[Merged] Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Just received latest NTL bill. Enclosed is leaflet for new phone numbers to call from 8 May.

0800 052 2000 becomes 0845 454 00 00
Broadband tech support is to become 0871 225 1111 :td:

Just thought I'd post this information as I've not seen it mentioned anywhere else.

Quite spooky really, I was just on the phone cancelling my broadand :D

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

So take away the 151/150 number then switch it to a paid for number for customer support.

Still at least they don't do the Sky 0870 rate for cust service calls.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

I'm surprised they kept their 0800 numbers as long as they did really...

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

national flippin number rate! and 0845 is also expensive compared to a proper local number.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

I wonder...

Telewest charge you if you dial their 0845 number, but if you call 150 from your phoneline its free. Could the same apply?

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

150 hasn't worked for some time now on my ntl telco line.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Just checked BT's prices and although 0871 225 isn't listed, it falls into the same group as the other 0871 22X numbers which are charged at 10p per minute :(.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

I did hear a while ago that they were stopping that, but I wouldn't be surprised if they re-introduced it ala Telewest

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Customer service calls will still be 0845 rates (for now)

I really loathe spending 20+ minutes on the phone to Sky paying 0870 rates. For tech support I suppose its a way of putting people who still have connections but have issues with them onto the online tools instead of calling in.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

they would have raked it in last night from all their callers. something not right about charging people to ring you to discuss how your speed is ****e or sites aren't working.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Just searched "NTL" on http://www.saynoto0870.com :D

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Its worse considering they are the 2nd largest telco provider in the UK and that the majority of the calls are contained within their own network.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

When it kicks in, try this site:

http://www.saynoto0870.com/search.php

for the geographic number or an unlisted 0800 number. Also very useful for other companies that try and scam you with 0845 and 0870 numbers. I use it for my mobile co - vodafone, my bank, credit card, loads really.

It doesn't always find a number but there is the option to add one if you have one that's not in their database. And it's quite legit too - got it from the finance guy on bbc radio 2!

Oops! just noticed Jedimaster has listed this site a couple of posts up from mine! Well worth it!

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

sum stupid guy on the fone just told me that the 0845 and 0871 numbers cost the same 2 ring.dunno where he got his info from.bin using saynoto 4 the past 2 yrs.if u can't find a number then if u register u can post and ask 4 1.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

I pay on sipgate per min:-

0870 - 7.51p
0845 - 3p

a nice slice of these rates is returned to the number owner in the form of commission. higher commission for 0870.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

I can't remember where I read it (it might have been on here) a few days ago, but some clever bod had worked out that a call centre getting around 2,000 calls per day with an average call duration (including queues) of 10 minutes netted the company approx £180,00 0 per year.

Personally I think it's daylight robbery, the first rule of customer service is striking up a good relationship with your customer - not removing large sums of cash from them and invariably providing shoddy and inaccurate advice when you do get to speak to someone.

I think this is doubly true when people are calling from ntl owned lines, it costs literally nothing for those customers to dial ntl CS, but they still seem to think it's worth of paying for?!?!?!

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Blimey, I think this is a bad move. The freephone number was always one of the things that people pointed out when I said I ditched NTL to join Sky... I replied saying I have only had to call Sky once and the call lasted less than 5 minutes and ended up with Sky paying me money :D

People have short memories, though, so give it a few months and everyone will have accepted this.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

I agree!

people complain but very few ever do anything other but complain!

If NTL can screw it's customers for a few more quid then good luck to them.

But I can promise you I won't be one of them!

Ohhh and just to point out to anyone who has broadband with NTL who are under a 12 month contract you can cancel it under section 20.1 (i)

That is how I got out of my AOL contract was because they went from a freephone number to a prem one!

However I am happy to stay with NTL for my broadband, I have never really had any problems with my broadband and personally I would rather them do it this way than an increase on my monthly bill!

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

i had a reason 2 ask abt new customers.my son recently joined and it turns out it was Mar1st ( asked the lass just now 2 check when i made my first call 2 him).she had said that those customers joining from the 1st were given the new 0845 number-but he WASN'T cos i checked with him.i told her that present customers shu've been told first.oh and i rang BT 2 ask if they were start charging and was told no.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

I'm not so sure about this, especially as they get a nice reminder of whatever the problem was when the bill drops through the letterbox. On a certain other forum the 0870 number that Sky has is constantly a bugbear of many...and they're right - it's blatant profiteering from problems are are generally of the company's making anyway!

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Gareth may have a point - remember the supposed 'mass exodus' from ntl when they started charging for their dial up after so long as a free service?

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not predicting a mass exodus - just something else for people to whinge about when it comes to ntl. When you hit enough things to whinge about and the time is right...you leave - which is exactly what happened with me...there were so many little things with them - each one not big enough to make a big deal out of or to leave over....but it's straws and camels' backs territory IMHO.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

on the new sky sports HD channel it has a message which says something like ring 0870 nnnnn for information on how to receive this channel - you ring up and wait on hold for ages and then get told that you can't get the channel as sky hd is not available until september.

0870 numbers are a **** take.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

odd I last used it on friday. If 150 is going thats a sour move, nice easy number to remember.

---------- Post added at 18:28 ---------- Previous post was at 18:25 ----------

I was just thinking the same, maybe to pay for the upgrades ntl will profit of customers ringing up why their speeds are slow. Then after a few months of this they have the cash to upgrade. Then rollout to 2 meg customers repeat process and finally 1 meg :)

On a serious note I would hope that if reporting fault their is a free number or the call is refunded as it isnt right on the customer if they on the phone for say an hour because their service is faulty and they get billed for it.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

?

Is BT a 0800 number for customer service. If it is then they might just get a new customer ?.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

a wise word from the lass i spoke 2 who said they had online support 4 the BB ( if u didn't want 2 ring in).i did happen 2 say that the service wudn't b of much use if one didn't have a connection/was having probs ( which is why people wud ring in).there is going 2 b an option of getting them 2 ringback she said.i used 150 this afto and always have dun with no problem.not sure if the freefone will work....

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Yes.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Bill C

i rang BT b4 i rang ntl ( got the number from their site) and asked if they had ne plans 2 start charging 4 CS and was told no.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

ntl have issued a statement regarding this matter:-

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/article/...r-service-line

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

So, in theory, no one should wait more than about 5 minutes. I wonder how long it takes to get called back though, given that many people have lives (!), and can't sit by their phone all day.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

I guess things ain't going to get any better after the take over after all!

Well done NTL a good start, glad I quit my phone & tv when I did!

The only good thing NTL ever had going for their poor service was the fact you never had to pay for the call!

NTL are bound to lose a lot of custom over this in the long run!

It's bad enough you have to wait ages to speak to somebody just to have to call back another 10 times before your problems are resolved but now they intend to charge for the privilage! :td:

And why should a customer have to pay to report a fault with their equiptment?

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Hmmm.

I didn't know that, but thanks for telling me.

Our customers have told us they would like to now pay for something that was free and pay more for something that was cheaper. Well who am I to argue?

I thought they'd got rid of any talent in favour in cheap labour in areas of mass unemployment and getting away without training them in which product they are actually supporting. Or am I wrong again?

Make it easier = charge you? Does a national freephone number not currently make it easy?

O2 don't charge me to speak to them via my mobile phone. BT don't charge me to speak to them from my home phone, or any other landline for that matter. And just becuase Sky charge people silly sums of money to talk to you, doesn't mean that people like it.

Didn't they do this last year sometime. I remember typing in my number and being promised a call back on a couple of occasions. Needless to say it didn't happen. In the mean time on an 0870 number you've just racked up 30p's worth of charges. Nice.

I think I'm going to get myself an 0870 number and give it out to all the companies that have one and expect me to call it. Then I'm going to put them on hold for 3 minutes before promising a call back that never happens, so they have to call back the next day, and the next.

This time next year Rodney......

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Will be calling BT and NTL disconnections tomorrow. That means i will only have NTL for my broadband.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Just told my husband about this..and I think his response of 'cheating barstewards' was just about right. :mad:

At the very least I shall expect to speak to somone who bluddy knows what they are doing and the problem get fixed right there and then.

As for those folk trying to get billing sorted are they having to pay for their phone call,because as far as I can see that's the department where ntl really screw things up.If one has to keep phoning back to get a bill sorted out month after month and pay for the privilage..:td:

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

It has me thinking now. When I first had ntl for my phone it was cheaper and better than BT, but these days I'm not sure this is still the case.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Definitely not cheaper for many people anymore, that's why when we moved we went to BT. Once you factor in the connection charge versus the minimus charge from BT (only tiny I know but it does make a big difference in numbers), free itemised billing and free caller display it's a better deal for me. And on top of that the third party telcos such as SkyTalk and TalkTalk offer even cheaper rates again - but you can only get them with a BT line, not an ntl one.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Questions to consider:

1. What is the callback SLA? Does one exist?
2. Will the performance of this new system be publicised?
3. When are we going to see something like this? http://portal.plus.net/supportpages.html?a=212
4. How are the correct CSRs going to be calling back the customer if they don't know what the customer is calling about?
5. Will the "call-back" be in operation from day 1, on all ntl contact numbers?
6. Are the "new" ntl going to bring support back into the uk as part of this new policy?

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

How many times do we have people posting on here about having to phone several times & speaking to many differnet people/departments just to get something done (normally something ntl have cocked up)?

Now couple that with the fact that people are going to have to pay to ring ntl, & you have a very bad situation methinks....

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

0800 1830123 i'm all for ringing sales. They transfer you to were you want to be (or at least they used to).

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Shouldn't think they'll stick to that, not when there's money to be made!

I think this list is wrong guys:

If it is an 0871 number for faults it'll be 10p at all times. :(

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

It'll probably be barred at the switchboard..

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

wonder if they will be any faster answering now they are charging......nah.:P ohwell, I never ring them anyway. :D

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

I hope the responsetek options and the friendly cs staff on this board don't get issued a directive that bumps up revenue :(

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

I can see that advisors will not be allowed to transfer calls at all between departments so don't be surprised if you get a polite "no" when you ask ;)

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Telesales staff have been told they are not to transfer calls to chargable departments. Customer Service reps will be told they can, for now, transfer to technical support (which is at the higher 0871 rate) - but this will be reviewed in the future if significant revenue is being lost this way.

---------- Post added at 00:12 ---------- Previous post was at 00:11 ----------

The 0871 number is for broadband technical support only. TV & telephone faults will continue to be handled via the main contact number, which is now 0845.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

holy **** batman - this 0871 number is 10p at all times - I didn't realise that.

---------- Post added at 00:34 ---------- Previous post was at 00:33 ----------

even more of a rip off than 0870

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

I wonder why broadband support is at a higher rate?

higher volume of people ringing up due to speed problems etc?
ntl realising not as cheap as they thought having it in india?
detterent for people to bitch about speeds?

I suspect number 3 might be a big one.

ntl:telewest those of you who thought a merger was to benefit customers have got an early answer to that although I never expected things to go downhill this fast. Generally larger companies are more disrespectful to customers.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

and it's 10p a min now but may go up in the future.

---------- Post added at 08:10 ---------- Previous post was at 07:27 ----------

BT yahoo broadband tech support is an 0845 number:-

Customer Support:
0845 600 7030

Open 24 hours a day, calls are charged at local rate.


significantly cheaper than ntl

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Will the IVR option for Broadband faults just give customers a recorded message with the new number then cut them off then?

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Excellent point. Personally, I'd rather hear one of those "There are 487 calls ahead of you", or "There are 5 calls ahead of you" messages so I could make the decision whether to hold or give up. Of course, hanging up within a minute wouldn't raise much revenue, but it wouldn't waste an entire day/evening/night hanging about for a phone call that may or may not happen either!

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Think I'll be phoning NTL then from my mobile...at least I got free minutes there ;)

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

So because "everyone else does it", ntl has to do the same? Why not try to be better than the other companies?

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

free mins to 0845 and 0871 numbers? better check mate if you're not 100% sure.

my orange payg phone charges 25p a min for these numbers.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

I'm starting to wonder if I did the right thing by keeping my broadband at £34.99 a month with NTL!

(got rid of TV & Telco)

I'm very tempted to call up now and give 30 days notice on my broadband too, this amounts to the fith price increase in under a year since I joined them!

I would not mind so much if I new that when I called this number I would get an answer within three minutes and my problem solved first time. But my history with NTL tells me something very different! :td:

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

considering the problems people have with ntl, merry go round, waiting etc. If they needed to charge a fixed fee might have been more appropriate.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Has the 10 meg fiasco been a trial run to see how many calls can be generated for NTL's new income stream? Maybe 1/2meg upgrades are scheduled for May 2006?

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

so why is one call centre 0845 and the other 0871? why is customer service a chargeable call? why is tech support a chargeable call at an even higher rate?

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Normally because the Technical Support calls are longer and cost Ntl more to handle than the Cust Service ones.

A normal call to customer services can be dealt with in about 3-4 minutes by a competent CSR.
Even the best training technical staff will struggle to get past the initial troubleshooting and diags in that time.

They could redeem themselves slightly by bringing the tech support back to the UK with the money saved/made out the chargeable calls and put a cap on the time limit so if a customer has been on the phone for say 25-30 minutes they get a call back.

Can't see that happening though :(

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

tech support jobs exported to Indian AND now they want 10p a min. a double pile of turd. so what they want is for us to pay money which effectively will be going out of the country - so it's not like we're paying this 10p a min and can say the money is being used to keep some uk staff off the dole.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

NTL will of course refund the costs of any phone call where the fault you are reporting is deemed to be their problem.

Won't they :o:

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

That's interesting, considering this is supposed to be about providing better service to customers rather than generating revenue from their problems.

Another interesting questions, add it to my list.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

just when i though the 3 for 30 would keep me with them they inspire me to leave

and if do stay i will be asking for a refund if i report a fault that is thier fault

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

I guess for once, people calling will be wanting to stay on hold for a long time, as at least then they'll get the option of being called back. If the call is answered immediately but you spend a long time dealing with the CS rep ("No... I said T as in Tango, H as in Hotel :doh: ) then it's gonna get annoying pretty quickly.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

You have had that problem too then Gareth?

I thought it was just my welsh accent that they were having trouble understanding!

Last time I spoke to NTL's TS in India I came off the phone with a complex. I was thinking of going to speach therapy!

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

I presume with all this extra income, it will be reinvested to provide more customer service reps to answer the phone so you won't have to be on hold for 30mins before speaking to someome....?

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

It will be used to pay the bonus's of Senior Management who cannot organise a **** up in a brewery.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

This news is a disgrace, and another thing to encourage people to leave NTL. I can understand them charging for normal customer service things, like wanting to change you package etc.

But if you're either phoning to report a fault with THEIR system, or more often, to get an incorrect bill put right, you should not have to pay. After all you're phoning because you have to, not by choice, to get something put right that's their fault.

They shouldn't be allowed to profit from faults and poor service, it only encourages them to be even worse at what they do, to make sure they get even more calls.

I hope they have a rethink or they could see customers leaving in droves. It's bad enough that they charge a connection fee now per call instead of a minimum charge like it used to be. I've still got my original contract from when I joined ntl 10yrs ago....line rental £4.28 a month....shows how much they've gone up over the years. :mad:

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

inflation has to be taken into account though.... you could buy a mars bar for 20p 10 years ago ;)

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Indeed you could. And it was bigger as well.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

0871, i called 0800 number this morning with the problems in manchester area, didnt realise it opens till 8am and was told to dial 0871 number from the ivr

oh and i can also see that customers with genuine issues are going to be kicking and screaming for refunds for this, we get it all the time as we have a 0870 where i work

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Yeah the point being, they sold it on the phone line, the TV was just an additional benefit, they weren't allowed to 'sell' the TV. The phone was pushed as being half the price of BT, and cheaper calls too...that no longer applies.

Also the price hasn't just gone up from that amount, it happened within a few years of joining ntl (Comcast as it was then in our area).

The current line rental is approximately 250% more than it was when we first signed up...my wages haven't gone up anywhere near 250%. The biggest bugbear is the connection charge though, it adds a big lump to the bill, especially if you make a lot of short calls.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

I've saved a shedload of cash thatnks so that wonderful site. Will use it for ntl numbers.

---------- Post added at 01:23 ---------- Previous post was at 01:22 ----------

As for the 0871 number, that is classed as a premium number now I believe, in the same way that the old 0898 numbers (now 0906 etc) are.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

see post 7:-

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/sh...772#post703772

2 hours on 1 call to tech support = £12 at the new rate because the customer is finding that (upto) 10meg is running at dial up speeds.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Yep that's right, we will very soon have the privilage of paying NTL for their poor service!

But at the end of the day, most will moan about it but in reality they will do nothing about it!

NTL know this and hense I reckon the charge will be around to stay!

The moment I have to pay for a call because of my broadband or modem developing a fault I will simply call to cancel!

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Would you cancel Sky if that developed a fault as well?

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Even Ebuyer can provide simple stats on their customer service on this page http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/help/...Y29udGFjdF91cw==

Come on ntl its not hard.

---------- Post added at 11:28 ---------- Previous post was at 11:25 ----------

This is how I was 'sold' it The said it was half the bt cost for line rental and that the bills would be 20% less. Which they where initially. The analogue tv was also much better than sky analogue and was only £11.99 per month.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

No because sky don't charge me 10p per min & I know it will get resolved first time with sky!

This is not the case with NTL.

Also why would I need to call sky if I have a fault?

The sky equiptment is mine, I paid for it, it is not under any warranty with sky etc....

If my sky equiptment developes a fault I replace it myself!

That way I am never without a service, and I know I am getting equiptment that is fast and reliable not to mention I do not have to have a phone line with it adding a charge of over £120 a year like NTL force you to do if you have their tv service. With NTL it is their equiptment that I am paying a rental for which is all bunddled into their monthy subs. so why should I be forced to pay to report a fault with their equiptment?

Just to add in the 10 months I have been with NTL I dread to think how much phone charges I would have incured due to NTL's screw up's! it would have to be in the regeion of £50+ and I am not making that up!

For the last five months NTL have made several billing errors on my bill! Why on earth do you think I should ever have to pay for that?

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

the faults with the NTL 10meg service appear to be related to the network being faulty rather than your local equipment.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

It will? There have been plenty of people who have had problems with Sky. In fact I think it was Bill C who took 3 or 4 visits before they managed to get his service working.
Mine took 2 and since then I've had to call them 3 times this year with problems with my Sky+ box.

It has been for me and for the majority of their customers.

If you are within the 1st 12 months of your contract you are covered for faults with the equipment.

If you have a local company that does satellite equipment servicing and installtion fine. If you want to call 1 number to report faults and get someone out you are going to call the ones listed in the Sky magazine.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

It's still a fault with NTL's equiptment!

---------- Post added at 12:07 ---------- Previous post was at 12:04 ----------

I'm not even going to waste my time explaining this one, the posts on this forum board alone speaks for itself!

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Do you want to see my phone bill for the last month for all the calls to sky to fix my problem. In all it took 16 calls over 1 month for them to fix the crap install they carried out and and to fix the lies they then told me. Outcome 6 months all channels at half price as a sorry and a complete reinstall. Soon as the 12 months are up i will dump them completely.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

You are the only one on here who has had that much of a bad experience with them as far as I have seen, I know loads of people who have sky for years without problems.

I don't know anyone who has had NTL for years who can say the same!

Don't get me wrong, yes there are customers of sky who have had problems. Sky are not faltless!

My sister has had sky+ via two digiboxes since it originally launched and only one box was replaced!

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

I cannot wait to finish the 12 months so i can dump sky for ever. They are the worst company i have EVER had dealings with.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

You don't need to wait the 12 months, you can downgrade to the min package and give notice!

That is what I would do if they were so bad.

I would then sell my digibox on ebay to make back any money I had to pay out to sky for ending my contract early!

But let me guess, they ain't that bad right?

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

the best and most accurate way of judging SKY and NTL's success is probably in the subscriber numbers and churn numbers. they both have millions of customers so by default must have millions of happy customers!

for every extremely irate sky+ customer like Bill there's probably a similar NTL customer here irate about 10meg - swings and roundabouts.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

If memory serves me right sky had 7 million and NTL had 3!

that just goes to show who provides a better service in my opinion. Ok I know NTL have just merged with another company so they can now say they have about the same!

But then again we all know how easy it is to fiddle the figures don't we!

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Me for one. And when I worked there you would get plenty of calls from people who the last note on their account for any reason was 2-3 years ago.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

:LOL:

I think Sky covers a bigger area. Therefor by area coverd alone they will have more customers ?

Even when they have merged they will still have a smaller area.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Funnily enough Sky cover the whole of the Uk. Ntl/Telewest do not.

I'll give you one guess who has more customers in cabled areas though.

I'll give you a clue. It isn't Sky.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

I already gathered you worked for them!

Just to add, we can go on like this all day but we seem to be going off topic!

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

And before you say i work for them i dont. Infact i was made redundant by them so you would think i have a even bigger axe to grind with NTL than SK$. The fact is that in the 6 years i had cable TV it worked well. In the 3 months i have had Sky+ it has never worked fully and as good as the advert semm to say it is.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

I know you no longer work for them, had no intensions of saying other. but then again your staff on a cable forum that is recommended by NTL so I would take what you say with a pinch of salt!

No offence was intended by that comment!

I am nothing more than a customer, my opinion is nothing more than based around that!

Why would I have any reason to diss a company like them for unless they provide poor service?

I have nothing against NTL's products, it's their overal service I have a problem with. I left sky to go with NTL as I thought it would work out cheaper, and easier paying three bills in one!

How wrong I was!

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

sky can reach all the uk cant they? but ntl have only a portion of uk homes. as far as I know - why NTL and SKY are both available to a house, NTL has the bigger percentage - i.e. in NTL areas they have more customers than SKY.
as per this comment:-

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Same here. I was made redundant over a year ago and have absolutely no reason to be a fanboy for Ntl.

I just like to see some balance to discussions. Sky have been charging for calls to customer services for years AND have a worse reputation IMO for keeping customers on hold than Ntl.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

As I said earlier, it's easy to fiddle the figures ain't it!

---------- Post added at 12:35 ---------- Previous post was at 12:33 ----------

Hey I know how to get a good discussion going!

Any chance of a job on here, I'll keep your board busy! :D

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Ah but we know that CSR's don't always update the notes on the account. :nono:

How many people post here saying they were promised x/y/z by Joe Bloggs in CS, but then when they phoned back got the old "I'm sorry Sir/Madam, but there's no note of that on your account" (Answer=lots)....

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

have to agree there with you Neil, couple of times this happend that some1 would phone me back (always been promised this by india for some reason)....when I've called NTL the last couple of times I was I think lucky and speak to Swansea and there they know their stuff and dont follow a script.

Also if they broadband tech supp. is going to be handled more in the UK I dont think that people would mind paying 10p a minute.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

But (on SMS at least) you *could* check the full history of the account and see who had made any changes or had engineers/faults booked.
For plenty of them they hadn't had any reason to call in years and were only calling in to make changes to channels etc.

Re: Tech Support to be charged at 0871 rate from 8 May
 

Well in my opinion I reckon there will be a lot of unhappy NTL customers out ther come may, at least with sky it ain't 10p per min which ever way you look at it!

Calling NTL is going to cost more than it does sky!

And we all know how long it takes to speak to a CS or TS at NTL not to mention the run around you get between different departments. And the follow back calls because it has not been resolved and no notes placed on your accounts!

Then what are you going to use as an excuse to put sky down?