Broadband ISP Slamming and Mis-selling Problems

UK Broadband ISP Complaints Advice

Welcome to the UK Broadband ISP Complaints section, which contains detailed information and advice on the problems consumers often experience with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and how to get them solved. To make life easier for our readers we’ve also split this section up into five common sense categories and ordered everything by priority. Please take careful account of each.

Complaint Topics

Common ISP Complaints and Advice

Sadly some problems are more common than others and as a result of this we have summarised a shortlist of the most frustratingly serious and frequently experienced complaints by consumers. Most of these situations will require a complaint (if the ISP does not resolve them) and it is advisable to pursue the proper ‘Official ISP Complaint Handlers and Procedures’ first.

1. Difficulty Gaining a Broadband Migration Authorisation Code (MAC).
    CLICK HERE READ

2. Tag on Line (Broadband Connection Ownership Conflict).
    CLICK HERE READ

3. Slamming (Mis-Selling).

Slamming is a form of mis-selling, which is where customers are switched from one company to another without their knowledge or consent. In some cases you might only be aware of this once you’ve received a bill from a different company. This can occur in a number of ways, for example:
• Customer details are forged and sent to an ISP, resulting in an unwanted migration from one provider to another. The forger gains commission for the sale while the customer has a nightmare while trying work out what has happened.

• The customer is called by phone, offered details on a new service and told that they are merely signing/agreeing to be sent more information, but in reality this is taken as approval to switch ISP.

• The customer is called by an individual claiming to represent a specific ISP, when in fact they may represent a different provider. The customer might reach a migration agreement but end up finding their service switched to a completely different ISP from what they were expecting.

• The customer agrees with an ISP representative to move their telephone line service to a new provider but only learns later that their broadband service has also been moved (or the other way around). Sadly this particular tactic has, until recently, been used by legitimate providers too (e.g. Tiscali, TalkTalk etc.).
Common sense is the best weapon against slamming, never agree to anything over the phone or sign an agreement unless you’ve read it first. Ignore calls made to you that claim to come from legitimate sources and that request personal details. Telephone marketing, just like doorstep sales people, is something best avoided. Remember, if a service sounds interesting then it is YOU and ONLY YOU who should initiate contact with the ISP via clear, public and legitimately available details.

Under Ofcom’s rules you should receive a letter from your old phone/Internet company, and also one from the new company informing you of a migration. This is supposed to include a 10 day period in which you can put a stop to the process via either the old or new provider. We would recommend that customer caught up in such a situation also lodge official complaints with the related ISPs.

Ofcom offers a special form for complaints about this matter:
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/complain/landline/slamming/?itemid=285618

4. Serious and Persistent Declines in Broadband Speed.
    CLICK HERE TO READ

5. Frequent and Lengthy Broadband Connection Problems.
    CLICK HERE TO READ

6. Billing and Cancellation Errors.
    CLICK HERE TO READ

7. Unreachable Customer Support Departments.
    CLICK HERE TO READ

8. Lengthy Critical Service (Email, Website Browsing etc.) Outages.
    CLICK HERE TO READ

Comments page 5 of 5

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Alan

Posted 36 days ago

been with Tiscali for 3 years up till 4 weeks ago i was getting 7meg now line only accepts 256K BT and Tiscali have said they are giving up ..problem is intermittent and unstable dsl connection any ideas as they are too thick to come up with anything

Pat

Posted 49 days ago

Connor, I had many problems with NWE. Eventually lost patience with them after rubbish connection for 12 months and moved onto Eircom as they exchanged our town eventually. In the interim, about 2 months, I was back on dial up which was an improvement on NWE!

Connor D

Posted 57 days ago

Been without an internet connection now for over a month due to my ISP, North West Electronics in Derry, having "technical problems". What are my rights here? Surely we cant be expected to pay for a service we are not getting and unsure of when we will get it back. The service is awful.

freddie0

Posted 59 days ago

Received an invoice today from Vispa regarding an outstanding amount for a dial-up package that they claim I subscribed to. When queried they were able to relay my username, address, and landline number. I advised them that I had not used their service and they stated it had been used for 16 months - which I knew nothing about. On asking when this was they stated that the account was started in October 2003 and they had taken CC payments for 16 months. This is where their claim fell apart as I had declared bankruptcy in Feb 2003, had no Credit Cards, and BT had closed my telephone account! The 'outstanding invoice' was from January 2005, only 5 and a half years late. Eventually they said they would cancel the invoice.
Lets hope they do!

kevin fitzmaurice

Posted 113 days ago

Registered domain name with this company. Biggest mistake I ever made. forgot about renewal as I moved to spain. £6.99 Per year.
They sendt me a notice of renewal a few days prior. I realised and told them I had moved and was setting up new bank account.
They disconnectedmy site. I rely on my site for survival.
I contacted them. took a week before I got a reply. Then about ten conradictory replies and forms of payment and amounts.
I tried to pay but they ecventually said their system was not working.
Put my site bacn on line for a few days now insist I pay £50, oo to get it back.

Failing to mention they want £12.95 to release it, but that also takes weeks,

Blackmail, dirty tricks, intimidation and grossly inefficient.

Do not touch these people. if you are with them move your site and your domain Really
Read all the complaints about these people on the web for yourself.

T H

Posted 144 days ago

AOL: they had an outage of connection over the Easter weekend that wiped all access IP address on my computer and thus could not get to the internet once they were back on line. The outage on my system was 7 days. Trying to contact their Tech people was impossible. Would take over 30 mins for them to answer the phone (all the while one is connected and paying to wait) I needed to phone 4 times before I could get the system sorted out, their tech people did not know what they were doing. First, second and third person I spoke to advised me that they would arrange for a senior tech person to call me, needless to say this didn't happen. When I eventually got through for the 4th time, the person needed to keep going to another person (putting me on hold) before we could get the right IP address codes. In total I was over 7 days off line and it cost me over £21 (uk landline) phone calls. AOL are refusing to 'recompense' for the downtime when off line. Lets see what problems I have when I ask for my MAC code to go to another ISP. (I have been with AOL for over 8 years!)

Jane

Posted 152 days ago

I moved from Virgin Media to Utilities Warehouse last October, then found that VM were still charging me. I cancelled the DD as soon as I found out.

NOW... I thought that UW were organising everything for me, including cancelling with VM.

BUT... VM say they're not responsible for the overcharging -- it's the fault of UT

And guess what... UW say it's the fault of VM for not going through the right process!!!

Now... Anonymous Techie says:
"Added to all this is the increasing regularity of the new Provider not using the MAC code and not informing the old provider, thus they set up Broadband on your line but do not inform your old provider, you can therefore continue to be billed by the old provider. This is not their fault but the fault of the new provider.

Always check after migrating that your old account is cancelled maybe 10 working days after migrating. If it is not, cancel the account, then go to your new provider and complain that the old provider was not informed you should get a credit for your hassle from your new provider."

Mmm... so far no one's owning up to anything. What do I do next????

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