After leaving Tiscali recently and moving to another ISP (internet service provider) Today i got home and checked my bank statement online as usual to find Tiscali had billed me £398.44 despite being out of contract before leaving! this company is a shambles almost 2 hours later of phone calls and 3 departments i at least got them to admit it was their fault. they have however told me that i need to wait 7-10 days to get my money back that they took without any authorization and admitting it's their fault ...go figure ...

moral is dont touch these guys i could have goten charges for going overdrawn. nightmare

There is just not enough space to do justice to the lengthy dispute I have had with Tiscali and their absolutely dire attitude to customer relations from the Chief Exec downwards. They illegally installed a voice service on my line when it was specifically not requested then after I complained removed it but 'slammed' my line so I could not use it - thank you BT for rescuing me. There is much more but the above will do for now.

I can honestly say their attitude stinks. If the one decision you make in life is to never use Tiscali then it will be a good one.

On the 24th February 2005 without being requested to, and without informing me before the alteration took place, Tiscali changed my password for [email protected] which resulted in my not being able to get on the internet or receive emails. Tiscali actually did send an email with details of the new password after the change had been made but how could I get it when I didn’t know what the password was? Now that really is stupid.

The next 24 hours were horrendous for me. Tiscali informed me there was nothing wrong with their service with the inference that there must be something wrong with my facilities. I therefore took professional advice and swapped my router to a modem, reviewed all of my connections and software setups etc. Obviously none of this worked.

On the 25th I found out when talking to one of Tiscali technicians what had happened and, although he was reluctant to give me my new password, which I emphasis I had not asked to be changed, he did. I then had to spend considerable time changing my computer to get the router working again and getting my configurations back to normal.

You will appreciate that this episode was both time consuming and financially expensive to me, and it was Tiscali’s fault. They have recognised this and apologised but have ignored my requests for compensation and in the main have given less than favourable customer service. I have had a few telephone calls from their technical support in India who have made empty promises. Some emails have even got my name wrong. I still wonder who Mr Milligan and Mr Moore whose names appeared on emails sent to me. To say that the service to me has been inadequate is an understatement. It has been abysmal. No individual has taken responsibility. This is not service.

Since this date I have lost all confidence in Tiscali and have moved to another ISP. However, my expense/compensation request for £115.96 has not been met. Tiscali are hiding behind the small print saying it was a technical error, which they do not take responsibility for, when it was obviously total incompetence on their part. They probably got the customers mixed up.

Added to this catalogue of incompetence, I am continually bombarded with letters from Tiscali stating that I owe them money and threatening to suspend the broadband service they provide. This I find strange as you have not provided me with this service during the last 3 months.

I do not believe any money is owing from original arrangement with them as the direct debit was not cancelled until approximately 6 weeks after the termination of the service. Plenty of time for a competent company to collect.

I would also add that Tiscali have also represented my original direct debit agreement to my bank in an attempt to take money from it – IS THIS LEGAL? Fortunately I was able to get the money back but nevertheless it says little for the ethics of this company.

Barry Riley
2nd September 2005

Since September 2005 I continue to be hounded by Tiscali for the money they state I owe them. In 5th October 2005 Tiscali even increased the amount I owe by £4.99, the annual Fee for a Secure Mail Service that was cancelled when the Broadband was cancelled. However, they promised to cancel this , but at 12th April 2006, despite a large number of unanswered emails to them, it is still being charged against me and the rest of this mess caused by Tiscali remains unresolved.

Breakthrough.

In April 2006 having complained about Tiscali via a complaints website I received a telephone call from Phil Clewley at Tiscali. After a number of conversations and emails he agreed that the service from Tiscali had been unacceptable and, although it was not the full compensation I had requested, at the begining of May 2006, I received a cheque from Tiscali and via emails was assured that the outstanding monies that Tiscali believed I owed them would be cancelled.

However, the cancelled amount was still being shown as outstanding on the Tiscali on-line billing. I therefore emailed Phil Clewley on numerous occasions about this. Here is one of his replies.

-----Original Message-----
From: Phil Clewley [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 10 May 2006 10:20
To: '[email protected]'
Subject: RE: Re - Conversation with Phil - Your ref TIS/COLL/0002/ADDACEF my Ref UI5YMXMG79 CaseNo#1050644#'

Dear Mr Riley,

I have today checked your account and can confirm that there is no outstanding balance.

A credit of £24.18 was applied to your account on 2nd May 2006. It may have taken some time for the on line billing to update. However once again please be assured that you account is now fully cancelled and there is no further balance to pay.

Regards,

Phil Clewley

So you would think all was ok until checking my bank account in mid June 2006 I was surprised to find a direct debit for Tiscali which I immediately cancelled. Why had it suddenly appeared?

A few days later I found out when I received a letter from Tiscali, dated the 26th June 2006, stating that.

I had cancelled my direct debit instructions and "If your payment details are not updated within 10 days we regret your account may be suspended and may be passed to our Special Accounts Department for collection of any outstanding monies on the account."

ARE THEY STUPID? - No need to answer that. I think anyone who has had dealings with Tiscali will know the answer.

I HAVE NOT HAD A BROADBAND ACCOUNT WITH THEM FOR OVER 12 MONTHS and I'm never likely to have one with them again. It would seem that one part of the organisation does not know what another part is doing and because of this the customer, or in this case the ex-customer, has to suffer.

They may advertise about what good value they are but they seem to forget to tell potential customers that they are incompetent.

I have therefore had to send an email to Tiscali on the 29th June 2006 - see below.

If there is no outstanding balance why have I today received a letter from Tiscali.
For security purposes I have removed certain confidential information from the copy of the letter.

To say I am getting rather irritated with the incompetence of Tiscali is an understatement. Can you please resolve this gigantic mess up as a matter of urgency?

I also look forward to further compensation because of time I have had to spend dealing with your disgusting service.

I am also very unhappy that you should resubmit my direct debit to my bank when I have cancelled it (twice) as I no longer have a contract with you. Indeed I have not had a contract with you for over 12 months.

It is now Sunday 2nd July 2006. Tiscali have had 3 days to respond. Three whole days. I've not heard anything from them other than some emails from their Technical Support stating "I am sorry to inform that we do not have any access on billing issues nor we can forward any issues to billing department.".

--------------------------------------------------

Excuses. Excuses and even more Excuses.

Monday 3rd July 4.45 p.m.

I've received a telephone call from Fay Lewis at Tiscali complaints. Evidently they were aware of the problems I have recently experienced via a complaints website. Would seem all of my emails direct to them had been ignored!!!

It would also seem that:

1. Resubmitting my direct debit didn't actually happen, but if it did it was a system error!!

2. Tiscali never tried to get money from my bank. (But this is what they stated in the letter to me of the 26th June 2006).

3. Sending me a letter to say that they had could not collect money from my bank was a system error and Tiscali would not have tried to collect any money. But, it would seem the only reason they sent me the letter was because they were unable to collect money from of my Bank Account when they tried to. Strange!!

So all this was just a big Tiscali system error (although more appropriate phrases come to mind). In addition, although I have had to spend a considerable amount of time trying to unravel it, as far as Tiscali are concerned this is quite acceptable. It would seem that in their contract conditions they state that they do not pay compensation for any errors on their part. They are therefore happy to ignore any inconvenience, financial losses or expenditure incurred by customers or ex-customers.


Maybe they should consider advertising as being

Tiscali,
Probably the most incompetent ISP in the world.