My personal nt-hell

Fidney · 17-10-2004, 17:56

Hi all,

An ntl engineer called last monday to sort out "once and for-all" the problems I have been having with my Broadband and digital TV services since April this year.

This was after keeping us in all weekend with a Saturday AM call-out, which became Saturday PM as he was running a little late and which, at 3:30pm ntl cancelled as he couldn't make it (I only found out after ringing faults myself, for the third time since 12:30, to see when he would arrive!!). After complaining about my wasted day the chap on faults referred to his supervisor and promised faithfully that someone would come out Sunday AM as a priority call. 2pm Sunday afternoon got a call from a guy in "FMD" saying they couldn't possibly come out on Sunday and faults should never have booked the visit!!!!!!!

A little complaining later an engineer was promised for between 6 & 8pm Monday evening. He arrived at 4pm! He did sort out the power levels on my connection (I think!), but he also:

"Stole" my FM feed - he actually removed the FM socket from the ntl box so there is no-where to plug my cable in!!!!

Replaced my STB with one that cannot connect to my home cinema set-up as it has no audio out sockets.

Both of which I am extremely upset about

and in addition he:-

Left the cover off the box on the wall outside my house, exposing the wires etc to the elements.

Smashed my 8 year old daughter's clay giraffe that she had made at school. Might not be valuable, but irreplaceable and devastating to an 8 year old.

On top of this I STILL can't get any interactive content because of a "problem in the way my account is set up" - a problem that would be sorted within 24 - 48 hours of his visit!

Needless to say I'm not a happy bunny at all - they've assentially down-graded my service, caused upset and damage and I'm STILL not getting what I've been paying for.

You ring up - it takes an hour for them to answer then the moment you complain they cut you off.

You ask to speak to a Supervisor - they cut you off.

You write in - they never answer.

Guess I'll try cancelling my direct debits - see if that get's their attention!

paulyoung666 · 17-10-2004, 18:00

bad do i reckon , dont cancel your dd , that will cause you more trouble than you are having with ntl

, is there a local office near you that you could pay a personal visit to , hang around here as i am sure their will be some useful help on it's way

Florence · 17-10-2004, 18:22

Hello Fidney and

to the forums.

I can see you have had a raw deal with all this I should go to the top now you have been trying the correct method for too long now its time to get a response.
I know from helping others on our forums that BT's CEO gets involved and sorts out problems by making those he gives the jobs to sort it having to reply to him whats happening until its sorted perhaps a lesson there for NTLs directors.

Look at this list and contact the area Managering Director but please even though you have had a raw deal please be polite and you should get a response if you don't then you can rant on at him

(jk) just come back here and we will see if there is another route to take to get the service you are paying for.
Look here for the managering director for your area.

Good luck

paulyoung666 · 17-10-2004, 18:24

see i told you there would be some one more useful along soon

Malsiluk · 21-10-2004, 13:33

This looks like a good thread for me to add my own latest NTL nightmare. I have 2 x analogue boxes in the house. One has been suffering an intermittant fault for a few weeks. I rang NTL a number of times and they were of little help. After the box had been off for over 3 hours one Sunday, I rang on the Monday and insisted they do something.

Out comes an engineer on Tuesday 12th october. There was a lot of talk, because being an intermittant fault, it was not doing it while he was there. I had told them that it was bad most mornings up until around 9.30, so they should come early. They gave me an appointment between 8 & 12 and the guy turns up at just before 1pm.

Anyway, he thinks the best thing to do is to swap the box for a new one, which he does. he warned me that they have to activate it remotely and it could take up to 72 hours to do this. (great!)

Anyway, after 72 hours, still not working. you ring faults, wait the regulation 1/2 hour (why are they always having heavy call volumes, whenever you ring. Everyplace has peaks in call volume, but NTLs seems continuous!) You get told they will sort it out and ring you back to check it's now OK. Nothing happens and nobody rings! (repeat last sentence 3 more times!)

I am now told that there is some fault in NTLs systems that means they can't activate certain analogue boxes until it's been sorted out. They have known about this problem for about 3 weeks. (apart from most of the staff on the faults team, who seemed unaware of it!!) If they have a known problem, why swap a box that works most of the time. Why not expalin this to the customer and offer to come back and swap it when they get the problem sorted? is that a bit too much thought for an NTL employee?

So now, i still don't have the cable stations working, the 3 kids are killing each other over who watches the one remaining cable telly and i am seriously considering getting Sky in!

Florence · 21-10-2004, 20:03

Hello Malsiluk and

to the forums.

I am not sure what is the best way to go.
What area do you live in? as there could be someone who works in that franchise that could help you. I hope you have asked that you are refunded the costs for teh TV programs you can't watch due to the STB being replaced and being unable to activate. The fact they cannot activate the STB isn't your fault it's NTLs. If they had repaired the fault then it would work so thay shouldn't be allowed to charge for a service you cannot receive.

Malsiluk · 21-10-2004, 23:55

Hi my friend and thanks for the reply.

I am in West Hertfordshire area (HP3 postcode) and I have indeed mentioned to them that I do not expect to be charged for this period. Trouble is, I would rather have the service than the refund! Also, and I won't bore you with the whole story now, but I would not trust the NTL accounts people to get it right even if they do refund me something. You should see the mess they have made of my account for the TV and broadband. They admit the account is messed-up, but nobody seems to have been able to sort it out.

Florence · 22-10-2004, 00:16

I should contact the area manager and see if he can sort out the problem.
Look at this list and email whoever is your area manager.

Good luck

Malsiluk · 30-10-2004, 19:37

Just an update in case anyone is interested. No cable since they swapped out the box on 12th Oct. I have rung more times than I care to mention (half an hour a time!) and they admit they have no solution to the problem.

Today I went into local shop to enquire about getting Sky put in. I have not said 'yes' yet, but it's very close to 'Goodby NTL'

Florence · 30-10-2004, 21:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Malsiluk

Just an update in case anyone is interested. No cable since they swapped out the box on 12th Oct. I have rung more times than I care to mention (half an hour a time!) and they admit they have no solution to the problem.

Today I went into local shop to enquire about getting Sky put in. I have not said 'yes' yet, but it's very close to 'Goodby NTL'

I wouldn't blame you if you did move over to Sky have to admit we have always had sky even when I had to pay for NTLs TV to have BB we just never used it.

Malsiluk · 01-11-2004, 23:47

A few more days passed and still no change to the NTL box and - and this is the bit that bugs me the most!- still no phone call back from NTL Faults Dept, to update me on the position. 5 different members of that section have all promised me they will ring me to update me. The last couple of times I have told them I don't believe them, but they assure me they will ring in a maximum of 96 hours (I think they said hours and not days!

) To be honest, they tell lies to get rid of you. Well NTL, I think you have achieved your goal, I am 99% certain to tell them to take their rubbishy boxes away. I have been an NTL, or previous names, customer since the first day they put the cables in our street. The service has often been poor when you have to ring them for anything (don't get me started on billing either!) and it just stays poor. Is there a worse company in the UK? if there is, i'm pleased to say i've not had dealings with them yet.

My friends at work are sick of hearing me telling them about how bad NTL are. The only good thing is that nobody seems like they are going to join them after hearing how bad they are. Wonder how long before they go bust?