Home phones

Over four million TalkTalk home phone, broadband and TV customers will be hit with price hikes from 1 May. But customers unhappy about the rise can leave their contract penalty-free.

If you've received an unsatisfactory service from a company, don't let your complaint join the 40 million which went unaddressed last year. 

Callers who've rung BT's 118 500 directory enquiries number since September 2011 could be due a refund after the firm was found guilty of not making prices clear and keeping customers on the line for too long.

BT customers began being charged for its previously-free 1571 answerphone and caller display services on Saturday. So opt out now if you have either of these services and don't use them, or you'll be charged £1.75/month for each – that's £42/year for both.

If you're calling customer service helplines to complain, you soon won't be faced with costly premium rate numbers under a Government crackdown.

Mobile phone users are to be protected from "shock bills" if their handsets are stolen, with a new cap on the maximum cost of calls they will be expected to pay for.

Most of Virgin Media's five million home phone, broadband and TV customers will be hit by average price hikes of 6.7% from February.

Four million TalkTalk home phone customers will have more power to stop nuisance and scam calls, including those from overseas, after the firm launched a call blocking service.

You'll soon be able to cancel mobile, landline, and broadband contracts without penalty if your provider hikes prices mid-contract and didn't forewarn you before getting the deal, after regulator Ofcom clarified its rules.