Sorry about the delay in posting the reply from the head of ntl: regarding my letter posted in this thread.
Bad news I am afraid.
The reply letter confirmed what we already knew and said that, “additional features will not be provisioned until there is a compelling business case to do so”. In other words, unless there are a few hundred thousand people with the same Pronto/ntl: problem as we have, ntl: intend to do diddly-squat about it.
The letter also included the regular corporate stuff about how ntl: care about all there customers and how advanced their current technology is but the long and short is that the guy at the top has said that ntl: will not help us.
I phoned up after receiving the letters to give ntl: one last chance but I was basically told, again, that there was no business case to help us out.
So, I am now the proud owner of a new Sky+ dish with the far superior electronic programming guide, loads of extra channels, recordable to hard-disk, watch and record different channels, access to real interactivity that only Sky can do and finally I CAN CHANGE CHANNELS WITH MY PRONTO.
Thank you for taking the time to communicate your concerns to Stephen Carter. I have been asked by Stephen Carter to look into the issues you have raised and ensure the necessary actions are taken and to gain satisfactory resolution for both parties.
I can assure you that ntl: treats every customer concern seriously and the issues that you have raised will be investigated thoroughly.
I will be liasing with the most appropriate departments within the organisation and would hope to have your issues resolved within 20 working days from the date of this letter.
In the meantime should you feel that I can be of any further assistance, of you would like to discuss the matter further, please do not hesitate to contact me on 01582 XXXXXX.
Thank you for you recent letter addressed to Stephen Carter highlighting your concerns regarding the problem you have encountered with you Pronto remote. I have been asked to respond to you and keep Stephen Carter informed.
It is our aim to make dealing with ntl: as trouble free as possible and we are sorry that you have been unable to receive a satisfactory answer to your question.
Your detailed letter and cross-references is very thorough and indicate your close interest in this subject.
I have spoken with our STB and Consumer Product architecture people and they confirm that we have no plans at present to provision the IR Blaster and IR Sender ports on the current generation of STBs. The boxes are “future proof” in several ways and additional features will not be provisioned until there is a compelling business case to do so.
I am also advised that the standard remote control of IR Keyboard we supply have a high degree of inbuilt sophistication to control the many Two Way TV games, which are now available in our Digital service. These commands cannot be readily mirrored by current learning remotes.
I hope I have clarified the position and I am sorry I cannot give you more positive feedback Yours sincerely,
David Stephenson Managing Director’s Office For and on behalf of Stephen Carter, Chief Operating Officer
