NTL Billing

dub45

Has anyone noticed that NTL recently announced that they are changing over to 2 monthly billing? Effectively this is a levy on their customers as we will now be giving them an interest free loan of two months fees instead of one ( we pay in advance for the service) Add to this the savings of postage, paper, issuing of bills etc and theres a nice few bob in this for NTL.

What interested me in particular was that NTL stated on the bill that the change was due to public demand! Now has anyone here ever phoned up a company and asked them to allow them to give the company an extra few bob of a loan?

I rang NTL HQ and asked to be put through to someone who could tell me what clause in my contract allowed them to change the billing frequency and also as they made the claim about public demand what was the level of it. I was put onto a girl who answered the first part by saying that they wanted to be like the other utilities who bill on a two monthly basis when I pointed out that this was not the reason they were giving their customers she said hold on and without warning transferred me to another number which just rang out... to be continued!:mad:

dub45

I rang back the operator and made known my annoyance at being treated so rudely. I got the impression that he got such complaints fairly regularly. He promised that he would contact a supervisor and get them to ring me - almost three weeks on I am still waiting on the call.

Later that week I had further dealings with a supervisor over a mess up on a promised call out - in the course of the call I was pointing out very politely NTL's numerous failings and mentioned the call debacle in respect of the billing change. The supervisor promised me a written explanation for the change within a couple of days - I am still waiting!!!

Wouldnt it be nice to know how say the public demand for the billing change compared with the the public demand to retain Eurosport!

dub45

thats my point - they are getting two months in advance of us now for an appalling service and they are putting it down to public demand!!!!!

spanner_head

I don't really get this two monthly billing lark.

I received my bill during the week. They have billed me for 2 months rental yet the phone calls that are on the bill are for one month.

Surely the idea of 2 month billing should include the calls for 2 months too not just the rent. So I've now paid rent till the end of September now. When I get a bill next month I will be paying rent till November??!??!

Their accounts dept close at 6. I cannot phone them from work as I'm on hold for 20mins at least. They don't answer my emails!

Shower of cowboys!

dub45

They are the most incompetent shower imaginable and this two month billing thing is simply a levy of an interest free loan on their customers.

I rang them on Friday and asked for a supervisor to explain why I had not got my promised letter from my last irate call. On that ocassion I was promised a letter within a couple of days explaining why they had changed the billing system.

This time the new supervisor told me tha the last supervisor should not have told me Id get a letter in a few days as it was not possible to issue a letter within a couple of days. It normaly takes at least 2-3 weeks!

Or course on the previous ocassion the supervisor then was telling me a member of staff should not have told me that their their technical people would call be in advance.

It appears in that organisation no one should tell a customer anything so thats why it is so hard to get through to them they really should not be telling you anything.

Seriously try ringing Comreg - strictly speaking they have no authority in this area but they will listen to complaints and if enough people ring them maybe it will strike them how f.....ing awful NTL are. Comreg have someone in NTL who has been nominated to take complaints so there maybe some hope there for you.

Although that NTL liason person rang me last Thursday about a complaint I had made to Comreg and promised to get someone to ring me - I am still waiting!

SteM

Originally posted by cableguy
There new billing system doesn't facilitate monthly Direct Debit any more only every second one.

How about we try and pay them monthly via billpay.ie? Just divide your bill by 2 and pay each installment seperately using the 'bill pay service' there. I'm going to give that a go.

Lpfsox

ah yes, NTL. "Customer Service" is a phrase totally alien to them.

Similar experience to yours Dub45 - I rang NTL in January to cancel my father's account as he had died. I was very surprised to be put through immediately to a lovely lady who assured me that they would close his account and refund money already paid to my mother.

3 weeks later, we got a bill from NTL. I rang them up again, thinking that maybe his account just wasn't taken off the billing system. This time I got the typical NTL phone monkey who told me that until I sent them a Death Certificate, they would continue to bill the account. I faxed them a certificate that day.

Shortly thereafter we got another bill. This time I rang and was put on hold for 45 minutes (before speaking to anyone at all). When the call was eventually picked up, I had the good fortune to be dealing with somebody who sounded like they were barely awake and just wanted me to go away. I repeatedly asked to speak to a supervisor and was told each time that they were very busy. I pointed out that I was also very busy but was making time to contact them. Several times I was asked to give my e-mail address or telephone number so someone could call me back, but having had previous experience with NTL in this regard, I knew a fob-off when I heard one. Anyway, I was eventually put through to a supervisor 90 minutes after I had started the call.

He gave me the usual crap about being new to the Department and apologised for the unprofessionalism of the staff there (not very professional himself) and proceeded down the road of "put everything in writing and it will be dealt with". When I pointed out that I had already done so by fax which had seemingly gone astray he questioned my memory of the event, because NTL are so meticulous they don't lose faxes or deny that they were ever received. Luckily, I had a receipt from the fax to back me up. At this stage, I was losing patience (but not my temper - that will get you nowhere with these guys), so I informed Mr Supervisor that I would be taking this matter up with ComReg and the Minister for Communications. He immediately assured me that the account would be closed and the money refunded.

The best bit: When I asked for this assurance in writing, he informed me that the NTL E-Mail Department would be issued with an instruction to confirm the details that day. E-Mail Department???? WTF???

Anyway, within an hour I had a guy up a ladder cutting off the NTL service. I ordered Sky and had that installed.

About a week later, NTL knocked on the door and told me there was a mix up on the account, and that they would like to restore my connection. I pointed out the dish at the back of the house and told them that I was more than happy with Sky, that their customer service by far surpassed NTL's and that they need never darken the door again.

NTL - the sooner they fall off this planet, the better.

dub45

All I can say is that your patience is extraordinary!!

It is extra galling too when you think how insensitive the whole thing is arising as it did from the death of a person.

It is no wonder that the parent Company almost went bankrupt when you think of their relentless ineffiency!

I do think one of the overall problems is that Irish people do not complain enough. Also judging by the crappy excuses Companies like NTL give they must be able to fob people off very easily.

It is extraordinary that they think saying to a customer 'oh that person should not have told you that etc etc' is an excuse whereas it is an admission of incompetence on their part!!!

Anyways if you are masochistic enough you might like to have a look at this thread which tells of my further adventures with NTL.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=104967

Incidentally I am still waiting on my letter about the billing change!

dub45

Just thinking about your experience Lpfsox you really should send a copy of your email to comreg. Even though strictly speaking they cant do anything about such stuff the more complaints they have on hand the better and your treatment was really.
disgraceful.

By the way I forgot to mention that when I was speaking to the last supervisor she told me that they had a complaints dept - so thats two we know about - the email and the complaints one! I sympathised to her about anyone working there that they must really be snowed under - but she was not impressed! Anyways she told me she would tell them all about my experiences as they liked to know about such things! Fascinating. anyways tell comreg!

sceptre

Originally posted by Lpfsox
E-Mail Department???? WTF???

Oh that could well be true. A few people have reported receiving a reply to an email after a month. They could well send some young fella out to a Net cafe once a month on his way to get some milk.

Your experience was pretty bad to be honest. Especially given the circumstances (which are relevant - everyone should get good service but under death circumstances it isn't too much to expect someone to actually make sure the problem is taken care of)

I'd also suggest sending any communication on to Comreg, with an outline of what happened. Their last report indicated that over 50% of NTL's customers had made a complaint (presumably to NTL, I doubt that half of the customers are aware of Comreg). Given that you can't stand NTL after your experience it's well-worth taking a few minutes out of your day to toss your complaint on the Comreg pile.