Very poor customer service - very unhappy

[Sausagedog1]

I currently have full fibre 500 and the phone over a separate copper line as VoIP was not available last time I upgraded. In early January I received a letter saying that the copper line was being discontinued and needs to contact talktalk to arrange a different package. I contacted talktalk and arranged to change to full fibre 500 with digital voice. I was unhappy to find I'd have to wait nearly a month to switch but as there was nothing I could do I excepted and received the new contract and engineers booking date on 9th Jan. Up until the 3 feb received emails about the new contract and had to confirm the open reach appointment etc. even received the digital voice adapter. All good so far, or so I thought. On the install day I had to book the morning off work. I moved all the furniture away from the sockets and connected the DVA as instructed to do so in the instructions. I wasnt sure what the engineer would do as I already had fibre coming into the house. I thought at the very least they would remove the copper line. Dead on 8oclock the engineer came and looked confused. Apparently he was expecting to install another fibre line. I told him that we were having the phone line transfered from copper to VoIP. He said he'd phone talktalk as he didn't need to do anything and all we needed to do was wait for talktalk to "press a button" to activate the VoIP on our fibre line. Having took the morning off work for no apparent reason I decided to contact talktalk because I'd waited a month for engineers visit and loss work for nothing. 

Since that morning I've spent around 10hrs in chat being transferred from one department to another trying to find out why the new package has not been activated. Over that period I have been told one thing by one person and another by another. I've been told that the engineer couldn't had been yet because the appointment is for the afternoon? That my contract has not gone through because open reach have cancelled the installation from there end and I'd have to redo the sign-up Process it's so frustrating having to repeat yourself over and over again. Reaching the end of my tether I was looking at swapping to another provider and I got through to someone who seemed to know what they were taking about. They said there was nothing wrong with my order and I'd just have to wait 7-10 days for my landline number to be transferred over to VoIP.she said that the copper line would remain usable until we receive a text/email saying our number has been transferred. 

I get home from work today and the phone lines dead. I tried ringing the number and it's engaged. Can't get hold of anyone in chat or helpline. What a joke.

[MrJFW]

I had an apologetic letter from TT explaining that the task was very big - that I should ignore ANY implementation dates given as they were proving unrealsitic - to be patient and to rest assured that I would not be suffering the threatened £12 charge for copper retention.

Why on earth TT didn't send out this letter a long time ago escapes me! If they had written earlier we would all stop pestering TT about dates and non-implementation.

John

[Gliwmaeden2]

Great to see that @Debbie-TalkTalk is already on the case!

[Gliwmaeden2]

The original complaint can't be dealt with by forum staff, @Sausagedog1, which is the disadvantage of going down the Complaints route so soon - that wasn't particularly good advice to follow. 

However, staff may be able to chase up the Complaints team to find out what has happened with their communications so that someone should contact you about this. 

The whole delay is typical of the switch to Full Fibre generally (not just with Talktalk either). A lot of these deadlines are seemingly plucked out of the air.  They look fine on paper but bear no relation to the sheer scale in terms of numbers to switch over in a given timescale when it comes to actually doing the work on the ground. 

I'll re-escalate this thread for you. You have been very patient, waiting all these weeks!

[Debbie-TalkTalk]

Hi Sausagedog1

I'm really sorry to hear this.

I can pass this to our CEO team to investigate, would you like me to arrange this?

[Sausagedog1]

Still no resolution, nearly three months later. Complaint raised end of Feb, given a CMP number but no one from talktalk has contacted me about the matter. All chasing has been done by me. On chat or phone keep getting told, got to wait 7-10 days or that they can't help as the case is with a case manager who is unable to be contacted?

[Sausagedog1]

Many thanks for the info. I'll start composing my complaint. I have 60 pages of chat tho go through!

Kind regards Teresa.

[MrJFW]

Apols - misspelt - it is Tristria Harrison

John.

PS: Read today's news about TT tying up with Kraken. A massive company with a most unfortunate name!

[MrJFW]

That's a sound approach. But before you go to OFCOM you could try these two methods:

1. Tell TT you are raising an official complaint. Large companies hate that, because they have to respond, and it involves them in doing some work. TT even provide a specific email ID to start that particular ball rolling: concerns@talktalkplc.com

You are advised to include:

• Your name
• The date your broadband problem started or occured
• Your TalkTalk phone number
• The names of any advisors you've already been in contact with
• A description of your complaint

You'll also need to include one of the following:

• The 3rd and 6th characters of your TalkTalk account password
• The answer to your personal security question
• The first line of your address and postcode on your account
• Your TalkTalk account number

2. Contact the chief executive - perhaps even mentioning adverse publicity! Long experience suggests lobbying the CE usually almost always works.

So an email to Tristia Harrison could go a long way. She is currently CE.

Try her email ID which is her name without gaps followed by at talktalk dot netfor luck! Sorry about the encoding.

john

[Sausagedog1]

Mr JFW, I'm in exactly the same boat as you. I received the same letter in early January, contacted them and thought everything would be sorted out on the 3rd Feb. It hasn't . I've been a talktalk customer for around 18 àyears!!! And get treated like this. Apparently there is a dedicated department that deals with the potting over. It's either the future fibre or copper leave behind team that you need to talk to. On Monday I spent four hours in chat, got passed around departments until someone from the loyalty department told me the form had been submitted and then closed the chat before I could ask how long I'd have to wait!! It's an astonishing terrible way to do business and annoy customers. send out letters instructing that you have options to either keep/change over to VoIP and then not to have the infrastructure on place to make the change. Where does the 7-10 days come from is it plucked out of the air, because I've read on here that people have been waiting months for VoIP. I went through the same as you 18 months ago being told I could upgrade from copper broadband to full fibre with VoIP, received everything I needed and then after a month being told that I couldn't have VoIP because it wasn't supported at the moment. I'm getting fed up with it, even community support have stop responding to me. I'm just looking into reporting this to ofcom!

[MrJFW]

Oh dear Sausagedog1 - you could be repeating my experience. OPENREACH fixed me up with full fibre - all very satisfactorily - nice high speed etc. TalkTalk kindly provided a Grandstream A to D converter and I was all set to go. "Ah no!" said TalkTalk "we are only setting up on VOIP NEW customers who go straight to fibre. in your case you have left behind copper, and we won't transfer you and port your number". Huh?? Whatever was the sense of that?? So - roll on 18 months and I now get a letter from TT. "If you don't allow us to port your landline to VOIP we are going to charge you an extra £12 for the copper line as well". Another no-brainer - that's what I wanted in the first place!!

So of course I signed up and was told to expect activation in 7-10 days.

Since then I have tried to get a date out of TT without success. Every time I blunder my way through the forest of automated agents and usually after about an hour I manage to get through to either an initial techie, or to the "Future Fibre" team, or the "Loyalty team"

 All very apologetic - but no real action. I cannot for the life of me work out why they are taking so long. And the scripts the agents are obliged to use ask some pretty nonsensical questions! I should know - in the past I have had to write scripts for agents!

Very fed up now. Any sensible suggestions??

[Sausagedog1]

After spending another few hours on the chat they managed to reconnect my phone. As to why my intail order for full fibre VoIP has been cancelled, I am none the wiser. On the 9th January I agreed to the following:"Teresa : 18:31, Jan 9 Wandile: Thank you, I have successfully upgraded your package to Full
Fibre 500 VoIP plan at £31.00 with the UK calls boost at £5.00 for a duration of 24 months.
Thank you very much for your patience throughout the chat, I'd like to know if there is
perhaps anything else you would like me to advise you of today? 18:33, Jan 9 Teresa : No that's
it thanks, have a good day." The go live date was Feb 03. I'm now being told that I have to wait 7-10days to be ported over to VoIP and when it does swap get back In touch and they will honour the price. and It's now been 10 days and I've had no SMS or email as advised. I'd like to add at no time have I been told that this upgrade has been cancelled, I have never instructed talktalk to cancel the order, and I have received emails and text messages up until the 3rd telling me what to expect and to confirm open reach appointments. I've been waiting since 9th of January, that's over a month now, why haven't talktalk got there act together. Once up and running I can't fault the service but come change over or contract update I constantly have problems.

[Sausagedog1]

Afteranptjer few hours on the chat they managed to reconnect my phone. As to why my intail order for full fibre VoIP has been cancelled, I am none the wiser. On the 9th January I agreed to the following:"Teresa : 18:31, Jan 9 Wandile: Thank you, I have successfully upgraded your package to Full
Fibre 500 VoIP plan at £31.00 with the UK calls boost at £5.00 for a duration of 24 months.
Thank you very much for your patience throughout the chat, I'd like to know if there is
perhaps anything else you would like me to advise you of today? 18:33, Jan 9 Teresa : No that's
it thanks, have a good day." The go live date was Feb 03. I'm now being told that I have to wait 7-10days to be ported over to VoIP and when it does swap get back In touch and they will honour the price. and It's now been 10 days and I've had no SMS or email as advised. I'd like to add at no time have I been told that this upgrade has been cancelled, I have never instructed talktalk to cancel the order, and I have received emails and text messages up until the 3rd telling me what to expect and to confirm open reach appointments. 

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Our provisioning team have confirm that the VoIP order was cancelled but you landline service should still be working as it's showing active. Is it still not working today?

Chris

[Chris-TalkTalk]

Hi Sausagedog1,

I'll check this with our provisioning team and get back to you

Chris

[ferguson]

No worries, you should get a response here tomorrow.

[Sausagedog1]

That's the first thing I tried, but there's no dial tone on either. If someone could look in to it I would be greatful, thanks

[ferguson]

It may be that the switch has occurred, have you tried using the VoIP service?

If you would like the support team here to look into this for you make sure that your personal details including TalkTalk phone number 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.