Broadband disconnected for no reason and been in endless live chat loop for 4+ hours

[unhappycustomer123]

Came home from work today to find my broadband connection was not working. After following the usual diagnostics tests and running an online connection test the issue was not resolved. I started a live chat with the Technical Team and over the course of a very frustrating evening I was passed to around 20 different agents from various teams and the issue has still not been resolved. For context, I have an active Fibre 65 package that ends in October 2025.

At 16:52 I first spoke to the Technical Team who carried out some tests on our line and concluded that "the service test identified a provisioning issue so we're unable to continue diagnostics; Openreach have no details for this service. Please stay connected as I transfer you to our Full Fibre Order Management team".

At 17:29 I spoke to the Order Management Team said that there was a pending Full Fibre order on my account which I had absolutely no knowledge of. We were offered the Full Fibre upgrade earlier this year, but we declined. They said the order was pending for January 2025. I requested to cancel the order as I had never placed it. 

At 17:54 I was put through to the Full Fibre Loyalty Team who advised that my Fibre 65 connection is still active and there is no disconnection on the account. They then said that there had been a change of package on the account so would need to pass me back to the Order Management Team.

At 18:07 I spoke to someone from the Order Management Team (again) who advised that they would pass me to the relevant team to cancel my new order and restart my original order. Guess what, that team was the Full Fibre Loyalty Team. 

At 18:22 I was put back through to the Full Fibre Loyalty Team who again confirmed that my Fibre 65 package is active. They also advised that there was a pending order for Full Fibre 150. Again I explained I had no knowledge of this order and could they please cancel the order. The agent cancelled the order and advised that I would need to be passed back to the Technical Team to investigate my connection issues.

At 19:00 I was back to Technical Support who did exactly the same line tests as before. This time they asked for some photos of our router and master socket which I provided. They advised after some tests that they "do not have data here under copper line" (whatever that means). So they passed me to...guess who....the Order Management Team again. 

At 19:24 I spoke to someone from the Order Management Team who almost instantly sent me back to the Technical Team. They carried out the same line tests (again), asked the same questions (again) and advised that "After conducting careful investigation on your service, I have identified that the cease order that's been placed along with the full fibre order has been completed. This means that your copper line broadband has been disconnected. No worries. We can rectify this and reconnect your service with this. In this case, I will be requesting to process for reconnection by our Sales team".

At 20:06 I spoke to someone from the Sales Team who tried to sell me a new broadband package, however I explained that I already had a broadband package and that I was having issues with my connection. They advised that they couldn't help and sent me back to.....the Technical Team!

At 20:22 the Technical Team carried out the SAME line tests, asked the SAME questions and asked me to wait while the router tried to reconnect. Lo and behold the router doesn't connect and we still have no broadband connection. They then advised that they would transfer me to the relevant team as the issue is "beyond their scope". 

At 20:55 I was a transferred to the Full Fibre Technical Team (ooooh a new team this time). Who advised that as my package was under the copper line service they wouldn't be able to help so would pass me to the correct team. 

At 21:02 I was connected to someone in the Copper Line Technical Department who carried out a service test that determined there was a "provisioning issue, so we are unable to continue with the diagnostics. Openreach does not have any details for this service". Wait a minute, that sounds familiar. Oh yeah, that's pretty much word for word the same as I was advised about 4 hours ago! They said there was an unexpected cancellation and Openreach shows the service as cancelled. They sent me to..............the Order Management Team.

At 21:19 my Live Chat and my sanity came to an abrupt ending. I still have no internet and no closer to knowing what is causing it.

Is anyone able to shed light on what might be happening with my broadband connection? Is there any reason why my connection would have been disconnected without any reason or warning? What is the purpose of the Live Chat apart from driving customers to the point of despair? Is there a better way to get in touch with TalkTalk to resolve this or are the other communication channels equally as maddening? 

[unhappycustomer123]

Update: called Customer Service this morning who advised that the issue is related to the rogue Full Fibre order on my account that I had absolutely no knowledge of. I was under the impression the order had been cancelled yesterday by an agent on the live chat, however I was advised that this was not the case and that the order was still pending on my account. The person on the phone spoke to another team to get the order cancelled and then advised me that because of the pending order my current service had been disconnected and that I would need to set up a new broadband package with a new line. I was then put through to someone in the sales team to go through the whole rigmarole of setting up a new broadband package as if I was a new customer and was then advised that I would have to wait for an engineer to visit to set up the new connection with the earliest date being the 22nd October!  I asked to speak to a manager as this is not acceptable when I had been disconnected without any warning and they advised that they would put a note on my account to request an earlier engineer visit, but they couldn't give any indication of when this would be, and that I would need to contact the Order Management team once my Welcome Pack arrives to arrange the visit. So now I'm left with no internet connection, I've had to set up a new broadband package with a new contract, I've had to change my landline number, I've got to wait god knows how many days until my Welcome Pack arrives to arrange an engineer visit and I still have absolutely no idea why there was a pending order for Full Fibre on my account and why this has resulted in me being cut off without notice. Absolutely disgraceful behaviour on the part of TalkTalk. I mostly work from home and I am now left hotspotting my mobile data until this gets sorted, whenever that will be. This is the last straw in a long line of issues I've had with TalkTalk. Time to look elsewhere I think.

[ferguson]

If you would like the support team to look into this for you make sure that your personal details including TalkTalk phone number and/or account number are complete on your community profile (click here) so that they can link your forum identity with your account and then wait for them to respond.