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?
marie May wrote on Tue, 19 Sep 2006 15:08

What you’ve written so far is nothing compared to what I’ve gone through. Last year I told NTHell to disconnect the landline cause we were moving elsewhere, which as far as I can tell they did. However about 3 months went by before they stopped by to reconnect the service in my flat. However, what came as a shock was the fact that they kept sending bills to my new address now charging me for the time between they disconnected the service until they reconnected it (about 2 to 3 months). They were literally trying to steal money from me. And then I started to receive final reminder letters saying pay up or else. I bent over backwards trying to reach a real person through customer harras…er service. They never gave a solution and letters from them kept piling up in my rubbish bin.

On the other hand, by the time we were expecting someone from NTHell to show up for reconnection, some female executive called me up and offered me a deal in which I’d have to pay only £7.25 as a month charge, provided I made a payment of £25 upfront. The case is I wouldn’t have to pay a single £p during the first 3 months. I accepted, but as as soon as the line became ready for use, they started sending bils for £11.50 as a month charge. What they are doing is illegal right?. They’ve been doing this since we started this new contract. I desperately tried to get help and advice from somewhere but it was fruitless. Then they sent the “debt” to a debt recovery company, and after trying to contact those guys, they forced me into pay like £100 of which I owed about £50 according to my estimates. I have the whole paperwork to prove what I’m saying. However they got away with it. I’m sure these sharks do the same to other hard working people and nobody does a thing about it. As they have disconnected the line, they have the nerves to tell me I have to pay a further fee to have the line back, and the month charges are still running. So I have to pay to have the service back and furthermore I have to keep paying what they say I owe untill the end of the contract. Can somebody tell me is there anything I can do to expose these rats? I’m sharing this in the hope that somebody who reads this will have an idea that can help start stopping this swindlers, or organize a group and together expose these fraudsters, legally. they have been in breach of a contract and don’t care what I say.

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