TalkTalk bought me an web cellphone but it surely would not work

I’m beside myself with frustration at TalkTalk. I’ve obtained my cellphone and web from the agency for years, and initially of 2022 they phoned to promote me an improve.

It provided me a cope with cellphone and sooner, full fibre broadband in addition to a free Eero router – a tool which is meant to make WiFi connection sooner and stronger. The salesperson stated the primary six months can be free and I might pay £29.99 monthly after that. It was solely £2 greater than I used to be paying so I accepted.

However after the six months ended, my month-to-month invoice was £45. It turned out that the brand new bundle was for an internet-connected cellphone, not a standard wired landline – which I hadn’t been instructed – and as I had nonetheless been utilizing my outdated landline I used to be being charged for that, too.

Cellphone issues: The reader was given an web cellphone connection, but it surely stopped working

After that, my landline started crackling whereas on calls, and finally stopped working. I’ve been and not using a cellphone since July.

When a BT engineer was despatched out, they stated the problem was that the cellphone line was nonetheless going via the copper wire and never the web connection as supposed, and that I wanted a particular element to make it work.

TalkTalk initially insisted that it was certainly working via the web – however after two months and lots of requests it did finally ship me the element I wanted. After that, it took weeks to get TalkTalk to ship somebody to suit it – and when he turned up, he stated the adapter would not repair this difficulty anyway.

I am nonetheless paying £45 a month for a cellphone that does not work, and needed to pay a £50 call-out cost for an engineer that could not repair the issue. TalkTalk gave me a £30 invoice credit score which I feel is completely insufficient. S.S, through e mail.

Helen Crane of That is Cash replies: It could not shock you to be taught that TalkTalk’s motives in providing you a tantalising new deal weren’t totally altruistic.

As fewer individuals use landlines, the copper cables that they run on have turn into costly for telecoms companies to take care of – so they’re making an attempt to persuade their prospects to modify to connections that run through the web as an alternative.

However there’s a massive downside, in that internet-powered cellphone connections merely aren’t fairly nearly as good. They will not work if the WiFi goes down, or there’s a energy lower.

This has resulted in some harmful conditions, as our sister title Cash Mail has reported – similar to one the place a pensioner’s rural residence burned down as a result of the web was down and he could not name for assist.

You could have a cell phone, so have nonetheless been capable of hold related all through these persistent cellphone issues. However that is not the purpose: you have been bought a product you did not need, and have been paying TalkTalk for a landline that does not work.

Since you weren’t instructed on the outset that this was an web cellphone, you did not totally perceive the way it labored. This was made worse by the truth that the customer support employees you spoke to did not appear to know the way it labored, both.

While you tried to get assist, the agency’s strategy was all TalkTalk, and no motion.

TalkTalk bother: S.S says the telecomms agency bought her an web cellphone line she did not need – after which could not repair it for months when it did not work 

You have been pushed from pillar to publish on the cellphone, affected by cancelled and rescheduled visits from engineers, and confronted a battle to obtain a chunk of tech that may supposedly type the problem – just for the engineer who turned up (at a price of £50) to inform you that you just needn’t have bothered.

It was presently you known as for my assist. After I obtained in contact, TalkTalk despatched an engineer inside days to type the problem, connecting the cellphone line to the web and permitting you to make calls.

You could have additionally been awarded a complete of £661 in compensation – an enormous enchancment on the paltry £30 you have been provided earlier than.

You do nonetheless have an web cellphone that you just did not ask for, but it surely does now work. 

In fact, you’re free to modify on the finish of the contract if there are any extra issues – or should you determine to vote along with your ft because of TalkTalk’s shoddy service.

Hit or miss: This week’s naughty and good record

Each week, I take a look at the businesses who’ve fallen brief relating to customer support, and those that have gone above and past.

Hit: Now the Authorities has u-turned on its two yr vitality invoice cap and is barely guaranteeing monetary assist for everybody till April, many individuals are extra apprehensive than ever about their payments. 

On the finish of September, there was a rush for households to submit their gasoline and electrical energy readings to their provider in an effort to indicate use was at a lower cost forward of the upper value cap being put in place on 1 October.

Failed vitality agency Bulb got here in for some unlikely reward this week as a That is Cash colleague praised it for reviewing her account and lowering her funds accordingly

Some even obtained caught in Glastonbury-ticket-style queues on their suppliers’ web sites, as so many individuals logged on to submit meter readings on-line.

However my colleague stated she managed to dodge the state of affairs totally, as Bulb appeared to overview her account and modify funds on her behalf.

She obtained an e mail from Bulb earlier than the beginning of the month with the glad information that, primarily based on her earlier meter studying and account credit score, the month-to-month funds can be taking place – earlier than she had even had an opportunity to submit a brand new studying.

Maybe it’s taking inspiration from Octopus Power, which is in talks to take it over and which frequently receives constructive evaluations from its prospects. 

I will not name this successful – however it’s good to see a small win for purchasers in the course of an enormous mess.

Miss: Ofcom has revealed its quarterly naming-and-shaming record of the web and cellphone firms that prospects fee essentially the most poorly.

Shell Power garnered essentially the most Ofcom complaints this quarter 

Shell Power continues to generate essentially the most broadband and landline complaints, with the regulator saying that the quantity obtained was 3 times the trade common.

The commonest motive for these was due to the way it dealt with prospects’ complaints.

In the meantime, Sky obtained the fewest broadband and landline complaints.

When it got here to pay month-to-month cell phones, BT Cell and Virgin Cell have been essentially the most complained-about, whereas Virgin additionally topped the tables for paid TV packages. 

Apparently, the amount of complaints for broadband and residential cellphone decreased barely this quarter.

I might prefer to hope that this was as a result of companies are getting higher at listening to their prospects – however I believe that, with cellphone and web payments now paling compared to different bills similar to vitality payments and mortgages, shoppers are merely focusing their complaining energies elsewhere.

I might love to listen to about readers’ experiences with cellphone, web and cell suppliers – good or dangerous. You may attain me on helen.crane@thisismoney.co.uk.