Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

In an ideal situation maybe but not everyone has the opportunity to call back later.

Also that message is usually a standard message on the IVR system in the hope that the customer will abandon in the first 20 seconds so that the call is not counted as abandoned as most systems have this 20 second rule in place to constructively enhance their stats.

Agreed but as ever nothing much has changed since my time there as I still remain in close contact with varying levels of NTL peeps from my days at NTL in the Caradog House days and some of them are now working in Swansea.

The fact still remains the same they have all the tools to evaluate the call flows but choose not to use them in the best way they can.

I currently operate a call routing system which cost £20k and performs perfectly when configured correctly which pails in comparison for example to the £8 million pound system they currently use in the NTL Call Centre in Swansea.

The one thing that stick in my mind and always will is a senior NTL Director who visited Newport when this software was being installed was an ex COCO (as in COCO the clown) saying ooh that looks pretty what does it do.


See my post above as the recorded announcement is an attempt to get the customer to abandon in the first 20 seconds too boost the stats and make the reports look good.

Also hazarding a guess I would say that the warning message is there regardless of how many calls are waiting or whether it is busy or not.

And yes I am with you on this one the customer does have the right to complain.

And again thumbs up Bills would not have to rise largely to manage a decent call centre/centres just the ability to use the software system they have would need to better understand.

NTL in my opinion is so different because they rely on advice from the people selling this kit like for example shall we say Swansea when they bought Genesis a type of soft phone call routing all in one wonder package.

The problem started when they rolled this out in Newport was that it looked remarkable when being sold by the consultants and looked good when then consultants were on hand to ease it in but as soon as they left they never really had a clue how to utilise it properly.

Well done Mark for having the balls to say your first two opening paragraphs and as many have said this is the one of the reasons for you being an asset here and to the company.

As for the bit about restructuring etc jeez sorry that wonââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t wash, how long has this been going on well for me and many other too long?

Things appear to be getting better well lets hope so.

As for the occasions of huge call volumes, again this is down NTL needing to learn how to utilise some of the phone systems they have and analysing peaks and troughs and using their IVR and call vectoring systems properly.

The virtual call centre is a great idea providing NTL outsource this to someone who knows how to mange it as in all fairness it seems to me they have like they always have got the tools but they fall over on not having the people to know how to use these tools to their full potential.

Anyhows enough from me and will close with the following.

Again as many have said with NTL the rot starts at the top and migrates it way down.

From personal experience I have seen at times 60 to 80 calls waiting in the Tech Support Q for Cable Modem support and at this time there have been 40 to 60 agents on calls and then 4 †“ 6 people on the supervisors desk beeping the agents who have been on calls for longer than 10 minutes as a pointer to move onto the next call.

Further to this there have been 6 †“ 8 seniors manning senior lines for escalations only (myself included) who were not allowed to jump on board and help out and that coupled with the fact there were probably 4 †“ 6 team leaders walking around the office.

Their policy then was to allow this happen rather than allow them to man the phone in an all hands deck type of situation.

At one point they actually disabled the wall boards in the office that showed the calls waiting and abandonment rates to allow the CCOD Desk to post morale boosting messages and jokes when they could have been reducing the call waiting.

It also got worse than that towards the end of the Caradog Crew days to the extent agents knowing they were on redundancy notice ended up answering a call and placing the customer on hold saying they would check their power levels etc with the server status team and then going for a smoke on the balcony and coming back after 10 mins saying to the customer all ok now reboot modem and problem sorted.

Of course the problem was not sorted but team leaders turned a blind eye to that and the agent was safe knowing he was never likely to get the same customer back and the notes on the account never reflected exactly what happened.

They also used to play games and answer the call and proved the point that the customer after waiting xx amount of minutes never listened to the opening line of the agents welcome speech i.e. you could say welcome to the indidan tandoori can I take your post code or account number please.

As long as the customer heard the can I take your post code or account number part the first initial greeting was overlooked.

Anyhow I could write a book on the **** that happened within tech support and no doubt it would be a best seller †“ lol..

I am a firm believer that for NTl to have a clue what customer service means they will need a clear out from top to bottom and remove all the deadwood.

:D

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

eh hello ntl r pulling people off the streets just now!! canvassing in shopping malls and bars! before i left the intake was like 4th years high school level, all spikey hair boy racers and ned-etts! with burberry and short skirts on dress down days! 2 girls had to be told to cover up! the iq level is that of a snail with brain damage!;)

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Ive always been dealt with swiftly and efficiently whenever ive called NTL :)

From 1 satisified customer.

All I need now to make me more satisfied would be a 3meg+ Internet connection :) (Coming soon?)

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

I sense a little bitterness and ill felling... :erm: :rofl:

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Something I have been saying for a very long time. :tu:

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

No ****, Sherlock ;)

Most of the employees at ntl have been saying the same thing too....for an even longer time....

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Like I've said, no one high up at ntl thinks there isn't a problem, they KNOW there are problems with call waiting times and standards of service, and they know where they want to be.

ntl is sadly not cash rich like Sky and BT and is not able to simply throw money at the problem...this approach rarely works anyway.

Having to do it on a comparitively tight budget means it's more likely to be done right, and that is what we are finding.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

There are SOME senior staff who are not in that bracket though.

I can think of one here in NW who I have a great deal of respect for. Unfortunately my department has not come under his jurisdiction since February, but when I move departments at the end of the year I will be so again.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Yet ntl were able to give ALL tech support agents a minimum of a £3000 per annum payrise back in november 2001 whilst allowing us to work for an hour and a half less per week, all for doing EXACTLY the same job and the same work.

Let's not forget that ntl were in the middle of chapter 11 at the time.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Wasn't that to bring everyones t&c's in line Russ?

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Mark (with respect)...

The problems that we are discussing here have been typical of ntl for many years. It's no different now to when I 1st got them to install me some 7 years ago.

There have been many management changes over the prevailing years, but ntl still suffer with the same old problems-BS/no call backs/getting cut off/long wait times etc etc.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

No idea :shrug:

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

I think it was - ntl were trying to (legally) align all the different aquired comany employees' salaries, t&c's, working hours etc. They weren't just giving money away.....

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

No-they only do that for the directors.....:angel:

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

So how long were they alowing people to get away with that for before they changed it??

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Get away with what?? :confused:

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Never mind, it's off topic.......

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

In Nov 2002 I was working in credit control, and the salaries were increased by 8% on average, AND a generous commission structure brought in.

This was done simply because they needed to retain and attract the best people to the job, they could have carried on paying basic wages but the quality of people would have gradually gone down.

This was a business decision taken to ensure consumer debts were being handled by the best people possible.

I would guess that a similar scenario existed in tech support. They need good people there.

It's not that ntl has NO cash, it's just that the cash they DO have has to be spent wisely. Too often in the past money has been thrown at problems with no discernible impact. Those days are gone.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Questions remain to this day about whether they succeeded on that....

Purchase of nthw.com?

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

There ARE good people there, I speak to them regularly.


Agreed, but that sum was peanuts, I am talking the BIG money that used to get splashed around.

Plus, the intention with buying that site was actually good, it just got lost in the translation somewhere.....

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

What about the people that the customers speak to that get told constantly that their PC is to blame, or that some in "3rd line support" will call them back (etc etc) ?

Sorry Mark, but you're wrong. :angel:

ntl's only intention when buying NTHW.com was to (try to) silence it's fiercest critics, I don't believe to this day they had any intention of doing anything other than closing it. It was an invaluable & innovative (not to mention cheap) way of showing it's customers that it cared about them, & was prepared to listen to them.

So what did ntl do? They closed the site down. :rolleyes: :banghead:

I don't believe ntl give a flying fig about it's customers, the rot is too seep, the problems are insurmountable IMO.

They haven't managed in the 7 or 8 years I have dealt with them, even after going through Chapter 11, & I don't believe they can change this far down the line.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Buying the .com site certainly silenced all the critics who were working for the company, I know for a fact that there were many questions being asked about who I was. In one meeting involving customer care a senior person asked and wanted me silenced, they said the ntl legal team should be put onto me. I don't know how they would do that because they wouldn't want certain things coming out in court/public.

I was told by another employee who used to post on .com that he was asked who I was, there were a couple of managers going around asking people if they knew. I was even asked by one ntl guy who didn't know I posted there on a night out.

The field technician/engineers in south wales were told to stay away from .com shortly after it was bought by ntl, I never found out how far up the ladder this "friendly advice" came from but it was denied by one or two mods on .com, and I was branded a liar for quoting such a thing.

ntl succeeded in shutting up employees when they bought .com, and I think the harm they felt employees were doing to the company by telling the truth had far more to do with the purchase than any intention of helping customers.

The people on .com who called people like me cynical, were generally ones taking all the BS and hype form ntl and employees that hadn't been with the company long enough to know how they operated.

Rant over :D

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

That's never been in doubt - my point was to question whether increasing the pay succeeded in bring in quality people or just saw an increase in people fancying a good level of pay.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

IMHO you can only employ good people, if the people selecting the applicants know their onions!

There are now pockets of employees in ntl earning extremely good wages just because they are good talkers. It makes my blood boil that in meetings with very senior management we discussed employees coming in on higher wages, and they used the excuse that it was happening because these people were better quality.

Thats was rubbish, some were worse but generally their skills were the same as the existing guys. ntl had to pay more money because the market dictated it, however they didn't need to pay more money to existing employees. ntl now has a certain amount of employees who have moved up to fill the places of people who have left, the block on outside recruitment for these positions has meant accepting lower quality employees from inside the company, and very often it has involved appointing employees to the position just because they were on the "At threat of redundancy list"

These practices have not helped ntl any way shape or form. It's hard to remove these people if they dont perform once they have been installed into a new position. I have every sympathy for people who have lost their jobs through redundnacy, but I have little sympathy for the ones who have been placed like a round peg in a square hole.

No one has taken charge in ntl and dealt with these matters, some employees have been shuffled around because managers dont want them and are unable to get rid of them. They just find a way of off loading them onto someone else!

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

So what went wrong?

I acrually disagree with that - I suppose it's easy to BS your way through interviews and tell the interviewer what they want to hear.

Maybe it's changed no but when I was there, there were too many people who made it their objective to have an easy day without too many disturbances from customers.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

There is a pecking order of worst jobs, starting with burger flipping and moving up through stock replenishment to call centre work. It's not surprising it attracts the wrong sort of people, but aptitude and technical competency tests (though I hate them) should weed out the worst. The trouble is, what do you do when after the weeding there's only 2 people left? :D

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Such people should be rooted out and sorted out. When/if that happens, it's inexcusable.


I am unsure. I believe there WAS a good intention, but then the people responsible for the site were changed and it was clear they didn't want the site to continue for whatever reason. A huge mistake but I always thought the purchase was an unlikely alliance and was never likely to work. Sad...it could have been such an innovative move.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

In credit control where I worked, it was successful...it stopped a leakage of staff to other departments and helped attract higher calibre people.

Don't know anything about Swansea though. Might not have worked there, I dunno.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Absolutely. But what is ntl doing to find them? They have never been too interested in the past.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Well the tech support people are not even ntl staff any more, so it'll be up to Manpower.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

And so the ntl problems that they cause their customers go on.....

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

We are probably on different issues, I have little knowledge of customer care or support functions at matrix court so I cant really comment.

There are many in other departments that just want an easy day, some that I know have been having an easy day since planning for growth "one" and that was back 4 yrs plus. There has been no budget for some departments and they have kept at it looking busy twiddling their thumbs coming up with new things to do that dont cost the company any money but at the same time makes it look like they are busy.

"Job Creation" its a big thing in some ntl departments, and the problem is unlike customer services or technical support because lack of knowledge goes un-noticed a lot easier in some departments. I have been filled in recently on some going on in ntl, and its quite laughable the BS that has come from one guy in a senior engineering position earning over 50k.
There seems to be no one to suss him out, he's the only one left out of the original corporate engineering team and has been able to take control of technical matters.

The same has happened in their planning department, massive cull and now they are looking for HFC architects because all they are left with is a few people with no engineering knowledge of the networks apart from drawing some lines with a pc package.

Engineering wise ntl is in dire straights, who is there to interview people for these positions. Dr or Professor XYZ or whatever his name is in Architecture and Planning has made some very simple engineering mistakes recently that have made some of the few experienced people laugh.
ntl has always been a company with poor intercommunication problems, the result is that you probably think I'm on another planet when I talk about ntl, and vice versa. We are talking about teh same company but its vastly different between departments.

I dont suppose its only ntl though, the attitude that you only need a degree and experience doesn't matter is bringing companies to a crawling pace and holding up technology in general.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

:td:

Sadly they have and are still aware of the problem and yet do very little to address this at all and the amount of cash they have or have not got is irrelevant as even when they had cash they could not get it right or even find a balance.

A certain 8 million pound call system proves that point as they shelled out loadsa cash on that and consultants and when the consultants left they never had a clue on how to utilize what they had and to my knowledge it is still not utilized to its max even now.

Bottom line on that is they cannot use the tools they have so not really a question of not having the money more a case of not having know how.

What company in their right mind would introduce a brand new state of the art call routing system and install in their primary Cable Modem support office and before it even beds in and proves workable then decide to squander more money by putting 70 plus staff on full pay on Garden Leave for 4 months and transfer everything to a newly trained handful of staff in Swansea.

I believe this stemmed back even further to November 2000 as well as whilst working in Newport myself and other colleagues were promised this increase to bring us into line with COCO Customer Service Agents in the regions who were earning more than Tech Support Agents at the time.

It was to do with planning for growth or scheduling for redundancy as we preferred to call it as we never got the pay rise just 4 months full pay on garden leave and a months notice at the end of it.

The same director paid in excess of £50k per year a certain (initials) CS also during this time was paying for his entire block of flats in Swansea to have free access to the full package of ntl channels and I know because a member of my team was seconded for an afternoon into updating all the records on the systems to his name and tagged as associate free packages.

:mad:

:tu:

Agreed and it was like this 5 years ago when I was there and still is in certain areas.

The decent techs that went out of their way to help customers and solve the problem first time were bullied into assigning the call elsewhere so ntl could enhance their turnover of calls without worrying about resolves.

In their minds 200 calls answered 100 resolved with a 50% first time fix was much better reading than 150 calls answered with a 100 resolved with 75% first time fix and thus eliminating the need for the customer to call back.

Churn was their key word at the time, they did not care about quality just quantity and then and now as it seems they are not even placing a dent in their call wait times as customers sign up agents leave or are forced out.

Classic example I always remember is a Tech from my team phoning in to the Supervisors desk saying his car had broken down and they asked where he was and said a Supervisor would be with him soon †“ oh how considerate he thought they are going to tow me home, how wrong could he be they towed him into work.

:D

:clap: :clap:

Spot on, money was short so what were they doing paying people to Mod a site via freebies (oops we wont go there).

But essentially again it was more BS from them by suckering the customers into thinking they were not silencing the critics but ultimately going to produce an all singing and dancing problem solving site.

Community I think it was called but cant seem to find any links to it or mention of it now.

Plus I believe that wasnâ₠¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t the only site they threw money at to silence.

I have said it once and will say it again the rot start at the top and unless they clear that out of the way and get someone who actually has an idea what customer service means they have and never will give a flying fig about their customer base.

:)

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Spot on carlingman the same ntl I know, they made exactly the same money wasting mistales in other departments.

Although with the engineers they didn't give payrises to come ino line with cwc, they just tried to keep it quiet about the different wages. The management got very annoyed if it was mentioned and said wages shouldn't be discussed amongst associates.

"Associates" A Bulls**t term I refused to use :rolleyes:

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

i can confirm the mirror report, so far today i have spent over 2 hours trying to get through to report a fault on my broadband. we might as well be living on another planet as do most of the moranic idiots who man these call centres.as of now 17.15pm i have been hanging on this phone for nigh on 50 minutes, except for some feeble minded female keep tellling me how great the service is it looks like i'll be still hanging on till monday morning while they(the call centre staff) go home to their curry's and to watch elephant footballl on theit tv,s

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

well i posted the other day that i get thru straight away.that was until i tried to ring faults with waiting x's of owt up2 2 hrs.i'd tried 3x's but only hung on 4 30 mins. decided to ring at 6.45 this morning thinking it was a 24 hour service.wrong.tried at 8 and was waiting 4 25mins.woman told me the fault had been corrected ( been unable to get 1471 all week)NOT.rang cs and only had a 5 min wait.was told they were taking names of customers with the problem and it was caused by new software or summat and only affected those who had upgraded/downgraded their package.the thing is i changed the package on the 1st and 1471 has only been out of action this week.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Can you cut out the insults? Get that in before someone else tells you to.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

... and I'll second that, the insults in that post were uncalled for, please refrain from them in the future.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

I work in a call centre, and we'd all be sacked if we had a service like NTL's.

Ok 140 thousand users supported by 20 people isnt exactly a huge deficit, but we support software, hardware and telephony. We also have to answer 90% of calls withint 30 seconds of them entering the Q.

Do not and I repeat do not show any contempt for call centre staff, they usually are the hardest workign people you will come across, anywhere.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

:2up: :2up: :2up: :2up:

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Well I think I speak for everyone else when I say that CF and it's members value your and other NTL employees' help and assistance, but there must be at least a few employees at NTL (excluding the managers) who don't take as much interest in their work and are generally pretty useless?

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

I opologise if i have offended any of you youngsters on the bb tech support team.
what I should have said is ,that, on thursday night at 11.30pm I phoned the tech support line, told the guy on the phone my problem and got an answer within 20 mins. My gripe is not with you guys, but with the call centre staff who take ages to answer the phone and when you do finally get through, promptly get put on an even longer hold .
Again apologise to all concerened

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

We need a little clarity here.

Please understand that the staff taking your call do not take ages to answer your call on an individual basis. Your posts are implying that they are morons because they don't answer you quick enough. This implies they are all sat around doing nothing.

What's actually happening is they are answering other calls. They will be short staffed, there will not be enough of them to deal with the volume of calls at that time, so they are working extremely hard to get the calls answered whilst still providing a good service.

Now it is extremely poor if your call is taking that long to answer but it is NOT the fault of the people on the end of the phone, and it is NOT acceptable to be calling them morons.

Those same people are the people that will offer assistance on here IN THEIR OWN TIME, they won't do it if you're going to hurl abuse around.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Blame the call queues on the old women who like to chat about Eastenders on the phone for 20 minutes. :D

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

:erm: Must get at least one of them a day, had a little old dear last week who had rang in just for someone to talk to cos she was lonely.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

:td:

Sadly we need even more clarity.

It is nothing to do with the guy or girl who actually answers the call.

It solely to do with the fact that NTL do not have the knowledge to use a perfectly good call routing system they have in place.

Churn is their key word, they do not care about quality just quantity and this has always and will continue to be their motto and to me they will never place a dent in their call wait times as customers sign up and agents leave or are forced out.

I have said it once and will say it again the rot starts at the top and unless they clear that out of the way and get someone who actually has an idea what customer service means they have and never will give a flying fig about their customer base.

What sends the alarm bells ringing for me is also that fact that current employees will go out of their way to defend them to the bitter end.

Yet when we get someone for example like Mark who is I believe currently serving his redundancy notice who on many occasions goes and has gone out of his way to help people, what does NTL decide to do well rather than address the problem head on no they decide to adopt the sliencing approach.

FFS when will they learn that this approach does not work, they have tried this before on .com and got all the MODS/ADMIN on side for a small period until they woke up and smealt the coffee.

Heres a novel idea then why don't NTL address the problem face on instead of trying to brush under the carpet by silencing the problem.

For a change it would be nice to see an official reply from NTL to work with this site and not try and silence its Employees and Members by actually giving a **** rather than adopting their usual attitude and trying to buy it to silence it.

They must know this site exists for them to issue such a directive in Marks direction to try and silence his postings.

:mad:

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

With reference to my post about the time taken for call centre to amswer the phone.
Its down to downright frustration when, after spending something like 40 mins holding onto a phone with only a female telling you how great ntl is, that on finally speaking to an advisor, you get told, "we will have to tranfer you to another department", knowing full well that you face another long wait before you get an answer.
I agree that its not all the staff's fault, but someone has to take the blame for this poor service.And it would seem that all the complaints about my post seem to be comming from ntl employee's who are not allowed to advise us that they work for ntl, seems these youngsters are too young to realise when they are being used.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Right... I've been sitting on my hands for this one..

1. If people had the forsight to make the call when they are next to there pc it would save time..
Many a time have i had someone running up and down stairs doing the simplest of tasks that takes an age!

2. If people listened to what they were told, ie to reboot the cm in event of a prob.. if it says a problem gu12 and they are gu12 then the issue applies (9out10) to them.

3. General customer knoledge of pc's and the internet is getting even worse, the number of first time users who dont know how to double click, select the @ symbol, even know a URL... Get my drift!!

4. Techs such as myself and others on here are constantly being hit with calls, we put one down another comes through. We do not sit on our behinds watching tv.

5. Customers preparation for the call is daft, calls come through with cable modems/pc off.. some dont know there post codes, some call from work and nowhere near the pc...the best one mum calls up, does the name etc, then calls little Johnny from the bottom of the garden!

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

FYI.. Ive just moved house and got NTL Broadband..

anyways...

Called BT to cancel line, 3 attempts where i gave up
4th attempt was waiting 25minutes...

Called Orange to register a new phone
20 minutes

Called NTL to check my pin, couldnt make out a 3 from 5
my own fault

10minutes!!! no bu*lsh*t

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

So some people may not realise they need to be next to their pc to sort out a problem?? Scandal!! For shame on them!!! How DARE they not have pre-knowledge!!

Perhaps it's something to do with the way you deliver the instructions?

Customers don't need to have knowledge of PCs - that's YOUR job remember

Even though there are TV screens on most supporting pillars in Matrix Court?? ;)

No, we know you're not sitting around doing nothing.

I never realised it was part of the customer's contract that they need to have prior knowledge before they call. Oh that's right - they don't.

If you feel put out at all that these thick people call you up then perhaps it would be less stressful for you if you weren't in the role of Tech Support Agent?

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Sorry Russ, not often I disagree with you but I do here. Harsh as it sounds NTL don't provide support for pc problems or training on pc's for new customers. Customers sometimes see something wrong with their pc and assume it's NTL that can either help or are responsible. I often suggest to customers that they try night school etc to try and gain confidence/knowledge because as you know God helps those who help themselves ;)

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

I agree here.

The number of times I have to deal with people who don't know what the start button is, or don't understand what 'press enter' means.

These people usually expect me to run through a crash course in using computers over the phone...this is NOT what we exist to provide.
We exist to provide a broadband service, which is what we provide, and if customers cannot use a PC, then they need to learn to do so, I'm afraid, not expect their broadband provider to teach them for nothing.

Similarly, you get people who suddenly decide that the corrupted version of IE they've got that won't even load up and comes up with missing DLL errors, used to work perfectly until we fitted a modem in their lounge, which hasn't even been connected yet, therefore we must pay them £800 for a brand new PC or they'll be off to trading standards!

I'd love to be a fly on the wall in the trading standards office when they go in!

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

MMMmm can a car garage fix a car when its sat on a drive? no you have to take the car to them or have to wait for them to pick it up!!
same way of thinking exept the people who have to wait is the next customer......

Unless they cant speak english i dont see that being of any relivance.....

We dont provide customer education, simple things some customers have problems with..

FYI the screens currently display faults and are used for communication means....

Talking customers through procedures trying to maintain a shorter call as possible to take another call!! thats doing nothing is it!!??

SUCH A STUPID COMMENT THAT ITS NOT WORTHY OF A REPSONCE

I get put out by comments made by people like yourselves who have no idea, do you really think we keep customers waiting on purpose..

My point is that SOME customers generally dont help themselves, by not having basic knoledge..

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Problem number one.

Your a support agent, you are not god you do not know everything. If you think you do you wouldnt be working as a support agent. I work in a similar job doing support for all aspects of IT, we do not support procedural issues, but because I offer a level of customer service I will ALWAYS yes 100% of the time, try and explain how to do things we dont support.

Problem number two.
Members of the general public do not need a computer qualification to have BB installed. Therefore you cannot expect the general public to always understand what you mean when you talk to them. Because you have "some" techniacal knowledge that permits you to read a script and do basic fault finding over the phone does not give you an intellectual superiority over the person calling for help.
When I call I know my connection is down, I have re-booted several times I have everything I can find that may be of help including MAC address, yet I have still had Agents try and convince me that the reason my Modem does not work is because it was using the wrong power supply cable!!! Funny that really, because it did work then it didnt then it did (and miraculously after an engineer visited I had an extra power cable sat in the bedroom on the bed but there was no space for it to have come from.)

Problem three

Patronisation of the said customers on an unofficial forum where said customers come for help also is a bit dim IMHO.

problem 4

You are there to offer a support service for the users, if you dont have the patience to deal with the customer then I suggest you get yourself another job. Yes it is frustrating having to deal with the same problem for the 100th time that day, but thats what the job is about.

Problem 5

Some people dont phone because they dont understand what the problem is, some people know, but cannot fix it without intervention of NTL, they then have to contact NTL. Yet these people can be treat like a piece of **** because some pimply faced IT God has lost his temper.

You work in a service industry once again, if you dont have the right temprament to work there get out, do something else where you dont feel obliged to slag the customers off.


Its a sad fact that in the IT industry frist line support agents are the lowest of the low. We are ridiculed we know quite often less than the tip of the iceberg. Yet a high popercentage of first line support agents think they are gods gift to IT. What we do has very little to do with IT support. Get used to it get on with it and offer a level of service the customer needs instead of bitching about them on a forum.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

:erm: didn't Russ used to work at tec support in Swansea?

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

You are, of course, quite right in everything you say.

What concerns me (and I should state, I don't work in tech support, however, I often end up performing a pseudo-tech support role in my existing job because of the relevant skills I have and the nature of said job) is that too many customers come on without apparently having ever touched a PC, and expect us to teach them how to use one.

I have no problem at all explaining things to non-pc literate customers who are just a little baffled, or even a lot baffled, that's part of the job. I do have a problem with customers who simply won't do anything to help themselves and threaten to take us to court etc because we won't spend two hours on the phone explaining what Windows is, what a keyboard is, what a start menu is, what a browser is, what the internet is, etc etc.

We can talk these customers through doing what they need to do with little difficulty, but they don't want that...they want a telephone crash course in using a PC, and if I do that, lots of other customers are waiting in a queue for their call to be taken, and that's not on.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

In all fairness the reaons why I see things my way is that I work on a government contract, so we dont get general public as such. But yes I concede that some people want everything from you, sometimes its fairer to say sorry I cant help you any further, if you wish to make a complaint then......etc etc.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

TW, I don't think any of us are "slagging" customers off, what we are trying to say is that we find some calls are lengthened by a customers lack of knowledge. As we all know we all had to start somewhere with computers but we are not there to offer over the phone pc knowhow. I once spent 37 minutes with a lady trying to help her to get the computer turned on, she couldn't do it no matter what she tried and that was before I even tried to help her register for Broadband. The computer was her sons and she thought she would try to help him by getting his broadband registered but she'd never worked a pc before.

As this thread is about waiting times that is an example of why I wasn't able to take more calls that day, leaving more customer hanging on. It's difficult trying to strike a balance between excellent customer service in the quickest time possible to try and reduce waiting times for customers in the Q.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Do i profess to know everything ...NO...

Personally i like to assist the lesser imformed customers, however if people complain about the wait times it is to do generally with us techs providing a basic level of support..We cant flippen win..

Majority of the issues are reoccuring, though that is what we are there for right?

You will find very few in here..

I'm attempting to point out that its not the techs fault of the q's

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Thats fair enough, yes it happens. But you also need to understand that if 20 people can support 140,000 users and answer 90% of calls in less than 30 seconds, then NTL must have some major problems somewhere.
I understand that NTL support a higher number of customers, and I understand that NTL will have more than 20 people working on tech support. However it does not excuse the fact that even at silly times of th enight you still often have to wait.

It doesnt excuse the fact that in my oppinion agents are blaming the caller for their inabiolity to control the call. Possible training issue? I dont know but its not the customers fault that they think they can get precedural support, its the agents job to inform them firmly and politley and then on with the next call. I have a target of 45 calls a day minimum and an average call length of no more than 5 minutes. In that time I sometimes have to call external companies such as Fujitsu services and Orange.
I'm not the perfect call agent, far from it, but the answer to the problems isnt to blame the customer.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

I've never said that you sit around doing nothing. Read my comments again.

And btw I DO have some idea, seeing as I did your very job for 2 years. Plenty of techs there at the time who, having run out of ideas on how to solve someone's connection problem, would tell them to go away and reformat their HD.

Very helpful.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

I don't work in technical support so don't know what the Q's are like for them, Monkeybreath would be in a better position to answer. I think this is going slightly astray as no-one here is blaming the callers, I did mention this topic earlier in the thread about helping to reduce call/waiting times. Easiest calls are credit card payments, I've asked to do them permanently but been told no :(

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

As I've said many times, there are two things that will improve call times, one is definitely happening, the other needs to happen:

1) Harmony.
2) Training.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Sorry Russ but I cannot agree with you here. It's not the job of NTL (or BT ;)) Support people to solve peoples pc problems, and people should have some basic knowledge of their system. How can you help someone who cannot answer any questions, and is often not even close to their pc or cm ?

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Anyone who has called tech support will tell you that the queues are not short ;)

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Got your number :D :D :D

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

For the basics, such as what the desktop is, and where the 'start' button is, part of the training when I was there was to show customers where they were to be found.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

I agree.

What I can't accept is customers wanting a full crash course in how to use a PC, then doing the old 'well I'll cancel my services and you can take me to court for the bill' crap, which I now get on a daily basis.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Just putting my point across now...

3 calls...

1. pc was in attic conversion, in process of doing out. Cust wanted to register/install bb. Phone downstairs, wouldnt call back once he had installed phone upstairs... 40min of him going up and down... cust happy

2. Very nice old lady, said if i was ever in area i could have tea and biscuits! anyway eventually up and running after advising how to use mouse, os and explaining between upper and lower case, son was coming round in an hour. 35 minutes

3. Cust had 169 on enet, hunted hi and lo for usb... usb install... (not by pc)
20minutes

At the end of the day the customer wants short call waiting times, at the end of the day 'we' dont want to see people crtitising call centres for wait times.

The above calls would take around 1hr 35min, for 3 calls to TSB.. each of those calls could have been halved in time by the customer either being by the pc or waiting for the relative... in that time in theory an agent could have taken double the calls.. now think with x00 of agents all taking similar calls the AHT of the agents could be halved..

Now i dont and will never be rude to a customer, I try to get the cust back online asap and so do the majority of people that these posts are aimed at!
The customers complain but its as a rule the customer that makes the time go up..

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

AS with any organisation or profession there are those who do the job well,efficiently and with great professionalism.Then there are those who are the complete opposite.We all hope that these poor representatives of our professions and jobs get the boot pretty quick. :erm:

I'm also fairly certain that in every job there will be those customers,clients,patients,members of the public who are difficult and are enough to try the parience of a saint.However we can't all have complete and total knowledge about everything.I do not know how to fix a PC,car,broken leg,washing machine,TV.In fact the list of things I can't fix is a whole lot longer than those I can fix.

However I can paint,draw,sculpt,produce ceramics,run a pottery department,screen print,cut a lino print,cook,teach most subjects and talk to the most unruly teenager.I can also use the LOOK.

However I will still need from time to time to phone someone up because for the life of me I cannot actually sort out a problem that seem glaringly simple to the person I'm calling.I just hope and pray that when I do I get the caring,kind and polite professional. :tu:

Incog.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Fair enough, but the flip side of that arrangement should also exist, that tech support people have enough knowledge to realise when customers have equal (or greater) knowledge to them. I had to get a new config sent through to my cable modem a couple of weeks back. I don`t want the person in TS telling me that I need to completely power down my PC and cable modem for it to become effective when I know with 100% certainty that going into the cable modem on board diagnostics will allow me to reboot the CM and get the new config without jumping through all those hoops. I don`t want TS taking me through the dummies guide to broadband when I've phoned up and given them a very specific technical diagnosis.

To move away from broadband, I don`t want someone in faults telling me there is nothing wrong with my phone line simply because I can call customer services from a completely different location, despite the fact that I've given them a very detailed and precise description of the problem. And no, before anyone asks, she didn`t check my home line remotely or anything technical like that, she simply couldn`t grasp the fact that the phone at my office had no bearing on my phone at home.

It's one thing to moan about the attitude of customers, but until all the CS/TS staff stop treating customers with contempt and assuming they are idiots then no-one at NTL is in a position to complain when customers get frustrated.

I stressed all in the above paragraph as there are decent, helpful representatives at NTL, but as a rule of thumb, if I have to speak to NTL on the phone I can safely make the following assumptions 99% of the time.

1. The person on the other end of the phone won`t actually listen to what you are saying, almost as though they have a "random fault" generator that they use rather than paying attention to the fault you are reporting.

2. No matter how much information you give them they are likely to ignore it and follow the set crap about rebooting your PC. Lights out on cable modem, reboot the PC, yeah, that's going to work.

3. If you make a specific point that needs to be recorded in notes it isn`t going to be recorded. 4 or 5 calls to NTL a couple of weeks back, specifically stressed that I needed an RGB capable STB for a replacement, each time checked to see if that had been logged in the notes. I think you can guess what the answer was each time.

4. If you aren`t getting good service and ask for a supervisor the person on the phone will refuse point blank unless you persist on the line for an extended period. It normally turns out that the supervisor is even less helpful than the person you first spoke to.

5. If you ask for a call back work on the presumption that it isn`t going to happen.

There are exceptions, and as I posted on another thread (or possibly this one) the guy I had to deal with on Friday night was polite and went out of his way to be helpful. But in the main I can apply these rules and they`ll be an accurate representation of the process.

Finally, I forgot to mention this in an earlier post, while suffering my woes with NTL over the last few weeks I was forced to make a call from my office. After about 25 minutes on hold one of my colleagues asked me who I was waiting for all that time. I just told her to guess. Her immediate answer was simply "NTL". I had not said a word about who I was trying to call, simply being on hold for that long is enough for people to assume you are calling NTL. They really do have a serious reputation problem.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

not all the the staff do.

so you don't mean all of the staff then... or do the "decent helpful representatives" treat the customers with contempt too...?

Yes how worthwhile that would be... actually don't bother telling them what the fault is next time, and you can play a little guessing game instead.

The process is there for a reason- we run reports on the modem and this has to show that it has been rebooted. If it cannot be seen from the logs that this has been done, the chances of the region refusing to book an engineer are much higher, hence customer doesn't get a phonecall back, gets annoyed etc etc. How long does it take to reboot a modem?! 30 seconds... and it takes that long to fill an engineer request in anyway. You might as well just do it. And actually, it very often does work. Why do you think there are IVRs when you call TS telling you to reboot? why do you think we get you to do it...? I can assure you it is not just to waste your time and frustrate you.

If someone asks me to note something i will do it, after all, if you want to you can request to see all your account notes (Data protection act) so you would able to see who has/ has not recorded what you asked them to.

Not me... if someone wants to talk to my manager that is fine by me! I won't do anything at all to stop you, because i know i am good at my job, and my manager is paid more than me to deal with escalations. Why should i stop a customer moaning to a manager when i want to :shrug:

I will not promise a callback, unless i know i can do it myself, or guarantee that someone will do it for me. It does wind me up when people ring up and demand callbacks because they have been waiting... why should we call you back and keep the other XX customers who are queuing waiting even longer? Don't think you would be happy if you were one of the other waiting customers....! If you rung me in TS and asked for a callback, unless their were very good grounds then i would say no. You could complain to my manager as well, but that is your prerogative :shrug:

Agreed, there are always exceptions. But also remember it is the people who have bad experiences who talk- i always remember being taught in business studies-

if you provide good service to a customer, they might recommend you to one friend. If you provide bad service to a customer, they will tell at least 3 of their friends.

I think ntl's reputation (aside from this forum) is not bad, most broadband isp reviews that i look at rate ntl as average, definately not one of the best, but also not among the worst either.

From a person point of view, i would recommend ntl to anyone, and i regularly do (check my sig ;) :p: ) . This is not just because i work for them, but because from a purely customer point of view, i have never had any problems. Never had to wait more than 5mins for CS to answer, only once lost connectivity for literally a matter of hours overnight, and always had a good phone service. So me happy :) but i appreciate that many others aren't... so come here and express your problems... isn't that what cableforum is here for ;)

Anyway... just to bring this back on topic... the call wait times for TS are indeed very long :) ;)

MB

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

I'd already stressed that it wasn`t all of the staff, sadly the exceptions are rare.

Well, the idiot I was speaking to towards the end of last week certainly wasn`t listening to what I was saying. Perhaps if she had actually paid attention to what I was saying I would have been off the phone more quickly, contributing to reduced wait times for others. I don`t use the term "idiot" lightly here, she seemed incapable of either listening to what I was saying or comprehending the nature of the problem.

Not my problem if the system has been designed with this inflexibility. I don`t see why my time should be wasted jumping through those hoops. If it is a problem that is clearly not going to be solved by rebooting the cable modem and I can report back to the TS what the modem is reporting in the internal diagnostics, a problem that a reboot isn`t going to solve, I begrudge a reboot simply so they can tick a little box on a form. I particularly begrudge being told to reboot the PC simply when the cable modem is being sent a new config file, rebooting the PC has *nothing* to do with the cable modem's capability of receiving a new config and I`m not going to do it.

Again, the exception, but whenever I ask for something that should be in the notes to be checked it isn`t there. I can only go on experience, and that is one that does engender trust in the person at the other end of the line to actually get the job done correctly.

Again, the exception. In my experience unless you browbeat the CS/TS representative they will refuse to escalate a call to a supervisor. As far as I can tell they hide behind this excuse as a cover for their lack of competency.

I`m not talking about the times when I've asked for a callback, I`m talking about the times when the CS representative claims they can`t deal with an issue there and then and I`ll receive a call back. In my mind the offer of a callback equates with a feeble excuse to get the customer off the phone.

If my work performance was rated as "average" I wouldn`t be happy, equal mediocrity isn`t a valid defence.

Whereas if I even get a sniff that someone I know is thinking of going with NTL they are warned not to in extremely strong terms. This isn`t just me, I don`t personally know anyone who is happy with NTL and wouldn`t switch from them if they had a reasonable choice (by reasonable choice I mean I stick with NTL because I`d need to get planning permission to get a Sky dish put up, and even then there is no guarantee I`d get the landlord's permission).

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Some comments on this thread:

Russ, IMO, it's entirely reasonable to expect the customer to be near their PC/Set Top Box/SACM when reporting a fault. You don't need to know anything about computing to realise that, it's common sense. If, for example, your TV wasn't picking up the terrestrial channels and you phoned the manufacturer about it, wouldn't you be near the TV when they answered? Still, maybe NTL should advise people somewhere (maybe in the welcome pack, or on the bills etc) to do this.

Regarding insults. The only insults I have seen in this thread have been from the customers.

As stated by Dr Wadd, the staff can sometimes come a but unstuck when dealing with someone who is knowledgable about computing, and do repeat the same script. It also seems that their only response when dealing with faults is "reboot the STB/SACM"..

The problem with NTL is that (in my experience) they never seem to make notes on the customer's account of when the customer reported a fault, and what actions were suggested. In my case, this wasted both my time and NTLs when I was having problems with my broadband connection (it died frequently, and each time I phoned, I was told to reboot the box). After three or four phone calls, they eventually worked out that the Set top box was faulty and replaced it. Each time, the CSR appeared not to know I had the problem before.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Name something. The average user isn't going to be able to look at the internal diagnostics, and a cursory glance at the cable modem's internal diagnostics doesn't tell you anything useful for sure anyhow. You may not think a reboot will help, but experience tells us otherwise.

We do! It's part of the voice recording heard when calling Technical Support! But, of course, a large percentage of customers ignore all the recordings completely, and persist in holding for however long to speak to a person, only to be told what they've already been told in recordings. If people would just listen to the recordings, we wouldn't have such a long hold time!

There is no script, and I don't know why people think there is one. And to say the only repsonse is to say to reboot is a little unfair, I think.

I obviously can't speak for the CMCs, but everything I do (and everything my colleagues in the TSB do, I would hope) is recorded in the customer's account. It is a procedure, and there are disciplinary policies for those who do not follow procedures...

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Not round here the're not. I have had to ring CS/TS about 6 times in my time with ntl, and always got a helpful person. So either I am incredibly lucky, or they are not as rare as you think. I know which of those options I believe. :)

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Apparently NTL have said that an explanation for the long wait times is "Coming Soon" ;)

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

There are many customers who do not know what tests ntl can run. Perhaps they are going to send an engineer out? Perhaps they can do something their end? Of course, the majority of us know this is not the case because we tend to understand the technology - however this does not apply to the many people who do not understand what goes on.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Any company like ntl is going to have compromises when employing people to deal with customers on the phone.

The only way around the problem of employees reading from scripts, is to employ experienced people. This will never happen, the wages would have to double and they wouldn't find many engineers happy to sit on the end of a phone all day anyway.

I think sometimes customers are hoping for too much.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

3) Better tools?

Obvious answer is for you to be able to reboot the modem remotely. AFAIK STBs can be rebooted remotely. If you want this, ask your management (ask me too, of course!).

As for dr wadd's internal modem diagnostics, having them available to the TS people would definitely help.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Ok, no problem, but excuse the preample, its needed for context. At the beginning of August I had my BB connection upgraded to 1.5Mbps, a couple of weeks later it dropped back down again. Phoned customer services to ask whether it had been upgraded by accident, and they confirmed that it should have been upgraded and they resent the correct config.

I then go to play some XBox Live, no connection. Checking the internal diagnostics of the modem revealed that the modem had been set to the wrong config, only capable of registering one MAC address, instead of the Gold+Xbox services I'd been reconfigured with the regular Gold service. In this instance I was able to phone up TS and tell them the exact nature of the problem, along with the config file I should have (it was referenced further back in the logs) and the config file that I had actually received. This is when I was told to reboot the PC and cable modem by disconnecting both from the power socket, in this case powering down the PC will make no difference except waste time.

There is a wealth of information in those logs so if I have any problems I can just go on to those and see things like when connections where dropped, etc. The internal diagnostics are useful in another regard. On the odd occassion my network card will stop talking to the cable modem, a quick reboot fixes it and off I go. However, the fact that I can`t get to the internal diagnostics is indicative of the fact that the PC can`t even see the modem, so it saves a wasted call to TS (it cuts both ways, customers can save NTL time in this regard).

If you want a good example of when rebooting the cable modem is going to do nothing, a couple of times I've lost all the services coming down the wire, broadband and television. The fact that the entire digital feed is down is not going to be fixed by rebooting the modem. However, unless things have changed, this still needs a call to TS even if it is an area problem as I've been told in the past that problems of his nature aren`t registered until sufficient complaints have been received.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Admittedly, it's a long time since I needed to call Technical Support, but I don't remember hearing that.. Not saying the recording doesn't say it, just don't remember it.
I actually said it seems like their only response, and in my experience, it does. Apart from the odd "Your smart card may be dirty. Pull it out and clean it".

Although, there isn't an awful lot the average user can do to the Set Top Box..
When I had to go through EXACTLY the same procedure on at least 4 seperate occasions (within the space of a month) and each time the person on the other end of the line didn't appear to know that I had called before, or what had been discussed, I do tend to question whether any note is being made on my account.

Admittedly, sometimes NTL can do something their end, but whenever I have reported a fault with any device, I have always made sure I am near that device. Maybe that does come from using Computers, I don't know for sure. I just thought it was common sense.

Still, in my experience, common sense and users don't always go hand in hand. No disrespect to anyone intended, it's just I do technical support for students, and I get asked some shocking questions.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

That's because you have more than a modicum of technical knowledge. Not everyone understands the relevant technology. The elderly for example, often they have no idea what will happen or what is required.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

But both of those scenarios do require a cable modem reboot - you even said so in the second instance. With the first one, the service level needs to be changed at the ntl end, but in order for your Cable Modem to receive the correct config file, it needs to be rebooted (which should happen automatically once the config is changed on the ntl system, as the CM is sent a reboot request). We usually ask people to reboot their PCs at the same time to ensure they get a valid IP address. You may know how to release and renew your IP address, but the vast majority of customers don't, and it's much quicker to reboot the PC (in most cases) than it is to teach them how!

With the last part, where both TV and broadband are off, and there is a confirmed area fault, I agree that rebooting wouldn't do anything, but if the area fault has been fixed, or there is no area fault and simply some oddness on the line, the CM and the STB might need a reboot to lock back on to the network. It does happen. If, after a reboot, it's still not locking on (i.e., the RDY light is flashing or off on an Ambit CM), then I'd have no hesitation in sending an engineer request.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Well, perhaps in future you could be clearer that you are not talking about general instances where the cable modem's diagnostic logs are useful.

What I take specific issue with is being told that I have to disconnect everything from the power supply when there is a perfectly good option within the diagnostic logs for dealing with that issue. I can get to that page, reboot the cable modem that way and check that everything is configured far more quickly than jump through the NTL prescribed hoops, but if TS representatives want to waste time on the phone despite me telling them that there is a more efficient resolution then let them.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

You may be able to, but the vast majority can't. Besides which, the reset option in the modem's internal web server doesn't necessarily wipe the modem's volatile memory - as with a PC, the only sure way of doing that is removing the power for a certain amount of time.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

I appreciate that, but if a TS representative has the knowledge to be able to fix problems then they should also be able to use that knowledge and determine when a customer knows what they are talking about, and thus not waste time going through the motions. A bit of application of knowledge here would actually contribute to reducing hold times.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

From experience I can tell you that is not the case.

And anyway, the vast majority of calls were from people who had little or no technical knowledge.

But I just KNOW that all the ntl tech are like this :D :D

Yes I know it's been done before but it's still funny :)

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

This is something NTL HAS to take serious. They are terrible when it comes to Customer Service - END OF STORY. In the office I work a few of us are using NTL, and the general impression is that NTL is GREAT when it works, once you have problems and need to call CS you are in for a wait (and being passed between departments because people dont know who deals with what)..

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Part of the job in tech support is to be able to deal with people on all levels.

Techies need to lose the "well you called us for help" attitude.
Many people call them because oif they dont they wont ever get anything fixed. This isnt just aimned at NTL, its aimed at all helpdesks.

Yes we do get calls that are amusing.
I had a printer engineer call me up on the 1st line support desk asking how to set up IP addresses on a printer.
I've explained to users that in order to retreive emails from the server they need to be connected to the "internet".

But all helpdesks need to drop the superiority complex they ALL seem to have.
After all if we were that good we wouldnt be bloody working in First line support would we?

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Am I the only one who's getting an engaged tone today? If I call and select billing (our final bill is wrong :rolleyes: ) I get through the IVR and then get an engaged tone!! :mad:

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Experiences are often different. NTL is not that bad. Having moved house recently we've had to call a number of companies some were good some were not so good. Try speaking to DVLA or TV license people it can be frustrating. Maybe we are always lucky, NTL staff tend to be ok.

:)

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

I agree totally.

This isn't to suggest that ntl specifically has a problem, when I need the Swansea TSB people at work they are great, but I know that there are always some people who 'talk down' to inexperienced users, both in ntl and other companies.

That must stop...it's unacceptable and one of my huge bugbears. Someone isn't inferior just becuase they haven't much experience of using a PC. And someone certainly isn't superior just because they have.

This belief actually links in well with my evangelical supprot for the Firefox browser, but I've covered that in other threads....

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

example of call to tech support at times

*I NEED AN ENGINEER
Whats the problem
*CANT GET ONLINE
Have you rebooted
*YES, 8 TIMES
Try one last time
*DONE THIS BEFORE..
Reboot
open IE
whats on the page
*SORRY TO BOTHER YOU.. BYE BYE

thats a min of 5 min call...

Another one...

*I NEED AN ENGINEER
ok, what lights are on the modem
*NO IDEA, I'M IN PHONE BOX
Modem is online, pc issue
*CAN U TALK ME THROUGH IT
Ermmmmmm

:dunce:

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

This is a regular example of calls I place to Demon Internet as one part of the service I use with them is on a flakey old VAX box. That often needs a kicking. I'm just fixing the glitches on our new shopping cart so I can get off this. I'm sure it costs me money.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Well, I phoned NTL today regarding a fault in my STB.

Basically, I did report the fault before (E4 freezes constantly, other channels are OK which confused the hell out of the Customer Services person), and the CSR re-sent all my packages which did appear to cure the problem.

Anyway, when I called, I didn't get the message about being near my STB. But, I will say that the phone was answered in less than 30 seconds, and the CSR, after confirming the fault and checking I was near the STB agreed to send an engineer out tommorrow morning. That is what I'd call good service. The only slight irritation is that she could only say they would be at my house between 8 and 12.

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

just been reading through through the thread and seen some debate on rebooting the modem/pc...

One of the reasons i almost always get the cust to reboot is that its like working from a fresh piece of toast, when a call comes in you dont know what state the pc is in..
I had a cust who's pc was in terrible state, kept freezing.. rebooted and was a little bit better.. then had memory issues

thought id try to help this cust out, would have been easy to palm the cust off with an RTV
spent 107 minutes doing a disk cleanup and usb scrub... disk cleanup cleared 6 GIG of files off a 18 GIG hdd...
ok so one extremely happy customer though a very long call..

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Yes and when you get someone calling up who has more than a modicum of knowledge who tried the reboot+restart combo, gets through to someone who (for whatever reason) refuses to take the call any further until he hears the customer do it again (thanks, Mr DN) even though the caller insists that it's already been tried, it can be VERY frustrating :(

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

..and quite often for some reason after "we" get them to reboot they can browse.. funny that aint it... :shrug:

u will also be surprised to know that when someone calls up and say they have rebooted we dont have a 6th sense that means we know if you have done it properly...:naughty:... also we dont know if your "Network Engineers" or IT Gods... as a rule all calls are taken the same way.

By all means ill be happy to take every call where i assume people know what they are talking about, but then ill be shouted at by the customers who are pc :dunce:'s

Re: NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

Yep, almost as hilarious as when we tell the tech that it won't make an ounce of difference, as what happens? It doesn't make an ounce of difference....

No, I won't be surprised, seeing as I used to do your job. And usually, if a customer says they've rebooted the modem and pc....usually it means they've rebooted the modem and pc.....

No need for that, just if the customer says they've already tried some things, just don't insult their intelligence by asking them to do exactly the same thing again while you're on the line.