new upc box: set-up is now being finalised (forever)

zynaps

Hi guys, I got a new type of digital box from UPC today - the DC621KU - to replace the second dodgy previous-model small STB in a row.

The installers came unannounced when I was in college, so my girlfriend signed the form for them and let them do their thing. After they plugged it in and did the factory-setup stuff a toddler could do, they left while it was "finalising" the setup, saying it'd be sorted in a few minutes.
She called me about 30 mins later, saying the same message was still onscreen and she couldn't see any channels, so I told her to unplug the power for a few seconds, throw it back in and see if it restarts whatever task it was trying to complete, properly.

When I came home, about 5 hours later, I switched on the TV to see the same message onscreen:
"The set-up is now being finalised, this can take a few minutes. Thereafter, you will be able to enjoy UPC Digital Television."

Five or six hours certainly seemed like a long enough time to "finalise", so I called UPC/ntl and a guy said "yeah, that's fine, it usually just takes a while to download the settings and update the firmware etc." to which I replied that even if it was only downloading at the broadband speed given by the cable modem (which is much less than the total available bandwidth) of 6mbit, five or six hours of downloading equates to over a gigabyte, which seems highly unlikely. He said he'd "send a signal down to it" or some such, so I thanked him, hung up and waited a bit longer.

An hour or so later, I called back and a woman told me she didn't know what the problem was, so she'd send some guys around in a week's time (AGAIN?). Again I thanked her and hung up. It seemed like more of a problem on their end, but it was like 8pm at this stage. Then I remembered that the installers had apparently left a second digital box with writing on it, so I picked up the box, read the word "FAULTY" in biro on the front, and of course plugged it in.
It had a card of its own in, only backwards. When I replaced it and booted the device, it came up in Dutch, which may be why the guys claimed it was faulty. After switching to English, it showed the same message, except there were no ntl channels on the list, and the device had a non-default PIN which I still haven't been able to guess and which the woman at ntl failed to reset.
(Anyone know of a factory reset code I can use without the PIN number? What do they do with boxes where people have lost the PIN?)

So, to conclude that rambling section, I swapped back in the first box and its card, and am still stuck on that "set-up is now being finalised". I really just wanted to ask if anyone knows the meaning of it. Another thread suggested that UPC/ntl were having problems provisioning users, but I find it a little hard to believe this would still be going on 9 months or so later, where I had already had channels set up fine on the old box.
Unless they have to do it again since I'm now on nagra 2 instead of 1, or something?

They're sending some 'priority' guys out tomorrow morning, without me having shouted at them, but I suspect either the problem will have righted itself, or they won't be able to do anything here and I'll be left calling 1908 again.
Any thoughts (other than that I ramble a lot)?

paulm17781

This happened me when I got my DVR. It's a problem at their end with your account. They can fix it and probably will before the "priority" guys show up. Make sure you claim compensation for the down time.

ruprect

My usual small pace box was doing the same thing yesterday, saying it was upgrading then saying it failed etc, reboots did nothing.

So then I tried just looking at the cable feed for normal TV, i.e. stick coax into the TV, the channels were on for 1 second, and off for 1 second. This was from around 5.30 to 7pm, when it came back again and upgraded fine. So check normal TV.

My mates also went down 2 nights ago.

paulm17781

Ruprect, are you saying that analogue was up and down? If so, that's a signal problem in your area.

zynaps

ruprect wrote: »

My usual small pace box was doing the same thing yesterday, saying it was upgrading then saying it failed etc, reboots did nothing.

So then I tried just looking at the cable feed for normal TV, i.e. stick coax into the TV, the channels were on for 1 second, and off for 1 second. This was from around 5.30 to 7pm, when it came back again and upgraded fine. So check normal TV.

It's not this - it's not saying that it's upgrading or that it failed, just "set-up is now being finalised" indefinitely. Also, I can play the digital radio channels just fine. When I go to the guide, the little thumbnail in the top right says "Unsubscribed channel" for everything, which leads me to agree with paulm's assertion that it's a problem on their end.

I just called them and after getting randomly transferred and having to give my account number, name, address and telephone number again (FFS, why make me enter it on the keypad when calling if you're going to do that???? Next time I'll just skip that step), the second woman refused to investigate the problem for me, saying they'd already checked everything and I needed to wait for the techs to come. Even though I'm pretty sure they'll take one look at it, then call head office and ask them to switch on my channels or something. If so, I'll be pretty pissed off.

Also, they switched my appointment from morning (9-1) to afternoon (1-6) without telling me, so I wasted a morning. I only found out when I called ntl to ask them to check whether I was subscribed properly and the automated account thingy said "It seems from your records that you have an appointment scheduled between 1pm and 6pm?". Now I might not even be here when I arrive, which means the girlfriend has to hassle them instead. I'm not impressed! Damn right I'll be asking them to compensate me for the downtime...

ruprect

paulm17781 wrote: »

Ruprect, are you saying that analogue was up and down? If so, that's a signal problem in your area.

Yep it was a signal problem in my area. But my problems were similar sounding.

I plugged in and got some message like "upgrading, leave box on", this lasted ages, then it went off and when turned on it said "upgrade failed, please turn off for 10second and plug in", I did this several times. Eventually it did seem to work but loaded up and said "no services available". I guess each box will give different messages.

It was only then I plugged in analogue to the TV and noticed it flickering on and off, so maybe an upgrade signal did make it through for a moment, also later that night it did go off for a minute, so maybe a stable signal did come on and upgrade then.

I am just recommending to try getting analogue TV from the coax, just to rule out a local signal problem.

paulm17781

Zynaps, give them an absolute bolloking. I don't know how they think it is acceptable to treat customers that way but don't take it.

You are right, the tech will replace the box / card and have the same issue. He'll call someone who will find a problem provisioning and then it will be fixed there. Your description is the same as last time I had that problem.

Make sure you get compensation from them. It is not good enough how they treat customers.

zynaps

paulm17781 wrote: »

You are right, the tech will replace the box / card and have the same issue. He'll call someone who will find a problem provisioning and then it will be fixed there. Your description is the same as last time I had that problem.

That was it. Exactly as I'd thought: I told him I was sure there wasn't a problem on my end, and he looked at it for about 10 seconds and agreed. He called upc and asked them to read back the card number, and it turned out the technicians yesterday had called it out wrong when setting it up and the number was off by one digit.

When I told him that I knew this was what would happen and had asked the customer care guys repeatedly to check it out on their end and been refused, he said I may as well have been talking to a child, and that the guys you get on the phone when calling upc/ntl are almost completely useless.

I'm going to call them now and give them quite the bollicking. :pac:

[edit]
That is, if I ever get out of their holding queue. 9 minutes so far.

paulm17781

Mail them too. Make an official complaint about having to take time off etc. Point out to them how they had to pay a technician to go out to read a string of numbers, a task a child could do. Their customer care is atrocious, I have no idea what breed of donkey runs it but they really need to sort it out. They're a pretty decent company other than that. Only complaints and compensation may one day make them change.

What sort of customer care centre insists on sending a technician rather than asking you to confirm the number. It's an issue that could have been fixed in 5 minutes and you had to wait how long? They really do hate customers.

watty

Good to hear it is sorted.