We moved in the flat on December 30th last year. Today is the 12th of April, and the TalkTalk account that was here before and used by the previous tenants *should* be transferred in our name within 48 hours. So let’s assume the 14th of April. Now count.
That’s 106 days.
106 days to complete the “change of ownership” (COO) process.
Let me go through the whole thing with you.
Why we decided to go for it?
TalkTalk offers a decent deal. The broadband works, the 40GB limit is not an issue for the two of us, and we get landline calls to Italy for free on evenings and weekends. So, when we learnt that we could have the already active account transferred in our name from the previous tenants’ we put some numbers together and realised that it was going to be the best option.
The “change of ownership” process
Before they recently introduced the possibility of getting the actual form (Change of Ownership form, COO) online (here, in case you need it) you (the “old” tenant) had to request the form to be sent to your physical address, fill it in, have it filled in by the “new” tenant, send it through the post.
So, what did we do? We did exactly this. We had the account holder to ask the form to be sent. He did not receive it. He chased them again. We moved in, in the meanwhile. We asked for the form to be sent, again. We received it in the end. You want to know why they didn’t send it originally? Because the account holder had cancelled the direct debit. Of course, he didn’t live at the address any more, so not a bad move. Bear in mind that TalkTalk allows anyone to pay for someone else’s account balance, which is exactly what we did for these months, so this is not supposed to really be an issue.
We (the account holder and myself) finally filled in the form and I sent it to them. This was on March 1st. I was expecting some papers to confirm the whole thing was completed successfully. Apparently I was wrong.
I called them today, to find out where we are on this. Their reply stated the form was successfully received but the account was not transferred in my name because I did not provide direct debit details. Now, I was never asked for my bank details during the whole process, and in fact the COO form does not state anywhere that this is a requirement for the successful completion of the process. When I pointed this out, the guy on the phone said the opposite, and confirmed they did not send out any paper and in fact did not change the ownership into my name because I did not provide those details. If you check the form (you can download it in .pdf from the previously linked page) you will see who’s right.
How did we succeed?
The guy on the phone just asked me for my name and surname.
Can you believe it? They already hold this information because I provided it with the COO form, and now he said that within 48 hours the account will be in my name. Nonsense. When I pointed out the fact that they already have this information, he just confirmed what he previously said. I just desisted.
So, what now?
Well, hopefully we’ll have the account in our name within 48 hours, we will receive some papers to illustrate the whole deal, we will receive some information on how to pay the bill. Yes, because I did not provide them with my bank details, but they still confirmed they will get the account in my name.
To me, all this does not make any sense whatsoever.
We’re sticking with them for now because the deal is decent, and switching to another provider would be a (costly) pain in the ass. But that’s the only reason.
Of course, if anyone from TalkTalk would like to explain this, the comment box is just down here.
