TalkTalk got it wrong
TalkTalk’s head, Charles Dunstone has admitted that they got it wrong when launching the UK’s first free broadband service. TalkTalk has been slammed by the BBC’s Watchdog programme. A staggering half a million people have signed up to TalkTalk’s free broadband service. However thousands have been left with long delays and have been unable to get any joy out of TalkTalk’s customer service lines.
Charles Dunstone said that they were overhelmed by the number of people signing up to the free broadband service and their call centers could not cope with the call volumes. “I got it wrong. I didn’t realise that free broadband was going to have the effect on people it has,” Charles Dunstone said.
“It’s been a bruising experience for everyone at Carphone Warehouse (TalkTalk’s parent company); we are used to being ‘the good guys’ and it’s tough when things don’t go as well as we’d hoped. As things start to improve, I hope people will appreciate that what we did was for the best for all consumers, and whilst giving birth to free broadband was painful, it is now turning out to be a beautiful child.”
TalkTalk and its parent company, the Carphone Warehouse, has been hiring more staff to cope with the demand. It is also allowing customers to break their 18 month contract if TalkTalk has been unable to uphold its end of the bargin.
TalkTalk was the first UK broadband provider to offer free broadband in April of this year. Since then Sky and Orange have followed suit.