Talktalk refunds reader for unwanted engineer visit

Talktalk has managed to keep reader Ronald Fearn as a customer after resolving his two complaints. Ronald was surprised when a Talktalk engineer called at his home unexpectedly, and then shocked to get a £65 bill for the visit. As explained in Issue 602, he was unhappy to be charged for an appointment he hadn’t booked. He was also angry that Talktalk increased his monthly bill by £10 without telling him.

We got Talktalk to admit that Ronald shouldn’t have been charged £65 for the engineer’s visit and it has refunded him. The price rise was a more complicated issue. By law, providers have to tell you when your bills are increasing during your contract.

If the increase is higher than the RPI rate of inflation, you’ve got 30 days to cancel without paying an early-termination fee.

Ronald says he wasn’t told about the price rise, in which case he would’ve been entitled to leave without paying a fee no matter how high the increase was. However, it’s possible he overlooked Talktalk’s email announcing the rise. As it happened, the increase was above the rate of inflation – from £27 a month to £37 – so Ronald would’ve been allowed to leave without a penalty. Talktalk could’ve insisted he stayed on this contract or paid a fee to leave, but instead it did the decent thing and said he could terminate his contract for free.

In the end though, keen to keep Ronald as a customer, it offered to move him to a £25 monthly contract, which he accepted.