[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Bender

spot on. let's face it, NTL is a communications company, so why does there appear to be an issue with it communicating within itself? as I said before - and engineer, regardless of the area he/she works in, is a customer facing company representative. NTL have announced that these changes will be going ahead. I mean, it's on web forums, and you're telling me that NTL should not expect it's own staff to be informed? there has been mention of the changes to limited customers before the end of the year, with others to follow in the new year. the engineer should, on all counts, be aware of the situation and be capable of answering questions regarding the subject posed to him by customers. I'm not saying the engineer should now EVERYTHING about it, but at least be aware of it and it's basic details. if he/she doesn't know the answer to a detailed question, then by all means, point the customer towards the call centre, who CERTAINLY should have access to more in-depth information at this stage in it's developement. a basic knowledge of a communication companies communications services is essential. perhaps it's just me who thinks this? and Chrysalis!

You expect the installers to know about services and products that haven't launched yet?

The problem with that is illustrated by the current problems with Channel launches. Look at the amount of complaints that failiure generated on this forum alone!

don't get me wrong - i'm not putting NTL down for releasing the service, etc, and well done to them for being competative and so on, but in my view, it IS a poor show on NTL's part if they don't ensure they make every effort to see that their own staff know what is going on.

If the dates are that uncertain, then the engineer / call centre - whoever - could at least say "we expect the service to be live by....". There is no obligation for them to give everyone who asks a definitive date for live service to their home. in fact, if the dates are that uncertain, perhaps the upgrade should not have been mentioned, otherwise it looks to obvious that it was just to scare the rivals, who will then ACTUALLY release a faster service sooner!!!

The problem with that is (and I speak from experience here), if you say "and we expect the service to go live by ..." and then say a date, people will ignore the "we expect the service to go live by..." bit and assume the date is final.