It's a sad thing that with any organisation there are some morons who pass the buck - even small companies have those kind of cretins. It's either that or the staff aren't motivated enough to care or want to annoy customers - perhaps they dont realise the stress they induce when they treat customers like this.
BT have been just as guilty in the past of providing me with a disgraceful customer service involving buck passing and a deliberate culture of obstructing their competitors and for that I will always view BT as in need of being broken up.
I always remember how BT did their utmost to stifle the internet in it's early consumer days:-
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/print?TYPE=st...369t-10000023c
I hope NTL never end up growing into a big company that becomes a big monster like BT.