Terrible internet - can I cancel my contract?

Former Member

I'm currently about 3 months in to a 12 month contract with TalkTalk, but the service is absolute shite. My internet has barely functioned the entire time, and has got to the point where it is now barely usable. It kicks me off every five minutes and I'm getting pitiful download speeds that make doing things like watching iplayer impossible.

Does anyone know what the legal situation is here - do I have any right to cancel my contract because I'm clearly not getting what I'm paying for?

Former Member

I think you can do something about it before you officially try to terminate the contract [don't just do it, you can be charged the full price since you took the contract]. The point of it is, you're not being given a service they've said they will offer you (unless you signed a contract saying you'll be offered shit download speeds and constant disconnections).

Complain to the company repeatedly until they sick of hearing your name and seeing your phone number until they fix it. You can see your local CAB or something, I'm not sure on what you can do fully.

Former Member

Hi there,

Thanks for posting your issue. I'm sure we've all dealt with dodgy internet connections at some point or another, but it's specially painful when you're actually paying for it... :banghead:

The problem may just be specific to your area?

I found this on the TalkTalk website about diagnosing the problem you're having - http://help.talktalk.co.uk/app/answers/detail/a_id/27/~/internet-connection-problems and http://help.talktalk.co.uk/app/answers/detail/a_id/56

Are there any clauses in your contract about early termination? As JavaKrypt points out, even if you can end the contract early, you may have to pay some or all of the payments for the rest of the contract.

Have you tried contacting TalkTalk about the issue? Maybe they can allow you to downgrade to a lower tariff or provide better equipment to boost speeds? At the very least they should be able to tell you what the problem is and then you can think of solutions.

It might be useful to ask a question on askTheSite - http://thesite.org/community/askthesite/askaquestion.
Your question will be answered by an expert advisor who may be able to provide more information.

Hope you get this sorted soon!

littlemissy

Meanwhile, check simple things - Do all your phone sockets have suitable microfilters? Does your house have old, rubbish, telephone wiring in place that needs riping out? Is your router knackered, or set to time out the connection on inactivity? If you're using wireless, try to see if you can get a hard wired connection to the router and see if that is more reliable.

Former Member

The problem isn't TalkTalk's as they don't own the phone network, Openreach do. You need to jump through the hoops to get an engineer out, although I know that can be difficult as TalkTalk's technical team are a load of braindead Indians who cannot speak a word of English (nothing against Indians, just Talktalk employ the dregs).

You won't get out of their contract that easily. We call them CuntCunt in this house after our experiences with them, up to and including fraudulently trying to charge us £100 for a contract we never had with them ( we were with Tiscali and never signed a new contract).

Former Member

0203 417 1000-apparently this is the number for their head office.