My wife and I bought, and moved in to a new build property in December 06, and tried to get Broadband through Sky, but were told it wasn't available in our area for a few months. Soon after, Talk Talk were in the area trying to get people to leave BT. They offered us the free broadband, and it looked like a great deal. My wife signed an 18 month contract, and our phone line was switched over to Talk Talk within a few weeks.

We have waited and waited to get the broadband connected, and have been using dial-up in the meantime, at a cost of £300 to £400 per bill!!!. As both my wife and I need broadband for our work, we have had to do it this way. She is on maternity leave now, and not earning, so the last bill of £488 has remained unpaid, and we have been cut off as a result. During this time, the status of our order on the Talk Talk website has altered drastically, and we have been given at least 3 "go live" dates, none of which have come to fruition. My wife has made many calls to Talk Talk, most being answered from South Africa, and has had various levels of success from people sympathising and apologising, to being told "why are you complaining, the broadband is free!!". What broadband? The only reason we switched was to get free broadband in the first place. Despite being polite but firm, my wife has been blatantly hung-up on a number of times, or put on hold for 5 minutes, followed by the line going dead, and enough is enough.

Originally we were told that the modem had been sent out, and would arrive just after our go live date. 4 of these never turned up, and another was always sent (apparently). We are now back to stage one of 5 on their order tracking page of the talk talk website, having initially ordered in Feb 07, and when my wife phoned them again last week she was told "Good news, we have a date for your broadband. May 2008." May 08? That's at least 15 months after we switched to them. What a joke. Part of me things they're totally incompetent, and the rest of me things they just want us to keep spending huge amounts on phone bills, made all the more insulting because we have a new baby to care for.

We've tried to get our internet elsewhere, and just ride out the contract for the phoneline, but have been told we need a BT line, and the Talk Talk line won't allow us to get broadband from any other suppliers, so we're stuck between a rock and a hard place, with no liklihood of getting broadband for at least another 7 months. We know our neighbours have all got broadband, mainly with BT, so surely it can't be too much of a problem to sort it out.

Despite promises of someone in authority contacting us, no one has, and I've emailed my disgust to Talk Talk via their website, still awaiting a response. I have also been in touch with BBC Watchdog, who have had similar complaints, and I have told Talk Talk I am seeking my broadband to be connected ASAP, or my contract to be cancelled, and regardless of the outcome, at least 50% back on my bills, both paid and the current, outstanding one, and a bloody good apology, as a minimum. I have also threatened to contact OFT & OFCOM about them, none of which have sped up the complaints process.

I really feel that we are being messed about and strung along. It's also evident that their internal communication is next to useless. The best we've been offered (3 days ago), was £100 off our current bill, despite paying well over £1,500 in phone bills in 8 months! Despite their claims that they'd keep us informed through every step of the process, which, and on heart, I can say is utter tripe, all they seem interested in is promising us we'll have BB is "15 days" everytime we phone, and taking the payment from our over-inflated phone bills.

Is it true that with a Talk Talk phoneline I can only get broadband from them?

Is there any way of getting out of the contract which has another 10 months or so to run, without getting charged?

Are they winding me up, or are they really this useless?

My mother switched to Talk Talk before we did, and had a fault on her line. It took weeks to get them out. They kept telling her that the fault was nothing to do with them, and that if they did come out (which they still refused to do), she would have to foot the bill WHEN they proved it wasn't at their end. As the fault had occured after heavy snow fall, I urged my mother to keep on at them. Eventually they came out, and as suspected, the fault was traced to a line outside her front door that had become loose under the heavy snow. She didn't receive an apology or prompt service, and looking at various forums we are far from alone.

Any advice or help would be gladly received.