Talk Talk Woes

[Moxey]

Could use the advice of some of the BCF legal eagles on this one.

The other half normally sorts our internet provider which has been Talk talk since march 2015, she renewed via online chat through their site (not online portal) in November 2016, following this she never knowingly signed or approved a contract (in effect they were providing service outside of contract to our knowledge from May 2018).

Roll forward to April this year, after increasing cost hikes she changed provider to EE who swapped our provider details, Talk talk then got in touch to ask why we had left and try to charge a contract breakage fee (for a contract the other half wasn't aware we were in).

Talk talk claims she signed a 18 month contract in may 26th 2018 (which she did not, we have requested the proof of this signature and the contract which they still have not disclosed) they keep saying they will send this in the post but since April this has still not arrived (despite 4 requests by phone/email and 3 written requests).

They claim she signed or approved this contract on their online hub portal which she had never once used or accessed until after this incident around this April when she accessed it to try and view the contract details, prior to access she even had to reset the password details as she didn’t even know what they were having never had to use it!

Talk Talk are now pursuing the contract breakage fee and additional late payment fees which they have passed onto a debt collection agency who are threatening court action.

My dilemma is should we wait till this goes to court with talk talk failing to provide adequate evidence of a contract or pay the fees now before they escalate? (Currently the amount stands at £71) really unsure of how to proceed with this.

Thanks.
____________________
Current: 02 FZS 1000 Some Bike Pics...
'I was too busy paying attention to pay attention'

[Easy-X]

Talk Talk are utterly useless and very quick to sick you with debt collectors. My daughter had a run in with them last year...

She paid for phone + internet but they never got the phone working and the internet was spotty. TBH I can't figure out how the internet even worked considering it piggy backs the copper. Anyhoo...

Helped swap her to Virgin and then the threatening letters started. So I had a chat with them and pointed out the phone had never worked (their engineering logs, unfortunately for them, reflected this) so they paid compensation. This somehow left a balance on the account of about 70 pence. As this had been dragging on a while they also applied two £12 late payment fees so now we're into £24.70 when they passed it to a debt collection agency.

I chatted with the agency and they said there was nothing they could do: either pay it or don't. However, the guy on the phone sympathised and said they were only the first tier and after a few weeks it would pass back to Talk Talk. So I waited and then tore Talk Talk off a strip. They saw sense (still not quite sure how I managed it) paid them 70p and that was that!

tl;dr Debt collection agencies can not discuss the cause of the debt, only negotiate payment. Inquire as to the if & when of it passing back to Talk Talk and try to talk some sense into them.
____________________
Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[King29]

Moxey, you're gonna get fucked. Talk Talk are a bunch of cowboys, I had a run in with them. Similar to what HardlyDavidson said, it's all Pakistani/Indian call centres/collection centres. It will do your nut in.

There is a UK address, write to them threatening exposure on social media and such stuff and the problem will disappear.

[Robby]

Subject Access Request to TalkTalk. They have to do that within a month.

When that doesn't have a signed contract in the return, you have your (lack of) evidence.

As for the debt collection agency, only talk to them by letter. Tell them you're not liable for the debt, not paying it, and they'll have to take it to court and lose. Or just ignore them until they take you to court, which they won't do over £70.

[Hetzer]

Every time I engage with talktalk to tear them a new arsehole they throw money at me. I'm surprised they make any.
____________________
"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"

[MCN]

[andy_uk]

[Moxey]

Thanks for the tips guys, I was of the persuasion that its worth fighting seeing as how they still haven't provided evidence of a contract signed in 2018 or even confirmed my other half had actually signed it.

@andy_UK I will ask her but the contract she agreed to via online chat in November 2016 lapsed in May 18 where Talk Talk are saying she agreed to another contract via an online hub account (which she never once accessed once until April 19), surely they would have records of her log ins etc to disprove this?

The only way I can see the contract been renewed unknowingly is some kind of auto-renew clause in the small print which I have yet to see (Talk Talk won't disclose this either just keep claiming she signed up to a new contract in May 18).
____________________
Current: 02 FZS 1000 Some Bike Pics...
'I was too busy paying attention to pay attention'

[CBFcarl]

Hi Moxey,

I would start off my raising the complaint with the Ombusdman. You've already tried via TalkTalk and got nowhere. The ombudsman will speak with you in the first instance, make notes and get in touch with TalkTalk. From then, they have a set amount of time to provide a resolution or proof that you are contracted. If they don't, then the Ombudsman can force them to close any accounts and even give you a credit - I had an issue with Vodafone a few years ago, and I ended up getting let out of the contract early (they didn't advise me that it was a 2 year contract), and even had to pay me compensation for bank fees that I'd incurred, and the amount of time I'd spent trying to sort it out.

Furthermore, it might be worth looking at auto-renewal. I can't say for sure, but I thought that this had been decided that they can't auto renew contracts a few years ago?
____________________
thx1138 wrote: Well if you had a car, I'd bet it would smell like urine had had drunken sex with vomit and made a poo baby.
Polarbear wrote: They are all old now. Probably had more abuse that a Rotherham schoolgirl.
Hellkat wrote: I want to know if Nigella smells of garlic, or just minge.

[Easy-X]

Always the thing to bear in mind with CRM systems is the plebs you're talking to can do nothing but repeat what's on their screen - if they had any initiative they wouldn't be on 1st tier customer support - so there's nothing to be gained with arguing with them.

If you feel the weak point is the mythical contract then you'll have to get hold of someone a little higher up the food chain to sort out a copy of transcript otherwise this will happen...

"...you signed up via our online portal."

Great! Can I get that all on a hard copy please with details of the login time and I can check that against my diary...

(weeks go by)

I still haven't got a copy of the contract?

"I'm sorry sir, this has been passed onto our debt collection agency, you'll have to speak to them."

And so on.

Unfortunately every time 1st tier support staff escalate to their supervisor they have a finger amputated. Once they run out of digits for the phone keypad they're demoted to "suck off" duties.

It's like something out of the movie Brazil in most of these call centres
____________________
Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter