NTL are a complete and utter joke...

Zascar

I'm really at the end of my tether now... I have just had so many problems with NTL of late I'm really going berserk. I moved into a new apartment 3 months ago, got NTL10mb and the amount it has been down is just not acceptable. It has been down this time since Monday. I stayed home till 1pm from work on Wednesday expecting an engineer to call. No one did. Aparently an engineer found a problem with the building but they never called me to tell me. They said they would get a different engineer to try to fix it within 48 hours. Its still not working.

I called to see what they are doing and they said that these issues can take 5-10 working days to fix. What a joke. I've been with NTL for 2 years in my last house and had a rake of problems there too. Their customer service is appauling - I'm usually on hold for 15-20 minutes before getting through to anyone, and then usually get passed to someone else. My last phone bill had 14 euro of charges from calling them. They have never called me back when they said they would.

Worst company in Ireland.

chrism2007

believe it or not statistically they have the worst customer service in ireland.

Zascar

Oh I definitely believe it...

Just as a comparison I've been on to 02 customer care a lot lately and the difference is staggering. People who are nice, helpful and friendly, know what they are talking about, actually care about your problem and try their best to help you. Always call you back when promised and they have even called me back without asking just to make sure my problem has been dealt with correctly. That is how things should be.

How NTL get away with it is beyond me, it would not happen in other countries.

Dicksboro_man

Trust me,
02 managers and customer serviceRs are the best in the country.

voxpop

Complain and get it escalated, its the only way to get any decent customer service. The front line support are ignorant and condescending in my experience. The next level up seem good.

Also see their customer charter, they have sections about sending engineers out and how to complain -> http://www.upc.ie/pdf/InternalCharterV3.pdf

Zascar

Thanks. However last time I wrote to them it was over a month before i got a response.

Some time a go a nice boards member who worked for NTL helped me out and got it sorted quicksmart after my broadband was down for two weeks. I'm hoping something similar might happen again :-)

dub45

Dicksboro_man wrote: »

Trust me,
02 managers and customer serviceRs are the best in the country.

I agree the O2 people are not bad. However they refused point blank to accept a complaint from me that they are in permanent breach of the DD system. They date their bills 14 days in advance but they are rarely delivered less than 7 days in advance which is in breach of the dd scheme. The girl I spoke to about this simply talked and talked about the scheme before finally admitting that she had never read it!

voxpop

Zascar wrote: »

Thanks. However last time I wrote to them it was over a month before i got a response.

Some time a go a nice boards member who worked for NTL helped me out and got it sorted quicksmart after my broadband was down for two weeks. I'm hoping something similar might happen again :-)

email works - you get an automated response straight away and a human response within ~2 days

uteotw

At least track how many days it's not working and make sure to claim the money back for each day.

J-blk

voxpop wrote: »

email works - you get an automated response straight away and a human response within ~2 days

+1 - I've done this before and as Uteotw suggested, keep track of the downtime and demand a credit for it, I've received credits from them for much less downtime than you've had (< 24 hours) but you'll need to push. When the connection works, it's brilliant but yes, when you have to contact customer support, it is an absolute nightmare...

Don't get abusive with them (especially in an email) but state very clearly that you expect a quick resolution, a credit for all the downtime and inconvenience and if it is not sorted to you satisfaction, threaten to take your business elsewhere (even if you don't really intend to do so - it's the only "power" you have).

Sponge Bob

Oddly enough the best and worst customer service in the country are both based in Limerick

I agree on O2 customer service and for what it is worth the better NTL customer service in Waterford was sadly closed down 2 or 3 years back and Chorus customer service then took it over .

Dub45, you need to contact the head office of O2 in Dublin not the CS in Limerick

cooperla

Zascar wrote: »

They have never called me back when they said they would.

They've called me twice this week (last time 10 minutes ago) trying to see me a landline. You could give me you number and when they call me again next week I say no thanks, but I know someone who's interested... about the only way to get them to call you:(

blue banana

I know it's not much consolation but you can freefone them on 1908, at least it will cut down on the phone bills.

chrism2007

another thing you have to understand is the frontline employees can only do whats in their control.

if someone rings them and complains about an engineer taking too long to come out theres not much they can do. if you really want to get your point across you should write to the complaints dept.

legally formal complaints have to be in writing and ntl have a legal responsibility to respond. these complaints are also reviewed by the regulators

trust me when i say the job of a supervisor is simply to get you off the phone as soon as possible and not to log complaints

ive had a browse over the ntl site for a complaints address but theres actually none.

this is about the only address i could find

UPC Communications Ireland Limited,
Building P2,
Eastpoint Business Park,
Clontarf,
Dublin 3.

my advice would be next time you ring them ask for the address to send official complaints to

chrism2007

actually just found the address in their charter

By letter:
A letter outlining the nature of the complaint and associated account numbers addressed to:
Complaints Department, ChorusNTL a UPC company, PO Box 465, Limerick Enterprise Development Park, Roxboro Road,
Limerick.