Tiscali - just DON'T do it !!

In a vague attempt to save money on my phone and ADSL bills, I decided to an alternative provider to BT was the order of the day. I looked around and decided against Carphone Warehouse (too many negative comments) but went for a supplier that I also found negativity for, but some customers reporting good service.
Mistake - cos I chose Tiscali.

Day 1 - ADSL account dropped by BT - but phone was working OK… so I thought.
However, no account set up details from T, so tried a few options with no joy. Called T but was told welcome pack would arrive the following day. What good is that? - a welcome pack delivered the day ‘after’ the service is provided.

Pack did arrive, but when I tried it, there was no ADSL.
Tried calling support line (5p per minute) - and told it would be OK in 24 hours. No joy next day, so tried again. Decided to check phone line - and discovered the number had been changed, despite everything telling me I’d keep the same phone (PSTN) number. Called T again - advised that in 24 hours it would all be OK again. Do you see a pattern emerging here… if you wait 24 hours, the magic Tiscali Fairies somehow ‘should’ magic something up… apparently ! Get real… there are no Fairies in the world of telecoms, and so, as expected, nothing actually happened.

Got very cross, and demanded a call back to tell me what they were doing… no call !
However, after ONE WEEK, finally managed to get to speak to a 2nd line engineer who immediately diagnosed the problem, and told me the same thing I’d been telling them… that there was a crossed connection in the local exchange. T got a BT engineer to pop into the exchange and hey presto, only 8 days after the service went live, I got my ADSL line back.. and a phone with the same number that all of my friends and family actually know.

So - not a happy experience, but we’ll see how it pans out over the next few weeks. Any problems and my wife has demanded we go back to BT.
Watch this space…..