NTL Customer Services: Your personal experience

Originally Posted by Gogogo

Funny this, we have never had a problem calling NTL Customer Services

Yes some customers will not and there are still some customers not receiving a standard of customer service they should expect.

Originally Posted by Gogogo

NTL Customer Services are not bad at all, there is too much whinging and exaggeration.

No there is not too much whinging at all.

You are bound to say that when you have not experienced bad customer service. You have to understand that some people do receive bad customer service. Just because you do not, doesn't mean no-one else does and everything is all rosey in life.

No mick I'm not claiming what you say. I'm sure there are genuine complaints but overall NTL Customer Services are no worse than others. I had to call a fair number of various customer service agents for different UK companies recently and in comparison NTL seemed ok to me.

[huggy bear]

Its all a bit of a roulette table really I reckon. You may get through to someone who is on their first live day of calls or you may get through to an experienced rep who does not care etc. I was once such an operator and when a customer came through about 7.58pm in the evening looking like he was going to cause aggro and have me work 20 minutes over my shift with a supervisor using my headphones - I simply looked round the callcentre and simply hung up on the bloke in cold blood. That's what ntl is all about.

[Chris W]

Originally Posted by huggy bear

Its all a bit of a roulette table really I reckon. You may get through to someone who is on their first live day of calls or you may get through to an experienced rep who does not care etc. I was once such an operator and when a customer came through about 7.58pm in the evening looking like he was going to cause aggro and have me work 20 minutes over my shift with a supervisor using my headphones - I simply looked round the callcentre and simply hung up on the bloke in cold blood. That's what ntl is all about.

remember that there are staff that don't fit into either of these categories! there are new staff who don't care, and there are experienced staff who do care.

ntl is not about hanging up and dead on the time your shift finshes- which is why we can claim back time if we have to work over the end of a shift to finish a call.

I remember ringing debsy42 at 8:25 in the evening when her call centre closes at 8:00.... so there are exceptions to you rules

[huggy bear]

Originally Posted by monkeybreath

remember that there are staff that don't fit into either of these categories! there are new staff who don't care, and there are experienced staff who do care.

ntl is not about hanging up and dead on the time your shift finshes- which is why we can claim back time if we have to work over the end of a shift to finish a call.

I remember ringing debsy42 at 8:25 in the evening when her call centre closes at 8:00.... so there are exceptions to you rules

I don't deny that there are caring staff. But I am gone from there now so do not care. Curiosly i was quite concientious about it all until we had a sort of inverted pyramid of managers drafted in from the streets who we had to train ourselves

e'g - you had a cmr call in . You had to sell them as much as possible while at the same time keeping the call as short as possible. They wanted it both ways. The only option for an operative was/is to put a cmr on hold while they type up all the log notes to keep the idle time short when the call is ended so the personal stats do not suffer. All this does is irritate the cmrs - but it's all down to spreadsheets and statistics - and that is the concrete fact

I decided to report two problems that have been outstanding for a while (only minor problems to me).

1. The interactive on my main box did not work (M044 error)

2. I didn't know the pin code to use interactive on my other boxes.

So, at 9:15am I ring 150, listen to the options and choose CS. The call was answered in 3 minutes. For the fault they advised me to ring 'faults' on 151(fair enough). For the pin code they told me what the default was, and to try that. If it failed, ring back and they would try and reset it (it was my choice not to try it there and then, if you are wondering).

Okay, phase 1 complete, it's now 9:25 and I ring 151 (which seems to be the same as 150 ..) and choose faults. This time my wait is a little longer - it takes 10 minutes to get through. I explain the problem and that i have rebooted the box (twice) so the guy moves on to testing the box. He gives me the commands to bring up the status, and when we reach the correct page - the status is 3. He immediately says I need an engineer for this. okay I say, expecting it to be tomorrow at least - but no, I am booked for 12pm to 6pm this afternoon. I ask for a call from him before he arrives.

So, then I wait - and sure enough at 1:30pm (ish) I get a call from the engineer saying he will be about 5 mins, and sure enough he turns up about 5 mins later. A few quick tests and he pronouces my box as duff (no return path). Off to the van and back with a new box. All fitted 10 mins later.

So from report, to brand new box - four and a bit hours. WELL DONE ntl is my view.

(oh, and the default pin failed, so I will have to sort that when I get back home from London).

[iang]

I started with Sky and had it for a few months before cable became available in my area. Back then NTL were called Diamond Cable. My household has the following;
2xPhone lines.
Main set top box.
second set top box.
Family pack and movie channels.
600k Broadband.

I've generally been happy with NTL apart from several problems, which have always been a nightmare to fix. But the problems seem to be increasing over time.
I have constant problems with both set top boxes. Menu system doesn't work and/or intermittently freezes on one. Channel changes on its own on the other box for 5 or so seconds and then goes back and it has to be rebooted every 5-7 days as the menu stops functioning.

Internet connection problems appear to be on the increase with DNS servers not working, computer not being given an ip etc (one member of the support staff told me to re-format another told me I had defective hardware when it was actually their fault).

More recently I've been considering dumping it all as it is quite a hefty expense and I don't think the problems are acceptable considering the amount I pay every month.

Having said all that I think the Support staff have been generally okay. There are a few people answering phones who shouldn't even be employed though

[gooner4life]

Originally Posted by Paul M

I decided to report two problems that have been outstanding for a while (only minor problems to me).

1. The interactive on my main box did not work (M044 error)

2. I didn't know the pin code to use interactive on my other boxes.

So, at 9:15am I ring 150, listen to the options and choose CS. The call was answered in 3 minutes. For the fault they advised me to ring 'faults' on 151(fair enough). For the pin code they told me what the default was, and to try that. If it failed, ring back and they would try and reset it (it was my choice not to try it there and then, if you are wondering).

Okay, phase 1 complete, it's now 9:25 and I ring 151 (which seems to be the same as 150 ..) and choose faults. This time my wait is a little longer - it takes 10 minutes to get through. I explain the problem and that i have rebooted the box (twice) so the guy moves on to testing the box. He gives me the commands to bring up the status, and when we reach the correct page - the status is 3. He immediately says I need an engineer for this. okay I say, expecting it to be tomorrow at least - but no, I am booked for 12pm to 6pm this afternoon. I ask for a call from him before he arrives.

So, then I wait - and sure enough at 1:30pm (ish) I get a call from the engineer saying he will be about 5 mins, and sure enough he turns up about 5 mins later. A few quick tests and he pronouces my box as duff (no return path). Off to the van and back with a new box. All fitted 10 mins later.

So from report, to brand new box - four and a bit hours. WELL DONE ntl is my view.

(oh, and the default pin failed, so I will have to sort that when I get back home from London).

:thumbup: Id say 45% of the customers I deal with daily have similar to report, unfortunately not all areas have lead times quite as good due to all manner of factors, I am being made redundant on the 29th but I will keep my NTL service and would still recommend them to people there is good and bad in all walks of life and business.

[AndrewJ]

well have has NTL Telly and Phoneline with broadband.

We have terminated there Tv and Phoneline but not the bb.

The telly was removed and the telephone line as again and again NTL charged for things we have not ordered.

Sometimes the bill was totally off they would say its okay then again the following month it would be wrong.

We currently have there full services again, but am warely to check and double check there bills.

Where as me in the bb area have been wicked not a single issue I have had, apart from odd dns server going down a reliable service.

[Emulated]

My main gripe with NTL is their take it or leave it attitude. I pay them £75 a month for tv phones and broadband. Technical support is hit and miss and I get really p***** off when I ring them and then get told postcodes so and so are having connection problems. They could say that at the begining. I also don't want loads and loads of crap tv channels. Pity they don't alter it to any 5 regular channels for £x or any 10 for £x. Sadly there is little competion out there. I am having severe mail problems but thats for another thread.

[Pip]

Aw geez where to start!!

I've had cancelled appointments, non existent engineers that don't arrive, no t.v for 7 weeks just before Xmas and numerous breakdowns since ntl 'fixed' the problem in December. With gems of good advice such as ' stick a hanger in the back of it', I'm in awe of ntl.

In the year 2005 I'm still confined to viewing terestrial t.v only when ntl permits.

What totally gets to me is the lack of any competition that allows ntl to get away with this poor service.

I thought to be a manger you had to be capable of actually managing something. Does any of the managers at ntl know their elbow from rear. (I'm being polite now so don't get me started).

Unfortunately, due to 'deal' struck with ntl, our housing management won't allow us to install satellite. Wonder who benefits from this deal!!! Just askin'.
Effectively we are held to ransom by ntl.

Finally fed up of being treated like a second class citizen, I was forced into a compromise and booked an appointment for 22nd December for a reconnection. Direct debit instruction set up and appointment confirmed. At 11.30 that day having taken the day off work, I telephoned CS and was told I didn't have an appointment .

But I did have a 'site' visit scheduled for the 11th January .

What did I do, told them to stuff the whole thing, again. And low and behold, I received the only telephone call from ntl, wanting to know why I had cancelled. And here's the answer, because I don't eat tripe and I won't pay for it.

ntl = famous in West London as No Time Left, Never Trust Liars.

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by Pip

<snip>
Unfortunately, due to 'deal' struck with ntl, our housing management won't allow us to install satellite. Wonder who benefits from this deal!!! Just askin'.
Effectively we are held to ransom by ntl.

<snip>.

OK, so let me get this straight - ntl are holding you to ransome because your HOUSING MANAGEMENT won't let you install Sky....HOW?????

If you have bad service at ntl and cannot get decent resolution, then get rid of it. But blaming ntl for what appears to be to your Landlords benefit is not really on....

[Pip]

If you have bad service at ntl and cannot get decent resolution, then get rid of it. But blaming ntl for what appears to be to your Landlords benefit is not really on....

O.k Here's the deal. ntl have the monopoly, we can't go anywhere else because the deal struck with ntl and our housing management won't allow it.

We receive terestrial t.v via ntl, we have no other external aeriel. ntl service is extremely bad and they know it. At least the engineers do. They constantly tell us about the poor cabling etc but ntl won't do anything about it

a) because most of us who had contracts with them withdrew from them due to poor service,
b) because they know we can't go elsewhere as our management won't allow it so there's no incentive for them to carry out repairs on time
c) they know we can't have satellite again as our management won't allow it.

What else would you call it? I can't get rid of ntl altogether as they 'maintain' our aeriel?

Over the last 3 months I've been told time and again by ntl that if I had a contract with them, they could do something. So I attempted to get a contract, only once again the poor service at ntl kicked this into touch.

What are my options? Either I have ntl, no contract and get poor service or ntl contract and still poor service. I'm spoilt for choice.

[Russ]

Surely the housing management are partly to blame here as they are the ones to strike the deal in the first place?

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Pip

O.k Here's the deal. ntl have the monopoly, we can't go anywhere else because the deal struck with ntl and our housing management won't allow it.

We receive terestrial t.v via ntl, we have no other external aeriel. ntl service is extremely bad and they know it. At least the engineers do. They constantly tell us about the poor cabling etc but ntl won't do anything about it

a) because most of us who had contracts with them withdrew from them due to poor service,
b) because they know we can't go elsewhere as our management won't allow it so there's no incentive for them to carry out repairs on time
c) they know we can't have satellite again as our management won't allow it.

What else would you call it? I can't get rid of ntl altogether as they 'maintain' our aeriel?

Over the last 3 months I've been told time and again by ntl that if I had a contract with them, they could do something. So I attempted to get a contract, only once again the poor service at ntl kicked this into touch.

What are my options? Either I have ntl, no contract and get poor service or ntl contract and still poor service. I'm spoilt for choice.

If NTL are giving bad service, that is bad. No two ways about it. However, they do have to get the permission of the building owner before they can do anything in a building. If the cabling is bad, and runs all over the building (which it probably does), they will have to get the permission of the building owners (or at least the management company running it) to do that work.

Maybe you could complain to your management? If enough residents complain, they should listen.

If you can get the management to complain to NTL, maybe NTL will be a bit more helpful?