[Syco]

Hi guys (sorry this is going to be a long one),

In reference to my earlier post I did contact the Coventry Trading Standards Office, I explained to them what my concerns were and they are interested in following this up and have asked me to email screen-shots and description of the upgrade process and if anyone else wants to voice their concerns about this current on/off/trial/limited 10Mb service then you can email consumer.advice@coventry.gov.uk with the subject line: "NTL 10Mb Upgrade"

Now to explain what I think is wrong with how NTL have conducted themselves so far.

I was not aware of the 10Mb upgrade happening (although I hear that it was coming) So when I decided I would now like to upgrade to either 2mb or 3mb tier I went to their main site and clicked on Tools & Services which produced this screen (sorry for it being Duel)

http:www.familytree-rice.com/ntl/ntl1.JPG

I then clicked Speed Upgrade which took me to this page

http:www.familytree-rice.com/ntl/ntl2.JPG

As you can see they are showing 1Mb 2Mb 3Mb tiers so I click the "upgrade your Cable Modem"

which took me to this page.

http:www.familytree-rice.com/ntl/ntl3.JPG

So I enter in my details...which takes me to this page.

http:www.familytree-rice.com/ntl/ntl4.JPG

As you can see I'm already on the 1Mb tier, I seen the 10Mb tier and thought "bloody hell the 10Mb service is available" Hell lets go for that as its better speed to the £ than the 2Mb tier, so I upgraded to the 10Mb tier solely based on these details.

Once I had upgraded I then discovered that the maximum I was actually getting was only 3Mb, I thought hmmmm......must be a problem I'll ring tech support,

Tech support say....... Yes you are on the 10Mb service but you will only get the 3Mb service until end of 2005 or early 2006.

I say....... Hang on a minute I upgraded to 10Mb so would expect to get as close as damn it to the 10Mb you are offering, if you can only supply 3mb why are you advertising the 10Mb as an option and not still 3Mb?

He says....... because the 3Mb is being replaced with the 10Mb and the only people who can get the 10Mb are new customers.

I say...... so why do I have the option to upgrade to 10Mb if its only available to new customers, which by the way stinks!

He says...... because the 10Mb service is a replacement for the 3Mb service, so you will then be ready for when they do upgrade everyone to the 10Mb service.

I say..... I agreed to a service that I was offered on your upgrade page that said up-to 10Mb for £37.99p no where does it state that I will only be getting 3Mb so what you are actually offering is a false description of service which by the way is illegal.

He says....Ill need to transfer you to Customer services..

Hello....Customer service how can I help you?

I say.....Hi I'm not happy that I have been hoodwinked into taking a higher priced service, but would actually be getting a lower service.

he says....But the price is the same for the 3Mb service and the 10Mb service so your not paying any extra its just that its called the 10Mb service and will be 10Mb when they finish upgrading the network.

I say....But its illegal for you to advertise a certain level of service yet deliberately provide a lower level of service, I have agreed to pay for the 10Mb service but I'm also being told that although I have selected 10Mb yet only new customers can have it, and I will only get 3Mb until such time that NTL decide to upgrade me (end 2005 early 2006) Your description of services mislead me into ordering the higher tier, no where does it say during the upgrade process that there is a limit to the service for existing customers.

He says....You cant order the 10Mb service on the website.

I say....Yes you can, I did.

he says...no you cant, you must be mistaken.

I say.....Grrrrrrrrrrr.....YES YOU CAN.

He says.....well there is nothing we can do, you will be upgraded sometime in 2006

I say what happened to end of 2005?

He says..... thats for people who are already on the 3Mb service.

I say.....Sheeesh...I'm on the 10Mb service and wont get upgraded until 2006

He says...Yes sir that is correct.

I say....I am not happy about this, I want to be downgraded to the 1Mb service I was on before.

He says...you cant change your service again for 30 days.

I say..... so I have to pay £37.99 for a month for the pleasure of being lied to and being mislead into ordering a higher tier?

He says .....No-one has lied to you sir, you will be getting upgraded free of charge.

I say....I'm contacting the Trading Standards Office to see what they have to say about it.

He says...Thats up to you sir....anything else I can help you with.

I say....No thanks!

Within 30sec's of finishing the call my modem re-booted and I'm back on 1Mb service, anyone want to bet that I still get charged the £37.99.

My point of contention is that for those of us that was not aware that the 10Mb service was available (even partially) and being offered it as one of the upgrade options, then NTL are deliberately dangling a carrot in the eyes of everyone who visits the upgrade screen, knowing that they will (as i did) select the higher tier as it offered better value for money, some may argue that the old 3mb service was still only £37.99, so what am I complaining about, I am complaining that their service description is currently false for the 10Mb and is only offered purely to get existing users to upgrade to the 10Mb rather than the 2Mb which gives NTL an extra £13.00 per user, If the 10Mb service is not available to everyone who chooses to upgrade then it should not be described as 10Mb it should still be described as the 3Mb as that is what the user will actually be getting until they are upgraded at a later date.

As the TSO are interested in this then there should be some merit to my complaint