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Broadband customers leave Tiscali for better service

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Posted 15th May 2009 at 1:45pm by Jonathan Leggett

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Tiscali UK suffered a second consecutive fall in its broadband subscriber base during the first quarter, it has been revealed.

The company’s latest financial results show that at the end of the three-month period to March 31st, the company had some 1.7 million broadband customers. This is down from 1.768 million as of December 31st 2008. The decline means that Tiscali’s customer base has fallen for two consecutive financial periods, with 6,000 leaving between the third and fourth quarter of last year.

News of developments comes as Tiscali recently agreed to be acquired by rival broadband supplier Carphone Warehouse/TalkTalk for £236 million. Subject to regulatory approval, the deal is expected to be completed in June.

The transaction will create the UK’s second-largest residential broadband provider and boost cheap broadband specialist TalkTalk’s subscriber numbers to 4.25 million. This equates to around 25 per cent of households.

Carphone is expected to attempt to turn around the struggling company principally through cost-saving synergies it has already identified. These include the adoption of a single billing system and "efficiencies associated with backhaul, the core network and individual exchange costs". The retailer forecasts that these will result in savings of between £40 and £50 million.

However, retaining customers might prove difficult for TalkTalk in the short-term. Since news of the takeover broke, some rival broadband companies have begun targeting Tiscali customers with money-saving incentives in a bid to persuade them to switch broadband provider.

Sky is currently offering Tiscali customers a £50 voucher and a Sky+ set-top box worth £90 for transferring their custom. In order to qualify for the offer, switchers must sign up before June 11th.

More news on: Tiscali

7 comments

  • R Hindle

    R Hindle, 15th May 2009.

    A note of warning for anybody thinking of ditching Tiscali like I did: It is very hard to get it through to them that you are leaving.

    I informed them a month in advance and then got further bills, as the person I had originally talked to to cancel my subscription had "forgotten" to cancel it so I had to pay a further month or get a bad credit rating.

    I also had to ring and cancel again. A month later I got another threatening letter and another bill. This time I argued with them and refused to pay again. I now get automated telephone calls from them telling me my payment details need to be updated because I cancelled my direct debit or they will cut me off. I have not used Tiscali for 4 months but I still get the calls.

    Reply
  • J Ken Crozier

    J Ken Crozier, 17th May 2009.

    I would suggest that customers are not leaving for cheaper deals but to escape from Tiscali's woeful customer support. In the past I had recommended lots of people to Tiscali Broadband but now, after several experiences with the support department I wouldn't recommend them to my worst enemy and I am watching for a deal to jump ship!

    Reply
  • Glen Pimborough

    Glen Pimborough, 18th May 2009.

    I left Tiscali over 18 months ago to TalkTalk. It was the best thing I've done.

    I've gone from 0.5mps speed to 4.5mps. I've also saved over £250 pa on my current deal and TT's customer service (though not brilliant) is far better than Tiscali's.

    Tiscali have brought their problems upon themselves and customers have been leaving in their droves.....good riddance.

    Reply
  • Ray

    Ray, 18th May 2009.

    Everyone I know who is on Tiscali is complaining about their poor service. Ability to connect is just like a lottery. it can be off for 10 minutes, 10 hours or 3 days before suddenly returning for no apparent reason, without any changes being made at home.

    Disconnecting every phone and plugging the router into the master socket does not work. Reconnect all phones and extensions, say a prayer and bingo back on again. For how long? That's anybody's guess. Try Talk Talk? Sorry we cannot offer a service.

    Reply
  • Steve,Grays,Essex

    Steve,Grays,Essex, 4th July 2009.

    I Have been a loyal Tiscali customer for three years.
    I am now leaving Tiscali, as I tire of day after day of non connection, no email service, rude customer service ( costing me 50p per minute)
    I am lucky to stay connected for more than 5 minutes at a time, I have to go to an internet cafe to upload and download items, as my Tiscali Service is so bad.
    Their service status page is often a day or so behind, so even though you know that there are huge problems, there is no transparancy, indeed their web site states 100% service, then i get disconnected as my 5 minutes are up, and "yes" i have even been disconnected whilst writting this in this form,

    A Very Angry Soon to be Ex Tiscali user

    Reply
  • Sheenagh Grant

    Sheenagh Grant, 16th October 2009.

    D I T T O (as above)
    A note of warning for anybody thinking of ditching Tiscali like I did: It is very hard to get it through to them that you are leaving.

    I informed them a month in advance and then got further bills, as the person I had originally talked to to cancel my subscription had "forgotten" to cancel it so I had to pay a further month or get a bad credit rating.

    I also had to ring and cancel again. A month later I got another threatening letter and another bill. This time I argued with them and refused to pay again. I now get automated telephone calls from them telling me my payment details need to be updated because I cancelled my direct debit or they will cut me off. I have not used Tiscali for "3" months but I still get the calls.

    Reply
  • Roy, Liverpool

    Roy, Liverpool, 16th December 2009.

    I am currently a Tiscali customer and have been for two yrs I am now going to leave as the service has actually deteriorated since being taken over by talk talk, people at call centres just dont care even when you tell them you are leaving!

    I was told this week that the wireless connection does not support any more than one computer at a time but if i needed two pcs to connect i should sit them next to each other!!! whats the point and also charged 5p a minute for the pleasure.

    I think talk talk will suffer for the association also now. Sky are currently offering particularly good deals for tiscali talk talk users who switch at the moment which is what we're doing this evening!

    Reply

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