32 Days with no TV

[andy fitz]

Just found this site while trying to find a big cheese at NTL to give them what for! So Simon Duffy's for the high jump! As I said i'm new to this group so not sure if my record of 32 days without TV is a record?

Welcome to CF!


Can't comment without knowing some particulars.



Incog.

[Florence]

Hello andy fitz and to the forums.

I think that must be the record what worries me is have you spoken to NTL about this problem?
What have they promised you? what area do you live in I am sure some on here can help you.

Originally Posted by Kits

What have they promised you?

NTL making promises? Sheesh!

[Florence]

they promise things what might be worrying is did they keep the promise.

[andy fitz]

Thank you all very much for the prompt and very warm welcome!

It seems Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢ve found a home to vent my anger against my favourite people.



In answer to Incognitas, particulars as follows in as few words as possible, but that is rather difficult when it comes to NTL.



Returned from hols on 31st July and no TV picture whatsoever, I reported the fault and they told me theyââ‚ ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢d be out on the 4th they came and told me I needed a new cable, which was a specialist job and they couldnââ‚Ã⠀šÃ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t come until the 18th! They came it worked for an hour then we had very heavy rain and it was gone again.



Back on the phone and told theyâ₠¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢d be back out on the 20th they came again and said the last lot had bodged it up and we still needed a new cable! They then came back on the 31st and it now seems to be fixed.



Kits, hello and thanks for the welcome, yes Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢ve talked till Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢m blue in the face, it seems SE London must be out in the back of beyond for getting engineers to quickly.

As for promises, well thereââ‚ƚ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s precious few of those, but donââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t worry all is not lost there letting me have a £12.99 refund! Not bad I think youââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢ll agree for 32 days without TV and 2½ wasted days holiday.

Originally Posted by andy fitz

Thank you all very much for the prompt and very warm welcome!

It seems Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢ve found a home to vent my anger against my favourite people.



In answer to Incognitas, particulars as follows in as few words as possible, but that is rather difficult when it comes to NTL.



Returned from hols on 31st July and no TV picture whatsoever, I reported the fault and they told me theyââ‚ ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢d be out on the 4th they came and told me I needed a new cable, which was a specialist job and they couldnââ‚Ã⠀šÃ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t come until the 18th! They came it worked for an hour then we had very heavy rain and it was gone again.



Back on the phone and told theyâ₠¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢d be back out on the 20th they came again and said the last lot had bodged it up and we still needed a new cable! They then came back on the 31st and it now seems to be fixed.



Kits, hello and thanks for the welcome, yes Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢ve talked till Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢m blue in the face, it seems SE London must be out in the back of beyond for getting engineers to quickly.

As for promises, well thereââ‚ƚ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s precious few of those, but donââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t worry all is not lost there letting me have a £12.99 refund! Not bad I think youââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢ll agree for 32 days without TV and 2½ wasted days holiday.

Welcome to the site.

Perhaps you'd like to pay particular attention to this page. You have had a bad experience and if I was in similar circumstances, I'd want to share it with those at the top.

[Florence]

Originally Posted by andy fitz

Thank you all very much for the prompt and very warm welcome!

It seems Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢ve found a home to vent my anger against my favourite people.



In answer to Incognitas, particulars as follows in as few words as possible, but that is rather difficult when it comes to NTL.



Returned from hols on 31st July and no TV picture whatsoever, I reported the fault and they told me theyââ‚ ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢d be out on the 4th they came and told me I needed a new cable, which was a specialist job and they couldnââ‚Ã⠀šÃ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t come until the 18th! They came it worked for an hour then we had very heavy rain and it was gone again.



Back on the phone and told theyâ₠¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢d be back out on the 20th they came again and said the last lot had bodged it up and we still needed a new cable! They then came back on the 31st and it now seems to be fixed.



Kits, hello and thanks for the welcome, yes Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢ve talked till Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢m blue in the face, it seems SE London must be out in the back of beyond for getting engineers to quickly.

As for promises, well thereââ‚ƚ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s precious few of those, but donââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t worry all is not lost there letting me have a £12.99 refund! Not bad I think youââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢ll agree for 32 days without TV and 2½ wasted days holiday.

No way tell them at least 2 months free rental all packages and you might consider accepting...
Get back on to the top man and let him know you are dissatisfied. New customers get 60days free so after what you have been through you also deserve the same.

Stick around we have some great guys who work for NTL and who can do the job correctly they can help and guide you. I have had great help from members who work for NTL these guys and gal make staying with NTL worth it but if they ever leave I would have to reconsider my options.

[Graham F]

Originally Posted by Kits

No way tell them at least 2 months free rental all packages and you might consider accepting...
Get back on to the top man and let him know you are dissatisfied. New customers get 60days free so after what you have been through you also deserve the same.

not for tv packages they don't

[DeadKenny]

Originally Posted by andy fitz

As for promises, well thereââ‚ƚ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s precious few of those, but donââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t worry all is not lost there letting me have a £12.99 refund! Not bad I think youââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢ll agree for 32 days without TV and 2½ wasted days holiday.

No surprise there. The most I got was a months broadband refund when I'd be lacking broadband on and off over a period of a year, possibly totalling 3 months downtime at least.

Forget the "wasted holiday". I've been told categorically they do not refund time wasted. Even if it's because they didn't turn up when they said they would or they screwed up and had to do another call out. I was after 4 days compensation and there was no chance of getting any of that.

I've complained often and even got a response from the complaints dept. The response was a "we're really sorry, it's all our fault, but tough" (in a nice tone of course), and threats to leave resulted in nothing other than acceptance rather than trying to keep you as a customer.

That was a year ago (after a long history of problems ever since I joined back when it was CableTel), and now my cable modem hassles have returned to haunt me. It's going to be so much hassle to get it sorted and I'm not sure I really want to go through that again.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by DeadKenny

No surprise there. The most I got was a months broadband refund when I'd be lacking broadband on and off over a period of a year, possibly totalling 3 months downtime at least.

Forget the "wasted holiday". I've been told categorically they do not refund time wasted. Even if it's because they didn't turn up when they said they would or they screwed up and had to do another call out. I was after 4 days compensation and there was no chance of getting any of that.

I've complained often and even got a response from the complaints dept. The response was a "we're really sorry, it's all our fault, but tough" (in a nice tone of course), and threats to leave resulted in nothing other than acceptance rather than trying to keep you as a customer.

That was a year ago (after a long history of problems ever since I joined back when it was CableTel), and now my cable modem hassles have returned to haunt me. It's going to be so much hassle to get it sorted and I'm not sure I really want to go through that again.

How hard can it really be for you to ditch the pathetic excuse of BB 'service' you get DK?

I just can't understand why people put money into the pockets of a company that clearly does not give a flying fcuk about it's punters (I'm referring to the monkeys at the top there btw)

[DeadKenny]

Originally Posted by Neil

How hard can it really be for you to ditch the pathetic excuse of BB 'service' you get DK?

I just can't understand why people put money into the pockets of a company that clearly does not give a flying fcuk about it's punters (I'm referring to the monkeys at the top there btw)

I don't know why I put up with it. I shouldn't really. I suppose it's just the hassle of getting off my backside, calling BT and getting ADSL arranged, though it's partly a fear that they'll turn around and say I can't have ADSL. Added to that the horror stories I've heard about trying to cancel NTL.

I might do it this time though (I did say last time that if this happens again I'll do it), as it could be a case of either take time off for NTL engineers to fart around or take time off for someone from BT to check my line (after 5 years+ of no BT in this house they'll probably want to check it in person I guess, they certainly did when I moved house before and quoted a week before someone could come out, which is the very reason why I ended up with the then CableTel in the first place. If BT had come out earlier I would have never ended up in this mess!).

Problem is I've got so many other things to sort out at the moment that I'm too busy and too fed up. It's perhaps easier to just give up with broadband and use dial-up until I can be bothered to do anything about it.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by DeadKenny

I don't know why I put up with it. I shouldn't really. I suppose it's just the hassle of getting off my backside, calling BT and getting ADSL arranged, though it's partly a fear that they'll turn around and say I can't have ADSL. Added to that the horror stories I've heard about trying to cancel NTL.

I might do it this time though (I did say last time that if this happens again I'll do it), as it could be a case of either take time off for NTL engineers to fart around or take time off for someone from BT to check my line (after 5 years+ of no BT in this house they'll probably want to check it in person I guess, they certainly did when I moved house before and quoted a week before someone could come out, which is the very reason why I ended up with the then CableTel in the first place. If BT had come out earlier I would have never ended up in this mess!).

Problem is I've got so many other things to sort out at the moment that I'm too busy and too fed up. It's perhaps easier to just give up with broadband and use dial-up until I can be bothered to do anything about it.

The thing is though, is that there's little or nothing for you to actually do! That's the beauty of DSL activation, you sign up, they activate it, you get home on specified date & plug your router/modem etc in & away you go!

I strongly suggest you ring BT & at least give them the option to check it for you, also do have a read here: http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/sh...78&postcount=1

What have you got to lose?

[Neil]

Originally Posted by DeadKenny

I don't know why I put up with it. I shouldn't really. I suppose it's just the hassle of getting off my backside, calling BT and getting ADSL arranged, though it's partly a fear that they'll turn around and say I can't have ADSL.

I'm certain that won't now happen: http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/sh...0&postcount=87

HTH.

[DeadKenny]

Originally Posted by Neil

The thing is though, is that there's little or nothing for you to actually do! That's the beauty of DSL activation, you sign up, they activate it, you get home on specified date & plug your router/modem etc in & away you go!

I strongly suggest you ring BT & at least give them the option to check it for you, also do have a read here: http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/sh...78&postcount=1

What have you got to lose?

Cheers, that thread is very interesting. I may just give it a go then

In regards to porting the number, would I get a number initially from BT, then if the line is installed okay, tell NTL I want to cancel and tell BT I want to port the number? Slightly worrying in that thread the mention that some numbers are not 'portable'. Any way of finding out if your number is one of those? I don't really want to lose the number at the moment (though I could resort to paying both NTL and BT line rentals and use BT just for ADSL. I could still probably get ADSL cheap enough to make it equivalent to what I'm paying at the moment).

The main issue though is finding an ADSL provider that don't have transparent proxies, don't block any ports, allow you to run servers without restriction (email and web especially), don't have a download cap, don't use a premium-rate support line, and don't make you wait 40 minutes and cut you off when you do call support.

I'll also need to get a plain Ethernet ADSL modem (no need for a router as I've got one), but I've got my eye on one that's fairly cheap.

The possible screw up on all of this is BT saying my line is too crap for ADSL. At least if they say I can only have 512kbps I will get 256kbps upstream which is mainly what I want.