NTL offering package to challenge talk talk

[dcclanuk]

Originally Posted by Jack001

Just so everyone knows, you don't really need to say cancel to get a good offer.

I called Retentions direct on the number given in this thread, i told them about another ISP offering faster broadband for a cheaper price, he says OK and offered 10Mbps for £17.49 per month for the next 12 months, i didn't say cancel or say i wanted to leave NTL in any way ...

wat ISP?

and N00N00, please reply!

[Chrysalis]

I had a phonecall from ntl asking me why I am cancelling and presumeably they were going to try and cut a deal with me, so it seems if you dont ask for retentions and just cancel they will find you

however I explained to them my cancellation is cancelled so that was the end of it.

[__spc__]

Originally Posted by Neil

There's no way that even ntl would offer 2Mb BB as "guaranteed".



Hmmm-I'm sure someone made that point earlier, who was it?

Was it Orangebird?

My last visit to retentions told me a 10Mb service would have guaranteed 2Mb until June, thereafter guaranteed 4Mb...

sorry if anyone has mentioned this already but has anyone actually read the small print to the talktalk offer.

Besides its all rubbish think of it like this you go to HMV and they have buy 1 get 1 free on dvd's, but what they do is make the dvd prices higher. You don't get nothing for free and certainly the very very small print

It can take up to 3 months before bb is active, during this time you cannot have a bb supplier obviously due to the whole adsl markers. if you don't qualify for the free bb, i.e. the unbundling is not available in your area which in many areas it isn't then you have to pay 10.00

[Zee]

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

I had a phonecall from ntl asking me why I am cancelling and presumeably they were going to try and cut a deal with me, so it seems if you dont ask for retentions and just cancel they will find you

however I explained to them my cancellation is cancelled so that was the end of it.

That is true, we canceled phone with them, they called up 3 times to try and get us back, we didn't have it, we went back to BT.

We wasn't happy with NTL phone at all, Broadband is fine though.

As for the person asking which ISP, i said Eclipse (www.Eclipse.net.uk)

[dcclanuk]

Originally Posted by Jack001

That is true, we canceled phone with them, they called up 3 times to try and get us back, we didn't have it, we went back to BT.

We wasn't happy with NTL phone at all, Broadband is fine though.

As for the person asking which ISP, i said Eclipse (www.Eclipse.net.uk)

cheers!

now where is N00N00 with this free calls info... unless he is lying

[ntl.wotcha]

Well, bloody typical. They said they were going to give me 1/2 price BB and 1/2 price Base pack for 6 months. So I get my bill and guess what ?

Yep, They have put me down for 3 months 1/2 price BB and 6 months 1/2 price DTV.

So what do I do now ? Cancel again ? What time is best to call ? Last time I was stuck on hold for a long time.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by ntl.wotcha

Well, bloody typical. They said they were going to give me 1/2 price BB and 1/2 price Base pack for 6 months. So I get my bill and guess what ?

Yep, They have put me down for 3 months 1/2 price BB and 6 months 1/2 price DTV.

I hate to say I told you (not you personally!) so, but I did say this would happen.

Originally Posted by ntl.wotcha

So what do I do now ? Cancel again ? What time is best to call ? Last time I was stuck on hold for a long time.

What do you want to do?

[James Henry]

I'm not commenting at all on the discounting here but here's a little advice a certain cable company might want to pay attention to...

Originally Posted by Bloomberg

``No business can sustain profitability by giving away services for free,'' said Cyrus Mewawalla, head of telecommunications research at Westhall Capital Ltd. in London. ``In the end, it's the company with the best products that win.''

To put it even more simply... spend cash on improving services, let the people go to TalkTalk, get mortified at how poor the service is compared to cable, then come back most apologetically to shiny new 12 month contracts paying full price.

While TalkTalk will attract people who want as much as possible for as little as possible chances are that most who go to them aren't expecting possibly huge waits to receive their broadband service, caps, traffic shaping and premium rate customer service. They think you get something for nothing here, which is wrong. ntl did have a chance to diversify themselves from TalkTalk and present cable as being a competitive future technology giving a great quality of service. Instead they're just wanting to become a TalkTalk alike and go from being a Tesco to a Lidl when they could have become a Waitrose.

It really is a shame but that's the way it is now. Having gone through a debt for equity swap and essentially received the networks for free they're not interested in maintaining them (note the Luton area issues and ntl saying it's not financially viable to fix them, although another DTI investigation into them for selling products not fit for purpose might change those opinions one hopes.) nor it appears is the company interested in providing any sort of class of service beyond the bare minimum necessary, and I certainly hope that people are willing to pay slightly more to another provider for a far better quality of service and show the idiots doing the strategy at ntl that we do actually want quality services for our money and care a little more about quality than just paying as little as possible. I pay £28 a month for my internet service but the quality is absolutely superb, the support excellent and I'm happy to pay a few pounds more than I need to in return for the extra.

[Mr Angry]

NTL are nowhere near being a Lidl.

Lidl have one of the smartest tax write off policies available. Despite the common misconception of Lidl they are, in fact, one of the smartest, fastest growing, most profitable business enterprises in European history.

From a business perspective I think that's something NTL can only aspire to.

[dcclanuk]

Originally Posted by N00N00

Seems to be one slightly confusing area in these delas - i.e. the international package.

I beleive NTL do a crappy discounted international calls package, and they also now match the TalkTalk free international calls offer if you and lucky when you play teh NTL discount game. I haven't been able to find any info on the NTL version of free international calls, so I called to find out exactly what they give you.
Seems to be good news - they offer free calls to 30 countires rather than TalkTalk's 28. Tried to find out what the extra countires were - one was India. The other countires are basically most of Europe, US, Canada, Australia and NZ.

get back on topic guys!!!

so NOO NOO where are u???

[chocky909]

Originally Posted by dcclanuk

get back on topic guys!!!

so NOO NOO where are u???

I think you'll find - if you look at the original topic - that they were a lot closer to it than it has been for the majority of the time. This has turned from a discussion about the talk talk offer to a "retentions-deals-comparison-thread" using talk talk as threat to cancel. The last few posts actually briefly touched on the original subject again.

[Shaun]

Originally Posted by James Henry

While TalkTalk [WHO???] will attract people who want as much as possible for as little as possible chances are that most who go to them aren't expecting possibly huge waits to receive their broadband service, caps, traffic shaping and premium rate customer service.

Sorry who are you describing there? Ntl?

Everything you wrote there could be attributed to our favorite cable company. Sorry James.

They think you get something for nothing here, which is wrong. ntl did have a chance to diversify themselves from TalkTalk and present cable as being a competitive future technology giving a great quality of service. Instead they're just wanting to become a TalkTalk alike and go from being a Tesco to a Lidl when they could have become a Waitrose.

I've SO respected all that you've writen in most threads so far James but this is just tosh.
NTL have the opportunity here to offer TopMan prices for designer stock prices by owning the whole of the infrastructure (like Bulldog et al) but are too busy spending their cash/shares on acquisitions. Do they really need a mobile company?

As for future technology - they have 10Mbit (for those it works for) now - ADSL2+ have 16+

It really is a shame but that's the way it is now. Having gone through a debt for equity swap and essentially received the networks for free they're not interested in maintaining them (note the Luton area issues and ntl saying it's not financially viable to fix them, although another DTI investigation into them for selling products not fit for purpose might change those opinions one hopes.) nor it appears is the company interested in providing any sort of class of service beyond the bare minimum necessary, and I certainly hope that people are willing to pay slightly more to another provider for a far better quality of service and show the idiots doing the strategy at ntl that we do actually want quality services for our money and care a little more about quality than just paying as little as possible. I pay £28 a month for my internet service but the quality is absolutely superb, the support excellent and I'm happy to pay a few pounds more than I need to in return for the extra.

Again we agree- Ntl can't see where they are well off!

Oh and for the record I pay BD £30 a month for my BB (yes the quality is top notch otherwise I'd be on my bike) (I pay a VOIP company £7.99 a month for my voice line. and are perfectly happy paying over the odds for a rock solid below 8meg (poorly support as most ADSL is) service.

[Chrysalis]

whats the DTI investigation about specifically?

Incidentlly I am waiting a month for broadband to avoid BT ipstream so I can get LLU, deciding quality is better then crappyness. Although I am frustrated at current.

No doubt this will all bite ntl in the ass sooner or later, no expansion investment means their footprint is shrinking, no maintaining network in line with demand and growth means their quality is going downhill which means they getting less £ per customer.

[ntl.wotcha]

Originally Posted by Neil

What do you want to do?

What I want is what they promised me. or even better a package to match Talk Talk and Sky's basic TV service (plus maybe PVR |). But that's likely not going to happen. 24.99 for BB alone is talking the **** when I can get phone and BB for 20.99. If you think about it I am paying NTL 35 quid for what Talk Talk will give me for 21 quid ! (not to mention the free international calls ! )

I want to switch to Talk Talk for Telephone and BB and Switch TV for Sky+ (seeing as NTL's HD/PVR is still vapourware). However, I realise that I could be facing a long wait time for Talk Talk so cancellation of NTL now might not be an option.

Is it possible to cancel just the TV and Phone and just have the NTL BB ? That way I'd have a bit of time to get the Talk Talk BB sorted.

Plus I am not happy doing business with liars who promise me a certain deal and then don't deliver. I have been a long standing customer with CWC/NTL and I'd be happy to stay with them for the right price, but they are literally driving me away.