NTL Broadband

[JohnD]

... My phone bill includes several pounds of calls to their support desks...

Don't you believe me?

my bill shows

08712-251111 call duration 9.19 cost £1.00
08712-251111 call duration 6.42 cost £0.73
08712-251111 call duration 5.02 cost £0.57
08712-251111 call duration 8.33 cost £0.92

and I made number of other calls which are not itemised.

So NTL took several pounds off me because their service was faulty and they made several unsuccessful attempts to fix it.

Incompetence and poor service improves their profits.

An 0870 or 0871 number is a rip-off number , and it's quite deliberate. http://www.saynoto0870.com/

Who can guess why they are losing market share?

 

[eggplant]

0870s arnt premium, they are national rate.

 

[JohnD]

My phone bill includes several pounds of calls to their support desks due to faults with the connection and set-top-box (they are one of those companies that has a high-cost phone line for customer support, so that the more faulty their services are, and the more calls you make, and the longer you're kept hanging on, and the less competent they are at fixing the problem, the more the customer in excessive call charges

Where did you get the word "premium" from?

You will surely agree that it is a high-cost phone line? Much more expensive than if I called an ordinary number?

You surely won't disagree that it is costing me money to call them and try to get help with their faulty service? And this is due to their deliberate policy of only providing a high-cost line with no standard-cost alternative?

And they are doing this deliberately to cost their customers money? And that their profits increase with every call, and every minute the customer is kept hanging on?

 

[eggplant]

You will surely agree that it is a high-cost phone line? Much more expensive than if I called an ordinary number?

No I dont agree, premium rate numbers (usually 090x) are 50p/£1 or more /min - My translation of "hi-cost" was to premium, not national geographic. A national call is just that - same price (depending on discounts with a particular phone package of course) as a non local UK geographic call. so the same as if you rang another town basically.

From BT's site here

Q4. What is an 0870 number?
A4. Numbers prefixed by 0870/1 are also mainly used for telemarketing purposes. BT charges for calls from a fixed line to 0870/1 numbers at National call rate no matter where the call is made from within the UK, or where the call is answered.

I dont disagree that it is costing you - be it 5p of £5, if its their mistake (which I very well do believe) then you shouldnt have to pay at all, but I still disagree with the term "high cost".

 

[JohnD]

An 0871 call is not the same cost as a call to a geographic number. It is more expensive.

For your entertainment, look up the cost of a call to Aberdeen and to Penzance, then look up the cost of an 0871 call.

It is a deliberately high-cost and the excess profit can be shared between the company and the telecoms operator (in this case, both are NTL).

 

[JohnD]

Let me help you:

(these are from the BT website. I have looked at the NTL website but can't find their call charge prices for 0871 or anything else. Perhaps they are ashamed of them or would rather customers and prospects didn't find out).



"BT Option 1:
3p a minute for daytime calls anywhere in the UK"

BT Option 3
No charge for daytime, evening and weekend calls anywhere in the UK† - for up to an hour per call

"""National Rate"" call (087nn etc)
7.908p per minute.

On top of which NTL charges me the 6p set-up cost the moment their answering machine picks up the call to tell me I'm in a queue. You can see from the example bills I quoted off my bill that they cost me more than 10p a minute.

So, more than twice the price of calling Penzance or Aberdeen or anywhere else.

It is a money making scheme to rip-off the customer.

 

[eggplant]

I dont need any help, my ISP has an 0845 number

You say you have an NTL phone, so why are you quoting prices for BT price plans? At the end of the day, I agree that you shouldnt have to pay anything for someone elses mistake - if it was their mistake. But on the other hand, if you ordered something in the post from the other side of the country and it was faulty, would you expect them to pay you phone call(s) to try and sort it out, be it a standard line or an 087 or whatever? Who is to blame here? NTL for having these "high priced" numbers, or the consumer for not checking rates of support numbers?

 

[JohnD]

... why are you quoting prices for BT price plans?

because...

... I have looked at the NTL website but can't find their call charge prices for 0871 or anything else. Perhaps they are ashamed of them or would rather customers and prospects didn't find out

The reason I am quoting the numbers is to demonstrate that you are mistaken in your belief that "A national call is just that - same price (depending on discounts with a particular phone package of course) as a non local UK geographic call. so the same as if you rang another town basically." and also to support my statement that "An 0870 or 0871 number is a rip-off number , and it's quite deliberate. "

I don't know if you "still disagree with the term "high cost"."

 

[eggplant]

I still disagree, high to me is a premium line not a call that costs a few pence more. Heres from Bt's August price list:- cant copy/paste as its from a pdf

Geographic numbers:

Local Daytime mon-fri 6-6 3p/min
Local Evening 1p/min
Local weekend 1.50[/min

National Daytime 3p/min
National Evening 2p/min
National Weekend 1.50p/min

0870 Excluding 08709, 0870185,0870187 and 188 see below for those

Day 6-6 7.509p/min
eve 3.749 p /min
weekend 1.50p/min

The numbers excluded above

Mon-Fri daytim - 4.95p/min
eves 2.49p/min
weekend 2p/min

So I really cant see how you can call those high prices, ok in some cases they are a bit higher than a standard call, but hardly bank breaking.
I will add, that I dislike these numbers, and also 0845 although o845 is charged at local rate, the reason is I'm often mobile and my mobile goes off minutes - but the 08whatever numbers are charged cash not minutes.

Anyway, ring ntl and tell them you will cancel if you dont get your phone money back - you'll probably end up with free tv chanels or faster b/b for a month or 2 - I usually did.