NTL Customer Services: Your personal experience

[KingTut]

Never found them any use at all, best to sit back and let the problem get fixed, as all the times I have rang in the last 3 years, nobody was ever able to help, and the problem went away a few hours later.

My advice is never ring them, wait until the next day, or dial 150 and ask them to sort the problem out and ring you back...

[Mark W]

well, just to remind you guys i work for ntl tech support - so if you have any issues with your bb (esp via STB) give us a shout and ill see what i can do for ya if you aint fussed about talking to CS about it ok?

[SMHarman]

I must say I called Customer Sevices at Luton last week both calls answered within 30 seconds of navigating the VRU. First CSR a little accusatory but helpful, the second also good.

Reminds me to bump that post, I think it got lost in the noise last week.

[Steve Yensen]

Hi!

I'm a new member with a massive problem with NTL that's been going on since 7th January that hasn't been resolved yet. Their customer service is nothing short of pathetic IMO. I'll post the details as soon as I get the obscenities out ...

Cheers,
Steve

[Frank]

Welcome to nthw steve

[Stuartbe]

Originally Posted by Steve Yensen

Hi!

I'm a new member with a massive problem with NTL that's been going on since 7th January that hasn't been resolved yet. Their customer service is nothing short of pathetic IMO. I'll post the details as soon as I get the obscenities out ...

Cheers,
Steve

to the site m8 - tell us about it and you will feel better

[luftys]

Welcome Steve we all have probs with NTL from time to time,but most are not as bad as you think,so share with us,someone might be able to help

[Julian 1964]

Hi Everyone,
I am not new as i was a member of the previous ntlhell:world and i just found this new up and running forum.I have been with ntl for 4 years now and in the early days the customer service was outstanding,but now its gone down hill big time and to be honest i dont think the staff are trained very well.I have been always happy with the full package i have received from ntl..I have full family pack..telephone..Broadband 600k..No problems what so ever until now..THe very 1st set top box we had went dead,after 4 years,its understanding and you cant complain.

Then last December we had a 2nd one installed and had massive problems with the signal like half the time it was fuzzy..I phoned customer service up just before xmas to ask if someone could come out and sort the signal out or if it was a fault to replace the box..The guy on the phone told me it would be £50 to get someone out?

I was really ****ed off as i said this was wrong and that a call out should be free with no expence..But he kept saying that it may not be the box but the fact that i have not tuned the television?.In other words,he was trying to make me look thick..He then said if it is the box he would cancal the £50 charge. £50 is a lot of money for me,so i left it and for about 5 weeks we had no television to watch apart from the bedroom

I then rang customer service telling them i wanted to cancal the service and why..The guy i had spoken to then was excellent and was shocked to hear what was said to me and that this was not right and that he was going to look into this for me and at the same time i had a discount..He then got someone else out with a 3rd box without charge..A day after having the 3rd box,problems again

The channels had taking ages to come up and when they did the picture froze..The only way i could deal with this is channel hopping and turning for from the wall if that did not work even if it meant only 15 minutes of viewing

I phoned customer service tech this time and even though i knew it was a fault with the box asked me to go thru the whole process of checking the wires just in case any where lose.The guy went thru stages to find out what else it could have been.

Then he was becoming upset and saying it was taking long time for me to understand what he was talking about so in the end i put the phone down after telling me that it does take time for channels to come up..Today i phone customer service up again and beyond belive i had someone with common sence who knew what the problem was and someone is coming out Tuesday to replace this 3rd box as it was a fault.

I have now cancelled ntl from March 20th as i have had enough of ntl and wish i never came across them because i have even been having problems with my broadband service when i keep being asked if i want to work on line or off line..My wife phone up customer service..Got it put right and again its still going on..and no we not on dail up

I told ntl that at the end of march my wife and myself are having a trail seperation..I told nlt who seamed desperate to keep me on as a customer and asked me if i would have their services again when i moved,their even asked if my wife will take the service up again.

Sounds like their want money from the both of us.When i move and if my new landlord say its ok to have sky i will go for sky as i never here of any complaints..And i think ntl is expensive for what it offers..If i cant have sky.t be preview or sadly ntl..But this time it be the base pack..

Admin Edit: P..P..P..Paragraphs...

[allanprg]

I must say that I've had nothing but praise for customer services for me. The broadband was not working very well over the last week. Finally came down to the STB. Called CS and got through pretty quickly. They sent a engineer the next morning. Fixed the STB and checked my computer for the broadband connection. It's been working great now. On 600K. I've been with NTL since Nynex days. About 10 years. And have had not much trouble with the service since those days.

[progers]

I have to say that my experience is clouded by having to write to the MD to get problems resolved soon after joining. Since then I have had occasions where I had to call and waited for 10 minutes for a reply. The last time they answered within a few minutes and were helpful.

[steveahall]

Well I thought all was going well with NTL customer services (after lots of problems when initially installed 18months ago), had extra services added to my phone lines 3 days ok, no problems, call to CS was answered immediately after I had negotiated the options, everything was live and working within 2hours.

I thought, Wow, NTL have sorted themselves out. I expected weeks of phoning back to sort things out. (but then I haven't got the bills yet!)

I should have known better.

Today my phone lines are all dead.
The "little green box" which is outside my neighbours house has been vandalised (luckily my BB and TV still work). Had a look for my phone cables in the remains of the box, and found some cables not connected to anything, but near to what I assume is the telephone lines connection block. (I work in IT, and do my own cabling so I've got a fairly good idea what I'm looking for)

Rang NTL - they are adamant that the fault is in my premises.
They said "If the box has been vandalised then everyone's connections would be dead, and my BB and TV wouldn't work". They wouldn't accept that the BB and TV come in on a different cable to the phones.

It will be a 2 week wait for them to repair the "little green box", or I can have an engineer come and "check the cabling in my premises for faults" on Monday. Having asked the CSR why I should loose a days wages because their box has been vandalised I was told that this was the only way to get an engineer and I had agreed to this in the terms in conditions contract. (What contract? - but I won't go there!)

If I'm not here when the engineer calls - they will apparently bill my account for £50. If they find a fault in my cabling they will bill me £50. If they find a fault in the "little green box", they will pass the call on to the relevant dept to fix. So that'll be the 2 weeks wait for the box to be fixed (which will no doubt turn into 2-3months).

So I spoke to the CSR's supervisor and asked if they don't find a fault in my premises can I charge them for lost earnings for something that wasn't my fault - but theirs. Of course I got the answer I expected!

So can I get a refund was telephone services that were not available for 2 weeks while I wait for the box to be fixed. NO! Not unless I report it as a fault and allow NTL access to my premises to check my cabling!

I ended up having to agree for an engineer to come on Monday morning, and i'll be spending my morning trying to get in touch with the relevant director for my area (which I have just found thanks to NtHell).

[Julian 1964]

Originally Posted by steveahall

Well I thought all was going well with NTL customer services (after lots of problems when initially installed 18months ago), had extra services added to my phone lines 3 days ok, no problems, call to CS was answered immediately after I had negotiated the options, everything was live and working within 2hours.

I thought, Wow, NTL have sorted themselves out. I expected weeks of phoning back to sort things out. (but then I haven't got the bills yet!)

I should have known better.

Today my phone lines are all dead.
The "little green box" which is outside my neighbours house has been vandalised (luckily my BB and TV still work). Had a look for my phone cables in the remains of the box, and found some cables not connected to anything, but near to what I assume is the telephone lines connection block. (I work in IT, and do my own cabling so I've got a fairly good idea what I'm looking for)

Rang NTL - they are adamant that the fault is in my premises.
They said "If the box has been vandalised then everyone's connections would be dead, and my BB and TV wouldn't work". They wouldn't accept that the BB and TV come in on a different cable to the phones.

It will be a 2 week wait for them to repair the "little green box", or I can have an engineer come and "check the cabling in my premises for faults" on Monday. Having asked the CSR why I should loose a days wages because their box has been vandalised I was told that this was the only way to get an engineer and I had agreed to this in the terms in conditions contract. (What contract? - but I won't go there!)

If I'm not here when the engineer calls - they will apparently bill my account for £50. If they find a fault in my cabling they will bill me £50. If they find a fault in the "little green box", they will pass the call on to the relevant dept to fix. So that'll be the 2 weeks wait for the box to be fixed (which will no doubt turn into 2-3months).

So I spoke to the CSR's supervisor and asked if they don't find a fault in my premises can I charge them for lost earnings for something that wasn't my fault - but theirs. Of course I got the answer I expected!

So can I get a refund was telephone services that were not available for 2 weeks while I wait for the box to be fixed. NO! Not unless I report it as a fault and allow NTL access to my premises to check my cabling!

I ended up having to agree for an engineer to come on Monday morning, and i'll be spending my morning trying to get in touch with the relevant director for my area (which I have just found thanks to NtHell).

Another case of bad service from NTL..Phone up and tell them you what to cancal your service,their soon give you good service and even a discount like i had,because when you phone up and say why you want to cancal,this is taking all into account..NTL do try and make out that the customers are dumb and dont have a clue what their talking about..I think their forget its our money that keeps them in a full time Job

[Kneebs]

well, i've been an NTL / CWC customer for about 5 years or so, and although CWC used to be a pain to get through to (and also in the early days of ntl), sometimes waiting 45 mins plus. For the last 3 years or so, I've never waited more than a few minutes to get through, and the last two times i've called them, i've got through within seconds of going through the push button bit.

Any problems I've had with STB's, after calling up, i've been offered an engineer visit the next day, and when he's turned up (on time), have spotted the problem and sorted it there and then.

I did have to have a STB replaced twice, as the one they put in was showing just a blank screen on some channels, but to be fair, you can't really expect the engineer to go through every channel and make sure its working - when he was here, the freebie channels were on, but my channel packs hadn't been switched on yet.

As for BB, I was the first install in Sunderland for the trial, and when they came to install it, well, lets just say they turned up en mass - 3 ntl vans, 2 ntl cars, and a manager in his car - god knows what the neighbours thought !! I've only had a couple of problems with the BB, one was down to a faulty STB, and the other was problems with the proxies.

On the whole, they get the from me

And no, i don't work for them !

[Steve Yensen]

Okay, here we go!

I have already written to ntl:home's managing director to make serious complaints about NTL's appalling customer service.
Several phone calls have been made over the period of 22nd January to 2nd February and I still have not had any satisfaction whatsoever. I believe I have spoken to just about everyone on their staff now and had to explain the problem every time. I eventually got the name of someone I could stay with so I could ask for him by name every time I rang the Customer Service department. I was told that he would ring me back. I tried that three times. He never rang back on the number I gave him.

Okay, the problem itself.

The facts are:

In November 2003 I recently moved my direct debit from my own bank (HSBC) to our housekeeping account, with another bank (Lloyds TSB).

Lloyds TSB say that NTL haven't asked for any money for the last three months. NTL say that the bank have rejected the setting up of the DD. I know who to believe here. Lloyds TSB are willing to provide written proof that there is no problem their end.

So, NTL disconnected my dialup on 7th January (my birthday, ironically) without any warnings whatsoever.

A letter was sent to me dated 9th January saying that my service had been temporarily disconnected. On 10th January (Saturday) I attempted to ring the Customer Service number and after a long time of waiting (my line being dropped three times in the process) I described the problem and was told that they wouldn't reconnect until £30 was paid up front. They gave me an address to send a cheque as I was unable to pay by card over the phone.

I believe by doing this I have made it quite clear of my intention to pay the arrears and have the service restored as soon as possible.

On Monday 19th January I was in a position to make a payment and so was done using a VISA card. I was also told that a Direct Debit mandate would be sent to me by post, and that my service would be reconnected within 24 hours.

On Thursday 22nd I asked why my service had not been reconnected and was informed that a direct debit mandate had not been set up and would have to be done online or by phone. Obviously I couldnââ‚Ã⠀šÃ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t set up online so I set up my HSBC account again. The person I spoke to kept me holding for several minutes (with total silence) but came back to tell me sheââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢d reconnected and all would be well.

Several phone calls were made on Thursday to enquire why my service wasnâ₠¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t available and they said that it was, but under a different user name which was now "boffo.thebore" instead of the original. I was told that the username "steve.yensen" was no longer available as it had been taken by someone else. I find that very hard to believe as there is no-one else in the country with that name!

I am extremely concerned that a mere call-centre operator can have access to all my email address names in order to use "boffo.thebore" which was one of the 14 extra addresses permitted for each customer. Whatever happened to privacy?

So, the results of this disastrous performance are:

1. My user name has gone.

2. Six email addresses including my main one (detailed below).

3. My 22 MByte Website. All of it. This means that I will have to restore it myself, and transferring that amount of data over a 56k dialup will take a long, long time.

4. I don't actually have any webspace anyway now, under either username.

Several times I have phoned different departments who have suggested I contact one of the others. No-one seems to care less about my plight. I do have to work so ringing up is becoming almost impossible without wasting several hours each day.

Before the crash, my account had the following status:

User name: steve.yensen (my main email address would be steve.yensen@ntlworld.com)

My web site: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/steve.yensen

14 extra email addresses (all @ntlworld.com) ...

Now, if I list my email addresses, I see that 6 of them have disappeared.

4 of them have vanished completely and any emails to them have bounced. Any attempts to re-create the original names have failed.

The remaining 2, (steve.yensen and penny.yensen) have gone but they are still accessible from Outlook using the same passwords as before, and that all the mails from 7th January to the present have downloaded successfully.

All I want is my services restoring to what they were

[MadGamer]

When i had NTL BB installed (24hrs), the eingeers turned up on the Thursday and wasn't supposed to be here till the Friday, they made a complete mess of the cableing, they also left brick dust after they had gone and didn't bother to clean up. When they came to put the modem on my PC the chap i spoke to was very helpful and explained it all. The registeration of the account was a total b******s up. When i came down the next morning to go on the internet the modem was just flashing lights at me, so my dad phoned NTL CS and told them to cancel the account.

When they installed the software on the pc, they said that we couldn't have our AOL browser software on there as it would conflict with BB. so you NTL.

I am now pleaseed to say that i have Demon BB and we haven't had a single problem with them since day 1.