drunkenfool
Member
Registered: 7th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Drives: Audi R8 V8
User status: Offline
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Ive been with tiscal about 3 months, all was fine at first but about 3 weeks ago, download speeds started to deteriorate down to my most recent bandwidth test revealing a speed of 4.5kbits/s (about 1/10 of modem speed!) No reply to emails, i have tried calling the help desk 14 times today but no answer. and after browsing the forums, i know im not the only one with similar problems. Anyone had any experience with cancelling a contract? Could i just cancel my direct debit, as they are in breach of their contract?
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stuyw
Member
Registered: 15th May 02
Location: North West Drives: Rev3 MR2 Turbo
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its worth a go as they are not supplying u with wot u are paying u for
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kerzo
Member
Registered: 10th Nov 02
Location: Norn Iron
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as far as i know they all charge a cancellation fee
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PaulW
Member
Registered: 26th Jan 03
Location: Atherton, Greater Manchester
User status: Offline
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plus if your bound to a 12 months contract, you have no choice but to pay the remainder of the contract + any other fee's
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drunkenfool
Member
Registered: 7th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Drives: Audi R8 V8
User status: Offline
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even if they aren't delivering the service that i am paying for? Could i contact trading standards or anything?
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Tim
Site Administrator
Registered: 21st Apr 00
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Only way I ever got out of a broadband contract was by 'moving house' to an area 'they did not provide service for'... but this was cable, so area matters...
Is it really a 12 month contract? Thought most ADSL providers were 3 month or 1 month contracts nowadays?
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myke
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Registered: 7th Feb 01
Location: High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire
User status: Offline
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i would guess citizens advice bureau would be a good start.
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Nismo
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Registered: 12th Sep 02
User status: Offline
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quote: Originally posted by Tim
Only way I ever got out of a broadband contract was by 'moving house' to an area 'they did not provide service for'... but this was cable, so area matters...
Is it really a 12 month contract? Thought most ADSL providers were 3 month or 1 month contracts nowadays?
yes Nildram is 1 month contrat sort of thing.
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stuyw
Member
Registered: 15th May 02
Location: North West Drives: Rev3 MR2 Turbo
User status: Offline
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i work for blueyonder and ours is 12 month contract
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drunkenfool
Member
Registered: 7th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Drives: Audi R8 V8
User status: Offline
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almost certain it is a 12 month contract. i was thinking about going with bulldog 2mb offpeak thing for less than £30 a month, and if thats crap, at least its only a 1 month contract! Only reason i went with tiscali is cos someone off these boards works with them, and told me i could have a 2mb connection for price of 512.
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PaulW
Member
Registered: 26th Jan 03
Location: Atherton, Greater Manchester
User status: Offline
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stuyw, care to do me a good deal on a better broadband pack?? lookin at 1mb
problem is, I'm already with a poooo ISP!
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Andy
Member
Registered: 28th Dec 99
Location: Cumbria, UK
User status: Offline
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quote: Originally posted by PaulW
plus if your bound to a 12 months contract, you have no choice but to pay the remainder of the contract + any other fee's
Not true - a contract in law is between two parties and both are obliged to fulfill the terms agreed to.
Drunken - make a note of all the times they've failed to live up to their obligations (ie broadband been running shite) and what was wrong. Then write to them either asking for compensation for the bad service and a guarantee that it will be as described in their advertising from hereon. Point out that if you don't receive this compensation within 7 days, you will consider them in breach of their contract and terminate your standing order immediately. Tell them also that you will be making an official complaint to the trading standards office, for misdescription under the 1992 Sale of Goods and Services act. They won't have a leg to stand on
[Edited on 02-03-2004 by Andy]
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PaulW
Member
Registered: 26th Jan 03
Location: Atherton, Greater Manchester
User status: Offline
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yes but with ADSL there is no set 'speed' at which they must supply a rate, most contracts say that speed of connection can vary on other factors out of the control of the ISP, so they will have a way out of it themselves, but still be able to stuff it up peoples arses to get money out of them!
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Dan B
Member
Registered: 25th Feb 01
User status: Offline
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drunkenfool, judging by experience from the Tiscali forums on ADSL Guide (clicky thing), you'll need to get Oftel involved to finish the contract.
Some addresses to write to to cancel the service (not sure how much use they'll be):
Tiscali Customer Support
PO Box 7206
Milton Keynes
MK14 6XG
OR
Tiscali Ltd
Broadband Cancellations
PO Box 7206
Keld Farm (think it was Keld or Kelm)
Milton Keynes
MK14 6XG
Also by email: broadbandcancellations@uk.tiscali.com
If you're going to get Oftel involved, keep a record of EVERY communication with Tiscali since you decided to cancel (that's phone, even (ESPECIALLY, actually) if you didn't get through, email, fax, letter, and so on).
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Dan B
Member
Registered: 25th Feb 01
User status: Offline
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To find a good replacement, try comparing ISPs on the following site (rated by Speed, Reliability, and Customer Service):
http://www.adslguide.org.uk/isps/compare.asp
Oh, and on a completely unbiased note (honest! ), can I just point out that the ISP I work for (Zen Internet) achieved the highest average speed-test results during February:
http://www.adslguide.org.uk/newsarchive.asp?item=1567
Just thought I'd mention that!
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AdiSRI
Member
Registered: 1st May 02
Location: Berkshire
User status: Offline
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its funny as both me and my dad (at seperate houses) have tiscali 512k broadband and its been perfect.
Had mine for a month, me dads had his for 11 months thus y i got it.
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Drew
Banned
Registered: 24th Nov 01
Location: County Durham
User status: Offline
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think marc is on that - and i tried to send him a file and took ages - then died, and he said his net had been shite last few days
sure he said same company
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AdiSRI
Member
Registered: 1st May 02
Location: Berkshire
User status: Offline
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as i say im on it now and its spot on?? maybe its certain exchanges with trouble not tiscali at all??
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drunkenfool
Member
Registered: 7th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Drives: Audi R8 V8
User status: Offline
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how much do you use the service? Apparently they ahve a list of heavy users, and they put them all on one server to fight between themselves over the avaiable bandwidth. The worst thing is, a heavy user is someone downloading 100-600mb a day. 100mb a day on broadband is less than 30 mins use of the service! Fair enough some companies having 150GB a month cap on the cheaper services, but 100mb a day is laughable! Thanks for the advice guys, ill see if i can sort it out tomorrow.
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drunkenfool
Member
Registered: 7th Feb 03
Location: Hereford Drives: Audi R8 V8
User status: Offline
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i was downloading a video earlier at 0.2kB/s, just got so fed up i cancelled it.
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Dan B
Member
Registered: 25th Feb 01
User status: Offline
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Although it's a little slower than usual, look what speed you could get if you change ISPs!
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Dan B
Member
Registered: 25th Feb 01
User status: Offline
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quote: Originally posted by AdiSRI
as i say im on it now and its spot on?? maybe its certain exchanges with trouble not tiscali at all??
Judging by the forums linked below, I'd be tempted to think it's an ISP-problem and not a single exchange problem:
http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=unhappiness
http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=tiscali
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AdiSRI
Member
Registered: 1st May 02
Location: Berkshire
User status: Offline
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well i use it all day every day basically never goes off and ive not had any trouble at all. Not saying you aint m8, just giving u my experience of tiscali (and no, i nor anyone i know works for them LOL) which has been good. I get 50-60kb download most of the time, but depends o servers at the other end too.
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Tim
Site Administrator
Registered: 21st Apr 00
User status: Offline
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quote: Originally posted by stuyw
i work for blueyonder and ours is 12 month contract
Yup, I'm with BY Cracking service tbh...
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Rob Withey
Member
Registered: 21st Sep 03
User status: Offline
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quote: Originally posted by Dan B
Although it's a little slower than usual, look what speed you could get if you change ISPs!
That's a crazy test. I'm on 56k dialup and getting over 60 KB/sec with that file (work that one out). That fact that it is all zeros means that the hardware compression of the modem does amazing things with it.
Try the non zero file in the same directory for a more realistic answer.
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