[Madpuppy]

Hi!

We have been overcharged over the past few months by NTL. My boyfriend holds a Broadband only subscription for which the monthly fee is set at £24.99.

Over the past 9 months, he has been overcharged on various occasions for various amonts, and he's now owed £131.40.

When this came to our attention, we called NTL Customer Service and asked for a refund. The Customer Service representative, responded that he would credit my BF's NTL account with the amount wrongly charged. We said we did not want him to credit Jay's NTL account but his Bank account. After all why should the money remain on NTL's account, when we're up to date with the payments? It's not exactly like the dollars are rolling in the household and we can afford to pay 5 months in advance...

The following day, we called again and found out (after 20 minutes waiting on hold) that Jay's NTL account had been credited with £105. Jay asked a manager to refund the money to his bank account but was told me that he'd need to go to his bank to get an authorisation form. He's got a very demanding 6 days a week job, and he cannot take time to 'pop' to the bank. And after all, shouldn't NTL be the ones running around to rectify their mistake?!

Additionally, I am not sure how the refund of £105 has been calculated, as the correct refund should have been £131.40, go figure!

We have been given no reason as to why these various amounts of money were debited from Jay's bank account in the first place and the only compensation Jay has been offered is a £20 credit note... to his NTL account!! The NTL customer representatives did not try to offer any alternative to refund the money, not even via a simple cheque. To top it all, I have just learnt that TV subscribers can get refunds from NTL directly on their bank accounts, but not internet subscribers, how absurd is this?!

In addition to this problem, when Jay signed up with NTL, he specifically asked if he could cancel at any time (knowing that he may not reside in the same place for a long time). The customer representative assured him that he could indeed cancel his contract whenever he wanted, without penalty. When a few months later, he asked to cancel his subscription, he was then told that he was tied up to a year contract. Sure enough, the conversation recordings are only used for training pruposes and never available when you really need them to prove your point. We didn't expect such methods from a company considered reputable.

And to top it all, we've had no internet connection for the past two days. I believe this is only fluke, but under the circumstances, it really is the cherry on the cake!!

It is so unfair to have to spend so much time and effort to get something back which was always yours in the first place and not being able to speak to someone who can understand our frustration and do something about it...