BS: I changed from BT to Talk Talk

Subject: BS: I changed from BT to Talk Talk
From: GUEST,Happysurfer
Date: 22 Jul 08 - 02:52 PM

After Being ripped off for years by BT I changed over to Talk Talk last May. I really have to say the service is much better, most of all their monthly bill of £20.00 is very welcome. Broadband is free with Talk Talk and it doesn't seem to have a limit as I downloaded loads the past two months.

I was roped into a contract with BT which gave me free calls daytime and evening for £52.00 including Vat. I wouldn't make £52.00 worth of calls in six months ! They charged me £54.00 a quarter including Vat for broadband. On top of that there were other charges including line rental. My bill was always around £148.00, now it's £60.00 a quarter.

Talk Talk supplied me free of charge with a wireless router instead of the wired one as I asked them nicely. The switch over was simple and painless.

If your thinking about going over to another supplier, don't hesitate, very penny counts these days.

Subject: RE: BS: I changed from BT to Talk Talk
From: Mr Red
Date: 22 Jul 08 - 03:14 PM

I have been considering it, but until all folkies are on broadband there is no way I would know what the problems were with my website, there are always problems. Take IE7 (and burn it - please).

You only have to look at sites with needless 1 Mb pictures or totally built with Flash to see that web builders using broadband and hardly any knowledge can't imagine what you are talking about when you tell them of these problems. I usually decline to link to them - or warn of Flash. If it weren't for FlashBlock I wouldn't bother with a lot of sites.

And with £8 per month on dial-up (which has to be maintained to keep legacy connections going) the £5 cost (it is a cost whatever they say) of broadband looks hardly worth it. I pay first telecom about £2 a month for all calls and BT £11 for line rental. the arithmatic doesn't always point to immense savings. It depends on usage.

Subject: RE: BS: I changed from BT to Talk Talk
From: fat B****rd
Date: 22 Jul 08 - 03:15 PM

Beware, BT can keep after you for months.

Subject: RE: BS: I changed from BT to Talk Talk
From: Scooby Doo
Date: 22 Jul 08 - 03:21 PM

My friend is with Talk talk and she has had no phone for a week.I am sticking with BT and Demon.



Scooby.

Subject: RE: BS: I changed from BT to Talk Talk
From: GUEST,lox
Date: 22 Jul 08 - 06:11 PM

I went with Talk Talk because I can't get Virgin where I am.

Take care of talk talks sulbtle self compensation.

I have free calls to 01 and 02 numbers and free broadband.

But as talk talk are aware, I and most others tend foolishly to call peoples mobiles when they aren't available to answer their landline, which is most of the time.

Talk talk make their money back on mobile calls.

I would add that the connection is unreliable and it is with frustrating frequency that I have wait for half an hour for my ADSL modem to connect.

I was with NTL (now virgin) at my old address and I never had a problem. If you regularly contacted them to discover ways of reducing your bill they would give you the latest deals. My bill was always low and my internet connection was permanent being via a fibre optic cable and not a phoneline.

Virgins letdown was apparently their inefficient and understaffed customer service ... so I am told. I never had to call them to complain or report a fault.

When I opened my talk talk account, BT tried to charge me about £120 to transfer the line. They tried to argue and filibuster, but when it became clear that the terms and conditions they kept referring to were non existent, let alone my concern, and I began to talk about legal action, they magnanimously decided to let me off the hook and the charge was wiped.

My experience says that Virgin are honest and supply a good service.

Subject: RE: BS: I changed from BT to Talk Talk
From: Bainbo
Date: 22 Jul 08 - 06:46 PM

Had bad experiences with both of them. When we switched to Talk Talk, our first bill went to our elderly widowed neighbour. Even though she'd never had any dealings at all with them, she recived the bill in her name, addressed to her house. You can imagine how worried she was to recive a demand from a company she knew nothing about, saying they were going to take the money out of her account. It was only good fortune that she showed us the bill, and we recofnised the itemised calls as being ours.

With BT, the saga went on much longer and became really wearying. We cancelled our dial-up contract with them, but they still sent us a bill. No problem - we cancelled our direct debit, so they couldn't get the money if they tried. And they did try. Every few weeks we'd get a final demand; we would try - occasionally successfully - to get in touch with them; they'd assure us the account had been cancelled, we didn't owe anything, and we wouldn't get any more final demands. As sure as eggs are eggs, within a few days another final demand would arrive, and the whole merry cycle would start again.

This was fine while we didn't have any other contracts with them. We stopped getting in touch, and let them whistle for their money. Then - foolishly - we went back to them for landline rental. That gave them a lever. Shortly after they'd assured us again that we didn't owe them any money, they cut us off.

I don't blame individual employees, I suppose. Poor organisation probably means companies are fragmented into different departments, maybe even in different countries, that don't talk to each other. But it leaves a bad taste.

Subject: RE: BS: I changed from BT to Talk Talk
From: Lox
Date: 22 Jul 08 - 08:40 PM

Poor organization, or deliberately organized?

When I asked for proof that I was committed to a contract requiring me to pay up, they asked me wouldn't I rather just pay off the demand in instalments and the manager was never able to take my call.

Never have I been faced with a more evasive and seemingly unaccountable bunch.

In the end though they are accountable to the law and they don't want black marks against their name, nor precedents to be set that might leave them vulnerable to mass actions against them.

So naturally the merest whiff of the law had the manager scuttling to my aid.

I reflected on the issue of false bank charges at the time.

Subject: RE: BS: I changed from BT to Talk Talk
From: bubblyrat
Date: 23 Jul 08 - 02:46 PM

My first 'phone bill from BT last year was about £ 58.oo---The actual 'phone-calls came to about £ 16.00, the rest was line rental and " Service Charges ".---No Way, I thought, so I changed to "First Telecomm", and yesterday I paid my 'phone bill into the Natwest Bank--------   £15-39 !!!BT know what they can do with their rip-off "Service Charges " !! ( and their £ 170.00 charge for fixing a fault on my line !! ).