NTL Digitial Cable Television - Shoddy Service

[gizzmo]

Discovered a problem with my digital box in the bedroom - the picture looks fine but the sound is very faint with lots of interference. All my analogue channels and the dvd/video are fine though - and have checked and re-checked all the connection and they all seem fine. Phoned up customer services to report the fault and they have no engineers available until after xmas - that's more than a week away. Imagine a 4 day xmas break without my cable TV - normally the time it would get used the most. This is not good.
So I wonder......are there an unusually high number of faults such that the engineers are really busy - which means that NTL have substandard service?
Or maybe they just have no engineers having laid them all off in time for xmas as I read in the papers?
Has anyone any ideas why this might be happening or maybe its happening to someone else too?
Any ideas would be appreciated.
NB - The main box in the living room is not experiencing any issues.

[paulyoung666]

Originally Posted by gizzmo

Discovered a problem with my digital box in the bedroom - the picture looks fine but the sound is very faint with lots of interference. All my analogue channels and the dvd/video are fine though - and have checked and re-checked all the connection and they all seem fine. Phoned up customer services to report the fault and they have no engineers available until after xmas - that's more than a week away. Imagine a 4 day xmas break without my cable TV - normally the time it would get used the most. This is not good.
So I wonder......are there an unusually high number of faults such that the engineers are really busy - which means that NTL have substandard service?
Or maybe they just have no engineers having laid them all off in time for xmas as I read in the papers?
Has anyone any ideas why this might be happening or maybe its happening to someone else too?
Any ideas would be appreciated.
NB - The main box in the living room is not experiencing any issues.

hi and to the site , having been involved in the service industry but not connected in anyway to ntl , i would suspect that they will have reduced there manning to allow as many tech's as possible to have a xmas with their families , as for your problem , have you tried swapping the boxes over to see if the fault is the same or travels with the box ???????? , i hope you enjoy your stay here btw

[Marge]

Try taking the scart leads out and then reseating them firmly, sometimes they can work a little bit loose which can cause sound problems. Also check that the pins inside the scart leads are ok and not broken as well or try another scart lead.

[paulyoung666]

i dont suppose there could have been any little ppl fiddling could they

[Tristan]

Originally Posted by gizzmo

Discovered a problem with my digital box in the bedroom - the picture looks fine but the sound is very faint with lots of interference. All my analogue channels and the dvd/video are fine though - and have checked and re-checked all the connection and they all seem fine. Phoned up customer services to report the fault and they have no engineers available until after xmas - that's more than a week away. Imagine a 4 day xmas break without my cable TV - normally the time it would get used the most. This is not good.
So I wonder......are there an unusually high number of faults such that the engineers are really busy - which means that NTL have substandard service?
Or maybe they just have no engineers having laid them all off in time for xmas as I read in the papers?
Has anyone any ideas why this might be happening or maybe its happening to someone else too?
Any ideas would be appreciated.
NB - The main box in the living room is not experiencing any issues.

I think it's more likely that engineers have booked time off over Christmas. They have families too!

[altis]

I can remember at primary school other kids heaping scorn on me when I was talking about my father - "No one's dad works on Chrismas day!"

He was of course. He was an engineer for the electricity board and was out fixing faults so other people could cook their Christmas dinners. My brothers had to chase round on their motor bikes, carrying turkey sandwiches and flasks of hot coffee, trying to find him.

Eeeh, when I were a lad.....

[ozsat]

At 3pm on Christmas Eve (just before I was going out) - my box decided it will not provide any access to any channels.

Called NTL CS and they said the earliest time slot they had for my areas was Monday afternoon.

I assumed a mistake had been made with Monday being a public holiday.

But an engineer arrived with a new box on Monday afternoon - I wasn't actually expecting that to really mean Monday - I thought they meant Wednesday.

[gizzmo]

Thanks for your repolies everyone - the engineer has finally arrived more than 7 days after the fault occured - and replaced the box - it was a fault with the box. Never-the-less I still find it hard to believe that a service industry such as Cable TV would find a 7 day wait acceptable. I have already requested and been granted a refund on the days that I was without cable - now lets see what gets credited. I have also asked for further compensation for distress caused as a result of missing some very key programmes that are only aired over the festive period. They are sending me a compensation request form - let's see what comes of that.

[ozsat]

I had my credit added without filling in any paperwork - I think it is a refund for each day lost.

Previous refunds have appeared on the next bill.

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by gizzmo

Thanks for your repolies everyone - the engineer has finally arrived more than 7 days after the fault occured - and replaced the box - it was a fault with the box. Never-the-less I still find it hard to believe that a service industry such as Cable TV would find a 7 day wait acceptable. I have already requested and been granted a refund on the days that I was without cable - now lets see what gets credited. I have also asked for further compensation for distress caused as a result of missing some very key programmes that are only aired over the festive period. They are sending me a compensation request form - let's see what comes of that.

Distress?????????????? Caused by missing a television programme?
Give over.....

Fancy losing half your family, your home and your friends in Thailand due to an earthquake under the sea..... THAT'S DISTRESS.

[paulyoung666]

Originally Posted by gizzmo

Thanks for your repolies everyone - the engineer has finally arrived more than 7 days after the fault occured - and replaced the box - it was a fault with the box. Never-the-less I still find it hard to believe that a service industry such as Cable TV would find a 7 day wait acceptable. I have already requested and been granted a refund on the days that I was without cable - now lets see what gets credited. I have also asked for further compensation for distress caused as a result of missing some very key programmes that are only aired over the festive period. They are sending me a compensation request form - let's see what comes of that.

sorry but for something that is non essential then i think at this time of year , a 7 day wait is not too bad , now if it had taken 7 days to get your phone sorted then i would be a damned sight more concerned

[Tristan]

Originally Posted by gizzmo

Thanks for your repolies everyone - the engineer has finally arrived more than 7 days after the fault occured - and replaced the box - it was a fault with the box. Never-the-less I still find it hard to believe that a service industry such as Cable TV would find a 7 day wait acceptable. I have already requested and been granted a refund on the days that I was without cable - now lets see what gets credited. I have also asked for further compensation for distress caused as a result of missing some very key programmes that are only aired over the festive period. They are sending me a compensation request form - let's see what comes of that.

A refund for the days when you were without service is reasonable, but distress? Please.

As the previous poster says, being without a phone for 7 days would be one thing, but TV is hardly life-or-death. You still had the terrestrial channels, after all.

And it was only actually 5 working days you missed -- or do you expect engineers to be making house calls on Christmas and Boxing days? 5 days, when they'd be operating with reduced staff numbers (because engineers would have booked holiday), with a large number of new installs to complete, and giving priority to phone line problems... am I alone in thinking that's not actually unreasonable?

[gizzmo]

Oh Please!!!! - xmas is the time that people such as myself are stuck at home the most and hence would watch their Cable TV the most. Companies such as NTL should know better that if they deliver such substandard service, customers will start to walk. And where would they be then, with fewer customers, they would be able to afford to pay even fewer engineers, which means higher prices and worse service. I know a few unsatisfied NTL customers that have already switched, and at this rate I am likely to switch too.
Not to mention the power of word of mouth advertising.....unsatisfied customers do not recommend a substandard service to potential new customers......and I had 30 people over at my house at various times over xmas - some of which have decided to opt for sky instead of NTL after hearing my story. So NTL have already lost out.
Its just basic fundamental economics.

[paulyoung666]

Originally Posted by gizzmo

Oh Please!!!! - xmas is the time that people such as myself are stuck at home the most and hence would watch their Cable TV the most. Companies such as NTL should know better that if they deliver such substandard service, customers will start to walk. And where would they be then, with fewer customers, they would be able to afford to pay even fewer engineers, which means higher prices and worse service. I know a few unsatisfied NTL customers that have already switched, and at this rate I am likely to switch too.
Not to mention the power of word of mouth advertising.....unsatisfied customers do not recommend a substandard service to potential new customers......and I had 30 people over at my house at various times over xmas - some of which have decided to opt for sky instead of NTL after hearing my story. So NTL have already lost out.
Its just basic fundamental economics.

at the end of the day if you are not happy then vote with your wallet , i still stand by my stance in saying that the service you recieved was adequate , not brilliant but adequate , just because you choose to use ntl does not meen that they should be at your beck and call 24/7/365 , especially as it is a non essential service , like i said , if it had been your phoneline then i would have posted differently

[Graham F]

My friend waited/is waiting 2 weeks for sky to come and fix a fault over the festive period .....so the grass isn't always greener, and as OB says if you think that, that is distress you should get out more