Archives / Tag: Chatter

Something occurred to me last night. The Apple TV is the perfect candidate for web based apps with home screen shortcuts…

— Nathan Pitman (@nathanpitman) May 4, 2013

… Apple TV apps don’t need to be downloaded and installed, they just exist in the cloud. The Apple TV is always connected.

— Nathan Pitman (@nathanpitman) May 4, 2013

Essentially Apple TV apps are a web view. The magic would be enabling interactions between these and a handheld iOS device. #2ndscreen

— Nathan Pitman (@nathanpitman) May 4, 2013

Apples ‘web apps only’ approach didn’t wash with the 1st iPhone because there wasn’t sufficient connectivity. Not an issue for Apple TV.

— Nathan Pitman (@nathanpitman) May 4, 2013

It’s interesting to note though how Apple are learning from the iPhone and iPad with the new Retina MacBook Pro and the imminent release of Mountain Lion. OS X releases are tumbling in price while devices are seemingly becoming more ‘fixed’ at the point if purchase. Just as you can’t upgrade the internals of your iPhone or iPad you can’t upgrade a new Retina MacBook once you commit to a configuration.

I think Apple are pursuing the model they’ve used in the mobile and tablet sector – working towards a scenario where OS X releases are free and devices are obsoleted not by the age of the hardware, but by incompatibility with the latest OS update. From Apples perspective it makes complete sense, it reduces the requirement of developers to support multiple OS versions (making OS X a more attractive development platform) and most importantly (for Apple) drives hardware sales.

The fact that just over a month after switching from Santander to HSBC I’m already compiling a list of annoyances with their ‘online’ banking system says something I guess. Maybe I’m a bit of a moaner or maybe I just expected more from someone that claims their online banking system is ‘award winning’.

• Standing Orders: Don’t be fooled in to thinking that you are actually adding, editing and deleting your standing orders ‘online’. The reality is that changes are not live despite what the online banking interface might lead you to believe. The reality is that an email request is sent to some chap somewhere is HSBC and he manually processes these requests as and when he’s at his desk. Heaven forbid you might want to change a standing order on a weekend or any other time when ‘stand order man’ is away from his desk… you’ll just have to wait an unknown amount of time for the change to happen, meanwhile you’re in standing order limbo unaware of if the change you requested is actually going to happen or not.

• Beneficiaries: Want to use the HSBC online banking system to maintain a beneficiary list where two beneficiaries might have the same sort code and account number, forget it. You can’t do that. As much as I hate to say it – even Santander could manage this one. The problem here isn’t so much that the ‘legacy system’ behind the front end can’t handle multiple beneficiaries with the same account number and sort code, the problem is the user interface… rather that spouting a useless error code (HE7) at me why not just tell me what the problem is and advise as to how I can work around it.

This is an ongoing list which I’ll no doubt be adding to!

Email signatures are a mess, every email app handles them differently… you have to jump through hoops to set up an email signature and heaven forbid you want to roll out signatures across a small or large business, there’s no simple method of integrating the darn things. If only the likes of Apple, Mozilla and Microsoft would add the option to specify a URL for an email signature.

Signatures could live in the ‘cloud’ and you could pass variables in the http request to determine exactly how the signature should be returned. A web service could be used to serve signatures with dynamic content or you could simply place a static .txt or .html file on your web server.

Would it really be that hard to sort this out?

15 months ago we purchased a brand spanking new Kia Sedona from our local dealership in Reading. Right from the day we took delivery of the car things have just not been right. Initially it was ill fitted and scratched dashboard panels but after a week we also noticed that there was an intermittent problem with the electric sliding doors.

The electric doors simply failed to close correctly on regular occasions. This fault would manifest itself in a number of ways:

1. On attempting to close the door from either the fob, handle or internal controls it would slide to a closed position and then open up fully immediately of it’s own accord. Sometimes it would take up to 18 attempts to get the door to close. So much for the convenience of an electric sliding door (one of the features that attracted us to the car in the first place).
2. On attempting to close the door (as above) it would close fully but then open by about 1 inch of it’s own accord some 5 or 6 seconds later. Giving you just enough time to get in the car and drive off with the children in the seats. The door then ‘flinging’ fully open once in motion.

We reported the problems to the Evans Halshaw Kia dealership and arranged for the vehicle to go back in for repair. The fit of the dashboard panels was rectified but the dealership claimed that they could not reproduce the problem with the doors yet for us it persisted.

The car was booked in again, again returned without a solution and booked back in again and again and again… we even provided the dealership with video footage of the fault since we felt they simply did not beleive us.

On one particular occasion we drove to the dealership to drop the car off and collect a courtesy vehicle with all 3 kids in tow only to discover that the courtesy car had no petrol and a faulty petrol cap, making it impossible for us to fill the vehicle.

Again and again we were fobbed off by the Evans Halshaw Kia dealership in Reading. We then discovered upon trying to book the car in one day that they had lost their franchise and that they would no longer be able to deal with the issues we had with the vehicle (Great!).

It took us some time to find a new local dealership that could provide a courtesy car. West London Motor Group Kia in High Wycombe in this case.

We booked the car in with them to see if perhaps they could resolve the issues with the electric sliding doors. Initially we encountered the same problems, they were unable to reproduce the problem with the doors but did replace a number of parts. Another visit later and still no joy. By now as you can well imagine the situation was no longer in any way amusing. We were having to ferry our children about in a car which we simply no longer felt safe in and were well and truly fed up with the frequent visits to and from the dealership.

We decided to contact Kia customer services in the vein hope that they might be able to sort things out for us and let us enjoy the car which we had paid good money for.

After applying a fair degree of pressure we eventually convinced Kia customer services to provide us with a like for like replacement vehicle for a period of a week while they had our vehicle in to resolve the issues with the doors.

Alas nothing with Kia is simple (or enjoyable)…

On dropping our car of at the dealership we realised that the replacement vehicle that they had provided would not accommodate 3 children in car seats. We called Kia and informed them, they claimed that the rental company had contacted us to ask if the car was ok and I had confirmed that it would be fine (a complete lie). I requested that they provide us with a new rental car that would accommodate the children such that we could actually go out as a family in one car (not an unreasonable request when we have purchased a £20k family car from them). They claimed that they could not provide a suitable vehicle (not what I had been told when they promised a like for like replacement in the first place) so I suggested that I could find a suitable rental vehicle myself and they could reimburse us the cost of said vehicle.

Whilst this seems like a reasonable suggestion and a logical solution which would leave them with a happy customer they initially refused to cover the costs. A couple of heated phone conversations later they finally did the right thing and agreed to pay for the rental vehicle that we had located. The rental firm that provided us with the unsuitable vehicle (via Kia) tried to sting us for damage to the rental car totaling £150 but that’s another story.

By now I’ve spent a considerable amount of time and energy trying to resolve the issues with the car and have had to take time off work on numerous occasions to deliver the car to the dealership and collect it again. By perhaps what can only be described as a stroke of luck, after having the car for a full week, the dealership managed to fix the problems with the door. Ironically this was the result of following instructions from a technical bulletin that had been issued by Kia regarding the lot from which our car was born… something which we suggested that both dealerships investigate a number of times.

You might think that this is the end of the story, alas it is not. Since collecting the car we have discovered that during icy weather the rear sliding doors now often refuse to open at all (again an intermittent issue) and the air conditioning has stopped working completely so we have the car booked in with the garage for ‘another’ visit on the 2nd of January.

Today (1st of January) whilst out with the whole family in the car I realised that the engine was not responding as it should, the car was loosing power on hills and struggling to maintain motorway speed. We managed to get off the motorway (not a great place to stop with 3 small children) and pulled up. With a burning smell and smoke emanating from the engine bay we decided not to proceed any further. Thank god we were following friends so they helped us to ferry the children back home and the very nice man from the AA came out to tow the car to the Kia dealership.

So the question now is what next… can we really ‘endure’ this car any more. We seem to have a lemon… a car built on a Friday perhaps? In any case the stress associated with this car has us considering our options… even if that means selling the car at a huge loss just to get into something reliable and safe for our family.

Kia are unwilling to even consider replacing the vehicle or making any kind of good will payment to alleviate the trouble we have had… apparently all we can expect from them is a free service and I simply don’t think that’s good enough.

Whilst dropping the car off at the dealership today with the nice man from the AA I happened across a chap eying some of the cars on the forecourt, he was looking to buy a new Kia Sorento. I advised him strongly against purchasing a Kia and relayed the story of how reliable and well built our Sedona is, he seemed convinced… so that’s about £20,000 I’ve just lost Kia.

I’ll continue to relay my story to every person I know and meet until I’ve lost Kia at least £1,000,000 in sales. With 5,000 unique visitors to this blog every month and an extensive social networking contacts list I’m pretty confident in my quest.

Update: Join the ‘“I promise to never buy a Kia”:http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=43198716087’ Facebook group to show your support!

Update: I’ve taken it upon myself to write some frank and honest reviews on a number of motoring websites to help warn others off buying Kia.

• Parkers Kia Sedona Review

As a business (Nine Four) we have used Staples to purchase office supplies on a regular basis for the past couple of years. The last time I used the Staples website to place an order I noticed that the total for my goods was a little higher than I expected, I reviewed the basket again and noticed that a line had been added with the label ‘OrderCare’ and a small additional sum, between 2 and 3 pounds if I remember rightly.

What is ‘OrderCare’ you may wonder… here’s what Staples say on their website:

Staples OrderCare is a premium service which allows you to return unwanted items to us anytime within 12 months of purchase, for whatever reason.

and a little later on the same page:

• If you are returning unwanted items between 3 and 12 months since your order, that are not in a resaleable condition, we reserve the right to charge a minimum restocking fee of £15 or 20% of the item’s selling price.

So basically Staples are (without first asking) charging all online customers (not sure if this also applies to phone and mail orders) a small additional sum for a service which they have not opted in to and that will in 99% of cases be of zero use above and beyond what is already offered in the basic returns service.

Now consider that I’m a scrooge and that as the business owner I look for every opportunity possible to reduce costs where suitable. In the vast majority of cases the individual ordering stationary will be an employee who does not really care if they are charged an additional small nominal sum (how do they calculate it!).

Add to all of the above that there is no way to have ‘OrderCare’ default to off on your account, you have to turn it off every time you make an order and this involves navigating to a pop-up window and checking a box to opt out rather than just giving the user the check box on the basket screen itself.

Imagine how much cash Staples are making every day out of businesses that are totally unaware of the fact that they are paying an additional charge for something they did not ask for.

I’ve taken our business elsewhere, perhaps you should do the same. Viking Direct also offer a similar ‘extended warranty’ service but as you would expect, it defaults to off and can be set at an account level. Good job.

My good friend Glen from Sub Lime is looking for people to come along to a free ‘thinking’ Breakfast at Green Park in Reading tmrw AM…

Find out about the Current Economic Climate and how it is affecting small businesses.

The headline speaker is Entrepreneur ‘Jamie Martin’ who was on the BBC show ‘Did they pay their mortgage off in 2 years”. You can see highlights on his YouTube channel.

The event is tomorrow (29th) and will start at 8:00 – 8:30 and finish at 10:00am – 10:30am.

Here is the agenda:

1. Welcome reception (Tea and coffee)
2. Introduction of Jamie Martin, Regus and Barclays
3. Results of questionnaire survey
4. Jamie Martin talks about success and failure in business.
5. Interviews Mike Garth, former engineer for Toyota F1
6. Barclays will provide expert knowledge about protecting your business during the economic downturn
7. Regus imparts their extensive knowledge of business overheads
8. Summary / Q&A
9. Networking – Free breakfast (bacon rolls), tea, coffee and fruit juice.
10. Live Prize Draw; Barclays Credit Management Tool for a year, Regus Business World Card and21 days free UK accommodation

Signup here: http://www.sub-lime.co.uk/regus

Another great turn out last night for our 2nd Creative Assembly meeting. Thanks again to everyone who made it and for those that didn’t, not to worry because you can come and join us on Tuesday the 3rd of June! :)

Well we had our inaugural Creative Assembly meeting last night in the Atrium Bar at the South Hill Park Arts Centre. I was expecting a turnout of 6 or 7 people but I was blown away when 18 people turned up.

Thanks to everyone who made the effort to come along! :)

Ok, this ones been bubbling for some time now but today it’s boiled over. I’ve had it with news sites which (missing the point of the internet entirely) fail to provide inline links to relevant websites.

This is something I first noted over at the BBC. They write a piece which mentions a web site like Digg but rather than link to it inline, they put a link to the website over in a column on the right. This is a pain in the back side, it flies in the face of common sense and just infuriates the user.

Even worse though is the treatment of URLs within articles by Brand Republic. Not only do they fail to link to a publishers website within the body text but they even directly print a URL without making it clickable. This is nothing short of a complete disregard for the audience.

Why would I continue to use websites like the BBC and Brand Republic when the service they provide to the user can’t even embrace the most basic fundamentals of the web?

I can only imagine that this behaviour is dictated because the news provider in question feels that providing users with easy to access links ‘out’ to relevant information will somehow diminish their traffic.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. Make it easy for your users to ‘get at’ the information they’re after by placing it inline and they will feel that your website is more useful, relevant and worth revisiting. It’s not rocket science.

So, again I ask: Why is no one linking?

Seems there’s been a lot of buzz about this little game on the web, I’ve been a little late to give it a try but now I have, I’m totally addicted. It’s a ‘simple’(?) Flash based game where the objective is to ‘draw’ a course for the ‘Line Rider’ to ride (ahem).

‘Linerider Jumps the Shark’ (above) is perhaps the most incredible demonstration of what someone can acheive with a little patience. My attempts don’t even come close.

Without so much as a hint Flickr just went all Gamma on us. Finally out of Beta? That little tag was almost a part of the brand itself you know.

The navigational changes make sense, but getting used to them will take a few days. Of particular note is the fantastic new ‘“Organizer”:http://www.flickr.com/photos/organize/’ no longer with any added Flash.

Congrats to the Flickr team on a great update.

Well it’s a fair old time since I had such a good customer service experience that I was left visibly ‘gleaming‘. As it happens I just had one this very evening.

For the past month or so I’ve been working on a Expression Engine powered website for a client. The last few evenings I’ve been adding finishing touches, making last minute tweaks etc.

One of these ‘tweaks’ involved a total rewrite of logic behind a section (Yes I know, not such a good idea this far in) , to be exact a rethink of how I was using the CMS to store and seperate the data. I decided to switch from using a single section to using two, one which maintained common event information, and another which recorded event dates and locations. I then used the ‘“related entries”:http://eedocs.pmachine.com/modules/weblog/related\_entries.html’ feature within Expression Engine to create a link between the two.

According to the maual, this should have worked without complaint, to begin with it did. However as I continued to link my existing entries to the relevant event records I stumbled across some weirdness. A quick search on the Expression Engine forums turned up a thread which documented a similar problem, I posted a response outlining my problem and within a few hours of that initial posting I have a patched file from the development team which fixes the bug.

That is great customer service.

I must admit, I’ve been just a little dubious of all the banner ads you see sprinkled on the web advertising free ipods, PSPs etc. Well, after stumbling upon a blog entry by some seemingly normal fellow, and taking some time to do a little reading up on the subject, it actually seems that some of these websites are for real.

Freepay (aka Gratis Network) have been received a lot of favourable write ups in the press so I decided to sign up for a free account with them and suss out what it’s all about, and what I would need to do to grab myself a free XBox 360.

How does it work then?

Step 1 – Sign up:

Well, it’s pretty simple really. To claim your free Xbox 360 you need to sign up for a Freepay account, complete 1 ‘offer’ and refer 10 other people whom must also complete 1 offer.

Step 2 – Select an offer:

Offers are basically links to partner websites of Freepay where you can sign up for some or other service, Freepay obviously get paid for advertising the service and refering a new user. You’ll have to pick from 3 available offers.

The best offer to sign up for is the ‘ScreenSelect’ service, this is what I’ve plumped for. You sign up for a 30 day free trial, this entitles you to rent as many DVDs and Games as you want during that period. Thereafter you are charged £9.99 per month, but you can cancel your account at any time during or after the trial and avoid having to shell out any £‘s. However it’s important to note that to complete the offer you have to rent at least 1 item (for free of course).

Step 3 – Refer refer refer!

Now that you’ve signed up and completed an offer you have 90 days within which to refer 10 people whom must also sign up for an offer. The best way to do this is to send your referal link to all your mates, and post an entry just like this one on your blog. In fact, just copy and paste this text and be sure to include your ‘referal link’ instead of mine.

Step 4 – Claim your Xbox 360

God knows if this will work, but hey, worst case scenario, we all get a bunch of free DVD rentals delivered to our door. Saves a trip to Blockbuster only to discover that all the decent films are out on loan. :)

Via ‘The List’ I heard of a promotion which a UK website is running whereby they will credit you with 12 free iTunes tracks for signing up for a free account with them. Basically this is a huge freebie, so here’s how to bag your credits…

1. Browse Google Groups for a promotion code (I used DIYTUNES).
2. Visit Shopfar and create an account.
3. Eneter your promotional code at the bottom of the registration page.
4. Go to the ‘My Account’ page, click ‘Redeem song credit for iTunes song codes’.
5. Open iTunes and from the Music Store select ‘Account > Redeem’ to redeem your song codes.

You’re done. Enjoy your credits!

Hey ho, it’s time for another meme, John (that bloke that got nominated for 2 bloggies) Oxton has passed this one along… so here goes. Apologies in advance if my answers are somewhat uninteresting.

Four jobs I’ve had in my life*

• Circuit board component sticker on’erer
• Web designer
• Web designer
• Web designer…

*I did warn you this could get boring.

Four movies I can watch over and over

• The Fifth Element
• Plunkett & Macleane
• Vanilla Sky
• Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

Four places I have lived

• Camberley, England
• Reading, England
• Maidenhead, England
• Bracknell Forest, England

Four TV shows I love to watch

• 24
• Lost
• Invasion
• Top Gear

Four places I have been on vacation

• Egypt
• Maldives
• France (many many many many times)
• Belgium

Four of my favourite dishes

• Chicken Korma with Peshwari Naan
• Spag Bol
• Bangers and Mash
• Marmite on toast

Four websites I visit daily

• Google
• Flickr
• The Register
• Forgetfoo

Four places I would rather be right now

• On a beach in Sharm El Sheikh (Egypt)
• In an Indian eating a Chicken Korma (that last question made me hungry)
• In an Italian eating a luverly Spag Bol (You get the idea)
• On the sofa watching series 5 of 24 with a can of beer

Four bloggers I am tagging

• Drew McLellan
• Jonathan Leighton
• Paul Farnell
• Anton Peck

I read a post on ntl:hell recently about a disatisfied NTL customer who called to cancel his account and got offered all sorts of discounts to stay.

Armed with this valuable information and the number for disconnections (0800 052 0243) I picked up the phone and explained to the nice lady at the other end how unhappy I was with the service I was receiving. I mentioned that I was considering cancelling my account with them in favour of a Freeview box and Broadband from elsewhere. With that the lady offers to clear my bill for the month, give me half price TV for the next 6 months and half price Broadband for the next 12 months. What a result!

So, if you’re unhappy with NTL don’t bother calling customer service, just call disconnections!

You’d think it’s simple really. You purchase goods, be that online or in person. The goods are damaged when they arrive. You return the goods and ask for a refund. The company in question apologises and gives you a refund, end of story right… er wrong.

We had a ‘bit’ of a poor experience with MFI recently. For those of you outside of the UK, they’re a nationwide chain that sells bedroom furniture, kitchens etc. For prosperity and in the hope that it will disuade others from ever buying from them, I will recount the story here. Ok, here goes…

It starts

On the 30th of May my wife placed an order online for 3 Kansas Ottomans from MFI to the value of £53.45. A few days later we received a call to confirm a delivery date. All good so far.

1 day prior to the agreed delivery date MFI delivered 1 of the items. Luckily my wife and I were in so we took the delivery. The box looked ok but on unpacking the Ottoman we discovered that it had been totally and utterly trashed. Ok so these things happen but having had this kind of problem with MFI before we decided to cancel the remainder of the order and return the 1 item they had delivered to save ourselves further dissapointment.

I’ll have a refund thanks

So I call MFI to have the first item returned and cancel the rest of the order. I’m given a collection date for the damaged goods and told that in a few days I’ll be refunded the total order amount.

The following day MFI attempted to deliver the 2 remaining Ottomans so my wife asked the driver to take these and the damaged Ottoman back. A few days later and I called to inquire as to where my refund was. At this point I was informed that MFI had no record of the items being returned. Great!

A number of phone calls later and I manage to ascertain that MFI have managed to find one Ottoman and I’m credited £16.15 for this. Numerous phone calls later and 1 whole month on I’m still to be credited the remaining £37.30. MFI are claiming that they’re still trying to ‘locate’ the other 2 returned Ottomans. Hmm… is that really my problem?

At this point I’m getting a bit miffed

I’ve returned the goods and requested a refund but I’m still without my hard earned £‘s. I decide to give up on communicating via the phone at this point and resort to firing off a pretty shirty email to the ‘customer feedback’ email address listed on the website.

I get the usual ‘automated response’ and then hoorah a few days later an email from a helpful guy called David telling me that my query has been passed to the online sales team and I’ll be getting my cash back within the next few days.

Well… amazingly I get a refund… but still not for the full amount. What is wrong with these people, do they not get good customer service? All this running about they’re making me do ain’t getting them any brand loyalty, that’s for sure.

I’m not giving up that easy Mr MFI

I send off another email, I’m £5 short still and I’m not giving up.

I am really losing my patience with this situation. Why does a simple refund for goods returned have to be so complicated. I’ve been mucked around continually by staff who seem totally clueless as to how to deliver good customer service.

I have every right to demand a full refund, and now I’m starting to think I should be requesting compensation for the time and cost of continually having to chase MFI for my money.

And the response I get from MFI.

Good morning, thank you for your e-mail. I have checked your invoice and can advise that the order has been refunded. The outstanding amount of £5.00 was the delivery charge, which will not be credited to you.

I regret any disappointment this may cause.

Ha ha ha, that’s so not funny. Here’s my response.

I understand that the remaining £5.00 relates to the delivery charge. However I feel that it is totally unreasonable of you to retain this amount in light of the inconvenience and poor customer that I have had to endure. To recap.

Firstly the order was meant to be delivered on the 13th May, but MFI delayed delivery until the 27th at short notice which meant me having to take another day off work. Part of the order then turns up on the 25th of May! Luckily there was someone available to receive the delivery. However the item which was delivered is in an appalling state when we remove it from the packaging.

At this point we called to cancel the order, and request the one item that was delivered be collected. At this point MFI agreed to a full refund and promised that this would be actioned.

The remaining items then turn up on the 26th May, even though they have been canceled… what happened to the delivery date of the 27th?! Again luckily someone was available to receive the delivery and refuse it.

All 3 items were returned and a few weeks later we are still to receive a refund of any sort so I call customer service to chase. I’m now told that MFI are unable to locate the items I have returned and so again I have to wait, I’m promised a return call to inform me of progress but I get nothing so again I call to chase, and again, and again. Finally I get refunded, but for only 1 item, so then I ‘again’ have to call MFI to chase my full refund. A few weeks of calling and emailing later and this is where we are…

…and after all this MFI still feel it reasonable that for the ‘service’ which has been bestowed upon me I should pay £5.00 of my money. This is beyond a joke!

I would again request that I am refunded the ‘full’ order amount, that is to say that I demand that I be credited £5.00 of my money which you still have.

I will continue to pursue this line of inquiry until MFI have sense to realise that the damage that is being caused to their brand through such treatment of customers far exceeds the cost of a full refund.

Was that a ‘V’ for Victory?

Well, you’ll be glad to know that after that, I got my £5.

Not really much you can say when the images themselves speak with such volume, but here I am regardless trying to think of something to write, but my mind is empty.

Update: This post by Richard is absolutely spot on. Well said.

I just finished watching Fahrenheit 9/11 on Channel 4.

Pretty shocking stuff, although I was a little dissapointed that it glossed over the actual events of September the 11th when there is still so much confusion surrounding what really happened.

Channel 4 are supposed to be hosting a web chat with Micheal Moore right now (11:30 onwards) but I think the server may be struggling with the traffic. Shame, coulda been interesting.

Being the person I am, when NTL started to roll out it’s broadband service I was pretty quick to jump on the wagon and signed up for the 600k service. I pay �24.99 a month for this service, although recently NTL have upgraded the 600k service to 750k for the same monthly charge. Great.

Well now it seems that NTL have plans to supercharge their broadband even further… ditching the 300k entry level service in place of a 1mb service at the same cost (�17.99 per month). Hey… that’s great! That means I’ll be getting greater bandwidth for less money right? Wrong.

NTL, in their ultimate customer satisfying wisdom have decided to make existing customers cough up an extra �25 administration charge to make the switch! What! That’s outragous, I’m a customer that pays on time, every month without fail… I have my telephone service, digital tv service and boradband internet service with NTL… I’m a good customer right? So why do I have to fork out an extra �25 whilst those late to the table get the good stuff for less…?

It’s wrong. Someone at NTL needs to read a book on good business practice… look after your loyal customers.