Cable Forum - Escalation

Having spent the past few days beating my head against ntl trying to get them to explain why they haven't sent out the engineer that they promised, I have now discovered the fascinating ntl concept of "escalation".

It works like this. After your umpteenth call when Customer Support realise that you are fraying at the edges and liable to explode any minute they suddenly tell you that they'll "escalate" the matter. Great, you think, action at last! Not quite. What it means is that, despite having messed you around for the past few days, ntl have now unilaterally awarded themselves another 1 to 2 days before they need to do anything.

Ah, well, you say resignedly, at least something's going to happen. Again, in ntlworld things are not what they seem. If you phone again next day and ask why nothing has happened, why, ntl escalate the problem again but, wait for it, they now reset the escalation clock to zero, giving themselves another couple of days at your expense! As far as I can see, ntl can use this as an excuse for not doing anything until hell freezes over. I'd suggest ntl patenting the concept, except that you can't patent perpetual motion.