Talk Talk Broadband problems

TalkTalk broadband - for Free!!

noreply@blogger.com (MartinH) — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 08:23:00 +0000

So the continuation of our story with Talk Talk broadband.

After almost a year of use, a large bill suddenly arrives and we think"Oh no, here we go again...."

BUT .... this time it's a nice surprise, and what's more, a greatly improved TalkTalk customer service.

Somehow we were not surprised, but they'd actually forgotten to bill us for Broadband for almost a year and have just realised....We thought our exchange had been upgraded and this was the reason for the cheaper bills but no, it was just an oversight.

Apparently they can only back bill us for 3 months, so there is no chance of a further large bill arriving....

It was good whilst it lasted, now we just have to hope they upgrade our exchange so we can get cheap broadband like most of the country, it's not even as if we are living in a remote area!

UK Broadband update - Our Talk Talk DSL experience

noreply@blogger.com (MartinH) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:23:00 +0000

I thought it only fair to report back on performance after all the earlier challenges!

So far, so good.....a few months under our belt and our Talk Talk broadband is performing well.

I suspect our exchange may have been upgraded since we joined as we don't seem to be getting charged the 15 quid I was expecting .... but no complaints there!

Talktalk broadband - finally connected!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (MartinH) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 11:53:00 +0000

I cannot quite believe it, but as of this morning we are finally CONNECTED to our broadband service from TalkTalk.

The BT engineer found a fault in the line between the exchange and our house and after fixing, it all started working. So far the stats look good in terms of speed and latency.

It took us 4.5 months from date of order to provision of service ...... but we got there in the end !

From the point of TalkTalk operations confirming that they were active on their end (which took all but 1 week of the time) the diagnostic troubleshooting went very quickly - BT remote checks, replacement routers, BT engineer visits all done within 1 week.

Talktalk broadband - replacement router made no difference

noreply@blogger.com (MartinH) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 07:48:00 +0000

An update on our ongoing problems trying to get Talktalk Broadband installed.

Our replacement router arrived and we tested it as requested. No luck .... still we have no DSL sync on the line. So the next step is to arrange a BT engineer to visit our house. The OCE's on the forum asked us, as they do for all customers, to accept possible "Time related charges" from BT as a result of this visit. Whilst I understand the reason for this, I do not think it is right to accept open-ended charges. All they advise is " a minimum of 120 gbp ". As we've followed every piece of advice of TT for troubleshooting I'm sure it won't be a problem, but you never can be certain....what if BT find no fault and the issue is actually inside TT? Will I be charged? ...... so in accepting this engineer visit I fully expect (given past experience) that a prolonged battle with Talktalk will ensue.....

For the public record here is what I posted on the TT forum to let them know :

Hi,

I accept possible time related charges. However for the public record I will point out now that, should BT find no fault on the line and invoice charges to us, I will be seeking compensation from Talktalk for any charges incurred as a result of a visit. I will do this through official channels outside of this forum (complaint procedure & independent regulators). I say this as we have followed all of your advice to troubleshoot the issue, we've been waiting 4+ months, and given past experiences I am still not convinced the problem is not within the TT systems (for which I cannot be held responsible or incur charges)

Talktalk broadband - update on our installation problems

noreply@blogger.com (MartinH) — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 16:50:00 +0000

So ... we are still not live but we seem to at least have "different" kinds of problems.

Operations are assuring the OCE's on the Talktalk forum that the service is live .... yet I still have no sign of synchronisation.

Talktalk asked me to unscrew the face plate of my BT socket and look for the "test socket", then try a test from here to eliminate house wiring problems .... luckily I was not afraid to do this ... but the result was the same.

So TT have now asked BT to investigate faults on the line...BT's initial findings were that they saw no fault, so TT are now sending me a replacement router & filter and we'll try that, it should be with us in a few days. If that does not work, then it sounds like BT have to send out an engineer, who knows how long that'll take !!

On the TT forums several more people in exactly the same situation (waiting 4+ months for installation to complete) are popping up. I continue to be amazed how issues can take so long to be resolved, I can only guess it is a serious management issue that they are basically not assigning enough resources to manage this properly.

keep following for updates on the saga ....

Talktalk broadband problems .. What a joke

noreply@blogger.com (MartinH) — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 11:00:00 +0000

This is a joke ... here is what I just posted on the TT forum.

Emma ..... WHAT IS GOING ON !!!

I just spoke to Tech Services : Sankita

She said the status was showing "Inactive" .... then spoke to Customer Services

....Customer services are saying that the order is rejected and we have to start over again

At this point I told SAnkita to DO NOTHING .... as I am already dealing with you.

What is the true story ? This is just a joke. Sorry, but put yourself in my position .....

I am leaving now for a short break, back on Wednesday. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE can you take this personally, get me the truth, try to get us an active broadband ????????????

I wish there was an icon for REALLY REALLY REALLY frustrated .... a red angry face just does not do it justice.

Talktalk broadband problems .. how naive I was

noreply@blogger.com (MartinH) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 22:56:00 +0000

So .... after Talktalk told me "Ops advise your order is complete" I plug in, enter the user & password (carefully checked) ..... and ..... NOTHING....

Absolutely nothing ... so I retry, thinking it must be me .... still nothing.....

My broadband still does not work .... Calling Technical services .... I'll bet here and now (publicly...) that Tech services will say something to the effect of "Oh, your order is not fully set up right, need to transfer you to customer services , blah blah" .... then cust services will "escalate my case, and that will take 5 business days to resolve" ..... what a joke this organisation is.

Could our TalkTalk Broadband be ready ????

noreply@blogger.com (MartinH) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 10:28:00 +0000

NEWS! I just queried the talktalk members forum for an update, and OCE Emma had actually posted a reply on the 1st April saying that Ops had informed her that our broadband order has completed!!! I did not get the notification as I guess it only sends out one email per day per topic?

So .... crossing my fingers and plugging in the router .... will let you know how it goes....

Our ongoing Talktalk broadband problems...escalated again

noreply@blogger.com (MartinH) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 14:57:00 +0000

So I called in to customer services today.... No news on the account so I asked to speak to the "Options" team again (I had to laugh when I said that my order was placed on 9th December 2009 - the CS guy said "2009!? Wow, it's nearly 2011 now"). Before that the first guy obviously did not want a difficult conversation so bounced me back to the IVR.....thanks mr...

Spoke to a friendly sounding person called Fiona (I won't mention any surnames to be fair to people) who said a few people are having issues from the December period and she will send this to her manager Pete to follow up on as it is clearly not acceptable. She offered us a little compensation to get ourselves a mobile broadband solution for 1 month (on reflection, I think the amount offered will barely cover this plus the extra money we had to pay to move over to this new package & add the boosts to give us an equivalent phone service to our 5.49 uk anytime & international).

She said she'd send me an update via email when she heard back from her manager so I'll wait to see what happens.....

Nigel Pearson - Talk talk Customer Services director

noreply@blogger.com (MartinH) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 16:46:00 +0000

As the Senior Director of Customer Services in Talk Talk , I thought you may be interested to read our story. And then maybe ask some questions about your organisation.....

Talktalk broadband problems continue...service not live

noreply@blogger.com (MartinH) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 16:15:00 +0000

No action...no news. so I've now taken to posting on the forum for updates....

Adrian, one of the OCE's asked for an update from OPS and gets this reply :

Hi Adrian

Ops Escalations: As you might know this is trio known defect and usually tends to take some time and can not be chased, even though we emphasize the importance and the level of escalation ( in this case - a forum) , these normally added on the master sheet and default notes as per below as sent to us:-

Resolution Notes: As per the agreed business process this will be managed as part of the overall stuck / synch reconciliation process within OMP and has been logged into the relevant area. (post-miniSVT-cases.xls).

Unforunately again, there is no time scale on this so please rest assured this will be done as soon as fix is in place.

Amazing....They are tracking stuff on Excel spreadsheets! No wonder things get lost. Hmm....

Talktalk broadband - 3 months and still no activation

noreply@blogger.com (MartinH) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:08:00 +0000

OCE_Chris at the Talktalk broadband member forum told me he'd requested an update from "OPS"....but had no news....

We are now almost at our 3rd month anniversary since our original order....

My call to customer services went like this : "Operations department are working on the problem, it is a technical error on the exchange and they have no further update or estimated resolution date "

Great...I was fed up and ready to quit so asked about cancelling. I was put through to the retentions/options department and spoke to a very understanding Irish guy called Brian, who said I had more patience that him! As a gesture, if I was willing to hold on and give them another chance, Brian offered some compensation of 2 months free line rental plus 30 pounds....so I accepted, in the hope that now they are paying something, someone will notice and take action !!!

Given that we had to change from our original package at 5.99 to take a 6.99 package plus two boosts at 6 pounds total, just to qualify for broadband....the 30 pounds compensation will just about cover our additional expenses until now ...

Talktalk broadband - another escalation

noreply@blogger.com (MartinH) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:04:00 +0000

Fed up of waiting, I call back TalkTalk customer services again ....

This time I speak to Crystal. She told me that the previous people I had spoken to had incorrectly esclated our case. They had asked for a simple status change, but that this would not help as my BT line was showing as "Active with errors". Our second order was placed on 3rd Feb and apparently BT provisioned the line on the Feb 16th.

So she escalated the case (sound familiar) and it's another 5 day loop!

Talktalk broadband - no manager call after complaint

noreply@blogger.com (MartinH) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:03:00 +0000

Somehow this did not surprise me. After registering a formal complaint and being told to expect a call back within 24 hours.... no callback. No surprise really considering their performance to date!

On my forum, "OCE Chris" responds and says he'll look into my case too...

Talktalk broadband - another 5 day escalation

noreply@blogger.com (MartinH) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:27:00 +0000

Guess what..... Nothing has happened. Our Talktalk broadband is still inactive.

We called back again to try & speak to Dalene (who, by the way did not send us the email she'd promised to follow up the escalation)....The guy who answers cannot give us Dalene's surname, or her number (stupid me for not asking when I spoke to her).

Getting more frustrated now, I ask to speak to a manager. They are all "in a meeting" (of course they are) and cannot speak to me...The only option I had for a manager to call back is to log a formal complaint. OK LETS DO IT. I log a complaint and am told that a manager will call us back within 24 hours....

I now also discover the TalkTalk member forums, so I start my post there in an attempt to get someone at Talktalk to listen.

Let's see whether they can keep just one promise....

Talktalk broadband - Escalation again

noreply@blogger.com (MartinH) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:47:00 +0000

Our attempt to set up talktalk broadband service is now getting beyond a joke. We do get a little further, we now have a username & password from the automated telephone number we have to call.

Our golive date comes & goes....We call customer services and speak to Dalene. She sounds very helpful and tells us she's escalating the case as the account is not activated properly (Groundhog day!) and is "100% confident" that it will get resolved this time.....

Guess what? If you've read the previous entries you see it really is Groundhog day ... a guy calls us to ask for our MAC code (AGAIN!!) We again tell them we are not migrating and never have had broadband....oh no...here we go again.

Our Talktalk broadband order is cancelled and we start again!!

noreply@blogger.com (MartinH) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:40:00 +0000

After waiting 5 days we have not heard anything. Called the automated number but no news of our username and password.

Now the funs really starts....apparently our order is completely messed up and has been incorrectly placed. The guy (who seems quite switched on) says that he needs to cancel the original order and start all over again. He says we will receive a router (we told him we already had this, but he did not seem to care) and a letter with our username and password shortly before we are ready to go live.....

ARGH...more delays....but oh well, if we are starting again surely they cannot mess up twice, right? We are given an estimated go live date of 15th February....

Talktalk broadband - Now they want our MAC code !

noreply@blogger.com (MartinH) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:41:00 +0000

We receive a call from Talktalk and the guy is asking us for a MAC code. The MAC code is a Migration Authorisation Code apparently, that is used when you are moving from one broadband provider to another.

We have never had broadband (which was explained when we placed the order) so we don' have a MAC code to give them!....

The guy say's "Oh well, I guess I'll try and process the order without it then"

Our TalkTalk broadband router arrives

noreply@blogger.com (MartinH) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:59:00 +0000

The Router arrives! Great news, we must be getting close now, we think.....

With the router is a little note telling us to call a number to check when our service is activated.

We call the number and.....it says our service is activated! YES.....no.....the problems begin.

So we plug in everything, very carefully, but it's not working....Quickly we understand that it is not synchronising with the TalkTalk server (no DSL & Internet lights on).....Odd, but problems happen so let's call Talktalk technical services and see what to do.

Our first call to them gets cut off. Technical services tell us that there is a problem with our account, it has not been set up properly and they need to transfer us to Customer Services. We get transferred and the guy that answers sounds like he is in a bar or nightclub!!! Obviously some kind of celebration happening in their office and I cannot hear a thing. Our call then gets cut off...Nice ! Obviously the guy did not want to miss the party so abandoned our call!

Our second call to Technical services ... a very nice and professional lady in one of the India centres answers. She takes the time to speak to Customer Services herself, then comes back to us and tells us that there has been a problem on the TalkTalk side. Apparently our line was set up by BT, but the TalkTalk activation team had not done their jobs and we did not have a username & password set up. Apparently we were supposed to get a letter telling us our username & password. I am not quite sure when, then, their automated service told us our service is activated !

Anyway - end result - she escalates our case and tells us there there will be a maximum of 5 days turnaround time to get our account problem sorted out.....

TalkTalk broadband - "Sorry it is taking so long"

noreply@blogger.com (MartinH) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:52:00 +0000

It's early January now.

Wow ... Talktalk send us a letter to apologise for the delay in setting up our Broadband and promise that it's moving ahead.

Our TalkTalk broadband order is placed

noreply@blogger.com (MartinH) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:46:00 +0000

So it is December 9th, 2009. Our family is an existing TalkTalk customer for all our telephone calls, but we've never had broadband. Time to get Broadband added to our contract.

We call the sales team, who tell us that we cannot add Broadband to our existing package and that we need to go to the "Essentials" package, then add some boosts for international and all-day free calls, then pay 15 pounds for broadband due to the area we are in .... oh well, let's do it.

Our estimated go-live date is 23rd December.....Great ! Just in time for the new laptop that arrives at Christmas we think .....

Christmas comes and goes ... no news from TalkTalk.