UPC best ISP???

paulm17781

On the UPC webpage it says they won best ISP 2009 at the digital media awards. Anyone know how they rate this? That's two consecutive years they've won that.

dub45

paulm17781 wrote: »

On the UPC webpage it says they won best ISP 2009 at the digital media awards. Anyone know how they rate this? That's two consecutive years they've won that.

They certainly didnt get it for customer service!:rolleyes:

Gran Hermano

OP seems surprised how sponsporing an awards ceremony/event can help with winning an award

paulm17781

dub45 wrote: »

They certainly didnt get it for customer service!:rolleyes:

They have a customer service award on their page too!!!! :eek:

Gran Hermano wrote:

OP seems surprised how sponsporing an awards ceremony/event can help with winning an award

Ah-HA!

Mountjoy Mugger

Did you see the nominations for best ISP?

3
HEAnet Ltd
Perlico
Satellite Broadband Ireland
UPC Ireland

paulm17781

Mountjoy Mugger wrote: »

Did you see the nominations for best ISP?

3
HEAnet Ltd
Perlico
Satellite Broadband Ireland
UPC Ireland

Sweet mother of Mary... Acutally, I'd have thought Perlico would be in with a chance, since they're Vodafone owned. IMO UPC are the best there, I just wonder where BT, Eircom et al are.

Mountjoy Mugger

I've mailed them asking for information on how the nominees are selected.

I won't hold my breath. I was kinda curious as to why Smart weren't there, myself.

Onikage

From http://www.digitalmedia.ie/2009/index-1.html

Entries cost €130 plus VAT @ 21% per entry and 4 entries can be submitted for the price of 3.

You pay to enter.

paulm17781

Onikage wrote: »

From http://www.digitalmedia.ie/2009/index-1.html

You pay to enter.

Wow, there's farce and a half. So if better companies, ones that work to get a good name instead of entering a silly competition, we're to enter. They'd probably win. It's funny how it's only the ones with a bad rep. that enter.

dub45

paulm17781 wrote: »

Wow, there's farce and a half. So if better companies, ones that work to get a good name instead of entering a silly competition, we're to enter. They'd probably win. It's funny how it's only the ones with a bad rep. that enter.

Not so funny at all sadly. It is obviously a good way to get publicity with people who are not familiar with how awful a company and how anti customer UPC actually are:rolleyes:

dub45

dub45 wrote: »

Not so funny at all sadly. It is obviously a good way to get publicity with people who are not familiar with how awful a company and how anti customer UPC actually are:rolleyes:

I disagree with that comment, UPC took over a god awful company and have pumped alot of money into the network.
UPC have millions of customers across Europe, so they know what there doing.

Yes there CC still needs to be sorted, but i think they will soon enough, and to be one of the only ISPs who dont throttle and cap you is brilliant.

20MB BB for 42euro, dont think you would of seen deals like that if UPC hadnt come along.

dub45

cisk wrote: »

I disagree with that comment, UPC took over a god awful company and have pumped alot of money into the network.
UPC have millions of customers across Europe, so they know what there doing.

Yes there CC still needs to be sorted, but i think they will soon enough, and to be one of the only ISPs who dont throttle and cap you is brilliant.
u
20MB BB for 42euro, dont think you would of seen deals like that if UPC hadnt come along.

UPC have now been owners of NTL/Chorus long enough to have sorted out the cc service if they wanted to. All they have done is made a lousy cc service worse.

Know what they are doing?

They bully people into paying by dd through charging them extra if they don't.

They impose charges on people who miss a dd payment without warning them of the possibilty of such charges in advance.

They are in permanent breach of the direct debit system through not giving 14 days advance notice. (On their own admission they 'create' their bills 14 days in advance) IPSO do nothing about this of course.

Their telephone 'system' make it difficult to contact them with queries to put it kindly. I recently had to listen to about 5 minutes of faq's on billing before I was actually put onto a queue to talk to someone.

They insist on 'technician' visits when in many cases they are not necessary.

Missed installer/technician appointments are far from rare to put it kindly:rolleyes: Causing much inconvenience to 'valued' customers.

Apparently they now have a clause in their latest contract that they can put their charges up by 15% before you you can legitimately break the contract.

But they will get it right soon enough!:mad::mad::mad:

Every provided company wants people to pay by DD, sky also charge extra for non DD payments. Thats just the way it is, and i dont understand people who cannot handle DD, You know how much it costs, then you should have the ability to have the funds in a bank account.

They do still have the old 'mick & paddy' technicians from the cablelink, ntl days, but the old way to fix that would be sack the lazy heads, which wouldnt go down to well.

Anyway, i pay DD get 20MB BB ant Tv, with no probblems and find them very much improved.

And they will be one of the 2 or 3 ISPs to push o 50MB and then 100MB within a year o two.

Oh and heres a speedtest from today, which is around so 98% of the time.

Onikage

cisk wrote: »

Thats just the way it is, and i dont understand people who cannot handle DD, You know how much it costs, then you should have the ability to have the funds in a bank account.

That's not the problem. The problem is when they screw up the billing you are out of pocket with little comeback thanks to the crappy management of the DD system.

jor el

cisk wrote: »

and to be one of the only ISPs who dont throttle and cap you is brilliant.

They do cap, at about 250GB currently, or so I believe. They have throttled in the past, and even disconnected people. Don't know if that remains the case, or what happens when you exceed the unlimit.

The biggest problems with direct debits, is the random dates that often apply, and the non-compliance with the required notification period. Also, billing screw-ups are not rectified before the wrong amount (over charge) is taken from your account, and you've no way to stop it. Stop the direct debit, and they charge you a penalty for not paying the (incorrect) bill, and another penalty for not paying by direct debit.

ISP of the year, they are not. Their customer service is one of the worst. The product they offer, for the speed, cap and price, is very good, but they need to work on their support, billing and customer service, as they are woefully inept.

dub45

cisk wrote: »

Every provided company wants people to pay by DD, sky also charge extra for non DD payments. Thats just the way it is, and i dont understand people who cannot handle DD, You know how much it costs, then you should have the ability to have the funds in a bank account.

I am constantly amazed that some people will accept companies policies because another company does a similar thing! Such passivity and compliance allows companies behave as they do! Eircom dont require people to pay by dd as far as I know.

And as complacent and smug posters on here have found before the dd system is 'fine' until it all goes wrong for them.

And it is alright saying that you should have the funds in the bank until they are zapeed by a error filled dd that you have no way of stopping as you were not notified of it. Many many examples of that on here.

And given that they bully people on to the dd system the very least we should be able to expect from them is that they would comply fully with it and not be in breach of it for ever bill that they post out.

Companies should respect the fact that trusting them with bank account details is a major thing for customers. They just abuse it.

cisk wrote: »

They do still have the old 'mick & paddy' technicians from the cablelink, ntl days, but the old way to fix that would be sack the lazy heads, which wouldnt go down to well.

What's your basis for this claim? AFAIK the 'tech' people who do the call outs seem to be contractors and in any event from posts on here it would seem to be that the actual system is a mess as there have been many posts from people who have been told that there was no record of the 'appointment' on the system.

The UPC insistence on a call out for every complaint is aburd and must cost them a fortune. They recently refused to accept a complaint from me that the tv service was out in the area because I would not agree to an appointment for a call from a 'tech' person.

NullZer0

dub45 wrote: »

They certainly didnt get it for customer service!:rolleyes:

Well it wasn't for uptime anyway!

NullZer0

They don't know how to run the network.... fullstop.

Blindpew

They do have a 250 monthly data transfer allowance, thats up and down combined and they do throttle torrents in the evening time. But they are still offering a much better product than other ISPs. Until someone better comes along I'd vote for them.

DingDong

Has anyone had any problems with upc's DD system? Not defending it just curious. Suggesting they are bullying people into taking a DD, I think that's a bit strong. Maybe they should market it as a discount rather that a penalty.

The "tech" people, there is different levels so to speak. Installers are 100% contractors usually only know the basics .

When you have a problem or fault, its a first line technician, made up of contractors and direct employees (depending on how busy things are), who respond first. Their job is to resolve any problems in the home and out to the tap.

Finally you have second line this is made up of the most experienced technician. These guy really know their stuff. Their job is to look after network from the tap back. As for cisk suggestion that these guy are lazy he should come work with them for a week.

Missed installer appointment I never understand as they get paid per job so if they don't make it they don't get paid. Maybe they should have some sort of financial penalty in their contract, that's passed to the customer as a discount on their bill for missed appointments.

paulm17781

Blindpew wrote: »

They do have a 250 monthly data transfer allowance, thats up and down combined and they do throttle torrents in the evening time. But they are still offering a much better product than other ISPs. Until someone better comes along I'd vote for them.

I would say they have the best products, although my 20Mbps seems to be on the fritz for the first time, it's very slow. Generally they are ahead of most companies and probably have the potential to go further ahead, this is good. The thing is, I don't think they can really be called best ISP. Surely and ISP should have good customer service?

dub45

DingDong wrote: »

Has anyone had any problems with upc's DD system? Not defending it just curious. Suggesting they are bullying people into taking a DD, I think that's a bit strong. Maybe they should market it as a discount rather that a penalty..

I have a problem with upc's dd system it is in breach of the terms of the dd system itself!!! As I wrote before if they bully people into the system the least they can do is comply with it. I also have a serious problem with them imposing fees on people who miss the dd when they do not advise people of such charges before they sign up for a direct debit. It can cost over €25 to miss a direct debit!!!

And I certainly do not think that saying they bully people into the dd system is in anyway strong it is a simple fact. They impose an extra charge on people who do not pay by dd. And as was pointed out on the one and only Joe Duffy show when they started this dd crap a lot of older people have cable going back to the days of cable link marlin etc who have no wish to have anything to do with direct debits and who would also certainly find UPC's telephone system quite imtimidating.

DingDong wrote: »

The "tech" people, there is different levels so to speak. Installers are 100% contractors usually only know the basics .

When you have a problem or fault, its a first line technician, made up of contractors and direct employees (depending on how busy things are), who first respond. Their job is to resolve any problems in the home and out to the tap.

Finally you have second line this is made up of the most experienced technician. These guy really know their stuff. Their job is to look after network from the tap back. As for cisk suggestion that these guy are lazy he should come work with them for a week.

Missed installer appointment I never can understand as they get paid per job so if they don't make it they don't get paid. Maybe they should have some sort of financial penalty in their contract, that's passed to the customer as a discount on their bill for missed appointments.

Ah yes they were flying pigs passing overhead!:rolleyes:

dub45

paulm17781 wrote: »

I would say they have the best products, although my 20Mbps seems to be on the fritz for the first time, it's very slow. Generally they are ahead of most companies and probably have the potential to go further ahead, this is good. The thing is, I don't think they can really be called best ISP. Surely and ISP should have good customer service?[/

Indeed and the only award that any isp who consistently leaves people waiting for appointments that are not kept should get is a heavy financial penalty!

chalkitdown

Shouldn't a company that provides a "discount" LOL, for direct debits also be compelled to offer the same terms for standing orders?
I would advise anyone never to use direct debits as a means of payment, it's far too open to abuse.

dub45

chalkitdown wrote: »

Shouldn't a company that provides a "discount" LOL, for direct debits also be compelled to offer the same terms for standing orders?
I would advise anyone never to use direct debits as a means of payment, it's far too open to abuse.

It is interesting that companies never/rarely mention standing orders as a method of payment. The standing order gives the customer control of course and the company does not have access to the customers' accounts.

DingDong

Maybe we need tough law on company who don't abide by direct debit conditions if there is to be confidence in the direct debit system. I don't believe being charged 24 euro a year for not using direct debit (6.5 cent a day) is bullying, maybe you lead a sheltered life Dub45, unfair is what I call it (especially if its a old person who always paid yearly).

dub45

DingDong wrote: »

Maybe we need tough law on company who don't abide by direct debit conditions if there is to be confidence in the direct debit system. I don't believe being charged 24 euro a year for not using direct debit (6.5 cent a day) is bullying, maybe you lead a sheltered life Dub45, unfair is what I call it (especially if its a old person who always paid yearly).

You are entitled to your opinion simple as that. I call it bullying - they are basically (like many other companies of course) demanding access to a person's bank account through a system that is heavily weighted in favour of the banks and the companies concerned. There is no sanction against any company or bank who does not comply with that system whereas there is a heavy sanction as in at least a cost of 25 euros per missed dd on the bill payers part.

A company can clean out your bank account and wreak all sorts of havoc on you and all ipso will say is that you are entitled to your money back thats the dd guarantee!

No company has ever been expelled from the dd system so they have absolutely nothing to fear whatever they may do.

Forcing someone to go into a system like that is bullying in my view anyways.

And I don't know what leading a sheltered life has to do with the rights and wrongs of the dd system:rolleyes:

DingDong

Your not forced you do have option, pay the extra two euros, sign up to the DD or find a new provider. I do see where you are coming from Dub, it is giving alot of power over your bank account, especially if their is no law enforcing strict direct debit policies.

v. bul·lied, bul·ly·ing, bul·lies
v.tr.
1. To treat in an overbearing or intimidating manner. See Synonyms at intimidate.
2. To make (one's way) aggressively.
v.intr.
1. To behave like a bully.
2. To force one's way aggressively or by intimidation

Your belief that signing up to a direct debit(when you have options) is bullying would indicate a sheltered life to me

Mountjoy Mugger

DingDong wrote: »

Your not forced you do have option, pay the extra two euros, sign up to the DD or find a new provider.

Jaysus! That's sounds exactly what UPC said to me once.

Do you work for them?

DingDong

Its no secret Mountjoy Mugger who I work for. I'm just saying you do have options,and I'm only mentioning them because Dub felt he was being bullied into signing up to a direct debit

dub45

DingDong wrote: »

Its no secret Mountjoy Mugger who I work for. I'm just saying you do have options,and I'm only mentioning them because Dub felt he was being bullied into signing up to a direct debit

It is to me!