Tiscali are reportedly seeking legal advice with a view to take BT to court, after the leading UK ISP sent letters to the homes Tiscali customers, which suggested that their broadband connections may be compromised in light of sell-off rumours.
Regular readers will be aware that part of Tiscali’s big strategy for 2008 includes finding a potential buyer for its European broadband operations – mobile giant Vodafone were famously tipped to take over from Tiscali, but talks dissolved at the last minute.
Seemingly taking advantage of understandable customer concern, BT sent letters to Tiscali and Pipex subscribers which bore the headline ‘Tiscali chief plots sell-off’.
“We can understand why you’re wondering what might happen to your Tiscali broadband service,” said Gillian Lewis, customer services director for BT Total Broadband, in the letter. She goes on to say that “Changing your provider to BT could be the right move if you’re worried about the future of your broadband service. Because BT Total Broadband is the most complete and is here to stay.”
Understandably, people are concerned as to how BT got the names and addresses of Tiscali’s customers in the first place. A BT spokesman had the following to say in justification of its actions: “We use direct marketing as part of our customer-acquisition activity on an ongoing basis, sourcing customer details from reputable external sources. We often mention competitors in order that comparisons can be made – this direct mail is no different.”
Theoretically, BT would have access to such details through BT Openreach, its wholesale division, which is supposed to be run separately from the rest of the business as it is set up to facilitate LLU and nothing more. The letters to Tiscali customers seem to suggest otherwise.
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