Likes and dislikes

[jonbr]

Things I like about NTL:

1) You get to speak to a human when you call them

Err, that's it.

Things I dislike about NTL:

1) Too many options when you phone them with too many messages - give us the choice of a central phone number or multiple direct numbers cutting out the options.

2) The different stories you get from different people in the same department - BB support, some say a loss of cable modem connection and a bad analogue TV signal are related, some say not.

3) The appauling sales service - missed appointments, installs not arranged etc.

Some would say only three dislikes isn't bad, but when I only have one like that's not good.

[nffc]

Originally Posted by jonbr

Things I dislike about NTL:

1) Too many options when you phone them with too many messages - give us the choice of a central phone number or multiple direct numbers cutting out the options.

2) The different stories you get from different people in the same department - BB support, some say a loss of cable modem connection and a bad analogue TV signal are related, some say not.

3) The appauling sales service - missed appointments, installs not arranged etc.

Some would say only three dislikes isn't bad, but when I only have one like that's not good.

1+2 are the same as most support call centres though, 1 is there to make sure you get through to the right department/line, if people were given a list of direct numbers they'd ring the wrong one. And the queuing and the directing are meant to make sure the first time you get through to who you need to. Remember quite a lot of ntl's user base, as with other things, tends to be n00bs not that I mean that in a derogatory sense.

2. That depends on the operator and is a catch 22 situation. Often there's not a clear-cut answer and depends on the scenario- but the principle is more important because on one hand we have people moaning that the call handlers are forced to use flowcharts and can't use their own initiative and on others people who moan that sometimes they are left to their initiative and come up with slightly different advice: granted, I don't know the precise workings of NTL but i would assume they'd log customers' calls and also have a lot of information available to their call handlers- so maybe better training is the answer.

3 I agree with though.

[SlackDad]

Originally Posted by jonbr

Things I like about NTL:

1) You get to speak to a human when you call them

Err, that's it.

Things I dislike about NTL:

1) Too many options when you phone them with too many messages - give us the choice of a central phone number or multiple direct numbers cutting out the options.

2) The different stories you get from different people in the same department - BB support, some say a loss of cable modem connection and a bad analogue TV signal are related, some say not.

3) The appauling sales service - missed appointments, installs not arranged etc.

Some would say only three dislikes isn't bad, but when I only have one like that's not good.

Come on, if that's seriously ALL you like about NTL why do you still subscribe to their Broadband service. And the two dislikes you mention could be levelled at most telecommunication companies.

[DocDutch]

hmm things I like about NTL???

1. normally stable services (got tv, bb and phone)
2. if bb goes down it goes down with a bang
3. tech support that doesnt always know what it is talking about

things I dont like about NTL.

1. tech support not doing any proper checks.
2. if bb dies it takes you about 10 days to have it sorted.

what I love about this forum THE HELPFULNESS OF ALL INVOLVED.

[punky]

Likes:

1. Broadband service. - Top notch, more than happy.

2. Installation fees - very reasonable.

Dislikes:

1. The admin/billing. Everyone makes mistakes but NTL make too many I think.

2. Length of time to answer the phone: Haven't called in a while so I don't know if it has improved but before it never used to be under 30 mins, normally like 45mins.

3. TV service - poor quality I think

[White Tiger]

For me, it's quite simple:

Like the product.

Don't mind the price.

Dislike the service.

[Crypto]

Phone,TV and BBand all very reliable, have been for years.

Lost BBand couple of weeks ago due to a cabinet fault, fixed within a day and somebody phoned me to check that I was now OK.

never had a problem with billing, maybe I'm just lucky

Cheers

Crypto

[jkthorp]

ntl have been very good so far, been with them for about 5 years now. bb tv and phone service almost always reliable. i think some of it depends on the area - ntl was formed from a lot of different companies, so maybe there are still issues from inherited systems? (i'm sure someone more technical will yay or nay that!)

had to ring cs a few times recently and each time has been great, no long waits, and that callback service is handy (was called back within 15mins)

i'm waiting for an engineer to come and swap my stb at the min - one annoying thing - can the time not be more specific than 8 til 1!? (seems to be the way these days though - same applies with deliveries etc)

[danielf]

I had no complaints about the service. Never had a problem with Tele, BB or phone.

Dislike: Cancellation. I left NTL in September 04, and this month (August 05) is the first month they have managed not to bill me. I have never in my life seen such utterly incompetent handling of a cancellation. I have called them every month, but no one seems interested in solving the problem. They just apply an error correction and try to get you off the phone as quickly as possible/ transfer you to another department. Supervisors are impossible to get hold of. All you can get is a callback that never happens.

I'm very happy with Telewest now, but I hate to think what will happen if the two merge.

[jkthorp]

Originally Posted by danielf

I'm very happy with Telewest now, but I hate to think what will happen if the two merge.

here's hoping a combination of the best of the two!

[Gareth]

Originally Posted by danielf

Dislike: Cancellation. <snip>

Yep, I hated that too. Wasn't a 'normal' cancellation, but was a house move so was supposed to be a transfer of services from one address to the other. The engineers involved did a marvellous job, but the billing dept were absolutely incompetent. I spent almost a year paying each month for all services (TV, Phone & BB at the time) for both addresses! As you say, error correction after error correction after error correction isn't a solution - they should have fixed the problem the first time! This was the final straw and led me to ditch NTL for BT & Sky. I've kept them for BB though, as it is the fastest I can get and is remarkably stable for me.

Originally Posted by jkthorp

here's hoping a combination of the best of the two!

and not a combination of the worst

[jonbr]

An additionh to the dislikes:

The way NTL will/can never do any thing unless you are in front of the equipment!

I am now thinking about moving to another supplier!

[DocDutch]

Jonbr,


on the above I agree with you 100% its a bloody annoyance they treat you like a kid sometimes in that, and the amount of times they want you to reboot the modem and the other equipment hanging on it.

the speed of the stb drives me insane.

and when im watching a channel and using the on-screen display to scan for other programmes but then it freezes half-way through the channels im flicking through, then the display disappears and I have to start flicking through from the beginning again.........aaaaaargh!

and how the 'channel +' button keeps sticking on my remote(been like that since i got it) and so changing up a channel results in a 5-channel change.

[Gareth]

What used to annoy me was the freezing and/or channels automatically changing at 00:10 when the epg got updated. I never understood why they didn't do it at 5:00 when most people would be asleep, instead of when you were just about to find out who the murderer was in the film you'd been watching!

Never had this problem with Sky.