Cable Forum - View Single Post - Help getting premium channels back after new box

nbubba · 14-04-2005, 08:54

The story so far ...

Approximate time without TV channels and Broadband: 140 Hours
Phonecalls: 9
Estimated time on phone or waiting for call-backs: 225 Minutes

Last night, Wednesday, 5:45PM Call 8. Spoke to Alex (who apparently visits this site sometimes). Explained situation again. Explained that NTL had allegedly shown an interest in resolving this by contacting me via Nemesis (thanks). Full of optimism. Few holds, few chats with the "Team Leader". Wow! Could something be happening?! Let's see ... Alex told me he was going to contact the IT department personally, it would take about 20 minutes he reckoned, and I'd get a call back. Apparently there was "a bit of a backlog". Indeed there must have been since this was the same excuse I had been given on Saturday morning. 5-day backlog. Ouch.

Now, all this led me to believe that Alex was going to contact the IT department personally, it would take about 20 minutes, and I'd get a call back. I don't know where I got this idea from.

I'm reasonable. I knew 20 minutes would be unlikely. More like 30. And I could allow 40 for unforeseen issues.

(sound of crickets ... distant, echoing cough ... Earth rotated 1/24th of its circumference on the long voyage around the Sun ...)

7:05PM, Call 9. Spoke to Interrupting-Julie. Interrupting-Julie likes the phrase "I can't do anything about that Sir". At least 7 times I counted. Probably many more. Interrupting-Julie made me start to grit my teeth with frustration and annoyance at being interrupted every time I tried to complain further. I pointed out that I was upset that I had no idea what was going on and that I considered the situation atrocious. I also stated - after being told that I-J would email the appropriate people - that I was finding it very difficult to believe anything I was being told. Interrupting-Julie threw me a curveball and accused me of not treating her like a human. I was flustered and could only blurt out "What?" a few times. I-J, for the record: I use sarcasm on humans, I patronise humans, I talk down to humans who are fobbing me off with yet another (or the same) excuse; these are not acts I use on inanimate objects, such as house-bricks. You were being treated like a human. You may not have liked it but that's irrelevant. It would have been nice to have been treated like a customer with a problem rather than someone with whom to end the call as quickly as possible in return.

I actually hung-up on Interrupting-Julie through a lack of getting anywhere although I was able to determine that Wayne (call 7) had apparently emailed the wrong department and they'd emailed back stating it was the wrong department. Alex (call 8) had now emailed the right department and I could expect (hahahaha!) things to be sorted in 24 hours.

Here's what's wrong with these little nuggets: firstly, Alex was supposed to be calling the department and then calling me but he ended up emailing the department. Okay, maybe he couldn't get through - these things happen - but I was supposed to be informed of what was happening. A 10-second call to state that they'd been informed is all it would have taken. Does nobody at NTL have a clue as to how annoying this is? Secondly, I work for a computer company. Occasionally an email turns up to me that should have gone to, say, Sales. I forward it to them. If my company employed the NTL-method it would work like this: customer emails me by mistake with a sales enquiry, I forward it to Support and consider my job done, Support email me back pointing out it should have gone to Sales and consider their job done. Result: we consider our jobs done and lose the sale because Sales never actually get the email. This is no way to run a business in the service industry; this isn't rocket-science, it's common sense.

So, a second evening this week with 1.5 hours wasted either on the phone or waiting for phantom call-backs. 1.5 hours may not seem like much but when I get in from work at gone 5PM that equates to almost a quarter of my evening well-and-truly wasted. Again. Frustration, anger, time-wasting, planned viewing and taping blown out of the water, typical online activities destroyed. What a great week. The 6+ days compensation for lack of service I will probably have to call multiple times to have actually credited is really going to be worth all this, isn't it?

14-04-2005, 08:54	#7
nbubba Inactive Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Portsmouth Services: Virgin VIP Posts: 19	Re: Help getting premium channels back after new box The story so far ... Approximate time without TV channels and Broadband: 140 Hours Phonecalls: 9 Estimated time on phone or waiting for call-backs: 225 Minutes Last night, Wednesday, 5:45PM Call 8. Spoke to Alex (who apparently visits this site sometimes). Explained situation again. Explained that NTL had allegedly shown an interest in resolving this by contacting me via Nemesis (thanks). Full of optimism. Few holds, few chats with the "Team Leader". Wow! Could something be happening?! Let's see ... Alex told me he was going to contact the IT department personally, it would take about 20 minutes he reckoned, and I'd get a call back. Apparently there was "a bit of a backlog". Indeed there must have been since this was the same excuse I had been given on Saturday morning. 5-day backlog. Ouch. Now, all this led me to believe that Alex was going to contact the IT department personally, it would take about 20 minutes, and I'd get a call back. I don't know where I got this idea from. I'm reasonable. I knew 20 minutes would be unlikely. More like 30. And I could allow 40 for unforeseen issues. (sound of crickets ... distant, echoing cough ... Earth rotated 1/24th of its circumference on the long voyage around the Sun ...) 7:05PM, Call 9. Spoke to Interrupting-Julie. Interrupting-Julie likes the phrase "I can't do anything about that Sir". At least 7 times I counted. Probably many more. Interrupting-Julie made me start to grit my teeth with frustration and annoyance at being interrupted every time I tried to complain further. I pointed out that I was upset that I had no idea what was going on and that I considered the situation atrocious. I also stated - after being told that I-J would email the appropriate people - that I was finding it very difficult to believe anything I was being told. Interrupting-Julie threw me a curveball and accused me of not treating her like a human. I was flustered and could only blurt out "What?" a few times. I-J, for the record: I use sarcasm on humans, I patronise humans, I talk down to humans who are fobbing me off with yet another (or the same) excuse; these are not acts I use on inanimate objects, such as house-bricks. You were being treated like a human. You may not have liked it but that's irrelevant. It would have been nice to have been treated like a customer with a problem rather than someone with whom to end the call as quickly as possible in return. I actually hung-up on Interrupting-Julie through a lack of getting anywhere although I was able to determine that Wayne (call 7) had apparently emailed the wrong department and they'd emailed back stating it was the wrong department. Alex (call 8) had now emailed the right department and I could expect (hahahaha!) things to be sorted in 24 hours. Here's what's wrong with these little nuggets: firstly, Alex was supposed to be calling the department and then calling me but he ended up emailing the department. Okay, maybe he couldn't get through - these things happen - but I was supposed to be informed of what was happening. A 10-second call to state that they'd been informed is all it would have taken. Does nobody at NTL have a clue as to how annoying this is? Secondly, I work for a computer company. Occasionally an email turns up to me that should have gone to, say, Sales. I forward it to them. If my company employed the NTL-method it would work like this: customer emails me by mistake with a sales enquiry, I forward it to Support and consider my job done, Support email me back pointing out it should have gone to Sales and consider their job done. Result: we consider our jobs done and lose the sale because Sales never actually get the email. This is no way to run a business in the service industry; this isn't rocket-science, it's common sense. So, a second evening this week with 1.5 hours wasted either on the phone or waiting for phantom call-backs. 1.5 hours may not seem like much but when I get in from work at gone 5PM that equates to almost a quarter of my evening well-and-truly wasted. Again. Frustration, anger, time-wasting, planned viewing and taping blown out of the water, typical online activities destroyed. What a great week. The 6+ days compensation for lack of service I will probably have to call multiple times to have actually credited is really going to be worth all this, isn't it?