castabear, is there a typo in your signature timeline? It says you got ILR in November '14...?
Same as the others, the only advantage to using the NCS for me was retaining my documents. Especially after my mother died unexpectedly the other year, I am very wary of giving them up for an indefinite amount of time.
And a slight timeline update--I got my acknowledgement letter yesterday
Date of Application: Thu 18/12 (NCS Hammersmith)
Date of receipt by UKBA: Fri 19/12
Date of debit of fees: Mon 29/12 (per online banking figures; cleared 30/12)
Date of receipt of acknowledgement: Mon 05/01 (dated 29/12)
Date of receipt of approval: ...
Date of ceremony: ...