CHARLES DUNSTONE, chief executive of Carphone Warehouse, claimed earlier this month that the customer-service chaos at Talk Talk, its home phone arm, had been resolved. But scores of Sunday Times readers were still having problems last week — six months after signing up for its broadband deal.
In April, Talk Talk launched “free” 8 megabit broadband for anyone who signed up for its Talk 3 international call plan. This offers unlimited free local, national and international calls for £9.99 a month plus £11 line rental — a total of £20.99.
In July, the offer was extended to its standard Talk 3 package, which offers unlimited free calls to UK landlines for £8.99 a month plus line rental — a total of £19.99.
The firm was inundated with applications. Between April and July it signed up almost 480,000 people and has been unable to cope with the volume.
Dunstone apologised publicly, doubled the number of call-centre staff and said in a blog earlier this month that all problems had now been resolved. But Terry Jackson, 60, pictured, begs to differ.
Jackson, from Sandbach, Cheshire, applied for Talk Talk’s broadband package in April and was told he would be connected “soon”. Having heard nothing by May, he contacted the company again and was told his “go-live date” — the date from which he would get the broadband connection — would be May 30.
Jackson contacted Talk Talk again in June, when he was connected to Talk Talk’s telephone package — but he is still waiting for his broadband link.
He said: “I’m fed up to the back teeth with it. Last Thursday, when I came to log on I had no internet at all. I spent the whole morning on the phone to OneTel, my current provider, and Talk Talk.
“OneTel said it was nothing to do with them any more because I am now with Talk Talk. Talk Talk said it couldn’t do anything until I had received my modem and installation package — that’s what I’ve been waiting for since April.
“What annoys me most is I’m having to pay Talk Talk £20.99 a month for my phone, which is meant to include free broadband, but I am still paying OneTel about £25 a month for internet access. Yet they are both part of the same company, so I am effectively paying Charles Dunstone twice.”
Jackson is not alone. Constance Lynn, from Dulwich in south London, is also still waiting for broadband connection. She applied for Talk 3 international in July and her go-live date was August 1. Her phone was transferred then, but she had no internet access at all.
Her dial-up had been cut off but her broadband not connected. Her voicemail service had also been cancelled.
She said: “I was on the phone to Talk Talk from 8am to 4pm, being passed from pillar to post. I was told people would ring me back and no one did. My dial-up access has been re-installed and I do have voicemail but I’ve still no idea when I will get broadband. I wish I’d never heard of Talk Talk because of all the problems I’ve had.”
Talk Talk claims anyone who applies now will be given a go-live date of the end of October but will actually be connected earlier than that.
However, it admits there is still a backlog of people who have already applied and will not give a firm date when those customers will be connected.
It has not been a good time for the Carphone Warehouse group. Last week it was fined £245,000 by the Financial Services Authority, the City regulator, for poor telesales service to mobile customers.
Many of its broadband customers have given up and taken their business elsewhere, and Talk Talk said that anyone who does decide to cancel before their go-live date will not have to pay the £70 cancellation fee.
It appears that the problems do not necessarily end once broadband is up and running. Andrea Vickers, of Teddington in Middlesex, lost her broadband connection on August 24. Two days later her land line went dead. She was reconnected only last Wednesday after numerous calls on her mobile to Talk Talk and Ofcom, the regulator. Vickers said: “It’s been so frustrating and you just can’t get a straight answer from anyone. That’s what has offended me most.”
Michael Anderson, of Banbridge, Co Down, is one of the customers who has cut his losses. He went live in May and his internet service worked for 10 days but he then lost connection. He is a computer technician, so tried to fix the problem himself, but when he couldn’t, he rang the technical helpline. He said he gave up on that in the middle of June and cancelled his contract.
Talk Talk tried to charge him the £70 cancellation fee but that was waived after he complained. “I was told I had to pay the fee because I was breaking my contract, but I argued that Talk Talk had broken its contract with me because it had not provided the service I signed up for.
“It did back down and apologise but Talk Talk has been the most atrocious experience I have ever had to deal with.”
Advisers say it might be worth asking Talk Talk to waive the fee even if you cancel after your go-live date, if you have suffered bad service.
If you are switching, how can you find a broadband provider with better service? Which and Uswitch.com, a comparison site, have customer-service ratings next to most providers.
However, their surveys were carried out before the launch of the free broadband deals from Talk Talk, Sky and Orange, so the findings are out of date. Uswitch will carry out another survey later this month.
Alternatively, you could look at the chat forums on sites such as moneysupermarket.com and moneysavingexpert.com. There is also a forum for those thinking of signing up for Sky at skyuser.co.uk. These enable you to find out about other people’s experiences.
Jason Lloyd at moneysupermarket.com, another comparison site, said: “It is not just Talk Talk that people are having problems with. The market is highly competitive and providers are enticing new customers with attractive packages which they then struggle to deliver.”
Lloyd also recommends reading the small print carefully. Because of the complexity of broadband packages, there are often hidden charges and catches to be aware of. Look out for items such as cancellation fees, usage caps and tie-in periods.
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