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[UncleUB]

An open message to all unhappy Tiscali users.................Leave   

[kitz]

Unfortunately its not always that easy with Tiscali.

1). By the time some users realise how bad it is, they are locked into a 12 month contract that can be difficult to get out of without paying the remainding months x £monthly fee.
2). If youre on their LLU, there's an additional cost to bear in mind if you want to go back to an IPStream ISP of £40 + VAT
3). If they also have your telephone line too, a further conversion fee  of around £40.

So what originally what some people was cheap broadband, can be costly to get out of.

[Floydoid]

So that would cost me at least £80 to change to another ISP.

But to be honest, when it works it is generally fine & stable... but when it doesn't there's the prospect of dealing with those numpties on so called 'technical support'.

[UncleUB]

So that would cost me at least £80 to change to another ISP.

But to be honest, when it works it is generally fine & stable... but when it doesn't there's the prospect of dealing with those numpties on so called 'technical support'.

Unfortunately those so called 'numpties' are not just cofined to Tiscali.I'm with BT and tbh its fine most of the time,but when it isn't .............

I'm so glad this site is around. 

[jeffbb]

too true  UB :clap2:

[jid]

Tiscali have my whole line, BBand, Line rental and calls.

They quoted £90 to switch from them

Luckily I am now happy with the stability so all is well...

Free Line Rental and Anytime Landline calls saves a fortune too...

[oldfogy]

Earlier this year I looked at changing from Virgin Media.
I had no contract to expire so no money to pay for cancellation.

But, because I also had my telephone with them, this was going to cost me £125 for a new installation to start with (although it has been said that Sky will actually take that payment into consideration, so therefore not actually costing anything)

However, after talking to Virgin Media and explaining that I wanted the same deal as a new customer, (which only cost half of what I was paying at the time) my payment was reduced accordingly.

As all if not most ISP's throttle back users in some way or other, with their advertised times and speeds, I feel they are now very good.

[Ezzer]

 

Sorry but as many of you know who I work for............

As a general rule from what I find a Smaller ISP seems to provide an end user with more concise help if any techincal help is required.

I would say i can tell if the end user is with one ISP in particular from the moment the door is opened. I've had the odd occasion where dispite the fact officialy I'm not ment to speak directly to an isp on a task this one dispite the fact I have the patience of a saint they would get me talking through gritted teeth within 10 mins.
It's not one mentioned on this thread so far, unfortunately professional constraints prevents me from saying who 
But by god I'ld love to

[jeffbb]

how many contenders for the worst help line ?

[kitz]

Many years ago I coined the phrase the 'T' ISPs

[Andy Champ]

Now listen, I'm gonna tell you a story...
I got linked across here as a site that was good for rating ISPs, so I thought I'd tell you all what Tiscali did for me.
I signed up with Pipex about 5 years ago.  I liked them, and they were the first to do Extended Reach trials, which I need because the wire to our house is aluminium not copper, and although not very long is pretty awful quality.  They were the only people who would give us a service at all.  I was pretty happy with them - they did some pretty thorough chasing for me when we had a local lightning strike, which hosed the junction box and all my ADSL filters.
Then along came Tiscali.
Support is now a premium rate number.  Hmm.
Then I had a problem.  After some time on the 'phone Tiscali "Fixed" the problem by halving my line speed.  I was not too impressed by this, but I hadn't got around to doing anything when my credit card expired.  I've always paid with the card, monthly, and they should have been able to work out what had happened because precisely 3 years earlier the same thing happened.  All I have to do is call up and give the new details.  However - the first I knew about it was when I received a letter from Tiscali saying that as I had cancelled my direct debit my service was going to be cut off in six days.  So I wrote to them enclosing a cheque for one months service, and asked for a MAC code.  I duly received this, and switched.
Tiscali then write to me telling that my service will be cancelled if I don't pay up. "Silly B***rs" I think and ignore them.
Then they email me telling me that my new service is ready.  WTF?
Then they write to me, and tell me that I now owe them 2 months rental, and they are going to take action.  So I write to them, recorded delivery, to the only published address (A PO box) telling them not to be silly.
They email me telling me that my new service is ready.  (they have done this about 6 times in total).
Then write to me again, telling me I owe three months, and I'm going to be cut off.  Ah, progress!  Good!  Now B***r off and stop bothering me.
Then I get a letter from a solicitor threatening legal action.  So I fax them a copy of the recorded delivery letter.
Then I get a letter from a debt collection agency.  I was about to fax them a copy of the letter when I realised it was the same FAX number.  So I called OFCOM.  OFCOM tell me I have to go through the arbitration procedure.
I fill in the form on the arbitrator's (CISAS) web site.  This works OK, I get back a letter saying they've got my complaint.  Finally SEVEN MONTHS after I used that MAC code, Tiscali write back:
"Following receipt of your CISAS case...Tiscali have agreed to settle your case... and arranged for the outstanding balance ... to be removed from the account".  It's well over a hundred quid BTW.  "I would like to apologise for the problems you have experienced with your Pipex account.  with It is not our intention to cause inconvenience or frustration to our customers and for this I sincerely apologise."
OK, I'm not happy, but I'm not going to be sued.  (that might have been fun BTW, my cousin is married to a barrister!).  Then CISAS write to me. "The adjudicator has no power to award any more than the customer claims on the application form".  Now I'm REALLY not happy.  There wasn't anywhere to ask for compensation for all the stress and expenses involved in all this.  GRRR.

[kitz]

Hi Andy and welcome to the forums.

Sorry to hear your tale of woe with Tiscali  
Unfortunately the lack of communication between the departments of some of the larger ISPs seems to be practically zilch. 

In reality something as simple as an expired credit card should have been sorted prompty - particularly since you sent them a cheque as soon as notified.
It seems ridiculous that its taken CISAS and 7 months for this to be resolved 

As regards compensation, not that it may get you anywhere, but you could always try this address
http://www.complaints.com/2007/september/13/Tiscali_Broadband_152339.htm

[poppy]

I am a bit puzzled about the 'exit' fee for someone on LLU to go back to BT. I had read that it was quite expensive but then a Plusnet user posted on our forum that he had migrated in from TalkTalk. Being interested in this (because of a few problems that my friend is having) I asked him what the charge had been and was surprised to discover that he had not had to pay anything to transfer. Is this usual? From posts above, it would seem that it is. Can't understand the discrepancy - can anyone explain please?

[jid]

It depends, if he had just his Broadband via LLU.

However, as I posted, I am referring when the ISP has fully unbundled your line, i.e, your Line Rental is through them

In my case, I pay Tiscali for Calls, line rental and Broadband, meaning it would cost £90 to switch back to BT...

However, if just with Sky for Broadband say...then the cost to switch will most likely be lower, or in the case of Plusnet - free as they accept LLU Mac codes...

[kitz]

Information about migration costs and fees.

Like jid says it will depend if tiscali/talktalk have the phone line as well.
Plusnet will normally pay the adsl part fee of £40 as long as you stay with them 12 months, and they are one of the ISPs that can do LLU -> IPStream migration.

As regards to going back to BT for phone - sometimes if BT have an offer on they will pay it - but if not then its £40.96 :/