Overcharged each month?

[brother52]

Hi folks,

I don't know if anyone else has had this issue?

I recently (about two months ago) renewed our Fibre 65 contract with TT and after being passed around the Mumbai call centre I was eventually put in touch with the Irish call centre. The nice chap there gave me a very good quote to retain our custom. The contract was emailed through within minutes (whilst still on the call!) and it clearly shows the total we should be paying........however, for the past two months we've been charged almost ten pounds per month in excess of the invoice/quote/contract we arranged. I have copies of the documents available upon request.

I've tried waiting for a response on Live Chat, my hair turned grey waiting! LOL!

Please, please, please, can someone advise what the best course of action is, apart from rip up the contract and find a different provider? As far as I'm concerned TalkTalk have breached the contract with us, therefore there should be no cancellation fee.

Thanking you all, in advance, for any help you can give a old grey-haired vegetable!

Cheers!

[Arne-TalkTalk]

No problem, don't worry about it, it can be frustrating we know were not perfect, but given the time to investigate (which the call center staff sometimes dont have), it was clear what the issue was.  

I'll suggest the payrise, thank you.

[brother52]

Arne,

Thank you so much!

You have restored my faith in human nature, honestly.

I did not expect that this could be sorted, but you have proved me wrong, you are a true star.

And thank you to Gliwmaeden2, your help and advice has been very gratefully received.

An observation here, if I may? I *never* lose my cool when speaking with "Customer-facing staff", whether they be employed in call centres or anywhere else. I've never seen the point, they are just people trying to do the best job they can. What is the point in making life a misery for them? After all, it is never their personal fault that you are having issues. But, my observation is this: despite my inate good nature, sense of humour and experience of having to keep my cool in intense situations, I scared myself when I read what I'd previously written about the company. Now I truly understand the meaning of the term "keyboard warrior" and how easy it seems to be to fall into that trap. Today I have learned something. I apologise, unreservedly, for the comments I made regarding the company. Arne has shown me that good, old-fashioned, customer service is alive and very healthy and for that I am truly very, very grateful to them. Please accept my heartfelt thanks. If you can read between the lines of my posts you'll understand that life is not being very kind at the moment. There again, I'm reminded of what we used to say in the Forces: "If you can't take a joke you shouldn't have joined up!"

Keep up the great work, I hope you get a payrise! 😉

[Arne-TalkTalk]

Thank you @brother52

I know exactly what the problem is, the agent did not put the discount on the boost, I have requested this to be added today, and any over payments since your renewal will  be credited back also. 

Apologies for any inconvenience caused. 

[brother52]

Thanks, both of you, I've sent the security questions to you, well, the answers anyway!

Yes, you're right about the call boosts, it would appear that despite being promised, the discount wasn't carried over the new contract, but even worse than that, we now have TalkTalk TV, which I didn't request and that appears to be a fiver per month.

I'm very, very grateful for you taking the time to help me with this. In the old days it was usually me doing the helping, so this is a strange situation to be in. You have no idea how much I appreciate the answers and explanation you have given me. Thank you

[Gliwmaeden2]

@brother52, if it's a 50% reduction on the cost of the Anytime Calls boost, it would be £8.00, as full price is £16.00.

So check whether you also have Voicemail Plus on there - that might account for the £2.00 that brings it up to a £10.00 difference. Whatever it is, staff can double check for you when they reach your thread.

Don't forget that boosts can be removed one month after set up. Anything you have paid in advance would be refunded on a pro-rata basis on the subsequent bill - but always check their maths....

Don't forget that you would then be paying 24p per minute for ordinary landline 01, 02, 03 calls and calls to mobiles. It mounts up very quickly. 

I call out on a mobile (currently limitless calls) and people on inclusive packages ring me back on the landline, as it is usually better sound quality. 

You may also have the April '23 CPI + 3.7% price increase pending, just around the corner?

[Arne-TalkTalk]

Hi @brother52

I can help with this I first need to confirm some security questions

I have sent you a PM on the community

Regards

[brother52]

Thank you for taking the time to reply, it really has helped.

You are indeed correct, I have been stitched up like a kipper by TalkTalk!

The young chap at "Retentions" *promised* that as well as a discount on the Fibre 65 package, he would carry forward the discount of 50% on UK Anytime Calls. Of course, he hasn't done that at all. And I know the way this works with these scammers, they claim that all calls are recorded/monitored and may be used for training purposes but when you request that they listen back to the recording to confirm the actual amount agreed on the call, ah, well, that call wasn't recorded/has got mislaid/has been recorded over/abducted by aliens/blame Putin, he hacked it! You know the score, the recordings would only be available if they proved the company's version of events.

Ho-hum! So, it looks as if I'm going to have to go without a couple of meals each week to be able to pay this increased bill from TalkTalk. You have got to love this country, a "Land fit for heroes" they promised us, but they lied. 

On the bright side, if I'm still breathing in 16 months time, and that is a huge *if*, TalkTalk will be the very *last* broadband provider I'll be signing up with. I thought they had changed, I really did. We were with them years ago, but the service was shocking and without wishing to offend anyone, the use of overseas call centres is a sign of cost-cutting gone too far. The call centre proved to be absolutely useless, and in a sign of how daft the system is, because the call centres deal with several different companies, I had to keep pointing out to the call handler(s) that it was TalkTalk we were discussing, not another broadband provider they kept referring to!

Thank you again for your time and for explaining how they use *plain English* to bamboozle the customer. So much for "Making it easier to understand your bills"!

They really haven't changed, have they? ☹️

[Gliwmaeden2]

The contract itself is ONLY for the Broadband package, which includes the landline but not calls.

Hence the wording that I have in my own contract:

 

The place that shows the actual total is My Account and the original confirmation email. 

So your billing total may well not be the same as the contract total as all phone calls are outside of the basic Broadband package and either charged individually or as part of a boost that you are at liberty to remove.

Your contract is only showing you the bits you are tied to for the full 18 / 24 month period.

The wording in it could be better.... they are not very clear about precisely what total they are meaning.

Check back through your emails for the confirmation email that should have confirmed that your account had been updated.

Let us know if this helps you get to the bottom of it. Otherwise, just wait for staff to reach your thread. Posting further would otherwise delay its progress in the queue for attention. 

And don't waste more of your time on Chat.... forum staff will check everything, but they are not on here every day.  Usually support Monday to Friday daytime.

[brother52]

Hi and thank you for the reply, very much appreciated.

That's the galling thing about this error (if it is an error), the contract clearly shows the Anytime UK Calls boost (or whatever it's called) and then shows the total at the foot of the invoice/contract,  which is ten pounds cheaper than I am being charged each month.

I suspect there is an error because the Anytime UK calls boost is showing as a completely different price in my monthly bills. Strangely enough, that one error accounts for the extra I'm being charged.....

Is it just a case of having to sit and wait for Chat to become available do you know?

Thank you again, I am truly grateful for any help I can get with this. I hate complaining, always try to give people the benefit of the doubt, but when it's basically the equivalent of a 33% or one third extra on my bill, well, that's when I need some help (plenty of people would agree with that statement! 🙃 )

Cheers!

[Gliwmaeden2]

Have you checked the breakdown of the details in My Account,  @brother52?

There may be a boost or two on there, which would not be included in the contract amount as these can be removed at any time after one month.