I can't pay my bill!!!

[scrotnig]

Originally Posted by Graham

Oh that is *SO* big hearted of you! Of course if the *company* would take its responsibilities seriously too ("oops, my e-mail, broadband, webspace, TV service is screwed up NTL, what are you going to do about it, NTL?" "Oh, we'll get around to fixing it eventually") it might not sound so hypocritical.

I'm talking about firms generally, not ntl specifically.

If you did some credit control training, you'd understand most of what you've written is tosh. The customer needs to pay the bill, end of story. If a newspaper wants to run a story about how a customer who didn't pay their bill got cut off, they'd find little interest or sympathy. If you've used the services, pay for them. Simple.

As an aside, I also challenge you to provide evidence that someone at ntl told you they'd "get round to fixing it eventually". If you name them, I'll make sure they're dealt with.

Originally Posted by Mark B

As an aside, I also challenge you to provide evidence that someone at ntl told you they'd "get round to fixing it eventually". If you name them, I'll make sure they're dealt with.

I was told this same thing yesterday in fact. If you look on my account i would hope you could get the name of the last person to update it. I have an on going problem where i lose channels. I've got to the point were "sending a signal" is not good enough and told the CS person who i spoke to if its not fixed by the end of next week ill be taking my £100 a month elsewhere and the reply i got was "we will fix it eventually". He did however suggest he was making a booking for an eng to visit but i wasnt convinced he actually did that.

[evandl100]

Originally Posted by Mark B

As to companies having a responsibility to ensure customers can afford the service when they take it out....claptrap! Companies like ntl do not ask details of income, so how would they know? Credit card firms and loan firms need to, yes, but not gas, electric, phones, cable TV, Sky, etc.

Rubbish!!! Many companies including phone companies etc. carry out credit searches to ascertain risk, and do not always ask for income details.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by Mark B

I'm talking about firms generally, not ntl specifically.

If you did some credit control training, you'd understand most of what you've written is tosh. The customer needs to pay the bill, end of story. If a newspaper wants to run a story about how a customer who didn't pay their bill got cut off, they'd find little interest or sympathy. If you've used the services, pay for them. Simple.

As an aside, I also challenge you to provide evidence that someone at ntl told you they'd "get round to fixing it eventually". If you name them, I'll make sure they're dealt with.

The problem is Mark (as I'm sure you aware), one of an ntl customer's biggest gripes is that there is never a record of someone agreeing to something on the customer's last phone call. We all know that CSRs agree to credits/visits/phone calls from God etc etc, but they do it knowing that there is no audit trail, & that no one will ever be able to trace them.

I know you will say Harmony will address that, but I think it's too late to try to convince customers that ntl are on their side.

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by Neil

<snip>

I know you will say Harmony will address that, but I think it's too late to try to convince customers that ntl are on their side.

Too late for what??? This isn't aimed at you Neil ( ), but I'm getting a little sick of members on this board that think they know what ntl are or aren't doing, think they know what money ntl does or doesn't have to spare, think they know where ntls priorities should lie if the money is indeed there, think they know that ntl is going down the pan despite net customer figures and revenue going UP every quarter, think they know how to run a multi-billion international company and spare no hot air in telling us all how they'd do it better/easier/more profitably etc.....

For craps sake - from what I see on this board, members are either small time 'own bosses', champions of pointless causes (CAP anyone?), stressed, depressed or unemployed. Noe of which IMO would get any of you a job consulting on how to run a company like ntl. Give over and get your own houses in order. Or got to ADSL/SKY/BT/THE MOON.

Originally Posted by evandl100

Rubbish!!! Many companies including phone companies etc. carry out credit searches to ascertain risk, and do not always ask for income details.

your name, address and DOB is eopnugh for a company to do a credit check on your and find out home much you earn etc

[Neil]

Originally Posted by orangebird

Or got to ADSL/SKY/BT/THE MOON.

Will 3 out of 4 do Miss!?

hmm you have ADSL, SKY and BT? Can i ask what your doing in a CABLE forum

[scrotnig]

Originally Posted by Neil

The problem is Mark (as I'm sure you aware), one of an ntl customer's biggest gripes is that there is never a record of someone agreeing to something on the customer's last phone call. We all know that CSRs agree to credits/visits/phone calls from God etc etc, but they do it knowing that there is no audit trail, & that no one will ever be able to trace them.

I know you will say Harmony will address that, but I think it's too late to try to convince customers that ntl are on their side.

Harmony *won't* address that.

What will address that is staff actually noting the account...it's a big bugbear of mine. Not only does it make it hard for the customer, it also makes it nigh on impossible for other staff.

As far as I know, all the current billing systems within ntl have note/memo facilities, including obviously Harmony. Moat staff DO use them, but some don't, and they need to.

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by Neil

Will 3 out of 4 do Miss!?

!!!!!!!!

[scrotnig]

Originally Posted by evandl100

Rubbish!!! Many companies including phone companies etc. carry out credit searches to ascertain risk, and do not always ask for income details.

All that does is give previous payment history. It doesn't indicate present ability to pay, which is why credit and loan companies ask for more details, such as income.

[scrotnig]

Originally Posted by gary_580

your name, address and DOB is eopnugh for a company to do a credit check on your and find out home much you earn etc

Rubbish, sorry.

You can't find out how much someone earns from a normal credit check.

Originally Posted by Mark B

Rubbish, sorry.

You can't find out how much someone earns from a normal credit check.

Define "NORMAL"

We built a link to equifax from a system we use here and it sends

Surname
Firstname
DOB
Post Code
House No or name

and in return one of the items we get back is gross salary

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by orangebird

Too late for what??? This isn't aimed at you Neil ( ), but I'm getting a little sick of members on this board that think they know what ntl are or aren't doing, think they know what money ntl does or doesn't have to spare, think they know where ntls priorities should lie if the money is indeed there, think they know that ntl is going down the pan despite net customer figures and revenue going UP every quarter, think they know how to run a multi-billion international company and spare no hot air in telling us all how they'd do it better/easier/more profitably etc.....

For craps sake - from what I see on this board, members are either small time 'own bosses', champions of pointless causes (CAP anyone?), stressed, depressed or unemployed. Noe of which IMO would get any of you a job consulting on how to run a company like ntl. Give over and get your own houses in order. Or got to ADSL/SKY/BT/THE MOON.

Ouch where did that come from, this was not really an NTL bashing thread up until this point, well not to the extent of some I have seen. It's Friday afternoon, I'll rise to the bait. Any large company is going to have different customer groups and internal groups clamouring for funds / investment, development in the product that benefits them most, just look here, what development should NTL choose. 3Mb BB, BB rollout across the cable network, DTV across the network, enhanced Interactive TV, Nationwide Caller display.

This original thread was about cashflow difficulties and bill paying not about how NTL was run, as a company, it's quite easy for NTL to get revenues up quarter by quarter if that is all they need to do, cut back on maintainance, job replacement and all other costs, increase prices and watch those results come in on target. Long term an appauling stratagy as customers will get hacked off paying high prices for poor performance and move, but such are the products that NTL sell, this will not happen overnight. Again, to get customer numbers up run popular introductory offers, free periods, bundles for 12 months, the customer number goes up but ARPU remains static / falls.

Is running NTL different from running a small business, yes it's much easier, you can afford teams of investment bankers to deal with your funding, a large HR function to make sure you are not breaking any employment laws, a legal team to deal with contracts, staff who can focus on each specific area of the business, not one day be packing and shipping and the next day credit control, the next day marketing.

Originally Posted by gary_580

Define "NORMAL"

We built a link to equifax and in return one of the items we get back is gross salary

Well actually last declared salary on an application form that has been provided by a user of the system to the main DB, but you are correct.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by gary_580

hmm you have ADSL, SKY and BT? Can i ask what your doing in a CABLE forum

Of course you can-I own the site!