NTL - Advice needed please.

[mey]

I would appreciate some advice. More than a year ago I stopped using my NTL phone line as I had a BT line installed. I contacted NTL and asked them to cancel my service with them. They said that they cannot cancel until my account gets settled. So I paid my account but they kept on billing me. I kept on paying and asking them to cancel. About 3 months ago I once again phoned them and asked them to cancel. They now refuse as I owe them £120.
I have not used this line for years. In fact, I don't even have a phone connected to the socket.
What should I do? Should I just pay them the amount? Should I pay for something that I am not using? I would appreciate some advice regarding this.

Thanks

[Robbie1973]

Seems you have been caught by thier rubbish customer service and poor communications between departments. Which is ironic for a communications company.

Anyway, that aside, when you telphoned NTL to request the cancellation, what were you told? apart from the "cannot close an account while the balance is in favour of NTL"?
How long had you the telephone account? Was it less than the 12 months required in their contracts?

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You should have been informed that you can put your request in writing to cancel. (all letters should be sent registered and signed for to this lot cos they will use any excuse to say they didnt receive the letter) Once they have received the letter, they should then stop providing any service to your telephone line...Followed closely by a letter saying that you owe them money. Which you should pay.

As for £120 outstanding. Once again put it in writing, using as much detail as you can.. i mean dates times names, numbers called, where you were at the time etc... EVERYTHING. I'm not joking, the more details you include the more impressive it will appear if Lititation is need sought.
This will register with the legal team that you mean business and you have your head screwed on. Clear facts brought to a judge/magistrate make it easy for them to see what has happened and hopefully will rule against NTL for not actioning the request to terminate the service. Also it adds to the creditibility of your claim if you come across as organised and remember things well.
But lets hope it doesn't need to go that far.
back to the letter:
Explain that you requested the account to be closed some time ago and that due to poor training, the staff did not action a request to terminate the service. Therefore the automatic billing was not your fault as you given a service you did not require depite repeated requests and you would like the bill removed from the system and a written apology sent, If this doesn't happen then you will wait for them to take you to court for the £120 and they will lose that way, at greater expense.

A few notes:
1. DONT EVER BE RUDE. However frustrating it is and how much you get wound up. Its not professional and certainly not conducive to your ultimate goal. Trust me on that one.

2. DETAILS DETAILS : Look out your original contract, use and refer to terms in that contract in your letter. Use the same kind of language.
You cannot include enough details but do ensure they are pertinent to your case.

3. Be clear that you want the outstanding quashed and want a statement saying so. They could just leave it, and thats not a good thing if you ever have to go back to NTL. They will say you already owe £120, and wont give u an account til its paid. Defeating the whole objective in the first place. It best to tidy up the lose ends else they may end up biting your bum in the long run!!! Hence the request for the letter of apology from them, u see

Hope this helps.

Rob

[jonni2bad]

Great advice there from Robbie...

You should absolutely NOT be paying them...

Start the process of reclaiming the amount THEY OWE YOU. Use the procedure from the templates library (i.e. Prelim / LBA). Start by informing them that you cancelled the contract on xx/xx/xx and were informed that you had an outstanding balance. You paid this balance on xx/xx/xx. Any charges for service after the date of cancellation were taken unlawfully from you and that you require this to be repaid immediately. Give them 14 days for a response as per the Prelim letter.

If you need help with modifying the letter then let us know, or show us what you intend to send and we can check it - that's the better option!

If you are sure of the amounts they owe you then follow this procedure. If not, you might be advised to request information they hold on you vis a S.A.R - (Subject Access Request)

[Robbie1973]

oops yeh, to clear that up, when i said nr the top of my post
you should pay...
What i meant was - that should have been the correct procedure for terminating an account... They should bill you for outstanding right after terminating, not keep rolling your account month onto month because your account has figures against it. If that was the case you'd be looping forever!!
no, the minute you asked for the account to be terminated, anything outstanding AT THAT TIME (which is only fair) should be paid. But the phone and service should be disconnected immeadiately you request it.

Please let us know how this progresses.

oh one other thing... when you telephoned NTL to cancel the service, did you use the NTL line? or the BT line...?
i don't know, but they may class that as using the service, and then bill you line rental!!! I am not sure tho.

Rob

[mey]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I'll sent them a letter this week. Unfortunetly I did not cancel the service in writing. I contacted them on my BT phone as I had no phone connected to the NTL phone line.

Once again thanks for all the help and advice. I'll keep you updated on the progress.

Regards
Freddy

[buzby]

Just for clarification - do you have any other NTL services.... TV or BB? If you retained TV, you could cancel the phone but they still charge for it as part of the TV service fee - faced with paying for something and no getting it, we have the line unused should something go wrong with the BT one.

[mey]

No, I have no other NTL services.

[rydeshill]

You will get there but stay focused and TRY to avoid emotions. I have had horrendous problems with this outfit. Write to their customer concern dept, I think its in Wyhenshawe but there is an address in Stevenge I think.

[BvR]

Looks like I have a similar problem. I cancelled my NTL services in February 2006. I paid my final bill and sent with the bill a letter stating that I had cancelled my account by phone a month before, that this would be my final payment and that I was moving home. I also included my new address.

In June 2006 I received bill from NTL at my new house (which doesn’t have any NTL services). The bill said that my account was £1 in credit. Bemused by this kept the bill incase I needed it in future.

Suddenly this afternoon I received a call from a debt collection agency saying that they had been instructed by NTL to collect £36 from me for unpaid bills. The hired heavy said that these bills had been sent to my old address and did not have my new address.

They have obviously carried on charging me for something or other over the last year and sent the bills to my old address.

Does anybody know if they have any powers affect my credit rating etc. if I just point blank tell them to get stuffed?

[rydeshill]

Having any dealing with ntl is a bit like getting g*****l warts, (annoying and difficult to get rid of !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[buzby]

Yes - they might, especially if their system was capable of sending your final 'credit' bill to your new address, then continuing to bill in error to your old address. Donlt deal with the heavies - call NTL and ask them what they're playing at (since you moved) and ensure the £1 credit you were awaiting is refunded ASAP. They also might explain what they are charging for. Also seek their assurance that your credit record, if they have damaged it, is repaired with all speed.