Sorting out account issues for elderly relative

[NeilM]

I hope that this is the right place to come for advice. My late father in law, who died some five years ago had set up a Talktalk account for email and internet access. It appears that he arranged for a second phone line into the house. His wife is now very old, with serious loss of memory and my wife has been granted financial power of attorney to help manage her affairs.

We find that she is paying direct debits for what appears to be two TalkTalk accounts (£38 and £51 per month) plus a BT line rental of some £60 a month for a line that does not match the usual house phone number. We assume that this must be for the second (internet) line connection.

We cannot find any paperwork, with any record of passwords. We need to rationalise the situation. My mother in law is paying a very large amount of money, every month, for internet that she cannot use, due to her mental state.  There appears to be an email set up which she does not use. The only things that may possibly be connected to the broadband connection are a "24hr fall alarm" and, maybe, something linked to a Sky TV account. She does not appear to need a second phone line, as it should be possible to set up a modem/router on the primary phone line of the house.

Is there anyone who can advise us how to sort this out? Who do we speak to? I hope that someone, here, can help. Thanks

[Gliwmaeden2]

Just click on Arne's image and his profile description will show up, @NeilM.

Click on the blue SEND MESSAGE button to start your message. 

Replies will be indicated by a number top right by your profile image and alerted to you by email. When signed into the forum just click the email link to get to replies or top right on the message envelope when using forum pages. 

[NeilM]

Hi.  pm means private message, right. Just trying to remember how to do this.

[Arne-TalkTalk]

HI NeilM

Can you pm me the account numbers you have please, so I can look into this and try to give you as much info as Im allowed too until the POA is processed. 

[Gliwmaeden2]

I escalated this at 10am, @NeilM.

If the PoA papers have not been processed, there is nothing staff can currently do.

Please don't post further however until they respond on here, as the extra posts delay the progress of the thread in the queue for attention. 

It's not real time dialogue usually. 

[NeilM]

I would be grateful if this could be prioritised. We have submitted the power-of-attorney paperwork, as requested, but cannot get any answers on when it will be processed by TalkTalk. Until we are given access to these accounts, we cannot work out what phone line or internet services are associated with what billing account. As I have said previously, several of the devices attached to the phone line, that seems to be under a TalkTalk contract, are Life-Critical for the vulnerable, elderly person at this address. We cannot take the risk of having them disconnected while TalkTalk sorts out the accounts for us. Thank you.

[Gliwmaeden2]

I'll re-escalate this for you as we are getting close to the end of the week, and there won't be staff support over the weekend, @NeilM.

Some confusion here as you describe bills for TWO Talktalk accounts in your first post and yet there was BT line rental too. Very odd.

[NeilM]

This is getting ever more complicated. A letter arrived yesterday, addressed to my late father-in-law (who died five years ago) This was a TalkTalk pro-forma letter (Everything you need to know before you go) , saying that TT had been informed that broadband services were being transferred to another provider and that the TT account would be terminated after payment of final bill. The letter references the second phoneline that was connected to the house, but this was not a TT provided line - it was under BT and they have been billing quarterly for this, right up to this month. Nobody has requested a change of broadband supplier, at this time.

If this account is terminated, it appears that it will result in loss of the landline phone, the emergency pendant alarm service and Sky TV, all of which are connected to the other phone line, which is provided by TT. This is a serious matter, as the occupant of the house is registered as a vulnerable person, with serious disabilities, dependant on round-the-clock care. Loss of these landline services will result in a severe risk to life.

Is it possible to move this conversation to a private channel? It will be easier to provide information and details that I cannot put into a public Community discussion. Thank you.

[NeilM]

Hi Arne,

The PoA form and details were sent on Monday. A generic response email was returned, with a TalkTalk Case ID that I have now recorded in my private info section of my Profile.  How long will it take before we can start to sort this out?  Thanks/

[Gliwmaeden2]

@NeilM, there are only two companies out there offering landline only deals. Not much cheaper than maintaining a Broadband inclusive package, and it's possible to get the landline calls boost at a discount sometimes with Talktalk.

Your mother in law would need to know that she should stop a call before 60 minutes are up, to avoid charges.

Without the boost, or for any minutes over the hour with a boost, she will clock up a bill at 24p per minute for ordinary 01, 02 and 03 landline numbers and mobiles. 

[NeilM]

Hi Arne,

Thank you. We will get the PoA issue sorted, then come back to this discussion. I note your comments about "landline only" service being unavailable and will take this into consideration when we make a decision about how to change the contract. Speak soon.

[Arne-TalkTalk]

We cant really discuss much until the POA is received, what I can advise is the don't provide a Landline only service all packages are bundled, from the information in your original post the accounts are probably out of contract and therefore paying full price with no discounts.   Once the POA is actioned the loyalty team will be able to look into what savings can be made. 

[NeilM]

Hi Arne,

I have now added the confidential information requested to Private Notes in my profile.  I am not sure how far I can get, until TalkTalk get the Power of Attorney document.  Our aim is to simplify the account and reduce cost to my mother-in-law. She only really needs a landline with basic phone, as she is unable to use internet or email, in her current mental state. I am hoping that TalkTalk can change account to just providing landline phone, without "added trimmings", which may be on current contract. Thanks.

[NeilM]

Hi Arne,

Thank you for this. I have got the email. I want to add the confidential details, as requested below.  When it refers to "Profile", is this my profile, as accessed  from the icon at the top right hand corner of the screen?

We have now found the paperwork from the original setting up of this account with Tiscali, including a password. However, if I try to use the TalkTalk on-line MyAccount log-in, it comes back with a pop-up - "Unable to find details... technical problems...Try later". I have seen this before when trying to access my own TalkTalk account through this portal.

[Arne-TalkTalk]

Hi @NeilM  I have emailed you the power of attorney form for the TalkTalk service. 

[Gliwmaeden2]

You need to send Power of Attorney documentation to each company that your wife deals with on behalf of your mother in law, @NeilM. 

Talktalk outlines the procedure here:

https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Articles/Power-of-Attorney-Authority-to-Act/ta-p/2205181

In the short term it might help if you add the details of your mother in law in Private Notes. In the profile area, go via settings and Personal Information and you'll find Private Notes at the end of that section. SAVE CHANGES. 

It sounds like one of the lines was on an old legacy tariff, probably long since out of contract and with separate charge for line rental. 

Remember that in the not so distant future, we are all going to have to ditch copper landlines, so you will need to look into the implications of this for her set up with the 24 hr fall alarm etc.

Regardless of which line is kept, the infrastructure is going to have to change in the next couple of years or so.

Staff will reply during the week.