Time Wasted? ... I think not!!!

A couple of evenings ago I spent about three hours 'helping' to get a friend online to 'Talk Talk'.
We duly tried to set up the computer and the broadband (which had been working OK on another computer in the same room). After several false starts and cups of coffee we were getting nowhere as each time we tried to install the various bits of information we were being presented with different screens requesting more information.
As time went on we decided we needed help and, with permission from the user, rang customer services.
I know, I know, never ring customer services even if your bum is alight!
10p a minute to solve the problem ... small price to pay ... if you are actively talking to someone who is able to help. But 10p a minute just to punch in a few selections, only to be put in a queue and be fed only two records on a loop with a reminder that "Your call is in a queue and will be answered shortly" ... well that's not on. After twenty minutes (£2.00) we got a ringing tone! Then, as we got really excited the line went dead! AAAARGHHHH!!!
Back to trying it ourselves and we eventually got a message saying "You are connected at 2.2Mb/s". To prove it I pulled down my weblog (this one) and we were all suitably impressed. The young lady concerned said, "Right let me have a go". No connection. More coffee. Then we had another successful connection. Pulled down the weblog ... fine. Closed it all down and tried again. No connection.
At 10.45pm we called it a night.
Yesterday I thought I would try to see if there were any instances of similar happenings so I Googled "Talk Talk Complaints". www.weeklygripe.co.uk/arc44.asp came to the fore and I didn't believe what I was reading. I would say that there is no point trying to carry on with this installation. There are so many tales of disappointment, wasted time and money, horror etc not only with Talk Talk, but with Tiscali, Bulldog, BT Broadband and others.
I am with NTL/Telewest and have had no real problems in the three-years-plus with them. Thank goodness, I thought.
But in the Telegraph yesterday it appears that NTL is changing it's name to try to "draw a line under the complaints about its customer service department".
Back to the above mentioned website and I trawled through several more pages and found ONE reference from someone who had moved from NTL to go to Talk Talk only to immediately regret it and they have moved back again.
Please NTL, don't upset the applecart. stay as you are as I, for one, am more than happy with the service!