Help needed please, possibly from Arne.
On 16/11/24 I was emailed a TalkTalk bill which showed a 77% increase! Because I'm in contract until April '25 and had no email to advise of change, this seemed such a blatant, simple error that I took it up by doing an online chat to the accounts department. Not only was I still in contract but the bill and payment demand came outside of the 10 working day notice period that is part of the Direct Debit Guarantee. On the evening of 17/11/24, I chatted with Melwyn who advised that my bill was a result of a computer error and that he would "escalate" it so that the bill would be corrected within 5 days and, by implication, I would go back to my normal monthly payment. He even offered me £5 for the trouble caused. I said that if the bill wasn't corrected by 21/11/24, to avoid getting charged by my bank for a direct debit collection which would push the account over my overdraft limit, I would cancel the direct debit, make a card payment when the bill was corrected and set up a new direct debit for the future. Because of the lack of time left before my direct debit was due to leave my bank account, and having dealt with TalkTalk accounts department before, I asked for an extension on the direct debit date to allow TalkTalk to get its house in order before claiming the corrected bill. . So far, so good. Melwyn finished off by saying he couldn't do anything about the direct debit date but I could deal with that by chatting on the following morning, 18/11/24.
This morning 18/11/24 I started a chat with Adil. He mentioned a figure of £104.82 owing. That meant that the £5 inconvenience credit had been applied to the incorrect bill. I asked for my direct debit to be changed to 29/11/24. Adil ignored the fact that we were both looking at an incorrect bill, suggested if the money was too much for me to pay, I should cancel one of the numbers on my account. Oh dear. Not willing to be drawn into such a diversion. I insisted that changing the direct debit was what I was online for. I was transferred to Angel and repeated my request. I stopped the chat when he asked for bank account details, data that TalkTalk have had for many years. Was he going to set up another direct debit? Why couldn't he change the direct debit date? It's clear that neither operative had looked any chat transcript or understood my problem. I'm now looking to the Community for a more sensible, reasoned approach to dealing with TalkTalk's billing error.
What would I like to happen? Look at my October bill, which is correct, and send me the same figures on a November bill, less £10 (the promised £5 for each number). Please do this so I don't have to cancel my direct debit and risk loss of service. Thank you for reading this.
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hawaye
Mornington Crecent County Champion 1975, 1976, 1978
