The papers say Tiscali is a company teetering on the edge, crippled with debt and fighting for its life. It's an Italian business with 3 million customers in the UK. It offers the full package; phone, broadband and digital TV, at some of the cheapest rates around. But these are tough times for Tiscali - they owe half a billion euros. So, while they try and sort themselves out, have they forgotten their biggest asset of all, their customers?
While news of Tiscali's troubles rocked the City, racehorse trainers David and Sandra Brown were feeling cut off because their Tiscali phone line had stopped working in their Yorkshire farmhouse. The phone is vital to their business, and also enables them to keep in touch with their disabled son who suffers from myotonic dystrophy - a form of muscle wastage. Their son likes his independence and has his own house, but if he falls down which can happen, he can't get up. Sandra told us: "It's crucial that he can ring us." But since their phone stopped working, he can't.
The Browns are now forced to rely on their mobiles, but the reception in their area is very poor and their phones only work outside. Meanwhile, Tiscali can't tell them what's going on with their landline.
They've been without their phone line for almost a month and have tried ringing Tiscali about it nearly every day. They're finding it so difficult that they've considered cancelling their contract entirely. Sandra says: "I think their customer service is terrible. If we ran our business like that we would be bankrupt."
Phone and broadband have been cut off
The Browns are not the only ones having problems with Tiscali. The Reverend Kevin Lewis from Crawley is at the heart of the community and needs to be contactable day and night. But he too has had his Tiscali phone and broadband cut off leaving his flock without a shepherd.
Kevin explains: "So much of what we do involves communicating with people whether, it's arranging meetings or getting together with people, whether it's arranging pastoral visits or arranging funerals."
It's been more than 40 days and 40 nights since he was cut off, and he's made more than 40 phone calls to try and get it sorted. It's not cheap calling its customer service department either as it uses higher rate numbers.
When he did get through to customer services, Tiscali claimed that he'd cancelled his account but Kevin says this isn't the case: "Every day I'd have to drive a mile up to church to make the phone call, be told the same thing, having explained the same situation, speak to somebody who didn't know how to solve the problem and it was literally like hitting my head against a brick wall."
But Tiscali wouldn't budge and maintained that he'd cancelled. The company said Kevin was no longer a customer. Kevin became so fed up that he signed up with someone else.
Hundreds of complaints
Every month we receive hundreds of complaints from Tiscali customers tearing their hair out over the way the company's treated them. Some of you are completely stumped about what to do next. Stick it out and trust Tiscali to put it right? Make an official complaint? Or should you just cut your losses and cancel your contract? We decided to set up a Tiscali trouble shooting clinic in the hope that we could answer some of these questions.
We invited along some unhappy customers at the end of their tether and three experts to offer advice on what they should do. We brought together a commercial and IT lawyer, a telecoms specialist and an expert in comparing broadband deals. Soon we began to get answers for everyone that attended.
The Browns were told that their problem should have been fixed within 48 hours. Mark Weston, our legal expert told us: "The general law says if you're deprived of the fundamental benefit of a contract you signed up to, you have a right to terminate that contract." Mark went on to advise: "When you complain, try and do it in writing and keep a copy of everything you send in."
Surprised and disappointed at poor customer service
By the end of the day our experts were surprised and disappointed by the tales they'd heard of Tiscali's poor service. Just as our Tiscali clinic closed, Vicar Kevin got an unexpected call from Tiscali. Kevin explained that Tiscali were now saying that he would be getting a cheque as soon as possible. Cheekily, Kevin even asked if it was a coincidence that Watchdog was involved. The man on the phone from Tiscali declined to say whether or not that was the specific reason why he'd got involved, but said that it had brought it to his attention.
Whatever the state of Tiscali's finances, if customers walk, there'll be no business at all and nobody wants that. The company has to remember that their customers are just as important as their creditors.
Tiscali's response
We're very concerned by the complaints raised to us and thank Watchdog for bringing these to our attention. Having reviewed the specific cases provided, it's clear that we've not provided the standard of care we'd expect for these customers and for this we sincerely apologise.
However, we're confident that the cases passed to us are now in hand and we're committed to working with Watchdog to ensure any other customer case is resolved promptly.
We've a large customer base in the UK and the vast majority of our customers receive a good quality of service, so we're certainly concerned when cases like these are brought to our attention.
Tough times for Tiscali customers
While news of Tiscali's troubles rocked the City, racehorse trainers David and Sandra Brown were feeling cut off because their Tiscali phone line had stopped working in their Yorkshire farmhouse. The phone is vital to their business, and also enables them to keep in touch with their disabled son who suffers from myotonic dystrophy - a form of muscle wastage. Their son likes his independence and has his own house, but if he falls down which can happen, he can't get up. Sandra told us: "It's crucial that he can ring us." But since their phone stopped working, he can't.
The Browns are now forced to rely on their mobiles, but the reception in their area is very poor and their phones only work outside. Meanwhile, Tiscali can't tell them what's going on with their landline.
They've been without their phone line for almost a month and have tried ringing Tiscali about it nearly every day. They're finding it so difficult that they've considered cancelling their contract entirely. Sandra says: "I think their customer service is terrible. If we ran our business like that we would be bankrupt."
Phone and broadband have been cut off
The Browns are not the only ones having problems with Tiscali. The Reverend Kevin Lewis from Crawley is at the heart of the community and needs to be contactable day and night. But he too has had his Tiscali phone and broadband cut off leaving his flock without a shepherd.
Kevin explains: "So much of what we do involves communicating with people whether, it's arranging meetings or getting together with people, whether it's arranging pastoral visits or arranging funerals."
It's been more than 40 days and 40 nights since he was cut off, and he's made more than 40 phone calls to try and get it sorted. It's not cheap calling its customer service department either as it uses higher rate numbers.
When he did get through to customer services, Tiscali claimed that he'd cancelled his account but Kevin says this isn't the case: "Every day I'd have to drive a mile up to church to make the phone call, be told the same thing, having explained the same situation, speak to somebody who didn't know how to solve the problem and it was literally like hitting my head against a brick wall."
But Tiscali wouldn't budge and maintained that he'd cancelled. The company said Kevin was no longer a customer. Kevin became so fed up that he signed up with someone else.
Hundreds of complaints
Every month we receive hundreds of complaints from Tiscali customers tearing their hair out over the way the company's treated them. Some of you are completely stumped about what to do next. Stick it out and trust Tiscali to put it right? Make an official complaint? Or should you just cut your losses and cancel your contract? We decided to set up a Tiscali trouble shooting clinic in the hope that we could answer some of these questions.
We invited along some unhappy customers at the end of their tether and three experts to offer advice on what they should do. We brought together a commercial and IT lawyer, a telecoms specialist and an expert in comparing broadband deals. Soon we began to get answers for everyone that attended.
The Browns were told that their problem should have been fixed within 48 hours. Mark Weston, our legal expert told us: "The general law says if you're deprived of the fundamental benefit of a contract you signed up to, you have a right to terminate that contract." Mark went on to advise: "When you complain, try and do it in writing and keep a copy of everything you send in."
Surprised and disappointed at poor customer service
By the end of the day our experts were surprised and disappointed by the tales they'd heard of Tiscali's poor service. Just as our Tiscali clinic closed, Vicar Kevin got an unexpected call from Tiscali. Kevin explained that Tiscali were now saying that he would be getting a cheque as soon as possible. Cheekily, Kevin even asked if it was a coincidence that Watchdog was involved. The man on the phone from Tiscali declined to say whether or not that was the specific reason why he'd got involved, but said that it had brought it to his attention.
Whatever the state of Tiscali's finances, if customers walk, there'll be no business at all and nobody wants that. The company has to remember that their customers are just as important as their creditors.
Tiscali's response
We're very concerned by the complaints raised to us and thank Watchdog for bringing these to our attention. Having reviewed the specific cases provided, it's clear that we've not provided the standard of care we'd expect for these customers and for this we sincerely apologise.
However, we're confident that the cases passed to us are now in hand and we're committed to working with Watchdog to ensure any other customer case is resolved promptly.
We've a large customer base in the UK and the vast majority of our customers receive a good quality of service, so we're certainly concerned when cases like these are brought to our attention.
Tough times for Tiscali customers