Hi
My name is Rajesh and i'm a post graduate student doing my MBA at LEEDS, UK. Around 6 months back when i was in shopping in the city a person approached me and asked me if i would like to have a 1.5 MBps Broadband connection from NTL free for 3 months. I showed interest and he took me to a near ny stall in the shopping center where 2 other people were doin the same. The person said the following to me:
1.It was a free Broadband connection for 3 months. No obligation, no contract whatsoever.
2.After 3 months of trail the connection will be automatically terminated. And if i need to keep the connection i have to call customer services so that they will send out a new 12 month contract from the day i call.
3.He also asked me for my bank details. When i asked why he said that, this is a special offer and they need to check my credit rating in order for me to qualify. So he took all my bank details in an application form and asked me signed. He also said that if i take up a 12 month contract after the trail period, the same bank details will be used to setup a direct debit from my account. But as of now he said to me again and again that these details were only for a credit check.
Then, the same day a guy called up and said that I will be gettin a connection soon and he asked for an appointment so that an engineer will come around and fit things. All went fine and i got the broadband connection. After around 45 days i got a bill from NTL saying that i had to pay Pound 17.99.I was surprised and called customer services immediately, where the person asked me to ignore that bill and its an automatically computer generated bill.
A week later when i was doin some banking, i accidently noticed that there was a direct debit setup and when enquired my bank said that they recived a signed mandate from me towards a DD setup for NTL.I called NTL again and they said that it was by mistake they setup a direct debit so early and i cancel it. And i did cancel. After that there were no bill or no communication of whatsoever from NTL.I was under the impression that after the 3 months trial once i get disconnected i can contact them.
But after 4 months i got a bill for 101 pounds (inc VAT) from NTL sayin that my bills were in arrears by 3 months and i had to pay fines towards that. I was literally shocked and i called up the customer services again. After waiting for 20 mts, somebody spokt to me who said that they can't resolve this and i need to speak to somebody in credit control. I was again put in a queue for 25 mts and finally i have up fearing my mobile bill. Then 3 days later my connection stopped completely.
when i called up customer service they said the same thing that i was in arrears and i had to pay some amount to get the connection back. They also said i need to speak to credit department and after much struggle i spoke to a lady called June, who listened to all my issues and for the first time apologized and said that she will sort thing off. So she said that she will take money for the first 3 months as said before and for the fourth month she will charge me 34.99 pounds towards a regular contract. She also later said that she will credit a months bill into my account so that i dont need to pay anything till december.she said she will also reinstate my connection as soon as possible.
The next day itself i got a welcome letter from NTL saying thanks for signing the 12 month contract and my contract period has begun blah blah blah. But when i tried using the connection it was still down. So i spoke to somebody again and he said that everything were sorted and i should get my connection in another 1 hrs time. That was the last time some one ever answered responibly.
After a fay when i called again i was shocked to hear that my connection was written off and passed on over to a debt collection agency. And any further queries i have to talk to them. When i asked for a manager, i got the exact reply from a lady sayin that" OUR MANAGERS ARE TOO BUSY TO SPEAK TO YOU RIGHT NOW". When i asked for a call back to be arranged, she said she will try for it. And when i gave her a preferred time, she said that"WE CANT CALL AT YOUR CONVENIENT TIMINGS.INFACT I CANT EVEN EXACTLY TELL WHEN YOU WILL BE CALLED.YOU HAVE TO WAIT FOR IT". I got so annoyed and hung up.
I being an international student, im doin my dissertaion now and the last thing i want is a headache like this. Not only NTL has ruined my daily routine, my academic progress but also passed my details to a DEBT COLLECTION AGENTY, which i insulting for no known mistake of mine. I want to escalate this is issue to such a level that it happens to no one again. If anybody can help me with this, I would much appreciate it.
Regards
Rajesh
Leeds
United Kingdom
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