Is this a rip off?

Legacy_user

Thoughts and ideas on how to progress please...

I have been an NTL customer for many years.

I recently received a bill of just over £343 for a month.

My usual bill is around £20.

My computer had been accessing the internet via a pay number (belonging to service provider UK2) instead of the free NTL number I pay NTL for.

How this happened I do not know. Perhaps it was an old configuration in the machine that somehow became active. I’m the sole administrator of the computer. Some mistake happened my end.

But clearly there was no reason for me to access an 0845 number when I pay NTL to use an 0800 number.

So requested NTL reduce this bill somewhat. After all they take a considerable chunk of profit from this computer error.

They wouldn’t.

I simply can’t afford to pay the bill (which is kept strictly under 20 ukp per month).

So not to break the law I agreed to a six-month pay plan while I negotiated with NTL. The company then took the full £343 amount from my account, putting me into the red. (they later reimbursed it).

I have always paid my bills promptly, while their promised interactive services never materialised, the remote didn't work and their television signal was constantly in and out of service.

The best bit was when they recently cut my internet connection saying I was running a virus. My computer's a Mac and wasn't affected by the virus. Still, they kept the machine off the net.

So I'm left with a big bill and a sense that although NTL are in their rights to enforce it, it would be pretty mean to do so. In which case, what can I do?

Best,


Jake.

r.mac_2

Hi Jake,

sorry to hear about your huge bill. If i remember rightly this problem has been featured on the TV programme Watchdog (hope i can say that!) a number of times.

Why not search their website for info, try the tv show's name in google together with 'BBC'.

Sorry I can't be of more help

Rx

Talking_Sense

Unfortunately, this can occur if you use so called game sites or those of a more mature nature. These sites download a dialler to your machine and use it to connect to, sometimes unwanted material. To help alleviate these problems, you could try ‘Spyware Blaster’, from http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/downloads.html or Spy Bot.

The main reason they seem to get away with doing this is the inexperience of most users. To help prevent this happening I recommend you use a Broadband connection. If this is not possible, you could use blocking from your telephone service provider.