italk’s Code of Practice for Residential Customers
At italk we want you to know that we are here for you and your telephone and broadband needs, this document will explain a bit more about what italk will do for you, including the services we offer, the help that we can provide, and how to get in touch with us if you need anything at all.
We also want to make you feel at home with us, which is why we’ve written this document.
The industry regulator Ofcom (the Office of Communications), requires all communications companies is to provide their customers with their code of practice. This isn’t part of your contract, and it doesn’t affect your statutory rights.
If you require a large-print version of this code of practice, please call Customer Care on 0333 210 4290 so we can help.
Everything you need to know about italk
Let's get up to speed. We’re on a mission to get the UK talking by providing broadband and line rental packages at great prices, with no hidden fees.
Whichever package you’re on, you’ll receive premium service, every time. Our UK-based Customer Care Team are always be on-hand to offer support and advice, whenever, and wherever you may be.
We’re putting a stop to endless hours spent on hold. You could say we’re giving you your life back with easy-to-reach experts who are there for you from the set-up. Going green? So are we. All our packages have a paperless option, meaning you can receive your bill electronically. And if you move house, you can easily transfer your italk services.
Next up is a list of things you’ll find in this document. If there’s anything else that you need, call us on 0333 210 4290 and have a chat.
What you’ll find in this document
1. How to contact italk
2. What has italk got to offer
3. I’m new to italk – what happens now?
4. Broadband and what comes with it
5. Faults and repairs
6. Moving house
7. Charges and billing
8. Premium-rate services
9. What happens if I miss a payment?
10. Disconnection notices
11. Credit checks
12. Sales and marketing
13. Thinking of leaving
14. Directory entries
15. Data protection
16. Emergency services
17. Quality of service
18. Useful links
1. How to contact italk
Whether you have a question about your bill, some feedback you’d like to give us – or if you have anything you need help with – here’s how you can do it.
• Just so you know, our office hours are 8 am to 7 pm Monday to Friday, with slightly shorter hours on Saturdays where we’re in the office from 9 am to 5.30 pm. The quickest way to speak to us is by calling Customer Care on 0333 210 4290
• One of the quickest ways to talk to us is through our Live Chat feature, which can be found in the bottom left of your screen.
• If you want to write an email, then the address is [email protected]
• Alternatively, you can head to www.italktelecom.co.uk/contact and fill in our call-back request form
• Lastly, it’s a bit slower, but our address is: italk, Unit 1 Gordon Mews, Gordan Road, Portslade, BN41 1HU
2. What has italk got to offer
Whether it’s talking now and then or surfing the net all the time, we offer a range of packages from £14.99 that can cover your telephone or broadband needs. For more information check out www.italktelecom.co.uk/packages or call our usual number 0333 210 4290. If your needs change or you are thinking about adding on international calls, we’re ready for you.
3. I’m new to italk – what happens now?
Congratulations! Welcome to italk, we’re pleased you’ve arrived. We’re sure you want to know how smooth the transition will be from your regular provider, so we’ve written this to show you how straightforward the changeover will be.
Like all telephone and broadband providers, italk has some obligations to you as a customer, and we make sure we keep up to date with rules and regulations, so you’ll be happy to see that we are serious about our relationship with you. The next few sections will cover areas such as faults, billing, and moving house, so be sure to check those as well.
Your telephone supply, including your telephone number and your directory settings (more info on this in the directory enquiries section below), will all be carried over from your existing provider behind the scenes as if nothing has happened. Your welcome pack will tell you the date we expect the change to take place, and it’s usually around 14 days from the date that you place your order. Sometimes there are circumstances beyond our control that may affect this, but we will keep you posted if we’re aware of any disruptions.
Most of our packages prevent international or premium numbers from being called for the first 3 months as a precaution, but if you know that you want to dial these then contact our Customer Care Team for options.
Remember that unless you have opted to pay 12 months of line rental upfront, the standard contract is 24 months, which switches into a rolling monthly contract after that.
4. Broadband and what comes with it
If you’ve taken up one of our broadband deals then you’ll be shortly receiving some equipment that will be needed to get online, this includes: Router (pre-configured)
• Router Power Supply
• RJ-11 DSL Data Cable
• RJ-45 Ethernet Cable
Don’t worry – it will be delivered to your door, in time for your activation and it fits in most letterboxes so you don’t even have to be in. For many customers, it will be a straightforward swap between their old and new equipment – there are directions on how to plug everything in inside the box. If you’re having any issues then call us on 0333 210 4290.
You may see that we often refer to ‘customer apparatus’ in our paperwork. Whilst our advisors are on the phone with you, we may ask you about your ‘apparatus’ if we are testing for a fault. When we use this term we are referring to any apparatus that belongs to you, or that is plugged into the Network Terminal Equipment (the white socket in your property that you plug your phone and broadband into ).
5. Faults and repairs
If you experience any faults on your line please call our Customer Care Team on 0333 210 4290* or email [email protected]. Our aim is to minimise disruption and inconvenience, which is why we try to solve issues remotely wherever possible. When you speak to us we will do some troubleshooting over the phone, which may require you to check the apparatus at your end. We will work to diagnose what the issue is.
If there is a fault on the line outside of your property that requires repair then we may need to get Openreach involved. Openreach is the part of the BT Group that looks after the majority of the nation’s telephone lines. If everything goes as normal and there’s nothing beyond our control that happens, most repairs are completed within 2 to 5 working days, depending on what the issue is.
Most repairs are carried out between the hours of 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday (not including bank holidays), so we will do our best to make sure that we do all we can to fix the issue ourselves before ordering an engineer. If the fault is to do with your equipment you may have to pay a charge for an engineer to visit your property.
If we have not been able to fix your phone after 3 working days of the issue being reported we may be able to offer a daily credit for your line rental as compensation. If you think this applies to you, please contact our Customer Care Team for further information.
*If you call us and we’re not in, you will be asked to press 2 in our phone menu, then asked to provide your name, your italk telephone number, an alternative number for us to call you on (such as a mobile) and an outline of the issue you’re having. We’ll then get to work on this problem, and we will prioritise a call to you to be made as soon as possible.
6. Moving house
Moving house can be one of the most stressful times in life, as there are so many things to remember to do. Luckily, sorting your italk telephone and italk broadband out is easy. Just give us a call a minimum of 30 days (or more!) before you move and let us know a few simple things;
• When are you moving?
• Where are you moving? and
• How can we contact you?
So long as you give us details ahead of time, we aim to make sure that your services are ready for you at your new home as near to moving in as possible.
7. Charges and billing
Use the handy table below to see how your bill will arrive. It’s worth knowing that we can provide your bills free of charge by email, so give us a call if you want to switch to paperless.
| What’s my package? | What’s on the monthly bill? | What’s on the quarterly bill? |
|
italk now and then
or
italk all the time
|
Your monthly package cost, including line rental, and any calls you made that aren’t part of your package.
|
No quarterly bill – just the monthly ones. |
|
italk now and then with broadband
or
italk all the time with broadband
|
The same as above, along with your monthly broadband charge. | No quarterly bill – just the monthly ones |
| italk Gold or italk Connect | Any calls you made that aren’t part of your package. | Three monthly charges for your package, added into one bill. |
|
italk Gold with broadband
or
italk Connect with broadband
|
Any calls you made that aren’t part of your package and three of your monthly charges for your package, added into one bill. | No quarterly bill – just the monthly ones. |
Your bills will normally be paid automatically by Direct Debit, and this transaction will happen around two weeks after the invoice date. Please bear in mind that any other method of payment might incur a processing fee. A handy link to have is https://www.italktelecom.co.uk/rates as this will show you the costs of any calls made outside of your package, as well as any surcharges or processing fees. If any rates change, we will update this link.
Direct Debit Guarantee
This Guarantee is offered by all banks and building societies that accept instructions to pay Direct Debits.
If there are any changes to the amount, date or frequency of your Direct Debit italk will notify you 7 working days in advance of your account being debited or as otherwise agreed. If you request italk to collect a payment, confirmation of the amount and date will be given to you at the time of the request.
If an error is made in the payment of your Direct Debit, by italk or your bank or building society, you are entitled to a full and immediate refund of the amount paid from your bank or building society – if you receive a refund you are not entitled to, you must pay it back when italk asks you to.
You can cancel a Direct Debit at any time by simply contacting your bank or building society. Written confirmation may be required. Please also notify us.
8. Premium-rate services
It is worth checking the number before you dial, as many companies offer alternative numbers that may not cost as much.
Further information regarding our rates and these services, can be found on our website https://www.italktelecom.co.uk/rates
If you don’t recognise a premium-rate number on your bill, you can check the following website: www.phonepayplus.org.uk. PhonepayPlus regulates premium-rate services and sets the code of conduct that service provides using premium-rate numbers have to follow. You can use their number checker to help identify the company behind the number.
If you want to make a complaint about the call, or you are worried it is a scam, you will need to contact that company responsible before contacting PhonepayPlus.
You can contact PhonepayPlus via their website above, or call them on 0300 30 300 20 or write to them at FREEPOST WC5468, London, SE1 2BR. You should try to have the name of the service provider or the premium-rate number at hand, and ideally a copy of the text message that confirmed the subscription of the payment, and any other information from your bill that can help identify the service.
If you are having difficulty with this, we can help explain how PhonepayPlus works, and we may be able to provide details of the service provider that you called. PhonepayPlus are not able to award compensation or refunds.
9. What happens if I miss a payment?
We do expect you to pay your bills on time. If you know ahead of time that you aren’t going to be able to pay a bill, you should get in touch with us on 0333 210 4290 to let us know.
If a Direct Debit fails, we will send you a letter explaining that the bill is unpaid and asking for you to get in touch to make a payment. We will also attempt to contact you by phone to discuss this. The direct number for our collections team is 0845 468 1712, or you can call 0333 210 4290.
If the amount remains unpaid we may need to temporarily suspend your outbound calls after your payment has failed. We always give 7 days’ notice before we do this. Restricted lines still have access to emergency services on 112 and 999.
10. Disconnection notices
If a balance continues to remain outstanding on your account, we may be forced terminate your telephone service. We’d much rather not lose your custom, which is why we will send you a disconnection notice first. This would be sent out at least 7 days before the service is cut off. If we do disconnect your italk service due to non-payment, the following may also apply:
If you are struggling with payments please contact our collections team on 0845 468 1712 who will be happy to discuss the options available to you.
11. Credit checks
We reserve the right to perform credit checks if you are a new customer. This means we would pass on some information about you to a third party credit reference agency. But don’t worry – we do this in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. If you are applying for a new service, adding extras to your package or even applying for a higher credit limit, we may need to run another credit check.
12. Sales and marketing
We want you to know that we follow strict rules about our sales and marketing of our products.
If you need it, we can send a copy by post as well. Call on 0333 210 4290 or email [email protected] for help.
13. Thinking of leaving
We hope that it doesn’t come to this, as we’d be sorry to see you leave. If this is an error then please get in touch and we can help you. Switchovers are typically around 14 days, providing on what the alternative provider has arranged with you. If you want to switch providers after this period of time then you may need to pay a cancellation fee for ending the contract early. Customer Care will give you much more information about this, and you can email them at [email protected] or call on our usual number, 0333 210 4290.
When you join us, we’ll carry over your preference from your previous telecoms provider. However, if you want to switch it up, then these are the options available:
Please call our Customer Care Team once your account has activated with us to make any amendments. Any amendments made can take around 3 days to complete.
15. Data Protection
16. Emergency services
We want to confirm to you that you will always have access to the emergency numbers 112 and 999, even if we have restricted your calls for any reason. However if there is a fault on your line which is outside of our control, we cannot guarantee this will be available to you. We will do everything in our control to fix this as soon as possible, and advise you on how to safeguard yourself. In case of an emergency you can contact, free of charge the police, ambulance, fire or coastguard on 999 or 112.
17. Quality of service
We want you to be happy with italk, and we’re hoping that our service is more than what you expect. If you need any help at all we want you to get in touch with us straight away. We welcome any feedback or comments, and we want to do the best we can for you. If you have any questions or complaints, email us at [email protected] or call or write to us using our standard contact details. You can find more information on our complaints process at https://www.italktelecom.co.uk/customer-feedback or call us and we can send you a copy of this.
18. Useful links