Suffer UPC or move to Sky?

jpfahy

My UPC went down last Thursday. 'No signal'. I rang 1908 and after endless recorded messages and holding got through and arranged an appointment. First available was today Tuesday - a very long delay I'm sure you'll agree. Got a recorded reminder to my phone yesterday. No one turned up today so I rang and was told my appointment had been cancelled as a general outage had been fixed in my area (and they presumed that included me)
Next available appointment is Thursday. FFS!!! I asked for a supervisor and was told a Melanie would ring me back in ten mins. I'm still waiting.....
So I'm thinking of telling them to shove their service and moving to SKY.

Some questions:

I have UPC's Digital+ HD pack (without extra movies or sports), and a basic box in a second room, how would SKY compare?

How long do SKY take from order to installation

Can I tell UPC to remove their newly installed fibre cabling from across the front of my house or can I strip it off myself? I'd like to piss them off like they've pissed me off.

djimi

I had the same problem; booked a technician to come out to look at an issue of missing channels. They rang me once at 2pm the day before when I was in work and couldnt take the call. When I didnt answer they assumed that the issue was resolved and cancelled the technician and closed the issue. This happened twice. I threatened to cancel. I had a technician out to me the next day.

martinbrendan@e

I had a visit from a SKY Ireland rep and he offered me a HD deal including Sky Sports for € 83 per month for first year and € 88 thereafter. My current package (non HD) from UPC costs € 70. I was seriously contemplating moving to Sky because the boxes produce better pictures etc. I phoned UPC and after a 20 minute delay they informed me that due to the fact I put a second box in January 2010 a new 12 month contract would apply. She said she would put me through to their "disconnection department" !!. I waited another 5 mins only to be told they would ring me back within 48 hours. I am still waiting. Their non-exsistent customer services have convinced me to change to SKY.

2 questions

Does anybody know if a new 12 month contract starts with a second box ? I am with UPC 2 years.

Does anybody know where I can send a registered letter to cancel my UPC connection ?

Unregistered.

martinbrendan@e wrote: »

I had a visit from a SKY Ireland rep and he offered me a HD deal including Sky Sports for € 83 per month for first year and € 88 thereafter. My current package (non HD) from UPC costs € 70. I was seriously contemplating moving to Sky because the boxes produce better pictures etc. I phoned UPC and after a 20 minute delay they informed me that due to the fact I put a second box in January 2010 a new 12 month contract would apply. She said she would put me through to their "disconnection department" !!. I waited another 5 mins only to be told they would ring me back within 48 hours. I am still waiting. Their non-exsistent customer services have convinced me to change to SKY.

2 questions

Does anybody know if a new 12 month contract starts with a second box ? I am with UPC 2 years.

Does anybody know where I can send a registered letter to cancel my UPC connection ?

The whole "sky = better picture quality" argument is rubbish.

djimi

Unregistered. wrote: »

The whole "sky = better picture quality" argument is rubbish.

From what I have seen SD channels look better thru a Sky HD box then thru a UPC box (even the UPC HD box). Some of the SD channels are virtually unwatchable at times on my UPC HD box.

martinbrendan@e

If the whole Sky = better picture quality is rubbish then can somebody explain why there is a moving line through my TV screen when I use my UPC box ? And before you ask it is not the TV as I have tried it with a Sky box using Freeview and while I am at it also has the problem of the voice on screen out of sync with the sound...

Appreciate any help with the above.....

Kristopherus

martinbrendan@e wrote: »

If the whole Sky = better picture quality is rubbish then can somebody explain why there is a moving line through my TV screen when I use my UPC box ? And before you ask it is not the TV as I have tried it with a Sky box using Freeview and while I am at it also has the problem of the voice on screen out of sync with the sound...

Appreciate any help with the above.....

Funny that you mention the synch issue. I had the same problem on a Sammy 32in tv - but it was the other way around:) The moving line may be a scart issue. You probably know enough on that line to solve any problems.

martinbrendan@e

Kristopherus wrote: »

Funny that you mention the synch issue. I had the same problem on a Sammy 32in tv - but it was the other way around:) The moving line may be a scart issue. You probably know enough on that line to solve any problems.

Did you solve the synch issue ?

Kristopherus

martinbrendan@e wrote: »

Did you solve the synch issue ?

Son did. He works as an installer in UK. I nabbed him when he was home in the Spring. Was'nt at home, but whatever fiddling he did with it, it worked:)

Freddie59

djimi wrote: »

From what I have seen SD channels look better thru a Sky HD box then thru a UPC box (even the UPC HD box). Some of the SD channels are virtually unwatchable at times on my UPC HD box.

I have NTL on a viera. My niece has Sky on a Samsung. TBH I cannot see any difference between the two in SD. This is the nature of SD on flat-screen TVs.

aerosmith

OMg I have upc in my new apartment but had Sky in my old house. The difference is sick and the price is the same. The reception quality is not as good on UPC and the controls have a mind of it's own. We've had them change the box 3 times and still the same. It decides when it will record something or not. the volume changes the channel and it crashes daily. I WISH I could get sky in my apartment! DON'T GET UPC.. their customer care is also crap and with sky you have fun features like"anytime" .. with upc just trying to get the guide to work is hassle

mike65

If you do not have sport and movies channels then do you even need SKY? Have you thought about going FTA and buying an ariel for the Irish channels?

Eimi

OMG going to go mad with UPC!! Have had no signal since Friday, called customer service made appointment for Monday told us between 1 and 5pm - they arrived at 4.45pm - didn't fix it said it was external issue and would be back today at 10am - then I rang at 9am just to verify that they would be coming and I was told a part had to be ordered and take 5 working days and then we would have to wait for network crew to come out !! I asked why we were lied to yesterday and the girl hung up on me!!

Unregistered.

djimi wrote: »

From what I have seen SD channels look better thru a Sky HD box then thru a UPC box (even the UPC HD box). Some of the SD channels are virtually unwatchable at times on my UPC HD box.

Then there is a problem with your signal. Call 1908 and have them sort it for you. That or you're waffling.

djimi

Unregistered. wrote: »

Then there is a problem with your signal. Call 1908 and have them sort it for you. That or you're waffling.

I had a technician out. He said "ah yeah theyll look like that alright" or something to that effect. From seeing Sky on a similar tv I know full well they dont have to look like that...

And Im not waffling. Try watching football on ITV on a decent sized LCD tv and tell me if you can actually distingish the players given that they are mostly just square blocks of pixals running around, because I know I usually cant.

Unregistered.

djimi wrote: »

I had a technician out. He said "ah yeah theyll look like that alright" or something to that effect. From seeing Sky on a similar tv I know full well they dont have to look like that...

And Im not waffling. Try watching football on ITV on a decent sized LCD tv and tell me if you can actually distingish the players given that they are mostly just square blocks of pixals running around, because I know I usually cant.

Could be the tv.... Similar tv is not the same as the same tv. I have UPC HD with a new Samsung C-series TV and the SD quality is perfectly fine. Not as sharp as HD when you compare the two. No better or worse than the qaulity you get from sky. I know this from from seeing Sky on a similar tv.

djimi

Youre right, it could be the tv; Ive not been able to test both Sky and UPC on the same tv. It then begs the question what kind of tv do I need in order to get a good reception from a UPC box (connected using HDMI)? I have a 42" Bravia 1080p which I believe is quite a good tv, so would I need to upgrade the spec or downgrade to 720p in order to get a better picture? Isnt it a bit ridiculous that I should need to be even considering this?

thirtythirty

Has anyone seen the new UPC ad where he demo's the new menu (the guide that super-imposes ontop of your current channel). Well it pops up and navigates down to a channel all in less than 2 seconds.

SURELY they cannot do that, as it's very obviously a computer-generated image that in no way represents the real thing. My one freezes, closes the channel, puts up the blue background saying access denied, unfreezes, loads the channel again, THEN the guide comes up, and navigates with a ~1 - 2 seconds delay on pressing up/down buttons....

...I seem to remember Apple getting in trouble for their iPhone ads because they'd artificially sped up the demo, giving a false impression of the UI. NTL are doing the exact same...maybe just no one's bothered complaining yet!?


edit: oh ye, my box also reduces screen brightness by about a quarter, and the sound is messed up to the point where some films have background music louder than the actors speaking!

Unregistered.

djimi wrote: »

Youre right, it could be the tv; Ive not been able to test both Sky and UPC on the same tv. It then begs the question what kind of tv do I need in order to get a good reception from a UPC box (connected using HDMI)?

Your picture could still be muck with a Sky HD box connect to your TV mate. The problem is either your TV or your signal, not the UPC picture-quality in general. There may be a damaged line in your house or on your road causing the issue - I've only had a UPC technician out yesterday to confirm that this why our broadband goes down from time to time. And he said that if they don't repair it soon, the tv signal will be the next to go.

DepecheHead101

UPC is utter muck. The broadband is reliable from what I hear but they have always had a reputation for having a shoddy digital TV service since Sky really took off in Ireland. They just strike me as horrendously incompetent. It's like comparing an Atari 2600 and an Xbox 360 and putting the same price tag on them.

Unregistered.

DepecheHead101 wrote: »

UPC is utter muck. The broadband is reliable from what I hear but they have always had a reputation for having a shoddy digital TV service since Sky really took off in Ireland. They just strike me as horrendously incompetent. It's like comparing an Atari 2600 and an Xbox 360 and putting the same price tag on them.

I think you may be confusing UPC with ntl.

DepecheHead101

Unregistered. wrote: »

I think you may be confusing UPC with ntl.

Name nuances aside, Chorus/Chorus NTL/UPC/whoever owns them this week ... that entire lurid line of television service has been a disgrace.

Unregistered.

DepecheHead101 wrote: »

Name nuances aside, Chorus/Chorus NTL/UPC/whoever owns them this week ... that entire lurid line of television service has been a disgrace.

I agree. However, since I've upgraded the TV and broadband to UPC I've experienced nothing but contentment.

Witchy.ie

Unregistered. wrote: »

I agree. However, since I've upgraded the TV and broadband to UPC I've experienced nothing but contentment.

I wish I could say the same. I've had 15Mbit Broadband, telephone and TV with them for about 4 months. TV has been ok, phone has stopped working several times and broadband has been bloody awful. I was having to refresh web pages 5 or 6 times to get them to load and even then it was like being back on dial-up. I'm fed up ringing and waiting an age only to be asked if I tried rebooting the modem.

Last Friday at around midnight the broadband quit working and I discovered the phone was gone the next morning, rang 1908, waited and was eventually told that an appointment was made for an engineer to call on Tuesday the 7th. Engineer came tried the connections ran a new cable from the outside box and tried changing the modem, with no success. Told me he would report to the supervisor that the problem was external and that they'd have someone come fix it the next day. Wednesday evening still no phone or broadband, rang again and was told someone would be out to look into the problem next Tuesday 14th.

Totally ticked off with this crowd of chancers. Does anybody know whether I can get out of the 12 month contract I signed because in my opinion they are in breech by providing such a poor service.

dub0605

Witchy.ie wrote: »

I wish I could say the same. I've had 15Mbit Broadband, telephone and TV with them for about 4 months. TV has been ok, phone has stopped working several times and broadband has been bloody awful. I was having to refresh web pages 5 or 6 times to get them to load and even then it was like being back on dial-up. I'm fed up ringing and waiting an age only to be asked if I tried rebooting the modem.

Last Friday at around midnight the broadband quit working and I discovered the phone was gone the next morning, rang 1908, waited and was eventually told that an appointment was made for an engineer to call on Tuesday the 7th. Engineer came tried the connections ran a new cable from the outside box and tried changing the modem, with no success. Told me he would report to the supervisor that the problem was external and that they'd have someone come fix it the next day. Wednesday evening still no phone or broadband, rang again and was told someone would be out to look into the problem next Tuesday 14th.

Totally ticked off with this crowd of chancers. Does anybody know whether I can get out of the 12 month contract I signed because in my opinion they are in breech by providing such a poor service.

I have been having awful problems with them lately aswell, took 4 technican call outs to finally get our tv working again. They have since agreed to credit my account with everyday we werent using it so make sure you get the same.

Im not sure how you can get out of contract but read their customer charter on the website and quote if off to them because they are more than likely they are breaching what they are agreeing to provide. This MAY be your way out