Complicated billing problem - please help!

[DrToxic]

If there is anyone who I can help me I would be extremely grateful.

My girlfriend is Zambian and had been living in the UK for four years after coming here to study. Anyway, due to some unfortunate family issues, she has had to go back home indefinitely to help sort things out. This all happened pretty suddenly and as she didnâ₠¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t know how long she was going to be, she decided to give up her house and therefore had to cancel her NTL phoneline.

She called NTL and explained the situation and the person she spoke to in CS said that they would cancel her account, disconnect the phoneline and she could pay the outstanding balance with a cheque (as she was also closing her bank account). She paid NTL the money she owed (£41.30 ) a few days before leaving and according to her bank statement, NTL banked the cheque on 28th June.

Anyway, due to being extremely upset about having to go home at such short notice, I told her that I would ease the stress a little by taking care of her finances, bills, mail etc. She therefore left her landlady with my address and she has been forwarding all her mail to me. Now hereâ₠¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s the fun partâ₠¬Ã‚¦

Due to the fact she was closing her account, she cancelled her direct debit with NTL. This morning I received two letters †“ one dated 12th July from ntl:home payments, stating that NTL have received notification that her direct debit for the service has been cancelled and that if she doesnââ‚ƚ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t pay by DD, she will have to pay £2 extra. And another letter dated 21st July from ntl:home collections stating that a direct debit for £41.30 has been rejected by the bank. I know she has paid this as I have proof, but Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢m worried that NTL wonââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t listen to me because itââ‚ ¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s neither my bank account or NTL account.

I was wondering if any NTL employees on the Cableforum Team can advise me on this. She has definitely paid the money and I have a bank statement to prove this. I would imagine there are notes somewhere on NTLs system which support what Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢m saying in terms of her cancelling her account etc. Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢d hate to think of my girlfriend getting into to trouble over this whilst I could do something to resolve the issue. Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢m almost certain that sheââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢ll go back to NTL when she returns, so I wouldnââ‚Ã⠀šÃ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t like to think of her being blacklisted when she has paid what she owed.

Thanks

[paulyoung666]

did she confirm to ntl before she left that ntl were allowed to deal with you , it could be awkward if she didnt due to the data protection act

[DrToxic]

She stated the exact date when she would be leaving and gave them my name and address so that any further post could be sent to me. She did ask them to add my name to the account so if there were any problems, I could deal with them, but they said that they couldn't do that. I did actually recieve the original bill at my address because it turned up before she left, so I just gave it to her and she paid by cheque. I've also recieved a number of adverts addressed to her, advertising broadband etc, but the two letters about the direct debits actually went to her old address - her landlady forwarded them to me.

[DrToxic]

It wouldn't be so bad if people fully understood the Data Protection Act, but I think a lot of people misunderstand it. I've worked for a bank and I'm not going to say I know everything about it, but I do know the basics.

1. She asked them to forward her post to my address, which they have done on numerous occasions
2. She did ask them to put my name on the account but they refused
3. I know her security password for the NTL account and I could easily answer any questions they put to me relating to the account
4. I have all of her bank statements

If I was to tell NTL that they've made a mistake, she has paid the bill and I can send a statement to prove it, then they don't need to give me any of her confidential data. I'm not asking for them to give me any information on the account whatsoever, or even to acknowledge the fact that they think the bill has not been paid - I'm just asking them to sort out a mistake they have made. If I'm wrong, then I stand corrected - like I say, I'll raise my hand and admit to not knowing everything about Data Protection. At the end of the day, I'm just trying to help NTL resolve an issue that they have created.

[Graham F]

The two letters that ntl sent out are both automated letters. The first one is sent out to anyone who cancles a DD even if the account is being closed down the second one was sent due to the fact that the cheque was paid after the bill was produced and before the DD waqs cancelled so the system still excepted the bill to be paid by DD (confused?!?!)

anyway i would wait for ntl to send the next statement out and you shoul find a nice zero balance on it as the cheque payment will be showing on it. I hope that kinda makes sense!?!?

[DrToxic]

Yeah that makes sense, thanks very much Scooby. That's put my my mind at rest. I won't be able to relax totally until I see that statement, but sounds as though things may well be ok

Thanks again

[Marge]

Originally Posted by Scooby

The two letters that ntl sent out are both automated letters. The first one is sent out to anyone who cancles a DD even if the account is being closed down the second one was sent due to the fact that the cheque was paid after the bill was produced and before the DD waqs cancelled so the system still excepted the bill to be paid by DD (confused?!?!)

anyway i would wait for ntl to send the next statement out and you shoul find a nice zero balance on it as the cheque payment will be showing on it. I hope that kinda makes sense!?!?

Exactly what I was about to say but Scoobs beat me to it

[DrToxic]

ok, well thanks anyway Debsy

[Mr Concerned]

Originally Posted by Scooby

The two letters that ntl sent out are both automated letters. The first one is sent out to anyone who cancles a DD even if the account is being closed down

Amazing ... and totally insensitive.
I have at least one friend who would suffer a panic attack (medical) if he were to receive a letter like this.

For goodness sake, all it takes is a cross-check as to whether the account is closed and that the balance is zero!!

[paulyoung666]

Originally Posted by Mr Concerned

Amazing ... and totally insensitive.
I have at least one friend who would suffer a panic attack (medical) if he were to receive a letter like this.

For goodness sake, all it takes is a cross-check as to whether the account is closed and that the balance is zero!!

it aint just ntl who do things like this , imagine the extra man/woman power needed to check every letter sent out was ok to be sent

[Shaun]

Surely the cross checking could be automated??

[Graham F]

Originally Posted by dellwear

Surely the cross checking could be automated??

its pretty difficult as all these are done by writing scripts for the system that asks the system for example to send a letter to everyone that cancels a DD as soon as ntl get notifaction. If you then ask it to check if the account is in the process of being closed down (bear in mind it takes 30 days with notice) it proves a very hard task, so they stick to the if you don't have a continous payment method on the account because one has been cancelled you get a letter.

[Shaun]

But there must be a field in the database that gets a tick when the account is in the notice period, why cant the script just check this before it generates the letter?

[Graham F]

no actaully this is not the case, the account goes to pending disconnect and any pending orders are not picked up by the scripts for some technical reason that was once explained to me. Its something to do with the fact that they can not make the system tell the difference between a pending disconnect and a pending order sucha s a channel change or something being added to the account such as BB.

ntl do invest a lot of money in the new database they are setting up and have some they good programmers building it, but basically the more complicated the script the more it costs to write and then to manage on an ongoing basis. I am sure if ntl had an unlimited amount of funds they could cover every possible secrnario and the system would never fall over itself. In practise this is not the case, and like Paul said its not just ntl that send automatic letters to people that cancel their DD and the such regardless of the state of the account i could sit here and name 20 other companies that do the same no problem at all

[Mr Concerned]

Originally Posted by dellwear

Surely the cross checking could be automated??

No, it SHOULD be automated.

If they can have a letter that is triggered by the cancellation of a DD, then part of the information collecting and checking should include this.

Just because there are other companies that also do this sort of thing, it should not be considered accepatable practice. It's rather like asking the banks why cheques take 5 working days to clear and getting the response that it is 'normal practice'!