@talktalk TalkTalk - is it acceptable to have a contract in an imaginary name?

[Lij4onok]

Hello,

 

We are having problems with Talk Talk. The situation is as follows. 'We' have a contract with TalkTalk at the moment. It is in an imaginary name. My mum's ex-partner has signed up to TalkTalk as Mr [random intial] [mums name and surname]. And pays on direct debit from his own account. Obviously such a Mr does not exist. Every time TalkTalk phones and we answer we explain to them that such a person as they wish to speak to does not exist, but they refuse to speak to me or my mum, they are only interested in a Mr [as we are both female we do not match the criteria].

 

The problem is that mums ex-partner is planning on moving out. He wanted to cancel the contract but missed the date and it automatically renewed; he then lied to mum and said that he can either cancel the contract or transfer it into her name [and that it would be better for her to start paying the direct debit herself]. Mum said no, and that she wants to change to Orange. Now he says he will cancel the direct debit and TalkTalk will pursue action against mum since she lives at the address of the contract and initially allowed TalkTalk to set up this contract with her ex-partner [since he needed her permission as the house is in her name].

 

I phoned up TalkTalk to ask them for what will happen if mums ex-partner cancels direct debit, but after waiting I ended up with the wrong customer service got transferred to a person with terrible manners who after asking me for my house number dropped me back into queue without any explanation. I then had to listen to music for over 30 minutes until I eventually gave up. Not sure how much help they would have been as they have previously refused to talk to us, and when we gave them the correct name of the ex-partner they have done nothing about the matter.

 

Can TalkTalk legally demand mum to pay? She never signed anything or paid them, and she is not a Mr. Can we sign up for Orange now while the phone line is still active? which would effectively cancel TalkTalk contract and her ex-partner would get the bill for early termination?

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[BankFodder]

No they can't make her the account-holder if the contract wasn't hers in the first place.

 

I think that the best thing you could do is to write to them and give them his real name and explain what has happened , that you have nothing to do with it and in any event the contract has nothing to do with you.

 

I have to say that I find it very difficult to believe that this contract extends autmatically for a year if it is not cancelled promptly.

It is more likley that after 12 months it goes on to a rolling monthly contract. The brief look I have had at TT's t&cs confirms this.

 

Have you got somthing in writing which says different?

[BankFodder]

By the way, it is not acceptable to use an imaginary name and you are inviting accusations of fraud or attempted fraud.

[Lij4onok]

Thank you for the information. My mum does not have any paper work (just the 1st letter from 3 years ago), as the ex-partner keeps everything. He made a mess of a previous contract with BT before TalkTalk and made her pay, as always threatening her in the process. The only thing she doesn't remember whether originally when he was talking to them he asked to speak on her behalf. But she thinks she only gave him permission to do the contract himself. And any way he ended getting this contract essentially not in her name, but in an imaginary. As I said he always threatens mum about whatever action would be taken against her, and tells more lies than the truth. And she never gave him permission to renew any contracts (they might have offered him some benefits to sign up on a full year again instead of cancelling).

 

Him and fraud I wouldn't be surprised. He already had to go to court for one of those. And we did try to correct TalkTalk on numerous occasions.

 

I think we will post the letter out on Monday as per your advise and change to Orange (or do we need to hear back from them before then).

 

Thanks again.

[BankFodder]

He sounds like a dangerous man. If he isn't out of the property yet then it might be better to wait until he goes.

When you feel safe then I owuld disclose everything to everyone.

[Guest TalkTalk Offical Company Rep]

Hi Lij4onok,

 

If you tweet us @TalkTalkCare or join the TalkTalk Members Forum we can investigate into this in more depth.

 

regards

 

Mark

TalKTalk Online Community Department

[2Grumpy]

I would take Martin's advice to wait until your mum's partner has left before contacting anyone as they might not want to wait before taking any action ...

[Lij4onok]

Hi Lij4onok,

 

If you tweet us @TalkTalkCare or join the TalkTalk Members Forum we can investigate into this in more depth.

 

regards

 

Mark

TalKTalk Online Community Department

 

Thank you everyone for the great advise. We have decided to take an active stand. The ex-partner is in the process of moving out, so there is no time to waste if we want to have internet and phone.

 

Mark, I am not sure how joining TalkTalk forum might help, when the company has inability to respond to something as simple as letters. [by me and my I mean as regards to mum:] I have followed the advise and wrote a letter stating the problem, repeating that it is not my account and has nothing to do with me. I have now received a reply. I am not even sure they bothered to read the letter as the response was pretty generic, and did not make sense as regards to the problem.

 

In summary. They thank me for contacting them, they understand my concern as regards to the name, but due to data protection act they require further information. All the further information required is to do with 'my account'. The information I obviously don't have as it is not my account, and I have no idea what the personal security answer, password, and even the bank account from which the ex-partner paid from is. In short it is an inconsiderate loop hole. We try telling them what the problem is, and as per usual (as with the numerous attempts to talk to them over the phone when they called) they refuse to correspond with me or mum. So essentially they want mum to admit that it is her account to be able to deal with the situation (which it isn't). This is just ridiculous! We have now signed up for Orange, so the account should automatically get cancelled. And how they are going to sort out the problem with the imaginary entity, who's data they are trying to protect and do not want to have the right data I have no idea.

 

Not sure what I should do now, as I do not feel I/we are not able to do anything.