UPC lose another customer!

Solair

A neighbour of ours is a UPC Digital Cable and Broadband customer for some time and has had cable for as long as they lived in the house (>20 years). (Suburban Cork)

Recently, she had some problems where they were losing signal. She called UPC who sent out a service guy. Rather than repair the line fault, he insisted that he was changing her over to MMDS and that her broadband would be no longer available!

She and several other neighbours have now cancelled their UPC connections completely and gone to sky + DSL for broadband.

Sometimes I think UPC marketing are unaware of how the people on the ground are representing them. Changing someone who's a full service cable, broadband and possibly telephone customer over to MMDS to avoid repairing a line problem is absolutely ridiculous! The services are NOT remotely equivalent. Even if they did agree to it and stayed with UPC they'd be cutting off a large revenue stream!

I've heard of this kind of nonsense before in Chorus cable areas.

They really need to get their act together if they plan on keeping their customers!

Are the contractors getting paid per MMDS install or something? i.e. is it in their financial interest to shift people from cable to MMDS !?!

In the Chorus days MMDS and Digital Cable were interchangable but they're most definitely not thesedays. It's NUTS!

com7

maybe the line fault could nt be fixed ! you must remeber the network is going across people s houses and they might want it removed or not let it be fixed there s always two sides to the story and i do nt think you have the other one !

The tax man

Was going to post the same earlier. Always two sides to a story. Fair enough you've posted about the outcome of the situation but do you honestly think someone is going to turn around and go meh couldn't be arsed fixing this line I'll just stick them on MMDS instead. Don't think so. There was a reason for this and a very strong one at that.
Pointless post IMO until you know the full story.

Solair

No explanation was offered, he just said he was installing an antenna on her roof and that she'd have no broadband. She said don't bother, rang Chorus/UPC and told them to cancel the account as it meant losing her broadband and fewer channels.

At the very least it's a communications problem as the way it came across to her is that they think that the cable fault's not worth repairing and don't value her custom.

She's had a LONG history of bad service from Chorus and all it's predecessors and this was just the last straw.

These kinds of swaps over to MMDS were common place when Chorus Digital Cable was just a mirror of Digital MMDS anyway. I'm just wondering if the contractors they have doing the installs still feel that the two are interchangable...

There was no explanation that this was a temporary measure and effectively it was the permanent end of her cable service as they didn't provide any date when the cable service could be restored.

dunworth1

For some reason i find it hard to believe that he just said i am installing an antenna on the roof and that you will have no broadband.

It just dosent make any sense he would have told her why the antenna had to be installed.

and did she ask a neighbor if they had the same problem.
it might have been just her.

there could be any number of reasons why she had problems.

Solair

I found it pretty unbelievable too!

lucernarian

My 2 cents:

I've found that if people don't offer reasons for what they're doing then they're often trying to conceal something or else they don't know what they're doing!

I know each situation is different, but no one has told me why the installer didn't explain to the customers affected why he was installing MMDS instead.

How the hell can there be a fault with a cable system that works much of the time "that can't be repaired"?!

EVEN if there was an obstensibly good reason for it, I am willing to take Solair's word for it that the cable guy didn't explain properly. That's bad form.

watty

The installer would not know.

There is obviously a breakdown in communication.

bk

Some one should write a letter about this to UPC management. They might not know what is going on down in Cork. I've always been suspicious of the ex-Chorus cable areas and their staff. I wonder how many of the bad practises from the old Chorus days are still around.

Address for UPC CEO:

***** *****,
UPC Communications Ireland Limited,
Building P2,
Eastpoint Business Park,
Clontarf,
Dublin 3.

zynaps

I'm sure writing rant-letters directly to the CEO will get problems fixed sooner.
Wait, no...

watty

Don't put names of 3rd parties without their permission.


P.S. UPC are looking into this

Solair

I'm glad to report that UPC Ireland are now looking into this.

Freddie59

Solair wrote: »

I'm glad to report that UPC Ireland are now looking into this.

How do you know this? Do you work for them?

watty

However he knows it, he is correct.

No back seat modding, Freddie59. Leave it to the Mods.

lucernarian

Thanks for the update Solair, do let us know what happens. I'm dying to hear how this cock-up on UPC's part came about.