Double Standards? You decide.

[Russ]

One of my colleagues from The Wave is the breakfast show co-presenter. This morning on air she was talking about how she was expecting an NTL install last night and waited until 10:30pm before giving up.

Lo and behold, within 10 minutes someone from NTL at Matrix Court phoned in the show and took care of it and it's been rescheduled.

Kudos to that person for helping Emma (the presenter), but I can't help wondering would she have had the same offer of help had she been ordinary Miss Jo Public, and not sitting in front of a microphone chatting to a maximum potential listenership of 35,000+?

[Defiant]

well to be fair its not just NTL that would have done that. Problem is though someone else has been left in the lurch now no doubt

[Neil]

Originally Posted by Defiant

well to be fair its not just NTL that would have done that. Problem is though someone else has been left in the lurch now no doubt

Absolutely-there is no question that is what happened, & Russ-no way would it have happened if she was Joe Public. Look how many people come on here complaining that their install was messed up & how unwilling ntl are to do anything about it apart from offer them a new install in a couple of weeks.

This proves the value of consumer programmes like Watchdog. Companies hate bad publicity above just about anything else. Get on air with a complaint and they suddenly become co-operative. Good for Emma, but how sad that that particular corner of the NTL empire was more concerned with its public image than genuine good customer service.

[Russ]

I don't wish to be too unfair on NTL here - it could be said that what happened was no different to someone posting on here about a no-show and a CSR PM'ing them to arrange a resolution but what about a) as neil said, the people who post here but don't get anywhere and b) people listening to the show who've also had engineers not turn up - I'd imagine they'd be feeling pretty unhappy with this apparent 'preferential' treatment.

Originally Posted by Russ D

I don't wish to be too unfair on NTL here - it could be said that what happened was no different to someone posting on here about a no-show and a CSR PM'ing them to arrange a resolution but what about a) as neil said, the people who post here but don't get anywhere and b) people listening to the show who've also had engineers not turn up - I'd imagine they'd be feeling pretty unhappy with this apparent 'preferential' treatment.

Very true, I have enormous respect for the NTL staffers that come on here and offer to help out, and as you said, 'well done' to the CS agent who phoned in to the radio show to get things sorted. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that if NTL could achieve a consistently high standard in the first place, then it wouldn't be necessary to rely on the good will of staff who often do a lot more than they are paid to do when it comes to getting problems fixed.

[altis]

Visions of a Cable Forum channel where, in between discussions about things like the ideal depth of froth on a cup of coffee, the breakfast show presenter lists all the failed appointments for the previous day...

It's almost certainly true that she would not have got this response had she not been on the radio - but it's still good that someone did respond, rather than ignore her. However - NTL still need to sort out the problems that caused her to need to moan in the first place.

[inthewildteam]

She'll probably be doing a show about her email problems tomorrow!

[zovat]

Originally Posted by Pem

It's almost certainly true that she would not have got this response had she not been on the radio - but it's still good that someone did respond, rather than ignore her. However - NTL still need to sort out the problems that caused her to need to moan in the first place.

Unfortunately NTL are always going to be onto a loser when it comes to this situation.

Do they treat it as they would normally - ie ; wait a few days, then phone and re-schedule for sometime in the (not so) near future. And let the presenter continue to let the listeners know how crap they are. Thus not only causing other to call in to share theitr experience of NTL, but putting off potential new customers with <true> tales of poor service.

or

Phone the presenter - arrange a re-visit and make damn sure that they turn up for it.
This would annoy current NTL customers, as it is preferential treatment (although personally I would consider it a perk of the job - out local station,2-Ten FM, had a morning show presenter who made a career of blaggin stuff live on air), but may give the potential new customers (where NTL is trying to focus <just guessing mind you>) the idea that although NTL make mistakes, they rectify them in a fast and efficient manner.


Personally I would go for the second one every time - NTL know that existing customers are used to poor service, and will not be suprised, but they need new customers to bring the profits - this is who they have to keep sweet.

As always - just my 2c

I say well done Emma, maybe its the power of speech.

NTL have been put in a corner, and as somebody said, somebody else has now been let down because Emma has had her's sorted out.
But from Emma complaining about the problem, the way NTL look at it, the following day she could be saying, " I would just like to say, well done to NTL for sorting out my instalation."
Maybe now she can take up the cause for people who have been dealt a lousy hand by NTL, but probably because of legal reasons she will not.

[zoombini]

Of course, no-one makes much out of her abusing her position to get the preferential treatment...

There are always going to be those that get it & those that dont, those that do, do so because of thier ostition in life & hers is one that gives her thousands of listeners to say what problems she has, so of course any company that finds out about such thing is going to get onto it right away, afaikr its called PR.

Sod the current customers, just keep the new ones sweet.

[scoobysnacks]

Hi Guys,

I work for ntl and have worked in different departments for the last 4 and half years. I cannot defend everyone because in every company you have your bad apples, however i know there is plenty within ntl that are like myself who will treat all customers as i or you want to be treated. I think Emma went the right way about it - it certainly kept us on our toes but at the end of the day ntl have let another customer down at a important time.
As they say first impressions count

[ntluser]

The sad thing about all this is we hear complaints about the lack of response from NTL when things go wrong but hear little or no complaints about people not paying for their service possibly because customers are tied into direct debit arrangements before they can get "service".That seems a little one-sided.

Perhaps the moral of the story is that if we wish to get the service we require maybe we no longer ring Customer Services but contact our local radio or TV station instead.

[Alanmelon]

Originally Posted by altis

Visions of a Cable Forum channel where, in between discussions about things like the ideal depth of froth on a cup of coffee, the breakfast show presenter lists all the failed appointments for the previous day...

Oooh, Cable Forum Radio...I like it