It is with great regret that I need to bring to your collective attention the poor standards that are currently being passed in your call centres for good customer service. My husband and I have been loyal Tiscali customers for over four (4) years and have experienced the ineptitude in small doses over the years but nothing, and I mean nothing, could compare to the gross negligence, ignorance and downright belligerance we have been subjected to over the past week.

Due to having had our personal banking account descimated at the hands of fraudsters at the end of December 2007, we were forced to cancel all Direct Debits and Standing Orders and have since then have to painstakingly set them all back up, one by one, once the new account details had been arranged by our bank. As a result, despite having only collected a payment before Christmas, your accounts department terminated our broadband service. I phoned Customer Services immediately I was aware of this and made a payment which was authenticated and confirmed. I was then advised that having the service reinstated could take up to three days. Why this tidbit was not advised prior to accepting payment for a service that could not be activated with same response is only the tip of the incompetency iceberg.

Three days later, there was still no service and thus began my daily routine with your customer services and/or technical departments – I was at the mercy of the answering operative as to whichever department I spoke to that day. I will not bore you with the details of the abhorration that passes for service at your call centres but I will offer you a diarised précis for ease of digestion:

6th December DD
10th January service disconnected
10th January payment made
13th January expected date of resumed service
13th January phoned customer services and told everything was active on the account – they used ‘tools’ – and was passed to the technical department who in turn sent me to main billings to get a password reset on the account.
14th January still no service. Phoned main billings and was bounced to technical and then back to billings and was finally advised that some ‘tools’ were not working and to call back the following day to get connected. Asked to speak with a manager and was told none were in the building.
15th January spoke with main billings again who passed me on to the technical department (again, there seems to be a trend starting here) who ran diagnostics on the signal and advised that the problem was with my modem and that I needed to purchse a hardwire cable. Asked to have this case escalated. Again asked to speak with a manager but the call centre was short-staffed and the manager was taking calls. Was advised someone would get back to us. (but thank the stars above I did not hold my breath on this)
16th January I purchased said cable (at a cost of £17.99) and (after putting my 12-month old baby to bed) sat comfortably to engage another round with your amazing customer services. I was not to be disappointed. Was advised that their tools still were not operational and that there were no record or account of the conversation with the technical department the day before about the need for me to go out and purchase a hardwire cable. Did that particular operative speak ‘off script’ and therefore did not record his poor advice? But I digress. I was then advised to call again the following day.
17th January (the day before my wife goes into hospital for major surgery) and the tools were still not working and was advised to call later on that same day. Called back later and then the request for reconnection was put through and was then quoted that I would have to wait another blessed 24 hours before service would be resumed. Still could not speak with a manager despite requesting to do so and again stating that this problem should be escalated.

The service was reconnected by the time the receiver had been replaced.

Is this farce the excellent customer service that lured me away from my previous ISP?

I had asked about the cost of these calls to your helpline (for which Tiscali will take great pleasure in charging me) and whether there is some process to achieve a satisfactory recompence for cost of calls (and a hardwire cable that I have no use for), inconvenience and distress caused and was advised that I needed to call back once we receive the next month’s bill. Was I surprised? No, is the answer. This response simply typifies my experiences with Tiscali.

After such an experience, kindly advise the procedure that WILL ensure my account with Tiscali can be terminated. Please note, this does not mean that I have asked you cancel my account, but simply provide clear instruction to the process (duration, etc). I apologise in advance for having to spell things out step by step (even to you) but my in my recent experience with your company, comprehension skills and Tiscali are oxymorons.

There is currently limited connectivity from Tiscali and this has been the case for the past 3 days but I have come to expect very little from Tiscali for the money extracted from me every month and am receiving such. Whoever said ‘size matters’ did not envision Tiscali and their 8Mb promise.

Is it true that the complaints email address for Tiscali is routed to a ‘dustbin’?.

I look forward to receiving a response by return.

Regards,

We are with Pipex but wait for it.................

Tiscali bought out Pipex........

Since then our broadband speeds have been laughable. We have no idea who to go to next.

I love your mail btw Lori, you have a wonderful way with words