Talkline
| TALKLINE GmbH
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 1991 |
| resolution | 2007 |
| Seat | Elmshorn |
| management |
|
| Number of employees | 797 (2007) |
| sales | 144.48 million € (2007) |
| Branch | telecommunications |
| Website | www.talkline.de |
The Talkline GmbH was until 2007 a German telephone company based in Elmshorn, as primarily telecommunications service providers and mobile service provider occurred. Talkline is now operated exclusively as a Mobilcom-Debitel brand.
history
The company has existed since 1991. Talkline was founded by Ernst-Friedrich Baumer, who contributed AssCarfi GmbH, a sales chain for car radios and telephones, in a joint venture with Preussag AG. Baumer and Kai-Uwe Ricke provided the management. With the opening of the mobile phone market, the company established itself as a reseller of mobile phone contracts, a mobile phone provider , and grew rapidly as a result. At a later date, RWE Telliance AG acquired 100% of the shares in Talkline.
With effect from July 1, 1997, the company became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Danish TDC Mobile International . The company had around 900 employees and in 2004 achieved sales of EUR 1.031 billion and EBITDA (earnings before taxes, interest, depreciation and amortization) of EUR 60.5 million. At peak times, around 1,700 people were employed.
Talkline was sold to the Debitel group on June 5, 2007 for 560 million euros . The approval of the Brussels authorities followed on July 20, 2007. On November 20, 2008, Debitel AG, which had meanwhile been bought up by Freenet, informed around 750 employees about the decision to close the Elmshorn site. Around 500 employees lost their jobs as a result of the sale to the Debitel Group. The “Talkline-Platz” at the company's headquarters in Elmshorn, which was renamed on April 8, 1997, was renamed “Kurt-Wagener-Straße” again on May 1, 2011.
Business areas
Mobile network provider : Term contracts and prepaid connections for the Telekom , Vodafone and E-Plus networks . Since June 1, 2006 also O 2 . In October 2005, the mobile communications department had a total of 3.4 million customers.
Important individual events
- In November 1997 Talkline was the first telephone company to announce its prices for landline calls permitted in Germany from the beginning of 1998 via call-by-call (dialing in via an alternative provider using the area code): 44 pfennigs per minute during peak hours, 22 pfennigs per minute in the off-peak time (approx. 23 or 11 cents). That was around two thirds of the prices charged by the then monopoly Deutsche Telekom .
- Talkline had applied for a license for a German UMTS network in 2000 , but withdrew shortly before the auction began.
- In 2001/2002 Talkline parted with the Internet and preselection business.
- A fee that Talkline demanded for the deactivation of mobile phone connections from customers who had canceled was prohibited by the Federal Court of Justice in 2002 (file number: III ZR 199/01 of April 18, 2002). This ruling finally brought down similar fee clauses from other wireless service providers.
- At the beginning of 2004 Talkline sold its portfolio of preselection customers, including the regulatory authority for post and telecommunications, to 3U Telecom AG, which continued to look after customers under the LineTalk brand (later LineCall).
- In December 2004 Talkline sold its subsidiary Talkline ID, which had concentrated on the fixed network areas call-by-call and value-added services, to Freenet.de AG in Hamburg .
- A new Talkline subsidiary was launched in November 2005 : the Hamburg-based mobile communications discounter easyMobile , which was renamed callmobile a year later .
criticism
Talkline was often brought into connection with so-called dialers and conducted many negotiations, as Talkline sent invoices to customers of their Internet offer, but the customers had not used any services or services of this magnitude. A distinction had to be made here between Talkline GmbH & Co. KG (mobile communications) and Talkline ID GmbH, a value-added service provider. Until December 2004, the Talkline Group included the wireless service provider Talkline GmbH & Co. KG and the value-added service provider Talkline ID. This company was sometimes criticized because, as a technical service provider, in addition to 0800, 0180, 0137 and 118xy numbers, it also operated the controversial 0190 numbers, some of which were suspected of being misused by dubious dialer providers. At the end of 2004, the value-added service provider Talkline ID, which today operates under the name Next ID , was sold to Freenet AG in Hamburg. Talkline GmbH & Co.KG has since concentrated on the mobile communications business.
The WOT (Web of Trust) rating system makes it clear that numerous customers complain about incorrect phone bills and impolite service, and that a lawyer is often required to assert their rights against Talkline.
Web links
- Official website
- Mobile communications: "Deactivation fees" not permitted. vzbv prevails against Talkline before the Federal Court of Justice. Federal Association of Consumer Organizations, April 25, 2002, archived from the original on December 7, 2008 ; accessed on August 12, 2018 (press release).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Electronic Federal Gazette, December 18, 2008, annual financial statements for the business year from January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2007.
- ↑ ec.europa.eu ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ 750 jobs gone Talkline employees shocked. (No longer available online.) In: Kieler Nachrichten . November 20, 2008, formerly in the original ; accessed on August 12, 2018 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )
- ↑ Arne Kolarczyk: The "Talkline" will soon fall silent in Elmshorn. In: Hamburger Abendblatt. January 8, 2010, accessed August 12, 2018 .
- ↑ stadt-elmshorn.de ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF).
- ↑ Talkline debt collection permitted? Rechtsanwälte Richard & Kempcke GbR, accessed on August 12, 2018 .
- ↑ Is talkline.de safe? Reviews & Ratings. In: Web of Trust . Retrieved August 12, 2018 .
