TalkTalk sneaky door to door patter

[nikontomh]

My first post! Just a little warning on some sneaky sales tatics door to door TalkTalk sales people are using. I have now had 2 seperate salesman knocking on my door with the same patter about 6 weeks apart.

They say hi they are from a local initiative checking to see that we have got free the free braodband we are entilted to now the exchange has been upgraded. I live in clackmannanshire which has a wimax scheme in progress so initially thought that this was what he was on about.

I asked him in and then he started asking about my current BB and what speeds i get, then he asked to call a freephone number to do a line check, thats when it started to dawn on me that this is not quite right.

 

He then procedded to tell me i could get 40mb BB for free as he had now checked the line, i know that this is not possible as i am very computer savvy and know the max speed where i live is 4.5mb as we are more than 4km from the exchange. i then asked what compnay he was from and promptly kicked him out.

 

I then got another salesman try the same tactic and i told to get to **** as we say up here. phoning talktalk to complain was a waste of time so have decided the next time i get one of them trying the tactic i will call the local cop shop and report them as bogus callers.

 

I am lucky that i have a bit of knowledge and easily spotted the [problem] but im sure many others wouldnt.

[locutus]

Is FTTC installed at your exchange? If so it may not have been a lie.check https://sales.talktalk.co.uk/products/broadband/fibre-optic/check/

[Colonel-Bogie]

This post has come to late for me as i have just (nov 1st) changed over to them. They have blatently lied to me about what speeds i would get promised 12.1 and getting between 1.5 and 2 .6 also told that the exchange had been improved so the speed would be what they said!! My last BB supplier (sky) wasn't very good but better than i'm getting now as talk talk is so damn slow. Would I have a case for them breaking the contract so i can try and get a dfferent BB supplier without having to pay to get out of it!!

[kurvaface]

This post has come to late for me as i have just (nov 1st) changed over to them. They have blatently lied to me about what speeds i would get promised 12.1 and getting between 1.5 and 2 .6 also told that the exchange had been improved so the speed would be what they said!! My last BB supplier (sky) wasn't very good but better than i'm getting now as talk talk is so damn slow. Would I have a case for them breaking the contract so i can try and get a dfferent BB supplier without having to pay to get out of it!!

 

You can cancel your contract under the Misrepresentation ACT 1967. I suggest you write to their UK head office recorded delivery, giving them 14 days to refund any money paid as the contract you have with them is based on the information (Not internet speed, but information regarding the upgrade of ther exchange) given to you by the sales rep.

 

 

With regard to op. Ring Trading Standards on 08454 040506 and report this information. Their activity is clearly not compliant with the Consumer Protection From Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. CPUT 2008 .

 

[locutus]

IF fibre optic has just been installed in that area, the sales reps may have been telling the truth. Once an exchange is upgraded they do canvas that area pretty heavily.

[Colonel-Bogie]

Fiber Optic will not be available untill 2012!! and then im not sure it will be where i live as we are out in the sticks!!

[locutus]

Was posting that towards the original poster. There is a TalkTalk representative that may pop along and may beable to enlighten you both.

 

Colonel, have you tried their member forum? I find that quite a helpful place...

[Guest TalkTalk Offical Company Rep]

HI All,

 

As Locutus has correctly advised if FTTC is avaialbe upto 40 MB speeds may be acheivable. This wouldnt however be free Broadbnad as this requires a £10 boost in addition to the TalkTlak Call Plan (which is inclusive of BB upto 24mb).

 

 

@nikontomh - if you join the members forum or tweet us @talktalkcare we can look into this in more depth. It may well be that FTTC is avaialbe in your area therefore 40mb is available, we need to confirm which exchange you are on to advise further.

 

@Colonel-Bogie - It sounds as if you are not in an FTTC area and were quoted a estimated speed of 12mb based on the upt24mb service. If your not acheiving anywhere near the estimated speed it usually indicates there is a fault condition on the line. If you join the Members Forum or Tweet us @TalkTalkCare we can look into this for you. Alternatively can you confirm fi you ahve an phone issues such as noise or interference??

 

 

Regards

 

Mark

TalkTalk Online Community Department

[Colonel-Bogie]

Wheres the members forum any link!!

[locutus]

http://www.talktalkmembers.com/forums/index.php

[nikontomh]

HI All,

 

As Locutus has correctly advised if FTTC is avaialbe upto 40 MB speeds may be acheivable. This wouldnt however be free Broadbnad as this requires a £10 boost in addition to the TalkTlak Call Plan (which is inclusive of BB upto 24mb).

 

 

@nikontomh - if you join the members forum or tweet us @talktalkcare we can look into this in more depth. It may well be that FTTC is avaialbe in your area therefore 40mb is available, we need to confirm which exchange you are on to advise further.

 

@Colonel-Bogie - It sounds as if you are not in an FTTC area and were quoted a estimated speed of 12mb based on the upt24mb service. If your not acheiving anywhere near the estimated speed it usually indicates there is a fault condition on the line. If you join the Members Forum or Tweet us @TalkTalkCare we can look into this for you. Alternatively can you confirm fi you ahve an phone issues such as noise or interference??

 

 

Regards

 

Mark

TalkTalk Online Community Department

 

Fibre is not available in my area, like i said in my orginal post i am very PC savvy (i am a designer and a photographer) and have looked into all the options available where i live, fibre is not scheduled here for at least 5 years. As for "upto speeds" there is not a single company that will quote me more than "upto 4mb" as although the exchange is LLU we are more than 4km from it. Even if we could get faster speeds then as you pointed out - it still would not be free"

 

The sales tactic to get into peoples homes is shocking and i wanted to point it out to other people who may not be as switched on as i am, if this happening because of "contracted out" "self employed" sales teams then its not doing TalkTalk as a company any favours!

[kurvaface]

It's not just the door to door teams. Since this thread went up, I've checked my own speed: 7.7mbps. I've checked on various online tests including uswitch, which interestingly said that talk talk was the quickest in my area and measured my current speed at around 5.7mbps.

 

Having just phoned talk talk sales (Amazing how quick they answer the phone on the sales line) they said I could get 20mbps no questions. BT have told me my exchange only allows 8 mbps. What's going on here?

 

And in all honesty, forgetting the lies, can the average consumer really distinguish between an 8mbps service and a 20mbps service?

[nikontomh]

the average consumer cant tell the difference, for most people i dont think they use anywhere near the speed they get. for example my parents have cable broadband with an average speed of about 42mbps which they use for email and ebay and once a week for iplayer. i get on average about 4.2mbps, i would love a faster speed as i use the internet for about 8hrs per day for work and research, although i have a reasonable upload speed of about 1.2mbps. I live in Clackmannanshire which has LLu exchanges which offer speed upto 20mb - if you live near the exchange! once you start moving out into the villages and further out of town the speeds soon drop off to 2mb and 3mb this is why the council are working on a Wimax system for the whole of the county to offer upto 20mb via a wireless system for business and homes, they hope to have it running by 2012.

 

I think that broadband companies need to look outside of the centre of big cities and start fibre rollouts in areas that are not round the corner from thier HQ,

 

take Greenock for instance - superfast 100mbps fibre broadband - this is a coastal town a long way from glasgow and not very big population wise, most of glasgow cant claim to have 100mbps and some of glasgow dosent even have fibre. So they are reaching out to rural areas? erm NO , thats where Amazon have a huge warehouse so to fulfill Amazons requirements they also managed to offer superfast service to householders.

 

Until companies start telling the truth about speeds and service consumers will go with whoever is the cheapest and appears to offer a reasonbale service. Which is one of the problems, as consumers we need to stand up and say NO im not having second best.

[locutus]

It's not just the door to door teams. Since this thread went up, I've checked my own speed: 7.7mbps. I've checked on various online tests including uswitch, which interestingly said that talk talk was the quickest in my area and measured my current speed at around 5.7mbps.

 

Having just phoned talk talk sales (Amazing how quick they answer the phone on the sales line) they said I could get 20mbps no questions. BT have told me my exchange only allows 8 mbps. What's going on here?

 

And in all honesty, forgetting the lies, can the average consumer really distinguish between an 8mbps service and a 20mbps service?

 

TalkTalk have their own equipment in the exchange, they are dependant on BT lines to the exchange, then they "unbundle" you from the BT network and connect you to their exchange. If you are with TalkTalk currently, try the link I posted above and ask if they have a faster service on your area, they do go faster than 8 meg on their equipment.

 

the average consumer cant tell the difference, for most people i dont think they use anywhere near the speed they get. for example my parents have cable broadband with an average speed of about 42mbps which they use for email and ebay and once a week for iplayer. i get on average about 4.2mbps, i would love a faster speed as i use the internet for about 8hrs per day for work and research, although i have a reasonable upload speed of about 1.2mbps. I live in Clackmannanshire which has LLu exchanges which offer speed upto 20mb - if you live near the exchange! once you start moving out into the villages and further out of town the speeds soon drop off to 2mb and 3mb this is why the council are working on a Wimax system for the whole of the county to offer upto 20mb via a wireless system for business and homes, they hope to have it running by 2012.

 

I think that broadband companies need to look outside of the centre of big cities and start fibre rollouts in areas that are not round the corner from thier HQ,

 

take Greenock for instance - superfast 100mbps fibre broadband - this is a coastal town a long way from glasgow and not very big population wise, most of glasgow cant claim to have 100mbps and some of glasgow dosent even have fibre. So they are reaching out to rural areas? erm NO , thats where Amazon have a huge warehouse so to fulfill Amazons requirements they also managed to offer superfast service to householders.

 

Until companies start telling the truth about speeds and service consumers will go with whoever is the cheapest and appears to offer a reasonbale service. Which is one of the problems, as consumers we need to stand up and say NO im not having second best.

 

I agree, for users who just browse, in my area mobile broadband is fastest. Other than that the best thrugh landline my local area can get is 2 meg, no matter who you are with, so people should find the deal that suits

[Guest TalkTalk Offical Company Rep]

Hi nikontom,

 

The TalkTalk Website Avaialbility checker will give an estimated speed result for you to cross reference against the one quoted. In reference to the field sales reps I appreciate your feedband and no matter the sales channels all information given should be accurate where applicable. I cannot comment on the speed estimates as not having your line details to check I cannot verify the figures quoted.

 

However should any customers suspect a field sales agent isnt being accurate in their information we can provide feedback to the sales agents as necessary, we just require the Field Rep ID number from the sales agents badge (which should be displayed when they are talking to customers)

 

Regards

 

Mark

TalkTalk Online Community Department

[Mortal]

Hi nikontom,

 

The TalkTalk Website Avaialbility checker will give an estimated speed result for you to cross reference against the one quoted. In reference to the field sales reps I appreciate your feedband and no matter the sales channels all information given should be accurate where applicable. I cannot comment on the speed estimates as not having your line details to check I cannot verify the figures quoted.

 

However should any customers suspect a field sales agent isnt being accurate in their information we can provide feedback to the sales agents as necessary, we just require the Field Rep ID number from the sales agents badge (which should be displayed when they are talking to customers)

 

Regards

 

Mark

TalkTalk Online Community Department

 

 

This blatant policy is still going on. We were doorstepped by one of Talk Talk field agents last night - same pattern as above by looks of things. Offer may have interested me, but since the "give me a leaflet to look at and I'll get back to you" or the "can I read this online?" comments had little effect and a "quick 2 minute phone call" became an hour long hard sales pitch.

 

Also, the agent blatantly lied about a number of things, and from reading above this seams to be the norm.

 

Luckily we didn't sign the "fill in this form to register your interest" contract.

 

p.s. Talk talk customer service also has to be the ****test ever, rang to complain about the above and was just on hold for 30 mins on an 0871 number. Will I get my £3 (min) back? I doubt it!

[Guest TalkTalk Offical Company Rep]

Hi Mortal,

 

Im sorry to hear of the problems you have experienced. We can look into this if you wish. PLease either Tweet Us @TalkTalkCare or join the TalkTalk Members Forum and we can investigate into this for you.

 

Regards

 

Mark

TalkTalk Online Community Department