NTL Customer Care Line (What's to be done??)

Toots

So here's the deal, I've been on hold to NTL for over an hour and a half now (no joke, I dialled in at 19:15) I've literally just gotten through to them as I write this and I'm now talking to a customer 'service' agent. I think this is an outrageous time to be holding for something. I've tried several times before this, but have had to give up cos it's taken so long. What I'm wondering is there some sort of official body that I can complain to about this? I know the banks have the regulator and the ombudsman, but is there somewhere for the likes of this? I don't want to start ranting at the poor bloke on the other end of the phone, cos it's not his fault. Help??

PS: Sorry if this issue has already raised, feel free to link me to the the thread, I had no luck using the search

Mental Mickey

I don't mind if I get banned for saying this, but:

NTL ARE ABSOLUTELY F**KING USELESS!!!!! We've had problems with them for the last 3 months, as I have outlined in a previous thread on this board. Their "customer care" is bloody pathetic. My father was just speaking to one of them a little while ago, and got no satisfaction whatsoever.

We're gonna be getting the NTL box removed this week in favour of a Sky box.

Cabaal

Yeah cause Sky customer service is just as good :rolleyes:

seamus

There's no-one you can really complain to about the quality of a company's customer service unless they're failing to fulfill part of their service and are unwilling/unable to fix it.

The idea of the "free market" being that you should be able to vite with your feet. But a two-provider market isn't exactly spoiling you for choice...

Barlow07

Cabaal wrote: »

Yeah cause Sky customer service is just as good :rolleyes:

Maybe, but as long as the service works, you should have no reason to speak to Sky customer care. I had sky for over 7years, never had any problems.

Kobayashi

The fact I've a friend working in their Livingston centre in Scotland means no probs here if it breaks down either

Degsy

NTL are bloody rubbish,i had them for years and nothing but problems.I transferred to Sky two years ago and i find them to be great,thier customer support service is second to none.

Cabaal

Barlow07 wrote: »

Maybe, but as long as the service works, you should have no reason to speak to Sky customer care. I had sky for over 7years, never had any problems.

Sure I have NTL over 2 years without any issues with my TV or Broadband

genie_us

I joined sky about 2 months ago and was charged twice for the installation fee and was told that one installation fee would be refunded. I am still waiting to be refunded and have rang 4 seperate times to query it, each time I ring they say they have no record of 2 accounts, they say they will rectify it and refund me and but it never happens.
Very annoying!

Archeron

I have just got Sky and apart from a billing information error mishap that resulted in being cut off for one day, I've found them quite professional and courteous. Which is a pain, because I've secretly hated them for ages for no apparent reason. Dammit!!

kkontour

I got soo pi55ed off with chorus poor quality, and just dont like sky I ditched the lot. I now have a TV aerial for the 4 irish channels, FTA satellite for UK TV ( no ch4) and digitalb for Football.
And when this goes wrong, I call my self:D

Seth Brundle

NTL are staffed by idiots!
I tried 5 times to set up a direct debit and it was only set up on the 5th time.
I ordered broadband last year and sat aiting one saturday for the enginerr to call. When I got fed up waiting, I called them and was told that there was no order in for me. Furthermore, as the direct debit that I had set up at the same time as the original call hadn't been set up meaning my bill couldn't go through, they couldn't take my order until it did (another 3-5 working days).
Twice IIRC we were cut off because the DD wasn't set up even though we were tolld it was.
I rang regarding telephone services last November and was told that it would be in Leixlip before Christmas and if not then definitley the start of January. January came and I rang them back again and was told that they had no idea when it was coming to Leixlip and that the previous rep couldn't have given me any info on dates!
The product is good - don't get me wrong. Its just that the customer service is absiolutely dire.

King of Faces

I've been with SKY for 7 years - never had an problem with Customer Service. Had ENDLESS problems with NTL beforehand.

Sherifu

I tried to get through to NTL twice 2 months ago. I gave up each time after 15 minutes. There was all this talk by UPC about a new call center in Limerick afair. Good to see things have changed :rolleyes: In the end my brother managed to get hold of them for me. I've since cut the direct debit, I don't want to deal with them again if possible.

penexpers

Cabaal wrote: »

Yeah cause Sky customer service is just as good :rolleyes:

I've had to call Sky a few times over various billing/service issues and the longest I've had wait to talk to someone is five minutes.

UrbanFox

Mental Mickey wrote: »

I don't mind if I get banned for saying this, but:

NTL ARE ABSOLUTELY F**KING USELESS!!!!! ......

NO ! They are not. They are actually worse than that if it is possible to conceive such an idea.

I have been trying to resolve a basic billing query for an elderly relative with them or UPC or whatever they are now called and all written communications are just IGNORED outright. The UPC merger seems to have made not one jot of difference in this regard.

We have had previous billing problems with NTL and it just seems that they do not receive or understand anything that you say. Ironic for a company whose raison d'etre is communications.:)

Who would I complain to about NTL/UPC service standards ? Would that be the ODTR ?

That said, ignoring correspondence is now an increasingly common trend in dealing with Irish businesses and local authorities but that would be a seperate sticky thread in it's own right...

Cabaal

penexpers wrote: »

I've had to call Sky a few times over various billing/service issues and the longest I've had wait to talk to someone is five minutes.

wait times isn't the problem..I never said it was

Basic understanding of the English language and basic understanding of the actual issue is the problem, useless shower

colly10

Cabaal wrote: »

Yeah cause Sky customer service is just as good :rolleyes:

Found them to be quite good actually, only ever had one problem, never had to wait on hold for anything near that long and they were able to solve the problem over the phone

Sizzler

Cabaal wrote: »

Sure I have NTL over 2 years without any issues with my TV or Broadband

OK so the product has been fine for you....but this thread is about the customer service...so come back and post when you need to call them and let us know how you get on

inforfun

I had my fair share of horror with ntl/up/chorus.
Before upc stepped in i really had a very good impression of ntl.
Installation was done on the right day at the right time, even received a reminder by txtmessage the day before.
Hell... i even recommended them to some people.
But then... upc came in and disaster struck.

Huge amounts of calls to get a problem sorted, took 11 (!!!!!) months to sort the problem out. 20, 30 maybe 40 call backs by their "broadband support" were promised. got 2.
Engineers were assigned at least 5 times. Got 1 and when i blinked with my eyes he was gone.

Stopped paying, got refunds but the last refund i got they never deducted from the bill.
Calling about that was useless as their bill was right. Sure.. would be the first time after upc took over that they got something right.

Calling them is an adventure by itself. Had it more than once that after 15 minutes on hold i had to disconnect in order to call again 5 minutes later in order to get straight through without any waiting.

I have given up calling them. Can only hope i never meet anyone in person who tells me he is working for upc/ntl. I can not be held responsible for my actions then.

Mental Mickey

My Dad rang NTL today to cancel our account/direct debit. And, guess what?? They wouldn't do it over the phone!!!?? He has to write them a letter telling them he wants our NTL "service" disconnected.

I thought this was the f**king 21st century???

Seems NTL haven't arrived here yet?

:rolleyes:

Sneaky_Russian

I ordered the DVR online there a couple of weeks ago - or so i thought.
I rang to see what was going on with the order - on hold for about 20 odd minutes.

When i said i ordered online i was told that, "No you shouldn't have done that - we don't recommend you order online"....

Turned out the order was never placed.

ixoy

Mental Mickey wrote: »

My Dad rang NTL today to cancel our account/direct debit. And, guess what?? They wouldn't do it over the phone!!!?? He has to write them a letter telling them he wants our NTL "service" disconnected.

This is fairly standard I thought? It ensures they have a more reliable record of you wishing a disconnection of service. It's certainly what I've had to do with other companies.

Sherifu

Sneaky_Russian wrote: »

When i said i ordered online i was told that, "No you shouldn't have done that - we don't recommend you order online"....

Classic.

ixoy wrote: »

This is fairly standard I thought? It ensures they have a more reliable record of you wishing a disconnection of service. It's certainly what I've had to do with other companies.

Yep, and write to the bank to kill the DD.

colly10

Sneaky_Russian wrote: »

I ordered the DVR online there a couple of weeks ago - or so i thought.
I rang to see what was going on with the order - on hold for about 20 odd minutes.

When i said i ordered online i was told that, "No you shouldn't have done that - we don't recommend you order online"....

Turned out the order was never placed.

They recommend that they don't order parts off their website, thats laughable :eek:

mika27

What about the original question here - where do you go to make a complaint?
NTL have overcharged me by €282 and after multiple promises of phone calls and refunds I still haven't received anything. Surely there is some sort of organisation to deal with this because this is just robbery!!

Sherifu

See the sticky