How can I solve billing problems with Talktalk?

I am trying to claim £54.18 back from Talktalk. I made two early payments to my account in error in March – I initially incorrectly entered my Tiscali account number so made a second payment. Then my normal payment was deducted from my credit card.

I phoned the helpline and explained the situation, and was told the matter would be resolved in two weeks. I have still heard nothing back.
William Sutton

This should have been easy to resolve but we’re not that surprised it wasn’t. This year a Tiscali/Talktalk billing fiasco, with people being billed for accounts that were cancelled or had never existed, got so bad that Ofcom had to get involved.

The communications regulator rapped both Talktalk and Tiscali (now part of the Talktalk group) on the knuckles, saying the ISPs breached the Communications Regulations 2003.

Talktalk said part of the problem came about because it was migrating Tiscali customers to the Talktalk billing platform. It has put measures in place to sort this problem.

However, Mr Sutton seems inadvertently to have caught himself up in this mess by making two early payments.

If you pay by direct debit or monthly by credit card, it is often not possible for a company to stop a billing taking place, but the system should detect the two overpayments and reflect these in a person’s account. Normally this means a lower payment the next month.

We have sent Mr Sutton’s details to Talktalk and asked it to investigate the issue.