UPC contract changes advertised today

pippip

Tilly wrote: »

I just rang to cancel telling them my brother was on a better TV package than i am for the same amount. She pretended to look for better deals for me and came back with the same amount (€53) for 6 months then it goes up to €70.

I told her that there was no way i would be paying €70 for that package and she gave me the cancellation email. I take it once i send this mail that's it and there's no more deals?

No, I'd say you'll get a few more calls from them before the 30 day window closes.

sweetie

Currently on 200 BB, Horizon max and phone. Received no email, nothing on my account in messages when I log in to it online, have I missed something? My preferences are marked as none for marketing though.

JTMan

Sky's new offer today of 6 months "free broadband for new customers" (really 30 EUR) should give UPC customers some leverage when negotiating with their loyalty department.

daveyjoe

Got the email and my bill is only going up by €1.
I'm on 120Mb with no TV, paying €34/month.

ptyloch

sweetie wrote: »

Currently on 200 BB, Horizon max and phone. Received no email, nothing on my account in messages when I log in to it online, have I missed something? My preferences are marked as none for marketing though.

Just call and ask them, I had nothing either but found out this morning that I'll be paying 8 euro more - same package as yours, I have setanta though and 3 euro increase is just for that.

Benzino

daveyjoe wrote: »

Got the email and my bill is only going up by €1.
I'm on 120Mb with no TV, paying €34/month.

Out of interest, is that an unlimited package?

Stark

Think I'm paying about 56 euro a month for 200mb broadband + phone at the moment. Had a look at their website and the advertised prices look a good bit cheaper (45 a month for my package). If I change packages can I ask for the website price (looking to change to 120mb broadband) or are those only for new customers?

paulgalway

Increase of €16 coming on top of a monthly bill of €76

This is for the Essential package of TV, BB and phone.

Have 3 multi room boxes.

If I cancel the TV, what are the alternatives - SKY ? Satellite ?

Thanks in advance.

AmilcarAlho

Stark wrote: »

Think I'm paying about 56 euro a month for 200mb broadband + phone at the moment. Had a look at their website and the advertised prices look a good bit cheaper (45 a month for my package). If I change packages can I ask for the website price (looking to change to 120mb broadband) or are those only for new customers?

If out of contract (12+ months since last change to terms) or you price is increasing within a 12 month contract, you can either a change in the package to a new bundle. This will lock you in to a new 12 month contract.

salamanca22

Fresh Pots wrote: »

May I ask how you use that much? Just curious, I wouldn't class myself as a light user and I only use 60-80gb a month.

Very possible to reach those numbers as a home user.

Mine for the past few months: http://puu.sh/e6kWL/4ecf9ed935.png

And no, it's not from torrenting.

Caliden

I was warned last year that the discounts applied would run out after 12 months. Currently I'm paying 55 Eur and was told it would go up to 110.

With this new increase I'm thinking it might be going up to 117.
Will have to ring later in the week to find out what discounts I can get.

MickeyD

Cancelled and re-signed this time last year after not getting any decent deals from the loyalty department (got 6 months on the discounted introductory rate instead which worked out much better than anything I was offered). Currently still in a contract of 37e a month for 60mb broadband with home phone, with the price going up by 3e. Interestingly no mention of an increase in broadband speed to 120mb in line with the current offering for that price.

Also to the poster who was wondering about the broadband only surcharge: the requirement to pay the surcharge if you didn't have a TV package was abolished by UPC a year or two ago (you now have to bundle it with at least home phone). However if you were a customer when this surcharge was still in effect you still had to pay it if you cancelled your TV as long as you maintained that same contract. This is partly why I cancelled and resubscribed as if I cut the TV out of my existing long term subscription it wasn't much of a saving (so much for brand loyalty!).

Has anyone had much luck with the cancellation department in wrangling a deal?

van_beano

paulgalway wrote: »

Increase of €16 coming on top of a monthly bill of €76

This is for the Essential package of TV, BB and phone.

Have 3 multi room boxes.

If I cancel the TV, what are the alternatives - SKY ? Satellite ?

Thanks in advance.

It all depends what you channels you watch the most. A lot of the channels that you pay for via UPC or SKY are available via SAORview and Freesat for free after you pay for installation costs. The likes of the Sky Movies, Sky Sports and basically all the Sky channels will be gone.

I cancelled my tv 2 years ago, have been streaming RTE player to the tv if I need to watch something on it. Anything else I just download the episodes and airplay them to my tv. The advantage is, I don't have to sit through too many ad's!

Cushie Butterfield

Tilly wrote: »

I just rang to cancel telling them my brother was on a better TV package than i am for the same amount. She pretended to look for better deals for me and came back with the same amount (€53) for 6 months then it goes up to €70.

I told her that there was no way i would be paying €70 for that package and she gave me the cancellation email. I take it once i send this mail that's it and there's no more deals?

They seem to be playing hardball at the moment. I presume they're under strict orders to force everyone on to the Horizon Max package. If they get a whole lot of cancellations notices they may change their tune & contact people before the 30 days notice period is up with a more realistic offer, though judging by their attitude this may not happen this time around.

They're probably banking on the fact that a lot of people will just cancel their tv subscription & hang on to the broadband & phone.

RainyDay

total former wrote: »

Doesn't that also apply to Eircom and Sky too though?

True, though broadband speed is less central to the marketing of either of those providers. UPC push the speed issue heavily, and mislead many customers as a result.

total former wrote: »

I'm on the 120 MB speed, I get about 30 through wifi on the laptop and that's more than enough for nearly everything I do.

I have the box connected via cable to my TV for Netflix and if I need to download something massive, then I use a cable too and I get the advertised speed.

Problem solved really.

Yes, and you're smart enough to know when a problem exists and how to get around. Many UPC customers do not have that level of technical understanding or smarts, and are misled by the advertising.

boardzz wrote: »

My wireless gives me the maximum 200Mb using my own equipment. UPC advertise the speed they give you. You do what you want with it.

How typical is your equipment and set up, relative to the average UPC customer?

L1011 wrote: »

Realistically the only thing needed there is the gigabit network card - the rest is just arse covering.

I'd be fairly certain that no court in the land would agree that quoting the actual wireline speeds is misleading or misselling - they are providing the speeds.

If customers don't realise that Wifi is horribly limited, that's really not any ISPs problem. No ISP can provide you with 200mbits over wifi - even with the apparent "300" speed of 802.11ac you aren't going to get 200 in real-life.

Requiring an ISP to only advertise to wifi speeds would be completely and utterly impossible anyway - depending on how old your computer is you're going to get ~11, ~30, ~50 or ~120mbits over wireless - do we force everyone to advertise that they offer 11mbits?

They are providing the speeds indeed, though many customers can't or won't benefit from these speeds, which is why the advertising is misleading. Here's a couple of extracts from the ASAI Code (though I'm not a fan of ASAI at all).

Advertisers should not exploit the credulity, inexperience or lack of knowledge of consumers.


A marketing communication should not mislead, or be likely to mislead, by inaccuracy, ambiguity, exaggeration, omission or otherwise.

Think about all the terms and conditions included in every financial ad, and the absence of a simple explanation in the UPC advertising (which relies heavily on imagery of folks using laptops and tablets with wireless) that the speeds quoted are not achievable on the equipment shown.

RainyDay

paulgalway wrote: »

Increase of €16 coming on top of a monthly bill of €76

This is for the Essential package of TV, BB and phone.

Have 3 multi room boxes.

If I cancel the TV, what are the alternatives - SKY ? Satellite ?

Thanks in advance.

Check out Eircom's TV service as an alternative that doesn't require a dish.

Cushie Butterfield

RainyDay wrote: »

Check out Eircom's TV service as an alternative that doesn't require a dish.

Yes, provided that his area is efibre enabled. If not he can forget about their tv service.

dodzy

Existing customer. Just rang them. 240mb BB. Max TV pack. Unlimited landlines & mobiles. €70 p/m for 6mths. €80 thereafter.

L1011

RainyDay wrote: »

TThey are providing the speeds indeed, though many customers can't or won't benefit from these speeds, which is why the advertising is misleading. Here's a couple of extracts from the ASAI Code (though I'm not a fan of ASAI at all).

Fire a complaint in and see how far you get then... I suspect it won't even make it to the bulletin, let alone be upheld.

Speed is offered, speed is provided. Wireless is not part of a broadband package, even if the router happens to support it.

iphone6

Current bill 150€, tht includeds 5 multi room boxs 2 recording ones and a horizon one. Have bt sports sky sports and movie channels and phone & broad band. The increase wi push it up to 170 and a promotional offer of 20€ expires mid feb so be paying 190.

Got the six months half price just to buy time to suss out the saorvoew hoxs and the ones online that can steam everything. Once the six months cancle my direct debit and leave them do that chasing for the cancelation fee..

iphone6

dodzy wrote: »

Existing customer. Just rang them. 240mb BB. Max TV pack. Unlimited landlines & mobiles. €70 p/m for 6mths. €80 thereafter.

Is this just in one room? And max pack included sky sports bt and movie channels?

Stark

RainyDay wrote: »

Think about all the terms and conditions included in every financial ad, and the absence of a simple explanation in the UPC advertising (which relies heavily on imagery of folks using laptops and tablets with wireless) that the speeds quoted are not achievable on the equipment shown.

I've been able to get the speeds advertised when connected via the router so I can't see how they could be accused of false advertising. It's not UPC's fault if people use sub-standard equipment with the service.

daveyjoe

Benzino wrote: »

Out of interest, is that an unlimited package?

Yes.

dodzy

iphone6 wrote: »

Is this just in one room? And max pack included sky sports bt and movie channels?

One room (Horizon) with just the regular unboxed UPC feeds to other TVs around the house - probably 17 channels at a guess. You wont be getting Sports & movies at that price.

xtal191

dodzy wrote: »

Existing customer. Just rang them. 240mb BB. Max TV pack. Unlimited landlines & mobiles. €70 p/m for 6mths. €80 thereafter.

So thats only saving €15 for 6 months and €5 for the other 6?

BostonB

Stark wrote: »

I've been able to get the speeds advertised when connected via the router so I can't see how they could be accused of false advertising. It's not UPC's fault if people use sub-standard equipment with the service.

Ah come on. It is if they supply sub standard wifi equipment and make it unreasonable difficult to use your own wifi equipment.

Yes if all your gear is gigabit ethernet you get the full speed. But its not going to a no cost or zero effort for many to achieve that throughout their house and all their devices.

Cushie Butterfield

I've only just noticed that Eurosport 1 & 2 are now only available on the Horizon Max Pack, whereas it used to be (or is) available on the middle tier Select Extra Pack.

MickeyD

dodzy wrote: »

Existing customer. Just rang them. 240mb BB. Max TV pack. Unlimited landlines & mobiles. €70 p/m for 6mths. €80 thereafter.

It looks like that package is regularly priced at 85e a month and if you cancelled and resubscribed you can get it for 35e for the first 4 months which over 12 months is a better deal than what they offered you I think? Might be worth trying to get more out of them.

BostonB

airuser wrote: »

Does one actually need speeds of 200M in a normal household?

With video stream you do notice the extra speed, or downloading things. But its not earth shattering. I don't much point of going over 120 unless it brings other things to the package.

Fresh Pots wrote: »

May I ask how you use that much? Just curious, I wouldn't class myself as a light user and I only use 60-80gb a month.

A few people all using Super HD streaming from Netflix it can add up.

thewheel2.0

van_beano wrote: »

It all depends what you channels you watch the most. A lot of the channels that you pay for via UPC or SKY are available via SAORview and Freesat for free after you pay for installation costs. The likes of the Sky Movies, Sky Sports and basically all the Sky channels will be gone.

Is Freesat available in non coastal counties like Limerick? Or is it a Dublin kind of thing?

Cushie Butterfield wrote: »

I've only just noticed that Eurosport 1 & 2 are now only available on the Horizon Max Pack, whereas it used to be (or is) available on the middle tier Select Extra Pack.

I dont believe it! I'm on Select Extra and use Eurosport all the time, might just cancel to stick it to them.