COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

[Stanley]

That account illustrates why I hate dealing with modern business organisations..... Life's too short....

[Tizer]

We have our personal domain name service from IONOS, carried over from when we were in business. I've mentioned before on OG about how they caused me trouble by sending wrong bills and setting up domains I didn't want etc and having trouble getting them to accept their mistakes. Today I received an invoice from them for next year's service. I logged into my IONOS account to check my credit card details where still held. After putting in my password and clicking to continue a page came up saying (in red highlighted text) they couldn't send me my 2023/24 invoice because they didn't have a valid email address for me and I should add one to my account. Yet I'd just received the invoice to my personal domain email address, the one they host! Every time I have contact with IONOS there is some sort of daft glitch.

[Tripps]

At least we are spared (for now) that strange woman with the funny hair and the scooter in the IONOS TV adverts.

Here's what the ad agency and the brand builders want us to see - for me it's just tiresome, and largely unintelligible - the adman's subtleties went straight over my head.

Aunt Helga

Read it all ! - it shows what the enemy is thinking - and wants us to see.

Makes me think immediately of the BBC satirical series 2012 and W 1

Good grief with IONOS it's even worse than that, and it's not a spoof.

[PanBiker]

Fortunately, never had a problem with them for the site hosting.

[Stanley]

I remember Helga David! Like you I was totally baffled. But then that's so often my condition these days when faced with contemporary culture. I simply don't get it! Was it 'Go Compare' that had a very strange series of adverts at one time that seemed to rely heavily on actors of questionable gender? So strange they were almost fascinating.

[Tizer]

The TV adverts don't bother us - we don't watch them! Just press the remote's button to jump to the end of the ad and return to the programme.

[PanBiker]

I have my latest Talk Talk bill and they have not removed my Free UK Calls Boost they have charged me yet again for the service that I cancelled back in May. I have both chat transcripts and email confirmations that the boost would be cancelled. Last contact the job was escalated to "back office staff" which supposedly would take 4 - 5 days to action. It's a simple setting in a database for goodness sake!

I have contemplated cancelling my direct debit until they sort it out. Unfortunately the charge is attached to my fibre service so if I take that action I will probably be off line in fairly short order. Between the rock and the proverbial hard place on this one.

When I went online to check my bill I was offered a chat line so I took it. Got the robot firsts which basically dumped me with a link to a billing query form. I have filled it in and told them that I have multiple confirmations of termination of the boost and that they owe me at least £48.00 probably £64.00 now and that their customer "service" is rubbish.

I cant really dump them as I have multiple email addresses that I have used for years. One is used for the donation account on here via Paypal and I have another that is used on behalf of my Trustee role with Bosom Friends. Notwithstanding the fact that my personal email has been in use for over twenty years and is embedded in dozens of other registrations on the internet.

[PanBiker]

I have been having a furtle on the web and I find that I still have an independent arbitration service I could use and I can also complain to David's old firm Ofcom as they are the regulators for the ISP's and also cover phone services etc.

Might be time to get some bigger guns.

[Tripps]

I can also complain to David's old firm Ofcom

Nearly - they started in December 2003, and I retired in the January. Doesn't time fly? I had a google and found a lot is still exactly the same. Here's a link which shows my former colleague Clive busy at the "play station" which was my work desk for many years.
Click on the link provided down the page. Monitoring Station

[Stanley]

Ian. Note that the problems with Talktalk started when you changed something in the account. That almost certainly triggered my spat with British Gas. I have always said that the best thing to do with one of these services is leave it alone but that doesn't explain your Facebook problem.....

[PanBiker]

I have always said that the best thing to do with one of these services is leave it alone

Only problem there is that its costing me £16.00 per month for something I don't use and no longer need.

[PanBiker]

I can also complain to David's old firm Ofcom

Nearly - they started in December 2003, and I retired in the January. Doesn't time fly? I had a google and found a lot is still exactly the same. Here's a link which shows my former colleague Clive busy at the "play station" which was my work desk for many years.
Click on the link provided down the page. Monitoring Station

A very interesting link there David. Of course you worked for the RIS dept. I noticed the link is now archived content, has a lot of the service become automated now? Having said that I can't see how the RDF section could go that way. The danger to life services that are mentioned is why the Morse requirement was retained for so long for a Class A Amateur Licence. We used to share some portions of the HF band with maritime services and were expected to be able to recognise a distress signal which would be sent in Morse and notify the relevant authorities. Knocked on the head with modern Sat Nav and digital communication via satellite.

Not had time to read it all yet as we have a family funeral to attend this morning. Will get back to it later. I love your former "Play Station".

[PanBiker]

Talk Talk have just sent me a "Talk Talk Experience" appeal for feedback via email. This is regarding my latest interaction with them via the chat service. This is the last time they promised to fix the boost that I no longer require and have been trying since May to cancel. Nothing about the very last communication that I had with them where I asked for a £64.00 rebate!

Of course I replied accordingly and commented that it would be better if they resolved customers queries rather than asking how well they were doing. Fast approaching an escalation to higher powers for this. Grrrr....

[Stanley]

Word from Talk Talk that they are going to upgrade me to full fibre free of charge. I have rung them and spoken to them. I don't need to do anything now except wait for an email from them to arrange a date. They tell me that the copper based system will go offline on the 30th November so the conversion will be before then.

[PanBiker]

That's the same deal I got when I upgraded to FFTP. 75mbps for the same deal as I was paying for the copper.

[Stanley]

If I can get away with it I shan't go to the trouble of replacing the copper from the terminal box to the computer, it's buried under the kitchen units. I suppose I'll lose a bit of speed but that's no problem as my present service is fast enough for my needs.

[Tizer]

Does a small length of copper at the very end cause only a proportionally small drop from full fibre speed or can it throttle the whole supply back to copper speed?

[Big Kev]

Does the fibre not run all the way to the new router?

[PanBiker]

Open Reach will install a termination box on the outside wall. This in turn is connected by fibre to a powered distribution box placed in a convenient location indoors. This box has a CAT5/6 socket which then connects to the router. The router supplied will probably have a VOIP socket for a telephone as well as the WAN connector and 4 x RJ45 switch sockets for distribution to other internal equipment.

[Stanley]

All this will become clear when they get round to installing it. I doubt if they will hit any obstacles they haven't encountered before.

[PanBiker]

Finally, I have response and action from the TalkTalk Billing Enquiry Team. They have credited me with £48.00 for 3 months of the UK Calls Boost which I have been trying to cancel. Noticed it in our current account the other day that our monthly bill was next to nothing! They are very apologetic in the email but say that they may have to make more adjustment rebates as required as they cant yet understand why the boost wont cancel on my account. So a result but not quite finalised yet. Must remember not to use the landline for outgoings

[Big Kev]

Must remember not to use the landline for outgoings

Now I have a mobile phone, that reliably connects to 'wifi calling', I have no need to have a landline for outgoing calls. I will be removing the evening and weekend call boost once I have complete confidence in the mobile

[Stanley]

The only boost I ever had was free international calls for £5 a month. I cancelled that when Roger and Martha moved over here and in those days it was no problem, you just rang Talktalk and had a word with them. I suppose like almost everything else matters deteriorated when they sacked staff and relied on computers too soon.

[Big Kev]

Telephone calls can be an expensive thing. Quite a few 'call connection' businesses are currently costing people horrendous sums of money. £119 to call HMRC was one story https://www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.or ... google.com

[Stanley]

EEEEEK!