To TalkTalk or not (being able) to TalkTalk?

I was with Onetel before and the transfer from Onetel to TalkTalk was a bit of a joke to say the least despite the fact that Onetel and TalkTalk were both owned by the same company, The Carphone Warehouse. It could have been so much easier but never mind...

Everything was going relatively well, I was relatively happy with my subscription to the new TalkTalk service until the day TalkTalk decided to upgrade the network "to improve their service and give me the best possible broadband connection". My upgrade was supposed to take place on 10th August and I was warned that "the upgrade may mean a small amount of inconvenience". The "short period of downtime" I was promised would be "up to 20 minutes for making calls, up to 4 hours for receiving calls and up to 20 minutes for my broadband connection".

1. The disruption started at around 2pm on Thursday 10th August i.e. no landline (incoming and outgoing calls) nor internet connection. The message you were getting when calling my number was the automated "there is a fault" message.

2. Disruption was continuing the same day in the evening around 6pm at which time I decided to call TalkTalk help line from my mobile phone (I noticed that TalkTalk get their customers to call an “0870” premium phone line to report a problem which did not seem right to me).

3. After a 30-minute wait during which no clue was given as to where I was in the queue, I decided to hang up and to call instead first time in the morning to have a better chance to get through quickly.

4. At 8am on Friday 11th August I was satisfied to get through nearly immediately (clever me!) and I reported the fault. I was promised a 24-hour turnaround in order to get my phone and internet working again. I will realise later that I made the big mistake of not asking his name.

5. Unfortunately for me, the disruption was not fixed the following morning, Saturday 12th August, as promised. I therefore decided to call TalkTalk help line again (still from mobile phone and still calling TalkTalk expensive “0870” number) to get an update. After two attempts and two 20-minute waits (after which I was simply cut off!!) I eventually managed to get through on my third attempt to one of TalkTalk representatives and enquired about progress made in resolving my fault line. I was shocked to learn that there was nothing in TalkTalk system showing that I had reported the fault the previous day at 8am. This TalkTalk representative was apologetic about the situation (I asked his name and only got a first name as apparently no surname can be given over the phone which is strange given the time spent every time we call TalkTalk to go through a number of security questions ensuring that we are who we say we are… This can be a frustrating process since when you are cut off you must of course go through these same questions over and over again!) and I believe he not only gave my problem a “priority 1” ranking but also a £5 credit to my account. Interestingly enough this representative ran me through a couple of basic technical checks that were not done the previous morning when I had called at 8am.

6. The following day, Sunday 13th August, there was still no progress made as far as I was concerned on fixing the fault since I had no dial tone and I was getting nowhere through my internet connection either. This was until a family member called me on my mobile and let me know that she tried to call me on the landline but that it kept ringing and ringing and that there was no voice mail or anybody picking up. This was strange since I was at home so I called my landline from my mobile and I indeed noticed the change of nature of my problem.

7. I therefore called TalkTalk help line around 2.30pm and going through the same 30-minute wait routine (not being cut off this time, lucky me!!), I reported the new problem to another TalkTalk representative (I got her name written down just in case). Although she tried to tell me my problem was solved obviously pushing for a quick conclusion to my call, I had to explain and insist it had not or rather that the problem had changed.

8. Interestingly enough, accessing my emails from work the following morning, Monday 14th August, I noticed that TalkTalk sent me an email on the previous Friday afternoon letting me know that the date of my upgrade had been delayed (no reason given) and that until it takes place, my "service will remain unchanged and uninterrupted". I hope you will appreciate the irony of this statement in the light of the above...

9. As of now, Monday 14th August at 10.15am, nearly four days after the disruption started I am still without a landline and an internet connection. I decided to write a letter detailing the above events to Steve Rescorla, Customer Service Director at TalkTalk. It is his name that was on the letter 10th August so I thought it was fair for me to let him know what "small amount of inconvenience" I encountered. I was planning to send him this letter by fax to the fax number that was given on his letter but getting nowhere I decided to send it to all the email addresses I could get hold of on internet: cdunstone@cpw.co.uk (Charles Dunstone, CEO of The Carphone Warehouse), custserv@talktalkbusiness.co.uk, pressoffice@cpw.co.uk and customerservices@talktalk.co.uk.

10. Funnily enough the only feedback I got was the automated response from Charles Dunstone's inbox: "This is a courtesy response to let you know that we have received it and will be reviewing it shortly. Depending on the nature of the enquiry, it may take us a while to investigate fully. Therefore, if we don't get back to you immediately, please be assured we are still working on it". Yeah thanks a lot...

11. In a desperate attempt to get things moving a bit faster I decided to call the same day the TalkTalk help line again around lunch time. After the usual two attempts, two 20-minute wait, I eventually got through to someone in India who, after having explained my problem, proposed to transfer my call to the fault line department and had the good idea of giving me their direct "0800" number (alleluia a free number!). I reluctantly accepted since obviously this person was not going to help me further and had the chance to hear this f*****g "something in the air" tune again and got... cut off!! In a way I was relieved.

12. Armed with the "0800" number I was given a few minutes ago, I got through to TalkTalk's fault department which is in the UK (after a good 15-minute wait of course but do I really need to tell you each time?! Yes I guess!). I was well received (I must admit) and the guy on the over phone seemed to know what he was talking about. He understood my frustration and promised that an engineer will look into this in the next few hours.

13. Only when I received a phone call from my wife at 4.30pm that I knew this guy delivered on his promise. At last the landline was working... and even better the broadband connection too as I found out the same evening.

14. The following day, Tuesday 15th August, I received a phone call from the head office of The Carphone Warehouse. I am not sure who the person was but it seemed to me pretty senior. The person was relatively apologetic and said that of course TalkTalk would refund me of my lengthy calls done with a mobile phone. I provided the information they requested about charges so let's see what happens!


*Home*	*Mail*