Personal ntl hell

micronaut · 18-12-2006, 10:40

Hi,

I thought I would post my personal experience of ntl hell after undergoing the final insult from the company today.

6 months ago I signed up for ntl's telephone, internet, and television service at a flat I was renting, as the building was grade 2 listed and couldn't have any aerials fitted. My problems began immediately when the ntl engineer reported he couldn't find the phone line to the property and the flat wasn't compatible with a phone being a history of customers using a phone at the premises for years. After several weeks and several calls to the service desk I managed to persuade them to send out another engineer who switched the phone on within 5 minutes and couldn't explain why there was a problem.

Soon after the installation was complete the internet connection began dropping so I again contacted the service desk. The technician was unable to find a fault on the line and eventually the internet stopped connecting impermanently. An engineer was dispatched after a week and couldn't find a fault. The set top box was replaced but the problem persisted. After another week and more calls to the service desk a second engineer was sent out who thought the fault was due to the service desk disconnecting the internet service during my call. The problem appeared to stop for a few days, but then started again. I again contacted the help desk who dispatched a 3rd engineer. This engineer isolated the fault as another ntl user being given the same address on the server so it was disconnecting mine. The problem was corrected and the interent worked fine.

My first bills began to arrive from ntl and I noticed that I was being charged double for my service, along with a non-direct debit charge for my direct debit payment. I once again contacted the help desk and managed to get this corrected, and the excess charge refunded in my next bill.

In December of this year I purchased my first house and arranged for ntl to move my connection to my new property . I rang ntl 10 days before the move and arranged for installation at the beginning of December, booking a day off work to wait for the engineer who didn't arrive. I contacted ntl and they told me they had no record of the job as they were undergoing a computer upgrade and it had been lost during the transfer. A new date was booked in for an engineer to install the service and I booked a 2nd day off work to wait. The 2nd date came and went and again no engineer arrived. I contacted ntl who told me that the engineer had gone to the junction box at the bottom of the road and found it full. I apparently should have been notified of this but wasn't. I was told that there were 3 disconnections due for that week and ntl would contact me within 48 hours to re-arrange installation, and a free line had been reserved. 96 hours later I had not been contacted so I rang ntl who told me that they couldn't give me any more information other than the job was "pending" and I was to await their call. 5 days later (today) I contacted ntl to inquire about progress on my installation and I was told that the disconnections had been completed last week but due to the time of the year I wouldn't be able to get another installation until after 3rd January.

I am now left with no phone, television, or internet connection over Christmas. I canceled my installation with the help desk and have stopped my direct debit to ntl for the remainder of my minimum fixed term contract while I contact a solicitor and the telecoms ombudsman to investigate compensation from ntl.

I have lost numerous holidays waiting in for engineers and spent nearly every evening of last summer on the helpdesk on hold for >40 minutes for each call, at my own cost. I find it outrageous that ntl charge a connection fee and rate for calling their own service desk. I requested my notes from the service desk to provide evidence for my complaints incase ntl delete my records, however I was told that there are only available at an additional charge!

My only words to describe ntl are "shocking" and "disgraceful". How Richard Branson can promote this company as a legitimate contender for ITV is baffling. If anybody is visiting this website thinking of joining ntl, please bear in the problems described above, and those throughout this website. I never dreamed I would ever see the day when I went running back to BT to beg forgiveness.