NTL Proxy advice

[Stuartbe]

Originally Posted by abailey152

A new starter should still be technically competant, even if he isn't fully up-to-speed with NTL's systems.

Are you are suggesting that NTL employ tech support agents who do not know the basics regarding data transfer, and networking on a Windows based PC system? If so, then this would explain and back up many of our complaints against NTL.

I agree abailey152

I was on tech lines for over 6 years. I was chucked in the deep end when I started and I did not know how to handle customers. I did know what I was doing. I would not have got the job if I did not.

It was only my customer service skills that were lacking and not my technical skills. If you dont know your com port from your usb port then you should not have a job in tech -- simple !

I can feel for the ntl staff and I am never critical of them - I am only critical of the company. I can understand the comment about modern day sweatboxes !!!

Working in tech is a thankless often boring job that leaves you depresed and tired at the end of the day. Getting constant abuse wears you down and makes you feel like crap. It is often the customers that are abusive, unfair and downright rude. I often find that a simple apology and a large dose of apathy works wonders. If you care about the customers problem and take OWNERSHIP of the problem you can close the call with a happy customer.

Just my 2p's worth !!

[Mr.Moony]

Originally Posted by stuartbe

Working in tech is a thankless often boring job that leaves you depresed and tired at the end of the day. Getting constant abuse wears you down and makes you feel like crap.

Whaatttttt ? Did you not solve any problems? Being a tech is a great experience when you solve a problem. You get thank you's, bless you's, have a nice days. Nothing like solving a problem to make you feel great.
I wuv it

[abailey152]

Originally Posted by stuartbe

It was only my customer service skills that were lacking and not my technical skills. If you dont know your com port from your usb port then you should not have a job in tech -- simple !

Spot on!

I can feel for the ntl staff and I am never critical of them - I am only critical of the company. I can understand the comment about modern day sweatboxes !!!

I think some of NTL's staff are great, others less so. Like any company, there is a cross-section of human behaviour. Some care, some don't. And yes, the company is responsible for training and controlling the staff. They set the policy and should police it, which also means rewarding good staff. Unfortunately, NTL seem to see dealing with the customer as an evil to be overcome rather than making this an oportunity to grab, and show they care, and it's this atitude that sometimes affects the actions of their staff.

If you care about the customers problem and take OWNERSHIP of the problem you can close the call with a happy customer.

That's the key. And yes, it should be a company policy to try to be helpful, not just an individuals choice. As for some customers, they are abusive, and I'll never defend anyone who is. But remember, that same customer may have spent hours on several phone calls, being passed around, and fobbed off with different excuses before they get to you. It's two sides of the same coin.

[abailey152]

Originally Posted by threadbare

not suggsting that at all

my point is that it can be very difficult to fix a problem when a new agent comes up against a knowledgeable customer. it can be quite intimidating for them and it is easy to make a mistake

Sorry, I mis-understood you! I thought you meant that NTL employed un-trained Tech Support people who had to gain knowledge by just working there. This would have been intolerable, as tech support (TV, phone & internet) is part of what I'm paying £85 a month for.

There's still no excuse for the lack of knowledge shown by some of the support people. Okay, it's unlikely they will be all-knowing guru's, but they should have a grasp of the basics. The guy my mate dealt with in the example obviously didn't, so something is wrong. Perhaps he was standing in temporarily, I don't know. Either way, he wasn't knowledgable enough to do the job, and this is wrong. If I'm paying for a service, I should get it.

I'm not saying that all NTL tech support people are incompetant, far from it. But I think some of its staff leave a lot to be desired. And that's the company's fault.

[Stuartbe]

Originally Posted by Mr.Moony

Whaatttttt ? Did you not solve any problems? Being a tech is a great experience when you solve a problem. You get thank you's, bless you's, have a nice days. Nothing like solving a problem to make you feel great.
I wuv it

Yes it is a fantastic feeling to solve a problem (and drop hints for letters to your team leader giving praise) I was trying to point out what happens in the majority or cases. Yes you can have customers that are over the moon but this in my experience is not common.

If your company does not give hoot about its reputation or its staff and you do not have the power to make a desision about a customer ect then you have limited ways to help.

Are you telling me that every customer you speak to goes away happy and full of joy, then does a dance around his living room and tells all his mates how great NTL are ?

[abailey152]

Getting away from the "discussion", I remember IE used to have a "facility" whereby you can bypass a proxy and download the web site directly, or at least that was the rumour.

Apparently, if a proxy was enabled in IE, and you press *I think* "Shift" + Refresh, the proxy would be refreshed by downloading the web site from its source again, and this downloaded it directly into IE too. Is this right? Or just another rumour? It doesn't seem to affect NTL's proxies, so I take it they don't refresh this way, anyway.

[abailey152]

Originally Posted by stuartbe

Are you telling me that every customer you speak to goes away happy and full of joy, then does a dance around his living room and tells all his mates how great NTL are ?

They ought to run something like this site's reputation system, but offer cash incentives to the best tech support agents.

Arr! What am I saying? NTL would have to be interested in its customers to do that.

[Mr.Moony]

Originally Posted by stuartbe

Are you telling me that every customer you speak to goes away happy and full of joy, then does a dance around his living room and tells all his mates how great NTL are ?

Around the computer room^

Originally Posted by abailey152

Getting away from the "discussion", I remember IE used to have a "facility" whereby you can bypass a proxy and download the web site directly, or at least that was the rumour.

Apparently, if a proxy was enabled in IE, and you press *I think* "Shift" + Refresh, the proxy would be refreshed by downloading the web site from its source again, and this downloaded it directly into IE too. Is this right? Or just another rumour? It doesn't seem to affect NTL's proxies, so I take it they don't refresh this way, anyway.

I thought that would merely force IE to reload the site rather than relying on a locally cached copy.

Originally Posted by Mr.Moony

Around the computer room^

Do you not consider your computer an essential part of your living room set-up? It's as essential for me as the TV and DVD player.

[abailey152]

Originally Posted by dr wadd

I thought that would merely force IE to reload the site rather than relying on a locally cached copy.

Ah! Thanks.

[Stuartbe]

Originally Posted by dr wadd

Do you not consider your computer an essential part of your living room set-up? It's as essential for me as the TV and DVD player.

The wife wont let me have a computer in the living room

I get major stress if I take the laptop into the bedroom - could be something to do with floppy drive access

I have my own room with an electronic lock that nobody can get into exept me !!! - Its my refuge from the horrors of the world

[abailey152]

Originally Posted by dr wadd

Do you not consider your computer an essential part of your living room set-up? It's as essential for me as the TV and DVD player.

You have your computer in the living room? My better half would not be impressed if I had my PC whirring in the corner as she watched TV. Noooooo I wouldn't want to go there!

Originally Posted by abailey152

Ah! Thanks.

No problem.

The only way you have of sidestepping the NTL proxies is to specify a different one explicitly, but you will need to set it to one that uses a port other than 80 otherwise the transparent proxies will still intercept the traffic (AFAIK).

The strange thing is, although it should only work with a proxy on a port other than 80, before I knew this fact I had been using non-NTL proxies that were also using port 80. Despite the fact that it "shouldn`t" work, it still made be able to get to sites that were temporarily inaccesible through the NTL proxies. Anyone got any idea why this should be?

Originally Posted by abailey152

You have your computer in the living room? My better half would not be impressed if I had my PC whirring in the corner as she watched TV. Noooooo I wouldn't want to go there!

One of the big advantages of being single, no-one to complain that my living room does a fair impression of mission control at NASA.