy with my charges. Then I sent them the PreLim letter and I called before that asking for my Schedule of Charges and they sent me the Investors gibberish. I called them back and was told by one Customer Service Rep that she does not know why they would have sent that to me, but to this day still nothing. Hence the PreLim letter went out last week.

 

I have added up the bank charges and it's running to £3900.00 in bank charges and approx. £400.00 in overdraft charges and counting.

 

Wish me luck I am so flustered I dont know what to do.

[Stopthethieves]

Good luck!

 

I believe that there are legal things that you can use to force the bank to pay your essential bills first!

 

Regards

[luddite]

Just a thought, if you wait until after you have the claim settled and the money is in your hands. Then go and see a solicitor and ask about claiming for damages, distress and what ever else he/she might think of. You can get a free consultation with them to find out if they think you have a good case.

 

Looking at the problems you have had it could be worth a visit and you can't loose anything.

 

I'm not in the legal profession, but I think you may have a case, only they can tell you if you do.

 

All the best.

[highland_lad]

Andy999, I have the exact problem as you! Been happening since April. I also had the telephone services with them which was cancelled when I got a ADSL MAC Code but I still get billed for it. I used to phone them all the time and they said it will be sorted and send my a payment of £14, it never got sorted. I dont even bother phoning them any longer because its just a total joke. I sent 2 Registered letters to them, they replied to the first one saying they are really sorry for the bother and have cancelled the account and all services and also sending £14 to me, they never! Still get letters and no refund. So sent another letter giving them 14 days to sort it out but they never.

 

I have contacted OTELO who have now taken on my case, hopefully I will hear from them soon because I am still getting letters from talktalk!

 

Maybe you should also contact otelo?

 

www.otelo.org.uk

[Justice_Seeker]

I ordered Talk Talk broadband in July '06, when it got to February 07 and I still had'nt been connected I began to get realy frustrated, everytime I called them they said I would go live within the next 24-48 hours, this never happened and in the end I told them to forget it and cancelled it.

4 Days later my broadband went live, it was on for 5 days then it went off, I called them up and they said it had been cancelled but said they could switch it back on if I wished, I agreed thinking this would be better than having to wait a few weeks to get connected to a new ISP. 2 days later my broadband came back on. It was on for a further 5 days before it went down again, I called customer services and they said I needed to call Tehnical support which I did, they had me doing all kinds of things to my pc but to no avail, eventually they said I needed to speak to level 2 technical support as they could'nt sort out the problem. I was told I would recieve a call back from them within 48Hrs but alas this call never came, I spent another 5 days tring to find out what the problem was, eventually I was told that my broadband had been cancelled(Why customer services could'nt have told me this from day 1 remains a mystery) So I thought ok then i'll wash my hands of talk talk and go to a new ISP. The problem Im having now is Talk Talk keep billing me for broadband I dont have, I've spoken to them and explained what hapened and they seem to understand but the bills kept coming, I've now recieved a letter from a debt collection company for the outsatanding balance. Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

[luddite]

I ordered Talk Talk broadband in July '06, when it got to February 07 and I still had'nt been connected I began to get realy frustrated, everytime I called them they said I would go live within the next 24-48 hours, this never happened and in the end I told them to forget it and cancelled it.

 

 

First of all contact the collections agency and say that you are in dispute with TalkTalk. Next ring Otelo and tell them what is going on, they are very helpful and will go through a complaints form with you.

 

Next go to another provider, I have heard the Virgin are good, I'm not with them so no axe to grind, then ask TalkTalk to give you your Migration Access Code) they have to to this within 7 days. Give this to you new ISP.

 

Write a letter to Charles Dunstone at TalkTalk and send it recorded telling him the whole story. You will not get a reply but you will have that on record to say you have tried to contact TalkTalk.

 

Make sure you have dates, times and details, if you can remember them, of calles to TalkTalk. Otelo will need these as they go into the complaint.

 

Phone customer services at TalkTalk and tell them that you will not be paying the bills as they did not provide you with a service and that they are in breach of contract.

 

Follow this up with a letter to the same people and state clearly what you said over the phone, and also add the you will be contacting Trading Standards. You could do that if it make you feel better, but if what you have said is acurate then TalkTalk don't have a leg to stand on.

 

All the best,

[TalkTalkBoy]

Is this issue now resovled ?

 

If you want to PM me your account number (nothing personal please) i dont mind taking a quick look at this one for you.

 

Regards,

 

TTBoy

[luddite]

Hi, After waiting for a while for a reply from Dunstone, which never arrived Otelo wrote to him and he failed to reply. So they found in my favor, and I was given my MAC, no fees or disconection fees were paid, and switched away from TalkTalk. I would never ever buy anything that Dunstone has a hand in.

[kamadhenu]

I am a 68-yr-old retiree, twice survived a heart attack and am also a victim of TalkTalk; they gave false assurances and poached me from BT/AOL but could not give me BB even after furnishing the MAC code twice; their call centres are useless as they read from the same script - always anonymous Tim, Tom, Sam or Debbies and totally unhelpful. (Apparently that's the new way of doing business, according to an American evangelist who has set up call centres in India and become internet multi-millionnaire - never give surnames). Any way, I closed my account and cancelled direct debit mandate and, as BT wanted a hefty reconnection charge, I gave up the number I had for nearly 30 years and moved to Cable (VirginMedia). Talk Talk still kept on printing bills and are threatening to send debt collectors. I am now in the process of sueing them for damages. I find the court staff extremely helpful and understanding.

TalkTalk is perhaps the worst telephone bucketshop there is in our virtually unregulated telecoms market. They have been given extraordinary privileges and draconian powers and authority to operate premium numbers [problem]. Instead of being grateful for the privilege of poaching BT customers by false assurances and rewarding them, they punish them and trap them into longterm contracts. They are the first to breach the contract, yet people, being normally law-abiding and fearful of bullies, are afraid of challenging them. I hope I will survive long enough to see them in an English court and request the judge to award exemplary damages.

[kamadhenu]

TalkTalk are touting in shopping centres saying 'They are a new company now' (I think following 'New Labour'). They are a vicious shower of bullies who know there are a lot of gullible people whom they can milk.

[kamadhenu]

This is good advice. I have been a juror and have seen how the courts are principally concerned with determining who's honest and not who knows legalese better. Also, look in http://www.moneyclaimonline.gov.uk, provided by the Government with the laudable intention of making law more accessible to the public.

[luddite]

I have said this once before but here it is again, with a litle bit extra added.

 

Ring Otelo (they are an Ombudsman Service for public communication providers (PCP) and their customers, telephone number 0845 050 1614 regional number01925 430 049). Tell them what is going on, they are very helpful and will go through a complaints form with you.

 

Next go to another provider, then ask TalkTalk to give you your (MAC)Migration Access Code they have to to this within 7 days. Give this to you new ISP.

 

Write a letter to Charles Dunstone at TalkTalk and send it recorded telling him the whole story. You will not get a reply but you will have that on record to say you have tried to contact TalkTalk.

 

(Do the same to TalkTalk's main address)

 

Make sure you have dates, times and details, if you can remember them, of calls to TalkTalk. Otelo will need these as they go into the complaint.

 

Phone customer services at TalkTalk and tell them that you will not be paying the bills as they did not provide you with a service and that they are in breach of contract.

 

Follow this up with a letter to the same people and state clearly what you said over the phone, and also add the you will be contacting Trading Standards. You could do that if it makes you feel better, but if what you have said is acurate then TalkTalk don't have a leg to stand on.

 

Please don't throw good money after bad and take them to court. They don't reply to the industry Ombudsman's letters, so I don't think you will get anything in court. In all probability they won't turn up and plead via a letter. You may get costs, but getting TalkTalk to pay will cost you a fortune. Just think of it as another lesson on lifes highway.

 

I did all this and I got my MAC and I moved, best of all no more letters, bills and aggravation from TalkTalk.

 

TalkTalk keep on breaking the rules and people keep on taking out contracts with them. It's a shame they don't read these pages and find out what a shower of carp this company is.

 

All the very best.

[kamadhenu]

TalkTalk were never able to give me Broadband even though I twice gave them MAC numbers (from AOL) and agreed on the phone that if still can't give BB then they should close the whole account and revert me back to BT. When I rang BT they wanted to take revenge and wanted a hefty reconnection charge. So I gave up the whole thing and went to cable, changing my phone number after 30 years! Think of the hassle and inconvenience. When they continued billing me and threatening me I started the court action. See http://www.moneyclaimonline.gov.uk which the Government has set up with the laudable intention of bringing law closer to ordinary citizens.

By the way Kamadhenu is the name of a mythical cow which you can milk to get all your desires fulfilled and achieve immortality, just like TalkTalk's billing computer!

[borisbeaver]

I have just switched from BT to Talk Talk. The switch happened when they said it would and with the amount of unavailability they said it would.

 

Let's see if they have changed.

 

By the way, they have partnered up with AOL for their broadband.

 

I'm going to be saving £40 a month if it all works.

[kamadhenu]

Best of luck to you forever. I was with AOL and TalkTalk couldn't make it free as and couldn't migrate me to TalkTaalk even after I gave them the MAC code twice! Looks like TalkTalk have selected preferred customers, So good luck to you! They probably also give you modified, extra-charged prefix dialled international call plan also, together with the welcome penalty of £29.99 which is an additional bargain.

[borisbeaver]

It's interesting to note that I was not required to get a MAC code as the TalkTalk uses different technology.

[kamadhenu]

Yes. It's even more interesting why they asked me twice to get the MAC code! I also saw on BBC4 - Visions of the Future programme that there are parallel worlds and just about now I am finishing reading an article how leopards get their spots and zebras get their stripes; maybe some times they change them too!

[luddite]

Best of luck Boris. The last company I would deal with, for BB or mobile phones, would be a Dunstone company.

 

You may think that you will save money but going by the way they treat customers both old and new I think that you are making a mistake.

 

Please let us know how you are getting on.

[kamadhenu]

Latest news. Carphone Warehouse were featured on Watchdog and there's a BBC News Video which is well worth watching. They have the most hidden charges for their phone customers that they are effectively paying Broadband charges for everybody so that CPW can advertise that they can give BB free (which other more honest ISPs have to charge for) although the Advertising Standards Agency have reprimanded them.

[kamadhenu]

I also found out recently that the Direct Debit Guarantee is not what it is made to sound like. Instead it also seems to have as much devious small print as the infamous Carphone Warehouse literature! Therefore take care! As foe ebilling, it should be made illegal.

[capengando]

They did the same to me.....until I started recording the Indian call centre promising they would amend the mistakes and cancel the bills! Of course they kept sending stuff but they got a little scared when I said that I have recorded all the calls (about 20) and would take them to court for lying, deceiving and trying to steal my money!

They gave up but it was very stressful!

Let's keep fighting and mybe one day this companies will think twice before trying to rip off customers!