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Not sure if this is actually a Talk Talk problem, but... My mum has been with them for over a year and, other than delays in getting set up initially, all has been ok. About 3 weeks ago her internet connection went down. 2 weeks ago we discovered that her phone number had been changed. Instead of 0999-999-1234 the number was 0999-999-5678 and the name on the new number was that of her upstairs neighbour. Multiple phone calls to Talk Talk failed to elicit a solution, with the call centre staff insisting that she had cancelled her account, which she had not. Some staff suggested she had been 'slammed'. When asked why they had not written to her asking her if she had agreed to change providers (which is common with most utilities suppliers) none of them could explain why they had not, if slamming is so common. TT then claimed that BT were responsible for the problem as they had disconnected her number and connected the other account in its place; since my mum was no longer a TT customer TT staff could not help and suggested calling BT. Call BT. No account in mum's name. Not a surprise. Gave them the other number which is currently connected to mum's house - sorry, we can't speak to you about that due to data protection. You need to speak to TT. Call TT. You aren't our customer any more... Round and round and round and round... So far I've spent several hours trying to sort this, but I feel I'm finally getting somewhere. IMO, if you have a telecoms problem phone Ofcom sooner rather than later. It wasn't until I spoke to them that I was able to get hold of someone at TT who was actually interested in resolving the complaint. Up until then I spent my time in an endless circuit of fob-offs, refusals to escalate the complaint and a basic unwillingness to help based on the fact that mum was "no longer a customer". BT haven't been any better, promising to sort stuff 'within 24 hours' 7 days ago; promising to return calls but failing. The biggest PITA has been the telephone queueing system though. I've lost count of the times I've been cut off or transferred to the back of a queue or, worse still, spoken to someone, explained the problem (again) provided loads of details to be put through to someone who can help, explained the problem (again), been put on hold while they speak to another department but instead of being put on hold being bumped back into the queue to speak to the same overseas call centre I called in the first place! It goes dial-hold-give details-hold-explain problem-give more details-hold-refuse to accept attempt to fob off and insist on transfer to other dept-hold (for ages now!)-give details-explain problem-give more details-hold-be transferred back into first queue etc etc ad infinitum. BT and TT are just as bad.

Do you plump the cushions every day? Some sofas, particularly those with feather or fibre infills do need this done every day. They should have told you that at the point of sale. If, however, you are certain that it's a manufacturing defect write to them giving them full details of your complaint and insist that they do something about it. They might want to come out to see it again and will possibly again say there's nothing wrong. Trading Standards would probably be your next best stop. You could at that stage pay for an independent expert to inspect your furniture. If they agree that it's faulty insist that SCS either repair or refund (and pay the fee for the expert).

I called the phone banking service and asked for a list of charges. They've said they'll send me a letter listing them. No mention of any charge.

Some of them are ok, but there are others that I find distracting. It depends on size, colours used etc I suppose. There was one in particular I saw today that led to me turning them off, but I'm not going to name names because it's my problem. As long as the option exists to turn them off I'm happy.

I've seen forums where the avatars and sigs are so big that it's actually difficult to find the posts. That's why I turn them off.

I always turn the option to view avatars and sigs off 'cos I find them distracting.

WTF? They actually told you that only 1 person can get the info and they're not there? What a load of rubbish. Unless the BOS only has 1 person in the whole company who knows what the DPA is...

Well, after some work-related delays I've finally got around to making my DPA request. Easy enough - I phoned the phone-banking service and asked for a note of the charges on my account going back 5 years. After a short while on hold the woman on the other end of the phone said they'd send me a letter with them all listed. No mention of a charge or anything and I didn't even have to use the DPA to get them to agree to send the details. (Am I paranoid if I start to think there are notes on my file saying "warning, customer knows we are at it!!) Incidentally, as part of my job I have to send letters to customers. These letters are automated to a lesser extent than I believe the banks' are. Our procedure is: 1. Order is updated resulting in a system 'flag' changing status from 'No' to 'Yes' (this is done as part of a separate updating process, not manually for each individual order) 2. Report is run to capture the orders requiring a letter (this captures customer name and address data and anything else that goes on the letter) 3. System decides the which letter will be sent depending on the results of point 2 above. For example we send different letters depending on whether or not our customer has an outstanding balance 4. Letters are printed 5. Staff member puts the letters through the letter folding/envelope stuffing machine 6. Staff member puts envelopes through the franking machine and into the mail bag Now it takes 1 person 2 hours as an absolute max, start to finish, to do about 1000 letters. Add labour, costs for postage, paper and envelopes together and I'd estimate the real cost per letter for my company at 35-40p. Even if it's double that I reckon that's a more reasonable estimate than the exorbitant rates the banks are charging, particularly given that their process is most likely fully automated. I would love to stand up in court and question the bank about the actual cost of sending me an excess OD letter. :twisted:

I've seen a few, but it might be a good idea to have a success stories thread linking to the individual cases as they are resolved. I'm a member of another forum that fights the good fight on another matter. The success stories thread is a great source of inspiration when people start to lose hope. It should also be noted that plenty of people will come here, take the advice they need and get their refund without ever posting about it.

I could actually do with a forum's eye view of what I should do next. I am aware from reading here that they might continue to claim that the charges do only "cover their costs", so I'm now thinking that instead of hitting them with a demand for repayment on threat of action I might be best to do the DPA thing and get something in writing from them noting any 'manual interventions' or lack thereof before I go further. This would, of course, delay things but I'm not in a hurry so it might be the prudent course of action? Any thoughts? With reference to the conversation I had with them, while it was fun I'm not sure it would actually be much use, other than as evidence that they won't tell me what they are charging me for. Surely the DPA request for charges/manual intervention info gets me what I need in that regard anyway?

Thanks John. I'm going to explicitly ask my branch manager to itemise the costs referred to in these letters. And I'm going to ask him to justify a threefold increase as well. Wonder what he'll say?

Fishing through old statements etc I have 2 of these letters; one from 16th Feb 05 and the other from 20th July 05. The first is exactly as the one above; the 2nd says maximum 3 charges per day. WTF? How can their daily costs change from £30 to £90? John, can you confirm the date of the letter you have copied the text from? I'm interested to see if I can prove that they increase the number of charges they hit you with as a punitive measure. If your letter is dated after 20th July I'd suggest the letters I have are evidence. I'll certainly be asking about this in my letter to my branch. (see my own thread)

No recording unfortunately. The funniest bits were firstly the prolonged silence from the person who answered the phone as soon as I told them why I was calling. I nearly said "hello, are you still there?" but I thought it'd be better if I waited for her to decide what to say instead. Secondly the amount of squirming, uuhming and aahing was unbelievable. I'd imagine that manager-bloke will be doing some research and possibly some role-playing to practice his obfuscation techniques. Their complete refusal to provide a breakdown of the charges wasn't a surprise but I laboured the point anyway just to make him squirm. This forum is a bad influence!

Don't have to. It exists already. http://www.pepipoo.com

Well I just had a lovely chat with the phone banking bods. Phoned up and went through the usual press this button rigmarole before speaking to a real person. This is not verbatim, but it is the gist Operator: Hello, my name is xxx, how can I help you? Me: Hello. I've heard a lot in the news about bank charges being unlawful in that they are excessive and as such amount to a penalty. I'd like to arrange for the charges I have paid to be refunded. long pause...I kept quiet and waited for her to decide what to do Operator: Please hold. piped music for ages. New voice on the other end. Manager: Hello MrsMiggins, my name is xxx, I'm one of the managers here. I understand that you want to talk about charges on your account. Me: Yes. I understand that the law says that you are only allowed to charge for actual losses incurred by the bank. I believe that the charges applied to my account amount to a penalty and I would like them refunded. Manager: The charges you have paid are listed in the terms and conditions so you have agreed to them. Me: If the charges are unlawful it doesn't matter whether or not they are in the T&Cs, they are still unlawful so I'd like you to issue a refund. Manager: But if you got a parking ticket and overstayed for 5 minutes you'd still have to pay. Me: I'm sorry, but parking tickets are issued under the Road Traffic Act; we're talking about contract law so parking tickets are irrelevant. Can you explain to me how the £30 charge is calculated? Manager: The charge covers our costs in returning a payment, looking at the account, deciding what to do. Me: As far as I can see your system pays a DD and then automatically issues a letter and charges me. Are you saying that it costs the bank £30 to do that? If the £30 charge covers your costs I'd like an invoice for those costs please so I can see what I'm paying for. Manager: I'm sorry, I can't give you that. Me: Why not? Manager: I don't have it. Me: But surely you can get it? Someone at the bank obviously worked out the charge, so it must be possible to say what it's made up of? Manager: Sorry, but I don't have this information and I can't get it for you. Me: Why not? It's not reasonable for you to provide a service but be unwilling to give me details on exactly what that service is. If you can't tell me what I'm paying for I think you should refund the charges. Manager:I'm sorry, but I can't do that. Your branch manager might be able to do that for you. Me: So you're telling me I should speak to my branch manager and he might be able to agree to refund the charges? Manager: Yes. Me: OK, I'll do that. call ends The call went exactly as I thought it would with him constantly justifying the charges as reasonable and referring to the T&Cs. I was on the phone for over 5 minutes and almost had him admit that the charge was a penalty but he stopped himself in the nick of time :twisted: I'm now going to steal bits of Falkirk1298's letter and write to the manager of my Branch. This is fun.