Anyone work for OFCOM? Tiscali complaint

[Jamie]

Can anyone help me with advice on how to complain to ofcom about Tiscali?

My wife has uncovered systematic overcharging on our phone/internet contract with tiscali.

we have tried to complain to the company but its like arguing with a wall...they keep saying (in very broken english) that I am wrong...downright rude too.

Our bills have trebled in 12 months and weve discovered theve been systematically charging for fictitious calls...we know its false as the calls actually overlap and for example one call is repeated every hour to the same number....that simply isnt true.

Tiscali...have been obstructive in the extreme...expensive call centres, staff who cannot speak english, on line bills which cannot be printed off on paper... and to cap it all they have refused to give me their postal address in the uk!!!


ARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

[Pete]

Tiscali's UK operations address is as follows:

Tiscali UK Ltd
20 Broadwick Street - Soho
London - W1F 8HT

Tel: 020 7087 2000
Fax: 020 7087 2282

By law they have to publish statutory details about their organisation, on this point alone I would argue that they are not complying at present. If they can't get such a simple bit of compliance right then their abilities elsewhere sound suspect to me.

[Pete]

I'm getting regular reminders from a UK hosting company to pay a bill for a contract I cancelled ages ago. They can't get the money as the credit card number has changed, and as they all correspondence uses a no_reply@ email address then they would see my explanation to them in full regarding this - along with the phone call to them saying the contract won't be renewed. Not my problem they have got a deliberately one-way communcations setup - sharp practice in my book and I'm not playing. All a bit comical really.

[Jamie]

Originally Posted by Pete

I'm getting regular reminders from a UK hosting company to pay a bill for a contract I cancelled ages ago. They can't get the money as the credit card number has changed, and as they all correspondence uses a no_reply@ email address then they would see my explanation to them in full regarding this - along with the phone call to them saying the contract won't be renewed. Not my problem they have got a deliberately one-way communcations setup - sharp practice in my book and I'm not playing. All a bit comical really.

Thanks Pete, Tiscali are the same, a deliberately obstructive commmunication policy and rude unhelpful staff who can barely speak english.

Im deeply unhappy with them, we are now considering going back to BT which is twice the price mainly because BT have UK call centres, they are easy to contact and the staff so far have been very helpful even though we arent customers anymore.

Tiscali have also been sytematically tacking payment for fictitious calls when the house was unoccupied and in four cases...we were on the phone already when another call was registered....very suspicious.

[pondweed]

I know someone who is having real trouble with BT broadband at present - and gets referred to customer services all the time - in India.

[Jamie]

Oh...heck....thats spoilt my plans.

[rover]

Ofcom can be contacted on 020 7981 3040.Good Luck!

[Greeners]

Jamie

FWIW

I spent 20 odd years in the telecoms market in the late 80/90's.

Write a letter, and send it to their address by special delivery.

List out your grievences and what you want done (refunds etc)

Specify a time limit to respond (in writing) and refuse to discus it on the phone.

If they fail to comply, there used to be a complaints procedure at Ofcom, but it wasn't much cop.

If this gets you nowhere, gloss the incident up and email it to BBC Watchdog.


The other tack, is have a serach on the net as there will be a website for disgruntled Tiscali users ( the NTL one was called NT Hell). You may get some tips from there

Make sure you write everything down and keep copies

Good luck.

[Sancho]

I agree with Greeners. Also, consider changing to plusnet. They're basically just a section of BT with lower prices and better service. Not sure why they did that, but I use them and they're fine.

[JohnDotCom]

BT will often match Price for Tiscali / talktalk for complete calls/line and Broadband package.
But beware if your contract has still got time to run they do like taking you to Court for remainder of contract cost.