Zen Talk - Canclling of other suppliers?

Quick one: I recently switched to Zen talk but I've still been billed 2 months for a service by TalkTalk - now I've just phoned talktalk and got on to some cheeky/rude woman who says I am not entitled to any refunds and I will have to phone cancellations (who conveniently aren't open on a Saturday).

Now, perhaps ignorantly, I was under the impression when the Zen leaflet comes through the door and says "You don't need to contact your current telephone line provider as we'll do this for you ", that they would cancel both the billing with BT and also the calls provider. Is this not the case then and they meant the literal line provider? -- After all that is how it's usually been done in the past when I move calls provider, they contact both parties.

Before I start threatening talktalk with the usual spew about getting my refund could anyone confirm/advise on what should have actually happened?

Also, surely TalkTalk know (I even suspected the woman knew because she immediately said "you did not phone us up to cancel") that the service is cancelled? Afterall you can't have multiple call providers on a home telephone line can you??

(admittedly, how the telephone network works is not my area of expertise..)

Edited by Pipexer (Sat 07-Jan-12 20:29:29)

Hi

Been in this situation myself when switching between at the time Plusnet and Phone Co-op which was a straight billing swap, it took me three months of persistent calls to speak to someone who was 'authorised' to cancel the billing.

Even if your line was fully unbundled which would require a physical cable move at the exchange as far as I'm aware BT Wholesale would have informed TalkTalk as they would have stopped being billed for retnal of the copper loop to your home.

Zen are correct in saying that you don't normally need to contact the supplier you are moving from but if the message doesn't get through to the billing department then unfortunately its between you and TalkTalk as due to Ofcom regulation Zen cannot intervene to help you as neither could Phone Coop in my case, that regulation is a bit of a double edged sword.

I should point out that I moved the line between Phone Coop and Zen without any trouble or need to contact Phone Coop.

A mate of mine had similar bother moving from Tiscali (now TalkTalk) who kept taking money from his debit card.

While it might be tempting to just cancel your direct debit don't do it as they can put a black mark on your credit reference, my mate got his bank to change his debit card and they did that to him.

Good luck.

Looks like I might end up having to pay this, not a huge deal.

On inspecting the bill(s) TalkTalk have been overcharging me more than double for the agreed service. When I initially threatened to move away they offered a package of £5 a month (or something like that) because I had been a OneTel customer since god knows when. They have been charging me £13.20 which was nowhere near the agreed price!

I should check these things more carefully and I'm happy to admit some of the fault is with me for not checking properly - but it's a sad life going through utlity bills with a fine-tooth comb every month

Going to have a go at them though anyway even for some stress relief - The woman I spoke to was rude and her initial response of saying "you didn't phone us to cancel" suggested she knew damn well the service had been moved - in which case they shouldn't be continuing to take payment. I'm also going to ask since when my service charge was doubled!

Maybe it would be sensible for Zen to just add a footnote somewhere that you are advised to check with calls provider that the cancellation has gone through, because the writing on the leaflet and website does kind of suggest you don't need to do anything.

This just gets better.

From logging into the web based billing it looks like I am being charged for two services! Some "TalkTalkOnetel" [censored] and another "TalkTalk" one.

You can't trust these companies to do anything right.

In most cases you don't but there'll always be one or two companies that like to make things difficult when you want to leave.

That's why I prefer to do business with small to medium suppliers like Zen whereever possible as you get a better service as the company directors have more direct control and you aren't dealing with someone sitting in one of many call centres who is on low pay and so doesn't really care less.

That's my experience anyway

Edited by techguy (Mon 09-Jan-12 22:00:48)

I started a move of my WLR line from one provider to another on Saturday online, and by today my old provider had been informed I was moving service, and had told me that final bill will be figured out once move has gone ahead.

Guessing if you came from the old OneTel days then it is another mis billing issue, which has been a major TalkTalk problem i.e. integrating the many billing databases.

I got stung by Talk Talk twice, at home and work. Found out they had been billing me double for 6 months. They wre billing my for me old service and my new LLU service. Turned into a complete nightmare and took me 4 months to get my money back. I then found out they had done exactly the same on our work account. Their customer records leave a lot to be desired, especially if you moved to them from one of the many companies they ruined such as Nildram.

Both swapped over to Zen now [sigh of relief]

Edited by Ripley (Tue 10-Jan-12 23:18:51)

Having had a few dealings with Carphone Warehouse I'm not really that surprised at TT's attitude to customer service.

Helpful people tend to be the exception there rather than the norm.