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timewarrior2001
02-12-2004, 12:15
Okay the one and only time I've ever had trouble with NTL's billing, and I have to say the attitude of the person on the phone was nothing short of disgusting.

For some reason NTL seem to have been playing with account numbers recently, I received a bill the other day for double what I normally pay, apparently they never received the DD payment for November, or it may have been october.
When I phoned NTL I was told that I must pay double and that I couldnt catch up in installments because "you obviously cancelled the DD".

I went to the bank, who assure me, that I have not cancelled it, and in fact it seems NTL have cancelled it.

So not only do I have to find a stupid amount of money just before christmas, I have to put up with accusations from staff and the prospect that I may well be cut off, who has £100 or so to spare 3 weeks before christmas????

Speaking with my future mother in law, I discover they have been getting billed for 3 1MB BB packages at the same house.

Now Yes I'm frustrated and very annoyed at NTL at the moment, as its obviously their mistake yet I am now lumbered with a huge bill I cannot pay.

Have NTL changed the account numbers about? and if so can I get help clearing this missed payment that is NOT my fault?


I'm already tempted to get rid of the NTL phone line and go to ADSL BB, mainly because we rarely use the phone and pay more in line rental than call costs and ADSL because I would have more choice of providers than with cable. I dont get Cable TV as have Sky. But I dont know if switchging back to BT is such a great Idea either. :shrug:

poolking
02-12-2004, 13:32
At the moment I feel the whole billing system is a joke, hence my thread about the overcharging.

Scarlett
02-12-2004, 14:25
Recently jumped ship to BT (well I do work for them now) on pipex and the BT basic pack (I don't use the phone much either).

Apart from having to dial up to connect the ADSL and needing the occasional reboot (usually if the system has been going for some days) I've not had a problem. In fact I'd say come on over, It's much nicer on this side of the fence (and the email works!)

In NTL's defence, CS poeple often have to take what people claim with a pinch of salt due to the amount of people out there who are 'on the fiddle'. On the other hand, a complete denial of the issue and blaiming of the customer (and I've had a few of them myself, to the stage of once being told that 'none of our staff would ever say that sir' after I'd done something based on a CS staff members advice.) is unacceptable.

FYI, NTL have just changed their billing system hence the new account numbers but I'm well clear now and much happier for it. (Although I'd like my termination bill and refund!)

Scarlett.

jht2k
20-12-2004, 22:45
Hello,

My broadband was cut off this morning without notification - a quick call to ntl customer services told me that my broadband account had been suspended due to the failure of four scattered Direct Debit payments dating back to November 2003 (!), even though there were more than sufficient funds in my account to cover each of these at the time.

These payment failured occured in November 2003, and February, July, August and December (three days ago) this year. There seems to be no pattern of the payments failing, but I'm tempted to err towards blaming ntl for the payment failure due to various bills I've had to dispute in the past (and to ntl's credit, these have been sorted without delay once pointed out).

The bottom line is that ntl are now demanding £125 from me in order to reconnect my broadband! This isn't exactly the best time of year to be facing this kind of amount, and I object to the fact that it's taken them 13 months to point out the first payment failure to me! Doesn't the Direct Debit guarantee or Ofcom protect me from these idiotic goofs?

Has anybody else experienced similar problems?

Cheers

Jon

poolking
20-12-2004, 22:50
Hello,

My broadband was cut off this morning without notification - a quick call to ntl customer services told me that my broadband account had been suspended due to the failure of four scattered Direct Debit payments dating back to November 2003 (!), even though there were more than sufficient funds in my account to cover each of these at the time.

These payment failured occured in November 2003, and February, July, August and December (three days ago) this year. There seems to be no pattern of the payments failing, but I'm tempted to err towards blaming ntl for the payment failure due to various bills I've had to dispute in the past (and to ntl's credit, these have been sorted without delay once pointed out).

The bottom line is that ntl are now demanding £125 from me in order to reconnect my broadband! This isn't exactly the best time of year to be facing this kind of amount, and I object to the fact that it's taken them 13 months to point out the first payment failure to me! Doesn't the Direct Debit guarantee or Ofcom protect me from these idiotic goofs?

Has anybody else experienced similar problems?

Cheers

Jon
Just do a search, there are allsorts of billing errors, not just isolated to broadband.

jht2k
20-12-2004, 23:29
Thanks - I'm now aware that people have experienced various problems with billing.

Just wondered if anyone shared/could help with my specific experience - that of ntl claiming DD rejections when my bank claims the payment requests were never made, and the legal standing with this situation.

Anyway, I'm awaiting a callback from a supervisor which was supposed to be this evening but will hopefully be tomorrow. Fingers crossed, but any advice in the meantime would be appreciated.

At a loss
20-12-2004, 23:33
Okay the one and only time I've ever had trouble with NTL's billing, and I have to say the attitude of the person on the phone was nothing short of disgusting.

For some reason NTL seem to have been playing with account numbers recently, I received a bill the other day for double what I normally pay, apparently they never received the DD payment for November, or it may have been october.
When I phoned NTL I was told that I must pay double and that I couldnt catch up in installments because "you obviously cancelled the DD".

I went to the bank, who assure me, that I have not cancelled it, and in fact it seems NTL have cancelled it.

So not only do I have to find a stupid amount of money just before christmas, I have to put up with accusations from staff and the prospect that I may well be cut off, who has £100 or so to spare 3 weeks before christmas????

Speaking with my future mother in law, I discover they have been getting billed for 3 1MB BB packages at the same house.

Now Yes I'm frustrated and very annoyed at NTL at the moment, as its obviously their mistake yet I am now lumbered with a huge bill I cannot pay.

Have NTL changed the account numbers about? and if so can I get help clearing this missed payment that is NOT my fault?


I'm already tempted to get rid of the NTL phone line and go to ADSL BB, mainly because we rarely use the phone and pay more in line rental than call costs and ADSL because I would have more choice of providers than with cable. I dont get Cable TV as have Sky. But I dont know if switchging back to BT is such a great Idea either. :shrug:When your bank returns back to NTL that a payment by direct debit fails NTL cancels the direct debit.

The same has happened to me a few times and I have visit the bank who then confirms that NTL cancelled the direct debit and I have to have it restarted and then have to contact NTL to confirm that the direct debit is again active.

jht2k
20-12-2004, 23:38
Why, though, are Timewarrior and myself having rejected DD payments in the first instance? It's not like there's insufficient funds in the accounts.

poolking
20-12-2004, 23:48
Why, though, are Timewarrior and myself having rejected DD payments in the first instance? It's not like there's insufficient funds in the accounts.
It seems its the wonderful billing system. :D

Shaun
21-12-2004, 00:00
www.adslguide.org

Come on over guys, the waters great! :D

jht2k
21-12-2004, 01:00
Just been running some checks with my online banking. Turns out that NTL's claims of non-payment on Nov 2003 and Feb 2004 are false as these were n fact debited (although not on the dates that ntl claim the payments were rejected). However the non-payment problems with July 2004, August 2004 and December 2004 remain.

Bizarre.

At least it gives me some ammunition for when (if) the supervisor calls tomorrow morning.

At a loss
21-12-2004, 01:04
Just been running some checks with my online banking. Turns out that NTL's claims of non-payment on Nov 2003 and Feb 2004 are false as these were n fact debited (although not on the dates that ntl claim the payments were rejected). However the non-payment problems with July 2004, August 2004 and December 2004 remain.

Bizarre.

At least it gives me some ammunition for when (if) the supervisor calls tomorrow morning.
Sounds about right, good luck tomorrow keep us posted on the out come.

Skippy81
06-01-2005, 14:30
When I phoned NTL I was told that I must pay double and that I couldnt catch up in installments because "you obviously cancelled the DD".

I went to the bank, who assure me, that I have not cancelled it, and in fact it seems NTL have cancelled it.Your best bet is to get evidence in the form of a bank statement / letter from your bank manager (If they are willing to, see the manager/overdraft person) which shows that:-
a) you did not cancel the DD, and that
b) their were sufficient cleared funds in your account at the time the DD was due to go through.

Put your complaint in writing along with your prefered solution, ie interest free payments or an extra final payment.

This should solve the problem, the telephone accounts people at NTL are fairly useless, but if the complaint is put in writing it should be read by someone higher up. Remember that large companies often ignore telephone calls and emails, but rarely ignore letters.


Speaking with my future mother in law, I discover they have been getting billed for 3 1MB BB packages at the same house. I've had similar problems myself, I upgraded to 1.5Mbps but only recieved the 600k service for 4 months - despite paying the full £28 per month. I found the account billing team absolutely useless - they were barley willing to listen to the problem, and refused to consider the posibility of refunding me my additional payments for the four months.

Finally solved the problem by calling Technical Support, who - despite the 1 hour waiting time - were helpful and polite. They upgraded the service and assumed responsibility for refunding the excess payments. In fact, NTL Technical Support is run by helpful and intelligent people :angel:, its just a shame that the same can't be said for their billing staff.

jht2k
09-01-2005, 20:17
After speaking to several people at "customer services", each one maintaining no wrongdoing on the part of NTL, I finally spoke to Lisa at Swansea who took time to listen to my complaint and wrote off the debts once I emphasised that I had a letter from my bank confirming there was no attempt by NTL to claim the disputed direct debits.

At no point did Lisa directly admit any wrongdoing on NTL's part, but that's peripheral detail now. I'm back to normal now and NTL get to keep this customer for the time being at least.

Shame that it took so long to get sorted, but hey, that's modern life for you.

Bottom line advice to anybody experiencing similar problems with NTL - stick to your guns and don't give in.