Letter from NTL re incorrect charges

mattyh

Received a letter this morning from NTL:

"We are constantly reviewing our billing systems........During one of these recent reviews we found that we have not been billing you for your telephone line rental for several months. We have now identified and corrected our error. We will not be charging you for the entire outstanding rental but will instead only apply charges for the last 3 months. On your next bill you will find a charge for 3 months telephone line rental totalling £31.50......"

Not that I would have told them if I'd noticed - but I actually didn't realise they weren't charging me for this as their bills are so damn complicated.

My question is, should I accept this? Shall I accept the letter and just pay the £30 - or should I stand firm and say "no, i'm sorry, if it's your mistake i'm not paying anything". What rights do I have?

It wouldn't be a problem paying £30, but in the name of moneysaving (and the fact that NTL really wind me up) I'm interested to know if people think I should challeng this!

mattyh

C'mon folks, surely some kind person can offer some advice?

Your silence makes me think that you love NTL, and that just can't be right!

Someone PMd me saying they had the same letter - so you'd be helping two of us out if anyone can advise if we should kick off over this?!

Heinz

I pay my BT line rental in advance.

NTL have told you that they failed to bill you in advance and that they are now going to bill you in arrears. What's the problem?

redux

I'm wondering that if you dispute it, there's a chance they could bill the whole amount. You've used the service - why refuse to pay? Accept their generous offer.

Anon

You could phone them to discuss but they are being reasonable with their offer (though how many months are they talking about with "several months" - if a lot, 3 months is a good deal, if only 4, they are not being too generous.

However, as noted above, you have used the service and would happily (!) have paid up. It would be worth reading some of the other threads above before phoning - I seem to recall some managed to receive line rental free on promotion and if this is the case, you could say that it never occured to you that you were not being charged as you thought it was one of their promotions.

Anon

jdee23

Hi Mattyh,

I too received the same letter from NTL today. On my other bills it says I pay £2.75 rental. Does anyone know what the rental for a telephone from NTL should be please.

echo

rang them last nite and told them that when i'd rung and asked abt why i wasn't being charged the lass didn't no but said it must b a promotion.was no leeway on the charges.was upgraded from the 1meg to the 2meg 3 mths 4 half price-less than wot i'd be paying 4 the 1meg.rang 2day 2 ask 2 b put thru 2 sales 2 c if there were ne promos cuming up on the fone.CS woman told me they wudn't be able 2 help cos i hardly use the fone 4 calls,there's only the line rental i'm paying 4 so doubtful i'd get owt i was told.i went on ( as i did last nite abt using 1899 and onetel) and in the end she offered me 3 months TU24 free.i do make a lot of calls so it's better than nowt.she had said that the only way one was likely ( in my circumstances) 2 really get owt was 2 go thru 2 retentions.the backpayment i owe is gonna be spread over 2 mths-rang credit control abt that.had telly on but got the callback from CS just as martin's show had started so missed it.

so u WILL have 2 pay the money.

ec9wrr

I would refuse to pay.
I pay all my bills monthly so that I can budget easier. If NTL made a mistake on my bill and didn't take the money by direct debit then once that month had finished I would not expect to pay. I would hold out for a better deal than only having to pay for three months.
It is afterall not your fault that they made the mistake. Taking three months worth in one go is not acceptable, ask them to split it over the year or get a reduction. Imagine if the bill was higher, say £30 a month. Would you accept it then? Would you pay a one off lump sum of £90? I wouldn't.

jbason_2000

I also received the letter saying they have not been charging me line rental, however I don't think I should have been paying it because. I sign up with ntl about 5 years ago 2 telelines + dialup internet, After about 2 years I phone them and asked them about broadband and as I recall they said for 24.99 + 600K broadband + free line rental (as I signed up over the phone I don't seem to have confirmation of the exact offer). My first bill after bb install was 24.99 + 2 telelines (14.99 I think) and the next bill after that was 24.99 BB plus credit for 2 telelines. and I have not been charged line rental for the last 2-3 years, now they say they want £30 back line rental + and extra 10.50 per month with I am simply not happy to pay!

I have phoned customer services and spoke to a guy who was quite helpful and offered me half price bb for 3 month plus some other offers but these were all short term offers that I am not interested in, I just want to stick with what I have had for years. The guy said they are not any free line rental offers on the system he can change my package to?

Any advise?

jbason_2000

Just phone them again and they said that even if I did get free line rental (all offer's) would only be for 1 year (even though I have had it for almost 3).

Lady_K

I remember reading somewhere that if they fail to charge the correct price they can only claim back for the last 3 months for some reason so its probably that they cant take more not that they are letting you off paying the rest.

I was offered free line rental too but as yet I havent recieved a letter, if I do get one I will look elsewhere for a better deal, I'm sure theres something better. Its the only reason I've stayed with NTL so far, in fact I think I'll start looking now so that I will know straight away where I'm likely to change to. Then if I get a letter I'll just ring disconnections, if they offer me an incentive to stay I'll stay but if not I'll leave no problem. I use 1899 though so I think if they know they arent making much out of you they arent going to be so bothered to try to keep you