UPC CEO on Newstalk

ro2

UPC CEO on Newstalk

New encryption coming in early 2009.

mike65

See Nagravision thread

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055431084

We will get shiny new cards in the new year.

Mike

petronius

UPC/NTL/Chorus CEO - it was good on Claire Byrne on Newstalk to confront him (after his speil on illegal boxes) regarding their poor customer service.
average wait of 2mins my......
Rather than the basic NTL, get freesat (or sat4free) and an ol UHF aerial, fo a one off payment.
It will be interesting to see with Boxer will be offering

tvbrat

mike65 wrote: »

See Nagravision thread

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055431084

We will get shiny new cards in the new year.

Mike

New shiny cards on the way
Info about the new cards on channel 999 / or 100 channel UPC Info TV


http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055431903

bk

ro2 wrote: »

New encryption coming in early 2009.

Hmm, interesting times ahead for UPC.

Well I'm delighted to see the spongers cut off, I think it could end up really hurting UPC. Here is what I'm thinking:

UPC doesn't make much money off the sports and movies packages, as most of it goes to Sky, UPC makes most of its margin off of the basic subscription.

Now most people realise that the Sky service is far better then UPC, however most of the spongers are willing to put up with the inadequacies of UPC due to all the free channels and at least they are paying UPC the basic sub.

Now the danger is that when UPC knock them off, rather then signing up to the more expensive digital channels, sports and movies like UPC hope they will, I believe many if not most will end up cancelling UPC completely and go with either Sky or Freesat. Thus UPC lose a lot of basic subs.

It seems to be very dangerous times for UPC, with them already suffering from big churn rates in the last quarter, fairly hefty price increases coming in January and now this, I think that their churn rates will rocket up.

Good times for Sky.

techdiver

bk wrote: »

Good times for Sky.

Rightly so. Sky offer a good service and have earned market respect. As soon as UPC get their act together on Package/Technology/Customer Service perhaps peoples perception will change, but I don't think that will happen any time soon

Anyone who missed it can listen here




http://60hud.com/audio/theendisnear.mp3



He gets quite defensive when she challenges him about the customer care.

Moriarty

bk wrote: »

Hmm, interesting times ahead for UPC.

Well I'm delighted to see the spongers cut off, I think it could end up really hurting UPC. Here is what I'm thinking:

UPC doesn't make much money off the sports and movies packages, as most of it goes to Sky, UPC makes most of its margin off of the basic subscription.

Now most people realise that the Sky service is far better then UPC, however most of the spongers are willing to put up with the inadequacies of UPC due to all the free channels and at least they are paying UPC the basic sub.

Now the danger is that when UPC knock them off, rather then signing up to the more expensive digital channels, sports and movies like UPC hope they will, I believe many if not most will end up cancelling UPC completely and go with either Sky or Freesat. Thus UPC lose a lot of basic subs.

It seems to be very dangerous times for UPC, with them already suffering from big churn rates in the last quarter, fairly hefty price increases coming in January and now this, I think that their churn rates will rocket up.

Good times for Sky.

I think you're heavily underestimating customer intertia and on top of that the amount of people who can't get a sky dish for a whole host of reasons. UPC's broadband being, in general, one of the best offers on the market at present doesn't hurt at all either.

I'm not sold on the idea that UPC rake in cash on the basic sub either.. they still have to pay for the basic channels carried and support costs that go along with those customers. I'd imagine the high margins on the tv side are in the value added services such as the DVR and extra tv points, none of which customers with hacked boxes would have subscribed to. In the end, it's all uninformed speculation on our parts as we don't know the details of the commercial agreements UPC have. UPC are throwing lots of money at the network here however, so I expect they have a plan on how to get a return on that investment.

bk

Moriarty wrote: »

I think you're heavily underestimating customer intertia and on top of that the amount of people who can't get a sky dish for a whole host of reasons. UPC's broadband being, in general, one of the best offers on the market at present doesn't hurt at all either.

Oh, I hope I'm wrong, we need the competition, but in these times, with most people tightening their belts, many people will be looking for ways to save money.

MisterAnarchy

cisk wrote: »

He gets quite defensive when she challenges him about the customer care.

To be fair UPC bought a shocking company in Chorus/NTL.
UPC are a very reputable company all over Europe and they have inherited a terrible setup.
They will get things right in the future.

NewDubliner

tvbrat wrote: »

New shiny cards on the way

And a knock in the door for others:

Supplier of equipment to access free MMDS television settles legal action

......consented to several perpetual injunctions against him, including orders restraining him from breaching the copyright or trademarks of the plaintiffs, and to co-operate with the companies' investigation into TV piracy.

rubadub

He gets quite defensive when she challenges him about the customer care

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

To be fair UPC bought a shocking company in Chorus/NTL.

If they are so good then they knew what they were buying. The complaints were mainly about delays on phones, are UPC somehow prevented from employing more call takers due to chorus/ntl?

bk wrote: »

with most people tightening their belts, many people will be looking for ways to save money.

As I said in other threads, I expect many will cancel out of pure spite, UPC rendering their dodgy box useless.

BendiBus

Illegal viewers advised to contact UPC

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/1202/1228169325051.html

People who believe they may be using an illegal service can contact UPC to be told how to correct the error to avoid legal consequences at 1800-941999 or fraudteam@ upc.ie.

10000maniacs

BendiBus wrote: »

Illegal viewers advised to contact UPC

People who believe they may be using an illegal service can contact UPC to be told how to correct the error to avoid legal consequences

I don't have a dodgy box, but if I did I would regard the above statement as a pitiful hollow threat. Also, now I know there are other options than paying. Why publicize the fact.:rolleyes:
And, why are they so concerned about the legal aspects tracking down users of these dodgy boxes when the new unbreakable Nagra 3 encryption is going to make them obsolete early next year.
Why don't they just bite the bullitt and make the card switch as quietly as possible.

paulm17781

10000maniacs wrote: »

I don't have a dodgy box, but if I did I would regard the above statement as a pitiful hollow threat. Also, now I know there are other options than paying. Why publicize the fact.:rolleyes:
And, why are they so concerned about the legal aspects tracking down users of these dodgy boxes when the new unbreakable Nagra 3 encryption is going to make them obsolete early next year.
Why don't they just bite the bullitt and make the card switch as quietly as possible.

I'd say a lot of people don't even realise it is illegal. This is UPC trying to get those people to get a subscription before they get cut off. Marketing more than anything.

Resi12

I loved listening to that, Finally someone is telling them how truly awful they are. He should just try and listen instead of trying to give an answer for everything.

techdiver

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

To be fair UPC bought a shocking company in Chorus/NTL.
UPC are a very reputable company all over Europe and they have inherited a terrible setup.
They will get things right in the future.

UPC are now in this game longer than a year at this stage. If they can't get a simple call centre sorted out in that time I have no confidence in them.

Also that site contractors that they send to peoples homes have the wrong attitude completely. They will dodge the work at all available opportunity.

If the CEO could take on board what people are saying as opposed to defending the company maybe he could make the required changes that will improve the customers experience.

paulm17781

techdiver wrote: »

If the CEO could take on board what people are saying as opposed to defending the company maybe he could make the required changes that will improve the customers experience.

That's it. Getting defensive does you no good, they have to realise there are problems and fix them. If the CEO is unwilling to do this, I'm not holding much hope for them...

bk

techdiver wrote: »

UPC are now in this game longer than a year at this stage. If they can't get a simple call centre sorted out in that time I have no confidence in them.

Actually they bought NTL over two years ago and Chorus over 3 years ago. So there is no excuse for call centre problems.

I remember posting that when UPC bought NTL, that they would close the excellent NTL call centre (relatively speaking) and keep the awful Chorus call centre and that it would lead to a big deterioration in service and that is exactly what happened.

paulm17781

I know the CEOs name, I don't want to break rules by getting his e-mail address posted here. Perhaps we should mail / write to him to explain the call centre issues. I'm sure he's well aware of them but posting here does nothing.

tvbrat

paulm17781 wrote: »

I know the CEOs name, I don't want to break rules by getting his e-mail address posted here. Perhaps we should mail / write to him to explain the call centre issues. I'm sure he's well aware of them but posting here does nothing.

Perhaps UPC could open up a Commercial Interaction account here on the boards.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=241

paulm17781

tvbrat wrote: »

Perhaps UPC could open up a Commercial Interaction account here on the boards.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=241

It would be nice but I don't see it happening. They don't seem to want to know about problems, that why I think writing to their top people may get the message across.

channelsurfer

ah bring back CMI cable is all i say... as bad as they were if they had stayed independent they would have nearly all their network upgraded to full quality digital cable by now and none of this mmds nonsense that UPC are still foisting on analogue cable subscribers in most regions that they havent got round too upgrading like tullamore. the amount of mmds aerials in in the old CMI cable households is unbelievable and a disgrace rather than upgrade the cable they just stick an MMDS aerial up and say we will upgrade the cable in the coming years.......

tvbrat

paulm17781 wrote: »

It would be nice but I don't see it happening. They don't seem to want to know about problems, that why I think writing to their top people may get the message across.

Your probably right, but it would make sense for them to open a Commercial Interaction here on the boards.

They could have all types of useful stickys and now with the card change-over, it would realy make good sense.
Perhaps some of the UPC techies that answer questions here could ask them.

I for one have found this fourm very useful over the years with some great posts from UPC guys.:)

Maybe we could start a poll and if there is enough interest they might set it up.

On the down side it could turn into a long rant instead of providing useful information about fixing problems or getting the most from your service.

nava

paulm17781 wrote: »

I know the CEOs name, I don't want to break rules by getting his e-mail address posted here. Perhaps we should mail / write to him to explain the call centre issues. I'm sure he's well aware of them but posting here does nothing.

I always find that e-mailing CEO works, did for me with Pixmania and Amazon, I think his e-mail address was in the website a while back, also they had info on how to e-mail people in UPC after the change from NTL.

paulm17781

Tvbrat, I totally agree with you. It would also do their image the world of good. Unfortunately, UPC don't like their customers and want their money but not to service them in a happy way. Once customers are happy you have to maintain a standard and UPC don't seem to like the idea of high standards.