NTL = No That Lot :(

[MachMan]

FFS is it hard or what ?

I get the greasey salesman round offering this and that so I order:

1x telephone line
1x cable modem connection
1x cable modem

As I have Sky digital I dont want there poxy 4 TV channels (who wants Boro TV ???) so i specifically specify NO TV.

Does that seem clear ? Its all there on the form in black and white (purple really).

1st installatino gets cancelled due to petrol shortage, no problem I understand and support it. Then they re-schedule on a day I'm at work. I ask to move it they put it back a month, I say 'No way' so they bring it forward 1 day.

Then 2 biffs with a spade turn up and dig me lawn up, ok, understandable, quite a neat job infact. Followed by 'Mr perfume smelling engineer'. It goes down hill from here.

'Mr perfume smelling engineer' proceeds to rip out my BT line (ISDN), I discover this cause me PC is suddenly disconnected from what I'm doing and the light on the ISDN wall box goes out.

I point out that:
1) That is a BT wall box and line you have no right to touch it and
2) NTL is not replacing my BT line as I have 2 monthsof my BT contract to go.

oh ! He retorts. Then spends an hour trying to get all the wires back into the right slots. (Its complicated but my ISDN cums in downstairs, runs upstairs to the ISDN box then runs back down).

Next I see him with a Scart lead in his hands ? Whats that 4 I ask ? 'Yer telly' he replies. I then explain that I am not having the telly, 'But its here on the order?' he says, 'Where ?' I ask, 'Here.....Oh no its not is it...'He replies :( He then starts to put my telly back where he had moved it from and try to reconnect me Sky box and video he had disconnected ???

Next the supervisor tuns up to check all the work is correct and we have a discussion on what had gone wrong so far.

Being the suspicious type I follow 'Mr perfume smelling engineer' around me house as he appears to not know what he should be doing. Not realising the '2 biffs with a spade' outside have hung the cable and telephone lines around the outside of me house like a line of christmas lights and bug.ered off.

Once 'Mr perfume smelling engineer' has finished I ask 'Where is my free NTL world disk ?' I'm then told I have 2 order it and it may take 3-4 months ??? WHAT I say (ntl blokes start making 4 the door now) If I'm on your cable i wont b able to use any of me old e-mail addys' ??
'Er you'll get it when your cable modem arrives' the supervisor states. 'My cable modem came 2 weeks ago and its fitted !' I retort. (NTL men start making down the drive hurriedly).....

Ok, I then ring a m8 who is already on NTL cable [ITV]Thumper and he tells me i dont need the disk, just ring em up and reg the ethernet addy ! WTF dont they tell me this. So I do this and viola I'm on :)

I then find the cables hanging outside me house :( I ring em up and they say it'll b next week b 4 they can cum back and correct em ! Fu.K that. I ripped em down and did it meself. FFS

Then I discover they've put 2 phone lines in with 2 different numbers ?

Next I get an installation revue (bill) showing the tw.ts have charged ME £20 to install me own modem, which I did ? :(

Then after a week a work m8 tells me he's been ringing me all week am i never in ? I had been. So i check my phone (using the NTL one to call the BT one) and find neither that or the extension ring although me Terminal adapter upstairs flashes :( So I call NTL and request Mr perfume smelling engineer to come back and fit it properly.

1 week later an engineer arrives. Opens the BT extension socket downstairs and says 'I can c the problem 1 minute' trys summat fails, trys summat else fails, trys again fails, askes to see the ISDN box upstairs, 'I know the fault' he says AGAIN, then tris again, FAILS. I then notice the LED on the ISDN box is out so I say 'That wont work if that lights out' ! It will' he replies....NO IT WONT. I then ask why te LED is out 'I've by-passed that' He says ????? FFS how can u bypass the ISDN box ? 'So you've hard wired the ISDN line into me phone direct ?' I ask 'YES' he replies ???? FFS :(

Then Mr supervisor turns up again.......After 2 hours they give up with...'Er can u call BT after all its there box' !

'OK' I say 'but I'll tell them u fooked it up and they can charge u lot'. 'Oh no dont do that he says, its just a coincidence.............'(me blows up, hits roof...throws em both out).

BT arrive 4 days l8r, fix fault in less than 30 seconds :)

Now, one month l8r my NTL world disk arrives.....YAWN

it wants to install a DUN setting which I dont need. I call NTL 6 time in one day trying to explain the problem.

3 days l8r, 12 phone calls, 2 promises to call me back (broken) 2 invalid PIN numbers l8r I'm still waiting.


In short.....Dont let these ....ers in yer house. If u do watch them.....dont expect decent support....DO complain.

[Edited by MachMan on 19-10-2000 at 04:34 PM]

[GOpHER[BEERZnWORMZ]]

rOFL soz m8te but i just laughed me tits off at your post m8te your a funny bloke heheheehehe..!
my ntl night mare ..!!!
4 cable modems later still not got it sorted out im on using the (BO !!! smelling engineers modem not a bad bloke actualy) his modem !!!
they took my motarola 1 away for a test .....
countless blokes round to look at it countless phone calls to them snotty ****ers on cable modem support .... n they say i got a line problem .??? FFS .
(BO smelling engineers ) cable modem works .?????
how can it ba a line prob .???????


you sound close to were i live m8te im near middlesborogh you no the the place that has the totaly ****e foot ball team .!!!!!!!! ...

[Shrubbery]

LOL, NTL don't know their arse from their elbow. And their version of a "customer assistance" department should be called "customer persistence", 'cos it's the only way you can achieve anything with them. Their support staff apparently receive extensive training in the art of getting you off the phone by any means possible short of actually investigating your problem or *gasp* trying to fix it.

It took me nearly a month and 30 phone calls (ok, slight exaggeration)to customer support plus no fewer than three visits from so-called NTL "engineers" to even manage a simple thing like upgrading my cable TV from analog to digital.

Scenario as follows:

Day 1. Engineer #1 comes to upgrade my two NTL boxes to digital. Unfortunately, despite the invoice I already received stating two digiboxes quite clearly, his works order only says one. No problem he says, I always carry some spare ones around in case this sort of fook up happens. New boxes installed. One works, the other does not get all the channels. "I've called them to enable it, it should be up in half hour or so" he says as he makes a sharp exit.

Day 2. Next day, still not working. Ring NTL, queued for 30 mins, finally get somebody who says "I'll get somebody to enable it, should be up by tomorrow.

Day 3. Still not working. Ring NTL, queued 30 minutes. Get somebody who says they can't do anything about it, but I need to read the serial numbers off both the digibox and the smart card to her, she'll pass them on to somebody who will do it the next morning.

Day 4. Still not working. Ring NTL in morning, queued 30 mins, told should be done by the time I get home. Get home, not working, ring NTL, queued 30 mins, get somebody who tells me it should be done by tomorrow. Start to lose temper a bit at this point, but agree to wait till tomorrow.

Day 5. Still not working. Ring NTL in morning, queued 30 mins, told I need to supply them with box and smart card serial numbers. Again??? Apparently they have lost all record of what I gave them before! Can't do this from work, get home later, read numbers, ring NTL, queued 30 mins, give them the details, told it should be done by the next day.

Day 6. Not working...zzzzzz...Ring NTL in morning, queued 30 mins, told they don't know why it's not working, they'll have to send an engineer round to look at the box and fix/replace it if necessary. Can't get an appointment till end of next week. Grrrrr, tell them what I think of them (politely) and ring off.

Day 7-14. Wait patiently.

Day 15. Engineer #2 arrives and proceeds to read the numbers of digibox and smart card over the phone to somebody back at base. I politely explain that this has been done twice already and will not work. He looks smug at my lack of detailed technical knowledge of their superb service ;) He tells me it should be up by the end of the day. I say I bet it won't, and wasn't he supposed to be fixing/replacing the box if he couldn't get it to work. "Not on my works order, all it says is 'customer not receiving all channels'". Grrrrrrrr. Short of chaining him up I can't keep him there, and I know it will do no good anyway, so I let him go. Just on the off-chance I wait until next day.

Day 16. Not working. Ring NTL, queued 30 mins, rant and rave at the girl who answers, which upsets her a little bit. Calm down, ask to speak to a supervisor. Get through to somebody who promises to look into exactly what has been going on and why my problem has not yet been solved, says he'll ring me back by the end of the day. Since on at least 3 previous occasions NTL have failed to phone back despite promising to do so I tell him this and specifically ask him if he really means he will ring me back without fail. He assures me he will. Amazingly enough, he does not.

Day 17-19. Away for the weekend so don't follow up. But in this time nobody from NTL rings me back and even leaves a message.

Day 20. Ring NTL, queued 30 mins. No messing, ask for supervisor immediately and tell him very calmly what a sh*tty w*nky load of old t*ss their organisation and support is, and ask what the f*ck they are going to do about it. He wants to book another time for an engineer to come round. I explain I am not prepared to take another day off work due to their incompetence and ask if I can have a weekend date. Not for another 2 weeks + unfortunately. When I tell him I'm not waiting that long he promises to see what he can do and get back to me. This time he does. I almost die of shock. Late that evening another engineer who happens gets dragged away from his slippers and warm mug of cocoa and turns up on my doostep with another box. He fits it, dials up NTL, and 30 mins later it is all working.

Now why that took so long to sort is beyond me. At least I got a month's rebate from them for my TV.

Meanwhile, 5 months worth of persistent cable modem problems leave me even less impressed by "NTL : Technology Lamed".

At least they couldn't bugger up the exterior and garden, 'cos the cable already came to my wall courtesy of previous house occupants :)

[MachMan]

Yup m8, Middle-of-the-boro.

Still waitng recall from em :)

[-shiva-]

Sounds as bad as BT guys. What is it about telecommunications companies and their complete lack of ability to communicate?

[GOpHER[BEERZnWORMZ]]

ALL TO GETHER THERRRRRRRRRR ****TEEEEEEEEEEEE ...!!!!!!! hehehehehehehehe.......!!

[GOpHER[BEERZnWORMZ]]

didnt come out as i intended but i think you all get the jist they are pap but me modem works so fookem .

[YOU WIN]

hey machman,

sorry m8ty but that post creased me up.
i think i can understand how frustrating that musta been, u got the patience of a saint, think i'da been on a ABH charge by the time the engineer started ****ing with the isdn line :)

you'll look back at this and bwarf :laugh:

[rocket]

I managed to get my CM sorted out after a couple of months of constant hassling to NTL. The "yes" your area is enabled was always followed with a "no it isn't" or " we are training or staff on how to install" or it took so long to get through on the phone I just gave up :angry:

However they did finally sort it and low and behold they've changed all their prices, typical :O

Keep on at em 'cause it's worth it but pls, pls, pls don't mention the worst football team in the north/world? again as I support em and I am sufffering and and.........:bigcry:

Do I need to say anymore......

o and digital tv upgrade, was told my area's ready in September, not smelt any odourous engineers in the neighbourhood...I won't hold my breath, unless they
magically turn up! :laugh:

[-shiva-]

lol

[Davvo]

Originally posted by rocket
I managed to get my CM sorted out after a couple of months of constant hassling to NTL. The "yes" your area is enabled was always followed with a "no it isn't" or " we are training or staff on how to install" or it took so long to get through on the phone I just gave up :angry:

However they did finally sort it and low and behold they've changed all their prices, typical :O

Keep on at em 'cause it's worth it but pls, pls, pls don't mention the worst football team in the north/world? again as I support em and I am sufffering and and.........:bigcry:

Do I need to say anymore......

o and digital tv upgrade, was told my area's ready in September, not smelt any odourous engineers in the neighbourhood...I won't hold my breath, unless they
magically turn up! :laugh:

[Davvo]

Dont know waht happened there, but not smelt any odouros engineers. I work fir NTL as an engineer and I don't smell. The ppl you are refering to are known as GYPOS as they are contracctors. I am sallaried, paid for my expertise in telephony, DTV and CATV. So don't tar me with the same brush as the numpties that you have dealt with. God that's better....:laugh: Welcome to the world of NTL, never mind "Technology Tamed" more loke Technology Maimed:)
Davvo