Talk Talk

A question about : Talk Talk

Hello, I am posting on behalf of my daughter who is at her wits end regarding the mess she has got in with Talk Talk (Phone & Broadband). Unbeknownst to us she didn't pay her phone bill for a couple of months so was cut off. The first we got to know was when she received a scarily written letter from the Frederickson Debt Agency requesting the outstanding balance of Ј135. Not wanting to be taken to court (and also wanting her broadband back to complete her on-line management course) she asked if we could lend her the money to pay the debt.
She then paid the money direct to Frederickson and waited (rather naively) to be re-connected. After a week of waiting she rang Talk Talk to explain she had paid but they said they had received nothing from Frederickson. She rang Frederickson who gave her transaction number to quote to TT. She rang TT who said they had received the transaction number but not the money. She rang Fred who did the transaction again and gave her a new number.
After waiting a few more days she rang TT who said they had still not received the money and to contact Fred, she rang Fred who said they paid the money and to ring TT. Deadlock.
My suggestion was to cancel the contract, cancel the direct debit and let TT chase her for the money safe in the knowledge she had paid (both her bank account and Freds records proved this).
When she next rang TT they told her that they had just taken out another Ј150 from her account (by DD) which was actually meant for her mortgage leaving her panic stricken.
She is now distraught. She has now paid twice, neither TT or Fred are interested in investigating the initial Ј135, she was told if she cancels TT then any sort of investigation would stop immediately and she still has no Phone or Broadband. She has spent hours on the phone banging her head against a brick wall and I am at a loss as to what to suggest.

Best answers:

• Never cancel a direct debit while there is an issue outstanding. This put mark on her credit file, and affect any future credit she applies for.
• Did they just chase the missed payments or teh full amount of the contract?
  If you cancel the DD then there maybe more debt collection letters to come and these missed payments stay on record for 6 years..
• Have you tried the Talk Talk forum for support - you get a more sense approach on there. Phoning is a waste of life, some phone staff peddle lies - that's the level of service that TT are renowned for.