My broadband contract is up soon and I am looking to leave my current provider for many reasons which I will not bore you all with. Talk Talk are one of three providers who have contacted and offered me the option to switch to their services, both broadband and telephone.

I am trying to gage some opinion on the broadband packages they offer as well as overall customer service. I have learnt in the past a little research can save a lot of hassle.

Hello Moneysaver,

Just thought I would say hello, if you have any specific questions about TalkTalk let me know.

Thanks

Stephen Fell

One of my specialist subjects... Good old TalkTalk.

This company cost me more time and effort than ANY company I have EVER dealt with. Once up and running, the broadband is good. But getting to that stage will cost you most of your hair....

They will tell you a 'go live' date. That will come and go without a word from them (probably more than once like me), so you'll have to phone them - which is the fun part. You are on hold (with one song repeating) forever. I have spent well over 60 minutes at a time waiting for them to pick up the call. And once you're through, don't expect that a) They will understand what you are talking about or b) you will understand much of what they are saying.

It's all well and good offering low prices by keeping your overheads low, but I am opposed to companies having call centres in the Middle East if the operators don't have at least a fair command of the English language. Using this company seems like false economy to me. The pennies you may save in a month are NOT worth the headache if something goes wrong.

I moved to Sky, as I'm a subscriber, and they do TV, phone and broadband at a very reasonable fee. And their call centres are in Scotland. One minor problem (ever) sorted in one five minute call and they sent me a £10 voucher for the inconvenience. That's customer service.

Rob

DON'T DO IT!

I've been with TalkTalk for almost a year now and as soon as my contract is up I'm off! The broadband dips in and out especially at early evenings and weekends; think it's when the kids get home from school, all on MSN! I've phoned their so called customer service on numerious occasions and had to listen to the 'poems' of Roger McGough on a loop for upto half an hour at a time. If this isn't punnishment enough, I then have to try and decipher instructions given by call staff based in Mumbai. Their answer to every problem seems to be; unplug everything and re-plug it back in, then if the problem still persists, unplug it all again and swap the apperatus around and plug it into different sockets. If you ask to speak to somebody with more technical knowhow and a better command of the English language, you're given a number to ring. It just happens to be the number you rang in the first place to get through to the incompetent fool on the other end of the line!

Now that's just the broadband. Earlier this week the police knocked at my door at 8am to ask me about an emergency 999 call that had been received from my house phone. As I was alone in the house at the time I was amazed to be confronted with this question, when I then lifted the phone receiver the line was dead. This thankfully convinced the police I had not made the 999 call and they went on their way. Because I also pay my line rental to TalkTalk, I once again spent the best part of an hour, this time using my mobile,ringing and then listening to Roger's inane excuse for poetry, Mumbai trying to get the problem sorted; I might as well not bothered, as once again the answer was to unplug and re-plug phones in and out of the wall sockets. Could I speak to a supervisor? No, but I was offered a number to call! Yes, you've guessed, the same one I'd dialed on my mobile 40 minutes ago to speak to this moron. I could go on but as my internet connection is OK at the moment I'm going to get some work done while I can!

So if you take my advice pay a little extra and get the service you deserve, not the disservice that comes with a TalkTalk contract!

Glad I'm not the only one! Though the 999 call does sound serious. I think the moral to the story is the same though. Cheap is what we're all after, but there has to be a balance with the old adage, "you get what you pay for".

Hello Able1,

I am sorry to hear about the problmes you have had, if you would like me to investigate further please drop me an email:

stephen.fell AT cpwplc.com

Thanks
Stephen

I was thinking about changing my broadband provider, so when I got an (unasked for) call from a TalkTalk salesman late one night when I was tired and not my usual sharp self, after a bit of persuasion, I signed up for their Global and weekend package. The next day I did some online research, and the results weren't good. I decided maybe it wasn't such a good idea, so I e-mailed them and told then I wanted to cancel the agreement. I followed that up with a letter, confirming my decision. No response. Then I got a letter from them saying my present connection would be terminated at the end of the month, and they would take over. There was an enquiry number to ring, so I got on the phone. About half an hour later, I finally got through to someone in god-knows-where who didn't seem to understand what I was saying. He asked me to hold - and cut me off! I tried again. another 20 mins, then asked to hold while he put me through to cancellations. Again cut off! Try once more. Twenty minutes later, again asked to hold. I did, for about 10 minutes, then I got to speak to another moron who said he couldn't cancel my order, I needed to speak to cancellations! I demanded to speak to a manager/supervisor/whatever, and after another 10 mins, a woman came on the line and asked me what my problem was! I gave her my details, and told her to sort it out as I wasn't waiting any longer.She asked me why I wanted to cancel, and I said the last hour and a half had convinced me I'd made the right decision. She started to make excuses, and offered me a months free connection, but I'd had enough. TalkTalk? More like WaitWait!

I had one of their phone deals, with cheap calls to New Zealand, but I've cancelled that as well now. One quick call to BT, and it was all sorted.

I have just received an unsolicited call from Talk Talk offerring a 'reduction in my call charges and free broadband'. I think it was all for £20 p.m. which does appear very good. I was interested.

I asked about download capacity (40 GB) which he said was more than all the episodes of Friends!! He then said he would pass me over to someone to complete the contract.I said hold on, can you send me some written details so I can weigh it all up.

Initially he said that he had told me all there was to know,then when I said I wasn't interested he said,he would e mail something and call me back in an hour.I said I wanted till at least tomorrow. He then literally started shouting that this was a special telephone offer only available to selected customers.

I told him I don't accept being shouted at and told him I would be cancelling my Talk Talk phone contract.He was apoplectic with apology but the damage had been done.

An excellent example of how to turn an opportunity into a failure and also how to generate bad publicity.

Mr.Fell,please pass on my experience to your colleagues.