Tried to Cancel my Contract Unsuccessfully

[Parksyde]

I called today to cancel the contract in a 2nd home that I am selling.

After explaining the situation for the third time after being passed from one department to another the phone went dead for another 25 minutes before I called time.

I'm not going to play this game any more!

I have informed TalkTalk I want to cancel and they have been unhelpful, I have no recourse but to cancel the direct debit otherwise they will go on charging me for a service that is not being used.

What else could I do?

[Parksyde]

Thanks for your advice @Gliwmaeden2 .

It was quite stressful so its good to get it sorted.

[Gliwmaeden2]

Good to see that it was an effective tactic, @Parksyde.

That complaints address is not usually so quick off the mark.

Accounts has been not processing cancellations very efficiently in rather too many cases of late, so it may be that the complaints department is ready to pounce when problems are reported.

What a relief for you to get it sorted. Sad that it was such a hurdle in the first place. 

[Parksyde]

I eventually found an email address for them, concerns@talktalkplc.com .

I emailed explaining my lack of success on the phone and requesting that they cancel the contract.

Within an hour they had phoned back, arranged the cancellation and waived the termination fee as I am a loyal customer.

Now why could they not have done that over the phone?

I shan't bother to phone or chat in future, its a waste of time.

[Gliwmaeden2]

The address is there in the Ts&Cs, @Parksyde. Get a certificate of posting for anything that you send to Talktalk. 

There will also be a router or any equipment to send back - they should send you returns bags for anything they deem to be their property. 

[Parksyde]

I understand the Ts&Cs and I don't care what the 'team' is called I just want to make it happen and after an hour on the phone it still didn't.

Maybe I should just write to them if i can find the right address

[Gliwmaeden2]

When you tell them you are wanting to cancel, their brief is to ask you why and try to make you stay etc. They are called the LOYALTY team / retentions for a reason!

You still have to observe the notice period  / early termination fee regardless of the fact that you are selling and the service can't then be used by you.

Read the Ts&Cs for clarification (see the link at the foot of the page), @Parksyde.

[Parksyde]

So they have me over a barrel!

All I want is to cancel it (and I'm tempted to cancel my main account too after this treatment) but getting them to understand that and just do it seems impossible.

I don't need this stress so I'm going to raise a formal complaint.

[Gliwmaeden2]

You'll have to keep paying until you get a final bill ( or you will clock up extra fees and a bad credit record), @Parksyde.

03451 720088 will be open on Saturday 9am till 6pm.

If you are still within contract, you will be charged early termination fees. If simply on a rolling contract, 30 days' notice is required. 

If the buyer is interested they could take on ownership from you - both parties need to complete forms ("CHANGE OF OWNERSHIP"). Or if they want to use another ISP that uses Openreach, and use that phone line, their order would flag up "sorry you are leaving us" and you could reply that you intend to leave so the service can be taken over by another ISP.

So various ways of doing it but they don't include simply cancelling your Direct Debit.