NTL Broadband Service, or lack of.

I have today told NTL to cancel my TV, Telephone and broadband service.
Their service from their broadband team and their "customer solutions" team
(should be "cause customer as much annoyance as possible team") has been
appalling. I have been a customer with NTL for 14 years.

I have had many problems with the broadband connection from NTL some of
which I have listed below.


A few months ago I was not able to retrieve my mail messages. They insisted
that the problem was with my machine, first they claimed that Outlook
Express had been "corrupted", then the claimed it was my firewall which was
disabled, then they said I would have to re-install Win 98 before they would
look at the problem further. This wasted many many hours of my time, and the
fault was only resolved when I said I would cancel, and take them to court
over the matter. I then Finally spoke to some one quite senior in NTL, who
got one of their technicians to investigate. The problem was as I had
suggested many time was that the mail server I was on was overloaded, and at
the times I had been trying to access it had been very very busy. This was
the reason for outlook express failing to retrieve my mail.


In the middle of May I had arranged to cancel my broadband (600K) as money
is tight at the moment. Their "customer solutions" team called me and
agreed to give do the 150K broadband for 9 pounds a month for 3 months. I
agreed with this and asked for it to be done from the end of June. A few
days later I was trying to download some Linux ISO CDs, this is why I had
asked for the change to be made from the end of June. I was only getting
download speeds of about 15 to 18K bytes per sec.

I tried lots of different mirrors, different distributions (redhat, debian,
knoppix, and mandrake), and resetting the PC and modem. None of this made
any difference. After trying all this I called the help line. As usual they
were sure it was a problem with my PC, and only after much discussion did
they comment I was on the Bronze service, I asked what that was, and then
they tell me its the 150k service.

This change should not have been made until the end of June. This had caused
me many many aborted and timed-out downloads, and I was not happy. I spoke
to a manager and he said he would arrange a call back from the customer
service team, and himself to make sure the matter was dealt with. They did
not call back. I called customer services, and they told me I had to speak
to the "customer solutions" team. I spoke to them, and spoke to the
supervisor of the person who arranged to make the changes, she then passed
me to the person she said was her manager, this was another lady, and she
said she needed to speak to the person who arranged to make these changes,
and agreed they would call me back between 10:00 and 10:15 on Monday
24.05.04. Guess what they did not call back. I called NTL about 16:00 that
day to say they had not called back and ask what was going on. Over the next
couple of days I spoke to quite a few people about the matter, some called
me, and they said they would look into it and get back to me, this included
the person who was supposed to be in charge of the "customer solutions"
team, and the person (Ann Mills) who is responsible for customer relations
in NTL. By the end of Wednesday 26.05.04 they had not come back. The
response from NTL now is:

1). The manager of the supervisor I spoke to is a man, so the lady I
spoke to was clearly not her manager.

2). As far as they are concerned they have no record of me
requesting a call back so I have no grounds to complain about it.

3). The person I spoke to initially to arrange the downgrade could
not have actually changed my service from 600k to 150K,
this happened purely by coincidence as far as they are
concerned.

4). They are no prepared to offer any form of compensations for all
the inconvenience they have caused me.


So with NTL:

1). If they promise a call back they often do not bother.

2). If you ask to speak to someone's manager they will pass you on
to some one who is not, and that person then makes
promises they do not keep and NTL will not follow this up, or
accept they are at fault.

3). Changes to the speed of your broadband connection happen just by
chance, after all NTL staff did not change my service
from 600k to 150k, it happened purely by chance.

4). When NTL's broadband service goes wrong they are not willing to
offer any compensation.



The above service was how NTL's Cable TV service was some years ago, apart
from one thing. If they did mess things up they would offer some form of
compensation. With the broadband NTL service you have all the bad points of
how NTL's service was some years back and worse.

Given the above it seems to me that NTL do not care in the slightest about
customers even when those customers have been with them many years. It make
no sense to me to stay with a company that values its customers, and the
service it gives them so little.

If anyone senior from NTL reads this then I strongly suggest you start
dealing with customers in a more open and honest manner, and be reasonable
with them. NTL's customer service had a reputation for being the worst it
could be a few years ago. Your broadband customer service make the old bad
NTL service look good.


Yours

Rob. Murphy

"Robert Murphy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message :

> I have today told NTL to cancel my TV, Telephone and broadband service.
> Their service from their broadband team and their "customer solutions"
team
> (should be "cause customer as much annoyance as possible team") has been
> appalling. I have been a customer with NTL for 14 years.
>
> I have had many problems with the broadband connection from NTL some of
> which I have listed below.
>
>
> A few months ago I was not able to retrieve my mail messages. They
insisted
> that the problem was with my machine, first they claimed that Outlook
> Express had been "corrupted", then the claimed it was my firewall which
was
> disabled, then they said I would have to re-install Win 98 before they
would
> look at the problem further. This wasted many many hours of my time, and
the
> fault was only resolved when I said I would cancel, and take them to court
> over the matter. I then Finally spoke to some one quite senior in NTL, who
> got one of their technicians to investigate. The problem was as I had
> suggested many time was that the mail server I was on was overloaded, and
at
> the times I had been trying to access it had been very very busy. This was
> the reason for outlook express failing to retrieve my mail.
>
>
> In the middle of May I had arranged to cancel my broadband (600K) as money
> is tight at the moment. Their "customer solutions" team called me and
> agreed to give do the 150K broadband for 9 pounds a month for 3 months. I
> agreed with this and asked for it to be done from the end of June. A few
> days later I was trying to download some Linux ISO CDs, this is why I had
> asked for the change to be made from the end of June. I was only getting
> download speeds of about 15 to 18K bytes per sec.
>
> I tried lots of different mirrors, different distributions (redhat,
debian,
> knoppix, and mandrake), and resetting the PC and modem. None of this made
> any difference. After trying all this I called the help line. As usual
they
> were sure it was a problem with my PC, and only after much discussion did
> they comment I was on the Bronze service, I asked what that was, and then
> they tell me its the 150k service.
>
> This change should not have been made until the end of June. This had
caused
> me many many aborted and timed-out downloads, and I was not happy. I spoke
> to a manager and he said he would arrange a call back from the customer
> service team, and himself to make sure the matter was dealt with. They did
> not call back. I called customer services, and they told me I had to speak
> to the "customer solutions" team. I spoke to them, and spoke to the
> supervisor of the person who arranged to make the changes, she then passed
> me to the person she said was her manager, this was another lady, and she
> said she needed to speak to the person who arranged to make these changes,
> and agreed they would call me back between 10:00 and 10:15 on Monday
> 24.05.04. Guess what they did not call back. I called NTL about 16:00 that
> day to say they had not called back and ask what was going on. Over the
next
> couple of days I spoke to quite a few people about the matter, some called
> me, and they said they would look into it and get back to me, this
included
> the person who was supposed to be in charge of the "customer solutions"
> team, and the person (Ann Mills) who is responsible for customer relations
> in NTL. By the end of Wednesday 26.05.04 they had not come back. The
> response from NTL now is:
>
> 1). The manager of the supervisor I spoke to is a man, so the lady
I
> spoke to was clearly not her manager.
>
> 2). As far as they are concerned they have no record of me
> requesting a call back so I have no grounds to complain about it.
>
> 3). The person I spoke to initially to arrange the downgrade
could
> not have actually changed my service from 600k to 150K,
> this happened purely by coincidence as far as they are
> concerned.
>
> 4). They are no prepared to offer any form of compensations for
all
> the inconvenience they have caused me.
>
>
> So with NTL:
>
> 1). If they promise a call back they often do not bother.
>
> 2). If you ask to speak to someone's manager they will pass you on
> to some one who is not, and that person then makes
> promises they do not keep and NTL will not follow this up, or
> accept they are at fault.
>
> 3). Changes to the speed of your broadband connection happen just
by
> chance, after all NTL staff did not change my service
> from 600k to 150k, it happened purely by chance.
>
> 4). When NTL's broadband service goes wrong they are not willing
to
> offer any compensation.
>
>
>
> The above service was how NTL's Cable TV service was some years ago, apart
> from one thing. If they did mess things up they would offer some form of
> compensation. With the broadband NTL service you have all the bad points
of
> how NTL's service was some years back and worse.
>
> Given the above it seems to me that NTL do not care in the slightest about
> customers even when those customers have been with them many years. It
make
> no sense to me to stay with a company that values its customers, and the
> service it gives them so little.
>
> If anyone senior from NTL reads this then I strongly suggest you start
> dealing with customers in a more open and honest manner, and be reasonable
> with them. NTL's customer service had a reputation for being the worst it
> could be a few years ago. Your broadband customer service make the old bad
> NTL service look good.
>
>
> Yours
>
> Rob. Murphy

Well I agree that NTL are a complete set of w@nkers but I don't agree with
you on compensation. NTL's terms do state that the service will naturally
not always be available as with any provider and machines...you do get
problems. Also you made the biggest mistake possible when calling NTL. The
first rule when speaking to an NTL rep is to get their full name or they
usually deny ever speaking to you.

I was an ex Cable&Wireless customer before NTL bought the residential
division and it seemed to go down hill rapidly after they got their grubby
hands on it.

"Robert Murphy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:vANvc.771$b%(E-Mail Removed)...

> A few months ago I was not able to retrieve my mail messages. They
insisted
> that the problem was with my machine, first they claimed that Outlook
> Express had been "corrupted", then the claimed it was my firewall which
was
> disabled, then they said I would have to re-install Win 98 before they
would
> look at the problem further. This wasted many many hours of my time, and
the
> fault was only resolved when I said I would cancel, and take them to court
> over the matter. I then Finally spoke to some one quite senior in NTL, who
> got one of their technicians to investigate. The problem was as I had
> suggested many time was that the mail server I was on was overloaded, and
at
> the times I had been trying to access it had been very very busy.

Yep, I pay a company for my email now, I found NTL`s servers terrible. I`m
not going to mention the NG servers either ;0)

Now an ex NTL customer aswell (Broadband and Phone)

> So with NTL:
>
> 1). If they promise a call back they often do not bother.

Found that to be true myself.

> 2). If you ask to speak to someone's manager they will pass you on
> to some one who is not, and that person then makes
> promises they do not keep and NTL will not follow this up, or
> accept they are at fault.

Again found this to be true from personal experience.

> 3). Changes to the speed of your broadband connection happen just
by
> chance, after all NTL staff did not change my service
> from 600k to 150k, it happened purely by chance.

Thats not strictly true, it didnt 'happen by chance' it happened because you
had agreed to the downgrade, it happened prematurely, an accident, deal with
it bud dont get bitter about it.

> 4). When NTL's broadband service goes wrong they are not willing
to
> offer any compensation.

Again I disagree with you, compensation is nice but its not something you
should automatically get, especially since your problems are pretty trivial
compared to some. You also might want to check the Terms & Conditions you
agreed to when you signed for the service, im sure NTL have added a section
in there saying they dont have to compensate.

Anyways NTL = piss poor service

also an EX-NTL customer (tv, bb, phone)

"Mr Wizzo" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
newsY_vc.219$(E-Mail Removed)...
> > So with NTL:
> >
> > 1). If they promise a call back they often do not bother.
>
> Found that to be true myself.
>
> > 2). If you ask to speak to someone's manager they will pass you
on
> > to some one who is not, and that person then makes
> > promises they do not keep and NTL will not follow this up,
or
> > accept they are at fault.
>
> Again found this to be true from personal experience.
>
> > 3). Changes to the speed of your broadband connection happen
just
> by
> > chance, after all NTL staff did not change my service
> > from 600k to 150k, it happened purely by chance.
>
> Thats not strictly true, it didnt 'happen by chance' it happened because
you
> had agreed to the downgrade, it happened prematurely, an accident, deal
with
> it bud dont get bitter about it.
>
> > 4). When NTL's broadband service goes wrong they are not willing
> to
> > offer any compensation.
>
> Again I disagree with you, compensation is nice but its not something you
> should automatically get, especially since your problems are pretty
trivial
> compared to some. You also might want to check the Terms & Conditions you
> agreed to when you signed for the service, im sure NTL have added a
section
> in there saying they dont have to compensate.
>
> Anyways NTL = piss poor service
>
> also an EX-NTL customer (tv, bb, phone)
>
>

NTL were quite clear that the person who I spoke to DID NOT downgrade my
service. He would not have been able to do this, again this is according to
NTL. NTL are also quite clear that the do not know how or why the service
was changed to 150k, and again according to NTL, it happened just by
coincidence. The explanation for this from NTL is that staff probably used
my MAC address instead of some one else's. To me that seems to much of a
coincidence, but according to NTL it was a coincidence, and not as a result
of the request I made. I myself do not believe this.

A few years ago when NTL TV service was much worse if they made a mistake
they would finally admit it, and compensate you for messing you about. My
point is that now you get the really poor service, and they wont even admit
they made a mistake, let alone compensate you for the time they have wasted.

Rob. Murphy.

> NTL were quite clear that the person who I spoke to DID NOT downgrade my
> service. He would not have been able to do this, again this is according
to
> NTL. NTL are also quite clear that the do not know how or why the service
> was changed to 150k, and again according to NTL, it happened just by
> coincidence. The explanation for this from NTL is that staff probably used
> my MAC address instead of some one else's. To me that seems to much of a
> coincidence, but according to NTL it was a coincidence, and not as a
result
> of the request I made. I myself do not believe this.

If you dont believe what they say why argue with the point I made since its
obviously correct.

> A few years ago when NTL TV service was much worse if they made a mistake
> they would finally admit it, and compensate you for messing you about. My
> point is that now you get the really poor service, and they wont even
admit
> they made a mistake, let alone compensate you for the time they have
wasted.

Personally I've never had 'compensation' of any form from NTL and I've been
with them pretty much since they started in the UK. I would agree it might
have been easier to get it in the past, especially when they had retail
premises and you could bitch at someone face to face, but they have never
exactly just given it out at will, you've always had to fight for it,
anything else isnt good business sense, even more so for cash-strapped NTL.

On 4 Jun 2004 "Gareth :-\) voom" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

<<SNIP quote of whole lengthy posting>>

Never heard of trimming what you quote ?

"Robert Murphy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:vANvc.771$b%(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have today told NTL to cancel my TV, Telephone and broadband service.
> Their service from their broadband team and their "customer solutions"
team
> (should be "cause customer as much annoyance as possible team") has been
> appalling. I have been a customer with NTL for 14 years.
<<<<<<<SNIP>>>>>>>>>>

Unfortunately the only way to get NTL to stick to their promises is to get
things
in writing and even then they kick up a stink before they do anything :-(

I've had their phone service, their TV package and their standalone CM, but
none of them have "survived" :-(

I've also asked for their modem to be collected as they don't seem to be
interested
in customers at all. I've been with them about 7 years (since they took over
C&W
nee Bell Cable).

Keef

--
Dartford Kent UK
Email (E-Mail Removed)
(Reply or Remove the WRAPPER)