Be careful when switching to a new deal

[Andy_67]

I thought it would be a great idea to switch from my 18 month TalkTalk deal to a new £4 cheaper a month TalkTalk deal. IsMyBillFair warned me that there MAY be a fee for ending the deal early. I thought TalkTalk would NOT charge it because I am staying loyal. Silly me! They did insist on the fee (£30).

I thought I could cancel the new deal on the 14-day cooling off period. Well I can but it turns out that they would CANCEL ALL INTERNET SERVICES and would not revert me to my old package.  So I'm forced to keeping the new contract. 8 months to go before I'm "in profit".

In short I'm saying only move to a new deal if you're very sure that you want to get the benefits of a monthly discount and can absorb/tolerate the  early termination fee of your current deal for that privilege! 

EDIT. Please read the entire thread as there is much better news at the end of the thread. 👌

[Sidious]

Ah, thank you. Very informative! @Gliwmaeden2 

I know the difference between admin fees and early contract termination fees, just I thought (ASS-U-ME-D) they would waive the admin fee if the person was remaining with TT. Seems they have effectively done that in this case for @Andy_67 , albeit long and drawn out.

I do remember when TT customers could chop-and-change quite easily in the past. Obviously not so now!

[Andy_67]

A welcome but rather unusual sight to be in credit with an ISP but it won't last long 🤣 

 

 

[Andy_67]

Thanks so much for help. I hope this thread will help other people because it wasn't the most obvious route to a resolution I've ever come across...

[ferguson]

That's great news, perseverance pays off! Thanks for letting us know.

[Andy_67]

 

 

Good news and thanks all. They say they're crediting my account with the £30 contract fee in the next 24 hours. I couldn't get onto the voice call because it's too busy so I did it all by text messages and they spent about five to ten minutes between each text so it was awful.. but worthwhile fingers crossed.

[ferguson]

Try 0345 172 5157. 

[Gliwmaeden2]

It's always 03451 720088, @Andy_67. Closes 7pm.

[Andy_67]

I am going to try thank you very much. do you happen to know the telephone number?

[ferguson · Accepted solution]

@Andy_67  I can only restate that you speak to the loyalty team specifically, rather than the more generic customer services team. 

[Andy_67]

Sorry Ferguson I just noticed that you mentioned the Customer loyalty team.

[Andy_67]

OMFG!!! 😱😱

That's it explained then. Thanks so much.

But can you believe she explained the fee as the "early termination fee" with no clarification or reasoning like you did!!! Even though I showed her exactly what I showed you. Did anyone ever mention that offshore Customer Support is a bit naff? 🤣

[Gliwmaeden2]

@Andy_67 and @Sidious,

Keep in touch with these pages:

http://community.talktalk.co.uk/pricing

Particularly here:

 

So, the admin / contract fee is applied if you change your contract, but STAY with Talktalk (within your minimum period) more than 3 months before your end of contract date.

It stops us jumping on the best TT deals around. When the system first changed from separate line rental and broadband charges to bundled packages c 7 years ago, we could indeed jump if better deals turned up for new customers. Suddenly it seemed to change, and we were not notified. 

I've never seen this adequately explained. 

However, don't confuse these admin changes with early termination fees  - these only apply if you leave Talktalk altogether ahead of the last month of your contract. 

These are displayed thus:

 

You can find these listed amongst the cancellation information on this link:

https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Articles/Cancel-your-TalkTalk-service/ta-p/2204737

So don't muddle the two!

[Andy_67]

You'd think so wouldn't you. I made sure the dear offshore agent completely understood my situation and complaint, but she wasn't budging her position. 

Something about their "automated systems" not allowing it. 

[Sidious]

I thought the admin fee only applied if there was a change of ISP involved (i.e. coming to/leaving TalkTalk), not if another contract was taken (even if still active) while staying with TT. Hmm...

[ferguson]

Ah. That's not an early termination fee. It is rather as it states, an admin fee which is usually chargeable if you make changes to your contract before the end of your current one. But I still don't understand why they could not simply revert you to your previous package within the cooling off period. If you contact them again and ask if, as a loyal customer, you could ask that the fee be waived on this occasion as you have in fact committed to a new longer term then you may get a positive response. When calling, make sure that you ask specifically for the customer loyalty team. 

[Andy_67]

To be clear, this is what happened when I changed contract. I was somewhat shocked that they were applying the early termination fee. So I wanted to cancel the new contract but she could not do that without terminating my internet service!

 

[Andy_67]

She was adamant she could not keep my internet service running if I asked for a cancel in cooling off. Believe me I told her in no uncertain terms what I thought of that craziness! But she would not budge. 

I was prepared to go for two year deal at £28 a month  and they insist on punishing me with a £30 fee for doing so! Furious.

[ferguson]

@Andy_67 

That doesn't make much sense to be honest, you should be able to change your mind during the cooling off period, that's what it's for. I have moved this to the Billing section where the support team here can look into this for you.