UPC price increase - DONT PAY IT!

kevpatts

I got a letter to say that UPC will be increasing the price of my service. The letter justified this by stating 4 major improvements in service that UPC have implemented over the last year:

1. Increase in broadband speed
2. Introduction of HD TV
3. Increased range of channels
4. Remote record app for smartphones

It said that my price increase would be 1.59/month (after querying this I've been told it's actually 1.99/month!).

At first I took exception to this as I only have broadband with UPC, and therefore only one of these is relevant to me. Not only that but I already pay over 7 euro a month for the privilidge of NOT having their TV service.

I then find out that my colleague who only has the TV service, but has the full TV package, is only getting a 46 cent increase in charges!

Why are UPC making their Broadband customers subsidise the cost of their TV packages?

I called their customer loyalty department and was told that this is because they have performed upgrades in the last year. This is bollox, because when that upgrade were performed I was texted to say that it was a FREE upgrade. They're effectively retrospecively charging for something they claim to be free.

I personally am not prepared to pay this increase. Are you?

MarkR

So, are you going to cancel? I don't think it's an optional increase. You either pay, or terminate your service.

kevpatts

MarkR wrote: »

So, are you going to cancel? I don't think it's an optional increase. You either pay, or terminate your service.

They never mentioned anything to me about being able to cancel. They said "This charge will be applied automatically and we cannot prevent this".

starviewadams

If you're not happy with it then don't pay it,you're only other option is Eircom's shoddy service though.You would be sacrificing a lot of speed to avoid paying UPC an extra €1.99 or whatever.

The €7 standalone BB charge is there because if you have BB coming into the house you also have the standard 20 or so analogue channels for free.The reason you get them is that its' impossible for UPC to supply you with broadband via cable and not also supply you with their analogue television service, because the analogue TV service is unencrypted and viewable by anyone who has a UPC connection.

kevpatts

I'm amazingly pissed off at this, but you're right, I suspect I'm going to have to cave in the end. There's nothing even close to UPC at the moment in my area.

About the extra 7 euro, does this mean they won't charge this after the switch to digital o Oct 24th? I think not!

starviewadams

The digital switchover doesn't apply to cable,only to Ireland's terrestrial UHF analogue transmissions.UPC will still be supplying analogue cable for a good while yet.

I wouldn't really begrudge UPC this small increase tbh,they have invested massively in the upgrade of their network over the past few years in fairness,unlike Eircom etc.

MarkR

kevpatts wrote: »

They never mentioned anything to me about being able to cancel. They said "This charge will be applied automatically and we cannot prevent this".

You can give notice of cancellation from one month of receipt of the letter. Might be no harm to call to cancel because of this. You never know, you may get a discount as a customer retention thing. Let us know how you get on! (I'm on broadband and telephone only)

lotas

wait... its 2 EUR for an upgrade from 100mb to 120mb? or 50 to 60mb? or getting HD channels (which sky charge about 15 eur for)? or extra channels (which sky also charge you for)? and your complaining? Did i miss something? it is per month, right? not per MB or extra pixel in the HD stream, or extra channel on the digital? anyway, is it not in-line with inflation increases anyway?

Alun

kevpatts wrote: »

Not only that but I already pay over 7 euro a month for the privilidge of NOT having their TV service.

Why are you paying that anyway? You can get a bundle of BB and phone (which you don't have to actually use if you don't want/need it) for less than BB alone plus the standalone charge.

For example ...

25Mb = €37 + €7.88 = €44.88 pm

25Mb + phone bundle = €42

DoesNotCompute

kevpatts wrote: »

I got a letter to say that UPC will be increasing the price of my service. The letter justified this by stating 4 major improvements in service that UPC have implemented over the last year:

1. Increase in broadband speed
2. Introduction of HD TV
3. Increased range of channels
4. Remote record app for smartphones

It said that my price increase would be 1.59/month (after querying this I've been told it's actually 1.99/month!).

At first I took exception to this as I only have broadband with UPC, and therefore only one of these is relevant to me. Not only that but I already pay over 7 euro a month for the privilidge of NOT having their TV service.

I then find out that my colleague who only has the TV service, but has the full TV package, is only getting a 46 cent increase in charges!

Why are UPC making their Broadband customers subsidise the cost of their TV packages?

I called their customer loyalty department and was told that this is because they have performed upgrades in the last year. This is bollox, because when that upgrade were performed I was texted to say that it was a FREE upgrade. They're effectively retrospecively charging for something they claim to be free.

I personally am not prepared to pay this increase. Are you?

OP, what does it say in the terms and conditions of UPC's service? I do recall a similar price increase back in 2010 I think, and the conclusion of the thread was that UPC had something along the lines of "we reserve the right to hike up the price at any time as we see fit" in the T's & C's.

dub45

DoesNotCompute wrote: »

OP, what does it say in the terms and conditions of UPC's service? I do recall a similar price increase back in 2010 I think, and the conclusion of the thread was that UPC had something along the lines of "we reserve the right to hike up the price at any time as we see fit" in the T's & C's.

As mentioned previously in the thread you can cancel without penalty within 30 days of being notified of the price increase.

Jon_459

starviewadams wrote: »

If you're not happy with it then don't pay it,you're only other option is Eircom's shoddy service though.You would be sacrificing a lot of speed to avoid paying UPC an extra €1.99 or whatever.

The €7 standalone BB charge is there because if you have BB coming into the house you also have the standard 20 or so analogue channels for free.The reason you get them is that its' impossible for UPC to supply you with broadband via cable and not also supply you with their analogue television service, because the analogue TV service is unencrypted and viewable by anyone who has a UPC connection.

I rang them regarding the stand alone charge and they cancelled it!

Apogee

starviewadams wrote: »

The €7 standalone BB charge is there because if you have BB coming into the house you also have the standard 20 or so analogue channels for free.

Have UPC told you that this is the reason for the standalone charge, or did you come to this conclusion yourself?

The reason I ask is that analogue TV hasn't been available on UPC cable in Cork for quite a while.

starviewadams

Was told that was the reason when we ordered a few years back,analogue is still available in Dublin anyways.