TalkTalk is jumping before it’s pushed and has done away with separate line rental charges
TalkTalk has moved to scrap separate line rental charges in a system reboot that it hopes will go some way to repairing the damage to its reputation caused by its data breach last year.
Following in the footsteps of Vodafone in August TalkTalk will move to a single combined monthly price. It announced it would make the change in May after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it would be it would be cracking down on misleading broadband price claims in internet service provider (ISP) adverts.
The changes are part of a wider overhaul of customer contracts that mean some customers can switch to a different deal and a promise not to hike prices for 18 months.
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Tristia Harrison, TalkTalk’s consumer managing director said:
TalkTalk entered the market as a challenger, and we’ve always saved customers money. But today’s changes are about more than that. We know this is an essential service that really matters to people, so it needs to be simple, affordable, reliable and fair. We’re proud to be the first to make the big changes customers expect and deserve of their telecoms provider today.
If the latest Ofcom customer complaints stats are anything to go by, TalkTalk still has a long way to go (though it isn't the only one).
The ASA rules, which will come into force on 31 October 2016, will require companies to include line rental in the final price shown to customers.
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Earlier this year the ASA found many customers were confused by the way prices were presented, with only 23 per cent able to correctly identify the price after viewing the broadband ad.