Tangled response over TalkTalk line

I have been a TalkTalk customer for many years and my line has been intermittently blurred for some months.

I raised this problem three weeks ago and there followed 120 texts between us as well as one and a half hours spent on an online chat and 45 minutes on the phone. All this and with no resolution but a promise of an engineer’s visit if I paid for it, to which, in desperation, I agreed.

The engineer arrived and pronounced that the fault was inside the property. However, at my insistence, TalkTalk agreed to have an Openreach engineer come to investigate within 72 hours. I am still waiting and have had no response from TalkTalk despite my prodding. SB, LANCS

It turns out that TalkTalk had not instructed an engineer to attend when you thought. However, before I contacted TalkTalk an engineer did come out. That visit did not, however, resolve the problem. As soon as I contacted TalkTalk an agent called you and advised that the complaint would be escalated.

At this point, your phone would work perfectly for one call and not at all for the next. Then an Openreach engineer repaired a fault within the exchange. You report that he found that the fault was external and told you he was doing a “lift and shift”. This still did not entirely sort out the matter but you feel a complete resolution is on its way.

After that an agent spoke to you and offered a £22.59 credit for the fault and a further £100 for goodwill. TalkTalk has also agreed to upgrade your line to fibre. In the circumstances you feel the offer is fair and you have accepted.

You say that the fact an ordinary customer such as yourself is unable to gain simple access to one of TalkTalk’s staff to register a complaint or report a fault is very poor.

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