feeling smug this morning, got a phone call from someone in Talk talk and an email with direct contact details. refunded my previous months charges, albeit by cheque . I have responded positively thanking them for their intervention and added the following 1) Communication is about listening as well as talking – No one was listening, that is why I got angry. 2) If Stephen Rawlson is going to send me a letter (even though it is clearly sent in his name) then please include a return address or a direct telephone number, I reserve the right to address issues with my accuser. 3) The telephone menu is a nightmare everyone hates it, it would be good to give departmental numbers rather than go through the whole process, i.e billing = 0875 333 333 4) As you have done, take responsibility for your customer, I saved a 20 million pound contract by although a temporary billing clerk, once by taking charge, calling the customer directly to gather details, asking him to wait whilst I investigate but giving my desk phone number, and promising to ring back in twenty minutes with the results of my investigation, once I saw something suspicious I gave my contact in the organisation my mobile number to contact me if there were issues. It turns out that the company was being defrauded to the tune of £2000 per day, the manager in charge of the contract hadn’t noticed the sudden rise in the bill; they went onto better things. Within 4 weeks we had recovered over £70,000 in fraudulent charges. In 12 months working for the company I had a list of high level customers that phoned me whenever they had a problem. 5) When answering the phone your Indian staff assume English identities, it fools no one and starts the call off with a lie. Have more respect for your customers 6) No one can understand some of your Indian call centre staff, some of the men have deep heavily accented voices that cannot be understood. It isn’t racism it is simply a communication issue 7) In any business your customer is everything, they deserve respect, you may know more than they do, but do not belittle someone who is paying your wages. It is clear some of your staff care about what they do. Some customers are bad uns and trying it on, do not let them spoil it for the vast majority who are decent people

Dear Stephen, I am very sorry that you have had to contact me directly to resolve this . I have asked one of my team to investigate this immediately, and we will be in touch asap. In the meantime, please accept my sincere apologies. Kind regards Dido

think I got a result, I emailed the CEO himself, and just got a reply expressing his apologies, and promising a full investigation.. hmm lets see

I moved from Talk Talk to SKY on 20 Feb 2012, I keep on top of my bills being a doley, and kept an eye on what was happening, good job too, I paid my charges a month in advance so expected a rebate as my billing date was 15 Feb, as such by my calculation they owed me £15 (they also changed from payment in arrears to payment in advance without my consent) my line was disconnected on the 20th Feb by BT and reconnected to SKY, the website was down on the day my bill was due, and it took a couple of days to get in and check my bill, good job too as I was being charged a full months fees. I phoned and spoke to Gavin who had an unmistakeable indian accent - and a deep one at that (never met an indian called Gavin) he told me that as I hadn't called them I was by law obliged to pay the bill. I explained that as the line was disconnected the service was not provided and therefore no payment was due and that the company had been informed by both BT and SKY. He said no they had received no notification off either company. I explained, that their internal communication problems were no concern of mine, I said I want a refund and I was cancelling my DD which I did straight away. I am now on the second letter and awaiting the contact from the Debt collection agency. I am also dealing with an old lady who within weeks of the death of her husband got quite offensive letters from the company threatening legal action, I called the help desk and got the run around I explained that this was a courtesy call and I was just letting them know she was changing provider, The operator told me we just had to go through a few questions. I explained this was a courtesy that they were abusing, I had better things to do on a Saturday than talk to him, and if they wanted to know what was wrong with their company they should read some of the letters that they had sent this poor lady, it wasn't up to me to sort their company out, that's the job of your managers, and if they wanted advice I would gladly come in and sort out their organisaton at a cost of £40 per hour as a consultant. I think with that they were shaken I have tried emailing Stephen Rawlinson and Charles Dunston , and their email accounts seem strangely disconnected btw, has anyone got a working email addy for either of these idiots

dropping payments to £1 rest is history

not yet I am waiting to see what happens when I haven't responded i.e next week, plus contacting OFT again. but I really want this before a judge, the paper trail from them is totally substandard I have yet to receive a statement off them I even have a letter stating I was paying £25 when I was clearly paying £40 I really want to go on the offensive here bollocks to what I owe them I have no issue paying and have stood by my debt repayments, but I won't be bullied by anyone

update!!! I have just received a letter dated 11 Jul 2011 (28th today) saying I am in default and pay it all up or else.. I also have another letter signed by the same person dated a week later that I received last week saying contact us as we are aware your situation has changed. and another letter agreeing to me paying them £20 dated 14th July (received last week). if it wasn't so tragic it would be funny, the phrase they coiuldn't find their backside with both hands and a roadmap springs to mind. well I quite look forward to being taken to court now, all paperwork they have sent is in disarray if they operate like this in a courtroom, you can only be filled with hope

Blacklisted has never been mentioned in letter form, just on the telephone I only found out they had done it when I applied for an overdraft to find that my credit rating had dropped off the scale and my bank of 20 years refused a £100 overdraft. initially I thought that 1st credit had bought the debt, but from recent conversations I gather they are acting on behalf of MBNA.. cheers regarding the agreement. Oh I was made redundant on health grounds, but I really won't give in no matter how I feel. thing is on the phone I run rings around their staff as they clearly have no idea what they are talking about. It's quite funny at times, but I cannot prove what has been said of course. I complained to the OFT regarding all this but have had no reply. thing is if I had avoided my debt it would probablly be all off my record now as it all started 7 years ago, but I have always faced my problems and tried to resolve them, with all my other creditors this has worked and I have paid off all but this debt. If they hadn't been so overbearing and aggressive I would have been able to sort out a loan to repay them, but oif course because of their actions I have been refused all loans..

seven years ago I was made redundant owing a lot of money, I phoned all my creditors and made offers of payment that I have kept to, however. MBNA have always proven problematic and aggresive. As a result of this whilst unemployed I offered them £20 per month, they tried to get double this, and in all honesty I would have, if they hadn't been so pushy. a few months down the line I started getting letters off 1st credit, and informed that I had been black listed - even though I had paid as I said I would. As time went by I went to university then started work again. I upped my payment to £25 per month then £40 (about 3 years ago) I have received a huge amount of letters (kept all of them) from them trying to get me to pay it off, pay more, often with thinly veiled threats, even had a phone call whilst doing my degree complaining that I was at Uni and should have asked their permission. I have stood up to them and because I don't own much have said - take it or leave it. if you don't like it take me to court. In June I was mase redundant, I called them straight away and offered to pay off 40% of the debt in full and final payment. this reflects an offer they made 12 months previously, I said also if it isn't cleared that I would be on the dole and would drop my payments to the original agreed amount. this was declined as they wanted 70%. I contacted a debt advisor who said write to them offering 10%. I wrote foimally offering 25% with a written explanation that this was my final offer, if declined I would be reverting to £20 per month with little chance oif it going up, I currently owe £3000 (app). this was declined, so at the end of the month I paid £20 as per my letter and phone call. since then I have had a call from India telling me I had defaulted and they would take me to court etc. I stood my ground - explained I had informed them of this situation already and they were annoying me. since then I have received three letters - the first threaten8ng legal action for defaulting - contact them in 7 days or else. the second from a debt management c ompany - who seem to be working out of the same offices as 1st credit, saying I need to contact them urgently to discuss my options, that ends with the immortal line, if you haven't responded within 14 days we will assume you have no interest in clearing this debt. The third advising me that my credit rating has improved (of course I managed to come to an agreement with all my other creditors and so of course cleared all but MBNA) and it was clear I had come into some money why hadn't I cleared their debt, contact us within 7 days to talk about our offers, I made my offer in May, it was based on the money I had. I paid everyone else off even though I went to MBNA first. it is now the end of July as a result of paying all my other debts off there is little left. (and no I haven't been living the life of Riley as I can account for every penny and I have £300 left of my redundancy which is the amount left over after deducting my debts paid off from my redundancy. I emailed the OFT last week complaining, but have heard nothing since. the two weeks are up on Monday.. Any thoughts or suggestions anyone?