NTL Customer Services: Your personal experience

[Deadboy]

Been a customer for years (Diamond Cable days) and mostly OK service with only a few gripes that were generally sorted out with a bit of patience.

However, in the last few weeks since the Digital TV channel revamp, I've had nothing but trouble with the service. Images blocking out & freezing, audio/video out of synch, every day at exactly 2pm the screen goes blank and can only be cured by changing channels and then changing back again, if I'm at home. (any preset recordings after this time result in a silent black screen), TV guide takes an age to update, VOD not updating, constant reboot of STB in order to try to rectify my problems, box updates just hanging the whole system.

I initially reported the problems some weeks ago and was told that an engineer would be out between 9 - 12 on a Saturday, waited in - no engineer, went to work Saturday PM only to find a card saying that I would be charged £10 because I wasn't in when he called, rescheduled eng visit having been told that the problems were probably due to my old PACE box & that a Samsung would cure these problems. Engineer duly arrived for the rescheduled visit (very polite gentleman) but swapped my original PACE box for another PACE box saying that he had no Samsung boxes with him. He checked all signals - OK, and over the next half hour or so all my channels arrived and were viewable - Hurrah! all my problems solved.

UNTIL

Next day at 2PM the screen went blank, audio/video out of synch etc. etc.

Again contacted CS, told that the earliest appointment that was suitable for me would be in ten days time (this Friday 24/11), booked the engineer, booked the time off work (loss of earnings) and was told that I would be compensated for the loss of service (I'd rather have a working telly though).

Yesterday (20/11) I had a message on my answermachine saying that my problems had been solved, and that I needed to take no further action (??) As I was listening to this message, I switched on the TV only to find a blank screen, and same again tonight. My system told me that there was an update for my STB which I applied, and as before the system hung. During this hang I once again contacted CS who advised me that this update should only take a few seconds to complete, so another STB reboot was required. During this reboot I confirmed with the CS that I would still be having an engineer visit this Friday, but was told that the appointment had been cancelled by NTL as my problems had been fixed.

As I am still exeriencing all of the problems I originally reported, I was told that I would have to wait another week before an appointment could be arranged that is suitable to me.

As this whole debacle has so far cost me three lots of time off work (all unpaid) I asked for a contact name so I could complain directly to someone in person rather than just to the Complaints Department in Manchester (previous correspondance to this general department has not even resulted in the courtesy of a reply) but was told that it was not possible to provide me with a specific name. I've tried using the complaints procedure on the website but eventually that just sends me back to the page with the CS 0845 number.

How do I get to speak directly to someone within NTL who will not only listen to my complaints, but also has the authority to initiate remedial action that will result in my receiving the service that I pay for ? (approx £80 pm for TV, BB & phone)

Sorry to bang on for so long about my problems, but short of kicking the cat up the a**e, I'm at a loss to know what to do next.

[Hilary Bates]

Very mixed. I'm currently struggling with a problem that apparently is being caused (or at least aggravated) by slow speeds in the Watford area - I'm in Chesham. My BB keeps dropping out and then reconnecting itself. After the STB was replaced and my computer wouldn't talk to it, I called TS on a Saturday evening and got a very helpful, thorough guy, who treated me like an intelligent human being, did not get hissy about the fact that I had a router (though he did ask me to disconnect it to get the computers working again, and said I'd have to get the person who originally installed it for me (my brother) to reconnect it), and talked me through the problem step by step until it was fixed. CS keep saying, can't get a response from the STB, I'll have to send an engineer out. I've now had 3 engineer visits and the dropouts are still happening, ie the problem has not been fixed. And invariably the system works perfectly while the engineer is actually in the house....

[Deadboy]

Originally Posted by Deadboy

How do I get to speak directly to someone within NTL who will not only listen to my complaints, but also has the authority to initiate remedial action that will result in my receiving the service that I pay for ? (approx £80 pm for TV, BB & phone)

UPDATE

Finally arranged an engineer visit for Saturday 25/11.

FURTHER UPDATE

Waited in all morning, received phonecall @ 12:33 to say that the engineer had broken down but he would DEFINATELY be attending this afternoon. 15:30 contacted NTL to make sure he was still on his way but was told that he had already attended and fixed the problem at 12:33 (time sounds very familiar), put through to CS who said they would investigate and call me back at 16:45 in case engineer had turned up. Still no engineer & CS duly phoned back at agreed time and put me through to faults department who offered to book another engineer call out (by now this would be the fifth planned call out) but I can't take any more time off work (cost me over £400 in lost earnings so far). I asked for the name of the engineer who claimed to have visited and fixed my fault but was told that they had no way of knowing who the engineer was!!!!. Asked to be put back to CS so that I could cancel all services with NTL but was told that they do not have the facility to transfer calls to other departments within the company (you really couldn't make it up, could you). Redialled to CS but as it was now 17:10 the answermachine message told me that they were shut.

One more phonecall on Monday evening should end all this hell once and for all.

[Fingy]

Just so you are forwarned, the disconnects department is only open M-F, 9-5.

[molly1260]

Originally Posted by Chris T

OK, let's have a definitive answer to this thorny issue. What is your own personal experience of NTL customer services?

Tell us your story, and don't forget to vote. I'm going to try to set this up as a public poll so we can all see who voted what, as I am interested to explore the allegation that those who claim not to have trouble with CS are in the main NTL staff in disguise.

Having signed up with NTL, had T.V, Broadband and telephone installed.
I was happily using all three for 3 weeks when my telephone was cut off.
after lengthy discussions with NTL the number I had, had already been allocated to someone els so a new number was given to me.
After checking my bank statements I discovered that NTL had taken almost £200 from my account than they should have. again more lengthy telephone conversations (at my expense)
They agreed to alter their files and ensure that the correct amount was taken frm the DD.
However 2 weeks later yet another amount was taken.
Again more lrngthy phone calls with the promise that it would not happen again. Now I would now have to pay for the service for 8 months as I was so much in credit. (very nice of them)
it turned out that they had set up 2 seperate accounts for me in the beginning.
I decided that I wanted to go wireless and so purchased a wireless router from the on line NTL shop.
after making a 50 mile round trip to City Link who had the task of delivering the parcel I was informed that they had lost it. not NTLs problem i grant you.
However after the obligatory trials of numerous telephone conversations over 2 weeks they now had no record of the purchase.
No refund and no router.
I eventually had luck with a refund from the distributors with no thanks to NTL.
I would not reccommend NTL to my worst enemy and will be changing back to someone else as soon as I have been reimbursed or used up my credit.
they are the worst company I have ever had the misfortune to come into contact with.

[Rik]

NTL are EXCELLENT!

Ive had 3.5yrs of fabulous services and im extremely happy, 10Meg Broadband = Excellent, NTL Digital TV = Excellent.

Theres one extra thing NTL can do to make me love them even more!
and that is....






















































Pop me on 20/50MEG

[alster]

Dismal.......In my 40 years of life so far I have never experienced such terrible customer service. They have no idea. Does anyone have the mobile number of their Customer Service Director? He/She really needs to understand how badly this Company is failing its customers. When it works the service particularly the broadband is good, when it goes wrong woe betide you! So far over 4 weeks trying to get my channels fixed, some do not display at all, so far 4 hours on the phone, 1 engineer visit without resolving the problem (didn't even bother to check) 1 failure to turn up by engineer, 6 promises to return calls not fulfilled.........and so it goes on....

[larry100463]

may it me but why do ntl say by card and not paypoint if you call pay with a card there turn it back on with in the hour but it was not now there it may be 48 hours last month pay by paypoint there got it next day this month made to p[ay with my card and there my service is off for another 48 hours but someone told me this morning my service be in one hour it was not now there saying 48 hours so ntl why do you one thing and do something else

[GrandSlamGeek]

This is probably not the first time this has been mentioned but I have to say NTLs customer service hours suck! What time do channels run some of their top programmes? - 8pm? what time do NTL stop thier customer service - 8pm? (btw is anyoneone getting sky one at the moment?)

[fatmat8]

from dial up through to broadband i personally have not had i single bit of bother
with ntl i must be very lucky
if as i see from posts regarding horrendous problem that some people experience

[stevot]

Technical aspect of the service is OK, but not impressed with CS I'm afraid. Twice I've had to contact them, and twice I have been disappointed.

First time was when we moved house - service was connected fine but direct debit wasn't set up properly. Rang them - 'OK we'll set it up for you now'. Result - still not set up. This happened every month for 4 - 5 months until I eventually got tired of ringing them. The end result? The bill gradually accumulated until they cut me off because I owed too much! No demand for payment, no warning, just no phone or internet one day. Had to pay the whole bill by debit card to get reconnected.

Second instance is being promised one thing on the phone (50% discount on BB) but getting billed the full amount. Has happened twice and on each occasion they have refused to accept the possibility that they might be in the wrong - "Sorry sir, we've no record of that on your account".

So thumbs down for CS from me.

[MovedGoalPosts]

The big question is - do the indians in faults even know how to use a computer screen? Quite simply, I hang on for over half an hour this evening incurring substantial mobile phone costs as my ntl phone, TV and broadband are all completely dead. Faults eventually answer and decide I've been cut off as a bill hasn't been paid. Not their problem you need to call customer services. 15 minutes more of hanging on the mobile, and after another 5 minutes of "my systems running slow wait while I reboot" the scottish sounding lady says faults are talking rubbish, your account is all paid up. She does at least now offer to call me back on the mobile, does so, and then I can wait for faults to deign to answer. Fortunately, an hour after I've started all my hassle, and while waiting for faults to answer, my services spring back to life of their own accord.

Ntl - you readlly do need to make improvements - make sure your staff are competent - the CS people were, but faults clearly are hopeless - and get those call answering times down. 1/2 hour or more is a joke.

[lostandconfused]

to change the usual topic of thread i would like to congratulate ntl on a partial job well done for a change,
had a tv drive installed today, the guys turned up and apparently they had on thier job sheet a normal stb install, anyway he had a quick chat with his supervisor and left, about 15 minutes later he turned up with a tv drive and all works ok.

the installs guys often get a lot of stick when its not their fault so would just like to say thank you as im well pleased

Originally Posted by Fingy

Just so you are forwarned, the disconnects department is only open M-F, 9-5.

Its actually open 8am till 8pm Mon to Friday & 9am till 5pm on a Saturday

[gejones21]

Right... I've just voted generally OK for customer services. Recently I have been able to get through to a 'human' quite quickly. Up untill about a year ago it was awful. The only problem is, that the fault I have with digital TV is the 'On Demand' service - which is crap, in fact it doesn't work at all!! I've phoned CS three times within the last month, I get through no problem and they can help to a certain point and then agree to send an engineer around at a certain time - this works, they fix the problem and with an hour it has gone wrong again. No problems with 4MB broadband or phone - I am thinking of going the Sky route though 'cause I'm so fed up with not getting the service that is constantly advertised.