Monthly Price Increase - Fixed Price Package

[robroy7]

Sent an email to customer services but it was bounced back and suggested I come here, below is the mail  sent edited to remove personal info but I think it will still convey the problem.

Hi,

Account Number : 

Account Tel Number : 

Account Holder :    

I have received an email this morning advising me that the cost of my Fibre 65 package is increasing by £2.50 per month from the 11th July 2021.

When I renewed my package(last year)it was my understanding that I am on a Fixed Price Package, that fact was mentioned by yourselves in an email you sent me on 11th December 2020.

The contract end date is 13th July 2022, which surely means the monthly cost I am currently paying remains the same until that date.

Can you please confirm that the monthly cost of my Fixed Price Package will not change on the 11th July 2021.

[Arne-TalkTalk]

Glad you got it sorted.

[robroy7]

I got a response via email from the CEO complaints department, then after a bit of a mixup(or 2) when the lady tried a number of times to contact me by phone, my fault she got no response, we decided to communicate via email. 

No real apology for reneging on on our "contract" nor an offer to remove the price increase.
What I have come away with is a new Fibre 65 package that has been tweaked a bit.  Tweaked in as much as for the next 24 months the unlimited anytime telephone calls boost is free, as opposed to £14.00 per month.  There was also the offer of the Supersafe boost being free for 12 months, I turned this down as I already have two layers of security on my system, adding another would make them conflict. There is also a free Amazon gift of some sort the code for which will be sent to me once everything is up and running. 

What I have learnt, not only with TalkTalk but also other large organisations is, if you don't get a satisfactory response/resolution to a problem via normal customer services then ramp your complaint to the head honcho.  I've done this a number of times and got results, the best of which was with the Royal Bank of Scotland but that's another story.

 If it's any use to you folks this is a link to a very useful website.

www.ceoemail.com

[Arne-TalkTalk]

elkingdl I apologise for my misuse of the word. "envoke" duly noted.  

We kept our fixed price promise for a long time, unfortunately things have changed and a business decision was made, a lot of customers have actually renegotiated better deals via the loyalty team on 03451720046. 

Sorry for any inconvenience 

[Fustercluck]

@ferguson I have had the same death knell eMail advice from TalkTalk regarding the increase, as have so many others evidently... and I also note my bank have been advised of the higher monthly DDM intent of TT to wit... 

[ferguson]

@Fustercluck If you only joined in March this year then you should not be affected by the current price increase. 

[Fustercluck]

Perhaps the answer is for neighbours to get together, and share a load balancing router (which offers bandwidth control) and split the costs of a 150 style fibre connection two or three ways. As far as TalkTalk's new 150 tariff goes - I can actually get more bandwidth on 4G/LTE data sim in a suitable modem for less £££'s monthly (without no telephone line subscription to wit).

Since I only joined in March or so, this year, what happens with regards to my sign-up deal where I opted for an £80 Amazon voucher? Would I now have to pay for that too? 😐

[ferguson]

@bob531 If you signed up in May then you shouldn't be affected by this price increase. 

[bob531]

I signed up in May for a fixed priced contract and also received the letter. I am not impressed but i do know from experience that someone like the telecom ombudsman would probably side with the customer under these circumstances ,as they dont usually expect consumers to be totally aware of all the small print and let alone understand alot of it. Considering that fixed price for the contract term is a big feature of enticing customers then any complaints body would take a dim view of TALKTALK.
that said ,the outcome of an ombusman would be not really worth it ,unless many complained and they made TALKTALK STICK TO THEIR PROMISE.

[laurie2]

In my view a contract is a contract!  I am contracted to TalkTalk Fibre 35 until 9th August 2022 at £22 per month.  I am disgusted at TalkTalk's intention to break this contract by not only an increase in price at the present but also by their intention to increase it again next April.  It seems that TalkTalk's word is worth absolutely nothing!

[Gliwmaeden2]

@GuyOnMars, the increases in March applied to Fast Broadband and Faster Fibre. 

These more recent increases apply to Fibre35 and Fibre65, to customers who moved to these packages prior to March '21.

They work out at about 10%, depending on what people were paying. It's a fixed amount of increase.

Yes, we all found it terribly unfair to have the face value promise torn up, especially after reassurances during 2020 from the CEO that these promises would hold.

Make of it what you will: lurking in the Ts&Cs was always the option for Talktalk to flip on that promise, providing that they give affected customers 30 days' notice.

It is a totally separate issue from CPI-related increases which kick in next April. Read Ts&Cs 16.

You just have to haggle, or leave and notify TT within the 30 days, or put up with it.

[GuyOnMars]

only in march have they included the price rasie in their T &C , how ever they cannot promise no price and then increase your bill by 10% as is false adveriseing 

also talk talk made 1. 54 billion in profit last year. 

[TheHornedOne]

@robroy7/ @elkingdl / @Fustercluck 

[Gliwmaeden2]

You have a point there about the issue of trust, @elkingdl.

I suspect, though, that those who devised the new pricing structure won't necessarily see the connection with October '15.

Different people in charge since then etc. You often find that customers are the longest serving members of an organisation. Many of the decision makers have shorter memories and won't see the connection. 

[elkingdl]

and for anyone still maintaining the slightest little bit of loyalty towards TalkTalk, @Arne-TalkTalk’s post above sums up what TalkTalk thinks of you…

yea, we know we promised not to increase prices but we’re just gonna do it anyway because the T&Cs say we can and we’re really sorry… but if you sign up to a new contract, we really promise not to do it again.

TalkTalk spent a lot of time and money building customers trust after they lost a shedload of data a few years back.  Now all they’ve done is proven is that as a company, they don’t deserve to have customers trust or their loyalty.  And there’s absolutely nothing to say that the new fixed price packages are any more fixed than ones they’ve just unfixed.

So after years of being a TT customer, I’m switching to Now Broadband.  £22 per month for unlimited faster fibre (65mb) and all inclusive calls on a 12 month contract.  Sure, they might increase their prices, as might BT, Virgin and anyone else… but at least they’re upfront about it.

[Fustercluck]

You know a company is struggling to maintain a semblance of keeping their promises when staff begin incorrectly using the passive version of a verb to explain unpopular emerging  policies - like envoke... when invoke is appropriate for referring to a material change...

[Arne-TalkTalk]

Terms and conditions are always subject to change, even when we offered fixed price contracts, we have taken the decision to invoke clause 16 which you would have agreed to when you signed up. 

Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

[ferguson]

Subject to the T&Cs ....  😟

[Fustercluck]

If you need any help, I have a recording of a TalkTalk salesperson swearing blind to me when I wanted information on joining - that underlines their prices would not rise for 12 months from inception, and that afterwards they would not rise by more than the retail price index.

Breach of contract, essentially.

[robroy7]

I've emailed Mrs Harrison, TalkTalk CEO,  and voiced my displeasure, I will let you know what sort of response I get.

[ferguson]

Please read post no. 2. The T&Cs have always allowed allowed for price increases, but they must give you the option of leaving, as they have done.