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View Full Version : NTL remove £5 discount for "own modem"


rotty
08-07-2004, 15:18
Sorry if this has been posted before but I had a look and couldn't find anything

I was one of the early NTL subscribers that biught my own modem and got a £5 reduction in the monthly bill

I have just recieved this months bill and noticed a price rise to £24.99 a month , after contacting them they say that they no longer give the £5 reduction

Now I know that the reduction received to date has more than paid for the modem but at no point did the agreement mention it being for a finite timescale , anyone know anymore on this ?

I am more annoyed on the principle that they think they can unilaterally change the rules and without notifying me either

etccarmageddon
08-07-2004, 15:27
technically, it's a price rise which there are entitled to do. although from a PR point of view it isnt a very smart way to treat customers.

rotty
08-07-2004, 15:30
possibly but the terms were for a £5 reduction on the normal price so unless the normal price had gone up £5 too then I think that they would be struggling to justify it as such

arcamalpha2004
08-07-2004, 15:32
And, being a price rise, you are entitled to re think your subscription to NTL.

A bit crappy they did not inform you first.

Rone
08-07-2004, 15:35
Or tell them to supply a new modem in its place?
Its a bit of cheapskating on their behalf, you can't believe they would stoop so low.
;)
Mind you, i can believe it.

arcamalpha2004
08-07-2004, 15:45
Or tell them to supply a new modem in its place?
Its a bit of cheapskating on their behalf, you can't believe they would stoop so low.
;)
Mind you, i can believe it.

Yep, it is NTL.
Just call and ask for a new modem if they are being funny, if you decide not to cancel.
They really do seem to be arse about tit.

Paul
08-07-2004, 17:08
The option to buy your own and get a reduction was withdrawn a long time ago - but those who had done so were allowed to keep the discount.

They are probably entitled to remove this at any time - but this is an extremely poor way to go about it :td: - they should give you some notice at the very least. Sadly, some areas of ntl have yet to discover what Customer satisfaction is about.

I would insist that they supply you with a brand new modem as you are now paying for it.

rotty
08-07-2004, 17:15
I have rang them and effectively got a 3 month extension to my current rate , gives me time to look at the other alternative suppliers

poolking
08-07-2004, 17:19
In this case, I'd ring them up and ask for a modem, as there is no longer an incentive to keep using your own modem.

rotty
08-07-2004, 17:25
they will supply and install me a new modem if I want though I don't really want to have to wait in for them to do it , I have 2 modems already so don't need another even though I can see the fun in doing it just to be awkward

td444
08-07-2004, 18:31
If they did that to me, id show them the door. I do hate it when company's treat long term customers like crap.

etccarmageddon
08-07-2004, 19:04
perhaps you should complain to trading standards.

dv2529
08-07-2004, 21:14
I rang NTL today and they said they didn't know why it had changed and so put it back to 19.99, supposedly.............

Flubflow
08-07-2004, 21:16
I've got this increase in my bill too. I am absolutely fuming.
It's like they've just decided to steal £5 out of my pocket every month from now on.
I don't WANT their poxy free modem. I bought MINE years ago and it is working as fine as ever and I WANT MY FRIKKIN £5 DISCOUNT BACK. If they won't give me that back then they can pay for the original cost of my cable modem at least.

Furthermore, I can't exactly understand quite what they have done with the billing numbers on the cable modem service to make me owe £25.65 and not the new 24.99.

I've just about had enough. After the recent debacle this year with this crap new epg software on the cable TV and the dysfunctional spammy email system I think this is the final trigger that dictates I move on to another provider after all these years. Whether I end up spending less, the same or even a little more I care not one jot and I will sleep soundly on the knowledge that at least NTL will not be getting my money any more.

-- end of rant --

Bazooka_Boy
09-07-2004, 11:46
IT CAN BE DONE



To let all of you know that NTL CAN be persuaded to act with honour it just takes a lot of fighting.



I've now had to fight for my £5 CM owners discount twice. The first time when I upgraded to the 1MB service from 512kb, the second a year later (only last month) when the first 12 monthly discounts had run out on the system.



The first time I had to fight for the discount I ended up (after plenty of calls to CS) e-mailing one of the MDs through the e-mail addresses available at NTHellworld.co.uk. I didn't get aggressive in the e-mail I just set out my justifications



1) At the time I was encouraged to buy my CM I was not told that this discount was limited in anyway.



2) As the standard charge covers the modem rental, charging me the standard charge without providing me with another CM was very close to fraud 'charging for something you don't own'.



3) In the grand scheme of things I know £5 month is not a large figure for NTL especially when you consider my monthly expenditure with them is normally over £100. Is it worth losing me as a customer for that £5 which would be pure profit for NTL? It is not like they are losing money for having me as a CM customer.



4) Customers talk. I work in IT and normally have no problem recommending the NTL broadband service to people who ask. I accept that it is not perfect but none is and apart from this issue I have been happy with the broadband service I have received. On a point of principal such as this I would stop recommending NTL as to my mind removal of the £5 owners discount is dishonourable.



To be fair within two days of sending my e-mail I was contacted by a customer care specialist from my region (I'm in Farnborough btw) who arranged the monthly £5 discount to be applied each month. I can't imagine that there are still many people that own their modem. Surely it would be better for NTL to sort out this issue with constancy once and for all with all regions.



KEEP UP THE GOOD FIGHT



Bryan

arcamalpha2004
09-07-2004, 11:50
At the end of the day, there is only so much crap service from them you can take.

I think NTL are " Wanting the moon on a stick ", certainly not their long suffering customers.
It really does come to a stage, when even if you end up paying a little bit more per month, you end up ditching the incompetent NTL and opt for another provider who knows how to treat people.

Paul
09-07-2004, 12:42
I think this really belongs in Billing, not support. Moved.

lincsat
10-07-2004, 14:45
I've just had my bill and am fuming too. The CS droid said he'd submit a "customer dissatisfaction report" whatever that is - and someone will contact me within 10 days.

I too was promised £5 off "as long as I subscribed to NTL Broadband", they welched on that when I tried to upgrade to 1meg saying It only applied to "exactly the parameters of connection as when I joined" - now they are welching on that too.

Only a month now to ADSL here, 2 meg really unlimited plusnet for £40 per month, here I come.

poolking
10-07-2004, 15:57
Do we have to keep insulting the NTL staff?

It might seem inocuous to you call them "droids" but I think hearing this day in and day out when they are only doing their job gets really tiring and demoralising. I reckon a few of them browse this site without signing up.

Its an internet connection not the end of the world, if you are that desperate and hacked off, go to an internet cafe or your local library.

lincsat
10-07-2004, 16:14
Its an internet connection not the end of the world, if you are that desperate and hacked off, go to an internet cafe or your local library.

It's a contracted service for which we pay a price, in this case the price for the service has been mis-represented. When I make a deal and agree a price, I expect that deal to be kept, regardless of whether it's Internet, Baked Beans or Open Heart Surgery.

scrotnig
10-07-2004, 16:17
I don't work in a region where this was ever a problem, however my own personal opinion is that these discounts ought to be maintained really.

At the very least, the company ought to offer to fit a new rented modem to all affected customers.

The above is my own personal opinion based on not a huge amount of knowledge of the situation though.

arcamalpha2004
10-07-2004, 16:26
Changed your opinion mark, I thought you did'nt believe in customers being offered discounts, forgive me if I am wrong.

Offering £5 off if they take broadband! what is going on?

Edit: Remarks removed : Stop trying to bypass the swear filter with unnecessary personal remarks. (Paul).

scrotnig
10-07-2004, 16:32
Changed your opinion mark, I thought you did'nt believe in customers being offered discounts, forgive me if I am wrong.

Offering £5 off if they take broadband! what is going on?

Nope, I've never said that. What's wrong with discounts being offered?

I HAVE said that, whilst it would be nice, it's unrealistic to expect a company to cut prices for all its customers and risk going bust in the process.

I am one of those who would rather pay more for a decent, sustainable service. I still want the best price, but I learned too much in the heady days of 'discounted' unmetered internet access. I know what 'cheap' and 'discount' really means. I'd prefer companies to charge me a sustainable price they can make a living from, because the alternative is, they cut corners to make ends meet.

I'd love 1mb broadband for 320, but I do not believe an ADSL provider can make any money at that rate. therefore either the price is going to rocket or the service is going to deteriorate.

That's my standpoint. I genuinely believe ntl's broadband is a good product. If I didn't, I'd say so, I'm not their lackey as they are making me redundant at the end of the year so I've no candle to burn for them.

scrotnig
10-07-2004, 16:33
Changed your opinion mark, I thought you did'nt believe in customers being offered discounts, forgive me if I am wrong.

Offering £5 off if they take broadband! what is going on?


In any case, this particular situation is nothing to do with discounts. These customers paid for their own modems and thus were charged less for not having to rent an ntl modem. That isn't a discount, it's a reduction, two different things.

poolking
10-07-2004, 16:33
Lincsat,

So NTL staff are contracted by NTL to be insulted?

arcamalpha2004
10-07-2004, 16:49
Lincsat,

So NTL staff are contracted by NTL to be insulted?

Poolking, sadly, the managing director of NTL does not answer the phone, otherwise he would get a touch of it too.
I am not condoning insulting behaviour towards people over the phone, but tell me, when your tv service, bb service goes down over the weekend, and because NTL cannot be bothered paying staff to answer the phone when you call to report a problem, come monday morning when you do call you are more canned up, to be met with the " Reset your box" mullarky, then the " We will have somebody out to look at it, goodbye" without even the mention of compensation for the loss of service, how do you expect people to react?
Being insulted is not nice, I accept that, but if there came a time if I was employed by them I felt it was getting too much, I would move on.
A lot of it is down to how they are trained, if they are being insulted they warn the customer, if it continues they call a manager over, what is wrong with that?
I have a family member working for a larger company than NTL, he told me last week that one of the guys working there had left.
When I asked why, he said that he had taken a call from a customer who was giving him abuse, so this guy told the customer to fu56 off, needless to say, his manager came over and escorted him from the building.
I said to my relative " Did'nt you all have a whip round for him? "
He asked why, I said for doing what about 100 of you people want to tell a customer every day when faced with abuse.

lincsat
10-07-2004, 17:23
Lincsat,

So NTL staff are contracted by NTL to be insulted?

What on earth are you on about?????? Please don't insult me by mis-representing my posts.

I never said anything about NTL staff being contracted to be insulted and I have never insulted or condoned the insulting of NTL staff.

If you are refering to my use of the word "droid" with respect of NTL's CSR, this is not used as an insult but as a descriptive of someone who responds from a prepared script or just repeats a standard responce - as in Android like.