25 June 2007
Broadband provider Talk Talk has apologised after leaving a paying customer without internet access for a year.
Pensioner Oswald Connor, 75, originally signed up with the service, owned by The Carphone Warehouse, last June so his 18-year-old granddaughter could use it for her college studies.
Mr Oswald paid the provider 26 per month and rang frequently to demand answers to why he remained unconnected.
After an investigation by the People newspaper, The Carphone Warehouse eventually admitted that the reason why Mr Oswald was never connected was that he actually lives too far away from a telephone exchange to receive broadband.
A Carphone Warehouse spokesperson admitted to the People: "We should have known from the point of sale that the customer wasn't eligible."
Mr Oswald has now been promised 125 compensation as well as having the usual 70 disconnection fee to change provider waived.
Talk Talk has been the centre of controversy after it launched its 'free broadband forever' deal last April.
Many customers had complained of an irregular service and some of not being connected at all.
Carphone Warehouse's Chief Executive, Charles Dunstone, admitted that the provider had been "struggling to cope" with the 400,000-strong demand for the high-speed internet access since the service launched.