What do you think?

TalkTalk have finally got their act together and I now have broadband internet access at home.  About bloody time, too. 

I have been without internet access - whilst continuing to be being billed by them - for the last two months.  I have made around 30 phone calls to try to sort this out, have been kept on hold for hours, and had to re-explain the situation every time I phoned up.  I have continued to pay for a patchy dial-up service in order to have some kind of internet access, hurried back home to wait for a delivery that never arrived, and waited in all morning for a courier who didn’t turn up.  L. has had to go into the office rather than work from home on a number of occasions.

They have offered some compensation:

  • Refund for the two months I was paying for internet access but had no service
  • A further two months free
  • Refund of the cost the modem (£55) 
  • £30

I have no idea whether this is fair.  What do you think?  Should I accept this or take it further?  All thoughts welcome!

By the way, I said I wouldn’t moan about TalkTalk anymore, so apologies!  But, if you think I’m bad, you should check this out.  This woman has written a whole 15 months’ worth of blog about them …

August 26, 2007. Moany cow.

10 Comments

  1. Brennig replied:

    Wow!

    I didn’t expect I’d ever find a company on a par with Orange!

    Having read your link though, it looks as though once you’re a customer the problems don’t necessarily go away…

    August 26, 2007 at 7:15 am. Permalink.

  2. stratfordgirl replied:

    Oh dear — I do hope not, Brennig. Can’t face having to go through all that again!

    August 26, 2007 at 11:08 am. Permalink.

  3. pierre l replied:

    Assuming that they actually give you what they’re promising (and you seem a bit unlucky with that…), that’s probably the best you are going to get. I think the problem with most, if not all ISPs, is that things pretty well run themselves and they don’t have enough staff to cope when they do go wrong. You don’t need to be shy about complaining to us - it’s useful background info, and we don’t have to read it if we don’t want to.

    I am going to throw another link at you:
    http://www.thinkbroadband.com/
    This is a source of info I have been using for years. You might find the “Round-up of customer service ratings” dated 20 August particularly interesting, but it is a good source of news about the broadband world. Since portions of my own ISP (Pipex) have recently been sold, I am wondering how long my presently reliable connection and e-mail are going to stay that way.

    August 26, 2007 at 11:32 am. Permalink.

  4. stratfordgirl replied:

    Thanks for the link, Pierre. Wish I had consulted something like that before I signed up for TalkTalk. Although, it seems that they have improved quite a lot in the last few months.

    I have now joined Which? (they’re doing a month’s free trial at the moment) and that seems to be a good source of info, too. Which? reckon that Zen and Waitrose are the best ISPs at the moment … Waitrose actually donate part of their profit to charity, which I like the idea of. Other than that, I think most of them are just in it for the money and don’t give a stuff about their customers.

    August 26, 2007 at 7:39 pm. Permalink.

  5. Despina replied:

    Well on the plus side at least they offered you something. But I still think you should take a leaf out of Bogey Boyfriend’s book and send them a nice surprise! That’s what I’d do anyway, teehee!
    Gosh, 15 months, I’ll have to head over there now!

    August 27, 2007 at 12:06 pm. Permalink.

  6. stratfordgirl replied:

    Bogie boyfriend - he he. I wonder whether googling those words would lead to me…? I think I’ll try it now!

    August 27, 2007 at 12:07 pm. Permalink.

  7. Despina replied:

    OMG it’s an actual blog devoted to TalkTalk! awww, how angsty! You could start one about Fox’s biscuits…

    August 27, 2007 at 12:08 pm. Permalink.

  8. stratfordgirl replied:

    I know - slightly over the top, n’est-ce pas?

    August 27, 2007 at 12:15 pm. Permalink.

  9. Mya replied:

    Well, I think you deserve congratulations for getting all that out of the useless buggers. I’d accept their offer pdq before they change their minds. You have to bear in mind that I live in France where (in my experience)the notion of Customer Service is greeted with snorts of derision, so my opinion is probably a bit embittered. Although I’d love to check out the blog link, I can’t. My dial-up service is SO BLOODY DIABOLICAL I’m having to restrict myself to absolutely essential page visits only to avoid dying of frustration-induced-apoplexy - so consider yourself flattered!

    Mya x

    August 27, 2007 at 2:09 pm. Permalink.

  10. stratfordgirl replied:

    Aaaah - thanks Mya. I do consider myself flattered! Can’t you get broadband where you are?

    August 27, 2007 at 2:18 pm. Permalink.

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