[Stuart]

Some comments on this thread:

Russ, IMO, it's entirely reasonable to expect the customer to be near their PC/Set Top Box/SACM when reporting a fault. You don't need to know anything about computing to realise that, it's common sense. If, for example, your TV wasn't picking up the terrestrial channels and you phoned the manufacturer about it, wouldn't you be near the TV when they answered? Still, maybe NTL should advise people somewhere (maybe in the welcome pack, or on the bills etc) to do this.

Regarding insults. The only insults I have seen in this thread have been from the customers.

As stated by Dr Wadd, the staff can sometimes come a but unstuck when dealing with someone who is knowledgable about computing, and do repeat the same script. It also seems that their only response when dealing with faults is "reboot the STB/SACM"..

The problem with NTL is that (in my experience) they never seem to make notes on the customer's account of when the customer reported a fault, and what actions were suggested. In my case, this wasted both my time and NTLs when I was having problems with my broadband connection (it died frequently, and each time I phoned, I was told to reboot the box). After three or four phone calls, they eventually worked out that the Set top box was faulty and replaced it. Each time, the CSR appeared not to know I had the problem before.