NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test

[Russ]

I think what she is trying to say is the person who conducted the research might have just gone through to a busy/under performing callcentre. But then again, as someone else rightly said, customers aren't interested in details like that - we just want or issues to be dealt with quickly and properly, irregardless of which callcentre it gets through to.

[Chris W]

One point that everyone seems to have missed is the fact that the 50minutes is the total of the three attempts to call- so each call lasted on average 16m 40s.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by monkeybreath

One point that everyone seems to have missed is the fact that the 50minutes is the total of the three attempts to call- so each call lasted on average 16m 40s.

But you seem to have missed this bit.....

When - after 15 minutes - our first attempt to speak to an operator looked like succeeding, she kindly hung up.

To make sure we got the message, she put the phone down again after our second attempt 20 minutes later.

Now I'm not trying to wind you up, or stir things up, but if someone asked me what company that sounded like, I would have no hesitation in saying ntl.

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by Russ D

I think what she is trying to say is the person who conducted the research might have just gone through to a busy/under performing callcentre. But then again, as someone else rightly said, customers aren't interested in details like that - we just want or issues to be dealt with quickly and properly, irregardless of which callcentre it gets through to.

That's it Russ. I don't expect the customers to interetested in the detail either. What I do expect though, is the conducters of the survey to give a fair view of the company call centres as a whole.

Originally Posted by orangebird

That's it Russ. I don't expect the customers to interetested in the detail either. What I do expect though, is the conducters of the survey to give a fair view of the company call centres as a whole.

It really doesn`t matter whether it is 1, 2 or 3 failing call centres, there is still a failure within the company, and I don`t entirely buy them being busy as being an excuse either. If the staffing levels are so low that wait times of this length are common (and judging from the 4 days and countless hours it took to speak to someone who could deal with my issue last week) then this is also indicative of a failing on the part of the company.

If just 1 out of 3 call centres is performing this badly then that reflects a systemic failure of 1/3rd of NTL's customer facing ability, I consider that to be worthy of severe criticism.

Originally Posted by monkeybreath

One point that everyone seems to have missed is the fact that the 50minutes is the total of the three attempts to call- so each call lasted on average 16m 40s.

So this just highlights the fact that NTL consistently cannot deal with calls in a timely fashion.

Originally Posted by monkeybreath

One point that everyone seems to have missed is the fact that the 50minutes is the total of the three attempts to call- so each call lasted on average 16m 40s.

Maybe, but I am not alone on this forum in having been kept waiting more than an hour for a CSR to answer my call. I don't think the Mirror's survey is unrepresenative in any way.

Neither do I think it's any mitigation that the average wait per call was only 16 minutes! As far as I'm concerned, waiting 16 minutes for a call to be answered is totally unacceptable.

The blame for this lies with whoever thinks they have employed enough people to answer the phones when clearly they haven't. But whoever that person is wants sacking, as Neil said, this kind of result is all too easily identified with NTL. Watchdog did a similar test a couple of years ago and got much the same results.

[Jason1]

It really does depend on what area you live in what time you are calling and which department.
When i called on monday it took 50 mins but the 1st person i spoke to was in the wrong call centre so they passed me to the correct one, I held to speak with c/s person i spoke to could not answer a question relating to my trail so he passed me to sales, held to speak with sales when i got through to sales they where able to help by now have spoken to 3 people just to get 1 question answered. Finally once speaking with sales I asked to be transfered to c/s to cancel, held to speak to c/s to be told i cant cancel as it was passed 5pm

But today called at 310 to confirm cancellation had gone through call only lasted 8.21 mins of which i held for about 5 mins lady I s/w was efficient and confirmed my cancellation date
All call centres get busy so if you hold for ages in the eveing try calling at a less busy time i am sure most if not all of ntl's staff will deal with our calls as quickly and efficently as they have been trained although if all they get irate customers and abuse then we cant blame them for ending our calls

[greencreeper]

There's a difference between sales and support - nearly always is. Sales are fast to answer and very helpful, and support, er, isn't. Doesn't matter what company it is. It's pretty obvious that they're keen to sign you up because it's money for them, but after that they couldn't care less. Bit like a vampire saying, "This won't hurt". I think if you want an accurate picture you need to do a survey to find out what types of call people made and how long they waited.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by Jason1

It really does depend on what area you live in what time you are calling and which department.
When i called on monday it took 50 mins but the 1st person i spoke to was in the wrong call centre so they passed me to the correct one, I held to speak with c/s person i spoke to could not answer a question relating to my trail so he passed me to sales, held to speak with sales when i got through to sales they where able to help by now have spoken to 3 people just to get 1 question answered. Finally once speaking with sales I asked to be transfered to c/s to cancel, held to speak to c/s to be told i cant cancel as it was passed 5pm

But today called at 310 to confirm cancellation had gone through call only lasted 8.21 mins of which i held for about 5 mins lady I s/w was efficient and confirmed my cancellation date
All call centres get busy so if you hold for ages in the eveing try calling at a less busy time i am sure most if not all of ntl's staff will deal with our calls as quickly and efficently as they have been trained although if all they get irate customers and abuse then we cant blame them for ending our calls

That situation you have just described is what we have been referring to (for years) as 'ntl telephone ping pong', & it's nothing new I'm afraid.

[Jason1]

Originally Posted by Neil

That situation you have just described is what we have been referring to (for years) as 'ntl telephone ping pong', & it's nothing new I'm afraid.

That's my main reason for cancelling the right hand at ntl never knows what the lefts doing took them 2 months to confirm charges that would be applied to my account all it would take is a weekly update to all c/s staff informing them of current promotions, afaik that doesnt seem to happen managment problem there, Fortunately bt now as of the 6th of september have extended their reach of adsl to 10km therefore after 3 years of waiting i am going to downgrade from ntl's 750k slow browsing service to 512k adsl which whilst has a slower d/l speed browsing page to page seems quicker

[andygrif]

Originally Posted by monkeybreath

One point that everyone seems to have missed is the fact that the 50minutes is the total of the three attempts to call- so each call lasted on average 16m 40s.

Almost equally unacceptable in my opinion.

Originally Posted by orangebird

What I do expect though, is the conducters of the survey to give a fair view of the company call centres as a whole.

I think they did, the article stated how the test was performed. Readers are able to make up their own mind. Whilst the Mirror might be branding the whole company, I think we as customers have experienced such problems first hand.

Originally Posted by Chris T

Neither do I think it's any mitigation that the average wait per call was only 16 minutes! As far as I'm concerned, waiting 16 minutes for a call to be answered is totally unacceptable.

The blame for this lies with whoever thinks they have employed enough people to answer the phones when clearly they haven't. But whoever that person is wants sacking, as Neil said, this kind of result is all too easily identified with NTL. Watchdog did a similar test a couple of years ago and got much the same results.

Agreed. Also, I think the point I haven't made here yet is that I'm not blaming the people answering the phones (OK so maybe some of them I am) but the bigger picture is that the systems, staffing and training are not up to scratch - and that is the management's fault.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by Jason1

That's my main reason for cancelling the right hand at ntl never knows what the lefts doing

In my experience, the left hand doesn't even know that the right hand exists, let alone what it's doing.

Originally Posted by Jason1

took them 2 months to confirm charges that would be applied to my account all it would take is a weekly update to all c/s staff informing them of current promotions, afaik that doesnt seem to happen managment problem there,

Same old ntl.

Originally Posted by Jason1

Fortunately bt now as of the 6th of september have extended their reach of adsl to 10km therefore after 3 years of waiting i am going to downgrade from ntl's 750k slow browsing service to 512k adsl which whilst has a slower d/l speed browsing page to page seems quicker

You won't regret that m8, I sure of it.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by andygrif

the bigger picture is that the systems, staffing and training are not up to scratch - and that is the management's fault.

Absolutely-that is something I have been saying for years.

The monkies at the top don't give a stuff about the wage paying customers, all they are interested in is lining their pockets.

The problems being discussed here on CF are nothing new when it comes to ntl, it's the same old story-BS from associates who woiuld rather lie than go find out the facts/phone calls promised but not returned/telephone ping pong/engineers not turning up & then ntl offering an appointment in another 2 weeks time/no one willing to own a customer's problem.

I could go on, but like I say, it's nothing new when it comes to ntl.

[Frank]

Originally Posted by orangebird

What I do expect though, is the conducters of the survey to give a fair view of the company call centres as a whole.

The test was quite fair.

Each company tested was called randomly, and it was up to the company concerned to direct the journalist to the relevant call centre. Customers do not call multiple times to try the fastest call centre - they should all be fast from a customer perspective.

The fact is that ntl came out worst in this test. Nobody is suggesting that this is reflective of ntl's other call centres, so maybe in the next test they will fair better?