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Astoundingly enough, I have found a phone company more inept, more incompetent, more irritating, and more irresponsible than BT. After the fiasco of July to September 2006, I would not have thought it possible. Yet it is true: TalkTalk takes the metaphoric cake for utter idiocy!
The way that the morons at TalkTalk have handled my request to set up a line in the new flat was shameful enough... and it is the reason why, more than one month after moving, we are still without a landline in our new home. I shall not bore you, gentle readers, with a long and detailed recap of our dealings with these nincompoops. Suffice to say that, after both my beloved![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cheshcat and I spent several fruitless hours on the phone with various departments, I finally gave up, cancelled my request, and shopped about for a new phone company. With any luck, we should have a landline again come on December 13th, the morning after my return from Japan.
One could reasonably think that such would be the end of it, yes? One could... but, alas, one would be wrong. Adding the proverbial insult to injury, the person in TalkTalk's cancellations department failed to properly process my request and thus I was recently billed for a month of phone service that we did not receive. Oi! Not only have attempts to obtain a refund been futile, but even our efforts to switch off the account have proven to be beyond the meager capabilities of TalkTalk's staff. Indeed, it seems quite likely that they are all set to bill us again, later in December, for a second month of service not provided! To prevent this, I bypassed their people and had my bank remove their Direct Debit access to my account. I may not be able to procure a refund, but they shall certainly not pull that stunt again!
In the meantime, I find myself wondering if the United Kingdom has any good consumer watchdog organizations equivalent to, say, the Better Business Bureau. Although I hope that I have, at long last, seen the back of those incapable gits, methinks that this may be too much to expect.[*] As such, hoping for the best and preparing for the worst is a worthy paradigm, and I should assemble the requisite knowledge to arm myself if need be.
[*] My suspicion is that, after refusing to close the account, they will go after my impeccable credit rating when they find that I have prevented them from collecting monies to pay for service that we do not want and are not receiving.
The way that the morons at TalkTalk have handled my request to set up a line in the new flat was shameful enough... and it is the reason why, more than one month after moving, we are still without a landline in our new home. I shall not bore you, gentle readers, with a long and detailed recap of our dealings with these nincompoops. Suffice to say that, after both my beloved
cheshcat and I spent several fruitless hours on the phone with various departments, I finally gave up, cancelled my request, and shopped about for a new phone company. With any luck, we should have a landline again come on December 13th, the morning after my return from Japan.One could reasonably think that such would be the end of it, yes? One could... but, alas, one would be wrong. Adding the proverbial insult to injury, the person in TalkTalk's cancellations department failed to properly process my request and thus I was recently billed for a month of phone service that we did not receive. Oi! Not only have attempts to obtain a refund been futile, but even our efforts to switch off the account have proven to be beyond the meager capabilities of TalkTalk's staff. Indeed, it seems quite likely that they are all set to bill us again, later in December, for a second month of service not provided! To prevent this, I bypassed their people and had my bank remove their Direct Debit access to my account. I may not be able to procure a refund, but they shall certainly not pull that stunt again!
In the meantime, I find myself wondering if the United Kingdom has any good consumer watchdog organizations equivalent to, say, the Better Business Bureau. Although I hope that I have, at long last, seen the back of those incapable gits, methinks that this may be too much to expect.[*] As such, hoping for the best and preparing for the worst is a worthy paradigm, and I should assemble the requisite knowledge to arm myself if need be.
[*] My suspicion is that, after refusing to close the account, they will go after my impeccable credit rating when they find that I have prevented them from collecting monies to pay for service that we do not want and are not receiving.
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From:
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Well it always works for my brother-in-law anyway. He always speaks to and/or writes to the top person in the company.
Personally I have had no problems with them and would be happy to recommend them, but then I havent had to ask them to change anything as for me they did it right the first time.
Best of luck.
From:
no subject
For just one example: A few weeks ago, one of their internal people agreed to listen to a forty-five minute phone call that had taken place (at the cost of ten quid to me for calling their 0870 number on my mobile phone) between me and four different people in four different departments. She reported back that I had been lied to repeatedly and given a complete runaround. She was shocked and said that she had never seen such a thing. Then she said she would discuss with her manager what sort of compensation could be arranged and that she would phone me back.
Think I ever got the call?
Anyway, I consider myself done with them, as I have switched providers and cancelled their direct debit access. I have e-mailed them to tell them as much. Reluctantly, I feel that I must consider the twenty-three quid charged for a month of service that I did not receive to be a donation made to support their idiocy. My only concern now is what happens when they try to take another payment and find that they cannot. It is not my fault if they cannot process a simple order -- made multiple times now -- to turn off the account! I am not paying them the equivalent of another dime![*] If and when they target my credit rating, I want to be educated enough to protect myself.
[*] About 6.5p