View Full Version : House Move: Score -9/10
Had a house move on saturday without any big issues!
Had a text on friday to confirm they would be out on Saturday between 8am and 1pm.
Turned up about 11am and got stragiht to it. All three services installed again.
Phone with the an old already installed extention reconected (with a new number which has so many 4s in it i should try selling it to the local chines take away)
TV with a new samsung 2110 STB
Internet with another ntl: 250 modem. (How when people are paying £50 to get one for 10mb connections, do I now have two!!)
The tech didnt leave till channel 105 came up as avalable :)
The only issue was the new modem wasnt activated onto the contection, so had to phone up BB support, but that was fixed in 20minutes with a guy that didnt take me thought the whole "is it turned on, reboot it etc." when I explanied that it was a new modem, and we had just moved in he wanted the MAC address asigned it to my account and away we went.
Lets hope it stays this good :)
Glad you didn't have any problems :)
I'd just keep an eye on your bill for the next few months, if I was you. When I moved house, it was the billing that was messed-up for months on end, as they kept on billing me for both addresses.
Well i know ive kept the same account number, so that should make things a little esier :)
Doh!
They tried to install it again today!! Came home to find a card through the door... and our Phone out of Action and TV is unsubscribed from everything (not the basic 101 - 104, 120 etc)
On the phone to NTL: with a special direct number we have thanks to the forum :) and waiting for a call back now.
Oddly the Internet is fine!
Doh!
They tried to install it again today!! Came home to find a card through the door... and our Phone out of Action and TV is unsubscribed from everything (not the basic 101 - 104, 120 etc)
On the phone to NTL: with a special direct number we have thanks to the forum :) and waiting for a call back now.
Oddly the Internet is fine!:disturbd: You spoke too soon:Yikes:
chrisjones
30-03-2006, 15:01
Its as if they try hard to do things incorrectly :-P
Kinda feals that way doesnt it.
I would have canceld the second apointment, if i didnt have to hold to tell them that!!
All I know is I better have 401 for CSI at 11pm tonight.
KaySquirrel
01-04-2006, 12:11
I'm not hijacking this thread -- I'm Willc0's wife, so what's his is mine and all that. ;)
We'll need to downgrade the original 9/10 score to something like 3/10.
Since December 2005, I've kept written logs of all our dealings with NTL. Purely for my own amusement, and so I can sell the movie rights to our experiences with them one day.
Willc0 contacted a very nice lady from N. Ireland during the week of March 6th to arrange a house move. She contacted House Moves on our behalf. Disconnection was arranged for March 24th, reinstall at the new flat was scheduled for March 25th between 8am †“ 1pm.
March 24 2006: Got a text message from NTL confirming the appointment for the new install tomorrow.
March 25 2006: 2 techs arrived at 11am. Installed broadband, phone service, and TV in under an hour! TV and phone were fully working when the techs left. (They even waited ON SITE until channel 105 came in, something that no other techs have bothered to do!) Very impressive!
Noticed an issue with broadband later in the evening though: Couldnââ‚Ã⠀šÃ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t connect to the interweb with either the old or the new modem. Phoned (the overseas) Broadband Support, who activated the new modem and got things working for us in about 20 minutes. Tech wasn't script-monkeyish, and didn't waste time having Willc0 troubleshoot silly things (like whether the computer was actually on).
At this point, we were the happiest with NTL that we had ever been. Ever!
..and this made the Cable Gods very angry.
March 29 2006: Got a text message from NTL confirming that our house move new install will take place on March 30 2006 between 8am †“ 1pm. Assuming NTL would realize their error and not actually dispatch technicians to perform an install where a new install had just taken place 5 DAYS BEFORE, we didnâ₠¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t contact them about this.
March 30 2006: We were out most of the morning. Came home to find a card from NTL saying they were sorry to have missed us at 11:58am for our install. TV and phone line were no longer working.
Willc0 phoned the lady from N. Ireland right away, explained the issue and were told it would get sorted.
7pm: TV service restored. Still no phone. (Good episode of CSI at 11, though!)
March 31 2006: Still no phone service, and now (after having given out our new phone number to everyone) we are told that we will have to take a new phone number. This is not acceptable, given our lengthy issue history with NTL. If weâ₠¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢re not able to retain the phone number, we will cancel phone, TV and broadband.
2:18pm: Someone from NTL called to ask us to check the phone line †“ still not working. We were told to expect a call back from him to arrange for a tech dispatch.
3pm: We go into Town Centre to compare prices on freeview boxes.
3:45pm: Marion from NTL Complaints called, said that she was looking into the issue. Another phone number has been assigned to us in the meantime, and rings on the callerââ‚Ã⠀šÃ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s end. Marion needed us to be home to test the line. We suggested she try back in an hour when weââ‚ ¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢d be home from shopping.
4:30 pm: Still shopping. Colin (?) called again, following up on his call to us at 2:18 today. Said he was still looking into it. Informed him that Marion was also looking into things and trying to make sure we retain the original phone number we were assigned on the 25th. He said he was not made aware of any of this, but that heâ₠¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢d leave things to Marion then.
4:45pm Marion called again, we were home. Tried ringing the new number assigned to our flat.. that oneââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s not working either! The cheapest freeview boxes we found at Argos were about £25. She told us that a tech would be out this evening.
5:50pm: NTL tech arrived at our flat, checked the line, still not working. Said he was unable to fix anything because the lock on the NTL green box was broken!
April 1 2006: 11am: NTL tech fixed phone line at cabinet. Yes really, even on April Fool's Day! Still currently assigned the newest number, but at least we have a working phone line. Apparently we can expect a call on April 3 2006 with regards to getting us back the number they gave us on March 25.
..and all this is WITH the help of a very nice lady from N. Ireland. I shudder to think what would have happened to us if we had to deal with NTL through the usual methods with regards to this mess! We shouldn't have to resort to this forum to get our stuff fixed, but thank you Cable Forum (and all those who volunteer their time and effort to help NTL customers!)
Back home in Canada, I called the cable company (Rogers) and they sent a tech out to install my cable internet. Then, I never had to deal with them again, except for once 3 years later to arrange account cancellation as I was moving to the UK. Previous to that, I dealt with Shaw cable for 4 years.. they had midday outages too often for my taste, but that was the extent of my frustration with them. Seems that UK companies like to hear from their clients a lot more often?! Talk about culture shock! ;)
On the bright side, if NTL changes our phone number every 5 days.. telemarketers wonââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t be able to track us down, right? :p:
Hope it all gets sorted out for you on Monday. Glad your line is working again even if its with a different number for now.
KaySquirrel
03-04-2006, 17:38
5:30 pm Monday evening.
Marion in Complaints has not called us as she'd promised to do on Friday March 31.
The phone number we were assigned March 25 still gives a "number unattainable" message when dialed.
4 days now since NTL created this issue!
Willc0's left a voicemail for our contact from N. Ireland.
I'm thinking I should send NTL my CV.. :D
KaySquirrel
04-04-2006, 10:36
Marion called this morning at 9:50 to let us know the issue was still being worked on. She called again at 10:15 to let us know the number we were assigned on March 25 that NTL took away from us on the 30th has finally been REassigned to our line.
Finally got things sorted! Yay!!
Hopefully there will be no more problems with this! We'll also make sure to check the bill when it arrives to make sure we're not being charged for 2 phone numbers, or both addresses or something! ;)
homealone
04-04-2006, 10:49
Glad you have had some good news, at last. :tu:
KaySquirrel
05-04-2006, 14:30
It never ends with NTL, does it?!
April 5 2006: 1pm: Got a note slipped through our door today that reads:
ntl: & Kelly Group
We called today as arranged!
You now have 24 hours to call to re-arrange an alternative appointment or a charge of £150 may be applied to your account for each set top box outstanding.
Please telephone us on 0800 389 0959 or email us on: pickups@kelly.co.uk quoting your account number
We thank you in advance for your co-operation.
Stage 2
It's not addressed to anyone in particular, so it may not even be meant for us. Unless they think that because of their screw-up on March 30th a 2nd set top box was given to us? But then, why the "as arranged" bit? Who arranged this? When?
I called the phone #, confirmed our address and account holder’s name. Turns out they DO mean our account. The lady on the phone said that she works for Kelly Group, and that they handle the collections of set top boxes. She said she shows that we have 2 set top boxes, and they want to come collect the extra one. I told her we actually only have one set top box, and since we still have an active NTL account, we'd like to keep it so we can watch TV. :p:
Right away, she asked if we’d recently moved house. I confirmed that we had, and that the techs gave us a new STB on March 25, taking the old one with them when they left. She said the old box was what they wanted to collect “but apparently the techs have been taking them instead”. Nice!
When the house move was being arranged and the dates & times were being confirmed, why were we not told that the techs would leave the extra box with us, since that's apparently their standard procedure? Communication issue?
Since Kelly Group is in charge of set top box collections, and are supposed to collect any extra/old boxes, why did the install techs take the box? Why were they not made aware of the fact that they weren’t supposed to? Training issue?
Lucky for us that NTL techs must walk off with boxes meant for collection on a regular enough basis that the woman at Kelly Group believed me when I told her the techs had taken the box. How absolutely lovely that we might have had to pay £150 if she hadn’t!
How the lack of communication between NTL, their install techs, and Kelly Group becomes MY problem is beyond me, but I confirmed again that we only had the 1 box. The lady said that she’d update their files and mark the old box as already collected, and this should be the end of it. (Famous last words, eh?)
What if the install techs had noted on their call-out log that the old box was left with the client? (I’m not insinuating they’d be dishonest, just that innocent mistakes can happen.) What would have happened with this £150 charge then?
Or, what happens when techs DON'T take the old boxes with them? Would a dishonest client be able to contact Kelly Group and lie that the techs took the box?
If a piece of equipment is worth £150 to NTL, one would think that they would make VERY clear who is in charge of it during every stage of its usage. While there seems to be a procedure in place with regards to the boxes -- why is it not being followed? Why is there such confusion about where their property actually is at any given moment?
Why have I had to call and settle this – under threat of a £150 penalty if I didn’t – and effectively do NTL’s job for them?
If they’re going to toss around possible account charges so easily.. Seems to me that SOMEONE needs to start keeping track of what equipment comes in and out of my home, and if this is the way NTL handles it.. *shrugs* I don’t know what to think anymore.
From now on, should I get a receipt from NTL techs any time they try to add or remove NTL equipment from my residence?! Sounds a bit much to have to resort to, but if it will prevent us from having to sort their own mistakes out for them -- and stop their lack of inter-departmental communication skills from creating charges on our account for equipment we don't have -- I'll try anything!
Currently, our phone, TV, and internet are all working. We do not need yet another install, and don't have any equipment we shouldn't have. Please, NTL, leave us in peace for a while, ok? :rolleyes: :p:
homealone
05-04-2006, 14:45
The amazing thing is that you seem to have retained a sense of humour throughout all the hassle, reading your posts leaves me with a wry (if sympathetic) smile.
I do hope that this is the end of the saga, now, and you can enjoy your services as they should be :tu:
chrisjones
05-04-2006, 14:56
Its a matter of time before someone rights a book about NTL's never ending saga's, hell there might even be a TV series in it! Like Jimmies only following the escapades of NTL!
Off to write the pilot!
KaySquirrel
05-04-2006, 17:17
I'm Canadian -- a sense of humour is a pre-requisite to retain citizenship! :D
Alright, so we've got chrisjones writing the TV series pilot, I called the motion picture idea in my post on April 1.. Who's handling the book? What angle are we going with? Horror? Comedy? Bit of both would be most historically accurate! :disturbd:
homealone
05-04-2006, 18:14
I'm Canadian -- a sense of humour is a pre-requisite to retain citizenship! :D
Alright, so we've got chrisjones writing the TV series pilot, I called the motion picture idea in my post on April 1.. Who's handling the book? What angle are we going with? Horror? Comedy? Bit of both would be most historically accurate! :disturbd:
:LOL: something like 'The Money Pit', where initially everything looks fine, then one by one a series of calamities overtakes the hapless home owners ;)
KaySquirrel
09-04-2006, 11:49
Yesterday, we discover that our free voicemail hasn't even been setup. Nor is the anonymous caller rejection on. We'd specifically asked them to keep that on the line, too.
Both were working just fine after the first install on March 25. Then they decided to make a mess of things, and it looks like they didn't bother putting things back to the way they were when they had to re-assign us the phone number on April 5.
:rolleyes:
Had a phone call from our lady in Northern Ireland.
Voicemail system changes cant be done till earlyest lunchtime today... due to maintinance. So we just have to wait.
Hate to think how much time would have been spent on hold without her help!
Sorry forgot to say we should be expecting a call back by Wednesday at the latest.....
*check calender*
not yet lol.
KaySquirrel
12-04-2006, 13:03
Got a call at 11:58am from Marilyn in Complaints, saying that the free voicemail has been put back on the line. She also said that anonymous caller reject has been put on the line.
Called our line from our mobile, making sure to withold the number. It rang through. Anonymous caller reject has NOT been put back on our line. Dialing 1471 confirmed that the last call was from a withheld number.
Rang our line again from our mobile, to check if the free voicemail has been put on. It just rang and rang. Free voicemail has NOT been put back on our line.
One wonders if Marilyn actually tested our line before saying these issues were fixed. :rolleyes:
Called our contact from N. Ireland at 12:30, who checked our file. It seems that Marilyn had put PAID voicemail on our line, not the free voicemail weâ₠¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢d asked for. Seems that the charge for the paid voicemail was ready on the account, meaning that if weâ₠¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢d not chased NTL to doublecheck their latest work, weâ₠¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢d have seen a fee for voicemail on our next bill. How lovely!
We now await yet another call back.
Itâ₠¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s been 13 days since they caused this issue. Even taking into account the 3 daysââ‚ ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢ delay for the voicemail system upgrade, itâ₠¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s taken 10 days (and counting) to fix a problem THEY created.
Since our original install, a mere 18 days ago, weâ₠¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢ve only had 5 days where all 3 services were working properly! :bigcry:
homealone
12-04-2006, 13:39
Since our original install, a mere 18 days ago, we’ve only had 5 days where all 3 services were working properly!
I'm surprised you don't feel guilty, monopolising all the bad service ;)
Seriously, what a shambles :( Let's hope now they have done the billing upgrade that things will improve. Like you say, if not for our friendly Irish lady, things could have been even worse...
KaySquirrel
12-04-2006, 14:59
I'm surprised you don't feel guilty, monopolising all the bad service
Thought I was being considerate, only taking 28% of the GOOD service and leaving the rest for other people! ;)
There's certainly enough room for improvement with the billing system: Since last August only the September 2005 & October 2005 NTL bills have been completely accurate. The bills for the other 7 months have all required further adjustments for re-imbursements due to service issues!
These billing upgrades still don't address most of NTL's issues, though. When the Service Manager for Reading tried to tell me that running new cables in our area would stop our PACE 4000 set-top box from overheating, it worried me how severe their problems have become! Was this a case of misinforming a customer, or did he really think more air would get to our box via new cables?? :p:
Having worked in tech support & customer services areas for various companies, I can still see some areas where NTL needs further work:
They really have to address their issues with inter-departmental communication. If I call CS and they say they'll get Faults to ring me back, then CS should really contact Faults, and tell them to call me! When Faults gets that call from CS asking them to call me, they should actually take it upon themselves to call me. And all this should be logged in my file, so that when I don't get that call back, NTL knows which department dropped the ball. Seems easy enough, doesn't it?
If techs take extraneous equipment away from my house, they should TELL the people in charge of that equipment that they've done so. This way, I don't get sent a "Stage 2" equipment repossession notice, complete with threat of a £150 extra charge on my bill like I was the one who'd done something wrong in the first place here!
When your department is in charge of a house move & the installs that go along with that, have the presence of mind and simple common sense to look at the install ticket and notice that the customer JUST had an install 5 days ago at the very same address. Don't cut services off and then try a re-install at the same place just 'cause the computer says so.
Finally (for now): If I ask for a phone rep's name/extension/employee number/way of proving WHO I spoke to it should be consistent among all employees that this information is given. There should be no way that a phone rep gets to be rude and/or hang up on a customer, and leave the customer with no way to follow-up on such an appalling lapse of good customer service.
When I ask for a Supervisor, I should be transferred to one, not rudely told that "the supervisor would say the same thing" and then stonewalled from actually getting my issue escalated.
When I call about signal loss one day, get a tech out to fix it, and by the NEXT DAY have more signal loss problems, it should not take 8 or so incidents of this nature for the problem to be escalated within NTL itself, and suspicions of a larger issue in my area suspected.
I don't care if you can't fix something right away. If you tell me that you'll do your best and call me with an update by the end of the day, even if the only "update" you can offer me by the end of the day is to say it's still broken but you haven't forgotten me -- THEN DO SO. This isn't a concept that's so hard to grasp, is it? Our contact from N. Ireland makes sure that the lines of communication are open at all times. Even if nothing's actually been fixed yet, it's nice to know that we'll get a call sooner rather than later just as a reassurance that the issue's still on the table and being looked at. Why can't everyone at NTL be trained to do the same thing?
When things go wrong, I think that it's either because 1) You didn't know, or 2) you didn't CARE. Surely NTL knows that in some cases, customers are really being let down here. How bad does it have to get before people higher up start to care?
Well Anonymous caller rejection is now working!
Just waiting for the voice mail to set up now. I can leave a message but not pick it up or have notification in the dial tone yet.
homealone
12-04-2006, 15:12
<snip>
When things go wrong, I think that it's either because 1) You didn't know, or 2) you didn't CARE. Surely NTL knows that in some cases, customers are really being let down here. How bad does it have to get before people higher up start to care?
Absolutely - in fact, although I snipped a lot of your post, it was soley for space consideration and I believe you should be entitled to a consultancy fee for the advice offered, it is 'spot on'.
NTL have, in the past, demonstrated that while many of their 'front line' staff are more than anxious to please (their participation on this site, in their own time, as one example), it would seem that it doesn't always extend to the higher management, who apparently only care about keeping shareholders happy....
We can only hope Mr Branson can have an influence on that, and things will improve - it ain't going to happen overnight, though ....
We can only hope Mr Branson can have an influence on that, and things will improve - it ain't going to happen overnight, though ....
Errr.....
I left Virgin mobile for two issues LOL.
1) Poor coverage one the (then one2one) T-Mobile network
2) Poor customer service. encountered my phone being booted off the network every time they had a switch issue. The resolution of leavening my phone battery off with the sim card out for an hour did not please me and seldom fixed the issue!!!!
homealone
12-04-2006, 15:39
We can only hope Mr Branson can have an influence on that, and things will improve - it ain't going to happen overnight, though ....
Errr.....
I left Virgin mobile for two issues LOL.
1) Poor coverage one the (then one2one) T-Mobile network
2) Poor customer service. encountered my phone being booted off the network every time they had a switch issue. The resolution of leavening my phone battery off with the sim card out for an hour did not please me and seldom fixed the issue!!!!
ooops - sorry, I'd been given to understand Virgin customer service was ok, but have no first hand experience - it seems 'won't happen overnight' was correct....
Well it depends... Virgin is nothing more than a name really.
KaySquirrel
12-04-2006, 15:46
Absolutely - in fact, although I snipped a lot of your post, it was soley for space consideration and I believe you should be entitled to a consultancy fee for the advice offered, it is 'spot on'.
I wasn't joking when I said I should send them my CV -- and now that I got permission from the Home Office to work in the UK, I think I should, just to see what could happen. :)
Unfortunately, I have a good idea what the front-line volunteers who enjoy what they do and who want to do right by their customers go through, and I am sure they are not paid nearly enough to make up for it. The last company I worked for would get ripped off for thousands of dollars in credit card fraud rather than get their Billing Department to actually do their jobs.. Most of the Support Dept. gave up on pointing out problems to Management, and decided to just write Billing off as a joke of a Dept. There were enough of us left who put up enough of a fight to bring about small improvements.. but in that kind of an atmosphere everyone knows that it's a losing battle. :(
NTL needs to make their good reps the RULE rather than the exception! But if everyone was a star, they'd have to pay them what they were worth -- and no way stakeholders are going to go for that. It's always easier to have a few people clean up everybody else's mess than to have everybody just not make the mess in the first place, eh? I just hope these volunteers sleep well at night knowing they've saved a lot of people's sanity!
Hope it is all sorted out for you now. :)
looks like everything is sorted on the phone.
Hopefully we wont speak to NTL till next time we move now :)
homealone
12-04-2006, 15:57
Well it depends... Virgin is nothing more than a name really.
True, but one possible customer advantage of buying a strong brand, is that often the damage from poor publicity is more hurtful - I can't see Richard Branson being very happy about possibly being slammed on 'Watchdog', for example.
Time alone will tell, I suppose, in the meantime I hope your individual problems are soon resolved & stay that way. :)
<edit> just seen your last post :tu:
KaySquirrel
29-04-2006, 10:39
Like a bad curry, NTL just keeps on coming back. Got a letter today, postmarked April 26 2006, sent to our old address (we set up mail forwarding with Royal Mail) that reads:
NTL:
Kelly Group
Dear Sir/Madam
NTL have been unable to contact you to arrange the collection of your Digital Equipment.
Please could you contact us on either our
Freephone number 0800 389 0959
or
email is on pickups@kelly.co.uk
to arrange a convenient collection date.
As posted previously: We'd already gotten a letter like this on April 5th 2006. I'd called Kelly Group to let them know that the install techs had taken the box with them when they did our house move install on March 25th 2006.
Willc0 called Kelly Group AGAIN today to let them know that we don't have the old STB.
How long is NTL going to insist that we have this equipment?
Should I call NTL to report the theft of the old set top box on March 25th? The techs weren't supposed to take it, so why should WE be held responsible and further inconvenienced by their absolute inability to communicate with either their install techs OR the company in charge of the collection of extra equipment?
It's pathetic. Beyond pathetic now, really.
Keep in mind that all this has been done with the help of our contact from N. Ireland, who had gotten the person in charge of house moves for our area to handle everything!
No matter how many wonderful people there are working for NTL, and volunteering their time and effort on this forum, as long as there are some who continue to sabotage things from within the organization, things like this will continue to happen, and ultimately, the customer suffers for it.
We'll be calling our contact from N. Ireland on Tuesday to sort this out and hopefully stop NTL from continuing to send notices that we have equipment of theirs when we actually don't.
Seems like they've also managed to screw up our billing again this month, so that'll need looking into as well.
We should take the people who keep dropping the ball, and stand them out in a field full of horny clues, drenched in clue pheromones, at the frenzied height of the clue mating season.. but I'm not sure it'd make any difference anymore! :rolleyes:
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