Changing Broadband

[RMAParticipant @rma]

I've changed my broadband supplier several times, but this time it's been a nightmare! Anyone had a trouble free experience changing from Sky broadband to NowTV broadband?

Sister companies using the same equipment but got everything wrong. Long complaint sent and service still not 100%, I'll see what happens!

[RMAParticipant @rma]

[Steve NeighbourParticipant @steveneighbour43428]

I changed from Talk Talk to Sky about a year ago, mainly because I was fed up with poor bandwidth and non existant customer service from TT

The actual change over went smoothly enough, and the service from Sky was certainly faster and more relieable, but could I get TT to realise I wasn't their customer anymore, firstly they took another payment (so I was now paying TT AND Sky) when I did eventually get through to ask them to a, stop, and b to refund the payment taken in error, the word 'refund' didn't seem to register with them.

I immediately contacted our bank and made sure the direct debit was stopped and told the bank what had happened and that they had taken (and the bank had paid) another payment in error, the bank agreed and they arranged the refund . . .I actually have never heard if the bank managed to get a refund from TT ?

I have had similar very poor customer service from a very well known mobile phone operator (who's name begins with a V !!)

It would seem to me that these companies are so big that customers no longer seem to actually matter anymore !!

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

I still get lots of phone calls from talk talk representatives telling me there is a problem with my broadband or phone service. Not been a customer for some time as they were terrible – continually losing signal, for instance! I changed, for not necessarily the cheapest offer, to my power supplier. Best move was definitely getting shot of tt.

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Talktalk has a Community service, if you need to talk business/technical or money log into TalkTalk Community and join the Commubity/ Pass word and nom de plume and enter your problem. It is very informative and they have a tech section you can check the speed of your set up.

Clive

Edited By Clive Hartland on 10/04/2019 19:40:34

[RMAParticipant @rma]

Most large organisations seem to have this community thing, I reckon it's a bit of a cop out by the company, If they valued their customer they should be prepared to talk to them and fix any problems direct. Microsoft; ebay and most communication companies direct us to their 'community'.

I did get a call from NowTV this afternoon and they have now fixed the 1471 problem. When I reported that and many other faults to their girl at the end of the phone on Monday ( my service only started on Monday), she asked me what 1471 is……….don't ask!!!

[DMBParticipant @dmb]

A club I belong to, have had no end of trouble trying to change things after AGMs and new committee members.

The bank wouldn't change to the new Treasurers name and address even though it was all done and signed for by the old and new Treasurers on their form. Then the employee very reluctantly agreed to put the form in their internal post. The were still addressing statements cheque and paying in books to a long deceased previous Treasurer, in his name but to the new address of the (female) new Treasurer 8 years later! They have now got it all correct at long last.

BT would not supply a phone service unless it was in the name of the Treasurer who they held liable for payment and ever escalating charges like all organisations, so we disposed of them and now use a pay as u go mobile in the clubhouse for emergency communications.

It just doesn't seem to register that customers will only put up with so much before they look around for cheaper/better alternatives.

[Enough!Participant @enough]

Posted by Steve Neighbour on 10/04/2019 18:10:16:

…. but could I get TT to realise I wasn't their customer anymore, firstly they took another payment (so I was now paying TT AND Sky) when I did eventually get through to ask them to a, stop, and b to refund the payment taken in error, the word 'refund' didn't seem to register with them.

This is exactly why I never let anyone dip directly into my bank account or credit card. What do I get out of it? Convenience (they tell me) – insignificantly perhaps. What do they get out of it …….?

[larry phelan 1Participant @larryphelan1]

Dont talk to me about "V" or "O",one is worse than the other. The fact is they dont care a fig about their customers,any more than Banks do,just pay up and shut up.

It,s a case of "We have your money,now UP YOU !".

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Sorry to digress briefly on the banks issue mentioned, I am chairman of our local Village Hall, been associated with them for over 30 years now, recently our treasurer went to pay in at our bank, with whom we have been since 1979, and was told that she couldnt’ pay in because she wasn’t the account holder, the account holder was ————— Village Hall and they could only accept payments from the account holder, our very patient treasurer who is an authorised signatory to the account explained in words of very few syllables that the Village Hall was a charity and that the building in question could not attend the bank to transact business as it was firmly fixed to the ground. It required intervention from a member of the banks management to clarify that our treasurer could transact the business, the management person then went on to say that we could no longer pay in cash to our account because of money laundering, our treasurer then suggested that it was perhaps time we changed banks whereupon the management person decreed that perhaps they could make an exception in this case but in future we would have to transact our village hall business either by cheques or online. Still awaiting a reply to our complaint. The bank in question has branches on every high street, well for the moment anyway, and it’s name is compromised of four letters, I will leave you to deduce where the stupidity is residing.

Dave W

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Ah, petty bureaucrats, don't you just love them. My cable broadband is 210Meg and nice and reliable. But who needs these speeds. Time this forum became ultra ultra HD to use up a bit more bandwidth. However these words of wisdom are sent to you on a tortoise BT 35meg service so I guess the last sentence might have a bit missi

[Martin WParticipant @martinw]

Well I have got Virgin cabled broadband and in general I have found it fast and reliable. On the odd occasion when there has been a fault I have always managed to get to get through to a 'representative' within a few minutes albeit in India or similar and they have always been extremely helpful. On one call where they couldn't help I was transferred to a UK engineer who was brilliant. I have always been polite and friendly and have invariably had the problem resolved. I wouldn't consider changing to any other provider and NO I don't have any connection, electronic types excluded, to the supplier other than being a very satisfied customer.

Credit where credit is due.

MartinW

[simondavies3Participant @simondavies3]

Timely topic…

I am the IT department for my my father who manages to sort most IT related problems on his own without recourse to me. However he has a major problem with his ISP (Talk Talk) which at various times would be better labelled 'Mutter Mutter' or 'Mumble Mumble'. He was migrated from Tiscali, at the time I helped him select them as the most efficient and reliable ISP around…

I now need to find someone similarly reliable and offering decent (not necessarily lightening fast) broadband along with a couple of email addresses and easy setup. Quality is implied in this search, rather than minimising cost, since I will pay for it in time in the end…

No longer living in the UK, I have little idea who might be a good ISP to try – so I throw this open to the forum for your advice please.

Simon

[HowiParticipant @howi]

a lot has been said about TalkTalk but I have been a customer ever since they took over Tiscali. Yes they have been pretty poor for customer services, but when two companies merge like this it is bound to happen.

Then there was the two major data breaches – should not happen in this day  as most times it is the site you are visiting that will lmit your actual spee, butt it did seem to focus Talkalk somewhat.

My standard broadband was crap at less than 2mb but that would have been the same for any porovider due to the distance from the exchange. As soon as Fibre was available I was on it – 35mb , plenty of speed for me, as it is usually the site you are visiting that will limit your actual download speed.

One bonus of the data breaches was that existing customers had some incentives to stay, one being that you could move onto ANY deal at any time. as an example I had to set up a new 18 month contract when I moved house. within 6 weeks there was a special offer for new customers that was much cheaper than what I was paying ( and that was less than full price ( never actually paid full price)) . I have taken up all special offers to new customers and have not been refused yet! The Fibre is consistant in speed and has been reliable so no need to change supplier (Yet!). No problem with customer services yet, in fact no problems at all.

I am just telling it like it is (for me)

would not touch BT or SKY with a barge pole as I used to work for BT, as for SKY just try stopping their services, if you have any hair, you won't after dealing with SKY.

Yes! we have all had the phone calls regarding problems with broadband it is not specific to talkTalk, the scammers are getting clever now though, they have an automated resaponse line, press1 for BT 2 for TalkTalk etc. I just tell them to p**s o** seems to work……..

Edited By Howi on 12/04/2019 09:20:21

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

On the other hand, ALL my telecom services are supplied by BTplc. This gives the advantage that if anything major goes wrong then a letter to the chief executive pointing out that BTplc is responsible for the lot usually works wonders, ie no blaming of anyone else.

Of course, this does not prevent a clown in BTplc from making a total cockup as happened to me five or six years ago, but at least they could not wriggle out of it.

Peter G. Shaw

[Roger Provins 2Participant @rogerprovins2]

Posted by Martin W on 12/04/2019 00:51:23:

Well I have got Virgin cabled broadband and in general I have found it fast and reliable. On the odd occasion when there has been a fault I have always managed to get to get through to a 'representative' within a few minutes albeit in India or similar and they have always been extremely helpful. On one call where they couldn't help I was transferred to a UK engineer who was brilliant. I have always been polite and friendly and have invariably had the problem resolved. I wouldn't consider changing to any other provider and NO I don't have any connection, electronic types excluded, to the supplier other than being a very satisfied customer.

Credit where credit is due.

MartinW

I have the same provider and have found exactly the same. No complaints.

[Alistair Robertson 1Participant @alistairrobertson1]

About six months ago I upgreded to fibre when it became available in our village.

The date and time was set for the change-over.

It is broadband to the cabinet at the end of our street so no re-wiring required at home.

At 9.30am my existing broadband went dead and I was to try and connect with the fibre router after about an hour. Nothing happened for a couple of hours so I phoned my ISP who said "everything is working OK. When I said no they said the router must be faulty, we will send you another one. I said the router is OK, the line is showing an error with a tester I had bought on-line. They insisted the line was OK and I had to fit a new router which duly arrived, was fitted , with exactly the same result! Again I was told the router was faulty and a new one was on the way!!

I insisted that the line was checked by Openreach and next day a very nice guy who lived about a mile from me arrived, checked the line, said there was something wrong in the cabinet and went to investigate.

He returned to say that it was the strangest fault he had seen. The cable from my home had been split with one wire in one cabinet and the other in the next about a meter apart!

He said the first thing an ISP will do is send out a new router. He had one customer with 5 replacements stacked on the shelf above the phone socket!!

Alistair.

[RMAParticipant @rma]

Hi folks

Can I just pull this back to the original thread which is aimed at anyone who has experienced difficulty in changing suppliers?

As an update to my progress with NowTV, they phoned me yesterday saying their anonymous caller feature is the same as Sky's Talk Shield, something their technical 'expert' couldn't tell me on the phone. It seems their knowledge base is somewhat lacking. They didn't know what 1471 is either.

I have filed a complaint as I'd spent over three hours on the phone to them since I first applied. I only change supplier because of the price hikes, and the fact they never offer you the same deal as new customers, not me anyway. Even Sky couldn't beat the NowTV offer, and they belong to the same company! The downside of this of course, I have loads of redundant routers!

[CirclipParticipant @circlip]

Easy to change. Get new company to request your land line telephone number (Strange how you can't have broadband WITHOUT a land line telephone number the cost of which is added to the "Offer" price but not originally shown ) then inform your bank to cancel the DD to original company on a specific date. Changed from Sir Richards mob to Don't Don't due to price hikes part way through contract periods. "We are increasing your cost to MAINTAIN existing service" three months after new contract period??

First time I cancelled TV part and installed a free sat box, second time I replaced service provider. Is it better? not really due to standard TT complaints BUT it's cheaper.

Regards Ian.

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