Goodbye NTL, hello BT Broadband

[Stuart W]

Well, push finaly came to shove, or should I say run!

I had an outstanding bill for ntl to the tune of £120. They suspended my service and requested payment. I got in touch with them and explained finances were tight over christmas, but would get it to them in January. They seemed pretty cool about this. I was a bit peed at not having any ntl services over christmas / new year, but hey, if I havn't got the cash, who am I to complain?

So, January gets here, I get some cash together and ring ntl.
I explained I have my friends debit card (I have no bank account) ready to pay the outstanding £120 over the phone. The guy from ntl said "It's not as easy as that, it is no longer £120 it is now £145 because you have taken another month to pay." I pointed out I have *NO SERVICE* and surely shouldn't have to pay for a full month! He said the best he could do was get it down to £120 but charge me a £35 re-connection fee. I explained that this adds to the same ammount.... he then said I'd have to do it the second way anyway as I am now a *NEW CUSTOMER* and would be getting a new 12mth contract!
I tried pointing out that it must be cheaper for me to be a new customer as I allready have the cable modem, already have had engineers check my line etc.

He decided to stick to his guns.

I decided the time for total honesty had arrived.

I explained that I was moving house at the end of Jan and the settlement of this payment would decide wether I took ntl to my new address or just left it like the ton of hot crud that it is.
I explained in nice simple terms;
If you let me pay the outstanding £120 and no more, you can reconnect me and get a further £30 every month that I use the internet.
There was a pause.
I then explained that if ntl want to charge me to connect me as a new customer, I would not give ntl a single penny and use this £120 to buy an ADSL modem and get on-line at my new address with BT.

"We are not going to waive the fees, nor will we just reconnect your services. You MUST register as a new customer.
If you feel this is unfair, I sugest you go with BT for ADSL"

There you have it.

I sure hope the call was recorded!!

Needless to say, I am now a happy BT Broadband customer.
I got my BT line on the Friday, after the weekend I ordered an ADSL modem and BT Broadband. I was on-line by saturday.
£40 for modem, £30 for connection. I took that from ntl's £120 which left me £50.


NOTE: I do NOT condone the witholding of monies owed to companies. I also do NOT sugest you do anything similar to me.
Ignoring bills in this way can get you CCJ's and a poor credit rating.

[Ben]

FFS

I had roughly the same issue apart from the fact they didn't charge me to be reconnected and they put my services back on after I said I will end the contract (this is after the fuss over I was a "new customer" too as I had moved house and started a new 12 month contract) yer right

Whatever the fact a month or 2 i'm off to BT too!

[Stuart W]

I only had BB services from ntl (I used to have CTV, Telco, CM and Dial-up, but when they introduced a charge for dial-up, I dropped it. When they kept palming me off with toasters instead of STB's I dumped the CTV. When they introduced "the CAP" I dropped my phone line.) but my friend has CATV, Phone & CM. He has had the usual on-going nonsence with ntl (e-mail, DNS, crap TV, when is 'soon' etc.) and, like me, was a frequent late payer. They pulled the "New 12mth contract" crap on him so he decided to go with BT for phone and broadband like I am. He was talking about dropping the TV as well, but thought it would be too expensive to change. After a quick web-search, he now has Sky.
In total his PCM charge has reduced by £2!

This nonsence of a new 12mth contract is just a farce. Surely someone at ntl will realise they are LOSING custom as a result!

[Xaccers]

How will BT treat you any different with frequent late payments? Or are you going to pull your socks up?
What are you going to do about the £120 legitimately owed to NTL?

[orangebird]

Stuart - you illegally uncap your modem, you don't pay four months worth of bills etc etc etc....how much more should they (ntl) put up with?

Not paying your bill is a breach of contract. ntl reserve the right (t&c's - read 'em) to terminate that contract, charge interest etc etc, hence a new contract isn't BS, it's what you agreed to when you accepted services from ntl...

I'm not defending ntl for one minute, just putting across the other perspective - plenty of customers on here scream 'breach of contact' soon enough, why can't ntl?

Happy birthday BTW

[paulyoung666]

Originally Posted by Xaccers

How will BT treat you any different with frequent late payments? Or are you going to pull your socks up?
What are you going to do about the £120 legitimately owed to NTL?

they wont , it sounds like a sure fire way to end up in court eventually

[MadGamer]

Well at least you have BT Broadband.

[Stuart]

Stuart, I can honestly say that NTL acted the same that ANY company would in the circumstances. I certainly know people who have had the same experience with BT.

You did withhold payment (for whatever reason), so therefore you breached your contract. NTL were totally within their rights.

[th'engineer]

I am just going to announce that its finally got to me and have decided to join this thread.

I hope that my help has in the past, helped some people.

But there is a time when you have to realise that no matter how you wrestle with the Pig in the MUD ( that being NTL ) the pig actually enjoys it more and more .

So the campaingning face of th'engineer is going to cut his loses, but will keep you updated on how easy the change is

After this reply
Hi

Thank you for your recent e-mail.

Thank you for your comments about proxy servers. We would like to take this opportunity to make you aware that ntl uses proxy servers in every area of the country and not just in the North West. Therefore we feel it highly unlikely that this is the cause of any connection problems you may be having.

However you may like to try specify a different proxy to see if this helps. For details on this you can visit
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.d...cache.html#ntl

Alternatively, in order for us to help resolve these issues we will need to speak with you directly. Please call us on 0845 650 0121, if you have a stand alone cable modem or 0845 650 0125 if you received broad band via a set top box (lines open between 8am – midnight) where an agent will be happy to help you.

Apologies again for any inconvenience caused.

I hope the above answers your query, however, should you need further assistance, please don't hesitate to contact us again.

Regards

Nathan
Ntl:home Technical Support Bureau

In respect of the NW proxy problems its the BIGGEST LOAD OF PATRONISING BULL**** THAT I HAVE EVER SEEN.

[Frank]

Originally Posted by th'engineer

In respect of the NW proxy problems its the BIGGEST LOAD OF PATRONISING BULL**** THAT I HAVE EVER SEEN.

Welcome to nthw.co.uk m8. In the years nthellworld(.com/.co.uk) has been open ntl seem to have learned nothing.

That looks like nothing more than a standard reply someone has very slightly adapted.

As for you [Stuart W] not paying the £120 you owe - NTL will most likely pass your debt to an agency and you will end up with them chasing you and a badly dented credit history. Not something you really want.

[Shaun]

Originally Posted by pem

NTL will most likely pass your debt to an agency and you will end up with them chasing you and a badly dented credit history.

And added charges

[Stuart W]

Originally Posted by pem

That looks like nothing more than a standard reply someone has very slightly adapted.

As for you [Stuart W] not paying the £120 you owe - NTL will most likely pass your debt to an agency and you will end up with them chasing you and a badly dented credit history. Not something you really want.

OK, I don't know how ntl will play it, but here's my idea....

They will continue to bill me each month for the service they disconnected in December (I just got a bill for £151.25 including CM rental for 24-Jan-04 to 23-Feb-04) until my bill is around £200.
Then they will pass it on to a debt recovery service.

The recovery service will write to my old address and try to get payment. They will also add their own 'charge' of between £50 and £200.

Getting no reply, they will apply to my local county court to summons me.

I do not have to attend a county court hearing, so they will go ahead in my absence.
This will add anywhere between £100 and £500 onto the bill.

They will then send a bailif round to recover goods (as they will not have had any corespondance from me).

The bailif will then meet whoever moves into my old place, who will quickly prove they are not me.

The bailif will then go back to the collection agency and explain I no longer reside at that address.

The collection agency will then drop the whole idea, as trying to trace me would incur more costs at little chance of success.

It means that I will have a CCJ, which will reduce my credit rating.
It also means if I appear in county court any time in the next 5years, this case will be refered to.


Having said that, I have no bank account, credit card or loan, nor will I ever get one.

Now, It's fair to say I have 'stolen' £120 from ntl by way of non payment. But... how often do ntl 'steal' from their customers?
How about-

• Every time your DNS doesn't resolve
• Every time your proxy doesn't work
• Every time you can't use your e-mail
• Every time your CATV goes black for no reason
• Every time you don't get that callback you were promised
• Every time the engineer doesn't turn up for the appointment which you took a day off work for
• Every time they say "SOON"
• Every time you are on hold for up to 2hrs to report a fault to them at 1p per min COST TO YOU!!!!
• Every time you read yet another poast complaining about ntl's customer service and they to FRACK ALL ABOUT IT.

[Xaccers]

I think you underestimate the tracking powers of debt collectors (my mate used to work for one)

I also have been in the position of recieving debt collectors letters for people who have lived with me. They were eventually tracked down.

They have paid NTL for the debt. NTL no longer care.
You have this agency who's sole purpose is to track people like you down and make you pay.
You now owe them the money.

If you are buying a new house, they can go through the estate agent.

[Bifta]

Originally Posted by Xaccers

I think you underestimate the tracking powers of debt collectors (my mate used to work for one)

I also have been in the position of recieving debt collectors letters for people who have lived with me. They were eventually tracked down.

They have paid NTL for the debt. NTL no longer care.
You have this agency who's sole purpose is to track people like you down and make you pay.
You now owe them the money.

If you are buying a new house, they can go through the estate agent.

Very true, don't forget they can also go through Electoral Roll records and are able to trace you from any form of credit you apply for or currently have your address registered on. In addition, you'll find that when they do catch up with you, it won't be £120 you owe, with their fees added trying to find you it could be double or even treble this amount, and if they don't get their money, eventually (and legally) they will enter your property and remove goods to the value of the debt owed.

I had a gripe with a local council a few years back over council tax, they performed a classic NTL trick of billing me after I'd left the property despite me informing them of my leaving date well in advance, they kept telling me not to pay the bill and pay the correct one when it came through (which never came) and eventually I got a magistrates court summons, basically, (which is what I'd advise you to do also) I had to pay the full amount + legal fees and claim what I didn't owe back from them, it's a pain but you do at least avoid the collection agencies who are not interested in any excuses and will force you pay up.