"Make That Call" to NTL to reduce your charges!

Anet_2

That's brill. Thanks for your help xx

corners_2

I've just had the latest ntl bill, which has £31.50 worth of 'TV package' charged for November [although we have not had their TV package since July/August], plus a back charge of phone line rental for December of £10.50 and £10.50 for January.

This is in addition to our normal monthly charge of £14.50 for the telephone service [which is for up to 1 hour free calls anytime, and is what we agreed to].

I rang NTL, who told me they had done an audit of our account and said that as we had cancelled the tv subscription, we were no longer eligible for free phone line rental.
Therefore, we had to pay £10.50 line rental in addition to the phone service monthly charge, but they had forgotten to bill us, The charge of £31.50 and back payment for December related to this, and we needed to pay in advance for January. She said that ntl had checked with ofcom who had said they were allowed to back-charge for up to six months.

When we signed up to this £14.50 up to one hour free calls, no mention was made of an additional £10.50 line rental, nor was any mention made at the time we cancelled the TV package. This makes the monthly phone package £25.

I have therefore said that as they did not mention this, they cannot randomly apply back charges, as, had we been aware that the phone service was going to cost £25 per month we would not have chosen such an expensive package.

I am expecting a callback from their supervisor later on [ho ho ho] and would welcome any advice.

BTW, we also have a £17.99 broadband package with ntl, and everything seems ok with that [fingers crossed]

Cheers

phoneman44

I would advise that you follow the complaint advise on the Ofcom website http://www.ofcom.org.uk/complain/landline/company/.

This will take you through the necessary steps that you should take before submitting a complaint via the Alternative Dispute Resolution (or ADR) scheme.

If you end up having to use the ADR scheme, NTL can be forced to write off your debt and pay compensation if it is deemed that they have treated you unfairly. This will also reflect in NTL’s complaint count at Ofcom.

corners_2

Thanks Phoneman44, Have looked at this and will def take that route if no joy when their 'supervisor' gets round to calling me back.

Have noticed that BT do a similar plan for £16.99 so am feeling a bit more positive with grounds for complaint if ntl do not back down.

Can't see how they can justify this.

leem_3

Phoned NTL this morning and told them I thought my monthly bills were very expensive and am considering changing tv, broadband and phone providers but would see what they could do first - all very easy gone digital (with the full package free for a month), changed talk 24 to talk unlimited (as at work all day) and have better broadband deal all for £35 per month, monthly bill at the moment is £60-70 per month. Was prepared for a bit of a heated discussion with them but it was all so easy, should have done it months ago!!! If anyone is considering weather to phone to reduce costs - give it a go.

corners_2

Just to let you know:

Never did get that callback, but rang them again last night & was offered £31.50 refund and a 'discount' of £5 a month in future. After I laughed & pointed out that he was actually offering me an increase of £5 per month I said I wanted to cancel...............but sorry madam cancellations close at 5pm.

So I rang this afternoon........spoke to the nicest guy called Craig who said that we had a special offer deal with free line rental until December 2006,and therefore he would refund the £52.50 directly from our bill.

I decided to push a little and said I'd been looking around for a better deal on the broadband and could he do anything. He offered to reduce line rental to £9.99 for six months.

RESULT!!!! :j :j :j

All because my first question tonight was 'Can you put me through to cancellations?'

Woohoo

Thank you moneysavers............your experiences helped me to get this far.

Edinburghlass_2

Well done corners :T

As corners followed the previous experiences of other NTL customers by using this Make That Call thread they would like their posts merged into this thread so other users can benefit from the action they took.

Wolfhound

Would this work with Telewest as they have merged now?

knuckledragger

Wolfhound,
Give them a try- they can only say no. As I've said in previous threads, when you ask them how to go about leaving their service, sound a little hesitant and unsure that you're doing the right thing. Let them take the lead on trying to retain you. Not too pushy or bolshie seems to get the desired results...

dobbiesloan

Well worth making that call. I noticed NTL were offering new costomers the same services that I get for £100 less. One call asking for a better deal and it was immediately reduced.