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'Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by incompetence.'
- Napoleon Bonaparte
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'Never ascribe to malice that which can be adequately explained by ignorance'.
- Oscar Wilde |
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ANALYSIS
Travel
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April 26, 2006
ARE YOU a shareholder in ntl - the cable and, now, expensively, mobile phone operator? If you are, then you may not have invested in the most efficient of companies. ntl has long had an horrendous reputation for its customer services, excused by some as a result of trying to bring together different cultures and systems during the consolidation of the cable industry in the UK. If competition is supposed to enhance quality, then there could not be a more apt reminder that monopolies based on geography are not competitive. Until the cable industry is forced - like other utilities - to allow others to use its delivery mechanisms, the it will be neither competitive nor efficient. In the meantime, ntl's sales staff will waste their time - and their customers's time too - by cold-calling to see whether they are on the right tariffs ... only to realise after the call is made that the customer (in this case me) thinks so little of ntl's prices that the firm carries none of his calls. In many radio stations, years ago, presenters' desks carried signs saying 'engage brain before opening mouth'. If ntl wants to maintain any credibility whatsoever, then its call centre and sales managers would to well to encourage their staff to think before they act. And, in case any corporate guru hadn't noticed, thinking is an activity which should come naturally to humankind. It's probably good that ntl doesn't have any competition, because such dumb time-wasting like this would surely do their rivals a great deal of good. Adam Christie
© copyright 2006 Adam Christie,
All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced without permission.
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