Fibre 35 - Lost phone and DSL service overnight

[bassplayerchris]

Hi -

I renewed earlier this year (20th of March ) to get 18 months of Fibre 35 (contract runs till Sep 24).  Overnight (around 2pm) my DSL router lost sync.  When I looked at it this morning the line status showed up as 'silent', I check my landline, again dead.  Both services are provided over copper, to an openreach mk4+ master socket.

Talked to the chat support and kept getting passed between teams (well over an hour) until someone managed to create a ticket for me and told me to ring phone support.

When I rang I was put through to the Full Fibre team (which is ironic as when I previously tried to take CityFibre they were virtually impossible to contact) to be told that of the two systems they could see my line appeared to have been disconnected in one.  They kept asking if I wanted to go through to the sales team to restart my contract from scratch and I kept insisting that I hadn't cancelled (if  I had TT would have sent me notification of cancellation and billed me) and that they put me through to the Copper team.  This I managed after an hour and half after requesting an escalation repeatedly

I then spoke to a Technical Support person who assured me that they would reverse the disconnection in two/three days and to expect a call from someone senior in the team to tell me my service was back online.

Trouble is I'm not sure I completely believe them. Googling, a number of other people have had similar experiences, is there a particular team to whom I should be directing my queries?

[bassplayerchris]

Just to say the agent didn't call back that day but did the next and told me I had to call after a week.  I finally got through to them on my own initiative yesterday only to be told that yet again there was something wrong with their system and they needed to escalate and I would be called back today (although I have had no text from them to that effect).

Meanwhile I've got another text from talktalk saying that they are migrating me to CityFibre on the 15th of November - which is a, not possible as nothing has materially changed to cityfibre's wiring in my road and b, exactly the thing that triggered all this angst to start with.

[Arne-TalkTalk]

HI bassplayerchris

You have a callback booked for today, the agent should be able to sort out the bill. 

Regards

[bassplayerchris]

Looks like I've finally got my number back.  Although my bill is now littered with extra charges (such as reconnection, paper billing and so on) which I need to sort out.

[Arne-TalkTalk]

Hi bassplayerchris

There are no notes from the provisioning team, only the notes from the complaints team on your account. The complaints team will know the team responsible for seeing if the number can be ported back. 

[bassplayerchris]

Hi Chris -

One thing I did early on was make sure that as many conversation I had with support were via the chat app, and that I pasted the URL of this thread in each so that it would be included as part of any created ticket.

The loyalty team are currently calling me and asking specifics like 'what was the name of the provisioning team that said this?' is there any identifier/ticket number/department name I can pass on to them so that they can close the circle and get the information they seem to need?

[Arne-TalkTalk]

Keep us updated.

[bassplayerchris]

Hi -

The escalation manager was from the customer loyalty team and they hadn't heard of the possibility of porting a previous number across to the new service.  They've promised to talk to the provisioning team and give me a call back on Monday, but also mentioned 'but perhaps it's not possible and so you'd be due compensation' and so I fear the conversation not going towards the resolution I want.

[Arne-TalkTalk]

Let us know what happens after the call.

[bassplayerchris]

Anyway, my service is back, have been told loyalty can't do anything about putting me back on my previous tariff until 30 days are up, and in the meantime they have given me a one time credit, which is fair enough.

Still waiting for my number to be restored -- the last update was that a customer service manager would phone me and speak to me - although I haven't got an SMS with date and time like I have done previously.

[Karl-TalkTalk]

Hi

The sales teams are correct, the other teams such as Loyalty etc, can do little until there is a live account for them to access.

Karl.

[bassplayerchris]

Was put through to the sales team by the complaints manager, they said they would place a new order but I would then have to contact retentions to get my old number returned once my service went live, and talk to the loyalty department about getting the same cost for my contract again only once my service went live.

[bassplayerchris]

Thank you Chris - all your help is much appreciated.

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Hi Chris,

Just a quick update. Our provisioning team have said the best course of action would be for the Complaints agent when they call you, to put you through to sales, they can then place a new order for the service.  They've made provision to keep your telephone number. Apologies again for any inconvenience 

Chris

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Hi Chris,

No problem, happy to help 🙂

I'm just checking to see if there's anything we can do to expedite this. I'll let you know when I have any more information

Chris

[bassplayerchris]

Spent a few hours on the chat today being passed around between technical support and retentions, I managed to raise a complaint although the phone call has been scheduled by TalkTalk for the 12th, rather than 24-72 hours I was told by support.

Retentions seemed to think there was nothing they can do to expediate the restoration of my service until I speak to the complaints manager and offered me £30 towards the cost of a dongle for a month. 

[bassplayerchris]

Hi Chris -

Thanks for that, really appreciate the time you took to look into this form me.  I presume by raising a complaint you mean go via this procedure here?:

https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Articles/Raising-a-complaint/ta-p/2204670

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Hi bassplayerchris.

I've received an update from our provisioning team. The cease is linked to the cancelled Future Fibre order. Unfortunately when the Future Fibre order was cancelled the FTTC cease wasn't cancelled which is why the service is now ceased

I'm really sorry about this. The provisioning team have recommended raising this as a complaint as it's probably the best way to get your service restored. Apologies again for any inconvenience

Chris

[Chris-TalkTalk]

OK thanks, I'll check with our provisioning team and let you know when I receive an update

Chris

[bassplayerchris]

Sure - the cable layers for City Fibre had placed the drop for most of the properties on our road in the wrong spots on the pavement (using mine would have involved drilling through my neighbours front wall and cutting away part of my front hedge), the installation engineers took photos and sent them back to TalkTalk and CityFibre.

I rang talktalk technical support following this to detail what had happened, and to confirm that I'd be staying on my existing Fibre 35 contract.

[Chris-TalkTalk]

OK thanks. I can see that you previously had an order for our Future Fibre service which was cancelled, could I just ask why it was cancelled?

Chris