Victory over ntl!
 

Hi
Just to say that we have won a small victory over NTL. Our dispute started about 3 months ago when we moved house. We called NTL to say that we will be moving and after many hours on the phone being transferred from pne department to the other, they decided that they could not provide services to the new house. Initially, before we signed up to NTl we asked them what would happen if we move, they told us that if we moved to a house that has cable, the transfer would be free. So we asked, what would happen if we moved to a house that was not servicable by NTL, they said it would be their own fault for not cabling the road, therefore they would cancel the contract without charges....So we signed up!

So we moved house and called NTL to cancel the connection to the old house. They told us that we will incure cancellation costs and disconnection charges as we have signed up for a year - not what they told us originally!

I then spent many days calling them, and being put on hold while they transfer me back and forward. I spoke to the Moves and transfers dept. who said that we had been Mis-led from the beginning to sign up. They even said that it seems to be a sales tactic to mis-inform customers, so that they can get a sale, and called their own sales team "a bit diabolical!".

This went on for weeks and I was getting no-where as all depts were denying responsibility. I even got through to people that said, "OK, I will cancel the charges for you, please hold the line" and then 20 minutes later, was put through to another dept again!! Grrrr

on the last few calls - I was told we still need to pay up! So this was the tactic where they try to wear you down to give up and pay - which we were about to do..

I spoke to the last guy at NTL who said he could not do anything, so I said that I was writing to OFCOM, Trading Standards and Companies House. To which he was happy for me to do after asking him if that was ok - in a sarcastic tone....

All the time this was going on, I had written to NTLs dispute Dept in Manchester 3 times and not had a single response from them.

And then suddenly after wring to Trading Standards - Companies house and OFCOM, we started to get phone calls. I copied NTL in on all the letters I sent.

Trading standards called me the next day and were really nice, saying they were on the case.

And then - as if by magic - we got a letter from NTL.. woo hoo, saying that we had been mis informed from the beginning and they now regonised, and they dropped all the charges!!!

I think that you will only get anywhere with NTL if you contact these places and copy in NTL on the letters.

Its only a small victory - but its the principle that counts!!!

We have Sky now! Fantastic!

S

Re: Victory over ntl!
 

I've edited your thread title to 'Victory over ntl, as opposed to the 'NTL victory' that you originally had. ;)

:welcome: to the site, & well done for not giving up.

Enjoy Sky too.....:D

Re: Victory over ntl!
 

Thanks!

Re: Victory over ntl!
 

Should have tried CCing them the letters, but not sending them to OFCOM:D

Re: Victory over ntl!
 

Its good you got it sorted out in the end.
I bet you feel relieved to have that out the way now.

Re: Victory over ntl!
 

That's really good news steve, well done and :welcome: to Cable Forum

Re: Victory over ntl!
 

Sending them was better, the more that OFCOM get to know about these cases the better.

Re: Victory over ntl!
 

Steve, good for you, I don't even know who to reliably contact over NTL problems.

Lucky you changing to SKY. I am fed up anyway with NTL. Locking up set top boxes, telephone with no caller display (still!), poor Front Row selection and limited free-view channels. let alone the inability to timeshift bought movies despite having just bought a top-of-the-range HDD/DVD recorder.

Re: Victory over ntl!
 

Start a thread, you would be suprised what can be achieved through this forum at times ;)

Re: Victory over ntl!
 

It's just a shame you don't have the names of the ntl employees who misinformed you ;) :D

Re: Victory over ntl!
 

Welcome the the forum Steve and Martin :)

Glad you won out in the end Steve :D

Re: Victory over ntl!
 

I had a similar problem with ntl 2 or 3 years back: one month, we got a spurious bill for about £140!! Long story-short, after letters to all manner od depts, Watchdog, OFCOM, ntl Directors, Area Managers and all sorts, 3 months of stress saw it all sorted out.

I have to say though that these days, they're a vastly improved service - if you have cable+phone+BB see what they do when you say you're leaving...

All in all a very good service...these days!

Re: Victory over ntl!
 

I would disagree, I used to be (as my friends would say) NTL's only satisfied customer. Not any more, and I have cable, BB and two phone lines and they still annoy me with their Indian call centres. But, I won't go into that here as I've already kicked off a good discussion in a separate thread about that :D

Re: Victory over ntl!
 

Its amazing what threatening a Telecoms company with OFCOM does to them.

We reported BT once for charging phone calls to our bill we clearly had not made, and as soon as OFCOMs name was mentioned they dropped the charges.
We then moved to NTL to **ss them off, that was 6 years ago and were still with NTL now and still very happy!:)

Re: Victory over ntl!
 

It's a sad thing that with any organisation there are some morons who pass the buck - even small companies have those kind of cretins. It's either that or the staff aren't motivated enough to care or want to annoy customers - perhaps they dont realise the stress they induce when they treat customers like this.

BT have been just as guilty in the past of providing me with a disgraceful customer service involving buck passing and a deliberate culture of obstructing their competitors and for that I will always view BT as in need of being broken up.

I always remember how BT did their utmost to stifle the internet in it's early consumer days:-

http://www.zdnet.co.uk/print?TYPE=st...369t-10000023c

I hope NTL never end up growing into a big company that becomes a big monster like BT.

Re: Victory over ntl!
 

They already do to an extenct, some areas are cable only, and there is almost no competition on cable, their is 2 choices AOL or ntl, in ntl areas, there is no competition between telewest and ntl. In the areas where there is competition NTL only worry about BT and Wannadoo and disregard the others.