TalkTalk launches 'Emergency Plan' to avoid disconnections

28 Jan 2009 | 13.25 Europe/London

TalkTalk is launching an 'Emergency Plan' today which gives existing customers six months internet connection and access to their TalkTalk home phone plan for free, leaving them to pay just the line rental each month.

The company claims it has been considering for the past couple of months how it can help customers who are having difficulty paying bills and believes that offering a basic 512kb connection and a calling plan, which offers free UK evening and weekend calls, will help its customers avoid disconnection. During the six month grace period international and premium calls will be barred and the internet connection will have a monthly cap of 1Gb worth of data per month.

Guidance from the company is that the new Emergency Plan will only be offered to customers who have been with TalkTalk for six months or more. A spokesman for the company pointed out that it is not a way for customers to avoid debts already owed to TalkTalk but rather a way of allowing them to stay connected whilst they sort out their finances. Each case, customers are assured, will be dealt with individually.

“We can't write off debts but we can have a conversation about how to help customers on a case-by-case basis,” the spokesman said.

“We are acting to prevent people falling in to debt and facing the risk of disconnection. It's not means tested, they need to call us and explain their circumstances and there is no recommendation to send documentation.”

TalkTalk claims the move is not down to churn rates which it claims are “very low and not increasing” but rather a measure to prevent disconnections by giving customers who need it a six month grace period.

A spokesman also denied that the announcement of the Emergency Plan was connected to positive figures released by Sky this morning. With the release of its fourth quarter figures for 2008 Sky showed an increase in broadband subscriptions and made clear it would be marketing its broadband and telephony services to the 87% of its 9.2m television subscriber base which has not yet added the net to a monthly satellite package.

“We said before Christmas that we wanted to do something to help those suffering in the current climate and we've been working on the emergency plan since then,” assured the TalkTalk spokesman.

Ofcom and digital inclusion charity, Citizens Online, have both welcomed TalkTalk’s move in helping to alleviate financial hardship and ensure that households can remain online despite the current economic climate.