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HUNDREDS of thousands of Talk Talk customers who have suffered poor internet connections and service for the past year-and-a-half will finally have the chance to quit this month when their contracts end.
The telephone and broadband operator, owned by Carphone Warehouse, was voted the Money section’s villain of the year in 2006 after a deluge of letters from angry readers.
The company became the first to offer “free” broadband in April 2006. It signed up 340,000 customers in the first eight weeks following a big publicity campaign. But things soon turned sour when it could not cope with demand. At one stage, up to 200,000 people were waiting for their broadband connection. Thousands were left without a service for months as Talk Talk struggled to get them online, and even when they were connected, many suffered frustrating problems.
Steve Weller at comparison firm Uswitch said: “Talk Talk’s customer services are still nowhere near as good as some of its rivals. Many frustrated customers will be looking to leave as soon as their contracts end.”
Navina Bartlett, 31, from London, said: “I signed up because the ‘free broadband’ concept looked great at the time. But problems started as soon as I set it up. My broadband has never worked properly and I’ve had to wait hours to speak to someone at a call centre in India.”
She was even left without broadband for more than a month when Talk Talk decided to automatically “upgrade” her service from a 2 megabit (Mb) to 8Mb speed. “I asked for compensation and they told me that as the broadband was free I didn’t have a case. I’m very angry,” she said.
Bartlett is one of 871,000 Talk Talk customers who will this autumn come to the end of their 18-month contract and will for the first time have the chance to move without penalty.
The latest customer-satisfac-tion survey by Uswitch found that 270,000 Talk Talk customers were still not satisfied with their service, and could therefore choose to quit the firm.
Talk Talk has pumped £15m of extra cash into customer services but the investment has yet to pay dividends as satisfaction levels have dropped a further 1% between last October and July, the Uswitch research shows.
Just 69% of Talk Talk customers are now satisfied, placing it second to bottom in the poll, above Orange. This compares with 78% of customers with top performer Plus Net.
Talk Talk’s deal remains competitive on price. Its Talk 2 International offer comes with “free” broadband if you pay £16.39 a month for the phone service and a one-off £29.99 connection fee.
The service includes free evening and weekend calls to UK landlines as well as to 36 international destinations, including Australia, America and France. The broadband has a speed of up to 8Mb with a 40 gigabyte (GB) download limit.
A good alternative, however, is Tiscali’s Broadband & Anytime Talk package, at up to 8Mb, that offers free UK landline calls at any time as well as landline calls to 10 international locations, including the US, France and Australia.
The broadband is the same as with Talk Talk, and it does not have a monthly download limit although it is subject to a fair usage policy. This means that if your provider thinks you are downloading too much, it could shut down your service.
The package costs £19.99 per month with a £30 set-up fee and the contract length is 12 months – so it is slightly more expensive than Talk Talk, but you get better service with a 72% satisfaction rate, according to Uswitch.
If you are looking for even better customer service, Plus Net offers a deal with up to 8Mb broadband and free calls to UK landlines at any time for £20.99 a month. However, it has a 1GB download limit, so it would not be suitable if you wanted to access films or lots of music.
Some experts believe Talk Talk has improved its service since last year. More than 73% of Talk Talk customers surveyed in a poll conducted by analysts Point Topic, said they planned to retain their broadband service.
A spokesman for Talk Talk said: “Although I can’t say everything is perfect, I am confident that we have made huge improvements to our service.”
The firm has also been accused of using bully-boy tactics to poach customers from rivals. Plus Net, which provides broadband services through BT exchanges, claims Talk Talk has transferred more than 1,000 people without their consent.
They had asked for their home phone to be moved from BT to Talk Talk, but had not requested their broadband be switched – yet Carphone did so anyway.
Once transferred, customers are locked into an 18-month contract with Talk Talk even though they have to continue paying their previous broadband provider. They can switch back only if they pay Talk Talk a £70 cessation fee and the reconnection could take up to three weeks.
Talk Talk said: “Whether it’s through a systems or human error, we can’t say it never happens, but it’s not something we set out to do. It’s not seen as an ongoing problem at anywhere near the levels being bandied about.”
MANAGER’S UNWANTED UPGRADE
PAUL CARROLL, 48, is a health-service manager living in Wigan.
He has been with Talk Talk for the past 12 months but says he is fed up with its service.
His problems started when he was cold-called by a Talk Talk representative offering to upgrade him to a different phone service.
Despite asking not to be upgraded, he found that he had been. ‘I was shocked because I made it clear that I did not want to change. What made things worse was that I was without my internet service while the change took place.’
He says he has had numerous other problems, both with his phone and internet service, but getting someone to help is not easy.
‘Every time I try to get hold of someone, I have to wait on the line for almost an hour,’ he said.
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Tiscali's deal may be good on paper - in my book and experience they're in the same boat as Talk Talk. I am with Plusnet and have never looked back.
D Dobbs, London,
I'm with Talk Talk and I have no intention of moving to another ISP. There were hiccups at the start but so what? Where would I go anyway. Another miserable period of going through the motions to save a few pennies? My bill includes line rental and it averages £21 a month. All 01 and 02 are free at any time. The broadband speeds fluctuates a bit but it works. We all know that broadband speed claims by other ISP's are just pie in the sky and rely on the cable and distance from the exchange
Brian Faulkner, Bridgwater,
I'm already kicking myself for switching after being poached from Talk talk Onetel. After 14 miserable days with TT, I've had virtually no internet connectivity except an unbeleivably slow 19kb for a few minutes on Monday and now I'm on day 5 without telephone. Customer services (when you finally get through) are hard to understand and virtually ineffective. So can someone tell me please, why doesn't a government agency get involved and stand up for it's people, not those openly committing crime? How can talk talk be allowed to sell services which they plainly can't provide? Surely, if they can't provide what they advertise, we should be allowed to bail out without penalty shouldn't we? Never mind the clever wording in the small print. Or does no-one care any more?
John Wilson, Southampton, England
Personally I think you are being exceedingly unfair to talktalk.
After the first month when I could not get connected.
I have had absolutely excellent service ever since.
Why did I have the initial problems because B.T. cable was so old that it could not cope with the talktalk service/broadband.
Eventually changed the wiring and no trouble since.
Incidentally, the help service based in South Africa is second to none and its free!!!
A.Chalkley, Bromley, England
I had a few hickups getting connected and the broadband slows and some times drops out but hey its a good package overall, I shudder to think what the same package on BT would cost!
geoffk, Bournemouth, UK
I;ve been with talktalk for 3 months now and after atechnical hiccup at the start it's done everything it said it would. Far faster service than BT proided and my bills dropped from £65 a month from BT to £22 with Talk Talk. Fingers crossed.
Ed Glasgow
Edward O'Brien, Glasgow,
I have had TALK TALK since it first started.I find it a fantastic service and have never had a problem with it.
All services completely meet my needs time and time again. I particularly find the help and support systm very very helpful.
I HAVE NO INTENTION OF SWITCHING AND SHALL CONTINUE TO RECOMEND THEM
Colin Moon, Stockport, Cheshire , England
I am sick to death of being let down by the telecoms sector in this respect. Talk Talk have been the worst of all - I have spent 40 hours and countless premium rate telephone calls trying to chase up my Broadband from signing up to a talk-plan ten weeks ago. It's high time that we consumers had a fast track complaints system via an independant body which ACTUALLY PERFORMS - someone to pursue these cowboys.
Regardless - I am ready to take them on myself, having cancelled my direct debit agreements and served them with a series of warning notices. I am switching to someone else. By failing to provide this free broadband they have breached the Sales of Goods and Services Act of 1982 - by not fullfilling their own contractual obligations - irrespective of the smallprint in their terms and conditions. Neither have they provided me with any evidence that this was not just a cheat designed to criminally deceive me at the time I signed up. People like this should be put out of business!
Dave, Darlington, UK
I have no complaint about talk talk and i have been with them for 1 year now. I believe that if you don't have to contact them for any problem, then it's fine. I live in a city center, that helps a lot in terms of speed I suppose although the 8Mb remain utopia The talk talk deal is very competitive if you have to call abroad a lot.
C. vaillant, manchester,
Blimey, I must be the only person who has not had problems with Talk Talk and I have been with them since they began the home service. The only time I did have a problem, it was quickly solved without a fuss and without hours waiting for a response. Reading the above, means I should go out and buy a lottery ticket as my luck is definitely in.
Steve, High Wycombe, UK
I signed up to talk talk at the beginning of this year... all was fine until the first week in June.... My broadband connection disappeared... after 12 weeks of being told it was my computer/modem/filters (none of which is true because they all worked at three other addresses!) I was due to move house. I rang talk talk in a last ditch attempt to restore service at my new address, nothing.... So I wrote to them and said as they had not responded to previous correspondence, provided me with a way to move the service or restore service at the present address then I had no option but to cancel my direct debit and terminate the contract..... nothing... then I cancelled the direct debit. I have since had 2 - 3 letters per week apologising and asking me to ring so that the service can be restored. I don't think so! they also waived the early termination fee due to the poor service. Any problems you have with them cancel the direct debit. It's they only way to get a solution!!
jo, manchester,
I have never had a problem with talktalk.net
Jane Lockyer, Maidenhead, Berkshire
we were signed up without our consent by a Talk Talk sales person ,when we had only made an enquiry about having their service. They were ruthless in trying to force us over 9 months to pay for what we had not received. We complained to the parent company Carphone Warehouse -but found tht they do not seem to listen to customer complaints .
We would advise anyone to stay well away from Talk Talk and Carphone Warehouse.
paul harris, leicester,
As a customer of Talk Talk (previously Onetel) for many years I have seen a steady decline in the standard of service and ceertainly no trace of any clear customer care service since the takeover was completed. During this most recent debacle well covered in the media, customers are being fobbed off with statements that are somewhat less than economical with the truth! Managers are non-contactable and hours of inappropriate piped music is seen as a substitute for any proper response. Only with dogged determination will you receive any explanation and that usually means writing (Recorded Delivery) to their MD, a Mr D Thatcher, at 5 Portal Way, Acton, London W3 6RT. Talk Talk will lose many of their customers and for my part, I apologise to those who adopted this provider on my recommendation!
Ian Dewar Public Relations & Business Consultant, Middleton on the Wolds, UK
I read your article 'Talk Talk: get out now ' in the 9 September 2007 edition.
Having faced most of the issues mentioned in your article, we decided to cancel Talk Talk and switch to another provider.
I wold like to bring to your attention that despite cancelling our account in May '07 Talk Talk continues to bill us monthly. I have made several calls to them and each time they accept that the account is closed but an error in the billing department means we will still get billed. Every time we are promised we will not receive further bills. However, we are still receving them.
Talk Talk has made calls home requesting payment and has even barred us from calling certain numbers despite us no longer being Talk Talk customers. This is pure harassment.
Please warn readers who plan to cancel Talk Talk that this may occur with them as friends of ours have had similar experiences upon cancelling Talk Talk.
Nazeer Datoobhoy, Pinner, Middlesex