ntl complaints procedures.

[Stuart C]

Guys, while you are welcome to post in this thread, if you have a specific problem, it would be easier if you can create your own thread to deal with it.

To create your own thread is quite easy. Go to http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/index.php (or click Cable Forum between the two menu lines at the top of each page). This brings up a list of the forums that make up this site. Double click on the title of the appropriate forum. Now, you'll see a list of the most recent threads on that forum. At the top of this list, there is a large "New Thread" button. Click this.

I am asking that you create your own threads, as with multiple people posting problems in the same thread, it can get difficult to follow. If a thread is difficult to follow, people won't read it. It also makes it difficult to see if someone has come up with a solution.



---------- Post added at 14:42 ---------- Previous post was at 14:37 ----------

Originally Posted by Anubis99

Well you'd have thought I learned my lesson years ago with NTL grief last time I moved home. But nope, once again i'm on the move, this time I wish to cancel permanently my phone and broadband services. i have so far today wasted approximately 5 hours on the phone in queues, eventaully connected (record is 34 mins!) then transferred, line dropped. redialled, waited. told to call another number. Apologised to for problems and then hung up on!!
No way to cancel via website and being billed for several hours sat listening to platitudes on an 0845 no. when all i want is to cancel is NOT amusing anymore.
Please, please, please can anyone advise, whom or where to call to cancel my contracts without wasting more of my time or money?!?

See http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/sh...ad.php?t=50419

[tonecold]

correct me if im wrong but isnt this thread all about NTL complaints?
well screw this, your contacts have managed to solve a big fat nothing, dont think ill bother coming back here.

[Rob]

Yes this thread is about complaints, but as you can see it's become long and rambling with many issues lost amongst it. By all means post in this thread, but, if your issue might benefit from detailed asistance, from forum members, or the team, a separate thread might well achieve a better response.

You indicate your issue was not dealt with yet was referred to our contacts. Did they get in touch?

[lostandconfused]

hi im new to this forum and would just like my say.

firstly i work in ntl customer services, i have read most of the posts on this thread and i agree in many cases there are cause to be very angry.
ive worked there for a few years and ill be honest ive seen some right royal cock ups in my time, and a lot of that is due to incompetence from some staff. i have indeed reported a lot of them to their team leaders as in my opinion some actions should be concidered as gross misconduct.

however i would also like to set the record straight. i read a post, not sure who it was by and cant really be bothered to go and check saying you should always ask for a supervisor when you call in, frankly thats just unhelpfull. if every customer demands to speak to a supervisor, their just going to make everyone a supervisor as you cant expect 1 team leader to take the same amount of calls as a team of 15 agents!

secondly, a lot of the problems i encounter are due to customer education, for example i had a call not so long ago where a customer had been charged the part month charges when he changed one of his services, now this should have been explained to him when it was changed, however if your going to start screaming at me as soon as i answer the call i cant really do much to explain or help with the matter.

its just human nature, if i were to get a call where the customer is pleasant (i understand you would be frustrated, god knows i have when moving house but you should understand that the person answering the call hasnt spoken to you before and you shouldnt judge them on past experience) i will bend over backwards even if it means having to finish later (unpaid) to help. but to be honest and i wouldnt admit this in work, if a customer calls in and starts hurling abuse at me (ive been called words i didnt know existed before, and some which really offended me) i'm not going to be as willing to help.

an example of this, recently a customer had a problem with a housemove, this customer although frustrated at having to speak to many different departments was nice enough. unfortunatly i couldnt help that day as the dept was closed, i explained i would sort it out and call the customer back as soon as possible. although dubious that this would happen the customer accepted this.
i then came in on my day off the next day to speak to the correct department to get the problem sorted. i called the customer back with the news and they were delighted.

ive also read in some posts how you have never had call backs when promised, now i do understand that in some cases this is the case and the people that promise this shouldnt be working for ntl, however in some cases this is genuine, there can be system problems or the agent that promised the call back may have been ill on that day and when they get in the next day they can see from the notes on the account that the customer called in 8 times the day before and the problem is now solved. therfor it is reasonable to say that they shouldnt call the customer back and possibly inconvienience them more when they could be trying to get the call queues down by helping customers that have a current problem.

i would like to round off by saying, that whilst most of the people on this forum have serious and ongoing problems with ntl, and in many cases their experience has been poor to say the least, you should also bear in mind that when a customer services agent picks up the call it is probably the first time you have spoken to them, and most of you wouldnt shout at someone in the street so why do it over the phone??

i welcome and comments on this post.

[joblej]

lostandconfused

Mate, I have given up calling customer services. Its pointless. No one ever solve anything. The system is always down. You have to understand that the "customer serivices" department represents the company. People at NTL dont keep their promises. Unfortunately, there is no email method to complain, else it would be overwhlemed. I have wasted a good part of 2 weeks on hold, and talking to members of your team. I am none the wiser in resolving the issues. Furthermore I had the "pleasure" of talking to broadand tehcnical support, wasting my money on the calls. Again no resolution to the problem.

I'm sure people like yourself are the exception rather than the rule. By the number of threads in this forum, the general opinion is that NTL customer services is poor.

People shout due to poor manners, yes, but more likely at the frustration at being put on hold for hours, and sent from department to department. Its suprising in a company such as NTL, communication between departments, and then to the customers is so poor.

Its not much fun getting up in the morning, try and get through to customer serivices, and then go over the same problem again and again!!!!!

[lostandconfused]

i completly agree customer services is the face of the company and there are many people working that shouldnt (btw dont get me started on tech support!)

maybe a better way to deal with it if your not happy is to take their name, hang up and call back to report it, the call queues have gone down massivly in the past weeks, so if your calling after 4 id be surprised if you have to wait more than 3 mins.

i think the only way to get it sorted is to sort the wheat from the chaff as such and get the people that are just passing customer about the boot

p.s if you do have a complaint, make sure the person your speaking to does make a log of the complaint on the account as any form of disatisfaction should be logged (but best to make sure it is) as these do go to ofcom

[Russ B]

Originally Posted by lostandconfused

p.s if you do have a complaint, make sure the person your speaking to does make a log of the complaint on the account as any form of disatisfaction should be logged (but best to make sure it is) as these do go to ofcom

"I'm sorry sir but there's no record of that call" - something which it seems a lot of people on here have been told by ntl agents.

Originally Posted by lostandconfused

<Snip>

prior to my recent promotion in a unnamed telecommunications company this is what i did to pay the bills. customer services is very frustrating, 9 times out of 10 its procedures and other staff that fault what will happen on that call. For example in my previous call you where expected to deal with a call in 240 AHT [average handling time - seconds], which is 4 minutes, you would be continually pestered going over that, you couldnt use after calll, they wanted a first time resolution and expect you to get a sale out of the customer to.

so please remember when calling customer services these guys sometimes, get paid less than the cleaners, and deal with everyones fcuk ups, per department.

[kat2]

I would like to add the same as every other poster really very poor service and now they operate an 0871 number which my understanding is they can collect on this number (in other words the more they keep you online the more revenue they collect. My own complaint reads like a monty python sketch begs beleif really. "0871 is a revenue generating number often used by service/content and information line providers." I have had a temporary internet connection for a while now I was told by customer services that ntl do not have a written complaints procedure and to date have never had any complaint resolved needless to say ofcom put me wise and gave me an address so, I wait with baited breath! *lol* seriously its one sad cable company customer services in india, you cant understand what they say and the connetions so bad. The usual no returned calls no one turns up to do the repairs they promised to come out and do. I have a 30 metre cable thrown across to my neighbors connetion point because the engineers couldnt be bothered to connect to my connection point out side my gatepost so, my cable goes across my neighbors land and across his building to reach his connection point. I will not be re newing my subscription after my year is up.
huggs kat2 *sighs*

[lostandconfused]

whilst i undestand you are annoyed with the situation i think you need to be a bit objective

customer services is an 0845 number not 0871, its charged at 5p pm in the day 2p pm evenings and about 1.5p weekends.

ntl do have a written complaints procedure, the address is on the back of the bill, but customer services will always try to discourage written complaints as it takes a lot longer to resolve. your better off calling them to get is sorted and if you still feel it hasnt been sorted or you want proof that you have logged a complaint then write in.

customer services isnt in india, there is a call center over there but they will only deal with taking payments, setting up direct debits and any simple billing problems. everything else is in the uk.

"because the engineers couldnt be bothered to connect to my connection point out side my gatepost ". i very much doubt it was because they couldnt be bothered, there could have been a genuine reason, normally if there is a problem they will link it to a neighbours as a temporary fix so at least you have a service.

[kat2]

lostandconfused wrote: customer services isnt in india, well its funny because every time I contact ntl it sounds long distance and the poor guy whom often speaks in broken english always spells things out phonetically with me. I have had lots of names given to me that are not english too, so, because I have contacted customer services on more than one occcasion (several actually) I always end up speaking to somebody who can only speak very limited english. with regards to the cable being thrown across to my neighbors that was how it was installed because at the time the engineers arrived late its actually fixed in place in some parts its permanent though all 30 metres of it. several engineers have called and one guy even phones me in the evening to say sorry but he couldnt come today as his boss instructed him to concentrate on new connections (after all they have me on a fixed term contract for twelve months) so, there in no hurry to sort my problems out. With regards to the cable access point outside my front gate, the second engineers agreed with me they cannot understand why it wasnt used. the run to my gate is far shorter than the 30 metres across to my next door neighbors!! I have never seen such poor quality work in places the cable has joints in it (due to its length) and just hangs in the wind!
anyway my complaints un resolved and that is why I posted and I accept that the call charge to the customer service is an 0845, but technical supprt is 0871 which they do make money on, lucky for me after my four months it will not be my money anymore.
huggies kat2

[lostandconfused]

Originally Posted by kat2

lostandconfused wrote: customer services isnt in india, well its funny because every time I contact ntl it sounds long distance and the poor guy whom often speaks in broken english always spells things out phonetically with me. I have had lots of names given to me that are not english too, so, because I have contacted customer services on more than one occcasion (several actually) I always end up speaking to somebody who can only speak very limited english.

well if your going through to india every time you call, all that means is your pressing the wrong button on the IVR.

although you did say it was a prblem with broadband so are you sure your not going through to tech support?

Originally Posted by kat2

one guy even phones me in the evening to say sorry but he couldnt come today as his boss instructed him to concentrate on new connections (after all they have me on a fixed term contract for twelve months) so, there in no hurry to sort my problems out.

did he actually say this or is this the impression that you get? as it would be very unprofessional if he did. secondly it would be totally wrong, as installations and faults are completly seperate departments, use completly separeate techs.

[kat2]

Hi, lostandconfused,
actually yes he telephoned me on his mobile I suppose he felt guilty about ringing me in the afternoon telling me that he would be arriving shortly (but never did) to be fair to the lad he was only young and was with someone else when he came to my home first time around. I admire and respect honesty and he was being honest. Not sure what goes on in your part of the world but certainly the two engineers who called out said that they had both installations and repairs to do. Maybe this region is trying to cut back. after all on the first install it was just two people I was left to connect the block and modem and set the whole thing up too, sadly I suppose they are under so much pressure to get to the next job another reason perhaps why my install was so poor.
huggies kat2
I feel that looking on here and across the net complaints about customer service dont seem very good and, I dont blame the individuals rather the structure and the way it works. I dont think taking millions of voice calls is necessarly the best resolution. You have to go through the whole process of taking a call logging the call dealing with the matter, and providing a solution all in a very limited amount of time, before your forced to deal with the next customer.I have sent an email to simon duffy in this regard to say that more options should be made available such as online email, sms text, so, it should be interesting to see if any good comes of it.

[fritter]

Hi and help.
Have found this site after experiencing such huge frustration with ntl this week. I keep getting told different things. Where to begin?

1. Broadband.

Our bill says we pay for a 1MB connection, for which we are charged £24.99. I recalled a letter where we were told (or so I thought) an upgrade to 4MB. I may have phoned and checked this before, I may not. I can't recall.

I called customer services on 22 August and spoke to 3 different people. The first two each spoke with certainty.

So, I then knew that I had 4 MB connection and a 1MB connection.
I spoke to a third person (who gave me her full name, some do some don't) and said that, according to her screen (which she said could be wrong) I had a 750 connection. She suggested I call Tech Services).
I did.
On 22 August I spoke to Amit in the ntl Technical Support Bureau. He advised me i had a 4MB connection and that there were many reasons why it would run slow, he sent me an e mail (generic) with information.
I didn't believe him

I called again and spoke to another gentleman, also in tech services, whose name I wrote down but have misplaced for now, he said there was no question. I had a 750 connection and shouldn't be paying £24.99, BUT £17.99. He gave me his name and extension number and said he was happy for me to request that customer services contact him.

Today - 25 August - I called ntl again (because my phone has been cut off, 3 and a half weeks early) and had a very long wait and then an interminable phone call with someone in customer services. I was asking about the phone disconnection, but became so frustrated at the nonsense i was being given (more later) I said I had recent experience of being told contradictory things by ntl staff and didn't know what to believe. I explained about the broadband issue. She checked and said I had a 750 connection. I explained I had been told 3 different speeds and, my point, that this illustrated my difficulty in knowing who or what to believe. I said I was told that I should be paying £17.99 not £24.99. She said that was wrong and that the prices were
1MB = £17.99
750 = £24.99

I pointed out the obvious. She said I could only have 1MB if I requested it. I said that it said 1MB on my bill so I assumed I already HAD it. ALSO that others in her team had said I had 4MB. I asked how I would know to ask for a 1MB for a price reduction, she couldn't answer that.

But, the reason I called her was re the.........

2. PHONE DISCONNECTION
I have two phone lines. Today one of them was disconnected. On 22 August I called to give a month's notice to cancel one. The date I was given for disconnection was 25 September. I asked whether this would be confirmed in writing and was told it wouldn't as ntl 'don't do that'.

I asked why we had been cut off a month early. There was no answer. I asked who had done it 'Alan' - who is he? He is in Wales 'I don't know if they have a phone number'

I was refused his second name, a contact number or even what team he worked for. The person I spoke to said she didn't know, she said she could e mail him and get me reconnected, but that it would take 10 days. I asked if i could be copied in to the e mail. I couldn't.

There appeared to be no concern, nor any acceptance that this was ntl's error. I asked what the procedure was for compensation, she referred me to the address on the back of my bill.

Where do I best go to get my phone back on.

I am appalled by the whole process, its shambolic and the worst customer service I have ever come across.

Thank you

fritter

[popper]

with regards your modem speed, you can check that yourself if you have the stand alone modem , in my case the blue NTL250, open a browser and click this url to your modems mini webserver
http://192.168.100.1/
log into the modem using the Factory default
username/password root click the •Operation Config.

in my case on 4mbit i get
Cable Modem Operation Configuration

Network Access : Allowed

Maximum Downstream Data Rate : 4096000

Maximum Upstream Data Rate : 400000

Maximum Upstream 1600
Channel Burst :

for a far less accurate estimate you could also just click the speedtest at the top of this
very page and report back to the thread your reported speeds.

as for the phone, if you were going to have it turned off in 4 weeks anyway, and you still have one working
your better off just pushing for written confirmation of the date it was turned off so you have proof
that they cant overbill you for the extra month.

kit2, can you format your untidy posts by pressing the enter key twice at your full stops please, you make them very hard to read as they stand.