NTL - New Billing system Problems

[King Bear]

Here is my tale of woe.

I had been a happy customer of NTL for many years, receiving phone, digital TV and BB via the STB. Eventually due to the constant hikes in TV base pack price, I decided to get freeview, and had the STB swapped out for a SACM. Everything was still ok.

The problems only started when I moved house. Initially I cancelled BB, but left the phone connected, as I still owned the property, and had an answering machine set-up to catch any calls while I notified everyone of my new contact details. After a few months there were no calls coming through so I gave NTL 30 days notice to cancel the phone service.

I received the "We are sorry to see you go" letter with a disconnection date of 28/7/05. I also then received a final bill dated 16/7/05 with a credit of £5.96 . I now waited for a cheque to arrive. Now for the "fun and games". A month later I receive another bill, this time with a credit of £3.96 . I have been charged £2 for an "Analogue NON DD charge". What !!! I am not being charged for any services (correct), but I am being charged for not having a DD set up, to not pay them.

Anyway, to try and cut an already long story short, I have spoken to CS 4 times since then (3/9/05, 19/10/05, 21/12/05 and 25/1/06) and each time they have acknowledged the mistake, and stated that it is now fixed. I am sure that the CS reps are acting in good faith, but I suspect a billing system issue. Some have even credited the incorrect charges back to my account, but it is still all to no avail. Those £2 "Analogue NON DD charges" just keep on appearing and hence the account cannot be closed, the latest bill arriving this morning. Loud scream !!!!!!!!!!!

Please can someone help me in my plight.

Cheers, Andy

[King Bear]

Sorry for the urgency, but please can someone from NTL try and fix this for me.

I am in the process of selling the property concerned. It has taken a year to finally receive an offer, and exchange of contracts should hopefully be a matter of weeks away. I do not want the sale process jeopardised by an unclosed NTL account.

I have had no NTL services at the property since July 2005, surely the account should be closed by now.

Cheers, Andy

[Chris W]

King Bear- if you PM me your name, account number and a contact number I'll pass details to our contact in ntl to get this resolved.

[King Bear]

Many thanks to Chris at Cableforum, and Jill from NTL for their help.

I will not know for definite until the next bill arrives that the errant £2 "Analogue NON DD charge" has been killed off, but all looks very promising.

As I said previously, I am sure that everyone previously involved in the saga was acting in good faith, but whether due to poor training, overly complex computer systems, or just time pressures on CS staff, the fact is that what should have been a simple matter could not be accomplished. Shame.

Believe me NTL, surely it is better for someone to take ownership of a customer complaint from the outset and fix it in one go, rather than have repeated calls from a customer with the complaint never being resolved.

Once again, many thanks.

Cheers, Andy

[Neil]

Originally Posted by King Bear

Believe me NTL, surely it is better for someone to take ownership of a customer complaint from the outset and fix it in one go, rather than have repeated calls from a customer with the complaint never being resolved.

That is something that ntl have never managed to grasp I'm afraid.

[StuS]

Hopefully someone here is able to help me with my billing problem(s).

I had to phone up CS 2 or 3 times last year for completely random additions to my phone bill. Always the phone bill, but never BB or TV. I've always been told 'sorry sir, this happens from time to time'.... how? I'm just glad that I check the extras section of the phone bill.

I realised about 6 months ago that I was being charged for my phone line twice - once on a telephone bill, and once as part of the family pack. I phoned CS and a helpful guy said that it was due to the wrong postcode being on my phonebill and that he'd sort it all out. I was promised that I would be refunded all of the money that I'd overpaid and wouldn't be charged double in future. What happened?....... absolutely nothing. The next bill arrives, same problems as all the previous bills, so I call again. Another helpful sounding guy says all the same stuff as the first, but when the next bill comes - result! Credit on the TV bill and nothing on the phonebill. But, of course, nothing lasts forever.

I received my phone bill today. I've been charged £1.50 for not having a DD(I cancelled it because I shouldn't be paying this bill!), £1.50 for some talk-unsomethingorother, and £10.50 for rental. After having a bill of £0.00 for a few months how can this happen again!?

I there any way that I can sort this out permanently? I don't use the phone at all(which is why it's so annoying to pay for it twice and random extras) but I like the TV, so I'd rather not cancel the lot. Then again, if I cancel, I'd probably just have problems getting the credit (about £200) refunded to my bank account

Originally Posted by Neil

That is something that ntl have never managed to grasp I'm afraid.

We'll not everyone, there are some people who work there that treat people how they would be liked to be treated in the same situation.

I work in a company similar to NTL, we got a standard salary then 5k bonus depending on performance, where not just talking nutrition here, we are also talking ownership of customers problems, delivering a first time resolution etc.

Why don't they adopt that approach. People moan about bonus as they seem them unrealistic to get, but I constantly get 90-100% of mine because I am focused to get it, its achieveable if you do your job correctly.

[Chris W]

StuS if you PM me your name, account number and a contact number, I will pass details onto our high level contacts in ntl

[StuS]

Originally Posted by Chris W

StuS if you PM me your name, account number and a contact number, I will pass details onto our high level contacts in ntl

Thanks Chris. I 'think' that I finally managed to sort it out with CS today, but I'll have to wait until next month's bill to see if it's true or not They seem to have screwed up my account details again so I might have to get back to you and take you up on your offer

Thanks again.

[cl69gh]

Originally Posted by Simon M

I've created this thread as a place to discuss and record those that have been cut off or affected by the new NTL Billing system.

We already have several threads created about problems from individual customers/members, which we would like to have merged, but due to the differing time frames, this would be difficult.

So if there are any further problems with the New billing system, please post in here.

It also gives one place for people to refer to when disussing the problems with NTL, proof that you are not alone.

The other threads that relate to this are listed below.

TV service cut
NTL caught out well and truly and its costing them
Word To Ntl Billing And Debt Collection Dept.
ok heres a laugh

hi i paid £94.00 on the 7th april which is all they said i owed.4 days later get cut off through non payment of bill!!have had services temporarily restored but rang back today to extend this till 28th april and was told no.so great i will probably have no phone or extra tv channels over easter!

[greencreeper]

Billing changes Is this the one system for all?

[thelem]

cl69gh: If you've paid your bill in full, then why are they refusing the permanently enable your service? I get the feeling you're not telling the whole story.

[Florence]

The mess NTL are in with their billing system can anyone be sure the amount they are taking each month is the correct amount!!!! They have shown total incompetance and its making it very hard to trust what they put on your bill!

I have just filled in a complaint with Ofcom about my mothers billing error as we have got nowhere with NTL except to be accused of lying.

Brief summary of your experience/query: When I recieved my bill it had 3 premiun rate calls for 25th Feb at around 10pm and on the 4th March it had another 8 calls all within mins of each other. I am 80 yrs old and in bed at those times my son who stays with me for part of the week was in Preston on one of the days and on his computer on the other. I know those calls were not made from inside my proberty but NTL have continued to say they was. Even saying they only have our word for the calls not being made in the house. I know for sure these calls didn't come from my home and would like to know something is in place to stop this happening again to me or any other unsuspecting person.

I will continue to campaign for a refund as I have been wrongly charged for these calls and if NTL are allowed to get away with charging people for calls they haven't made then its a licence to charge what ever they want with no regulation.
Regards
Florence

[mertle]

I have a problem which I never noticed.

This month the new charges have been issued. Yet looking at the old prices I am being over charged.

The problem is I have been charged £45 just for the tv/line rental & second box for months & months. Plus another 17.99 correctly charged for broadband. Then I have DD for whatever my phone calls are. Everything is Direct Debit.

Looking at the price structure thats £8 more than what I should be paying with my DD charge.

I worked out that my tv 19.50, 10.50 is being correctly charged but my second box is being charged a whopping £15. Yet according to the leaflet it should only be only £7.

I don't know what I should do.

[Graham M]

£7 is for an extra Analogue box I beleive? Are you Analogue or Digital? Also I think the Non-DD charge has gone up by £2.