A number of Working Lunch viewers have been in touch to tell us about the disappointing service they've received from internet service provider (ISP) Tiscali.

The ISP has continued to charge some users after accounts have been closed.

Other customers have been unable to pay for the service they've received.

And many have found it difficult to get through on the company's helplines.

Some callers waited up to 40 minutes and were still not able to speak to an adviser.

Expansion

Tiscali is the sixth biggest internet service provider in the UK and has 900,000 users.

Steve Horley: apologises

The company's ISP director, Steve Horley, says the problems have been caused by its recent expansion in the UK.

"We've bought seven different ISPs and each has come with their own database and infrastructure," he says.

Mr Horley says the company is currently trying to move all the information onto one database to speed up the call centre process.

Sorry

Tiscali apologises for any inconvenience customers have experienced.

The company claims to have now significantly increased the number of staff on its billing enquiry line.

This should clear the backlog which has built up.

Mr Horley also insists that anybody who has been incorrectly billed will be fully refunded.

Affected

Tiscali believes that less than 0.5% of its user base has been affected by these problems and says that anyone who signs up now will experience no billing problem.

If you've had problems with Tiscali, you can try them on:

• 0906 300 6633 - technical support
  
• 0870 744 9966 - billing enquiries
• 0845 660 1001 - registration help