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TalkTalk come top of the rubbish heap in new poll

22 July 2011
By Andy Dawson

Bitterwallet - TalkTalk It takes a special kind of effort for almost a quarter of your customers to be dissatisfied with your level of service, so it’s hats off to TalkTalk, who have been awarded that dubious honour in a poll of landline and broadband consumers.

Ofcom sidled up to 11,000 people and asked them how they felt about their service providers and 24% of TalkTalk’s landline victims said they were unhappy, while 23% of its broadband customers also had something to grumble about.

Respondents were asked to rate their most recent customer service experience, giving scores for how easy it was to contact customer services and the speeds with which they were dealt with, as well as satisfaction with the advice they were given and the person who dealt with them.

Top dogs for landline customers were BSkyB with two thirds of customers admitting to being satisfied while Orange somehow came out on top of the broadband providers – they scored a 76% satisfaction rate which suggests that they’re upping their game considerably, given that they’ve been widely regarded as being sodding awful in the past. In the mobile phone category, T-Mobile were top of the pile with 72% of their customers satisfied and only 9% dissatisfied.

For TalkTalk, the news comes hot on the heels of Ofcom revealing that it was the most complained about landline and broadband provider between October 2010 and February 2011. Most of the complaints were related to the fact that the company are bringing the good name of the moody 1980s pop Talk Talk into disrepute.

One of the facts in this story has been made up. See if you can spot it.

TOPICS:   UK News

21 comments

  • The B.
    I'm guessing that the October 2010 date would be directly related to the Talk Talk migration of Tiscali customers onto their network, which resulted in Tiscali customers losing internet connectivity and phone lines for periods of up to 3 months and then still not even having webmail. I was with Tiscali for 3 years without a peep, I left as soon as Talk Talk bought them becuase the network was up and down like a gang of professional footballers on a drunk girl in a hotel room. When I spoke to them to cancel the bloke on the other other just sounded resigned to the fact that people were leaving in droves. Still, it didn't stop them from randomly taking money out from my account until I noticed, stopped the DD and shouted at them, they put it down to a "billing error", so it appears no systems at Talk Talk work properly, not even the finance systems.
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  • Iain
    I must be one of the lucky TT customers. BT gave us the maximum (what they said) of 6.5mbps BB but when we switched to TT our connection is up to a constant 14mbps, it's not only faster but a damn sight cheaper then BT. Never had any problems with TT and they recently upgraded our pack free of charge to unlimited internet, 100 mobile minutes and free landline calls. We chop and change broadband supplier every 12 months or so but We'll be sticking with TT for years to come.
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  • TB
    The major problem with TalkTalk is their Customer Services. They rarely answer the phone in under 6-7 minutes, usually put you through to the wrong department (even if you went through the initial instructions) and are deliberately obstructive if you want to close your account. If I have to hear "Sorry ... our system is down ... can you maybe call back tomorrow" one more time ... If you're thinking of joining TalkTalk ... just take a breath and DON'T. No amount of money saved will spare you the soul destroying frustration of having to deal with them. Companies that have this little regard for their customers deserve to go bust.
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  • elbowfan
    We are paying full price for tv, broadband, and landline on TT. Not only are all intermittent, but the router cant even connect to all rooms in our house which isnt big at all. You could blame it on the area, but when it was tiscali everything was fine. So obviously we complained to them and after a 2 and a half hour phone conversation we convinced them to come over and have a look at everything. What they did was replace the internet router with a much stronger one. Well at first i couldnt tell the difference but now i can safely say that the internet is even worse. As for the tv, as they didnt seem to know what to do we told them we wanted to cancel our tv package. they quickly gave us a couple of months free tv but whats the point if it doesnt even work! When we went for tiscali, we were changing from bt because it looked cheaper and better value. Now i can see why its cheaper and we are considering changing back to bt. So what im saying is that talktalk really needs to address their problems! its wasted us money and frustrates us daily.
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  • anthony
    5 times I have been promised contact by an engineer, including Openreach, to sort out my Brodband problems. Talk Talk just lie to keep you quiet. I have issues with email as well but they just don't care. I wrote their senior customer relations Director - he didn't reply, but is it fair to change provider when you know there is a fault? The email fault means I have to use a different account to be sure of safe delivery. Talk Talk - Talk big Talk rubbish.
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  • Blod
    I was a long term happy customer of Pipex (recently taken over by Talk Talk) Before Christmas Talk Talk persuaded me to swap my BT phone line over to them for a much cheaper all in one calls and BB package. They told me I would have to wait until the 6th Jan 2011 for the installation to which I agreed. The engineer turned up and installed the line since that date (now a week ago) I have been unable to receive phone calls on my landline. I contacted Customer Services the day after installation and was sent 3 txt to my mobile explaining they were testing the line. The last message told me they could find no fault and I should contact Customer Services. I did this and was advised that they had "no call back windows available" so suggested that I ring back on my mobile phone so they could check the line whilst talking to me. It took over 15 mins for them to even answer the phone, then I was curtly told there was no fault logged to my number, I said I now had 2 fault ref numbers I could give her, to which I was told to wait (15 more mins on hold!!) then told that I had no landline arrangement with them and told me I needed to speak to Customer Services!! Ive just spent the last 20 mins being told that Im not even a Talk Talk customer and that I need to ring BT and tell them there is a fault with the line. I told him I had Talk Talk paperwork, Terms and Conditions and a free wireless router but it was like talking to a wall! I will endeavour to get out of my arrangement with Talk Talk and revert back to my original package.
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  • mark t.
    honestly, please do not use talk talk they are are bunch of incompetent liars and to drop from 5.6 mbs to 0.22 is a joke
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  • Robert S.
    This is my second time with TALK CRAP TALK, must need my head looked at. Basically they are a bunch of incompetant liars who shove you from pillar to post. Took money from our account last time denying that we had both written and verbally told them that we no longer wanted their crap services. This time no broadband for one year despite paying for the service, promising the earth, engineers, etc. Now going back to BT. I try not to give advice I believe it is best to give guidence, however, on this occasion I will break the mould. Do not join these bandits, I have never had as much of a problem with any service in my life as bad as Talk Talk, stay clear, you may pay a bit more but the service should be better than this bunch of doggy doos, I'm trying to be polite. Have been using a vodaphone internet stick for a year, very hit and miss but at least I get a bit of hit unlike talk talk CRAP.
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  • Jay W.
    Was happy on BT, and suckered across to Talk Talk before Christmas - worst thing I ever did. Internet speed (according to their test is 14mb) is terrible, pages take an age to load or even start loading! We moved house within the same village, but were unable to take our number, now we have a 'non local' number (they all start with 78 here, we're 45....) Upon moving, as soon as TT took over the bt line, we lost the dial tone & had no phone or broadband for 5 days, in a village with little mobile signal *grrr* After a month here we're still spending an hour per week trying to get their billing date sorted out (they've conveniently lost any notes of me talking to finance 4 weeks ago), and regularly get cut off straight to the survey during a call to their Cust Service/Finance teams. Basically avoid this bunch of muppets like the plague. BT are doing decent deals now so almost the same price, but you'll get a good service level & english speakers who'll understand & act upon your conversations. If it wasn't for their £130 disconnect fee I'd leave in a second. Oh yeah, having moved we had to start another 12 month contract as they cannot transfer. And I had to phone back a week later to get the old account cancelled, having received a bill including that period! Useless waste of time idiots. Run children, run far & run fast!
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  • RAY F.
    WE HAVE HAD DIFFICLTIES WITH TALKTALK PHONE AND BROADBAND. HAS TAKEN OVER A WEEK TO TRY TO RESOLVE AND STILL NOT RESOLVED!! WE CANNOT UNDERSTAND THE CALL CENTRE STAFF AND THEY MISINTERPRET WHAT IS SAID TO THEM. WE CANNOT RECEIVE OR SEND EMAILS. AND RARELY CAN YOU GET A POSITIVE RESPONSE FDROM ANY OF THE STAFF. POINT OUYT OF 100 FORTALKTALK -- I GIVE MINUS 1000.
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  • RAY F.
    TALK TALK IS UTTER RUBBISH
    Reply ·
  • Vera J.
    I was initially with tinyworld, then tiscali. I never had a problem with my e-mails. Since Talk Talk has taken Tiscali over I have had all manner of problems with e-mail, can't always open them, have to log out and log in again, in box page appearing blank when there are unread e-mails. I have had my e-mail address for so long that I don't want to change it, that's why I put up with it!
    Reply ·
  • Kyle
    Absolute rubbish, do not use TalkTalk. Trust me.
    Reply ·
  • Derek d.
    Currently looking to get out of my TT contract. The broadband speeds are comically slow, and the connection drops out a minimum of around 20 times a day. Speaking to their call centre nearly sent me over the edge. Might as well have rang my local pizza parlor for all the use they were. Shocking products and customer service, Talk Talk win the prize for the most appalling company trading in the UK today.
    Reply ·
  • ShutUpShutUp
    I've done the circuit with TALKTALK! I've had new, old, refurbished, "honest, it worked in workshop, your only getting 350kbs, thez nowt wi can do wi that"!! "Your too far from exchange! It's your computer! It's that time of the day, you're on too early! It's that time of the day, you're on too late! It's the router (3rd one at moment).. Must be a cable problem",,, umpteenth cable............ and on and on and on!! Can anyone out there in TalkTalk land compare with my findings? Or is it just me? Who can't seem to make them hear my plight with their service. It states at Least 1MBs in SD to watch iPlayer, thats part of their service... I can't watch iPlayer... I have to wait for pages to load, sometimes nearly a minute... is that part of their service too? My emails come in fits and starts.. My connection dissapears practicaly twice every half hour... YouTube is a joke.. 5 seconds of youtube and 10 seconds of waiting.. Reading several posts tonight made me sit bolt upright! Are you telling me, that out there, talktalk supply some of you with MB's? and above one MBs? This is not true.. it must be fiction.. somebody is telling porkies.. More than a MB.... can't be real that...Am going to have to have a lay down in a quiet room and close the curtains, then get my wife to throw a bucket of cold water on me to wake me up... I must have misread it somewhere.. I hope it gets across to TalkTalk, that people are being fobbed off with junk broadband and being blamed for the lack of speed because the brand new umpteen thousand pound kit we've just bought is not working right or probably not installed correctly. According to them, from what I've read tonight from the forum, is that the state of electronics is down the tubes and must be broken or not expensive enough for it to work with TalkTalk broa.... Narrowband... A narrowband from a narrow minded company... Sorry about the epic, but! Sky, Virgin, Orange here I come That's my grumble with TalkTalk.. Bob
    Reply ·
  • ShutUpShutUp
    I think the "made up" piece/facts by Bitter Wallet at the top of the page is: 23% of Talktalk customers grumbled.. 76% of Orange were satified.. Which in a sense is equal to both parties.. What happened to the 24% of orange that were left disatisfied? or were they!!!? AND! Was there actualy 77% of TalkTalk Customers satisfied?? I don't think so!!!
    Reply ·
  • Juka
    To be honest I have been with talktalk for 3 years and I never had any problem apart of me moving the cables and turning on and off the router causing the connections problems with the server. My problem is talktalk mobile, you have to wait 20 minutes to speak with someone that doesn't help you and transfers to another dept...another 20 min waiting! Ridiculous.
    Reply ·
  • BruisedForehead
    TalkTalk are fine until you get a problem, then they are incompetent beyond belief. I have had a probelm with unpredictable disconnections for over two years now. They try to fob you off, close the call without fixing it, send the wrong engineers out and charge you when they can do nothing to fix the issue. It has gotten to the point that they are cancelling the contract to send me elsewhere. evidently asking for service is just too expensive for them and it is easier to shed customers with problems rather than fix them.
    Reply ·
  • ShutUp S.
    Since my last message on September 10 2010, I have now gone with VirginMedia... After days and days of testing the water with them all... It seems as tho' they all stink of profit and no service... Or! They don't tell you important facts about tranfering from one company to another... Moving to VM is brilliant, untill, you require a new phone number.. They neglected to tell me that when you change your land line number, they (VM) don't inform your new ISP... This allows you to sit back and relax whilst (VM) do all the hard work in disconnecting you from your previous ISP... DDUUURRRR! THEY DON'T!!!!! Your previous ISP keeps charging you! I got a bill for £74.00 from Talk Talk.. Virgin Media should have told me the finer details (Of which I recorded on my mobile phone) about new phone numbers and new ISP's not automatically disconnecting you from your previous ISP.. It only automatically disconnects when you keep the old phone number.. Virgin media were out of order and tried to fobb me off with... ("You were informed of this fact") I checked a month after leaving Talk Talk and Talk Talk they stated to me that my old phone number was now disconnected... This was a re-assurance that I was'nt going to get more bills from Talk Talk. Only the ones to tidy up my account with them.. This Positively rooves both VM AND Talk Talk were not checking with one another, thus proving they're both out of order and not worth trusting with their honesty that they proffess.. The exitement of recieving more than 250kb fromVM got the better of me, I relaxed my tired brain for 2 seconds. So I relaxed and let VM do the HARD LABOURIOUS WORK OF CHANGING ISP.. My advice to all out there is! DO IT YOURSELF, it confusing at times but, cheaper.. My problem at this area of Yorkshire is : I'm the last house on the land line exchange. BT are land line to my house, there's no fibre optics or boxes to convert the signals. Every other provider requires the BT land line Virgin Media are emdemmic in this area because of the above problems and TV signal weakness, before and after digital.. So I had to go with VM... WE WILL SEE!!
    Reply ·
  • Fred H.
    bunch of useless shites give you an 0845 number to call back on & you spend ages confirming your details & getting shuffled while you pay for the call. aha they made a mistake & gave me an 0800 number prefix it with 141 & they're lost! try 0800 049 0130 & ask for CLM team you'll get through & they're paying for it!
    Reply ·
  • Pee'd o.
    Yes it's crap. I can't access my email suddenly -and no options except to telephone them (and be put in an eternal 'hold' and listen to musak loop) When I eventually get a human being to answer (after a very expensive mobile call) I get told to @delete cookies and clear cache....er....duhhhh! Don't you think I've already done that ? -Three times?? No solution. Keep trying to load the webmail page, and it keeps saying the webpage is unavailable. Everything else loads! I also pay full whack to Talk Talk for my broadband connection. Can't get a cheap deal because I'm an old customer. Bollocks, Talk Talk!
    Reply ·

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