Your Coop Reviews

I have suffered with the phone coop for 2 years now. But after today, not for much longer!

When first set up, my internet access was intermittent at best and gradually declined to being totally unusable. Repeated calls to customer service (which I was charged for) resulted in me being accused of not setting up the router correctly etc etc. No one was able to help.

Eventually my repeated complaints led to a BT engineer being called to my property (under HEAVY threats of £100+ charge if it was my fault), who was able to prove that it was not my fault, but to do with whoever supplies the phone coop with the service. Seems rather unethical that they refused to even tell me who that was.

The problem was finally resolved therefore (just a setting changed with this enigmatic supplier) and I was able to access the internet again. But my requests for a refund (I had poor service for months and unusable service for a whole month, not to mention it cost me to get it resolved), were completely ignored!

Not being one to complain I put up with it until today. I wanted to transfer to their unlimited service and was told I would need a new router in order to do so. All free of course, but I had to pay £6 postage for it!

THIS IS SHEER NONSENSE! There is no valid science that requires me to have one of their routers just to have an unlimited service. My current router works just fine, having exceeded my 40gb allowance this month I am still accessing the web etc. Just that I will be charged for it. Changing to one of their routers has no bearing on anything - except to make me deeply suspicious of them! Just why would they try to peddle such a lie? It's beyond me.

Cancelled my direct debit, dont care about the consequences. Need to get away from such companies ASAP - beware people! Ethics and business sound wonderful, but the chances are it's just a lie!

Moved to phone coop from talktalk after reading the reviews. I also like the ethical approach of the Phone Coop. I signed up for the broadband + free weekend and evening calls. To date I have not experienced any of the negative views expressed on this site.

Pros:
- Easy sign up.
- Services started on the exact date specified without a hitch.
- Excellent customer support; quick response on phone and an English speaking person you can understand, polite and courteous.
- Router provided simply had to be switched on and everything worked.
- Had a problem setting up my e-mail; tech guy (who I got through to within 30sec of calling!) sorted it remotely within minutes.
- no cold calling trying to get me to buy services.

None of the above was provided by talktalk. While it may be cheaper (but not by that much), good customer service and hassle free experience is worth a lot. Considering the quality router and service I have received I think it is good value. I am paying no more than I did for phone calls only with BT back in 2004!

Broadband speed is OK ~4Mb download, ~0.5Mb upload. This is no worse than I had with talktalk, but I was hoping for better. However, for what I use the internet for (including iPlayer) there are no glitches.

Cons:
The only other thing I would really have liked is a user manual for the router, either as a pdf file or hard copy. There is help once you have logged in but to get to that point it is a bit hit and miss. Customising log in and security (if you feel you need to) needs a degree of familiarity with the system and takes some time.

Overall I would recommend the Phone Coop. Yes you can get cheaper and I suppose it is down to what value you place on customer service which, in my experience, has been better than any other service company I have dealt with.

Using the Phone Co-op has been a complete nightmare.

Firstly, there is no proper communication between the co-op and BT in order to set up a new telephone line. It took two visits from BT and numerous phone calls to the phone co-op to even get the line up and running. The icing on the cake was that the co-op began their billing period from the first day the line was supposed to be working - this was the first instance of the phone co-op scrounging for money.

Secondly, our so-called 'working' line is anything but - some calls come through and others don't in a daily game of call lottery that the phone co-op forces us to play. It's really a matter of luck if someone can actually get through to us.

And finally, we were charged our connection fee twice despite ringing up the phone co-op and highlighting their mistake. Though we were assured that this error would be rectified before the direct debit was processed, we had the phone co-op take out three times more than what our original bill was worth come the end of the month. I had to eventually ask to speak to a supervisor since the initial customer service assistant I talked to spouted so much gobbledygook that all meaning was lost ("The initial connection fee has not been processed, and will need to be allocated to your account before we can refund your payment"). It takes over a month for the phone co-op to 'allocate' payments it seems.

And it's not a case of 'You get what you pay for' either. The Phone co-op is expensive relative to other ISPs.

We didn't want to give more money to the big companies and decided to give co-op a go. What a mistake that was. We're roped in for another 18 months of this BS, if I were you I would look for another ISP.

I am so disappointed with the Phone Coop. I chose them originally because I was really impressed by their business model, ethical stance and seemingly competitive pricing. However, from day one it was a disaster. You can't get through to them on the phone, they don't respond to your emails, they hit you with massive hidden charges and the broadband service is so unreliable - I lose access for at least one whole day a month and have been almost a week solidly with no internet connectivity at all. Over the 18-month contract this has amounted to at least two-three months with no broadband access. Do you get any refund or compensation - not a penny! My phone has now gone dead but I'm too scared to report the fault in case they charge me another ridiculous fee like they did when I reported my faulty broadband and they tried to get it fixed.

I can't believe that an organisation that prides itself on being ethical can treat its customers in such an appalling way. Customer service is non-existent - I have started to wonder whether they even have anyone in the office half the time.

Save yourself the hassle - do NOT consider this company. I've been with others in the past - Sky, BT, Orange, Zen - without any bother. I've learnt my lesson in trying to support the small, alternative provider - it sadly just isn't worth it. Choose a professional provider instead.

I have been with The Phone Co-op for the last two years. During that time the signal has only been down on one or two occasions for short periods.
The speed is excellent - it measures at 6-7 Mbps regularly while other measured speeds in my area posted are 3-5 Mbps.
You have the option to become a co-owner by joining the Phone Co-Op and this entitles you to a share of the profits each year, and to vote for directors.

Just wanted to say how impressed and delighted I have been with the service I have received from the Phone Co-op. In particular the help given by the support team has been faultless, speedy, efficient and friendly - far better than any support I have received from suppliers of any product. Service in other respects has been extremely good and quick and I have had no reason at all to criticize or complain. What is more, it is a co-operative. Without hesitation I would highly recommend The Phone Co-op.

All the services you'd expect from a telecommunications provider + a bit more. No hidden charges, very clear.

Fast and friendly person-to-person UK based support given. Highly knowledgeable customer services and support.
50:1 contention - Never had any speed issues even at peak times.
Unmetered allowance tariff offered.

Cost is competative. No the cheapest and not the most expensive.

I have been with The Phone Co-op for a year now and I have no complaints whatsoever with the services I have recieved.

The connection has been very stable, I would say of above average speed and only has gone down for maybe an hour or two in 12 months. Their prices are also very reasonable and you can sleep happy knowing you are supporting a positive, socially and environmentally aware company as well. They answer their phones promptly as well! I am very happy with them and would happily recommend them to others wishing to find a good ISP.

ADSLMAX service coming soon with faster upload/download speeds should hopefully also be great!