Word To Ntl Billing And Debt Collection Dept.

[Graham F]

Originally Posted by NitroNutter

I have not attacked anyone so dont make FALSE accusations

Note: thread title. My entire thread starting post was directed @ NTL
Note: my last paragraph where I read how someone may respond and ASKED them not too.
Now the thread is turning into a discussion on DD when its about NTL failing allocate payments and credits in a satisfactory period of time, and too boot TELLING me my bill is WAY overdue before or @ the point of arrival when they use second class.

As for anyone who believes a DD is not an OPEN CHEQUE dont fool yourself ask your legal advisor and your financial advisor.
The end on DD please get back to the original Topic of NTL failing to allocate within reasonable time and delayed bill sending.
Last year NTL was something liek 30Mil in the red, this year they are approx 50 mil in the black, this is without taking into account their DELAYED allocation method which just on BB alone @ average spend of £20 x 1 million customers = a further 20 million in the black.
Are they spending any ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â£ÃƒÆ ’‚£ on improving their systems and staffing or just creaming it?

This is a discussion forum and seen as you mentioed DD's people are entitled to discuss it as it is on topic. It seems that you just want to rant and have no intraction with people on here unless they agree with what you are saying?!?!

I don't know where you get your figures from but ntl is still in the red from what I know. ntl are currently spending £100mil lion on getting everyone onto one system. (this is a rough figure)

[Derek]

NitroNutter,

Maybe if you calmed down a little and gave some useful information (such as where abouts in the country you are etc.) someone might decide to help you.

Alternatively you can continue to throw your toys out of the pram and we'll all sit back and watch the show.

[Hell's Child]

Originally Posted by NitroNutter

Last year NTL was something liek 30Mil in the red, this year they are approx 50 mil in the black, this is without taking into account their DELAYED allocation method which just on BB alone @ average spend of £20 x 1 million customers = a further 20 million in the black.
Are they spending any ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â£ÃƒÆ ’‚£ on improving their systems and staffing or just creaming it?

ntl owes approx £3billi on in total, some way short of your estimated £20mill .
Even if the company is making money (which is what they are here for after all) the money is being used to pay interest on that £3billi on and to start making a dent on that £3billi on.

I tried to help, I asked a question, have you tried talking to billing about it??

Ok you said don't mention dd, but it is an option and to tell someone to "go away" because they were explaining that, for them, the dd option works, is attacking somebody in my opinion. If you differ in opinion, fair enough, but if you want help don't be so quick to bite back, you may just find yourself no better off.

As for it being directed at ntl, I work for ntl, and so, in part, I presume some of it is directed employees, Like I say, have you tried speaking to billing about it?

You will also find that you won't be black-listed unless you fail to pay for 3 months.

As for payment, your best option is to recieve the bill and call them up and pay it on c/card. This way the money is taken instantly and a note made of it on the system and the money is credited to you account within 5 working days.

[Hell's Child]

Originally Posted by Scooby

I don't know where you get your figures from but ntl is still in the red from what I know. ntl are currently spending £100mil lion on getting everyone onto one system. (this is a rough figure)

This is correct £100mil l approx is the figure being spent on bringing in one system across the country, i.e harmony. This should EASE billing issues and help regions work better together.

It will also mean saving money on new system implimentaions, as opposesed to paying ibm for changing codes on 6 different systems (at approx £20,000 per change) and leaves only one change needed, thus saving money, which can be spent on getting rid of the debt/network upgrades.

Originally Posted by NitroNutter

A Direct Debit is nothing else but a BLANK cheque ESPECIALLY if youve not got the bill till a week after the due date so you didnt know how much was needed, GET IT. and then theres double bill instance, YES IT HAPPENS just as INCORRECT BILLING happens. Its not the hassle of recovering the one bad payment its the hassle of trying to recover the KNOCK on effect where there is no sympathy for the customer it generally a TUFF TITTIE attitude.
On top DD on a variable fee is yes AN OPEN CHEQUE.
Iv offered standing order but its not satisfactory to NTL.
Now as i said go away you cannot possibly prove DD on any unknown/variable fee is NOT OPEN CHEQUE, as it is most certainly noothing else BUT.

I have no idea what you think you are going to achieve by being so ignorant to people, shouting & ranting in general, and at me in particular - I can assure you that I am not going to go away.

If you continue to take this aggressive attitude towards people in this topic I think you may soon find that you will "go away" as you so politely put it.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by Hell's Child

thus saving money, which can be spent on getting rid of the debt/network upgrades.

Yeah right-no offence, but like that's ever gonna happen.

[NitroNutter]

Points:
1. Funny how this site, a short while after re-opening as .co.uk reported NTL in 50 odd mill of black money instead of the usuall 30+ mill of red. So sorry if I was mis informed but that happened here on the news portal. Not my fault. It was also mentioned at the time how 2 directors gave themselves sum juicy bonus for their endeavors and achievements. If i read this wrong sorry.
some 3 billion in the red now I hear, better not be trading against UK company trading law on debt and insolvency.
2. I specifically said dont say dd mainly because dd only suits those who have more fortune than those on tight budgets.
3.why if a cable bill is fixed is standing order not satisfactory for NTL ?
DD = open/blank cheque, perhaps its because NTL have full control of it, unless you cancel it.
standing order is more customer controlled and fixed.
4. best way to pay is credit card, 5 days to be allocated?? complete lies, maybe 5 days from payment date to leave your bank account if you check your statement, but all to often NTL have it sat on their system for weeks before its allocated.
Since the recent changes in ntl billing system there system has got worse.

Fact I recieve my bill almost every month between the 12th-16th, (seems more like the 16th recently), This bill takes approx 7 days to get to me? meaning its despatched around the 9th. I pay within 1 7-10 days of bill receipt = 26th at latest, 5 days to recieve and allocate = 1st latest depending on the month . Now after these recent billing changes NTL made this payment has never shown on the bill, it shows the previous months payment instead. So 5 days is a joke.
Fact a due ammount is not due till a client recives an invoice/bill for due ammount. so if DD customers is not due till 10 days after bill arrival how can a non direct debit customer be way overdue by the time a bill arrives?
NTL's old billing system:
I used to get my bill usually before the 10th, I would usually pay within 7-10 days, that paymeny allways showed on net bill. So what has gone wrong. Bad service rebates have allways took 4-6 weeks to allocate, why? thats is money that doesnt need any transfering its allready on NTL system. Perhaps its because NTL hope to lose the rebate, this has happened so I advise yuo to check any rebates definatly got allocated.

NTL is one of the only utility companies that charge in advance, for a service that may not arrive at all, arrive spasmodically or I will admit is generally there, however iv had a few outages from NTL's fault that have taken upto 6 weeks to rectify. I mean it took them 3 weeks to change a cable modem that was DOA, and if I hadnt rang them several times a week I think I would still be waiting to day for a replacement. Why because NTL do not train there staff properly, many do not know correct procedure, In tech in billing and in sales. There fortunately are some who do know their job so eventually NTL may just get it right, seems it will allways be eventually tho.

Now if you work for NTL and you agree with the managements and billing new dictatorial attitude then fine you will obviously feel an angry customer is some nobody who doesnt matter. You support the new very poor system that will deem slander and false accusations against long term loyal customers, Ive been a cable customer for some 8 years or so, way before NTL was in my area, My bill has in the most part allways been up to date, it has slipped my mind to pay my bill some 3 times in these 8 years and iv allways quickly rectified that. NTL's billing dept. has never been in such a poor state since these recent changes.
Funny how the lady I spoke to this morning seemed born to totally disagree and be offensive towards the customer, so I asked to speak to a manager after speaking my mind to her. Now did a manager ring? no, why not, did she fail to pass it over? or was the manager to chicken to listen to a customer that is right?
I know im right as earlier this week I lost service, I noticed a few hours later when I went to go online, performed the usual fault procedures to no avail, and rang tech, who discovered I was suspended, put me thru to customer support who quickly realised supsension was false, I had indeed paid like allways and service was back before we finnished our phone conversation. Profoundly appologised for the NTL mishap.
So is, Under the new system, this going to be a monthly occurence for me? falsely suspended service, quickly re-instated, then to follow a debt letter, of which is threatening and false in content?
If so then I have every right to vent my feelings, falsely supsending an account is one thing, falsely accusing a client is another, notifying a third party such as experion with incorrect information is illegal, it is slander, it can have a major effect on the targeted party. Again for a company to do this anyway when they have no credit agreement with me would be illegal. Dont pipe on about contract, NTL do not have one with me. they have never put in writing their terms of service so nothing exists.
If you feel I have no right to such feelings or voicing them, then thats your choice, and if you have that attitude and work for a company such as NTL then we know exactly why such companies are in such a poor state.
Now if you feel from my 2 or 3 posts in this thread you have been personally attacked by myself then i pity you, I started the thread and was retorted against as being incorrect. that is fine as that is your opinion, but now it seems Im not entitled to further post my opinion that the person who quoted me is incorrect with their retort and explain why as others have also done in this thread. One thing is for sure I DID NOT START THE QUOTING others as incorrect.

[NitroNutter]

Now for the direct debit thing, please go and start a thread on Direct debit, this thread was started to assertain why NTL's billing dept. is in such poor state.

You may quote this in the direct debit thread:
yes you maybe able to recover from the DD guarantee any overpayments, but you will find it very hard to recover any knock on effects of such an occurance.

what are the knock on effects of say a double presentation of a DD
It can leave you with insufficient funds to allocate to other bills standing orders etc. That can incur further charges from not just the bank but also from the company who failed to recieve the payment. Yes you would probably get returned any knock on bank charges back without to much problem, but you will not get the other third party charges back. and iv seen it before, some one who is currently suffering some mis-fortune and tight budget such an occurance one £25 charge not recoverable can lead to complete bankrupcy @ worse case scenario, where they cannot recover from that £25 charge plus maybe some interest and it leads to yet more £25 late-non payment fees until the barrel is completely rotten.
No this has never happened to me, but iv seen it happen to others, am I currently in a state of mis-fortune, unfortunatly yes. I fell sick some five years ago and some 3 years ago my wife also became ill.
Why am I not bankrupt, because I am in complete control of my finances, and one of those controls is my decision to limit payments thru DD means.

Welcome to the site NitroNutter by the way.

Does Nitronutter have a valid point in posting #22 ?

I don't know as I have no problems with DD myself but then I don't know what area he lives in.Does this regional thing affect the billing service he is getting?

Incog.Hey Nitro you might want to tone down the aggression a bit.Some folk here do work for ntl but are NOT responsible for your problems.However most folk on this site could tell you tales that make yours pale in comparison.I've noticed that those who asked politely here usually get the help they need. I understand your anger but it is misplaced at those on this site.

[NitroNutter]

Hi Incog and welco.... oops see by yer post count youve been around

If you search my nick you will find some previous posts by me where theres no aggression as you put it However agression in defense of oneself is imho not problematic, unless of course it is seriuosly abusive offensive and or defamatory, which i do not believe I have been at all.

Ok now first response to this topic which is mine as I started the thread, I have to wonder why after the threads first reply by someone which would appear to pretty much agree with my starting post, the second reply to this thread specifically targetted the one point in my starting post I asked not to be brought up, and that person turns out to be forum staff. The fact that a staff member targetted this took the thread completely of its original track and I knew that would occur if it was brought up before he posted, hence my request not to bring Direct debit into the equation. Direct Debit is an open cheque sorry but its a fact, if you dont believe that then thats you choice, I hope it will never become your woe. Now as its an open cheque it does not suit everyones circumstances, and currently it doesnt suit mine, I pay extra to NTL to not have DD, and this does not make me any less of a customer than the next guy.
But now it seems that a DD customer has his bill 10 days before the DD is due but a non DD customer gets his bill after the due date, well I question the legality of making a fee overdue prior to an invoice/bill.

If your not happy then do somethign about it.
Being aggressive to people on here is not the right way to go about getting your problems resolved.

You have a problem with your billing. You say you pay within 10 days of receipt of the bill?
Read your bill, mine clearly states that the money is owed immediatley. You by waiting 10 days are not actually helping yourself. From what I can see on my bills you are obliged to pay this bill immediatly upon receipt, I dont know if NTL do allow a grace period but if they did it would be closer to 5 working days.

The way NTL prints its bills are misleading anyway, by the time they are shipped to the printing company and then posted out, payments can be received that cannot be added to the already posted bill. Its not done by magic, it takes manpower hours to get the millions of bills shipped out every month.

I dont have my NTL bill to hand to sit and read through it, but I would advise you to read it in detail.

[Hell Fighter]

Originally Posted by NitroNutter

Points:
1. Funny how this site, a short while after re-opening as .co.uk reported NTL in 50 odd mill of black money instead of the usuall 30+ mill of red. So sorry if I was mis informed but that happened here on the news portal. Not my fault. It was also mentioned at the time how 2 directors gave themselves sum juicy bonus for their endeavors and achievements. If i read this wrong sorry.
some 3 billion in the red now I hear, better not be trading against UK company trading law on debt and insolvency.

It's called Chapter 11 which ntl successfully emerged from last year.

Originally Posted by NitroNutter

3.why if a cable bill is fixed is standing order not satisfactory for NTL ?
DD = open/blank cheque, perhaps its because NTL have full control of it, unless you cancel it.
standing order is more customer controlled and fixed.

ntl don't offer cable television on its own, it's bundled with a telco line - with telephone calls can you explain how a cable bill can ever be guaranteed to be fixed?

If you want a standing order, then this is entirely your fault it hasn't been setup yet. To setup a standing order, you would contact your bank and setup a monthly standing payment to ntl, not the other way round - you can do this with any company.

Originally Posted by NitroNutter

4. best way to pay is credit card, 5 days to be allocated?? complete lies, maybe 5 days from payment date to leave your bank account if you check your statement, but all to often NTL have it sat on their system for weeks before its allocated.
Since the recent changes in ntl billing system there system has got worse.

I suppose this would vary from region to region, in my region it does take 24 hours for a CC payment to show on an account.

Originally Posted by NitroNutter

Fact I recieve my bill almost every month between the 12th-16th, (seems more like the 16th recently), This bill takes approx 7 days to get to me? meaning its despatched around the 9th. I pay within 1 7-10 days of bill receipt = 26th at latest, 5 days to recieve and allocate = 1st latest depending on the month . Now after these recent billing changes NTL made this payment has never shown on the bill, it shows the previous months payment instead. So 5 days is a joke.
Fact a due ammount is not due till a client recives an invoice/bill for due ammount. so if DD customers is not due till 10 days after bill arrival how can a non direct debit customer be way overdue by the time a bill arrives?
NTL's old billing system:
I used to get my bill usually before the 10th, I would usually pay within 7-10 days, that paymeny allways showed on net bill. So what has gone wrong. Bad service rebates have allways took 4-6 weeks to allocate, why? thats is money that doesnt need any transfering its allready on NTL system. Perhaps its because NTL hope to lose the rebate, this has happened so I advise yuo to check any rebates definatly got allocated.

Sorry to hear about the experience you've received with ntl - have you spoken to a supervisor or a team manager to try to resolve your issues?

Originally Posted by NitroNutter

NTL is one of the only utility companies that charge in advance, for a service that may not arrive at all, arrive spasmodically or I will admit is generally there, however iv had a few outages from NTL's fault that have taken upto 6 weeks to rectify. I mean it took them 3 weeks to change a cable modem that was DOA, and if I hadnt rang them several times a week I think I would still be waiting to day for a replacement. Why because NTL do not train there staff properly, many do not know correct procedure, In tech in billing and in sales. There fortunately are some who do know their job so eventually NTL may just get it right, seems it will allways be eventually tho.

I'm a customer of the following companies (amongst others):

BT, Sky, ntl, Freedom2Surf, Orange, British Gas.

They all charge in advance, so good luck finding a telco/tv/internet providor who you won't be paying in advance

Originally Posted by NitroNutter

Again for a company to do this anyway when they have no credit agreement with me would be illegal. Dont pipe on about contract, NTL do not have one with me. they have never put in writing their terms of service so nothing exists.

So, you're illegally stealing services which you don't have a contract to receive?

Originally Posted by NitroNutter

If you feel I have no right to such feelings or voicing them, then thats your choice, and if you have that attitude and work for a company such as NTL then we know exactly why such companies are in such a poor state.
Now if you feel from my 2 or 3 posts in this thread you have been personally attacked by myself then i pity you, I started the thread and was retorted against as being incorrect. that is fine as that is your opinion, but now it seems Im not entitled to further post my opinion that the person who quoted me is incorrect with their retort and explain why as others have also done in this thread. One thing is for sure I DID NOT START THE QUOTING others as incorrect.

As a customer, you do have the rights to voice your concerns. As readers of this messageboard, others have the right to correct you and also respond to you.

[dilli-theclaw]

Originally Posted by NitroNutter

Hi Incog and welco.... oops see by yer post count youve been around

If you search my nick you will find some previous posts by me where theres no aggression as you put it However agression in defense of oneself is imho not problematic, unless of course it is seriuosly abusive offensive and or defamatory, which i do not believe I have been at all.

Ok now first response to this topic which is mine as I started the thread, I have to wonder why after the threads first reply by someone which would appear to pretty much agree with my starting post, the second reply to this thread specifically targetted the one point in my starting post I asked not to be brought up, and that person turns out to be forum staff. The fact that a staff member targetted this took the thread completely of its original track and I knew that would occur if it was brought up before he posted, hence my request not to bring Direct debit into the equation. Direct Debit is an open cheque sorry but its a fact, if you dont believe that then thats you choice, I hope it will never become your woe. Now as its an open cheque it does not suit everyones circumstances, and currently it doesnt suit mine, I pay extra to NTL to not have DD, and this does not make me any less of a customer than the next guy.
But now it seems that a DD customer has his bill 10 days before the DD is due but a non DD customer gets his bill after the due date, well I question the legality of making a fee overdue prior to an invoice/bill.

Dp you want advice or are you still just ranting and being abusive/rude/ignorant?

Just wondering...

[Florence]

Hello Nitro

And Welcome to the forums.

I had a problem not so long ago with large bills and I seemed to hit a brick wall with CS and credit control. I came on the old .com site and recieved help that allowed me to catch up with the arrears over a few months..

You need to get above the CS and Credit control if you approach them right they will help as in the end they only want the bills paid. I have noticed that there could be problems with billing while they are moving over to harmony. I also fear tht the reduction of staff will create problems if harmany has any hiccups or fails to deliver the promises..

I can only see two ways one speak and work out a deal to pay that suits you and is acceptable to them or move over to BT and another supplier for BB.

Good luck I am sure if someone who works for NTL would pm you offering to try and help you wou.d accept this without having a go at the person. What you have to remember is the people you talk to are only following company policy and you have to get to the managment to get changes.

[Nemesis]

Thread Closed.

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