Tiscali Not me, but my parents use Tiscali. They have had nothing but trouble with it. To start with it was ok, and at a very cheap price too, but lately it has gotten so bad that they needed to change. Firstly, the connection became intermittent and it was hit or miss wether or not you would be able to get on line. Then they took too much money from my Dad's account (55 quid instead of the usual 14.99), and it was impossible to get hold of them on the phone. My Dad then cancelled the DD as he had no guarantee that they wouldn't take that amount the next month. They cancelled his line and demanded 4 months premium off of him, despite him being in credit. Then, he finally gets hold of them (as I told him he needed to pay them before he could get a MAC code and change) and they say, ok we'll take the rest on such and such a day - they didn't, and his line is still down. He phones them again and after 3 hours!!!! he finally gets through again and gets told that a MAC code will be emailed to him. Duh!!! He can't get on-line! So they agree to send him one via SMS within 5 days. Well, I'm not holding my breath to be honest. EDIT: Update - no MAC code has arrived, as was expected. My father has now WRITTEN to them in an attempt to get it, as trying to phone them is futile and there is no registered email address anywhere on their site for contact. And they call themselves a communications firm! Pah!

By GuidoT on 24th July 2007, 16:34

Re: Tiscali I used Tiscali as my ISP and left them around a year ago. Worked fine for a while, then stopped working completely. I tried to trouble shoot the problem with them on the phone (via India) and they were awful, they had no idea what they were talking about - but nor did I. They told me to purchase a new router, then had me call out BT, eventually I got my own IT field engineer to my house, none of it worked. This all took several months, they continued to charge me, I stopped the direct debit, they threatened to commence legal proceedings against me for the monthly fee, I wrote to them and particularised my losses of around £700 and they soon went away. I have not bothered to commence proceedings against them to recover the balance. Needless to say; it is my considered opinion that they are total pants. Dave, this may help you or rather your parents. Switching broadband provider | Ofcom

By dave on 24th July 2007, 16:47

Re: Tiscali Thanks for that, but I think they are going to go with Griffin Internet for now - it may not be the cheapest, but the quality and consistently good service is worth it.

By mollington on 24th July 2007, 20:36

Re: Tiscali well in there intrest of fairness , Ive been with tiscali for about 5 years and ive never had any promblems , and when i phoned up to change to broadband i got though to a lovely lady who was more than happy to explain it to me ,

By 2Grumpy on 1st August 2007, 15:56

Re: Tiscali I've been with Tiscali since I changed to broadand a few years ago. No problems. Even managed to work when my phone was down for 2 weeks while BT were working on replacing cables in the area. No billing problems either, although when they cut their rates I had to contact them to get the new rate!

By dhg on 3rd August 2007, 14:33

Re: Tiscali Ive had nothing but trouble with Talk Talk. Which? magazine states their top 3 ISP's are Global, Waitrose(who donate their profit 2 charity) and Zen. All of which have more or less have full marks for connection, customer service and value for money (and something else i cant think of). Hope this helps

By tomterm8 on 3rd August 2007, 14:47

Re: Tiscali I've been on Tiscalli for a couple of years, no problems yet.

By gillytilly on 3rd August 2007, 18:28

Re: Tiscali Quote: Originally Posted by tomterm8 I've been on Tiscalli for a couple of years, no problems yet. I was with Tiscali and the line was meant to be switched on in the Sep and we still were waiting for it to be done in Dec. Thety did however manage to change my dial up to PAYG without telling me and incurring over £200 phone bill. When i complained and that was a laugh (via India) I was told tough. So i told them that i would be contacting the Ombudsman to complain, they changed there story and my billl. So i still complained and moved to BT who after teething problems, i have had no problems. Still not got 1471 or voicemail facility yet lol

By Mr lex on 14th September 2007, 11:01

Re: Tiscali I have been with Tiscali for over 12 months on the £19.50 a month Broadband and phone package. So far I have not had too many problems, if they are out of service for any reason, I get a email from their costumer support team detailing why and when it will be returned to normal. I would give them 8/10 Lex

By weenic1984 on 1st November 2007, 18:43

Re: Tiscali i have had nothing but probelms with tiscali.i joined with them on 27th Oct 06 and it took them until mid dec to activate broadband They then give out false info about transfering the line when your moving. We have moved to sky now who have been brilliant but were are still being charged for calls in our old flat which we have not made and have cancelled the account. E-mailing the enquiries is obviously going abrouad as they have no idea what you are talking about.

By sytra on 3rd November 2007, 18:35

Re: Tiscali Hi, been with Tiscali for well over a year now, not had any problems at all. Infact never had any problem with recommending them. We missed about 3 payments to them and they didnt even hassle us, admittedly we called them to explain and they were very helpful and understanding we never had 1 late payment charge or anything like that added. To be fair the network does go down occasionaly but i think that has happened maybe 4 times in over a year. We have just upgraded our package to include line rental because we got so pxxxxxd of with BT. Sytra

By Lula on 3rd November 2007, 18:55

Re: Tiscali i have been with Tiscali since they introduced the free stuff ooo years ago now, never had a problem, i would be wary of their modems now, before i switched to bb i ended up having to buy a new one because all of theirs wouldnt work, but I have no problems with them.

By 2Grumpy on 27th November 2007, 21:50

Re: Tiscali I'm with Tiscali Broadband ok, but I get lots of spam. When I look at the headers, most of it isn't even addressed to me.

By 2Grumpy on 18th December 2007, 06:47

Re: Tiscali I to get a lot of spam with tiscali that wasn't addressed to me I set up a filter (in their online email) to send any mail where my id is not a recipient to the spam folder - now I only get mail addressed to me Why do tiscali do that? Grumpy

By zebedy1967 on 19th December 2007, 15:12

Re: Tiscali Quote: I to get a lot of spam with tiscali that wasn't addressed to me yeah i have the same problem since they were hacked several months ago, did what you did and seems fine now, other than that ive been with them 2 years now and never had a problem with them, i thought about changing and applied for them to send me a MAC code, because there was a cheaper firm, so to keep me with them they reduced my monthly bill to £9.99, for the 1.1Mbps service, there call center staff can be a bit unhelpful and thick sometimes but i just phone back the next day and usually get to speak to somebody with a bit of common sense, rating 9/10

By 2Grumpy on 20th December 2007, 18:01

Re: Tiscali Beats me why they say they have anti-spam stuff and then have a great big funnel to point all of the spam for invalid addresses into valid inboxes. Grumpy

By nooneshotjr on 5th January 2008, 13:18

Re: Tiscali i use tiscali. they are ATROCIOUS when it comes to any change to your service - for instance moving. or, one christmas they stopped my service for 6 weeks b/c they were doing something to it (can't remember what now). i got NO notification, nor offer of alternative connection as a get-me-by (e.g. dial up). when i moved house, again - awful. they have zero customer service and their agents are also quite incapable of addressing issues. they seem under-trained. however, so long as i don't need to change anything - as in move - they are great. aside from that one down period of 6 weeks(!!!!!) and the excessive period it takes them to re-route service on moving, i've had no other downtime in well over 2 years.

By karl77 on 19th January 2008, 13:00

Re: Tiscali Hi all Tiscali are terrible & PC World will tell you the same thing ! - very bad customer services,support staff that have'nt got a clue what their talking about,and if your trying to play online games - FORGET IT coz they'll block you from connecting to the sever anywhere from 11:30Its not just that game tiscali are terrible & PC World will tell you the same thing ! - very bad customer services,support staff that have'nt got a clue what their talking about,and if your trying to play online games - FORGET IT coz they'll block you from connecting to the sever anywhere from 11:30am till 12:30am weekends and from 13:00 till 12:00am weekdays - keeping in mind that their so called 'fair user policy ' is from 12:00 till 16:00 weekends and from 18:00 till 23:00 weekdays !!!!! Pure GARBAGE,Do NOT waste your money. am till 12:30am weekends and from 13:00 till 12:00am weekdays - keeping in mind that their so called 'fair user policy ' is from 12:00 till 16:00 weekends and from 18:00 till 23:00 weekdays !!!!! Pure GARBAGE,Do NOT waste your money.

By khoshtip_uk on 5th February 2008, 00:12

Re: Tiscali companys like Tirscali and 3g (phone) are all the same, their customer service is s***, and they all based in india which makes it worst! and ofcourse they dont answer your phone, i was really surprised when i rang 3g and i wasnt able to communicate / hear their voice clearly, wtf arent they a phone company themselfs? you can read my experience on below thread SallI laugh or cry? http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...6-tiscali.html tiscali ! BT !! deadlock

Misco Misco's product inventory is very keenly priced and if what you want is in stock then there might not be any problem. One great advantage is that they accept payment by Paypal. However in the last year they seem to be plagued by declining service standards, poor delivery times, arbitrary security checks which mean that urgent supplies are delayed without warning, failed international deliveries, and where the goods aren't physically in stock, no information is given about the delay until about 2 weeks has elapsed. This is even when it is clear that the item is urgent because next-day-delivery has been requested and paid for. Misco's big gesture for this was to offer to refund the next day delivery charge!! I think that Misco must have moved to a different planet. There are now other similar suppliers who are using Paypal so we are now able to vote with our feet

By RedRich on 5th November 2007, 12:22

Re: Misco I have to be honest, I used Misco a few months ago to purchase a piece of software - they were the cheapest I found. There was an error when ordering over the net, the form appeared not to have been posted and I re-submitted it only to discover that I had just spent £200+ for the second time! This was well after office hours but I called their number anyway. No recorded messages saying I'm in a queue - I got to speak to a real person who took the details and sorted it out within two minutes. The software arrived the next but one day (it was after work time when I ordered it so it was effectively the next day, although I did not pay for this service). The problem was sorted - only charged once. So, I have to say, (and I have no connection whatsoever with Misco) that for me, their service was excellent. Rich

By Robdblynd on 10th November 2007, 23:50

Re: Misco I ordered a keyboard from them late one Friday night. I wasn't expecting "great" service given that the keyboard wasn't terribly expensive, just that the order would be fulfilled in reasonable time. I have to say, the service was fabulous. As I say, ordered online late Friday, no problems at all with ordering or paying. Saturday morning received order confirmation. Monday received email that the item had been shipped. I only paid for standard delivery as the item wasn't needed urgently but it arrived on the Wednesday morning, VERY securely packaged. And I had follow up email to see if it was satisfactory. From my experience with them I'd shop again with no worries.

Aol I've heard a lot of quite negative and quirky things about AOL. I have never used them so I imagined that it was a bit of urban legend and that people choose to hate them simply because they are so big. Then I had to help someone get connected with their new computer through AOL. Well it seems that everything I have heard may be true. We were unable to connect to AOL using a completely normal high profile make Modem router. In the end we were obliged to buy a modem specified by AOL themsleves, from their online shop so that it had their software - and it was nearly double the price of anything you could reasonably expect to buy on the High Street. (Abuse of a dominant position in my view). Even then it seems that we were unable to have more than one computer connected to the network at any one time and I then read that many AOL subscriptions are for a single user only! Does any other IP do this? I've never heard of it. I then cast my mind back and realised that most of our registered users on this site who have problems registering or logging on actually have AOL accounts - something apparently to do with the way AOL distributes dynamic IP addresses so that some people can end up sharing the same address within a very short time so that our server can even think that you are someone else and tell you that you haven't put in the correct password. What is it about AOL that make people use them? Are they faster? Cheaper? More reliable? Bigger download limits? I haven't heard anything about any of these things. Do tell.

By Curlyben on 15th July 2007, 08:39

Re: Aol AOL, as the name suggests, was designed for the American market as a one stop shop for connection. It bundled together broadband, e-mail, exclusive content including music and videos. It was set up as a kind of walled garden where verything that AOL believed that the menber wanted was pre-packaged, censored, sanitized and generally mucked about with. Now if you only want a to access a small amount of the internet with a plug and play setup then its perfect, but for members that prefer to go off the beaten track and actually use a search engine, rather than the lame keyword system, then AOL lets you down on all fronts. AS Bankfodder mentioned, from a technical stand point there is nothing wrong with the offering, but as AOL tends to use a proxy system this can result in some annoying results. Basically they operate a large proxy pool of IP's that are regularly redistributed between their members, thus casuing some annoyance on sites that note your IP as well as user details. It becomes even worse when it comes to e-mail as a number of other suppliers have black listed AOL's mail servers due to high volumes of spam. Now to some up. AOL is designed for the NON technical member. Someone that just wants to surf to a small number of "safe" sites and that know very little about computers and online security, hence all the bundled security suites, and browser. They are under the, I believe false impression, that they are safe as AOL is looking out for them. In my professional experience, AOL members are a being fooled into believing that the internet is a nice shiny place where nothing nasty happens. AOL mambers' machines I have found contain the MOST malware, etc of any connected computers. This is one of the reasons I believe that people that are new to computers and online activities should be shown the basics of at least how to stay safe online and being weary of nasties, like a CBT for coumputers. The simple stuff like ensuring security sutes are working and updated, simple maintenance, being aware of e-mail scams, etc. Hope this has helped in some little way. IMHO avoid AOL altogether and get broadband form another supplier, why pay for the bundled extras when you don't really want them and wont use them. Remember: Google is your Friend.

By mickj2904 on 17th July 2007, 19:43

Re: Aol Hi I've been with AOL for years and as stated earlier its very easy for us non tech people. I've honestly never had a problem but I wouldn't say I'm a heavy user though I do keep the computer on. I've got my Dad on - is there such a things as a ultra non tech? - and I have my businesses on. I get hammered by people saying "you DONT use AOL do you" and like a person with some addiction I just reply embarrassed " I do " and then give a "Oh we are looking to move to a better provider" hopefully to give me some credibility! AOL is very simple to use and I guess its what you are comfortable with that matters. I can feel myself going red so I'll leave it there.

By royboy68 on 18th July 2007, 14:35

Re: Aol Hi Ive been with aol from the outset which is quite a few years, in fact when my first computer had valves on the m.board. Apart from the monthly subscription which seems to be lower or below than other providers Ive never had to pay for any routers with them. I know at first I had to make sure i had a computer with a built in modem but since moving to broadband i have had 2 routers from them at no cost. I did try Telewest for a short time included in a cable package but found that all i got was the use of their server to rout through, anything else and i was at the mercy of IE. I do get the odd problem with it like not being able to access Yahoo mail but thats all. From what i have heard there seems to be far more problems with other providers like BT has lots of connection problems. My Gfriend regularly asks me to check BTs fault page to see why she cant log on or access things when shes on line and there seems to be loads of faults listed. I'm no massive aol fan but if its not broken don't try and fix it.

By Janet-M on 18th July 2007, 15:00

Re: Aol I have been with Aol for about 7 years I have had no problem with them .I get my unlimited connection for £9.99 a month I have my phone calls with them local and national unlimited for £4.99 a month .Free tech help .and if you complain about anything ( and I am very good at complaining ) you get credits to your account , sometimes quite a lot .I think I have had an excellent service with them with both dial up then Broadband.Until now grrrrrrrrr I have gone wireless or at least got the router to. The tech have done everything to try and find a problem as I can't go wireless either no signal or very weak signal .They have so far credited £40 to my account because of my complaining and sent me another router , only just got it so not tried it.I can link both PC's up by ethernet so really it's ok and every few weeks I complain and get more credit .So for what it actually costs me, it meets my needs, I am happy to stay with them. The only really really big complaint I have had is there indian call centres as it's completly different service to their Irish one if they can't understand your dialect they sometimes put the phone down on you .Also they seem to work by a script so if you ask a question off script they are completly lost AND they don't give credits .

By Digitalfriend on 19th July 2007, 10:45

Re: Aol Ahhhh AOHELL as i like to call them, ever since the days of the 28k modem i have never liked them, back then they used to restrict access to the internet making you pay extra to visit certain sites that were not a part of their network or not in their interests for you to be viewing, they also had so many backdoors open on systems that it was a hackers dream, i remember in my younger days running open port ip scans on the AOL IP range and commonly finding thousands of open systems. I always swore to avoid AOL as a provider and warned my mum about them as well, however when i lived in a flat above her (long story) she ordered AOL broadband, after blowing my top at her, she pointed out that she had already signed the contract and was stuck with it, unless she paid up 12 months in advance to get out of it (NICE!) so i decided oh well i might as well use and abuse her broadband, and networked our computers together, taking into account that broadband adsl is primarily for multiple computers to be able to access the internet at the same time, this shouldn't of been a problem, apart from the AOL software stopped the internet sharing wizard, and also altered the network settings so that you couldn't set it up manually either. So a quick call to AOL revealed that it was IMPOSSIBLE to network and use AOL ADSL on multiple computers to access the internet (WHAT A SCAM) of course i didn't accept this and promptly bypassed their systems and had both machines online at the same time, and phoned them again to say what if i did this, to which they catagorically denied that i had done that, and that i wasn't browsing on two machines at the same time lol. Shortly after that however aol changed its system to allow you not to have to use its incredibly resource hungry front end, and just use a dialer system. Personally i still tell everyone to avoid AOL, their customer service is awful, and as you found compatiblity with hardware a nightmare, the best use i have found for an AOL cd is using it as a placemat for my coffee cup. Tony Source of knowlege:- working with computers since i was 5yrs old

By mrsfoot on 21st July 2007, 17:04

Re: Aol I had to add my two pence worth to this review. I have been on dial up for EVER!! Then BT decided to bring my village into the 21st centuary and wham bam I got AOL Broadband. Now I am not technically minded, but I do have a brother who is a whizz at PC maintainance and another who writes programmes for banks, airlines etc. So both called and offered their services to intall braodband. "its ok" was my reply "im sure it cant be that hard" and do you know what...it was easy as ABC. It was installed within 30 minutes, including the wireless section which means I can use the lap top while the children use the pc or visa versa. I had to call the call centre with a question (as the disc they sent with the package forgets to tell you to restart the pc in order to be able to use B/B. During the conversation the assistant (who was Indian) was very helpful and thanked me for raising the issue of the disc. I then got an eail offering £40 caredit to my account from Customer Services for the trouble of ringing in!! I have no problems with downloading. I have compared my service to my dad who has virgin (ntl) and he has so many cock ups (not literally) that he is considering changing. I have friends who are on onetel and in my opinion its an awful system which dont allow email from AOL and dont allow members to email aol. Why it is up to them who their members email is beyond me! Just my two pence worth!

By garygumps on 24th July 2007, 13:21

Re: Aol Why does everyone seem to think the grass is always greener on the other side? To explain, when I first got a modern "multi media" PC (my previous computer was a 486!) with a 56K modem I chose AOL basically because (a) A CD had come through the post and (b) I probably didn't know any better! Anyway, another reason was that they were one of the first to offer a flat rate 24 hour access, with no limits for £14.99. Pretty good value at the time. When broadband arrived, I upgraded to AOL gold . Again a no fuss no limit service. I've since installed home networking (when AOL started supporting it) and was supplied with a wired DG834 Netgear router (great trusty bit of kit). I installed myself after a while a wireless access point to provide a link for the laptop that was bought later. To cut a long story short, I now run 2 PC's, 2 laptops and 3 games consoles (PS2, PS3 & Xbox) through AOL's connection without any problems. The router system even means I don't need to run AOL's software (which I always found a bit "childish" anyway). Truth be told I'm probably paying a bit over the odds (£25 pm) for my internet connection, and have sometimes looked at changing provider, but am put off at the hassle stories of switching provider etc. As they say, if it aint broke don't fix it! I just thought I'd stick up for AOL. You get horror stories about any of the IP providers and I think it all comes down to individual circumstances (location etc) at how good a service you get.

By therafalution on 24th July 2007, 21:00

Re: Aol I have had a dial-up connection with aol for about 18 months and i haven't had any problems with them despite everyone warning me about how poor the system is. Is it true that if you try to remove aol it can damage your computer?

By mrsfoot on 25th July 2007, 13:10

Re: Aol No it is not true. Can you imagine the compensation to be paid out by AOL if it damages pc's. Although this "advice" has been around for a while it is mainly given by users of other interent providers when they realise you are still on dial up in this "must be faster" era. I used Dial up for years, and have only just recently converted to broadband....see post 6.

By Duffers Mum on 25th July 2007, 14:15

Re: Aol AOL? Aarrgh I hate it! Unfortunately when we moved house it was the only broadband supplier we could get, we had it previously and looked forward to using another ISP when we moved, but it wasn't to be. I find it conflicts with everything, our latest problem is that windows did an automatic update and now we can't access half of the web sites we want to. Tech support is useless, an Indian call centre working from scripts. Hoping that by the time our 12 month contract is up we will be able to go to somebody else. My advice to anyone thinking of using AOL, steer well clear, its useless!

By MATTYFEZ on 7th August 2007, 08:34

Re: Aol My two pennies worth... AOL is great for those who are not very compurter savy, I would reccomend them over BT any day to those kind of people. yes they are overpriced for the true speed they offer, but ive just upgraded my nan from dial-up to BT broadband, and as soon as i installed it i thought, damn, i should have gone with AOL. I have a lot of experience with AOL, and i must say they are very good for the kind of people that "dont do computers" in reply to the first post.......why didnt you just use the router they gave you? lol

By mrsfoot on 7th August 2007, 19:09

Re: Aol I have just had a "chat" with an aol employee. I was most annoyed to find AOL / Carphone warehouse are joining together and if you upgrade to BB you get a free lap top. "No way" says the OH..."yes way" says me. So I called them and asked for my lap top. "OOOOOOhhhhh Mrsfoot you cant have it" came the response "as you are in a contract with us and its only been 3 weeks". "Oh really" says I. "So when did this offer began" I asked. "2 and half weeks ago" came the reply. "MMMMMMM so let me think, i upgrade 3 days before the offer and no one thinks to tell me...and you think a small hiccup like a contract clause telling me I will have to pay you for me going is goin to stop me going to Orange who are giving free lap tops?" says me with a i love the UTCCR's smile on my face. "Errrrrn Mrsfoot let me re arrange your contract, I will begin it again from today and you will receive you lap top at the end of September" Oh and to top it off......I got a free month for the trouble

By BankFodder on 7th August 2007, 22:23

Re: Aol Quote: Originally Posted by MATTYFEZ in reply to the first post.......why didnt you just use the router they gave you? lol Because it was very low spec.

By blissman70 on 1st October 2007, 12:42

Re: Aol Quote: Originally Posted by mrsfoot I have just had a "chat" with an aol employee. I was most annoyed to find AOL / Carphone warehouse are joining together and if you upgrade to BB you get a free lap top. "No way" says the OH..."yes way" says me. So I called them and asked for my lap top. "OOOOOOhhhhh Mrsfoot you cant have it" came the response "as you are in a contract with us and its only been 3 weeks". "Oh really" says I. "So when did this offer began" I asked. "2 and half weeks ago" came the reply. "MMMMMMM so let me think, i upgrade 3 days before the offer and no one thinks to tell me...and you think a small hiccup like a contract clause telling me I will have to pay you for me going is goin to stop me going to Orange who are giving free lap tops?" says me with a i love the UTCCR's smile on my face. "Errrrrn Mrsfoot let me re arrange your contract, I will begin it again from today and you will receive you lap top at the end of September" Oh and to top it off......I got a free month for the trouble can you give me the contact number of the person you spoke to as the people i speak to generally can't help me at all. And have you got your laptop yet as i'm still waiting.?

By guttedconsumer on 3rd October 2007, 16:01

Re: Aol AOL Broadband service is OK. Maybe because once I am connected I do not use the AOL website as my default. In fact I only had to dig out my AOL username recently after about a year. It is the part where one has to deal with AOL knucklehead telephone reps that sucks big time. Also their marketing people may be guilty of miselling. To give a typical example I have just upgraded to the £19.99 package because of the offer of a free laptop. Unbeknown to me there is a bundle in this package of pay as you go. The telephone automatons say there is no way one can cancel the pay as you go part without an increase in the monthly payments to £29.99. Now if that is not daylight robbery, I don't know what else is.

12VOIP - best to avoid I'm not too sure what the deal is. There are a number of Voip services which are using the same software but with different badges. They all offer good sound quality free calls to landlines in an amazingly wide range of countries. One of these services is 12Voip. However whether it is because of a scam or a glitch, when you top up your account with 10 Euros of credit, instead of getting 90 free days, you are informed that your free time has expired. You are then charged 1 cent per minute. This is still cheap but the other related providers are free and anyway, this is not what is promised by 12Voip. A check on the Internet revealed that this "glitch" has been going on some time and no one can do anything about it as 12Voip don't respond to messages. Best to AVOID this provider

By blogsy on 23rd September 2007, 23:29

Re: 12VOIP - best to avoid I agree I'm having exactly the same problem .I've been using voipbuster happily for over 2 years -excellent all round, suddenly they would no longer accept paypal payments nor credit card payments .they would only accept payment via western union -ridiculously high fees or via a reseller (questionable no reference remote email contact, complaints in forums etc) I ve since been trialling 12voip australia to spain supposedly free I've only just joined and paid 10Euros!!! and immediately im being charged ,also there is no phone to phone facility once again stated in their documentation but not visible on their console! Have emailed also , no response

Internet calls - The Free Internet Calls Company I use these... Internetcalls - The Free Internet Calls Company Paid 10e just to credit account and use it regularly to call relatives in Australia for nothing. Still got e8.83 in credit over a year on. Must have had hundreds of pounds worth of calls with it. Regards, Dave.

By BankFodder on 15th July 2007, 18:50

Re: Internet calls - The Free Internet Calls Company They may be the same people as Voipcheap. They certainly use exactly the same interface. Another one is VoipBuster

By voipirates on 5th August 2007, 13:24

Re: Internet calls - The Free Internet Calls Company There is a brand new voip-comparison site. If you want to know the best rates, please visit voiPIRATES

VoipCheap - Internet telephone software Most people have heard of Skype. When I started using it there were typically 1.5 million people online at any time. Now there are almost always about 8 millions Who has heard of VoipCheap? Not too many people but it is seriously cheap. Mainly free. I save hundreds of pounds every month as I have to make a lot of International phone calls. I've been using VoipCheap for nearly three years. I thought that there was a catch but there was none. I thought that they would suddenly put up ther prices - but they haven't done. You download the free software from VoipCheap.com, sign up to an account and lodge £10 credit. You then have access to free calls to landlines in a very large number of countries in the world. You have to pay to call mobiles and landlines in a few countries but Europe, USA and Oz are free. Russia and Japan too. Even when you call a pay number the cost of the calls are very cheap - much cheaper than Skype. It is when you make those pay calls that you gradually use up your £10 until it is gone and then you replenish. VoipCheap has a PC to PC function, a chat function and the interface is simple and straightforward. Log on at any computer, call up your VoipCheap account and all your contacts are there for you. I even copied the VoipCheap program from my programs folder onto a USB storage device - and amazingly it works from there. I can visit internet cafes and access VoipCheap through the program stored on my USB device. Quality is just as good or as bad as Skype. The only problems as far as I can see is that VoipCheap doesn't have all the bells and whistles that Skype has and I suppose that this is because it is not popular enough to have prompted third party developers to write software for it. I really can't understand why VoipCheap hasn't caught on the way Skype has. Clearly they are seriously deficient in the marketing department. For me the main drawback for me is that CallBurner recording software won't work with it so I use Skype for banks and VoipCheap for the rest.

By JOSH_IOU on 14th July 2007, 14:26

Re: VoipCheap - Internet telephone software Is phone recording evidence usable in court?

By BankFodder on 14th July 2007, 19:48

Re: VoipCheap - Internet telephone software Quote: Originally Posted by jamesrap Is phone recording evidence usable in court? Yes it is. The original would have to be available and the person who arranged or made the recording would probably be required to swear to its integrity. I would want to provide a transcript of the recording supported by an affidavit

By vincymum on 18th July 2007, 22:40

Re: VoipCheap - Internet telephone software This product sounds great. I'm not too hot with this sort of thing, but I reckon even I could manage to download the free software. Is there a list of countries that would come under the umbrella of USA to call landlines free, and are ther some countries in Europe that you couldn't call free to a landline? Italy always seems to be the exception to most rules, which is why I ask.

By BankFodder on 18th July 2007, 23:08

Re: VoipCheap - Internet telephone software There is a full list of tariffs on their site. I'm sure that Italy is free. I have an idea that calls to USA mobiles may be free as well.

By vincymum on 18th July 2007, 23:24

Re: VoipCheap - Internet telephone software Many thanks for your quick response. Will definately have a look on their website. If the Italy comes under the Europe umbrella then xmas has come early for me!

Computersupermarket.com  BOUGHT IN JULY 2007. First: Delivered Late. Missing Parts, Faulty Monitor. Second: When Returned After Repairing, The Computer Was Dead On Arrival. Third: When Returned For The Third Time Had Damaged Case And The Dvd Rom Did Not Work. All This Within A Four Week Period From New. When I Asked For A Complete Refund, All Communications From Them Stopped. I E-mailed Many Times, Phoned Them And Wrote Letters, But No Response. Now At Stage Of Taking Legal Action. Awfull Communication.

By The Rockape on 19th August 2007, 14:08

Re: Computersupermarket.com Sounds a very familiar story to me, I ordered what turned out to be a very shoddy and poor quality 20.1'' LCD TV. As soon as a problem started i.e. 1st day they are not interested, will not refund my money, but lucky for me I purchased this pile of rubbish on my visa card, so It is being refunded and they will chase them. ADVICE - Do not touch this company with a bargepole, to put it mildly.

By juggathehut on 31st August 2007, 11:33

Re: Computersupermarket.com So glad I visited this site- thought it was just me going mad!! My circumstances are EXACTLY as in the last poster- in fact I even probably bought the same LCD monitor (for £139+vat?) - which was the biggest pile of rubbish I ever seen, the power unit didnt work, there was a huge "hole" in the pixels mid screen- awful. NEVER anything but a refurb this, couldnt possibly be A grade and nw as adverised. Made me laugh to read again the supposed "reviews" of satisfied buyers- like yeah, they exist all right... Cant believe I was taken in. Should have realised when it said it had a Hotline for purchases- but NOT for returns- as they "have such an efficient online returns system". Right, sure.. Anyway, at least I need prevaricate no longer having read this, I can make headway now with my claim to Visa. Did the last poster have full success in this please? You know, it is such a shame that collective actions cannot be taken against such companys as this- if there was only some way of retaliation I would be more than tempted. Securing the eventual return of your money hardly seems like anything of a punishment for them does it?? Besides which they have had the interest bearing possession of your cash in the duration. Does this company advertise anywhere else? If so I would like to make them aware of who they have as a customer.

Dell - Brilliant I purchased a DELL lap top 6 months ago which unfortunately stopped working. I contacted curry's where I purchased the laptop and was very worried when I was told I had to call the DELL call centre for help. My prejudices and past experiences with call centres abroad didn't fill me with much hope but I have to say the service was outstanding. I am one very very happy DELL customer and even though the lap top mother board broke (no one's perfect ) I would certainly stick with DELL for my next purchase.

By spartathisis on 6th January 2009, 18:13

Re: Dell - Brilliant I bought a dell desktop system 16 months ago, everything was fine until the lcd monitor stopped working 2 weeks ago. their monitors come with 3yrs warranty, UNLESS they come with a system then its 12 months! Have got no-where with them foreign CS working from a script knowing nothing about UK law. Got through to out of warranty helpline that wanted £25 +vat to diagnose what was wrong with it (power problem) + repair costs. Bought an Acer widescreen with 3yr warranty for less. Afraid I wont buy from Dell again after my experience.

Scriptlance It has been well reviewed on the Internet, just wish I had read these before I stupidly used them. I paid for services was told the programmer won't complete the site and that is that. I contacted Scriptlance who said never mind. Down £500! I tried again with someone who had excellent reviews! down £1500. Scriptlance not interested. They aren't interested in sorting out the problems. Most importantly YOU HAVE NO PROTECTION

By Wingus on 26th September 2008, 11:42

Re: Scriptlance ouch, ouch and double ouch!!!! Firstly, web design is a volatile area, anyone can claim to be a designer, but unfortunately, there is a lack of official companies and regulations to actually see who is lying and who isn't. As for scriptlance, you would expect that to be proffesional, but it seems in your case, they are not even close to being good. I would suggest not paying them a penny more, for anything, and possibly keep on demanding you get your money back. I don't know how you actually stand legally, or who you could contact to try and put a bit of legal preasure on them to cough up, i only hope someone can help. This industry, as it seems to be, needs far more regulation and proof that a person can do the work, mabee some sort of independant appraising company, that is regulated in the UK, that the public can contact in case of problems, that would help a lot towards peace of mind, and removing dodgy website makers or designers

By cr3ature on 20th January 2009, 19:26

Re: Scriptlance Wish i would have known i am a website developer i would have done it for ya for free. Sorry to hear that you got ripped off by these people