Fault reporting charges.

[Keith Gentle]

My NTL telephone line recently went faulty in that calls could be made out but not received. Incoming calls rang my telephone once then cut out (my telephone screen showed 'Call Divert on' which of course it was not. Last Sat urday I reported the fault to the appropiate section at NTL after waiting some considerable time on the phone. The fault appeared to be cleared subsequent to this call, however the same thing happened the following day and I yet again reported it, again waiting a considerable time for a response from the appropiate representative. This time I was eventually informed that a technician would attend between the time I spoke and 12.00am, there was also a rider that if I was not at home at the time the technician called there would be a £10.00 penalty payment. The fault as it turned out was at the street distribution box. The whole point of this posting is to complain bitterly about the fact that I have had to pay NTL phone charges to report a fault on THEIR line for which I already pay an excessive line rental and I feel that NTL have been extremely high handed in their penalty payment (which I did not incur) especially as the technician did not arrive until 1.30pm and not 12.00 am as stated. I am not blaming the technician as he is probably overworked anyway. It is pointless complaining to NTL as I already have a complaint with them to which I have not received any response whatever.

[MovedGoalPosts]

Ntl.s fault charges are a rip off, agreed. Only way out is not to be an ntl customer. If ntl see lot's of people cancelling on that basis maybe they will rethink.

Certainly the £10.00 charge on customers for not keeping appointments should be matched by ntl if they don't keep the appointment. I too am awaiting ntl's acknowledgement of one of those.

[homealone]

Ntl.s fault charges are a rip off, agreed. Only way out is not to be an ntl customer. If ntl see lot's of people cancelling on that basis maybe they will rethink.

Certainly the £10.00 charge on customers for not keeping appointments should be matched by ntl if they don't keep the appointment. I too am awaiting ntl's acknowledgement of one of those.

imo NTL not meeting an appointment should compensate the customer full value, for example someone on Wayne Rooney's wages, being let down a few times, might concentrate their focus on their procedures, if that happened. :angel:

Charging us to report their faults is not the way to keep customers...

'ordinary' people are starting to get peeved !

[arcamalpha2004]

Have to agree with Rob.
A call to NTL retentions telling them that you're cancelling the services because you do not see why you should ( a ) have to pay NTL for the cost of a phone call to report a fault on their line, and ( B ) why the hell you should stay in all day waiting for an engineer who cannot turn up on time for fear of being penalised by a £10 fee.

[fireman328]

I agree, if I ever find another green cab vandalised I will certainly not report it.

[Bengie]

I am not blaming the technician as he is probably overworked anyway.

Overworked or not, it is not on to tell you there will be a fine if your not there when the engineer calls and then for him not to show or have the courtesy to be there on time.

My betting is that if you went out at 1 minute past twelve he would have claimed that he was there before 12 and you would have been billed.
So how much are they paying you for the hour and a half you had to hang around.

This is all a one sided game and I suggest that if any other subscribers have to call out an engineer and they are told they will be fined if they are not there, they inform the booking clerk that the same will apply to NTL if the engineer does not show by the alloted time.

[a good help]

yup u would be billed if you went out a 1 minute past 12 and the tech calls a 12:02, because the time slots for appointments are:
8am-1pm= morning calls
12pm-6pm= afternoon calls
5pm-8pm= evening calls

you seem to have a ringtrip ( line cuts out after 1 ring)
you do need a tech to look at the fault cos it will come back if you dont and will certainly happen when wet outside, it could become even worse if you leave it, no incoming /outgoing, or worst case the line condition could create 999 calls!! so if you have an appointment keep it.. :)

But you say it now cost's to call them, have you ever called SKY?? they also charge for the call, and if your sky stb is older than 1yr old then you WILL pay for the engineer visit of £50!!! unless you have taken there insurance out, another cost, a sky stb new from them after 1years contract is around £200 if yours if found faulty,again unless you have their insurance, but if yor ntl stb is found faulty, wether 1-2 years or 5-10 years old will be changed/replaced for FREE!!! . So the NTL call will cost you but the visit is FREE!! if your extensions are faulty ntl will remove them but that will cost you £25 to get them replaced, BT will charge £80 ish(correct me if im wrong) but BT are free to call.. :/

[Bengie]

But Keith was told by 12 oclock.
Quote
This time I was eventually informed that a technician would attend between the time I spoke and 12.00am,

The engineer didn't arrive even within the set times, he didn't get there until 1:30

So I think it is fair to place the same conditions on NTL as they are placing on you.
No engineer by the stated time and they pay you £10.

[arcamalpha2004]

yup u would be billed if you went out a 1 minute past 12 and the tech calls a 12:02, because the time slots for appointments are:
8am-1pm= morning calls
12pm-6pm= afternoon calls
5pm-8pm= evening calls

you seem to have a ringtrip ( line cuts out after 1 ring)
you do need a tech to look at the fault cos it will come back if you dont and will certainly happen when wet outside, it could become even worse if you leave it, no incoming /outgoing, or worst case the line condition could create 999 calls!! so if you have an appointment keep it.. :)

But you say it now cost's to call them, have you ever called SKY?? they also charge for the call, and if your sky stb is older than 1yr old then you WILL pay for the engineer visit of £50!!! unless you have taken there insurance out, another cost, a sky stb new from them after 1years contract is around £200 if yours if found faulty,again unless you have their insurance, but if yor ntl stb is found faulty, wether 1-2 years or 5-10 years old will be changed/replaced for FREE!!! . So the NTL call will cost you but the visit is FREE!! if your extensions are faulty ntl will remove them but that will cost you £25 to get them replaced, BT will charge £80 ish(correct me if im wrong) but BT are free to call.. :/

Yes sky offer insurance, to be fair the sky box is your property, you have bought that box, it comes with a 12 month warranty which is not unique, if you buy a tv it comes with 12 months as standard.
The ntl box is basically hired, so they are liable to carry on sorting out problems that arise, but having had NTL and now I have sky+ I would sooner place my money with sky given the vast difference between the boxes.
You mention £200 to get a replacement box, technically this could be right, but I know what I would do, having served the 12 months minimum contract I would call them and report the fault, if they said I would have to pay for a new box I would threaten to leave sky, which is quite within my rights, I am sure that faced with losing the custom something would be sorted :)

[Florence]

Yes sky offer insurance, to be fair the sky box is your property, you have bought that box, it comes with a 12 month warranty which is not unique, if you buy a tv it comes with 12 months as standard.
The ntl box is basically hired, so they are liable to carry on sorting out problems that arise, but having had NTL and now I have sky+ I would sooner place my money with sky given the vast difference between the boxes.
You mention £200 to get a replacement box, technically this could be right, but I know what I would do, having served the 12 months minimum contract I would call them and report the fault, if they said I would have to pay for a new box I would threaten to leave sky, which is quite within my rights, I am sure that faced with losing the custom something would be sorted :)

I had an engineers appointment between 12 and 6 pm.. He never turned up and NTL never contacted me to say he wasn't coming.

I had posted on here should i cancel him due to the internet coming back online again and was told to let him come as i am dropping the internet too often and needed it checking, So looks like i will be on the phone for 3 or possibly more times this month about lost connections.

As for Sky yes our box was over 2 yrs old when it failed I had NTL tv not connected to anything and was paying for it so I phoned sky asking to cancel due to the box no longer working and explained I had NTL tv already just not connected to a TV. They arranged an engineer replaced the box with a reconditioned one took mine away and replace the cable from the dish to the box. All free as they didnt wan to lose the custom, Great service I had from them and the recon box is still working 4 yrs on.

[arcamalpha2004]

I had an engineers appointment between 12 and 6 pm.. He never turned up and NTL never contacted me to say he wasn't coming.

I had posted on here should i cancel him due to the internet coming back online again and was told to let him come as i am dropping the internet too often and needed it checking, So looks like i will be on the phone for 3 or possibly more times this month about lost connections.

As for Sky yes our box was over 2 yrs old when it failed I had NTL tv not connected to anything and was paying for it so I phoned sky asking to cancel due to the box no longer working and explained I had NTL tv already just not connected to a TV. They arranged an engineer replaced the box with a reconditioned one took mine away and replace the cable from the dish to the box. All free as they didnt wan to lose the custom, Great service I had from them and the recon box is still working 4 yrs on.


A little bit of flexibility and you have a happy customer :)
And they are getting your subs, everyone is happy ;)
I always say they can only say no, even if you are paying for the phone call.