Tiscali. Give it a miss else they may just rob you too.

I started as a customer with Tiscali broadband some 4 years ago. And for some time they seemed to treat me as you should a customer. But sad to say as time went by they had the attitude of could not care less.

I constantly complained of Broadband speed and after complaining the speed would rise - and then it would within a few days drop again. I left Tiscali in September 2008 and although I was on the 'up to 8mb' rate, was only getting average speeds of less than 2mb. Not acceptable that is it? A while ago they advertised that if you had your telephone line with them they would reduce your rental by 25% - what they fail to tell you is to do that you have to sign a new contract - tying you in with Tiscali for another year. A scam if ever I saw one.

In the end fed up I and after asking around about Sky broadband to see what their max was like - and being told speeds were great and constant I decided it was time to leave Tiscali. To be fair to Tiscali they provided the MAC number with no problem. The letter informed me when the MAC number were activated my account would be ended. OH yea. NO. I was told when I was billed for a full months broadband for September after my MAC had been used, and my telephone line also - even though that too moved to sky that I had to cancel through their cancellation department. They apologised and said 'don't know what went wrong' and cancelled it straight away. Many telephone calls costing in excess of £5 were made to Tiscali to try and get my correct bill - all to no avail. To add insult the woman at the other end said don't I dare cancel my bank order in favour of Tiscali or else they will blacken my credit rating.

So now they have taken money from my bank account for Broadband for a time I have not been with tiscali - and for a telephone service that is not provided by Tiscali either. And still if I cancel my bank account in their favour they will blacken my credit rating. DO YOU WANT TO DEAL WITH A COMPANY LIKE THIS?

I was at one time in a telephone call from one of Tiscali's staff asked to send them an invoice from Sky broadband to prove when I moved to Sky. And to prove when I moved my telephone service. Now what would you - the reader of this blog make of that. In other words are they saying 'we have no idea when you moved from us Mr Cummings'. PARDON MISS. They have the MAC number. Their records show when my telephone line were moved to sky. Their records or a quick telephone call to cancellations will confirm the date my Broadband account with Tiscali ended. Yet still this is not enough. Either that or they are too lazy to get their butts moving in the call centre to call the appropriate departments to get it sorted out. Again. WOULD YOU WANT TO DO BUSINESS WITH A COMPANY LIKE THIS?

I must add before I carry on that Sky is the best. It is constant - the speed is much better than Tiscali - I get nearly 4mb average and the line only supports 4.4mb max - the call centre is free to call if you have your telephone line with them - and you are treated with respect by their call centre staff. Oh and it is also cheaper.
Interesting too that once when I called Tiscali's call centre to complain about the low speed - I was told it was my telephone line. It would not support more than what i was getting. Remember that was only an average of less than 2mb. The most I ever got with Tiscali speed wise were under 3mb, sometimes under 1mb, once only half 1mb. Sky I often get 4.4mb. See the difference. The most important thing about my statement here is that Tiscali were not telling the truth were they? After all if my line can support the speed from Sky - why were Tiscali not providing the speed they should. The reason is ratio. They probably have a higher ratio to their modems meaning your speed is slower. And hey - you pay more for the privilege - and not only that - if you want to move they will still want to charge you... And if you want to complain they will ignore your emails - and if you want to telephone them you will be charged a premium rate and kept on hold before you speak to someone. Good eh. They make even more money out of you - and when you do get to speak to them - they will be all sympathy - and do nothing. Then wait for the round robin to start again.. Again. DO YOU WANT TO DEAL WITH A COMPANY THAT DOES THIS?

Today - Friday October 10 I had a telephone call from Tiscali to try to sort this out. Fair play to the guy I spoke to - I don't expect he was even aware of this until I started to inform Tiscali of this blog and that it had been posted on my main weather website. He has promised to pass this onto accounts to get it sorted. Will it be? I am not holding my breath but I will post the result here....

Further to yesterday comments today, Saturday, I received an email from Tiscali saying -

Thank you for contacting Tiscali Customer Support.In this case our current procedures have failed to deliver the service you required. Please accept my apologies for this and be assured that we are constantly adapting our methods in an effort to remedy any failures which become apparent.

But - no mention on how they intend in this case to deal with it. In other words. Sorry but we can't do anything for you. But at some point in the future when we refine our procedures we will. Again. - DO YOU WISH TO USE A COMPANY LIKE THIS?

Quite a long time now since my many complaints to Tiscali, and several promises to get it sorted out. I have to report that it was not sorted out - and I have all but given up on getting money I have overpaid them back. In fact I am now writing it off - they must need the cash very badly to rip off their customers - or in my case Ex customers. I have of course cancelled by Direct Debit to them from my bank to make sure they cannot use my bank as their cash cow. If anything else comes of this I will post on this blog. But I don't think it will. They have in the end had some money they were not entitled to. So - DO YOU WISH TO USE A COMPANY LIKE THIS?
Hopefully you will not - and if you have someone you know that is thinking of using Tiscali - draw their eyes to this blog.
I must add that I am not the worse case - I saw a complaint about Tiscali in Computer Active this week - and that poor guy had been paying them for months for a service he was not getting - with the continued promise it will be sorted. My advice - DO NOT USE TISCALI. I would recommend Sky Broadband as a good provider. Thanks for reading my blog..

UPDATE - Today Tuesday October 21 2008 I looked at my old account with Tiscali to see they have now raised a credit note for the amount they owe me. At last something is happening. Not that I would have knew this had I not looked as I received no email to inform me of this fact. I can well imagine that they sent the notification to my now defunct Tiscali email address instead of my new one that of course they are aware of. I have now emailed Tiscali to ask how they intend on repaying this money to me. Send me a cheque or whatever as they have no access to my bank account now. I will update the final outcome. When and if I receive the outstanding cash. It is just a pity I have had to write a blog and inform Tiscali and everyone I know through loads of emails of this blog to get action...

LATEST UPDATE - Despite lots of emails that Tiscali have ignored all I have received up to today - 30 October 2008 - is a credit note. I have written countless emails asking them how do i get the money owed - after all a credit note is no good to someone that does not use their services - I have not received one reply. DO NOT USE TISCALI. THEY DO NOT LISTEN TO THEIR CUSTOMERS AT ALL AND WILL NOT ANSWER ANY EMAILS YOU SEND THEM.


TODAY November 5 I finally got a result. I was told I had been sent a cheque but had not. Emails were getting ignored with no replies so in frustration I started to send emails in batches of ten. In the end Tiscali admitted they had not sent me a cheque. Today without warning the money I was owed appeared in my bank.

Summary - There is no doubt in my mind that Tiscali would not have taken any notice at all if they had not have been aware of this blog - I sent them the URL. Their customer service is one of the worse you are likely to try to use. Although Tiscali is a reasonably priced Broadband supplier their Internet speed is very bad - the reason I left - and well below what you are likely to be paying for. If you want to contact them by phone it will cost you bad with being put on hold waiting for a reply on a premium line. If you send emails the chances are you will not get a reply easily. If anything goes wrong or you want to leave Tiscali - apart from getting the MAC - their good point - you will have problems. You will use this provider at your peril. Myself they have lost a long standing customer and I would never use Tiscali again.

I now use Sky Broadband Max. Customer service is great and free to use if you also have your telephone service through sky - unlike the premium number Tiscali uses.
Speeds are good - in fact they have been rated number one in Broadband despite their acknowledged teething problems when they first started. And with Broadband Max only being £10 for unlimited use I think that is a bargain. It is also reliable. I have had not problems from day one. This one I would recommend... Thank you for reading my blog on Tiscali.

You will also help by sending the url to this blog to everyone you know in your email address book with the message 'Read this and pass this on to everyone you know'. Many thanks..