Steve's blog

I used to have an account with NTL, a cable TV / telco in the UK. I gave up on using their phone service and broadband over a year ago as I wanted simple things like a reliable net connection with reverse DNS. I switched to ADSL ages back, and things were good. I continued using the cable TV from NTL for a while, as I was too apathetic to switch.

Last month, I finally got around to doing something about that - Sky in the UK offer a better digital TV service with more features like the Sky+ DVR for less money than I was paying to NTL. Once the Sky satellite disk was installed, I started to cancel the NTL subscription. That was an adventure in itself:

Spend ages on the phone in a queue on the "customer helpline".
Eventually speak to someone, be given a fresh number to ring for the cancellations department.
Ring that number. It's busy and drops the line after a few seconds.
Try again at #1 above, and get a different number to ring. "Oh no, the first number you were given for cancellations is wrong".

After multiple iterations through the above script, I eventually got through to the right people. "I'd like to cancel my account", I told them. "Sorry sir, you'll have to do that in writing", they told me, "and you have to give 30 days' notice, which will start from the postmark on the cancellation letter." They then gave me an address to write to. An address that's not on the website, and none of the previous people could possibly have told me it, of course, oh no.

So, on the 13th December I sent them a letter to cancel. I expected things to end there, but no such luck. After Christmas a letter landed in the mail. It wasn't an acknowledgement of the cancellation. It was another bill for the period from 13th January to 13th February. The cancellation letter had had no visible effect. As the new bill neatly coincided with 1 month from the date of my cancellation, I took an easy route and cancelled the Direct Debit that NTL used to collect payment.

Now that got a response - a letter landed this morning threatening extra charges to my account if I did not reinstate the Direct Debit. An urgent letter that took 7 days to come through their system, judging by the postmark. So I've just been on the phone to them. After nearly 20 minutes of listening to hold music, I eventually got through to the complaints department. "Sorry, sir - the cancellation only took effect on the 19th December, so you still owe us...". After some arguing on the phone I've got satisfaction (I believe) - I've had a promise that the account is closed with nothing outstanding and no more nasty letters to come. If I hear anything more then I'll be going to the regulator about this...

</rant>

It seems the only way that NTL can keep customers these days is to make it nigh-on impossible to cancel an account.

17:23 :: # :: /misc :: 126 comments

Comments

Re: Why are NTL so crap?
Martin wrote on Fri, 13 Apr 2007 06:10

YOU ARE MOST DEFINATELY NOT THE ONLY ONE!... i've had a similare experience with a few added extras! here goes....

on the 10th october last year the exchange at the end of the road got struck by lightning, the modem caught fire! and they still insisted i plugged it in to see if it was working correctly! secondly they couldnt repair it until the 5th of november but i could have a new installation in 2 working days anyway to add to the problems we cancelled the subscription and asked for a new installation... (by the recommendation of the advisor on the phone) anyway after they cancelled it they told us they wanted debit card numbers so they could take a £25 down payment for our new installation we then said fuck you basically and went to bt IT GETS BETTER so we cancelled all direct debits to them at the bank well from the 12th of december direct debits for broadband and phone bills have been coming out of the account.. they had set up a new account, with completely the wrong details WITHOUT our consent and they owe us about £180 WHICH they are refusing to pay (they set up a new account number and got the direct debit that way) the fraud squad are now investigating it oh and i found something out, when they installed it they laid all the cables etc but when we called them back because of a fault with the phone they laid new cables for the tv and broadband i found out on monday why.... the black cable they use outside when it burns gives off cyanide gas and they're not allowed to use it inside well guess what THE CABLE RUNNING ROUND THE LIVING ROOM WAS BLACK

so not only did they break numerous health and safety laws cost us £65 in phone calls and then set up a fraudulent account for us... they also nearly killed us! TWICE!

so can you see why id rather go Dial-up, watch terrestrial TV and use two tin cans and a piece of string than go back to ntl?

Your Comment