I have been disconnected by Talk Talk without authorisation - 'slamming'?

[Brebsy1]

An unknown 3rd party requested my landline to transfer from Talk Talk to Plusnet without my knowledge, approval or authorisation.   Talk Talk sent me an email saying my connection was 'up for renewal' on 14 August, which I thought was odd, and intended to do so yesterday (12 August) before the 14th.

During the night of Monday 12 August, Talk Talk disconnected my line. When I enquired I was told about the Plusnet request which was the first time I was made aware of it. How can someone else just request an existing landline without any security checks or proper authorisation from the actual paying Talk Talk customer?? 

I was told could not reconnect with my account and could not keep the landline number. I was instead given a new contract (same level as the old one) but with the £60 connection fee waived. 

I now have to wait for 10 days for an Outreach engineer to complete the set up which leaves me without internet for all this time (aside from my mobile) and no broadband. 

I need broadband daily as it is vital for me to complete my daily work. I work from home and for every day there is no reconnection I am losing wages (contractor only paid for hours worked).  I explained this to Talk Talk and stressed the urgency of a reconnection ASAP but they are still giving me the 22nd August as the day that engineer will call.

Talk Talk as my provider should be responsible for sorting this out without my having to lose my landline number, my existing account and my vital Broadband connection.

I have spoken to others who have all had the same experience of an unknown unauthorised person requested a provider change and losing their contracts., and I have been told the practise is known as 'slamming', and can even be carried out by providers themselves to force customers to take a new contract.

I have put in official complaint to Talk Talk and have heard nothing yet.  I am highly unimpressed with this situation and will be taking this to a higher level if not responded to adequately.

[Brebsy1]

I await response to my complaint. As I have said all along, having no broadband means I cannot work / earn money and for every day this continues the more financial loss I am incurring. 

I have updated my Profile info with my name and the account no that you are forbidding me from continuing with. 

I understand I have 14 days 'grace' (other sources say 30 days) from the date I initiated the 'new' contract when I am still able to cancel it. If this issue is not resolved before then I way well do this.

[Brebsy1]

Talk Talk did not inform me of the transfer request. 

Talk Talk sent me an email, twice, which told me only that my service was up for renewal on the 14th August, and which gave a couple of options of plans to switch to. I thought it was odd, and resolved to look into it before the 14th. Maybe it just needing renewed after X number of years, I thought to myself. 

On the morning of the 12th August, before I could get a chance to look into it, as I had planned to do on that day, my service was already disconnected. This was two days before the so-called renewal date on the Talk Talk email. 

There was no mention of a transfer request from Plusnet until I went on Chat and was told. 

This is not acceptable.  The switch from Plusnet may well have originated from them, but I am not with Plusnet, so I have absolutely no means to pursue this with them.  You are my provider. You are obligated to deal with any issues while I am with you, and you should not be cancelling an active account without my say so on the orders of a rival provider which has nothing to do with me. You are not supposed to say that a new account must be taken up and that my existing landline is no longer useable. 

I am waiting a reply to my complaint to Talk Talk. I have a TalkTalk Case ID which is : ET-864336.

I am still unable to work from home and be paid because of this situation.

[Arne-TalkTalk]

Hi Brebsy1

Sorry you are unhappy. 

The transfer of a service is gaining provider led,  meaning that someone has given your landline number to plusnet, when we receive the request our obligation as the losing provider is to inform the account holder that we have received this transfer request, we did this on the 29th July via Email (twice) it was sent to the @hotmail address registered on your account.

I would suggest a complaint should also be aimed at Plusnet.  

Once your complaint is assigned to a complaints manager they will contact you. 

Regards

[fr8ys]

Hi,

I can appreciate your frustration but as you have raised a totmsl complaint, staff here cannot now get involved.

Under the circumstances they would not have been able to offer support either as their hands would also be tied by Open reach.

Staff may be able to consult the CEO office to check a complaint has been raised.

For a quicker reply can you please ensure you have your personal information up to date in your profile including your TalkTalk landline phone number so your account can be traced. Link here - https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/user/myprofilepage/tab/personal-profile:personal-info
If you are unsure of your phone number, you can find this in My Account or dial 17070 from your landline phone and this will confirm the number for you.
You can also add your account number in the private notes field, which only you and the support staff can view.
Please post back when done.
Thank you