NTL sent me to a DCA

[datxman]

I have just received a letter from a DCA asking me for £309.71 for a outstanding NTL bill. I failed to pay for one months bill so they put me on a restricted service, basically putting me on incoming calls and totally cutting off my internet. However they still charged me for using the internet at full rate so I refused to pay any of the money until it was sorted out. I kept getting bills asking me for the full amount.

Anyway one day I was totally sick so I phoned up NTL and told them that I would pay but on a monthly rate until the bill was paid off. They told me that they would not be able to end my contract as I still had a outstanding bill and until that had been cleared then I would still occur these charges. In the end I won sort of as they cut me off anyway.

Should I need to pay for a service that I did not receive?

[121o121]

Were you in a contract with them (ie. this happened during your first 12 months)?

[datxman]

No I had been with them for about 7 years

[ianbrown]

Same has happened to me. With Broadband, TV and phone, my monthly bill is about £75 pcm. When I rang I was told I couldn't reduce the service to save money until I'd paid the arrears!!!. I also queried the message they put on the screen when they reduce your service which says you have not subscribed to this channel when they are still charging for that subscription!!! I queried this with OFCOM and had a less than helpful response along the lines of "you're the first person to complain about this so we can't do anything about it and won't log your call!!" How did they know I was the first person if they wouldn't log my call (or presumably anyone else's!!)?

 

Can any legal minds out there tell me if they(NTL) can get away with this?

And if you are in the same boat why not complain to OFCOM?

Cheers

[meagain]

They will probably say in the terms that changing package is a variation to the contract. If you are not allowed to block their attempts to change the terms of the contract (they will tell you that you can refuse the new terms by ending the agreement), then by the principle of reciprocity, neither are they allowed to block yours (by insisting that your package stays until the arrears are cleared). Tell them "No, seriously, change it now!" (in not so many words). If they still don't comply, write to them. You could always threaten to go elsewhere.

[buzby]

OFCOM are not consumer-facing, so forget them. NTL also forger that the charges they bill are in ADVANCE (they used to be arrears), so when they pull the plug and remove service, they're not really owed that much - if anything, therefore you are justified in not paying for the services not delivered, they will also charge you a late payment fee, but as you probably didn;t agree specifically to that either - add this to the list. Also if you don;t pay by DD, they add £4pm to your bill, claims this back too - see other threads on how to do this.

[breadline]

Just been through this my self, if you put it in writing that you want your services cancelled in 30 days, they can no longer charge you for services after that day, but they can chase you for money owed. Only pay the money owed if they can prove its made up of late payment charges on a service you had, not a service you didnt recieve.

 

BL