A bad fine for a broadband provider

Ofcom has today instructed TalkTalk and Tiscali UK to stop breaching telecoms rules or they could face further enforcement action, including a possible financial penalty.

After receiving over 1,000 complaints this year alone, Ofcom found that TalkTalk and Tiscali UK have breached telecoms regulations by issuing bills to consumers for services that have not been provided. Both companies issued bills for services consumers had cancelled.

Ofcom has issued TalkTalk and Tiscali UK – which are both part of TalkTalk Group – with a legally-binding Notification requiring them to comply with the rules, known as a 'General Condition', by 2 December 2010 or face further enforcement action. The maximum penalty is a fine of 10 per cent of relevant turnover.

The Notification also requires TalkTalk and Tiscali UK to take steps to remedy the harm they caused to consumers, which could include, but are not limited to:

• providing refunds to all consumers who were billed for cancelled services since 1 January 2010;
• stopping debt collection action, and withdrawing from any legal proceedings (if started), against consumers and paying their reasonable legal costs; and
• taking any necessary steps to repair credit ratings of affected consumers, such as notifying credit reference agencies where relevant.

Affected consumers

As part of its investigation, Ofcom considered complaints from affected consumers, as well as looking at Talk Talk's and Tiscali UK's customer records. Some examples of consumers affected include:

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• Consumer A complained to Ofcom that she had switched her landline from TalkTalk to another provider in January 2010 but continued to receive bills. She told Ofcom that she tried to resolve the issue with TalkTalk, spending over an hour on the phone, but received no confirmation that it would stop sending her bills for a service she had cancelled. TalkTalk's customer records show that £109.77 was demanded from Consumer A for services she had cancelled.
• Consumer B informed Ofcom that she cancelled her account with Tiscali UK in February 2006, but had received a bill from debt collectors for the cancelled service. Tiscali UK's customer records show that Consumer B made payments to Tiscali UK totalling £609.97 for services it had billed her for but not provided.
• In May 2010, Consumer C complained to Ofcom that he had cancelled his broadband account with Tiscali UK in 2008 and yet he continued to receive bills two years later. Consumer C was contacted by a debt collection company saying he owed £353.99 to Tiscali UK.

Ofcom's Director of Consumer Affairs, Claudio Pollack said: “Ofcom is determined to stand up for consumers and take action against companies that break the rules. Our investigation into TalkTalk and Tiscali UK found that they had billed customers for cancelled services; this is unacceptable which is why we have ordered them to clean up their act or face the consequences.”

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Source: http://media.ofcom.org.uk/2010/11/02/talktalk-and-tiscali-uk-breached-rules-to-protect-consumers/

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Note: TalkTalk is also the main supplier for Utility Warehouse's broadband.

About time...I've had no END of trouble with Talk Talk this year, and guess what?They are still sending me bills after I have cancelled!

When are BT going to get their fine? For three years my broadband has been intermittent, and this week down for a total of 30 hours so far. But I shall, I am sure, receive an invoice for a broadband service!

I thought it was just me with that particular broadband provider - although it hasn't got as bad as the examples provided.

Let's hope that they now get their act together following the Notification.

I hate reading things like this, because it brings home how lucky I've been with my current provider - not sure how long I've been with them, but it's seven years at least, and I can't recall the last time we lost connectivity - it certainly wasn't particularly significant, whenever it was. T

These stories, however, make me think that I will get my share one day and it's likely to be painful!

I'm with PlusNet, by the way ...

A good friend of mine who switched from this provider to UWDC's Broadcall service had a real nightmare with this issue a year ago or less - I don't know for sure but I think it could still have been ongoing.

TalkTalk were chasing him for payment from a period he was not using their service and the bill ran into the hundreds.

I'm with o2 19mb connection pretty much 24/7 365 it's been down once for a whopping 15mins and their 24 hr english support is awesome.

I hesitate to write this ... but we've been with TalkTalk since their inception (before the huge backlog of customers jumped on the great offer bandwagon), and we've had no problems at all in all those years. We have had a couple of brief broadband glitches - but these have been resolved with their customer service guys in no time, and we've even had follow-up calls the next day just to ensure that everythings still okay.

I honestly cannot complain at all - although I know that a lot of people have had problems. Still - in the interest of balance, I thought I should put in a good word.