NTL is call centre with longest wait in Mirror test

[Neil]

Originally Posted by Nemesis

What makes people think that a 25 - 40 minute wait isn't the 'norm'.

I've had similar situations with

• BA
• Expedia
• BT
• NTL
• South West Trains
• British Museum
• Dell

and ...

• My Mother (engaged, talking to a friend)

NTL are just the same as everyone else in this respect ...

Ah-that's ok then.

[ian@huth]

Originally Posted by Debsy42

I think a way customers themselves could help reduce the wait time is to have their account number handy or be able to recite their telephone number, so much time is wasted with customers not having any information available and having to go off and find the last bill.

Also taking 5 minutes to tell me how long they have been waiting adds to the length of the call and the wait time for the next person in the Q

I haven't had to call NTL since I dropped Digital TV but it always used to amaze me what happened when I did call them. I used to get two bills per month, one for DTV and line rental, the other for call charges and BB. Each bill had a different account number. When you called NTL you had to enter your telephone number and make selections from the menus. When the call was answered I was always asked for my telephone number again (why?) and my account number. I would give them what I thought was the appropriate account number and would get a response saying that they could not find me. I then told them of the second account number and they couldn't find that either. In the end they had to go through the postcode and house number route in order to find my account. So I was doing everything that Debsy just suggested but having all the details ready did nothing to speed up the call.

My daughter works in a large call centre in Nottingham and when she receives a call she invariably has all the customers account details on screen before she exchanges a word with the customer. She has had to drop a very occasional call from an abusive customer but before doing so the customer is warned and a FLM plugs into the call to monitor the situation and the FLM has to agree to the call being dropped.

One of the problems with call centres is that in most cases the agents are given target calls per shift and have a target write up time between calls. Some agents try to get rid of customers quickly to stay within the target as failure to do so may lead to lower pay or loss of job.

One thing that I think is quite good at the call centre my daughter works at is that management will in turn take agents off calls for ten minutes or so to give them a break when it is a stressful day and usually give them a free soft drink and chocolate bar as well.

[Nemesis]

Originally Posted by Neil

Ah-that's ok then.

Cheeky git, I'm not saying that it's a good thing, just that it's not that different to a whole load of others ....

If you're gonna stick the boot in, just make sure you do it to the others too

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by Neil

Ah-that's ok then.

No, it's not. I don't think and have never said it's ok, but I agree with Nemmy. It's not just ntl that have long wait times sometimes, and he was just pointing it out to those who have posted saying ntl are the only ones.....

[Neil]

Originally Posted by Nemesis

Cheeky git, I'm not saying that it's a good thing, just that it's not that different to a whole load of others ....

If you're gonna stick the boot in, just make sure you do it to the others too

I will, just not on this site.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by orangebird

No, it's not. I don't think and have never said it's ok, but I agree with Nemmy. It's not just ntl that have long wait times sometimes, and he was just pointing it out to those who have posted saying ntl are the only ones.....

That's because this thread is in the ntl discussion forum.

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by Neil

That's because this thread is in the ntl discussion forum.

I know. But some people think it's only ntl who have a queue problem. And it's not

[Neil]

Originally Posted by orangebird

I know. But some people think it's only ntl who have a queue problem. And it's not

You're absolutely right-I waited (literally) several hours to speak to BT Mobile the other day, never did get through, so the contract got cancelled.

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by Neil

You're absolutely right-I waited (literally) several hours to speak to BT Mobile the other day, never did get through, so the contract got cancelled.

Good stuff - such actions are far more productive and satisfying than sticking with a company you don't like and just complaining all the time, or trying to squeeze some kind of compo out of them etc...

[scrotnig]

I think one thing we seem to be missing here, is that long call waits are not acceptable, no matter who the company is.

It would be wrong to try and justify long waits at ntl on the basis that other companies are just as bad.

I *do* know that a lot is being done at ntl to resolve this. I realise it may not look like that, but the company is midway through a major restructure and also, at the same time, trying to implement a better, faster, single billing system.

Things ARE getting better regarding call waiting times, and I am confident that when all this work is done, things will dramatically improve. In some areas of the country they already have.

There are, however, ALWAYS going to be occasions when a huge number of calls come in for an unexpected reason, and this is unavoidable really, there are not hundreds of staff on standby to take the calls. The 'virtual call centre' system that is being created will, however, go a long way towards alleviating that....it works like the single queue system in post offices.

Originally Posted by Mark B

The 'virtual call centre' system that is being created will, however, go a long way towards alleviating that....it works like the single queue system in post offices.

Erm, the queues in my Post Office don't inspire much confidence here ......

[scrotnig]

The Post Office analogy is simply that, before single queues were introduced you had lots of different queues, some moving faster than others.

The virtual call centre system is the call centre equivalent of single queues. At present you might get, for example, a big queue in one region but no queue in another region. Under the virtual system, callers will get passed to whichever region is free to answer them.

It should help a great deal.

[Jason1]

Originally Posted by orangebird

I know. But some people think it's only ntl who have a queue problem. And it's not

Only problem is with most of the companies you dont have to ring them as often as ntl, so its not as bad only have to ring electric people every 3 months they have one of those auto call backs when busy always a pleasure to call. Ntl's services and biloing always cock up you can never get it sorted and to top it off have to hold for ages to speak to a *wat that dont know the job their getting paid to do (not all ntl staff are *wat*s some are good at what they do)

Originally Posted by orangebird

So, having a little rationale and not feeling too emotional either way about a utilities company is rose tinted? Then great, I'll have two pairs.

I'm not emotional! This is an NTL-related discussion forum, I'm talking about NTL.

I'm sorry, where did I suggest that? All I said was, you were warned about the wait. But you waited anyway, and then you whine - how contrary can you get???

Whining is something children do when they don't get their way, reasonable or not. Complaining is a legitimate adult pursuit when the subject of the complaint fails to live up to reasonable expectations. NTL advertising a 30-minute wait does not absolve it of culpability any more than a burglar advertising which houses he plans to break into tonight.

No, I'm not suggesting that at all. The recorded message was ntls way of trying to manage the customers expectations. As I said before, whether you chose to act on it (call later) or wait and whine, is up to you.

Not all of us have the luxury of 'calling back later'. I had a slot in my working day when I could afford to sit and hold with the phone on-hook and get on with something else. The call centre is advertised as being open at 11 in the morning so there is nothing unreasonable in me expecting to use it at that time of day.

If NTL's recorded message had said 'due to inevitable failures in our HR policies, it is possible, if unlikely, that the CSR that answers your call will tell you to F*ck off and terminate your call for no good reason' ... would it absolve NTL of any culpability had that actually happened? I'm sorry, you simply cannot suggest that the customer has no right to complain at shoddy service simply because he was warned just how bad it could be!

ntl's call centres are staffed enough. The problem is either crap training (more often that not the case) which means it takes longer to sort out the query, a busy day (such as bills being received and people phoning to pay/query them) or numpties who can't work out by themselves that the reason their remote control isn't working is because the batteries have run out and if it's not fixed they're off to BT!!!!

But that is contradictory. You say the call centres are well enough staffed, then you give a load of reasons why calls don't get answered quickly enough. At least two of those reasons have no possible solutions of their own - bills will always go out, and will always result in busy days, and there will always be numpties in the world - so the only conclusion is that the call centres are not adequately staffed.

Sure, ntl could staff up there calls centres to make sure the phone never rang more than twice for any customer who rings up - but just watch the prices of the services rocket to cover the huge wage bill.....

More than twice I am not bothered about. Less than five minutes would be fine. 25 minutes, however, is a joke.

incidentally, I phoned Virgin Home Energy just before NTL to see about cancelling my utility services. I was answered by a human (i.e. no 'press 1 for this, 2 for that') in well under 5 minutes.

[greencreeper]

There does seem to be a problem in Britain at the moment whereby people have all but given up and just accept crap service and try to convince themselves (and others, as a part thereof) that it's not crap service and they're somehow holy in their forbearance. There's no question that customer service is crap in this country, whether it's phone, email or in person. A large part of it is deliberately obstructive behaviour - how else do you explain a fast, efficient sales service and a crap support service? I don't know why it's so hard to get it right - not like it's difficult.

The best customer service I've experienced was when I wanted an engineer to look at my washing machine. I'd just moved home and the woman told me I couldn't register a service call without first changing my address, but I couldn't change my address because the insurance company's (extended guarantee thing) automated service insisted my name wasn't long enough