They may find a reported six million pounds a year to sponsor the X-factor, but from October 1st, TalkTalk customers will see their broadband and landline charges increase for the second time this year.
In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.
And as costs go up, we've been hearing from hundreds of their customers that TalkTalk have been putting in some disastrous performances when it comes to customer service...
(Do you have something to say about this story? Tell us what you think by emailing us here. Don't forget to include 'TalkTalk' in the subject line. Watchdog will publish a selection of viewers' comments underneath each story, both throughout and after the programme is on air. Please remember to include your name as you would like to see it published).
All that grandmother Linda King wanted was to transfer her name onto a TalkTalk broadband account following the death of her husband, Derek.
"I realised that the money to pay TalkTalk was being paid by direct debit out of my husbands bank account which I realised was going to be frozen, so I wanted to make sure that they could change it over to my name so that I could continue paying for their service."
Linda's daughter rang TalkTalk to explain the situation, but they heard nothing for 3 months. That is, until Linda's internet got cut off without warning.
"I was expecting that there was a problem with the service, it didn't occur to me that it was because of an outstanding account, because I had taken the first steps to try and avoid that."
Again, there was little communication back from TalkTalk. It was left to the grieving Linda to chase them up.
"We were phoning them constantly to try and get them to understand the situation and the main reason that we wanted to get things working again was because we wanted to use the webcam because my son is in Australia and they just weren't listening."
What should have been sorted in a simple phone-call eventually took TalkTalk 6 months. Linda finally got back online, but she recently received a bill still addressed to her late husband.
"They were very unprofessional, very unsympathetic and totally useless."
There are many other TalkTalk customers who have had such bad service or no service at all, that they've asked to leave. But TalkTalk refuse to let them go. Ofcom have launched an investigation into them billing people who have cancelled their contracts.
Take Carole Edge for example. Carole is a baker from Bolton who decided to switch her TalkTalk phone and broadband to Virgin Media. But two months after paying what she thought was her last payment, she received a call from TalkTalk asking her to pay an outstanding bill.
"We'd had a letter from TalkTalk telling us we had cancelled so we couldn't understand why they were asking for the money."
Despite Carole explaining the situation, no-one at TalkTalk seemed to be listening. Over the next month she was inundated with letter and phone calls.
"The first few weren't so bad - they started to get a bit, I wouldn't say bullying, but harassing, I were feeling as though they were getting at me."
Carole sent them a letter of complaint, but there was still no stopping them. TalkTalk brought in the debt collectors.
"When we got a letter from the debt collector I was devastated I didn't know what to do or where to turn, we've never owed a penny to anybody, we have our own business so we're financially secure, so they come as a big shock."
"We now have a letter from a solicitor to say that they are issuing court proceedings with all the costs in big letters... I'm getting angry and frustrated, I just want to be left alone."
And Carole isn't the only person wanting TalkTalk off her back. Anne Hughes' 89-year-old mother Elsie cancelled her TalkTalk plan to go to BT. But in a familiar story, cancelling with TalkTalk doesn't always mean you've heard the last from them. Long after she had cancelled, Elsie continued to be sent bills demanding payment.
"The first sign of trouble was when my mother rang me in tears, which was quite shocking. She told she was having problems with TalkTalk and being from a generation who doesn't like red bills landing on the doorstep, she told me she was paying bills she shouldn't have been to really make them go away."
But they didn't go away. Anne took up the fight herself, but no-one at TalkTalk was listening.
"Whoever rang TalkTalk on mum's behalf got the same response from whoever they spoke to, perfectly polite, full of apologies, it won't happen again, and then another bill arrived."
Anne's persistence eventually forced TalkTalk to admit they had made a mistake.
"They sent her a letter actually admitting they were wrong, admitting they shouldn't have been billing her, assured her absolutely, completely and utterly that there would be no more bills arriving to put her mind at rest and that she would no longer here from TalkTalk again."
But guess what? Just 2 weeks later, a new bill landed on Elsie's doormat.
"I'm unsure whether they are completely incompetent or whether they are employing carefully shielded bully boy tactics. What my mother would like most is not anything special, she just wants them to leave her alone."
TalkTalk response to BBC Watchdog, 30 September 2010
'We are really disappointed that Mrs King, Mrs Edge and Mrs Turner received poor service from TalkTalk as we take great pride in providing a high level of service to our 5 million customers. In each instance we have identified areas in which processes can be improved.
"In the case of Mrs King, changing account details following the death of a relative is clearly traumatic, so in August we changed the way we do this so that we no longer require a death certificate to be sent to us. Having reviewed the case there are further lessons we can learn and customer service agents have been briefed accordingly. We've apologised to Mrs King for causing further concern at what was a very distressing time.
"Mrs Turner and Mrs Edge both encountered billing system errors once they had left us. When we acquired Tiscali in 2009 we inherited seven billing systems to add to the ones we already had. Since then we've been working hard to move all of our customers to one billing system. For the vast majority of customers this has gone smoothly however we acknowledge that there have been instances where some customers may have received bills in error once they have left the company. We're dedicated to resolving this for customers affected, and have apologised to Mrs Turner for our delay in clearing the outstanding balance and stopping the collections activity. We're also extremely sorry for the time it took to disconnect Mrs Edge and we have fully refunded her bill payments from August 2009."
Please note: TalkTalk will be providing an exclusive email for Watchdog viewers' tomorrow... we'll post it up as soon as we get it.
Watchdog viewers' responses:
watching your program having spent 2 hours on phone to talktalk regarding a non-working broadband security account, plus 30mins last night. Still not sorted
unbelievable
Anonoymous watchdog viewer
Watchdog,
My dad seems to have a lot of problems with TalkTalk. When the internet fails to respond and he calls up for help, there is an automated service that tells him they are dealing with too many calls at the moment and to ring back later. This happens on a regular basis and it appears that when there is a problem with their server, they simply shut down their phone lines.
Rebecca Horrocks, Leeds
Hello
I have also been Talk Talk custemer and I was very very unhappy, had the same problem as the ladies on the program, cancelled my talk talk acount and was still getting bills. It was very stressfull for me. Recently I have got offer letters from Talk talk offering me a deals for their services. I learnt my lesson, will not go back to them.
Andrea
Hello Watchdog
Interesting item on Talk Talk. I've had a few problems with them which were EVENTUALLY sorted after many communications. The Talk Talk representative on your programme said customers could ring head office and speak to her....best of luck.....I finished up writing letters as it was so difficult to contact them by telephone......not very good for a communications company is it?
Jean Fryer
Hi,
I currently use talk talk for home and broadband - at first the service I recived was really good , however recently my broadband has become incrasingly slow and as i complained they said it was speeds upto 8meg but i was not even recieving 1meg but they will not do anything about it and i am still under contract!!!
Zoe oxford
I have been waiting to get what I am supposed to be paying for since May. To hear that there is a price rise tomorrow, without warning - I will be stopping my direct debit forthwith. Having already pointed out they have not fulfilled their side of the contract.
Mike, Trowbridge
Time for some straight TalkTalk...
In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.
And as costs go up, we've been hearing from hundreds of their customers that TalkTalk have been putting in some disastrous performances when it comes to customer service...
(Do you have something to say about this story? Tell us what you think by emailing us here. Don't forget to include 'TalkTalk' in the subject line. Watchdog will publish a selection of viewers' comments underneath each story, both throughout and after the programme is on air. Please remember to include your name as you would like to see it published).
All that grandmother Linda King wanted was to transfer her name onto a TalkTalk broadband account following the death of her husband, Derek.
"I realised that the money to pay TalkTalk was being paid by direct debit out of my husbands bank account which I realised was going to be frozen, so I wanted to make sure that they could change it over to my name so that I could continue paying for their service."
Linda's daughter rang TalkTalk to explain the situation, but they heard nothing for 3 months. That is, until Linda's internet got cut off without warning.
"I was expecting that there was a problem with the service, it didn't occur to me that it was because of an outstanding account, because I had taken the first steps to try and avoid that."
Again, there was little communication back from TalkTalk. It was left to the grieving Linda to chase them up.
"We were phoning them constantly to try and get them to understand the situation and the main reason that we wanted to get things working again was because we wanted to use the webcam because my son is in Australia and they just weren't listening."
What should have been sorted in a simple phone-call eventually took TalkTalk 6 months. Linda finally got back online, but she recently received a bill still addressed to her late husband.
"They were very unprofessional, very unsympathetic and totally useless."
There are many other TalkTalk customers who have had such bad service or no service at all, that they've asked to leave. But TalkTalk refuse to let them go. Ofcom have launched an investigation into them billing people who have cancelled their contracts.
Take Carole Edge for example. Carole is a baker from Bolton who decided to switch her TalkTalk phone and broadband to Virgin Media. But two months after paying what she thought was her last payment, she received a call from TalkTalk asking her to pay an outstanding bill.
"We'd had a letter from TalkTalk telling us we had cancelled so we couldn't understand why they were asking for the money."
Despite Carole explaining the situation, no-one at TalkTalk seemed to be listening. Over the next month she was inundated with letter and phone calls.
"The first few weren't so bad - they started to get a bit, I wouldn't say bullying, but harassing, I were feeling as though they were getting at me."
Carole sent them a letter of complaint, but there was still no stopping them. TalkTalk brought in the debt collectors.
"When we got a letter from the debt collector I was devastated I didn't know what to do or where to turn, we've never owed a penny to anybody, we have our own business so we're financially secure, so they come as a big shock."
"We now have a letter from a solicitor to say that they are issuing court proceedings with all the costs in big letters... I'm getting angry and frustrated, I just want to be left alone."
And Carole isn't the only person wanting TalkTalk off her back. Anne Hughes' 89-year-old mother Elsie cancelled her TalkTalk plan to go to BT. But in a familiar story, cancelling with TalkTalk doesn't always mean you've heard the last from them. Long after she had cancelled, Elsie continued to be sent bills demanding payment.
"The first sign of trouble was when my mother rang me in tears, which was quite shocking. She told she was having problems with TalkTalk and being from a generation who doesn't like red bills landing on the doorstep, she told me she was paying bills she shouldn't have been to really make them go away."
But they didn't go away. Anne took up the fight herself, but no-one at TalkTalk was listening.
"Whoever rang TalkTalk on mum's behalf got the same response from whoever they spoke to, perfectly polite, full of apologies, it won't happen again, and then another bill arrived."
Anne's persistence eventually forced TalkTalk to admit they had made a mistake.
"They sent her a letter actually admitting they were wrong, admitting they shouldn't have been billing her, assured her absolutely, completely and utterly that there would be no more bills arriving to put her mind at rest and that she would no longer here from TalkTalk again."
But guess what? Just 2 weeks later, a new bill landed on Elsie's doormat.
"I'm unsure whether they are completely incompetent or whether they are employing carefully shielded bully boy tactics. What my mother would like most is not anything special, she just wants them to leave her alone."
TalkTalk response to BBC Watchdog, 30 September 2010
'We are really disappointed that Mrs King, Mrs Edge and Mrs Turner received poor service from TalkTalk as we take great pride in providing a high level of service to our 5 million customers. In each instance we have identified areas in which processes can be improved.
"In the case of Mrs King, changing account details following the death of a relative is clearly traumatic, so in August we changed the way we do this so that we no longer require a death certificate to be sent to us. Having reviewed the case there are further lessons we can learn and customer service agents have been briefed accordingly. We've apologised to Mrs King for causing further concern at what was a very distressing time.
"Mrs Turner and Mrs Edge both encountered billing system errors once they had left us. When we acquired Tiscali in 2009 we inherited seven billing systems to add to the ones we already had. Since then we've been working hard to move all of our customers to one billing system. For the vast majority of customers this has gone smoothly however we acknowledge that there have been instances where some customers may have received bills in error once they have left the company. We're dedicated to resolving this for customers affected, and have apologised to Mrs Turner for our delay in clearing the outstanding balance and stopping the collections activity. We're also extremely sorry for the time it took to disconnect Mrs Edge and we have fully refunded her bill payments from August 2009."
Please note: TalkTalk will be providing an exclusive email for Watchdog viewers' tomorrow... we'll post it up as soon as we get it.
Watchdog viewers' responses:
watching your program having spent 2 hours on phone to talktalk regarding a non-working broadband security account, plus 30mins last night. Still not sorted
unbelievable
Anonoymous watchdog viewer
Watchdog,
My dad seems to have a lot of problems with TalkTalk. When the internet fails to respond and he calls up for help, there is an automated service that tells him they are dealing with too many calls at the moment and to ring back later. This happens on a regular basis and it appears that when there is a problem with their server, they simply shut down their phone lines.
Rebecca Horrocks, Leeds
Hello
I have also been Talk Talk custemer and I was very very unhappy, had the same problem as the ladies on the program, cancelled my talk talk acount and was still getting bills. It was very stressfull for me. Recently I have got offer letters from Talk talk offering me a deals for their services. I learnt my lesson, will not go back to them.
Andrea
Hello Watchdog
Interesting item on Talk Talk. I've had a few problems with them which were EVENTUALLY sorted after many communications. The Talk Talk representative on your programme said customers could ring head office and speak to her....best of luck.....I finished up writing letters as it was so difficult to contact them by telephone......not very good for a communications company is it?
Jean Fryer
Hi,
I currently use talk talk for home and broadband - at first the service I recived was really good , however recently my broadband has become incrasingly slow and as i complained they said it was speeds upto 8meg but i was not even recieving 1meg but they will not do anything about it and i am still under contract!!!
Zoe oxford
I have been waiting to get what I am supposed to be paying for since May. To hear that there is a price rise tomorrow, without warning - I will be stopping my direct debit forthwith. Having already pointed out they have not fulfilled their side of the contract.
Mike, Trowbridge
Time for some straight TalkTalk...