Opening hours of department dealing with cancelations?

[Pia]

Originally Posted by Nugget

At the end of day, you signed up to a package that you knew would cost you x amount - why should ntl (or any company for that matter) reduce your charges just because you're no longer happy with what you're paying?

But it's not that is it, they are reducing charges to keep in line with the competition.
They are doing it in a poor way of course, since it shouldn't be retentions giving out these offers.
It's not a case of, we all decided we don't want to pay that much anymore. But there are other providers out there that can give us cheaper rates so NTL has simply matched them. Many companies do price match as standard. Ntl on the other hand, wait for you to threaten to cancel first

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Pia

Why would anyone pay more for something if they didn't need to?

NTL wouldn't give the discounts if they couldn't afford it, i'm sure even they aren't that silly.
I wouldn't pay more for something in a shop if i could get it cheaper by making a phone call
And yeah, as Fingy says, they are only open Mon-Fri!

They can afford it. They just cut the amount they spend on "luxuries" they don't need, such as Engineers, other staff and network upgrades. Simple. Don't believe me? Look at some of the posts by Escapee, and others. It's also simple economics. If they cut someone's prices by £20 a month, then that's £20 a month they don't have for upgrades.

As I have said in the past, I really don't think NTL should be giving reduced prices to those who threaten to leave. I personally would rather they spent that money on improving the network (and their support services) so that people are not tempted to leave anyway.

[Pia]

I agree with that Stuart, but i'm of the attitude that if everyone else is doing it one more won't make any difference
Anyway, i need the money more than them!

[Florence]

We all need the money but think about it you all get a reduction and the network fails. you are paying for a service that is either down or below expectations and NTL have either no staff or funds to fix it.

The T&C cover this as they no longer guarentee the speeds or connection so you could be off line for a few days.

There has to be a point where it becomes impossible for them to trade they are not a profitable company like some and it would be easy to fall back into bankruptcy.

The saying about the last piece of straw that broke the camels back comes to mind

[etccarmageddon]

Originally Posted by Nugget

... why should ntl (or any company for that matter) reduce your charges just because you're no longer happy with what you're paying?

because they do.

it's not our responsibility to turn down offers so NTL have more money to spend. if it's so bad for NTL then it's up to their management to reduce the deals or dont offer deals.

[Nugget]

Originally Posted by etccarmageddon

because they do.

it's not our responsibility to turn down offers so NTL have more money to spend. if it's so bad for NTL then it's up to their management to reduce the deals or dont offer deals.

I'm not arguing with that matey - what I'm saying is that, seeing as people sign up to pay x amount for their service, why should they then demand to pay less in charges later on?

I agree that ntl mess it up for themselves by agreeing to do it in some cases, but that still doesn't mean that someone should have the right to it

[Pia]

Originally Posted by etccarmageddon

it's not our responsibility to turn down offers so NTL have more money to spend. if it's so bad for NTL then it's up to their management to reduce the deals or dont offer deals.

My sentiments exactly.

Originally Posted by Nugget

I'm not arguing with that matey - what I'm saying is that, seeing as people sign up to pay x amount for their service, why should they then demand to pay less in charges later on?

I agree that ntl mess it up for themselves by agreeing to do it in some cases, but that still doesn't mean that someone should have the right to it

But this will have all started because people genuinely had intentions to leave and were given the discount without that being the point of the phone call.
I feel i am getting a good deal at the moment, but only in comparison to what i was paying. It's probably about right in comparison with the competition.

[Nugget]

Originally Posted by Pia

But this will have all started because people genuinely had intentions to leave and were given the discount without that being the point of the phone call.
I feel i am getting a good deal at the moment, but only in comparison to what i was paying. It's probably about right in comparison with the competition.

What I don't understand is, if you ring up to cancel becuase you're sick of a shoddy service (or whatever), why you would stay because it's offered at a cheaper rate . What is about paying slightly less that means you'd ignore the reasons that you wnted to leave in the first place?

[Pia]

Originally Posted by Nugget

What I don't understand is, if you ring up to cancel becuase you're sick of a shoddy service (or whatever), why you would stay because it's offered at a cheaper rate . What is about paying slightly less that means you'd ignore the reasons that you wnted to leave in the first place?

Cos then you're pretty much paying for what it's worth.
Shoddy sevice- low prices. Reminds me of that RyanAir company.

I'm not as fussed about having low speeds if i'm not paying full whack, but that doesn't mean to say i'll just put up with it either, it's just less of a pee-take.

[Chrysalis]

Sort of agree with nugget, except I think people who have a service clearly below ntl's national average should get a discount until ntl resolve the problem. But someone in an area that has faultless digital tv/vod/10meg that runs at 10meg all day and all night even at 9pm should pay full whack as they recieving a grade A service.

So to summarise discounts should only be a form of compensation for substandard service not a way of competing. They should also be reviewed monthly not 3/6/12 months and probably be less generous.

[Craig_e]

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

Their is a problem because the product has a price and you not willing to pay for it, if your product works as it should then please tell me why you should pay below the retail price?

This of course has a knock on affect, ntl sell services below cost and as such less network upgrades get done.

What are you on? It's simple economics, the price is set by what people are willing to pay. If people don't want to pay it its obviously too high for what they're receiving. The christian nicey nicey approach isn't going to make a bit of difference to how many upgrades they do

[Chrysalis]

A product is undervalued when the person selling the product is either making a loss (loss leader) or they have to redesign the product usually by reducing the quality of it to sell it at that price. This is occuring with broadband.

By your argument if people suddenly decided they would only pay £1 for broadband then £2 would be overvalued even if it costs the isp 10x that amount to provide it.

---------- Post added at 00:57 ---------- Previous post was at 00:54 ----------

Oh and by the way the price is set by the person selling the product, noone is putting a knife to isp's throats saying you have to charge X amount.

What do you think mr X will do if he says to NTL I want this price because I can ask for it then NTL said no can do you can stay at current price or leave?

[Nugget]

Originally Posted by Craig_e

What are you on? It's simple economics, the price is set by what people are willing to pay. If people don't want to pay it its obviously too high for what they're receiving. The christian nicey nicey approach isn't going to make a bit of difference to how many upgrades they do

Tosh! 'If people don't want to pay [the contratual amount] for what they're receiving', it doesn't mean that ntl (in this instance) are in the wrong. Maybe it means that these people shouldn't have agreed those contractual terms in the first place.

As Chysalis says, it's fair enough if ntl wanted to offer it as a compensatory gesture in the short term, but why should they have to do it over an extended period just because the customer has decided that they don't want to pay the agreed amount anymore?

[Pia]

Originally Posted by Nugget

... why should they have to do it over an extended period just because the customer has decided that they don't want to pay the agreed amount anymore?

And why should lots of people be paying £25 for a supposed 2 meg connection when loads of others are allowed to have it for less than half of that price.

The way i see it, if they want me to buy their services, and are want me to pay a lower price because i have realised they aren't all they're cracked up to be in comparison with the tough competetion these days.. then they obviously want us enough to take less money.

Half the money is better than none of the money...

It's NTL's decision to make those offers, not ours, and I won't be losing any sleep over it.

[Chrysalis]

PIA of course ntl have royally messed up there, they have set a precedent when they started this sham of a discount policy meaning people ring up and expect the same because of this precedent.

Personally I think they should either say tough luck to anyone new trying it on (which they are going to do soon from what I heard one of £20 caps on discounts not ongoing) or even better since noone on discounts is tied up long term they just say starting from next bill the discount is cancelled if you dont like it you free to leave.

Like james henry has said many times before that leaves ntl making more profit and they can then improve their service, these penny pinchers will go of to talk talk and the like realise what a mistake they made and with any luck they willcome back to ntl and pay the full price. If not then no big loss.