NTL Fight back against Free sky broadband

[Rian1988]

Hello, NTL:Telewest are fighting back with a four deal, phone, tv, broadband and mobile phone in one package.

http://www.stuffmag.co.uk/hotstuffarticle.asp?de_id=2091

[Rian1988]

Not one reply :nono: I thought this was big news!

[Starburst]

Well the merger with Virgin laid the groundwork and the 4 service bundle was part of the PR offensive a few months ago and the overall package would be launching regardless of what SKY have just announced.


The offer of free digital TV with a NTL phone line is perhaps the result of both SKY's broadband deal and the introduction of BT Vision.

[Magic Pants]

Not one reply :nono: I thought this was big news!

For anyone but NTL it probably would be. However, NTL could offer 10 years free, unlimited broadband usage, free beer for life and a night out with Kate Winslet and I'd still tell them where to get off. You couldn't pay me enoug hto return to that appalling company. They can change their name all they like but they'll still be the same company with the same disgraceful customer service.

PS. Having thought about it, the offer of nights out with Ms Winslet may actually change my mind! ;)

[JohnG]

I've just cancelled my phone with NTL so now I only have broadband from them, hopefully with that fixed monthly amount they won't cock up my bill. I cancelled my phone because I was forced to go onto a DD payment with them (or pay £4 per month surcharge :eek: ) and they managed to get the next two bills wrong, The first bill after going onto the direct debit payment method included a £4 extra charge for not paying by direct debit :suicide:
I was hoping that NTL would start to lower their broadband charges as I really do not want to get any more services from them.

[PeteD64]

For anyone but NTL it probably would be. However, NTL could offer 10 years free, unlimited broadband usage, free beer for life and a night out with Kate Winslet and I'd still tell them where to get off. You couldn't pay me enoug hto return to that appalling company. They can change their name all they like but they'll still be the same company with the same disgraceful customer service.

PS. Having thought about it, the offer of nights out with Ms Winslet may actually change my mind! ;)

When were you with NTL?

I keep reading these reports of appalling customer service but I've always found them helpful & efficient in the 3 years I've been with NTL. Either I've been very lucky or they've improved their service in the last few years.

[neilmcl]

I was hoping that NTL would start to lower their broadband charges as I really do not want to get any more services from them.Just threaten to cancel. When you get put through to cancellations tell them you don't think their prices are competitive anymore and you can get a better deal elsewhere. They'll likely give you half price for 3 months and then when the 3 months is up ring them again, this is what I've been doing.

[JohnG]

I will do that once I get my last phone bill sorted out. The problem with phoning NTL now is that they've stopped the freephone service and you now have to pay to phone up to tell them they've messed up your bill :mad:

[Magic Pants]

When were you with NTL?

I keep reading these reports of appalling customer service but I've always found them helpful & efficient in the 3 years I've been with NTL. Either I've been very lucky or they've improved their service in the last few years.

Hi Pete,

I was with Sky for several years and moved to NTL for 2 years (after Sky couldn't install a satellite dish at my property) and switched to SKY 2 years ago after moving. NTL was fine when it was working but being kept on hold for up to an hour at a time and consistent billing errors just made me vow never to use them again. I confess I have no idea what they are like now and, perhaps, they have improved but companies only have to alienate their customer base once and I won't go back because of that.

[DJT75]

Just threaten to cancel. When you get put through to cancellations tell them you don't think their prices are competitive anymore and you can get a better deal elsewhere. They'll likely give you half price for 3 months and then when the 3 months is up ring them again, this is what I've been doing.

That's exactly what I'm doing, like JohnG I only have broadband with that bunch of muppets & it's now only costing me £12.49 a month for 10mb.

Still tempted to get my old BT line reactivated & go with Sky for broadband though + I could have multiroom then..

[gavan]

Hello, NTL:Telewest are fighting back with a four deal, phone, tv, broadband and mobile phone in one package.

http://www.stuffmag.co.uk/hotstuffarticle.asp?de_id=2091


I'm not really sure that these 'get all your telecoms/TV in one bundle' things are a good idea. They may be offering nice deals now to get you into their customer base but prices are sure to go up.

In the long term, better value for the consumer to source the cheapest deals on a service-by-service basis I would think.


Gav

[Chris Muriel]

Probably true.
The magic figure for all the providers is ARPU - Average Revenue Per User. All their shareholders and the bean-counters look at raising this figure.
Bundling of services is seen as an easy way to do this.
Incidentally, I have been on NTL for TV (basic package), broadband and phone for many years with no issues. We also have BT broadband and phone (separately and for business purposes).
Neither of these has been beset with problems.
I intend to keep my mobile phone service totally independent of either of them (Vodafone at present) .

Chris Muriel, Manchester

[mattrixdesign2]

When were you with NTL?

I keep reading these reports of appalling customer service but I've always found them helpful & efficient in the 3 years I've been with NTL. Either I've been very lucky or they've improved their service in the last few years.

I second that, I have BB, TV and Telephone with NTL and have done for about 4 years and customer service has been good. Occasionally the internet has stopped working but only say once/twice every 2/3 months.

When I joined I got a monthly £10 discount, this expried after a year, I call them every year and threaten to leave and they give me the £10 a month discount back - not bad IMO - damn sight cheaper than Sky+BT+Service Provider.

[markymark34]

I find NTL amazing value for money.
Ok possibly not 100% relieable but im getting a tel line, tv and broadband for £20 a month, which is very very cheap.

they were awful in the past, i was with them 5 or 6 years ago and it was a disaster but are fine now

[Steve.J.Davies]

I find NTL amazing value for money.
Ok possibly not 100% relieable but im getting a tel line, tv and broadband for £20 a month, which is very very cheap.


How you manage that ?

[Azzin]

Not one reply :nono: I thought this was big news!

This is a Sky forum that you've posted ntl news in. :smashin:

[gordnil]

This is a Sky forum that you've posted ntl news in. :smashin:


No its not !!!......Sky+, Freeview, Cable & Satellite

:grin:

[Azzin]

No its not !!!......Sky+, Freeview, Cable & Satellite

:grin:

:oops: :suicide: :grin:

[satinder]

I intend to get that deal as soon as i move into a NTL area :rotfl:. However i suppose all the Sky lovers will continue with there negative comments to put people off, just because a few people have personnel problems with NTL it doesn't really effective the vast majority of NTL subscribers. I for one know 12 people who have been with NTL for years and they have had no problems with the customer service or installation etc. I do know around 5 people who have given up with Sky (thats not including me :god:) and there unbelievable high prices (and poor value for money) to move to either the excellent value for money NTL :clap: or cheapskate freeview (as i have :devil:).

Sat

[JagoPlasma]

I will do that once I get my last phone bill sorted out. The problem with phoning NTL now is that they've stopped the freephone service and you now have to pay to phone up to tell them they've messed up your bill :mad:
thats one of the reasons i told them i was ditching them 2 months ago. want to know why they now charge? "sorry, we had to introduce it to stop our staff chatting to customers" he proceeded to pursuade me from cancelling, telling me they were the only decent BB suplier in my area.

after an hour on the phone to him, i said, you do realise youve spent over an hour of idle chit chat with me? and i called on your old freephone number and got transfered so..
http://media.funsmileys.com/smileys/up_yours.gif:grin:

i quit ntl because of
1.constant "schedualed maintenance" that would always crop up... even tho it wasnt listed the day before resulting in no bb service for hours and a few times upto 4 days! when i asked why my bb was down for 4 days, they would say its been suspended. id ask why? and they would tell me "sorry we dont know why, everything looks fine" .... :suicide:
2.poor cs
3.long holds
4.no freephone number, big pain when you use phone to pay your bill esspecially with 10+ min waiting times. not doing dd with those muppets as they get their standard bill wrong enough times
5.:censored: up bills
6. £25 a month for BB is high imo

[Nick_UK]

You guys are lucky to have NTL availability. It certainly helps as a stick to beat BT with. When they are the only provider they have you over a barrel and screw you over big time.

[triplea4uk]

thats one of the reasons i told them i was ditching them 2 months ago. want to know why they now charge? "sorry, we had to introduce it to stop our staff chatting to customers" he proceeded to pursuade me from cancelling, telling me they were the only decent BB suplier in my area.

after an hour on the phone to him, i said, you do realise youve spent over an hour of idle chit chat with me? and i called on your old freephone number and got transfered so..
http://media.funsmileys.com/smileys/up_yours.gif:grin:

i quit ntl because of
1.constant "schedualed maintenance" that would always crop up... even tho it wasnt listed the day before resulting in no bb service for hours and a few times upto 4 days! when i asked why my bb was down for 4 days, they would say its been suspended. id ask why? and they would tell me "sorry we dont know why, everything looks fine" .... :suicide:
2.poor cs
3.long holds
4.no freephone number, big pain when you use phone to pay your bill esspecially with 10+ min waiting times. not doing dd with those muppets as they get their standard bill wrong enough times
5.:censored: up bills
6. £25 a month for BB is high imo


£25 for broadband is cheap when on adsl you have to pay BT line rental £11 then the broadband fee on top. for example bt broadband £18 + £11.

Your other points I agree there cs sucks and end up paying extra £10/£15 month just on cs support dure to being on phone so long.

Nick_UK how do BT screw you over? you dont have to go with them for internet there are many companies that just use there line.

[markymark34]

How you manage that ?

just waited a year after and then called them up saying i was going to leave to go with orange as they were offering free broadband and they dropped their price.

[WildeKarde]

Gotta balance the ntl cost for standard services - having just counted up my services and looking to see it will be £128 with ntl or £77 to have Sky/BT (although I will be spending £100 for Sky+) then it's difficult to stay with ntl.

Line rental is the same as BT but packages such as Talk 24 are £9 more than Sky's offering. Then when you add in TV packs, Broadband and 2nd box it is all more.

I'll see what they offer when I'm cancelling but since the channels have been pausing a lot and the broadband keep dropping connection intermittently it's not looking like I'll stay.

[Ianfromnotts]

I terminated my NTL TV years ago because the remote continually failed to change channels - it was press the button and wait for 3 minutes. The phone and internet was cheap at the time but not any more. £50 a month for Broadand and 24/7 free phone calls when most do the same for half this

The phone is going and the internet will follow as soon as the full sky service is available to me. What really gets to me is NTLs total lack of customer focus.

Recent Examples

The bill always say payment is due immediately and there is a £10 admin charge for late payment. I was caught out on this one and charged £10 when I didnt pay promptly as I was on holiday - spoke with Customer Service they said nothing to do with us so I wrote to the NTL President/CEO and he didnt even reply or acknowldge receipt.

The monthly charge for non Direct Debit payment rose by 400% with just 30 days notice. At the same time they removed all 0800 calls to NTL customer service and introduced 0845 numbers that charge you 6p for connection plus 4.45p +vat per minute. ( cheaper in the night when the NTL offices are closed of course)

This change means my all inclusive calls package no longer allaows me to call NTL for free

I phone them to swap to DD. The first call tells me I am in a queue for 10 mins, The second call the same, The third call I get through. But their computer is down can I call back - No I explain the call charge issue - can they phone me back - Yes - Do they No

I phone again guess what - first 2 calls 10 minutes wait third time I get through.

I reluctantly pay for the call and swap to DD and the next bill is of course in correct because they are still charging me for non DD payment at £4 a month

I phone the accounts department and guess what - 6p connection charge and have another 10 minute 45p wait. I try again another 6p and another 45p 10 minute wait.

The third time I get through, 6p connection plus the security questions, the hold whilst I look at this that and everything else. 15 minutes later they have agreed to change the DD payment but wont issue a correct invoice!! 85p in charges to me on the last call. Plus the 15p for each of the 2 earlier calls

Remember there is the multi message key input time routine to go through all at 4.45p/minute + vat and the 6p connection charge so a typical call to find out how long the queue is costs about 15p

What about web help surely that avoids the costs - no - the only answer you get via web help - is call us

Oh and yes whilst the phone service which I think in my case still uses BT lines is good the internet is not - regular planned outages that mean you have to revert to dial up (more hidden costs) or phone to report a problem that they forgot to tell you about. - No they dont notify you about planned maintenance and outages !

Beware:lesson:

[WildeKarde]

I think the main issue is that ntl are reactive to the market and they no longer seem able to take the initiative in terms of products and packages.

Broadband should be faster for less, the set top boxes should have all the connections that customers need (audio and video connections) as well as ability to record and they need to take the lead in a competitive package to get closer to the competitors offers.

I feel as though they are afraid of taking a financial risk ...

[emporer]

It's fairly well known that if you speak to ntl and complain about the price and mention something like sky bb or cpw talk talk stuff then they will do a similar deal, my bro has his phone and 4mb bb for £20.99 per month now, and I have my 10mb bb cut from £36.99 (inc the non dd charge) to £4 per month which is superb. Only hassle is that we have to phone back every 3 months to continue the deal.

[Starburst]

.
.
and I have my 10mb bb cut from £36.99 (inc the non dd charge) to £4 per month which is superb. Only hassle is that we have to phone back every 3 months to continue the deal.




At that price not much of a hassle:)

As soon as SKY's service is a go I will be ringing NTL and offering them a chance to at least match the price and speed of the ADSL2+ product, no complaints with NTL CM and if the price is right I will stay otherwise I'll be off.

[cabstar]

We use to pay NTL upwards of £80 per month for BB, phone & telephone calls we now pay £30.99 and get the following

4 meg bb
Talk 24 unlimited
all the tv channels except movies & sports

when we cancelled sky earlier this year proved virtually impossible to cancel, 90 mins on phone to cancel conversation like this

"I want my sky turning off!"
"But we can do you a better deal, oh I see you are already on £6.99 for full multi pack..."
"I want my sky turning off!"
"But we can do you better a deal!!!!"

Then when they finally accepted our 1 months cancellation we received a phone call from them every other night pleading with us stay with them:suicide:

After finally cancelling them & getting thing disconnected we received a bill from them for £4 as we had cancelled our direct debit with them:eek: :eek: yet we owed them no money, they actually wanted £4 just to cancel our direct debit the cheeky gits, that took numerous 0870 10p a minute calls to sort out & STILL REMAINS UNRESOLVED!!!!!

Good riddance Sky!!!!

Regards

Gary

[Azzin]

<Snip>

You do realise that ntl now operate 0845/0870 numbers to contact them don't you?

And you thought Sky's waiting time was bad......:smashin:

[Chris Muriel]

After finally cancelling them & getting thing disconnected we received a bill from them for £4 as we had cancelled our direct debit with them:eek: :eek: yet we owed them no money, they actually wanted £4 just to cancel our direct debit the cheeky gits, that took numerous 0870 10p a minute calls to sort out & STILL REMAINS UNRESOLVED!!!!!

Good riddance Sky!!!!

Regards

Gary

I would tell them to see you in court for their £4 - based on what you related they would lose such an action anyway.

Chris Muriel, Manchester

[Steve.J.Davies]

You do realise that ntl now operate 0845/0870 numbers to contact them don't you?

And you thought Sky's waiting time was bad......:smashin:

Try the Say No to 0870 wedsite for ways around this - do it during head Office office hours.

[meega]

Personally speaking Telewest/NTL have failed to deliver time and time again for years! They have NEVER managed to provide us with a password (and username for that matter) for the default BY "mrjones@blueyonder.co.uk" email address!, the service ceases entirely every day of the week between 6pm and 11pm with sparse connected phases and the fact that they never amended an online bill which is now beyond £200 with the ridiculous "DD cancel fee" plus outrageous service charges is more than a valid enough reason to switch and try SKY`s BB!
I have never experienced an online billing site/feature that is as disfunctionally incorrect, out of date and plain garbage as Telewest`s is!!! :mad:
and to think i was always more a cable type over ADSL!