Sales agent and live chat both confirmed 3mth free trial could end without fees

[mictalk41]

Hello.  This post is about my concern about being mis-sold a product, where both the door salesman Brand Ambassador AND a live chat agent both confirmed that I had a 3mth free trial where I could cancel anytime without cancellation fees.  When I did try to cancel, I was dismayed that the Loyalty team denied that this ever existed.  I would expect TalkTalk to honour the agreement that the salesman expressed to me, recorded on CCTV, and reconfirmed by a live chat employee.  Below explains more detail.

16th Oct 2023, a TalkTalk brand ambassador salesperson explained an offer that only sales agents could provide, and is not advertised on the website.  The promotion that he could offer was a three month free trial, that I could use and cancel during that time without penalty, in order to try it out.  Given this was unique, I enquired more.  He explained that "you have 3mths to try us out"... "30 days before the end of the 3mth free trial, you will get a call to give us a thumbs up or thumbs down to continue."  When asked why I haven't heard of this before, he said that "It's kind of like a special treatment.... we specifically apply it to customers facing issues and are looking to get fibre."  

9th Nov 2023, I got notice that the direct debit payment for a full month would start charging.  From the live chat agent, they explained that I would have to contact them each month to have credit applied to the account to cover the charges.  Credit was applied to balance out the £39 fee.  

I then pressed further to clarify my understanding about the 3mth free trial.  The agent re-confirmed that my understanding was correct.  The transcript saved as as follows.

• "You: One more important thing: As it is supposed to be a 3mth free trial, I'm still allowed to cancel this contract as long as I give notice WITHIN the 3mth free trial period, right? And there should be no penalties or charges of paying the remaining 15mths of the 18mth contract?
  20:49, Nov 9
• You: because that is what the door salesperson told me
  20:49, Nov 9
• <AGENT NAME WITHHELD>: Yes, that's correct. If you change your mind and want to cancel within 14 days of your order date, you're free to leave without penalty and you'll only pay for the TalkTalk services that you've used during this time. Your cooling off period begins the day after your contract with us is agreed. This applies separately for each product you order with us, no matter what it is. If you cancel after the cooling off period but within the 3-month free trial period, you will not be charged any early termination fees. However, if you cancel after the 3-month free trial period, you may be subject to early termination fees.
• 20:51, Nov 9
  You: " If you cancel after the cooling off period but within the 3-month free trial period, you will not be charged any early termination fees. " So, to expand on that, if I cancel in 2nd month (ie. 3 Jan 2024), I do not have to pay for any charges, nor even the "pay for services that you've used during this time"? Because that is part of the 3mth free trial?
• 20:51, Nov 9
  <AGENT NAME WITHHELD>: That's correct. If you cancel after the cooling off period but within the 3-month free trial period, you will not be charged any early termination fees, and you will not have to pay for any charges, including the "pay for services that you've used during this time". The 3-month free trial period is designed to give you the opportunity to try out our services without any obligation. If you decide to cancel within this period, you will not be charged anything."

5th Jan 2024, I contacted live chat to try cancelling with the above knowledge.  The agent I was assigned passed me to the Loyalty team, who said that he only knew of the first 14day cooling off period as viable.  He said that he was not aware of any 3mth free trial that allows users to cancel without fees.  

I am hoping that TalkTalk will resolve this issue for me, as this is unacceptable behaviour to be mis-sold on a false promise.

[Arne-TalkTalk]

Hi mictalk41

The cancellation has completed, there is a credit showing on your account, you can request a refund via My Account. 

Regards

[ferguson]

That will be payment in advance for the following month, it shouldn't be charged if your service is cancelled by then. 

[mictalk41]

Hi Arn, thank you.  Incidentally, I also received an email this morning that there is a bill of £39 due 15th Jan 2024.

As per the other months where we are still in this 3mth free trial period, could you please help to apply the credit to the account so that it balances out this charge?

Whilst the cancellation charges would be waived per the two-hour conversation I had with the Loyalty/Cancellations/Complaints teams, I would like to square off this billing charge before this becomes another complication.

I tried using the Live Chat to seek another customer support member today, but all options terminated with "someone will get back to you within two days" and did not leave any reference number.

Thank you.

[Arne-TalkTalk]

Hi mictalk41

I can confirm that there is a cease going through on your account with no cancellation fee. 

The cancel is due to complete on the 15th Jan.

[ferguson]

As I said earlier, the support team here will look at this for you as soon as they can. You do seem to have all the details noted, so hopefully it will all be sorted to your satisfaction. 

[mictalk41]

Thank you @Gliwmaeden2 that is really useful intel. I have a CCTV recording of the door salesman explaining the deal along with a picture of his ID card that he permitted me to take, so technically I have that verbal agreement with that agent, which should be binding. 
I also have the live chat transcript of an agent that recognised that trial does exist, so hopefully there are a subset of the TalkTalk employees who do know what is going on. I’m hoping I could get through to one of them….

[Gliwmaeden2]

It's possibly worth checking the original paperwork for any other contact details given at the time, @mictalk41, which would back up the fact that it was a special trial.

A reply from another thread in connection with FF trials suggested this:

 

Anything that you have from the original offer could help.

Current agents may well not be able to view the offer if it is no longer available to customers now, as they  can often only draw up today's promotion. They should, however, be able to look at notes on your account.

From the above snippet, it would seem that FTTP trials are not unheard of.

[mictalk41]

Hi Ferguson, thanks for the reply. I did speak to an agent on the Loyalty team on Friday evening, but he said that this needed to be passed to the Cancellations team. Left my details but awaiting their response (hopefully will contact me tomorrow).

[ferguson]

The only way to cancel is to speak to the loyalty team by calling 0345 172 0088, although they are closed today. This has been flagged to the support team here and they will advise further as soon as they can when they are back online from tomorrow.