UPDATE : The case of the missing customers

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Since we posted “The case of the missing customers…”, the interest and response has been overwhelming. I thought that it would be a good idea to collate what we’ve seen so far, as we’re continuing to see many instances of this occurring on an almost daily basis. A summary of the news coverage can be found at the bottom of this post. For those that are not aware of the situation, please read my previous post about TalkTalk poaching customers here. The Sunday Times picked up on this practice on Sunday and featured it in print and online. You can read the online version here. Whilst the news coverage has been extensive, the most significant responses are the messages of anger and upset from actual customers who have been affected by this activity. Not just on our forums or on the blog post itself, but as comments to the news stories published elsewhere. In addition, these comments demonstrate that it’s not just PlusNet customers either. Other ISPs’ customers have been unfairly transferred by TalkTalk without consent, as confirmed by the Times’ comment that : “Other broadband firms, who did not want to be named, have confirmed similar problems.” Even following all this coverage and a statement from TalkTalk, we’re still seeing this happening – and more than ever. TalkTalk could be acquiring thousands of customers in this way every single month. The Customer Support Centre have made me aware, just in the last 2 days, of at least 4 individual customers who have found themselves unable to connect to their PlusNet Broadband service for this very reason. I got in touch with one of them and he had this to say :- “I was cold called as an existing TalkTalk call plan customer & told I was wasting my money on BT line rental. I specifically queried whether I could stay with PlusNet as I was very happy with the service & was assured that if I signed up to the all-in-one deal I could carry on with whichever ISP I wanted. I checked this twice, specifically said I was only interested in line rental, not in their broadband & repeated this to a second person from TalkTalk who came on the line as a quality-assurance check to make sure I hadn’t been mis-sold. Imagine my surprise this morning on discovering that I’m now connected to TalkTalk broadband (via which you’re getting this email).” A PlusNet Broadband Customer, from Surrey This customer has since complained to TalkTalk and is also planning to contact Ofcom regarding the incident. Whilst many ‘poached’ customers have since returned to us, after paying high cancellation fees to get back to a BT landline, some customers simply can’t afford to pay the fees, or face the potential downtime of their internet service while migrating back. We have raised this issue with Ofcom and if you have been a victim of TalkTalk ‘poaching’ your broadband connection, we would ask you to contact us. Summary of News Coverage : The Register #1 The Register #2 ThinkBroadband #1 ThinkBroadband #2 ISPReview #1 ISPReview #2 WebUser UK Broadband UserGroup Net4Now TelecomPaper (Subscription) The Times