Helpdesk: Tesco cut my broadband with no warning and blamed hijackers

I spent several hours on the phone to Tesco and was eventually told that my account had been “terminated.” She said that my broadband account had been illegally hijacked by another service provider, wasn’t anything to do with Tesco, and I needed to call BT and get details from them as to who had hijacked my account.

I tried to point out that I had been a customer of Tesco internet for years and during that time had diligently paid my bills. The last direct debit was paid in mid April. I also said that Tesco were charging me for a service that they weren’t currently providing, but the customer service adviser repeated that it was nothing to do with Tesco and she wasn’t prepared to help.

BT and Ofcom then told me that there was no broadband service at my address, but no-one else had applied to take over the line. The sales adviser at BT told me that in all likelihood my account had been terminated in error by Tesco.

I have urgent business I need to attend to on the internet and I’m appalled at the indifferent attitude of Tesco over a problem that is not my fault. And I repeat – this is a service that I’m currently being charged for.

BW, West Lothian

A: A spokeswoman for Tesco said: “We’re extremely sorry for Ms Watt’s experience. Unfortunately, the account was showing as ceased on our systems as this had been requested in the past by the customer. The account was then terminated in light of this. This means the customer has not been charged for their Tesco Broadband for at least eight months. Unfortunately, the situation was not made clear on the account notes and the customer service representative made an assumption that the service had been taken over by another provider.

“Tesco Broadband is contacting the customer to help her re-set up her broadband account if she would like to.”

• If you have a consumer issue that you would like tackled, contact Jane Bradley on 0131 620 8432 or e-mail [email protected]