'Orrible Week - Is it Just Me?

[Shaun]

Originally Posted by Fred Flange

Has it changed? or perhaps the address is wrong!

My bad, the address is http://www.ispreview.co.uk/

[Neil]

The problem here (IMHO anyway) is that people have chosen an ISP knowing that their support line (should they need it) is 50p per minute, now the time comes that they need it-no one wants to pay 50 p per min.

I'm not saying 50p per min is a reasonable charge, but people signed up by choice with those conditions, no one forced them to.

At the end of the day you need to contact ntl on their 50p per minute support line, or find another ISP that doesn't charge that much-I doubt you will find one though.

But please don't go moaning about a products charges, when you signed up to those (potential) charges in the 1st place.

[handyman]

Or you could just go pay aol or a different co £16.99 per month and have free tech support. You either pay for the support in the monthly charge or like ntl does it pay for it when you need it. I have to agree with neil in that you signed up for the service knowing what costs would be involved.

[Shaun]

In all honesty don't you two think Ntl should put something on the service status page to say there is a problem??

[DrAwesome]

Originally Posted by Fred Flange

I have asked BT to test my line and turn my gain up.

Be very careful when asking BT to turn up the line gain as it will enhance any noise you already have on the line, plus if its turned up too much you can get echo feedback which will also make your internet connection worse.

[suzywong]

Hi Fred,
I'm back to dreadful connection again,it's awful..............

I had an e-mail "stuck" a while ago and contacted customer disservice as I couldn't get into webmail to try to clear it,I got exactly the same response you did.There should be some way to tell them a fault without paying premium rate.I also said can you contact them and get someone to phone me back of course the answer was no then I remembered tech help is now in India isn't it???

I also had a problem at the weekend with "cannot send e-mails message mutant bagle o " scared me and trying to find info and stingers etc on a barely there frequently disconnecting "service" was so hard,
I found a message that someone else had this and it ? turned out to be a technical fault,no mention on the status page............

I am using the "Freedom " package as well . I started in January.
I have tried my pay as you go connection and it's perfect so it's definately NTL .

Sue

[suzywong]

Neil ,
No one should have to pay 50p a minute to notify a company they have a fault.........
I have been with other service providers who charged 50p a minute tech help but never had to contact them except to change phone number as moving.
The difference with NTL appears to be they don't answer e-mails.
It could be sooo simple to improve communication and service have more staff answering e-mails .

As a new "freedom" user is the situation likely to improve or has it been like this a long time?

Sue

[zendawn]

Originally Posted by Fred Flange

Hello S

Thanks for the reply, but I already have an alternative if I need it.

But I do need to get NTL wworking again, and I am more concerned to find out:

1. If anyone else has had these problems this week.

2. What is the next best step in resolving the problem?

Kind regards

Fred F.

No problems with NTL dialup here (touch woody), last time I did have the sort of trouble you are having, it was my modem that was the cause. Brought a new one and it was all ok.
Having said that, I see other people are having the same problem in the same area, so must be a localised connection issue.

[DrAwesome]

Originally Posted by suzywong

I also had a problem at the weekend with "cannot send e-mails message mutant bagle o " scared me and trying to find info and stingers etc on a barely there frequently disconnecting "service" was so hard, I found a message that someone else had this and it ? turned out to be a technical fault,no mention on the status page............Sue

Dont you have an alternative email account that you can fall back on in times like these?

Originally Posted by suzywong

No one should have to pay 50p a minute to notify a company they have a fault.........
I have been with other service providers who charged 50p a minute tech help but never had to contact them except to change phone number as moving.
The difference with NTL appears to be they don't answer e-mails.
It could be sooo simple to improve communication and service have more staff answering e-mails.

Sue

You could also try calling your local NTL franchise & speak to customer services more than often they are quite willing to usually transfer your call free of charge.

[Fred Flange]

Hello All

Still having the same problems here.

Just to clear up a few things.

1. Can someone confirm the correct Email Address for Dial Up Customers to report service issues to NTL. It would be wrong to complain that they haven't answered if they haven't received the mailings, but if they have then it does look as though they just don't care.

2. I don't think anyone has griped about paying a service line to get Tech Support, that is not the issue here. The issue is that NTL seem to have a problem with their equipment, and either do not have the facility to find out from their customers that they have a problem, or perhaps are too busy making all their BroadBand adjustments to deal with it.

Regards

F. Flange

PS. Regarding the change of modem, you will see from my original post that I have tried using Three Different Modems on Two different machines under Two Operating Systems, one of which has had a complety fresh installation on a brand new HDD.

PPS. I don't mind if Neil rants a bit, I am inclined to agree with the gist of what he says about NTL, and although they are now under new management, there is still plenty of the old wood hanging on and that is probaly what is wrong with them.

PPPS. Yes other ISPs are available but again that is not the point. Occasional short breaks in service can't be avoided, but we are talking about a virtual lack of facility for a whole week.

[Russ]

Originally Posted by suzywong

then I remembered tech help is now in India isn't it???

No.

Originally Posted by Fred Flange

Can someone confirm the correct Email Address for Dial Up Customers to report service issues to NTL.

You had it right the first time, although it's worth bearing in mind that NTL give priority to incoming calls, with emails a distant second.

[DrAwesome]

Originally Posted by Russ D

No.

Russ when you ring the dial up tech help phone number the people at the other end are definatly Indian.

[Chris W]

Originally Posted by DrAwesome

Russ when you ring the dial up tech help phone number the people at the other end are definatly Indian.

some people there may be indian... but dial up support is definately not in India!!

[suzywong]

Dr Awsome.......
Thanks for trying to help.
Quote:
Dont you have an alternative email account that you can fall back on in times like these?

Yes I do but use the NTL one as my main address so still couldn't get my normal mail at my main address,will use one of my others thanks

re You could also try calling your local NTL franchise & speak to customer services more than often they are quite willing to usually transfer your call free of charge

I have done that before ,they transfer me no problem ,but just say we can't deal with tech things. I asked wheres my dial box please,can't answer that ,when will I get the changeover so I don't have to prefix 1263? ,again don't know .???????
Are you saying it is definately possible to get through to tech support from customer services???????

By the way the connection is finally ok this morning hope it lasts.

As Fred said a week with connections sooo slow, pages cannot be displayed nearly every time ,very very frequent disconnections is awful.

Can't see how customer service will improve by cutting so many jobs

Thanks again
Sue

[Fred Flange]

Hello All

Sue- I'm back on air again this morning, [3 successful dialups at 50K] which rather conclusivley points the finger at NTL rather than our systems. Too much of a coincidence otherwise.

So Finger and everything else crossed.

Think I shall be leaving NTL soon though, the stress of the last week has been almost unbearable - my fault I suppose for being a net junkie, but I don't think I could go through it again.

Will have to start looking around for the best BB deal - is there a good thread anywhere?

Thanks again Sue for posting, it does help to be able to share the burden a bit.

Kind regards

Fred F.