NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test
 

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

I didn't think anyone would believe me when I said they put the phone down on me "3" times.

And No I wasn't rude or abusive, I was very polite even though I had been kept waiting for a long time.

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

I guess its a toss up between a call centre that takes ages to answer and maybe hang up on you, with one that speaks an Indian version of english and hasnt got a clue what you are talking about.

How ironic!!!
 

Its luck of the draw, idiot journalists...:upyours:

Four months ago....http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews...name_page.html

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

No suprise there called ntl to cancel my broadband as my free trail has expired on Monday took 50 Mins to get call answered to be told i would have to call back on tuesday as cancellations close at 5pm. Straight after calling ntl that eveing i called bt to order adsl, got a message we a very busy at the moment if you would like our phone system to hold you position in the q please press 1 and enter your phone number did so this took 2 minutes and i was called back within 15m to take my order. With the amount of customers ntl has you would think they would introduce a simular system just quess they hope you will hang up

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

Most often people do not put the phone dopwn on you. For starters, it's not a phone anyway, it's a headset plugged into a swtchboard terminal, so there's nothing to 'put down' anyway.

The likely cause is the phone system going wrong. Still unacceptable, but I get annoyed when I constantly read that ntl staff hang up on customers. We don't.

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

And the fact that ntl has more than one call centre hadn't been considered either. Surely a fair judgement would've been to go through to all three and take an average...but of course, that wouldn't make interesting reading and would probably leave people with less to whinge about. Not the objective, obviously... :rolleyes:

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

well, the swansea faults centre is excellent. whenever i call with a problem, i'm always talking to someone very quickly and have never been disconnected!
(i'm sure it's swansea, cos they sound welsh!) :)

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

Indeed :tu:

The only times i hang up on people are the abusive ones... I will warn the caller twice that if they use abusive language i will release they call, and if they do it again, i will press release. It's their own fault for not listening to the warnings :shrug:

HSBC have a good system for dealing with abusive customers though... they warn you and if you don't take any notice they tell you they are putting you on hold until you calm down.... and a couple of minutes later they will come back, and if you are not calm you go back on hold again. It's a good system, because at the end of the day you have the choice to calm down or hang up!

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

I'm not looking to pick an argument here or say everyone is bad working for ntl, it's something I have never said.

But.....

One of the three times I got disconnected, the guy put me on hold and then took me back off hold whilst he was talking to someone else about my problem. I know someone he was talking to said to terminate the call, this is exactly what he did!

Perhaps he made a mistake or misunderstood what he was being told, but I was certainly not amused after waiting in a que for an unacceptable amount of time. I only had cause to call on two occassions before, one was a billing query and although it appeared to be dealt with efficiently it came to light almost two years later that it had not when I received a letter from Wescott. The other occasion was a technical matter that they passed to technical support, they couldn't fix the fault but I am not complaining about it.

I honestly believe the guy cut me off because his supervisor told him to terminate the call!

I know I probably got a rogue person or someone who misunderstood the orders but I didn't feel amused at the time. I made complaints in certain directions and I received a phone call and the amount outstanding was cleared from my bill, they would not accept any payment and apologised for the error even though I did owe the money. It just made me mad because if they had made me aware that there was an outstanding payment I would of paid as I was trying to do when they cut me off.

To make it more amusing, during the period that I owed them one payment, I had received about $120 credit for being charged for a service I was not receiving anymore. So if they didn't re-start the DD the correct month that was their fault not mine.

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

Ah but possibly there is a note on your account.

This used to happen with a big pop up box saying "insert your own comments here etc" and when the Tech or Agent sees that they have a tendancy to hang up regardless.

:D

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

Even so without glossing over the facts the set the headset plugs into has the option to hold/mute or terminate no doubt.

My guess is they are still using the remarkable £8 million pound piece of crap called Genesis.

:D

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

The most annoying thing is when you finally get through after waiting ages and your modem connection has restored itself in the meantime. Aaaaaaaaarghhhhh. So nothing is wrong and you have to call again. And so it goes on. Methinks unplugging the modem is the way forward, but would the phone monkeys know?

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

:grind: :afire: :mad:

The "phone monkeys" (which incidentally is spelt monkies) know a lot more than you think... do you think ntl just pull people off the streets to work in technical support? No.... perhaps not.

I am always getting told not to take things said on this site about ntl personally, but i take "phone monkeys" quite personally. Nice to know that some people appreciate the help that Debsy, Mark B, and I (who are all "phone monkeys") give here in our spare time.

I don't begrudge giving help to people on this forum at all, but i think it is a crying shame that a few people have to spoil it with unnecessary comments that are, frankly, damnright rude.

And anyway, i am only a phone monkey so maybe i should just go back to being on the phone! :rolleyes:

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

Article posted: http://www.cableforum.co.uk/article/...l-centre-award

ntl are so priceless, they just never fail to amuse :D

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

Sensitive monkey aren't we? :hugs:

I have this vision of a monkey - both hands and tail fully occupied, such is said monkey's workload. Think of the phrase as a compliment - a recognition of your skill and dedication. [How am I doing with the placating?] It honestly wasn't meant as you've interpreted it :no: The direct access to NTL employees is the big attraction of this site - you're valued :Yes: I just see call centre work as the modern sweatshop :erm: Uniform, plain, controlled. Maybe NTL is relaxed and colourful - I dunno.

It's monkeys, not monkies. Change the y to an i and add es. So it would be monkeies, which is gibberish, hence monkeys. English language for you :rolleyes:

:Peaceman:

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

I think a way customers themselves could help reduce the wait time is to have their account number handy or be able to recite their telephone number, so much time is wasted with customers not having any information available and having to go off and find the last bill.

Also taking 5 minutes to tell me how long they have been waiting adds to the length of the call and the wait time for the next person in the Q ;)

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

Not to worry, I'm a phone monkey too.
I'm employed by EDIT: A major mobile phone company who I hear give out special bananas to those who manage to get a certain amount of personal information from each customer so they can spam them in the future by SMS then charge 'em for it. :monkey:

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

<greencreeper realises that phone monkeys probably wasn't the best phrase to use on a forum full of, er, sensitive phone monkeys>

:Peaceman:

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

Your joking!!! People phone up without their account number or knowing their home phone number. No wonder there are excessive wait times, must be so many people making repeat calls because they cant express their problem properly.

Its a bit like when you see women (sorry but ive only ever seen women do this)they queue to put money in the parking ticket machine, when they get to the front of the queue they then scramble around in their handbag for the parking ticket and money. Hellooooooooooooo you knew you needed the money and the ticket when you joined the queue!!

Re: How ironic!!!
 

Why should it be the luck of the draw? Surely these such instances should be occasional at worst, yet I think many customers could validate such claims right?

I agree, most operatives wouldn't hang up for no reason (although it does happen). A phone system going wrong (and so often) is ludicrous for a call centre, AND a phone company!

OB, as customers we don't take average readings of three call centres when we call up - we call up and someone (usually and eventually) answers. It's irrelivant to anyone that doesn't work at ntl which call centre you end up at.

Can I ask what the guidelines are for deciding who is abusive and to what degree?

If you're talking about people swearing and threatening you, then I would agree with your action. If you're talking about someone raising their voice, then you need to ask yourself why they are doing it before acting as judge and jury.

I've had many instances where everything starts out fine, but the people at the end of the phone make the problem worse and refuse to do anything about it. I am not afraid of challenging these people, which sometimes they seem to consider 'abusive'. I say they're in the wrong job and should work harder to help the customer. And yes, I've been cut off several times - but it will always come and bite them back later on.

Again this is fine, but who decides what is 'abusive'? I'm with HSBC too, but I have never encountered this, namely becuase I have never had a problem with them - their call centre staff are knowledgeable and friendly - and if they run into something they can't answer, they go and ask someone who can.

Compare to ntl (and I know I am generalising here) but on the whole the call centre staff are indifferent (often lacking in basic manners) not informed (OK this is not their fault, it's ntl's) and regularly make-up answers to the questions they don't know anything about. See the difference?


But there are a lot that don't. You have to see it from both sides. Now I'm not blaming a lot that don't know for not knowing, but the guilty ones should not be on the end of the phone line.

But these (and yourself) are the stars...you are the ones who give a damn, don't hang up on people, know the answer or offer to find out. If only ntl employed more like you. It's impossible when talking in general terms not to tar the good ones with the same brush as the bad - I'm sure such comments were never aimed at you.

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

We will shortly be conducting our own tests, maybe next week.

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

Spot on, I was out trying to setup a client's Tiscali broadband connection. I tried phoning customer support cos he wasnt getting an ADSL signal and to find that they have an Indian Call Centre who had no idea what i was going on about, were following a script, etc.. Put the phone down twice, finally got to speak to someone who spoke decent English and could understand what i was going on about on the 3rd call.

Re: How ironic!!!
 

I disagree that it's irrelevant - what if they had called one of the other call centres, and the results were different?

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

With regards to this, do have any recommendations about who to phone, which department and a query that we could ask them all?
So far I know it'll be NTL, Telewest, BT and maybe a few others related to telco or broadband connections such as popular online hardware shops (dabs etc) or DSL tech support lines.

Each one will be phoned three times, once in the morning, afternoon and early evening to make the tests as fair as possible.
They will then be scored on waiting time in the queue and customer service quality (query resolved, attitude/tone of voice etc) then the results will be submitted as a Cable Forum UK press release to major news agencies/websites.

Re: How ironic!!!
 

Must admit OB i agree with andygrif. If i phone NTL i dont really care where to call gets answered (as long as its in Britain!!). If there a three call centres then they should all provide a consistent service. A far as im concerned a call centre is only as good as the worst operator working on that call centre.

At the end of the day the media proabably made one call and it was bad so they made a story. Most of whats in the press just highlights what they want the story to be and not a scientific survey with any real basis to the results.

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

But the customer knows they have not made an action to terminate the call, either it has been wrongly transferred, the software has caused a bug to drop the call, a headset has been left on auto answer while it's owner goes to the bathroom, all of these things are caused by problems at the call ctr end, not the customer end. I understand that you are not sitting cradling a telephone, but "putting the phone down", is the coloquial epression to describe what happens.

NTL work on a phone number they force you to have whether you use it or not (I'm a DTV customer, so lets take that as fact and not debate it). It sits in the corner of the living room with nothing plugged in and I'm expected to remember this number?

I Must say of late calling the 0800 052 2000 number punching in a random 01992 number (and trying to report a telco fault - best place to call to moan about green cabinet doors IMHO). I have got through to a person within 5 minutes each time. My experience says things are getting better.

Just a shame the Service Continuity team cannot be bothered to follow up on the mails the call centre generate.

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

Well if its anything like today there is n hour wait to speak to digiTV faults and a 15 min wait for CS! :rolleyes: All I want to know is if the engineer is going to bother to turn up this time :mad:

And if that woman tells me about front row again I'm going to trash my phone. :(

Edit - Richard, as for DSL suppliers I'd say the top 5 :

BT Broadband (both sorts)
Pipex
Tiscali
Wanadoo

Re: How ironic!!!
 

If you work in one of them, then of course it's relevant to you as you don't want to be tarred (and feathered) with the same brush as an underperforming centre.

But if you put yourself in my shoes as a customer (or just think of any other call centre'd company you call) it doesn't matter one jot where you're calling. There must be a standard of service that everyone adheres to if the system is to work. If one doesn't perform, it needs sorting.

You cannot seriously expect customers to differentiate between three call centres - bear in mind that many still think their calls are routed to the local office so the person answering might actually know something about the local systems and places.

In fact one of the things about routing calls to multiple locations is one of the biggest negatives to customers. You can rarely get to speak to the same person twice, meaning you have to jump through the same hoops many times - O2 is the worst for this as they seem to have thousands of locations and your call usually gets routed to the wrong department.

I agree, queues are certainly getting shorter, I'm not sure I can say the standard of care is improving though.

Re: How ironic!!!
 

Well, going by your argument, if they had got one of the other call centres they would either have found a problem, so the issues are endemic, or they would have had no problems in which case the problems stem from just this one particular call centre.

Either scenario is bad for NTL. If it is an endemic problem then NTL can`t get any of their call centres running correctly. If it is a problem with just this one then why don`t NTL do something about resolving those issues.

Whichever way you cut it this is a failing on the part of NTL that needs to be resolved. Make a very crude assumption, if calls are split equally between three call centres then 1/3 of of NTL customers aren`t going to get a good quality of service, that is still too high by a long stretch.

*Edit* One other quick point that the call centre staff should take on board. The NTL systems seem to be frequently broken so that when you try to get through to a department it runs through all the recorded messages before just going to an engaged tone. If you press 0 to be put through to a general operator then they shouldn`t get stroppy that you have come through to that department rather than the one you want when you have absolutely no choice in the matter.

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

I think what she is trying to say is the person who conducted the research might have just gone through to a busy/under performing callcentre. But then again, as someone else rightly said, customers aren't interested in details like that - we just want or issues to be dealt with quickly and properly, irregardless of which callcentre it gets through to.

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

One point that everyone seems to have missed is the fact that the 50minutes is the total of the three attempts to call- so each call lasted on average 16m 40s.

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

But you seem to have missed this bit.....

Now I'm not trying to wind you up, or stir things up, but if someone asked me what company that sounded like, I would have no hesitation in saying ntl.

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

That's it Russ. I don't expect the customers to interetested in the detail either. What I do expect though, is the conducters of the survey to give a fair view of the company call centres as a whole. :shrug:

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

It really doesn`t matter whether it is 1, 2 or 3 failing call centres, there is still a failure within the company, and I don`t entirely buy them being busy as being an excuse either. If the staffing levels are so low that wait times of this length are common (and judging from the 4 days and countless hours it took to speak to someone who could deal with my issue last week) then this is also indicative of a failing on the part of the company.

If just 1 out of 3 call centres is performing this badly then that reflects a systemic failure of 1/3rd of NTL's customer facing ability, I consider that to be worthy of severe criticism.

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

So this just highlights the fact that NTL consistently cannot deal with calls in a timely fashion.

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

Maybe, but I am not alone on this forum in having been kept waiting more than an hour for a CSR to answer my call. I don't think the Mirror's survey is unrepresenative in any way.

Neither do I think it's any mitigation that the average wait per call was only 16 minutes! As far as I'm concerned, waiting 16 minutes for a call to be answered is totally unacceptable.

The blame for this lies with whoever thinks they have employed enough people to answer the phones when clearly they haven't. But whoever that person is wants sacking, as Neil said, this kind of result is all too easily identified with NTL. Watchdog did a similar test a couple of years ago and got much the same results.

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

It really does depend on what area you live in what time you are calling and which department.
When i called on monday it took 50 mins but the 1st person i spoke to was in the wrong call centre so they passed me to the correct one, I held to speak with c/s person i spoke to could not answer a question relating to my trail so he passed me to sales, held to speak with sales when i got through to sales they where able to help by now have spoken to 3 people just to get 1 question answered. Finally once speaking with sales I asked to be transfered to c/s to cancel, held to speak to c/s to be told i cant cancel as it was passed 5pm

But today called at 310 to confirm cancellation had gone through call only lasted 8.21 mins of which i held for about 5 mins lady I s/w was efficient and confirmed my cancellation date
All call centres get busy so if you hold for ages in the eveing try calling at a less busy time i am sure most if not all of ntl's staff will deal with our calls as quickly and efficently as they have been trained although if all they get irate customers and abuse then we cant blame them for ending our calls

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

There's a difference between sales and support - nearly always is. Sales are fast to answer and very helpful, and support, er, isn't. Doesn't matter what company it is. It's pretty obvious that they're keen to sign you up because it's money for them, but after that they couldn't care less. Bit like a vampire saying, "This won't hurt". I think if you want an accurate picture you need to do a survey to find out what types of call people made and how long they waited.

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

That situation you have just described is what we have been referring to (for years) as 'ntl telephone ping pong', & it's nothing new I'm afraid. :td:

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

That's my main reason for cancelling the right hand at ntl never knows what the lefts doing took them 2 months to confirm charges that would be applied to my account all it would take is a weekly update to all c/s staff informing them of current promotions, afaik that doesnt seem to happen managment problem there, Fortunately bt now as of the 6th of september have extended their reach of adsl to 10km therefore after 3 years of waiting i am going to downgrade from ntl's 750k slow browsing service to 512k adsl which whilst has a slower d/l speed browsing page to page seems quicker

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

Almost equally unacceptable in my opinion.

I think they did, the article stated how the test was performed. Readers are able to make up their own mind. Whilst the Mirror might be branding the whole company, I think we as customers have experienced such problems first hand.

Agreed. Also, I think the point I haven't made here yet is that I'm not blaming the people answering the phones (OK so maybe some of them I am) but the bigger picture is that the systems, staffing and training are not up to scratch - and that is the management's fault.

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

In my experience, the left hand doesn't even know that the right hand exists, let alone what it's doing.

Same old ntl.

You won't regret that m8, I sure of it. :tu:

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

Absolutely-that is something I have been saying for years.

The monkies at the top don't give a stuff about the wage paying customers, all they are interested in is lining their pockets.

The problems being discussed here on CF are nothing new when it comes to ntl, it's the same old story-BS from associates who woiuld rather lie than go find out the facts/phone calls promised but not returned/telephone ping pong/engineers not turning up & then ntl offering an appointment in another 2 weeks time/no one willing to own a customer's problem.

I could go on, but like I say, it's nothing new when it comes to ntl.

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

The test was quite fair.

Each company tested was called randomly, and it was up to the company concerned to direct the journalist to the relevant call centre. Customers do not call multiple times to try the fastest call centre - they should all be fast from a customer perspective.

The fact is that ntl came out worst in this test. Nobody is suggesting that this is reflective of ntl's other call centres, so maybe in the next test they will fair better?

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

I am a new customer to NTL, mainly because their broadband was nice and cheap (compared to non-cable options) as well as easy to network and we could get the phone on the same bill. (Plus their 2p a minute rate to the USA was too good to miss for a major telecoms provider)

So far I've phoned them four times:
1st for getting my broadband PIN that I hadn't recieved in the post,
2nd for problems with the Broadband Installer crashing,
3nd for upgrading my call plan, and
4th for activating 1571.

Maybe I was just incredibly lucky but on three of these occasions (1,3 and 4) I had absolutely no wait time whatsoever. On the 2nd occasion I waited about 5 minutes before getting through. Now compared to other support lines I have had experience with (Namely AOHell and others), NTL has come across as very good. Sure, my future experiences may change but I'm happy at the moment :)

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

Typical! NTL will never improve on call times. Good Luck to everyone who tries calling them!! and CONGRATS on everyone who leave them!

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

Welcome Guwag :) <waves welcome banner>

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

Thanks *Waves Hi* :)

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

I just wish I could get to speak to a human at NTL to be at least in the position to have the phone "put down" on me!

In my own personal experience, NTL call centres rank just about the bottom of the pile in terms of trying to get some sense out of the company.

No sleight intended on the good folks that have to man these places, its obvious that either:

1. The system installed does not fit the requirement.
2. NTL's product is so unreliable that the call centres are overwhelmed.
3. We, the customers, expect far to much in the way of service from the company for the mear pitance we spend each month with NTL <sarc>.

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

I am on hold with ntl right now. I started my stopwatch when the recording said they are very busy at present, with wait times of up to half an hour :rolleyes: :dozey: .

So far I have been waiting 15 minutes. Maybe they have a sixth sense that I'm phoning up to cancel everything ...

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

never had any problems waiting here.now and then there might be a 'we're busy please try again' message but usually put thru within 5 mins.problem i've got 2day tho is that the call centre is shut.tried ringing twice and get the same message every time.anybody an answer 2 that?

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

20 minutes on hold and the woman's voice interrupts the muzak to say 'Please stay on the line ... we won't be long!'

Aarrrrrgggh!

:banghead:

Currently filling our entire department with the sounds of ntl not answering my call. At least I have the luxury of waiting hands-free. I pity the poor victims who're getting sore necks from cradling their phones.

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

Er, no. The recording warned you there'd be a wait of up to half an hour, that's way you're still on hold after 15 mins....

Why didn't you just hang up and try later - at least you got the warning about the wait. If you choose to wait, then that's your perogative, and quite frankly negates any right you had to whinge about waiting... :)

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

Aw come on, at least take off the rose tinted glasses first. :cool:

It's absurd to suggest a customer has no right to complain about crap service, just because the service provider is candid enough to admit the service is crap. A call centre should be adequately staffed to deal with call volumes. In fact, they answered while I was posting this - total wait time, 25 minutes. Are you suggesting that because they answered the call in five minutes less time than they predicted, I should be grateful that they exceeded my expectations? That's just daft.

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

So, having a little rationale and not feeling too emotional either way about a utilities company is rose tinted? Then great, I'll have two pairs. :)

I'm sorry, where did I suggest that? All I said was, you were warned about the wait. But you waited anyway, and then you whine - how contrary can you get??? :rolleyes:

No, I'm not suggesting that at all. The recorded message was ntls way of trying to manage the customers expectations. As I said before, whether you chose to act on it (call later) or wait and whine, is up to you. :)

ntl's call centres are staffed enough. The problem is either crap training (more often that not the case) which means it takes longer to sort out the query, a busy day (such as bills being received and people phoning to pay/query them) or numpties who can't work out by themselves that the reason their remote control isn't working is because the batteries have run out and if it's not fixed they're off to BT!!!! :rolleyes:

Sure, ntl could staff up there calls centres to make sure the phone never rang more than twice for any customer who rings up - but just watch the prices of the services rocket to cover the huge wage bill.....

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

Well I had to wait 40 mins until i was answered but there again it is NTL we are talking about.......

Homer

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

Actually, under these circumstances a complaint is fully justified. Do you not think it is a total joke that a company has to have a recorded message stating that wait times could be up to 30 minutes? Why don`t NTL just cut to the chase and have a recorded message stating "We are inefficient, understaffed and in no way value your time so you're going to be holding for a long time"?

Why is that every time I phone up I get a message telling me that wait times are going to be longer than anybody can reasonably expect? Do you expect me to hang up every time and keep waiting for that mythical moment when they don`t have a warning message? If customers took that approach then no-one would ever speak to anyone at customer services.

You state that because someone decides to wait they have no reason to complain. Can you explain a sensible course of action to take should someone not choose to wait, as per your advice?

Why would bills have to rise to manage a decent call centre? Every other company that I have to deal with by phone has the capability of answering calls within a reasonable time frame. None of those has suffered a drastic increase in price to pay for the call centre? Why is NTL so different?

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

Try ringing Powergen if you think 'every other company' can answer calls quickly.

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

What makes people think that a 25 - 40 minute wait isn't the 'norm'.

I've had similar situations with

• BA
• Expedia
• BT
• NTL
• South West Trains
• British Museum
• Dell

and ...

• My Mother (engaged, talking to a friend)

NTL are just the same as everyone else in this respect ...

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

Ah-that's ok then. ;)

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

I haven't had to call NTL since I dropped Digital TV but it always used to amaze me what happened when I did call them. I used to get two bills per month, one for DTV and line rental, the other for call charges and BB. Each bill had a different account number. When you called NTL you had to enter your telephone number and make selections from the menus. When the call was answered I was always asked for my telephone number again (why?) and my account number. I would give them what I thought was the appropriate account number and would get a response saying that they could not find me. I then told them of the second account number and they couldn't find that either. In the end they had to go through the postcode and house number route in order to find my account. So I was doing everything that Debsy just suggested but having all the details ready did nothing to speed up the call.

My daughter works in a large call centre in Nottingham and when she receives a call she invariably has all the customers account details on screen before she exchanges a word with the customer. She has had to drop a very occasional call from an abusive customer but before doing so the customer is warned and a FLM plugs into the call to monitor the situation and the FLM has to agree to the call being dropped.

One of the problems with call centres is that in most cases the agents are given target calls per shift and have a target write up time between calls. Some agents try to get rid of customers quickly to stay within the target as failure to do so may lead to lower pay or loss of job.

One thing that I think is quite good at the call centre my daughter works at is that management will in turn take agents off calls for ten minutes or so to give them a break when it is a stressful day and usually give them a free soft drink and chocolate bar as well.

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

Cheeky git, I'm not saying that it's a good thing, just that it's not that different to a whole load of others ....

If you're gonna stick the boot in, just make sure you do it to the others too ;)

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

No, it's not. I don't think and have never said it's ok, but I agree with Nemmy. It's not just ntl that have long wait times sometimes, and he was just pointing it out to those who have posted saying ntl are the only ones.....

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

I will, just not on this site. :p:

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

That's because this thread is in the ntl discussion forum. :angel:

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

I know. But some people think it's only ntl who have a queue problem. And it's not :rolleyes: :angel:

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

:notopic: You're absolutely right-I waited (literally) several hours to speak to BT Mobile the other day, never did get through, so the contract got cancelled. ;)

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

Good stuff - such actions are far more productive and satisfying than sticking with a company you don't like and just complaining all the time, or trying to squeeze some kind of compo out of them etc... ;) :kiss:

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

I think one thing we seem to be missing here, is that long call waits are not acceptable, no matter who the company is.

It would be wrong to try and justify long waits at ntl on the basis that other companies are just as bad.

I *do* know that a lot is being done at ntl to resolve this. I realise it may not look like that, but the company is midway through a major restructure and also, at the same time, trying to implement a better, faster, single billing system.

Things ARE getting better regarding call waiting times, and I am confident that when all this work is done, things will dramatically improve. In some areas of the country they already have.

There are, however, ALWAYS going to be occasions when a huge number of calls come in for an unexpected reason, and this is unavoidable really, there are not hundreds of staff on standby to take the calls. The 'virtual call centre' system that is being created will, however, go a long way towards alleviating that....it works like the single queue system in post offices.

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

Erm, the queues in my Post Office don't inspire much confidence here ...... :erm:

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

The Post Office analogy is simply that, before single queues were introduced you had lots of different queues, some moving faster than others.

The virtual call centre system is the call centre equivalent of single queues. At present you might get, for example, a big queue in one region but no queue in another region. Under the virtual system, callers will get passed to whichever region is free to answer them.

It should help a great deal.

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

Only problem is with most of the companies you dont have to ring them as often as ntl, so its not as bad only have to ring electric people every 3 months they have one of those auto call backs when busy always a pleasure to call. Ntl's services and biloing always cock up you can never get it sorted and to top it off have to hold for ages to speak to a *wat that dont know the job their getting paid to do (not all ntl staff are *wat*s some are good at what they do)

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

I'm not emotional! :fit: ;) This is an NTL-related discussion forum, I'm talking about NTL.

Whining is something children do when they don't get their way, reasonable or not. Complaining is a legitimate adult pursuit when the subject of the complaint fails to live up to reasonable expectations. NTL advertising a 30-minute wait does not absolve it of culpability any more than a burglar advertising which houses he plans to break into tonight.

Not all of us have the luxury of 'calling back later'. I had a slot in my working day when I could afford to sit and hold with the phone on-hook and get on with something else. The call centre is advertised as being open at 11 in the morning so there is nothing unreasonable in me expecting to use it at that time of day.

If NTL's recorded message had said 'due to inevitable failures in our HR policies, it is possible, if unlikely, that the CSR that answers your call will tell you to F*ck off and terminate your call for no good reason' ... would it absolve NTL of any culpability had that actually happened? I'm sorry, you simply cannot suggest that the customer has no right to complain at shoddy service simply because he was warned just how bad it could be!

But that is contradictory. You say the call centres are well enough staffed, then you give a load of reasons why calls don't get answered quickly enough. At least two of those reasons have no possible solutions of their own - bills will always go out, and will always result in busy days, and there will always be numpties in the world - so the only conclusion is that the call centres are not adequately staffed.

More than twice I am not bothered about. Less than five minutes would be fine. 25 minutes, however, is a joke.

incidentally, I phoned Virgin Home Energy just before NTL to see about cancelling my utility services. I was answered by a human (i.e. no 'press 1 for this, 2 for that') in well under 5 minutes.

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

There does seem to be a problem in Britain at the moment whereby people have all but given up and just accept crap service and try to convince themselves (and others, as a part thereof) that it's not crap service and they're somehow holy in their forbearance. There's no question that customer service is crap in this country, whether it's phone, email or in person. A large part of it is deliberately obstructive behaviour - how else do you explain a fast, efficient sales service and a crap support service? I don't know why it's so hard to get it right - not like it's difficult.

The best customer service I've experienced was when I wanted an engineer to look at my washing machine. I'd just moved home and the woman told me I couldn't register a service call without first changing my address, but I couldn't change my address because the insurance company's (extended guarantee thing) automated service insisted my name wasn't long enough :erm:

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

Oh, OK, so you think the every customer with ntl has a problem, and that every customner that has the need to call them waits an unreasonable amount of time to be answered, and that every customers problem never gets sorted and every customers bill is always cocked up?

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

its not a quick process to dust off an employee

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

You can only go from personal experience, and my personal experience is that it is only NTL that has a problem.

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

The problem is more the fact that companies are being forced to make bigger and bigger profits. One way to do that is to cut costs and therefore reduce the size of call centres rtc, well its either that or the punter pays more.

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

Yes, but that's poor business analysis and very short-sighted. Consistently good customer service is the way to sustainable profits - cutting costs is a short-term thing and in the case of customer service, foolish. You need to spend money to make money :)

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

it dooesnt suprise me the standard waiting time on ntl customer support is so bad, i worked there, it turned into a hell hole, the folk on the front line who were there longer than 3 years were shat on and most are leaving, ie leaving a shortfall in experienced staff, they are now recruiting in shopping centres and in bars and the age group is school drop outs or leavers with no interest in further education. the managment couldnt answer a call if their life depended on it its all americana , "buzz" to gee people up, the wait times are up the standard is down and repeat calls are up as u dont get the problem sorted 1st time :mad: :mad: :mad:

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

I can't wait for the outcome of the cable forum phone poll and then we can see exactly how bad NTL are.

Indecently I'm on the phone to NTL now (still trying to sort out their cock up from 3 weeks ago) and the guy I've just been speaking to (Joe in customer relations(Nottingham)) firstly banged me through to CS when I explained my problem and when I dialed back (as it was a CR problem) I got him again so he's put me on hold to find a manager.

How shocked was he when he got me again :)

I also got Joe to check if any notes had been placed on the account and the answer was a straight no, so thats four people I've spoken with since Monday and none of them have placed any notes on the system! Brilliant :(

As for other companies being as bad as NTL, I cant honestly say I've had that many problems, BT even have an automated system where they keep your place in the queue and the system rings you back when you get to the front. Marvelous, why can't NTL buy that system?

Edit well after speaking with Dean Hall I've told them once again to stick the service.

The story so far : Apparently the system that is used for provisioning connections/reconnection's is down, there is no ETA for a fix, it could be 10 days or 100 days, noone knows.

I asked what I was suppose to do as a customer and he said that I'd just have to patient, the impression I got was "like it or lump it", not a very good attitude to have with someone who's been on a whistle stop tour of the country's call centers being lied to.

According to Dean they are also signing up new customers at the moment to a service that they can't be provisioned on! Just sums up Ntl's attitude really, screw the customer for their money and give them no information or service!

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

When I had connection problem recently an engineer called me and left a message on my voice mail asking me to call and he gave me a number. The wrong number. The woman I spoke to, who was clearly at the end of her rope, knew nothing at all - no record of the fault or anything. I hung up and phoned the usual number and hey presto - knew all about the problem, notes on the system, and an engineer would phone me again. Conclusions: completely separate and isolated computer systems. Engineers must be located in some sort of secure area.


It would be the same story as the solve-all-our-problems-shiny-new-email-system :)

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

If it is true that computer systems are isolated then something needs to be done to integrate all of the systems. :)

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

Something IS being done - The Harmony Project.

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

Indeed. All NTL staff now have to hug their managers before they start work.

:p:

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

:erm: I'm off one day and everything changes :rolleyes:

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

Couldn't agree more.

Give the customer a good product at a decent price with good after sale support and he will reman a loyal customer putting money into your business on a regular basis and extoll the virtues of your company to all about him which is good, free advertising.

P1ss off the customer with what to him is unacceptable service levels and he will soon be gone taking his business for all products bought from you elsewhere, not just the product that he had the problem with. He will be quick to blacken the companies name at every opportunity and extoll the virtues of your opposition that he has now moved to.

In my mind Customer Services is misnamed and should really be called Customer Retention. Every call to them is an opportunity to enhance the companies name and make sure that the customer remains loyal. The FIRST agent that receives a call from a customer should take OWNERSHIP of the customers needs and make sure that the customers needs are fulfilled and the customer kept informed of progress. Every time an agent accesses a customers records he/she should have to post details of who they are, why they accessed the records and what they are doing as a result.

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

Not really sure when those journalist bafoons at the gutter press Mirror rang BT.....but if they got through after '2 rings' they must have called at 2am on the 24 hour service. In the whole history of ringing BT at work every day, I have never ever got through in less than 5 minutes, and frequently wait 10 minutes, so I find that 'claim' quite interesting!

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

BT are currently rolling out a feature on the phones that whereas you still get a few options, one of them will be to speak to a human. It'll take a few weeks (possibly 1 or 2 months even) but this will eventually cover all parts of the UK.

With respect - that was being hailed as the new fabulous idea when I moved from dial-up to BB tech support - and that was more than 2 years ago. People are just tired of waiting.

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

No i am sure many customers dont have problems but i have had an account for 3 years not through choice ntl were the only ones able to serve my property with broadband. In all my experinces i have never got of the phone to ntl and felt satisfied with the out come due to such poor training and lack of knowledge of the products they support. With all the call centres ntl have i wished they would use their resources more allowing customers to deal with any call centre not the one allacted to thier postcode

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

That's exactly what's happening now.....

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

It was never claimed it was going to be instant. It's a long programme, and was always intended to be.
There are already three less billing systems within ntl than there were before Harmony started. It's progressing well.

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

Problem is its another coming soon Ntl have wound me up so much with such a 2bit services its to late to retain have order for bt adsl downgrading from 750k with ntl to 512k with bt but the downgrade is well worth it i now get an acceptable level of customer service and a FREE 24 hour tech support line

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

If you've had a poor service, then that's the right thing to do.

I don't know the situation in London, I do know up here I'd rather have cable broadband than ADSL even if ADSL was free! However, I acknowledge that this is not the case in all areas of the country.

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

Exactly. In the words of Aizad Hussain, "Our customers just aren't interested in what's *coming soon* - they want to know when it's here".

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

From what I've heard from ntl associates & people on the Harmony Project, it's far from what it is cracked up to be, & not very far from being a waste of ntl's money.....

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

Well that explains a lot.

Aizad - Our customers just aren't interested in what's *coming soon* - they want to know when it's here. BTW, how are those updates coming?

Flunky - They're coming soon

Aizad - In that case our customers aren`t interested in them, cancel them all.

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

:LOL: That actually sounds like the sort of thing he would say too! :LOL:

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

You didn't see them bringing in the metal detectors? ;) :p: