ntl

I have been sitting on this rant for a short while now, but I have had enough.

ntl have possibly the worst customer service I have seen in a large company. If I was not so infuriated by their appalling record with me personally, I would probably laugh for a long, long time.

My history with ntl and bad customer service goes back several years. Having gotten digital television into my old residence in Violet Hill, I decided the easiest way to pay was a simple direct debit.

I gave ntl my bank details and forgot about it until I received an overdue notice sometime later.

It seems their system did not recognise the bank Sort Code. ntl informed me it had changed, they had the new one and everything should be fine. I was pretty annoyed at the bank for not telling me they had changed the sort code without informing me, but I got distracted before I could complain. I paid the bill with my credit card and forgot about it.

Until another overdue notice arrived for the very next bill.

It seems the Sort Code was not changed after all, but for some reason it was giving problems with their system. I reiterated the original Sort Code, and asked that they get in touch should any further problems arise, which they agreed to do.

I did not receive any calls, and forgot about it again.

Unsurprisingly, they did not fix it, and I was quite irate to receive yet another overdue notice.

This dance proceeded for a long, long time as each bill covered a two-month period. Eventually I gave up, and decided to just use my credit card each time. It was easier.

What really shocked me about their service was the fact that I was trying to make life easier for them to get money off me. If they were concerned about anything, you would imagine ease-of-payment for the customer would have an extremely high priority. Yet consistently they failed to give me notice of problems, despite repeated assurances to do so.

I can feel my anger rising again as I think of it.

Having moved into my new apartment, I found that ntl were offering a television and broadband deal, so I decided to take a chance. The service was swift, and the technician's arrived to install the modem and the television line.

Alas, my broadband curse struck again, and no line was found. The technicians told me someone would be in touch, and it should be sorted quite quickly.

I was stupid to believe them.

That was four to five weeks ago, and almost all our communication has been at my instigation. What has truly offended me though was the lies they have told me.

Two weeks ago, having waited long enough, I called them. I was informed that a "second-line technician" was required, and I should hear from them over the next few days to get the problem looked at. This morning I was informed I was only added to the queue three days ago. Someone, somewhere is lying.

Right now, I am so angry with the company it is untrue. The only reason I am sticking with them is because their service is better than the others on offer and going with someone else will start the whole waiting process all over again.

That said, I plan to complain strongly will call them again around 1600 this evening (I have no faith that they will fulfil the promise of calling me this evening). I expect to be moved up the queue. As far as I am concerned I am waiting two weeks, not three days. The fact they lied to me has not improved my mood.

In the meantime I am going to see what eircom have on offer. I realise how poor they are, and how bad they are, but I think any connection at all is better than what I have at the moment.

In fact, I think I will rip into whatever poor unfortunate I call tonight anyway, just so I can let them know how poor their customer service is in that company.

I am quite sure it will make no difference apart from the stress relief of having vented on someone.