What to do now...??

[Anonymous User]

My story started when I order broadband from NOWTV. Not in third, but 4th and 5th countries internet usually is available on the following day the order was placed, in more advanced countries, like Albania, Montenegro or even Serbia the engineer usually calls the client within an hour to get the internet connected.

NOWTV has confirmed to start the service in 3 weeks...

Then they came and said they cannot. Another engineer will come on the next week...

The other engineer came, but he did not connect the internet. I made a phone call and I was said another engineer has to be sent to connect the internet..., earliest is available only on the next week.

After five (5) weeks a new engineer came and said he could not connect the internet. I told him I'll sue NOWTV, not because they are not competent to provide the services that I had already paid for, but because they had been misleading me. In seven (7) minutes there was internet in my property.

Around a month later the internet was gone again. I gave a call to them reporting the problem.

The answer was: the issue is not within the property, but under the ground, an engineer will fix it in two (2) days.

After two days I phoned them inquiring what's been happening as there was still no internet...

The answer was: there was no sign of my previous report, so they'll organize an engineer who will check the problem in 3-5 days, but because there's the weekend in the meantime and a bank holiday on Monday, the problem would be inspected likely in a week.

My question: what should I do now? Obviously, NOWTV is an incompetent provider, but...

Should I sue them now? - sure, the contract says 3-5 days, but come on! Are we living in the '80s????

Or should I charge them with the extra cost the lack of their services generates to me? - allegedly, after a month they've still been wondering whether they should pay me the refund due to their late with the service, that they offered in their contract.

Or should I just tell this true and honest story EVERYWHERE, at ALL social media platforms, in wider society to finally get some sensible respond and help these guys understanding what their customers expect from them as service? I don't want to teach them and obviously, it is truly not my intention to threaten anyone, but please appreciate that me as a customer, I have not only obligations but expectations too and limited tools in my hands.

Please help me with advises what to do now!

Thanks, Ian36

Ps.: funnily, when I tried to choose a nickname for this entry all the names I thought of were taken so finally I write: "HorribleProvider" ..., the system offered me to choose "HorribleProvider3" as all the other ones were occupied! 😄  

[Anonymous User]

As much as your story is frustrating NowTv piggyback on BT infrastructure and like many other threads on the forum where customers have vented there rage about poor service the first thing you should find out is if NowTv signed up to the recent agreement of compensation for not supplying the service you pay for.I personally would kick them to the kerb and choose another provider.To many UK providers are using BT infrastructure and it is clearly not fit for purpose.Call them and remain calm during the call shouting will get you nowhere ask regarding compensation for loss of service and ask for a guaranteed date for your service to be fixed 

[Anonymous User]

Spoiler

Thanks for the advice.


Actually, from my point of view, it doesn't matter how, whom or what kind of infrastructure NOWTV uses to provide service. What matters for me though, to provide and possibly at the highest levels. Now, just to give you an update, here's what happened since:

I reported the lack of service on the 21st and they organised an engineer to fix the problem within 3-5 days. As nothing happened I phoned them again on the 28th to inquire, but rather than receiving a simple update and telling me they have not done anything, the operator organised another engineer visit. But because there were now two visits organized none of the engineers came and fixed the issue.

I figured it out on the 30th May when I was told the connection by the way, was finally fixed and it should be on by midnight. Because I didn't understand "why do we have to wait until midnight" I asked the operator to inquire if the connection could be switched back right then?

But guess what! The operator said the previous was false information and eventually the connection was not fixed. But they can send an engineer by Monday to fix it. I said I wanna cancel the contract, so they put me to another operator who was in charge with cancellations, but while I was waiting, holding the line, it disconnected. I made another call (that day I spent 4 hours on the phone with them!!!) and another operator said: "forget everything, you'll have internet by Thursday midnight!". Not long after the operator which was in charge of handling the cancellations finally reached me and I told him what information I'd just got. He said, "let's hope the best and let's talk on Monday to see me smiling!"

Guess what. Not only at Thursday midnight, but through the whole weekend, the internet connection was not switched back. On Monday morning the "cancellation guy" phoned me asking if I had the internet back, but I had to disappoint him. He said he totally understands my struggle, but I cannot just simply cancel the contract unless I pay a penalty..., I said: "What??? I pay month by month, there was no binding contract for any period, I paid the £60 for the router in advance, there's NOT any period that ties me to you!"
Believe or not, I had the feeling he tried to blackmail me to stay... In the end, he said: "All right, we try to fix the connection and as compensation for the lack of service we can offer to you that you do not have to pay for the internet in this month..."
I said to him: "Something tells me you don't understand the situation. NOWTV was late with the installation of the internet connection with 3 weeks, now there is a lack of services for two weeks. NOWTV's internal policy offers £8/day compensation, plus I want you to pay the extra I had to pay to BT for "hot-spot Internet" for this time. That comes to around
5x7 days x £8 = £240, plus 2x£40 for BT, that is £80..., that all together comes to £320! This is what you owe me as of today! That's 18 months of service, NOT only one!"

So now I wait for the engineer to come and see on Monday what the problem is - they could figure it out that a cable was disconnected outside of my property, but they still want me to be at home when the engineer comes around. Until then I keep using BT and count the £8 every day to claim!

[dr_necessitor]

Problem is that it’s Openreach who provide the engineers to fix these things, in response to the requests raised by the ISP (in this case NOW TV) who in turn are responding to your reports/complaints about lack of service/not having been connected up. You’re in the unlucky minority for whom it hasn’t gone smoothly for whatever reason. All you can do is continue to put pressure on NOW TV, who will in turn put pressure on Openreach.