Franz Kafka is still alive and works for TalkTalk

[incised12]

Hi,

Here I am again trying to resolve an issue that has remained for about the last 10 months.

We have talked to about 50 different advisors from all the departments listed in the 'labels'. All the solutions suggested and implemented by TalkTalk have failed. From our perspective the issue is straightforward; from yours, obviously not!

We had fibre to the premises (fttp) installed at our home in December 2021 by Openreach, working on behalf of TalkTalk. This was part of a promotion at the time by TalkTalk to encourage us as customers to change from our existing contract of 'faster fibre' to 'future fibre', which was being offered at the same price. The nice man from TalkTalk said, we would not have to do anything, because they would take care of everything.

Everything was fine, the speeds were as advertised and so was the the price. It was not until the April 2022 that things changed when we noticed a sudden price increase for our service. On checking 'My Account' we noticed we were still on the tariff for 'faster fibre', which had expired and we were being charged an out of contract rate. This in itself seems a dubious practice, but let’s leave that for a different discussion.

What followed was a phone call to TalkTalk support. We explained the issue and they "apologised for the situation we found ourselves in" (a phrase much repeated to us by TalkTalk employees), but not to worry, because they would resolve the issue by changing the contract using internal processes and refund us any overpayment. It would take a few weeks to show up on their systems, they said, but everything would be okay. To give them credit the overpayment was refunded, but the issue causing it was not and the next month the overpayment was back again.

Another series of phone calls followed. According to TalkTalk what previous support staff told us was incorrect and the solution was to setup a new contract for 'future fibre', which we did explaining to them that I have a hearing impairment and find using a landline easier than my mobile phone. Not to worry, they said (I had heard that phrase before), because everything would be taken care of by them. Another few weeks past, then one morning our phone line went dead. A quick call to TalkTalk would get it back and working, but unfortunately it didn't.

The phone call about the loss of the telephone line made my partner angry, because of his engineering background and a liking for honesty. The reason given by TalkTalk for the loss of the phone line was that 'future fibre' contracts were data only. It could not be reinstated because "the copper lines had been removed in our area" and if we wanted telephone in the future, we could have it as a VOIP add-on when the service was active. Why were we not informed about TalkTalk disconnecting our landline prior to them doing it? I think the answer to these lays in TalkTalk’s compartmentalised organisational structure where each part has a discrete number of functions and actions it can perform and, in this case, because the person setting up the contract did not inform us, no-one else did because it was outside their scope. (I won’t labour on the untruths told to us by the TalkTalk employee, but If anyone is interested please read the information on Ofcom's site about the phasing out of copper landlines and the responsibilities of ISPs to their customers).

Needless to say, when the service was supposed to become active it did not, so another phone call to TalkTalk support. This time my partner (I should add that it's him that talks to TalkTalk support rather than me, because my hearing impairment leads to very stilted conversations over the mobile, and he understands more about the internet than me) talked to someone who seemed to understand the issues, was really confident they could resolve it, and as a thank you for the inconvenience caused and our patience, they would not bill us for the service until they had resolved it. However, it would take some weeks to pass it up through the line management system update their IT systems for the result show on our 'My Account'.

This brings us to January this year. Needless to say, the person who was confident of solving the issue didn't.

The next solution offered by TalkTalk was for my partner to setup an account, because mine was discontinued (more about that later). So, my partner set up an account in his name, passed the background checks for payments, given an account number and a date for the service to go active. What could go wrong with this? The SMS service, which kept people informed of the progress of the implementation of the service worked and did keep him informed until the message saying there was an unspecified issue, but they were working hard to resolve it and would keep him updated, except it didn't. It was not until he checked his 'My Account' he found the order was cancelled. TalkTalk sent no SMS or Email to let him know!

The next phone call to TalkTalk support was to find out what happened regarding the cancellation of the order. The answer given was that because we already had a fibre service by an existing provider TalkTalk could not install their service. If by now you have not lost the will to live, remember what was written in the second paragraph. TalkTalk was the provider who installed the fibre service to the house, it is a service we still receive and this has been explained to each support adviser were spoken to. Anyway, their solution was to set up another contract while noting the information above, which my partner did.

This brings us too today.

Today we are waiting for the Openreach engineering to arrive as agreed with TalkTalk to check our existing fibre connection in preparation for the new data150 service to become active. My partner says this will not happen. When I asked him why he said, Openreach follow a strict set of protocols of contacting people via SMS about a week before they arrive then contacting them on the day. The first did not happen so neither will the second. In addition, TalkTalk did not send us the 'eero 6' router they were supposed to.

I am now sat in front of our PC typing this missive.

We have a fibre connection provided by TalkTalk at speeds equivalent to 80/20. We have live emails accounts with TalkTalk, but apparently no contract with them, therefore we pay nothing. They say my account is discontinued; and we cannot set up a new account, because we already have a service which was originally provided by you, but not recognised by you.

All we want is to pay the appropriate amount per month for the service we receive and TalkTalk seem incapable doing this.

Kind Regards

Diana

[Arne-TalkTalk]

Sorry it took so long, Glad it now appears to be resolved.

[incised12]

Hi Arne,

Thanks for the reply.

Finally, after 11 months there is some positive progress.

At the end of last week TalkTalk Emailed me a bill. When I checked my original "my account", which I was previously told was discontinued it seems as if it is reactivated showing the service we receive as 'fibre 65 data'; the start date of the service as the  10th December 2021; the contract length as 18 months; and the price as £24 per month, all of which, as I understand it is correct.

Such a shame it took so long to resolve and the lack of transparency/feedback from TalkTalk about the steps taken.

Kind Regards

Diana

[Arne-TalkTalk]

Hi incised12

Im really sorry to read the problems you have had, this will need to be dealt with by the future fibre team, since your post has there been any progress?