Phoneline dead
 

Picked up the phone yesterday and got no sound at all, not even a tone when pushing buttons. Wrote it off as a dead phone. Went out today and bought new phone (ntl branded ironically) and plugged it in...dead. Went to ntlworld to see what I could do via the website, hoping to at least report a fault via it. Went to the report a fault part of the site, got asked if I was an ntl customer...yes, got asked what type of fault I had...telephone or television. Then a page appeared saying this:


We're sorry that you may be experiencing problems with your service. We can resolve a large number of service issues over the telephone and would appreciate the opportunity to speak with you to resolve your issues directly.

Please call us on 0800 052 2000 (Monday - Friday 8am to 8pm, Saturday 9am to 5pm and Sunday 10am to 4pm) selecting the option to report a fault.

Once again, please accept our apologies for the service problems you are experiencing.

How useful, I'll just give them a call...oh hang on. :Yikes:

Re: Phoneline dead
 

Welcome to the site :wavey:

Sorry to hear about your phoneline having a paddy, if you PM me your full name, address and account number then I'll see this issue gets emailed to the secretary of one of ntl's directors first thing in the morning.

Re: Phoneline dead
 

Much obliged Russ. PM on its way.

Re: Phoneline dead
 

I'm having exactly the same problem actually.

The phone's been dead for 2 days now, I've checked everything. Thing is, I am not really willing to ring up NTL using my mobile (0800 numbers are virtually premium rate numbers when rung on a mobile).

So, I try to report the problem online (my broadband and TV is working fine) and as reported, the link to an fault report email comes to a dead end. I notice it only comes to a dead end once you confirm there is a fault - I suppose they would want to talk to you and check some things - but the phone isn't working so???

A callbox would be the answer (are 0800 numbers free from callboxes?) but the operator would probably demand you be in front of the phone to check things. So only a mobile call at premium rate will do.

I left an email explaining the fault via a different route - I had to lie and make out it was just a query.

God I hate the NTL website - it's like a maze of dead ends and useless information.

:td:
(not like this beautiful haven of logic and sanity):D

Re: Phoneline dead
 

Having heard nothing from them and having had no phone for 5 days, I made the call from work with NTL bill in hand and reported the fault. They're coming to take a look on Monday evening, allegedly. Also, sent some "feedback" via the site to say how utterly unhelpful a "Call us to tell us your phone is broken" page is.

Re: Phoneline dead
 

Engineer just came, tinkered with the green junction box for about half an hour and then called me on the landline to tell me that the problem was sorted and that my front door was still open.

Thanks to Ross and Mike for their help with this.

Re: Phoneline dead
 

nice of him to tell you your front door was open :D :D :D

Re: Phoneline dead
 

If it makes you chaps feel better my phone is dead at the moment, and it might have been that way for the past 5 days. Don't use the phone much but it's certainly been down since Monday (other half thought it'd been plugged into old BT socket so switched to that one + got a dialtone and didn't mention it to me until today).

Is now a good time to mention that availability of phone lines is supposed to be on a notional 5 9's (99.999%) availability? ;)

Will report the fault tomorrow, as ntl don't have 24x7 support for telco, which is appauling imho for the 2nd largest telephone supplier in the country, and makes the 5 9's potentially impossible to achieve as it can take over 12 hours for a customer to report a fault.

Penny pinching buglets ;)

Re: Phoneline dead
 

Are you sure about that, unless something's changed since I last phoned ntl "out of hours", there was a recorded message for telephone faults giving a different number to dial.

Re: Phoneline dead
 

I'm having the same problem - phone line has been dead for 3 days now. Tried conacting ntl on my mobile but after 30 mins of waiting each time, gave up.

Is there anyone that can help me? The only alternative is ringing from work but I only get half an hours lunch and I doubt that will be long enough!

I am in the M30 area of Manchester

Thanks.

Re: Phoneline dead
 

I called them at about 3pm on Friday and wasn't on hold for more than a couple of minutes. Problem was sorted by 5.30pm on Monday. Oh and a nice lady called Linda phoned me on Tuesday morning to make sure everything was ok and gave me 1 month of free service to compensate for loss of service...which was nice.

Re: Phoneline dead
 

Well, just managed to get through to them on my mobile and I am fuming!

I advised them of my situation and they advised that an Engineer would come on Saturday morning to look at the line. I asked if I would be refunded for the loss of telephone service for the past few days and the advisor said depending on what the issue is with the phone line, I may end up paying them!

Apparently, if any cables have been damaged, despite the fact that it wasn't me who damaged them, I will be liable to pay £25.00 call out charge and £25.00 maintenance charge.

I'm pretty annoyed to say the least - they tested the line and said there wasn't a fault on it from their end, and that it most probably would be a cable that had been damaged. So I could possibly end up paying £50.00 for something I didn't do! :Yikes:

Apart from this, I've been trying to get through to them for the last few days and was kept on hold for stupid amounts of time.

If it's not the Broadband going off, it's the TV service, and now the phone - not impressed with ntl at all! :td:

Re: Phoneline dead
 

Dont worry most of the time you do not get charged for the call out i have only charged 2 customers as it was there fault for doing a diy move telco point.

Re: Phoneline dead
 

I just had my completely dead (see post no.4) phoneline repaired after being out for 12 days - I think I deserve some money off for that especially as I am selfemployed and have potential customers ringing me. Do you think I should contact customer services or leave it to them to contact me?

I find the whole issue of compensation for service outtages extremely vague - I mean I get problems with my broadband every few days or so and occasionally the line is down for a few hours. This can be extremely disruptive when you rely on the internet and email. Is there a guide to what to expect in the way of compensation for lack of service?

Re: Phoneline dead
 

Contact them but I would not harp on about loss of customers as their comeback will be that you should not be using a residential line for business.

:D

Re: Phoneline dead
 

That's nothing... someone was trying to tap into my BT line at an old address, BT charge by the hour for engineer call outs if it is not their fault- so i ended up with a bill for £135 + VAT. Took 8 weeks and numerous phone calls to sort out :rolleyes:

Re: Phoneline dead
 

NTL are not responsible for all of that though are they, as you said in your other post that is had been off for 2 days and you still hadnt rang them and you were reluctant to do so. So they can hardly be blamed for all the outage can they.

Re: Phoneline dead
 

Hang on...are you saying that it's the fault of the customer for not reporting a problem that is the cause of the problem? I would have thought that the company providing the service should instead be responsible for providing a) a reliable service and b) a realistic means of reporting problems with the service. At no point should the onus be placed on the customer to sort these problems, otherwise what are they paying for?

Re: Phoneline dead
 

If you read my initial post again you will read that I had already contacted them via email at the time of that post. It had been two days at that time. Besides, my phone was off so how was I supposed to ring them? My main point was that spending maybe 20 minutes holding (which has happened to me plenty with NTL) would cost me alot on my mobile.

I think it is a standard industry practice to compensate customers for a break in service. I was just wondering if there was a standard way to claim. There aren't many companies out there that offer compensation without you asking for it first.