Proposal for a "Customer" Panel

[obvious]

Well there is some precedent for ntl talking to a user group of kinds and that was with AntiCap. They've shown they can do it and I'd very much like to see them do it again. The whole idea has my full support.

[rodd]

Originally Posted by Keyser

I agree 100% with all of that. Good post.

I would like to give ntl the benefit of the doubt in a way though, even after all that has happened. I have to stress the point that it really does depend who any customer panel would be dealing with - not everyone at ntl is set in that stupid mindset. That is an important point to note. However! Finding one of these people, and ntl allowing them to interact with us with the authority to action changes is a completely different ball game...

Thank you.

I believe there was a manager (forgot his name) of some region, who when a complaint was brought to his attention via .com, he said that he would see to it that the particular type of complaint would not happen again, and also offered to be a helpful contact of .com.

So I agree that not everyone at ntl is in the fixed mindset, there are also a few good ones, with reason.

[dialanothernumb]

Having looked thru these posts, I believe there is absolutely nothing to be lost by giving this a go, especially if there are people willing to give it a shot from this side. Rodd's post swung it for me.

At the very worst, this would make ntl think again, before adding to the sorry list of PR disasters. At best, we can achieve a dialogue, even if only for a few months, which has to be worth it

[th'engineer]

Originally Posted by dialanothernumb

At the very worst, this would make ntl think again, before adding to the sorry list of PR disasters.

At last we agree

[ian@huth]

Well I took a couple of weeks away from these forums and what happened? Can't remember where I put the .com forum or has someone stolen it, lol? Got some reading to do to catch up with recent events and get to grips with the current situation.

I have not had much time to take in what's been going on, but one suggestion made in here for a newsletter to be sent to members on a regular basis sounds an excellent idea. These forums have a hard core of users who are nearly always here with others drifting in and out but not regular users. A monthly newsletter sent by e-mail to all registered forum members sounds a great idea to keep peoples interest in the site going and to pass important information onto customers. Maybe a thread should be started to discuss ideas for inclusion in such a newletter.

[dialanothernumb]

Originally Posted by th'engineer

At last we agree

Huh? Don't remember having any specific conversation, let alone agreement/disagreement with you?

[Florence]

This could be a very good way to help both company and customers. In the end that is all the the customers want. The service to work properly with quality help there when needed. The company benfirts from happy customers who are willing to recomend the company to others...

Originally Posted by Kitty

This could be a very good way to help both company and customers. In the end that is all the the customers want. The service to work properly with quality help there when needed. The company benfirts from happy customers who are willing to recomend the company to others...

yes, but - how do we organise all that feedback - is anyone clever enough to design a form we can fill in - e.g. slow browsing, no email, in so & so area - and provide the organised info graphically - if so I'm all for it.

[Florence]

Originally Posted by homealone

yes, but - how do we organise all that feedback - is anyone clever enough to design a form we can fill in - e.g. slow browsing, no email, in so & so area - and provide the organised info graphically - if so I'm all for it.

I can have a try over this week.while I am off sick.

Any suggestions would be gratefully worked on...

[Chrysalis]

whilst I think this is an excellent idea, like other have said ntl would never agree to this it would mean them ending up having to fix the problems with their service and that costs money they don't want to spend.

[basa]

OK someone mentioned a survey !

I'll start with:-

BB Internet:

• email !
• DNS issues (area specific ??)

Digi TV:

• EPG !

General:

• Billing (area specific ??)

[Chrysalis]

BB Service

major DNS problems
email problems

TV

2 tier service depending on where you live potluck
unluckly ppl stuck with analogue
digital service below rival companies standards

General

promotional offers seem to be regional making it potluck depending on where you live.
lack of communication with customers.
unable to change package on a sunday.

[rodd]

Just some thoughts on a possibly way forward.

A simple start would be in having a log of certain types of bad service. Perhaps starting with a log of each of two easily identified bad services, appointments not being kept by ntl, and of ntl not ringing back, and perhaps also a log of excessive phone holds of 1/2 hour plus.

There would be no lengthy off-putting survey forms to fill in. It is simple, and would take no effort to report a case or to run, and simple enough that even those members, who at present make few posts, would likely join in and make a valuable input. Only the minimum of details is really needed, perhaps as little as just a tick, date and time.

We can extend logs to other aspects of service as we figure out how best to do each part, but keeping it very simple and effortless. Some parts of service may be more difficult to do, due to there being the occasional temporary interruption in service (we are aware of the problem, etc.). I think we should be looking for excessive interruptions or too many of them, too often, or way below par performance too often (however we are going to measure that).

In the end we would end up with a broad picture of the service over a period, and would be able to say that there were ### cases reported last month/week. It would be a bit more ammunition for us.

Other hell sites might even take up the 'bad logs' idea, adding weight to our figures. All sites, in effect, would then be acting in unison, which is no bad thing and gives a stronger widespread message, a message that is more difficult for ntl to ignore. All the figures could even be totalled and quoted. They might even be quoted elsewhere, in the media perhaps.

Someone might ask, why not also have the good service results. Well, I don't think that it would be very useful to know that ntl did keep the appointment, or actually did ring back. That is what they are supposed to do. It's rather like the UK's crime figures, only the crimes that are reported, get quoted, not the number of law-abiding people doing, as they should.

[Sociable]

Great post Rodd.

I was just thinking about this thread but you beat me to it. LOL

I suspect most are in the holiday mood now so I think we are more likely to get more activity in the thread once the dust has settled but I will be doing some thinking about how to put the good ideas so far into shape so we can sort out how to approach NTL with a request for a head to head meeting to see if a "Customer Panel" is workable early in the new year.

[rodd]

Thanks Sociable

Back in festive mode now.