dr wadd

I agree, no one offers a fault free service. However, I, and I would guess a good many other people, would take this to refer to faults in the technical sense, a broken cable, a downed line, that sort of thing. I do not assume that they mean fault in the general sense of the term.

In this instance, as it has been described in the original post, it is not a fault, it is an error on the part of NTL that could have been entirely avoided, and is due to incompetence on the part of one of more individuals.

Do you not think NTL have an obligation to provide a service without making this sort of stupid mistake? This is not an issue that was beyond their control, this is an issue entirely within their control. Whether the problem be poor training or a monkey in the workplace, NTL need to pay attention to this situation and ensure that it does not happen again. As has been stated earlier, a telephone can be an important lifeline for some people and it is simply not acceptable for that lifeline to be removed simply because there is some idiot dealing with customer accounts.

If I were in this situation you can bet your life that I would be pushing for an apology, I would be pushing for some form of compensation, and I would be pushing for a guarantee that this sort of problem wouldn`t happen again. This is not a back-hoe incident, this is an error with procedure and process, and those should be structure to ensure that this sort of mistake cannot be made. Given the context of the guarantee asked for in the original post, I honestly do not believe that this is an unreasonable demand to make.

I know you like to defend NTL, loyalty to an employer is commendable, but sometimes you are attempting to defend the indefensible. There is a fine line between blind loyalty and blind ignorance, I would hope you do not make the mistake of crossing that line.