TalkTalk technical support goes from poor to abysmal.

TalkTalk technical support have never been very good and the only reason why they’re still my ISP is sheer laziness on my part. My latest round of problems suggests that I should get up off my arse and start shopping around for alternatives.

The problem started a month or so ago. The line would go through phases where the internet connection would drop frequently followed by a period of stable internet connection. Its almost as if TalkTalk engineered for it to be this way because, by the time you’ve got frustrated enough to call their technical support the line’s back up again.

This Sunday the line failed one time too many and I was sufficiently motivated to call their technical support. TalkTalk technical support can be relied on. That is, relied on to always keep you waiting on hold for a long time and always – ALWAYS – have the message that due to unusually high call volumes that the wait time may be longer than normal. I always ask myself the question: if call volumes are always high, doesn’t that then become the norm? And shouldn’t they gear their helpdesk operation for that volume of calls?

After waiting on hold for an age my call was answered by Priaya. She had to spell her name to me phonetically because the line was so bad and I asked if she could phone me back. She said she couldn’t do that and so our conversation was done at shouting volume. Not a recipe for calm reasoned communication and as I repeatedly asked her to repeat herself I found my blood pressure rising. I asked I could write my problem down in an email and have them resolve it that way. The answer to that was no but she was happy to give me TalkTalk’s postal address so that I could write my problems down in a letter and send to them! Ah, bless. They’re still living in the last century.

She then put me on hold and transferred me to technical support. (I thought I’d phoned tech support in the first place?!) The call was eventually answered by someone who sounded so faint and far away that I thought they must be on the other side of the world. Which, in fact, they were. TalkTalk’s call centre staff are in India. With a great deal of speaking slowly and SHOUTING down the phone it became clear that this person could not phone me back nor could they give me an email address. Continued shouting and listening intently I picked up the following facts: that the fault was due either to the microfilter (the microfilter that TalkTalk supplied me with a few months ago when I last had problems with the internet) or my extension cabling (of which I have none: the TalkTalk router is connected directly to the master socket).

This is, of course, garbage. TalkTalk ALWAYS says that something is wrong with the microfilter or the extension wiring. I’ve been a TalkTalk customer long enough to have cottoned on to this. Wouldn’t it be better to start by looking at the history on the customer’s account and see that the microfilter was replaced only recently (as mine has). And, if they could get their act together, they could make a note that my router plugs directly into my master socket without the need for extension cabling so they wouldn’t keep trying that old excuse. How about if they did line tests and check the state of the line before making the customer jump through hoops?

I’m hopping mad. And I’m shopping around for another ISP.