Moaning

[Acropolis]

I have been looking round this forum for a couple of months now, and all i seem to see is people moaning continually (sp) about the level of service they recieve from NTL.

Now granted they do not offer the best service in the world by a long stretch, but people come to places like this, puff thier feathers about it, say they are going to leave and go to another service provider and they dont, they stick wtih NTL and just keep moaning about.

There are plenty of other alternatives out there, BT, Sky, ADSL, Aramiska, but to name a few, so why not go with one of them?

All this stuff about capping is annoying the life outta me as well. OK i dont agree with the limits that they have imposed, but people knew they were coming and they know they are there, and you know that if you constantly go above the cap then they are going to do soomething about it. Now for those that had BB before they bought around capping, then I can understand where you are coming from and you have a valid point. But for those who have had BB installed since the capping came into effect, then you really have no right to moan about it, as if you have read the terms and conditions and all the small print then you would know about it, and by signing the agreement you have agreed to be bound by those terms and conditions. If you dont like it, move to another service provider.

This isnt intended at anyone specifically, but i am just getting sick to death, not only on this forum, but on lots of forums and other places as well, of people moaning about poor service and doing nothing about it.

I had TW for my tv service, but it was crap so i changed over to Sky, i would have got rid of the phone as well, but for the fact that i need it for the sky system to work. The BB from TW is excellent and i cant really fault it, have had it for 5 odd years now, and other than when it first came out, i havent really had any problems with it, it stops working occasionally, but when that happens i just use my BB satellite connection, until TW comes back again. But if it starts getting real bad all the time, then i will look else where.

Rant over.

[Chris W]

Lots of people have changed.....

Neil, Russ D, Paulyoung are three ex ntl subscribers that spring to mind straight away

[MovedGoalPosts]

Moaning is a British Pastime

Anyone think it odd how consumer organisations and the like say we don't complain enough, many companies have "complaints procedures" both to provide a way of simpliying dispute resolution, but also to encourage the customer to provide "feedback", but when it comes to ntl, we are all just seen as whingers

Perhaps in some instances we have to keep making our point in the hope that one day ntl might provide the customer with an even better service?

But yes overall, I do get an adequate service from ntl, and have done for a number of years. I might well be able to get better from a BT/Sky/Adsl combination, but that would cost me a lot of installation fees, so I don't go there.

And as for the cap, won't even go there as too many threads have done that over and over again.

[Russ]

"If you don't like it then leave" is not the answer - not everyone can or will get a BT line. Some people (such as those in council flats) are not permitted a BT line, having made an agreement with ntl to supply their services.

I agree a lot of people moan here, but why not? This site started out as Nthellworld for a reason. People need someone to expose ntl's (often) woeful customer service.

The fact that we highly praise the ntl staff who help out here shows the vast majority of us are not rabidly anti-ntl, we just get tired of the same old excuses for bad service and the "coming soon" promises which end up as worthless.

[scrotnig]

Originally Posted by Russ D

"If you don't like it then leave" is not the answer - not everyone can or will get a BT line. Some people (such as those in council flats) are not permitted a BT line, having made an agreement with ntl to supply their services.

I agree a lot of people moan here, but why not? This site started out as Nthellworld for a reason. People need someone to expose ntl's (often) woeful customer service.

The fact that we highly praise the ntl staff who help out here shows the vast majority of us are not rabidly anti-ntl, we just get tired of the same old excuses for bad service and the "coming soon" promises which end up as worthless.

It's important to remember the difference between someone getting poor service, and someone deciding they don't like a particular product.

The vast majority of people on this forum DO have a choice of which supplier to go to, yet many seem content to whinge incessantly about something they could apparently stop in an instant by changing supplier. The truth, in many cases, is that either ntl's product isn't actually that bad, or else the competition is just as bad or worse. There are examples of both.

That's the bit that's baffling.

If people really feel strongly that they've had bad service, or that the product isn't good enough, the thing to do is to write to an ntl director and tell them. That's the only way to get anything changed, ntl directors don't routinely read this forum, and even the ones that do will not see it as representative of the customer base as a whole. If enough people write, things WILL change...I have seen examples of this.

One person earlier even suggested that the whole cap thing was 'a way to get members of this forum to shut up'. If people REALLY believe that a company the size of ntl with millions of customers would base their national policies on the rantings of a couple of hundred members of an internet forum, they need a lobotomy.

[Russ]

Originally Posted by scrotnig

It's important to remember the difference between someone getting poor service, and someone deciding they don't like a particular product.

The vast majority of people on this forum DO have a choice of which supplier to go to, yet many seem content to whinge incessantly about something they could apparently stop in an instant by changing supplier. The truth, in many cases, is that either ntl's product isn't actually that bad, or else the competition is just as bad or worse. There are examples of both.

Nail, head, you, hit.

[Acropolis]

I didnt word that perhaps as best as i could have done.

The main point of what i was trying to say was, yes by all means have a moan, but not over the same things time and time again, do something about it, write letters etc.

Its the same old british thing yet again, we sit there moaning about how crap the service and the meal was, yet when the waitress comes over and asks is everything ok, oh yes its lovely thank you is alwys the reply.

[paulyoung666]

Originally Posted by Acropolis

I didnt word that perhaps as best as i could have done.

The main point of what i was trying to say was, yes by all means have a moan, but not over the same things time and time again, do something about it, write letters etc.

Its the same old british thing yet again, we sit there moaning about how crap the service and the meal was, yet when the waitress comes over and asks is everything ok, oh yes its lovely thank you is alwys the reply.

not me

People will always moan - it's in there nature. The majority of people on forums like ours will moan - because the simple fact is that if (like most of ntl's customers) you are happy with your service - you don't go hunting out a forum to tell everybody.

[TheBlueRaja]

Please remember however that most people will only come to this site if they have a problem, there are probably hundreds of thousands ove users out there who have never visited here because they dont have any issue.

The regulars - well - we love a good moan.

Originally Posted by Acropolis

Its the same old british thing yet again, we sit there moaning about how crap the service and the meal was, yet when the waitress comes over and asks is everything ok, oh yes its lovely thank you is alwys the reply.

Sorry, but that isn't a very accurate analogy at all. For a start, it has to be a rare thing for ntl to contact customers just to ask them, if everything was ok. Not once in the years of service have I had any such after care from ntl seeking my views etc etc.

Originally Posted by Mick

Sorry, but that isn't a very accurate analogy at all. For a start, it has to be a rare thing for ntl to contact customers just to ask them, if everything was ok. Not once in the years of service have I had any such after care from ntl seeking my views etc etc.

What? Haven't you done any of their online surveys or questionnaires?

Mind the narrow set of choices you get are a laugh.Anything to get the answers that suit...but I suppose it counts as having a care for customer needs.

[Matth]

"Better the devil you know" - in many cases, the only reason for staying with NTL, is that to go to another service you KNOW to be better, will cost more, or at least mean taking a considerable hit in initial charges, and to go to a service that looks a better deal, you don't know how good or bad they are.

The good points of NTL:
Connection stability, pretty good, can't remember the last downtime other than interactive STB crash rebooting (and one small loss, no middle light).
Other than some problems that I definitely blame the proxies for, and a few "slows and stalls" where I suspect them, most of the other recurring annoyances seem to be relatively quiet for now.

[Tod]

I think you will find that people moan about NTL because they wish it to be better.
Most people realise that the biggest potential for digital TV is through a cable supplier because you have the return path. It annoys the hell out of most people that NTL are so behind.
I would have changed to Sky, had it not been for the fact that if, and only if, NTL get their act together, they could have a far superiour product to Sky. Unfortunately it is taking an age to get there, and in hindsight I wish I'd have changed to sky a few years ago so I could have enjoyed the better technology, then changed back to NTL when (if) they ever catch up.
You will probably find that is why people moan, because "coming soon" is part of a manipulation campaign which works on most of us mugs but equally annoys the hell out of us!

[zovat]

Originally Posted by Tod

I think you will find that people moan about NTL because they wish it to be better.
Most people realise that the biggest potential for digital TV is through a cable supplier because you have the return path. It annoys the hell out of most people that NTL are so behind.
I would have changed to Sky, had it not been for the fact that if, and only if, NTL get their act together, they could have a far superiour product to Sky. Unfortunately it is taking an age to get there, and in hindsight I wish I'd have changed to sky a few years ago so I could have enjoyed the better technology, then changed back to NTL when (if) they ever catch up.
You will probably find that is why people moan, because "coming soon" is part of a manipulation campaign which works on most of us mugs but equally annoys the hell out of us!

I have stated this before, so I won't go into too much ranting detail this time

We tend to see the unhappy customers here, after all, thats what the site was set up for.

I have moaned about NTL, but I have also stated when I think they have done well..

NTL have caused a lot of people to have no faith in them, yet in reality, the service is indeed improving..

The BB is now competitive in terms of BT, especially when you add the fact the NTL BB includes Email and WEB space, whereas the BT wires only service (the cheapest option) does not.
Email is more stable than before, and seems to be reliable in the main.
DTV - no comment - don't have it (Sky)
People have moaned about the upgrades, and I have had my say on this - so no more here.

The fact remains that no matter how much the service improves, the slightest problem will cause people to get the "here we go again" attitude, and switch to moan mode.

In short - NTL are improving, but they have set such low expectations in the past, that people just expect them to mess up, and react to all issues with that expectation.