About a six weeks ago I was sweet talked into changing from BT to Talk Talk free broadband. I was not looking for a move but free calls to landlines and some mobiles plus free broadband for a flat fee seemed reasonable. Also the speed offered was above anything BT had offered. I queried that but Talk Talk assured me that their own equipment in the exchange meant they could get a faster line than BT could. I explained I was a home worker and needed reliability and speed.

I was told I would get everything I wanted an that my current modem and installation was fine.

The first thing to go wrong was I did not receive the 'Welcome pack' so on the day of switch off by the old provider I could not connect to the internet but the help line got me sorted very well in 12 minutes or so. No real problem except queuing to get answered had taken 14 minutes on top of the 12 minutes.

But from day 1 the line was flakey. The connection kept being dropped. Sometimes for a few seconds and sometimes for many minutes. Then two days later I went 'off-line' for 3 hours. Then two days later I lost it for a whole afternoon. I rang the support line and was answered in India I think. The line quality was not the easiest to work with but I guess for costs outsourcing must help Talk Talk make it free. We went through the help script. Everything checked out so I got the 'take two asprins and go to bed' Doctors response (we don't know what is wrong but hope it is better in the morning). I expained I was using the same PC equipment with the same wireless modem I had used for years without connection problems and in less than a week had more downtime that in 5 years with BT. Another week went by with much the same pattern. My next call to the support people had me buy new microfilters (never mentioned as a possible need during the sales pitch). I was also asked to move my wireless laptop away from the modem and try that. I still had the same issues so I called support again.

Again I was told - buy new filters and move laptop but now I was told to move the DEC phone away. In effect I had to move my office around. Never a problem before with the same kit and BT but hey ho it is free and my office could do with a change around (not!)

A few days later I am still having a problem. A call again has me being told - change the microfilters, move laptop away from router, move DEC phone away....yes done.... OK. Please move the modem and wire direct into the phone line socket. Wow and move the lounge furniture? I cannot wait to see what else I will be asked.

The sales person had never said to get free broadband I would have to rearrange my whole study and now move the router into the lounge. Wait for it.....I bet I will only be able to use my wireless laptop in the same room as the modem as my study will be too far away to use it! (Actually I don't know that yet)

Last weekend as usual the connection was flakey until it went off at 9.15am Sunday am. By 2pm I needed access urgently. So I phoned and talked to the Indian or Australian support desk. Guess what - I had to repeat myself and explain I had done everything they asked. Eventually I said I wanted to cancel my 'non-service'. That was when I was told that it would cost me £70! I had been charged £30 for a service that have never worked properly - certainly spending hours on the phone (and running up support call costs) plus lost working hours sort of wipes out any free purchase price. Now - they wanted to charge me to disconnect something that did not work. The sales person never mentioned that.

I asked to speak to a manager or have an e-mail address so I could contact them. I was told that there was no e-mail address available. I could only talk to them or disconnections and it would cost me £70 to terminate the service. I asked to speak to someone at a higher level. I did and having told them I had done everything in their script was told they would run diagnostic checks. She then informed me she had 'confirmed' my complaint but I would have to take it to a level 2 operator. The sales person had never said I would need to double justify not getting a service.

I wrote an e-mail to an address I found on the bill on Monday 10th - just about a month after this saga started. This is what I said:

Comment:
I am totally frustrated at the poor connection and unreliable nature of broadband. It has never worked properly since day 1 with the line dropping every few minutes and then being 'off-air' for hours. I work from home so this is a disaster. I will be in the middle of sending a large file and it will not get sent as the line drops. Before switching (from BT broadband) the sales person said it would be simple and done at the switchboard. Since then I have spent hours on the phone to what sounds to be Indian and Australian help desks that have told me (following the same script?) to change all the microfilters, move the wireless router away from my laptop or DEC phone and then to physically relocate the wireless modem and connect it direct to the master phone socket! All these requirements were never mentioned at the time of sale! I now have a wireless modem in my lounge which is not what I wanted. Why is this necessary as I have had BT ISDN and ISDN2 and then the same broadband wireless router happily working near my Dec phone and laptop for years? The latest incident was yesterday. I was online to the internet and e-mail at 8.30am for half an hour (with frequent line drops) and then nothing. By 2pm I still did not have a connection and urgently needed access to my e-mail so I started trying to call your help desk. After many minutes wait and being put on hold I was again asked to do all the things I already have done (don't you guys keep notes?) and then told a engineer would come and if 'my fault' I would be charged £140. (This related to the phone line being down too at the time) At that point I asked for the broadband service to be cancelled. I was told that would cost me £70! I asked to speak to a manager or have an e-mail address. I was told a manager was not available and no e-mail address was provided. I asked to escalate the problem. I was then put through to someone who said EXACTLY the same script to me (microfilters, direct connect etc). Finally she said she would run some tests. She then said my problem was 'validated' (after 3 weeks of complaining!) and I would have to speak to a '2nd level' and she would transfer me. She then said she could not transfer me as they were 'too busy' and I would have to call myself. I am trying to run a small business. In all the years with BT I have never had to make so many calls for support. 

I paid you guys £30 to install a service and although free it has never worked properly. This is costing me time and money to sort out. The only thing that has changed is switching from BT to TalkTalk exchange lines. Why would that suddenly cause a modem or microfilter fault? They have been fine for years. To check the kit (that you said would be ok) could cost me £140 and yet to say 'no thanks' to something that has never worked reliably will cost me another £70. This is no way to keep a customer happy.

I just want to cancel my free broadband and go back to Talk Talk. It is costing me too much time and effort and is not working releiably enough to use as a home worker. Refund me my £30 and do NOT try and charge me £70.

I await your response with interst.

Regards

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This is what I received back 2 days later: