Ntl Wont Rectify Their Own Admitted Fault!

[flowithego]

Hi,

I signed up for the 3 for £30 a month (tv,telephone,1mb broadband) deal in january 2006. I thought it was a great package. Up until now i've been paying £30 + the phone call charges by paypoint card as i do NOT have a direct debit account. The bill averaged between £40-£70 depending on my call usage... Today, i realised my internet wasnt working, the telephone line and the tv channels worked fine so i thought it was a technical problem i called broadband tech support, the operator told me it wasnt a technical problem, but was a billing promlem and that i owe ntl £106 he put me to credit control..The 1st operator from credit control told me that i had a seperate broadband account, which i was not aware of at all whatsoever, and that i have not payed ANY of my bills to date.i explained that i signed up for the 3 for £30 offer and that i didnt have any other accounts with ntl and that i had kept up payments with all my bills. He said that he couldnt do anything about it so i was put through to CS, this time i was told that the reason for this was because i registered my broadband equipment online and accepted the terms & conditions, and that i had set up direct debit to pay for the broadband!!!(remember i do NOT have a bank account)When i said how come i havent received any bills for the broadband account, i was told they sent the bills to my NTL emails address, which i wasnt even aware i had, and then she (Katie ext: 2393) put me through to a senior colleague who had the "appropriate training" to access the system. Geraldine, who was from the same department as Katie said that, their department didnt have extension numbers so she couldnt give me her extension number( trying to get me off their back?)... Anyway, Now i was being told that i CALLED ntl and chose to UPGRADE my base tv pack to family pack, and that was why i was owing them money. When i told her that i didnt make such a call, and suggested that since ntl records their phone calls, they can dig up their records and if they can find me asking to upgrade my pack i'd be happy to pay the amount i "owe", she remained silent for about 30 seconds... She then asked me for my contact number so that the manager can give me a callback within 24 hours, so i did and yet again, i was put through to ANOTHER department ( credit control ) which decided to hang up on me. Realising losing my cool every time i called back wasnt helping me, i decided to be extremely polite, and luckily so was Ben ext:2125 He admitted that ntl wrongly put me on family pack instead of base pack, and that it was their fault not informing me about the seperate broadband account, and the e-bills i was sent to my ntlworld email account. He said he'll credit the difference ( family pack and base pack) to my account which is £8.50 a month so £8.50 x 6 = £51, but after speaking to his manager he said he could only credit back one months difference and that i would still have to pay the £106 i "owe" them for the broadband account PLUS the bill i ironically received today totaling £51.38 ?!?!?!!?!?!!?! Whats even funnier is, i asked Ben to tell me my email address + password which the e-bills were sent to, and he kindly turned my broadband back on for a day or 2 so i could check my inbox.....and guess what! Not a single e-bill from ntl! i also tried the E-bill logon service, and this was the error i got >>> "Sorry, E-Bill facility is not available for this account. " I just cant help but think that ntl is trying to make money unfairly!

I'm so confused, what happened to 3 for £30 no fuss!?! im being put on a different deal than i asked for, being TOLD that i should've CHECKED which pack i was put on( i mean wtf.. just put me on the standard 3 for £30 pack, since thats what im signing up for!) and then being given 10 different explanations that doesnt even make sense! I'm considering taking action through CAB and OTELO ( Ombudsman ) I need advice, please help!!

[Russ]

Welcome to the site

If you PM me your name, address and account number, I'll pass this on to my contact in ntl who will get right on it

Do what Russ has said, his contact is very good!

Shame I can't say that about NTL in general.

Mert, please can you PM me an appropriate username rather than using your msn e-mail address. Thanks.

[hairy_mick]

did you get a contract to sign it should state your package sounds like you may have been upgraded to family pack for first 30 days you then have to cancel to go to base pack otherwise they carry on charging you for family.

[flowithego]

No offence guys, but im not so sure whether i should give out such details on a website...I'm already in enough headache because of ntl, and i dont want anymore...could you give me advice on anything else?
thanks

[claret]

sounds about the norm for NTL.....

I rung them on Monday and cancelled all my packages and guess what i got a "Direct Debit Advance Notice" e-mail on Tuesday....

They really confuse me at times

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by flowithego

No offence guys, but im not so sure whether i should give out such details on a website...I'm already in enough headache because of ntl, and i dont want anymore...could you give me advice on anything else?
thanks

Hi. This website has direct contacts within ntl - look around the site for testimonials on how effective this site is for helping out customers - there are plenty of employees on here that can verify that it's safe to pm your details to one of the mods. Go for it

[Russ]

Originally Posted by flowithego

No offence guys, but im not so sure whether i should give out such details on a website...I'm already in enough headache because of ntl, and i dont want anymore...could you give me advice on anything else?
thanks

Sup to you mate but if you want your issue taken care of, get in touch!

[hotscotchbonnet]

Oh this rings so true!
I moved house in April and was told my existing services and contract would be tranferred. Noone mentioned new contracts or new payment plans - the discussion was purely about transferring an exisitng arrangemt. I paid by direct debit and NTL debited my account the same month that I moved in accordance with the contract I had signed.

Yet some days later I then received a new contract. This Mysterious April 27th Contract had a tariff that was 40% more than the contract I had signed and been paying these past 6 months.

I was told by customer services that a revised bill would be issued, which it was of sorts although not in accordance with my original contract. In the interim period I had received a bill relating to the Mysterious April 27th Contract. This bill did not tally with either the contract I had signed the 6 months previously, OR with the latest revised bill/contract that i had just received. I therefore considered this particular bill to be invalid.

Then NTL disconnected me two weeks later citing non-payment of the Mysterious April 27th Contract. This is depsite them having issued a revised contract for the same period, and despite my having a contract previously in existance anyhow.

I paid by direct debit, and money had been debited the previous month. It transpired that NTL cancelled my Direct Debit when they sent me the Mysterious April 27th Contract and then charged me a fee for doing so. I had not asked them to do this nor had they informed me they had. Ironically they would have had their money for the Mysterious April 27th contract anyway if they hadnt done this, so myabe they did me a favour.

5 hours of talks led nowhere. NTL are pursuing payment for the bill relating to the April contract - a contract they themselves have declared wrong. I lost income (I am self employed), I have had my credit rating besmirched, and more than anything I am angry that NTL are attempting to get me to agree to a 40% price hike and new 12 month obligation by underhand tactics and threats (I use the word threats advisedly - representatives have told me if i do not agree to pay the new contract they will refer the matter to debt collectors. This is despite me pointing out I did not agree to a new contract, and pointing out that I signed a previous contract which I had paid monthly until the month before the disconnected me.)

Originally Posted by claret

sounds about the norm for NTL.....

I rung them on Monday and cancelled all my packages and guess what i got a "Direct Debit Advance Notice" e-mail on Tuesday....

They really confuse me at times

Indeed the same for BT

I have my number port to NTL set for the 19th of July due to BT refusing to fix my bad line.


i have had 3 calls from there retentions. they are willing to discount my service but they will not fix the bad line due to cost.


No matter who the company is They can all **** on you if they want to. It all comes down to how much **** your willing to except from your company of choice.

[hotscotchbonnet]

My point was (sorry got a bit carried away there), that I agree that I think there is cause to belive NTL are pursuing underhand tactics to extract more money.

The other possiblilty is simple incompetence, but I have heard too many tales of people being issued contracts they have not agreed to and then thretened with action if they do not cough up.

You can send a complaint to OFCOM (visit their website). They have a Company Monitering Survey which you can fill in detailing your experience.
Sadly OFCOM do not deal with individual cases, but will reveiw a company according to data received. If ewnough people complain they will.
I think this sytem explains why NTL seemed unconcerned when I threatend to report them to the ombudsmen. But still, I did anyway.

Secondly, you can visit CABs.
If you believe that NTL have caused you damage (eg to your credit rating) because of their negligence then you can file a complaint at the small claims court. The small claims court is quite easy. To file will cost you about £30 and is really quite simple to do.
You simply fill in the form citing that you seek 'unspecified damages for less than £5000' (if you seek damages for more than £5k it goes to the higher court and gets very costly and more complex to pursue).
CABS can advise you on best procedure and help you decide if you have a case.
In my situation I will be filing a claim for damages. My purpose is not so much to extract money, but to protect my credit rating as if it goes to court I can answer back.

If it doesnt, NTL can continue pursuing me for services I didnt agree too and I will be marked as having an unpaid debt.

[flowithego]

I've always felt that ntl and bt are trying to extract more money through loopholes etc... if the customer doesnt stand up tall they do everything in their power to get the money they say you should pay them. Whats bugging me is, since i dont have direct debit i cant sign up for broadband services from other companies, even if i choose to i'll have to set up yet another bt line ( i had 2 lines disconnected and cut off ) which will cost me so much more money again. plus i haaaaaaaate bt just as much as ntl. im happy with the 3 for £30 deal, it's no fuss. correction.. WAS no fuss. so i'd really like to resolve this dispute and carry on with my ntl services..but that doesn't mean i'll bend over for them. or for anyone for that matter!

Oh and, i'll pm one of the mods my details.