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).
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2. Tag on Line (Broadband Connection Ownership Conflict).
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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.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.
• 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.).
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.
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5. Frequent and Lengthy Broadband Connection Problems.
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6. Billing and Cancellation Errors.
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7. Unreachable Customer Support Departments.
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8. Lengthy Critical Service (Email, Website Browsing etc.) Outages.
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A MAC code can be issued by a provider for transfer of broadband services from one provider to another unless the following is true:
1) Your provider provides the line and you are connected using an MPF LLU account. No MAC can be created for this line the line is not transferred it is cancelled and your new provider creates a new line and broadband services on it.
2) Your account is inactive, this may be for a number of reasons too numerous to go into.
3) There is work of certain types being carried out on your line/broadband service. This work involves BTO and therefore the MAC cannot be generated. Again this work falls into various types.
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.
Francis