AOL have written off my debt :)

I left AOL for Post Office in January - best thing I've ever done.

They said I was still in a contract til April and charged me £54.

I ignored it but kept an eye on the account to see if they would take it further.

They have now written it off

Joined the former Tiscali many years ago, with them three weeks, left pronto.

In reply to a post by patpalloon:

.... They have now written it off

I wouldn't be so sure that your AOL romance is over. Pipex and other ex Tiscali group companies (AOL was Tiscali owned) suddenly started chasing 3 or 4 year old "debt" recently.

When I say they have written off my debt they have credited back the amount they said was owing so the balance now says zero

You can check your a/c stays zero here: http://help.aol.co.uk/help_uk/microsites/manageAccou... => Manage My Broadband Account

Incorrect. AOL is owned by TalkTalk, it never was owned by Tiscali.

Not quite right!

Tiscali UK Limited trading as TalkTalk
Registered in England & Wales No. 3408171
11 Evesham Street, London W11 4AR

In reply to a post by GeeTee:

Incorrect. AOL is owned by TalkTalk, it never was owned by Tiscali.

You are correct. However, my defence is that given that unholy trilnity all inhabit the bottom of the same slimy pit, it was a very easy mistake to make.

In reply to a post by patpalloon:

When I say they have written off my debt they have credited back the amount they said was owing so the balance now says zero

If they're reading this, there's a fair few ex Pipex etc users will be thinking they're experiecing a vivid form of deja vue!

You're confusing "owned by" and "trading as", there's a difference.

The FACTS:

Talk Talk was originally the consumer telecomms part of CPW group before demerging into it's own named group. It bought AOL UK then a couple of years later bought Tiscali.

AOL is nutorious for billing errors and so on and so forth.

2 of my friends that left AOL to goto cable and closed their accounts at later dates recieved huge bills of well over £100 claiming that they hadnt informed AOL of contract cancellation and their acount was still active even though it had been closed by phoning them.

AOL are a joke!

No! You correctly stated the historical facts but I'm referring to the here & now.

Their Website states that Tiscali is the legal entity, whilst TT is just a trade name.

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

No! You correctly stated the historical facts but I'm referring to the here & now.

Their Website states that Tiscali is the legal entity, whilst TT is just a trade name.

You really are a joke, always right even when you're wrong!!

I don't think Mr.Dunstone would appreciate reading that "TT is just a trade name"! TT bought Tiscali, end of story, and basically the end of Tiscali.

In reply to a post by Supatramp:

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

No! You correctly stated the historical facts but I'm referring to the here & now.

Their Website states that Tiscali is the legal entity, whilst TT is just a trade name.

You really are a joke, always right even when you're wrong!!

I don't think Mr.Dunstone would appreciate reading that "TT is just a trade name"! TT bought Tiscali, end of story, and basically the end of Tiscali.

I can't look up the exact details right now, but the confusion you are suffering from is you don't realise that, subject to my being able to check tomorrow the exact ownership chain, it is the TalkTalk Group which made the purchases you refer to.

At the time Tiscali was purchased, it appears that the TalkTalk ISP was transferred to Tiscali UK Limited, which is a subsidiary of TalkTalk Group Limited.

Hence, the TalkTalk website says exactly what XRaySpex quoted. He is not confused, you are. But in the broader scheme of things you are both right - just talk(talk)ing about different things.

I think you can rest assured that the TalkTalk Group lawyers have specified the (quoted) wording of the information on the TT website to satisfy the legal requirement for a web site to declare correctly the name of the company owning it.

Which part of the group now owns AOL is one of the things I can't check here and now. It may be TT Group, it may be Tiscali UK.

Edited by RobertoS (Thu 07-Apr-11 00:37:30)

It wouldn't surprise me if it's all being set up as a Shell Corporation to confuse the accountants and so the proprietors can disappear to the Cayman Islands with the proceeds, allegedly

Edited by XRaySpeX (Thu 07-Apr-11 01:00:32)

Yes but they may have put a black mark on your credit record which could cause problems in the future

In reply to a post by Bob_s2:

Yes but they may have put a black mark on your credit record which could cause problems in the future

I don't think so. When I say written off the debt, perhaps that's not quite accurate. They have credited my account and it now reads zero - and they also sent me a cheque for £5!

Previous balance £ 54.50
Payments received £ 0.00
Total adjustments -£ 54.50 CR
New charges £ 0.00
Total amount payable including VAT £ 0.00

and in more detail:


Credit - Disconnection Delay 15 Feb 11 -£ 0.66 CR
Cheque Refund 15 Feb 11 £ 5.00
Customer Credit 09 Feb 11 -£ 58.27 CR
Credit - Disconnection Delay 09 Feb 11 -£ 0.57 CR
Total adjustments -£ 54.50 CR


Total new charges £ 0.00

Total amount payable including VAT £ 0.00