I'm having terrible problems with my broadband and have decided to try this forum as a last resort, as I have been advised this method often gets better results than the shambolic and dire telephone "helpline".
What should have been a straightforward problem to fix has turned into a nightmare as nobody at TalkTalk seems capable of putting this right. It's been a long and gruelling process, but I'll try to keep things brief.
11th march
Contact TalkTalk to inform them I have no broadband signal. I have to go through a 40 minutes conversation where I have to do all the usual box ticking exercises such as check my connections, are the lights green on my router and performing a reset of my router. All of this failed to resolve my problem, so an engineer was scheduled to visit on 12th March.
12th March
No engineer comes to my house. I look at my emails and TalkTalk sent an email to confirm the visit on 12th March, then one minute later sent an email to say the problem was resolved????? What is going on????? Subsequent phone call to TalkTalk and they wouldn't help me unless I went through the process again of checking my setup, which was another 40 minute call, but eventually TalkTalk agree to rearrange the visit but say it won't be until 21st March which is a week away.
21st March
Engineer arrives with a TalkTalk router and says he will connect it up to the test socket, which he does but confirms to me what I've been telling TalkTalk all along, that I have no incoming signal. He says he will pass it on to Open Reach and leaves.
A little while later I get an email from TalkTalk saying the problem is resolved???????? No it's not, so I phone them only to be told I once again have to perform all these checks again, such as check my cables and reset my router. I tell the person on the phone that the engineer has confirmed the problem is not in my setup, but I'm told they can't arrange further help unless I do this. Another 45 minute phone call eventually ends with a visit from OpenReach being arranged on 22nd March.
22nd March
Open Reach engineer arrives, performs some tests and tells me the fault is at the exchange. He heads to the exchange and about an hour later is back in touch to say he has found the fault but it's with TalkTalks equipment within the exchange. He says he can't repair equipment that is not Open Reach, so will pass on a report to TalkTalk who will arrange the repair.
A little while later I get another email from TalkTalk to say the problem is resolved, which, of course, it isn't. With a heavy heart I once again call TalkTalk and explain the situation. Once again they want me to perform all these basic tests and say they can't help me unless I do this. I can't understand how an Open Reach engineer can pinpoint the cause of the problem, but TalkTalk require me to go through this series of basic checks before they will do anything.
At the end of this 40 minute call I'm then told the problem is with my setup??????????
I ask how can this be the case when I have just had an engineer find the fault at the exchange, but TalkTalk ask me to hold, and then after waiting for another ten minutes, I get cut off.
By this point, I'm rapidly loosing the will to live..
I decide my only option now is to cancel, which I do , but I'm told I must give notice and keep paying until late April. That's right, keep paying for a service I have not had for over two weeks because of TalkTalk and their faulty equipment. I follow up my cancellation with an email highlighting my experience..
23rd March
I receive a call from TalkTalk offering to put things right (no mention of compensation though, which I'm now aware I am legally entitled to via Ofcom rules, and will be pursuing). I agree to give TalkTalk another chance to sort this out, and another Open Reach engineer is arranged for 24th March.
24th March
Open Reach perform more tests at my house and arrive at the same conclusion as the previous engineer, and tell me the fault is at the exchange. After visiting the exchange the very helpful engineer comes back to my house a couple of hours later to tell me the fault is definitely with TalkTalks equipment. They went on to say the problem is easy to fix, but requires TalkTalk to carry out some procedures, and that they had spoken to various people at TalkTalk to try to get this done, but had basically hit a brick wall and were unable to restore my broadband as a result of this. The engineer said they had submitted a very detailed report of the situation, but without participation from TalkTalk their hands are tied.
I then await a response from TalkTalk. Email??????? Phonecall??????? No, just total silence.
If someone at TalkTalk reads this and thinks they can help then please do, but this experience has left me emotionally drained and the thought of another phone call is enough to trigger PTSD.
Sorry about the length of this post, but it's been such a drawn out ordeal there really was no way to condense things.
