UPC Broadband question

jor el

garbage bin wrote: »

I am a moderator in a PC website

...

As you are an employee and as such an official represntative on boards.ie

Maybe you get paid to be a mod on your forum, but the mods here don't. Dub is also not a mod of this forum. I find you trolling un-amusing, so you're banned.

Cabaal

jor el wrote: »

Maybe you get paid to be a mod on your forum, but the mods here don't. Dub is also not a mod of this forum. I find you trolling un-amusing, so you're banned.

Beat me to it
To clarify because dub is not a mod in this forum he is treated as a normal user here, he does not get special treatment.

The very fact that you had bringing such a discussion into this thread has meant you got yourself banned, if you want to discuss boards.ie, mods and how they work then take it to help desk.

Don't just assume you know how a site works,

_Sidhe_

dub45 wrote: »

And I suppose that article is all part of the vile conspiracy against UPC?

dub45 wrote: »

What a coincidence!

http://www.digitalmedia.ie/2009/index.html

And for anyone who doesn't know a company actually pays to enter this 'competition'.

:D:D


Oh the irony.

vibe666

_Sidhe_ wrote: »

Oh the irony.

how so?

do you mean that it's ironic that the award in your previous post was won in a UPC sponsored competition?

_Sidhe_

vibe666 wrote: »

how so?

do you mean that it's ironic that the award in your previous post was won in a UPC sponsored competition?

The irony of somebody pretentiosly and smuggly implying that people who defend UPC are infering that there's some conspiracy, while less than a page later, gladly implying his own conspiracy.


Or maybe I was talking about how yet again Dub refused to address any points that he couldn't answer.
Such as How I listed 5 awards, and he only countered 2 of them.
The most important one that he conveniently forgot, being UPC Technical Support finishing runner up in the Irish Contact Center And Shared Media Awards.

Or did UPC sponsor that as well?:rolleyes:


Take your pick.

dub45

david7536 wrote: »

Its a good thing that only the very gullible blindly believe what they read on web forums! Ive read the bloated posts in this thread and they have only served to confirm the widely held belief that a majority of people who use these and other forums will gladly hide behind their anonymity and pretty much say anything that they may think will help them win an arguement and make the other guy look ridiculous.

The only help we can give the op on the topic that can not be taken as biased is our own personal experience with upc and absolutely nothing else. No press releases, no hearsay, no quotes from other threads, no awards, no possible future scenarios should be proposed as evidence that upc are a collective leviathan or that they are demi-gods.

My experience: They were very poor as ntl, unreliable service and very poor customer support. As UPC it has been a pleasure to deal with them, moved house, new install in 3 days, upgraded package done with ease over the phone.

Firstly people post anonymously on boards, as you are doing here yourseslf incidentally, because thats the way it works.

On the other hand if you genuinely believe this:

Its a good thing that only the very gullible blindly believe what they read on web forums!

Then how can you expect anyone to believe this:

david7536 wrote: »

My experience: They were very poor as ntl, unreliable service and very poor customer support. As UPC it has been a pleasure to deal with them, moved house, new install in 3 days, upgraded package done with ease over the phone.

Except the very gullible of course!

_Sidhe_

Yes Dub.
Fail to address a posters valid points again.
Just return with a "witty" response

Hope that works out well for you.

hightower1

dub45 wrote: »

What a coincidence!

http://www.digitalmedia.ie/2009/index.html

And for anyone who doesn't know a company actually pays to enter this 'competition'.

Meanwhile even hardened boardsies were incredulous:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055502968&highlight=digital+media+awards

Are you seriously implying that UPC bought the award???? LOL I'm sorry but thats hilarious!

By that logic they "out bet" 3, not to mention to get a majorit vote they would have had to bettered the so called money put up by 3,the digital hub,Vantage club and connect world!
Wow that makes shed loads of sense and is definitely not paranoid in anyway! lol.


If the people who were happy with UPC's service were as outspoken as the crackpots who hold a grudge with NTL your ears would bleed with the praise lol.

Dub if you dont mind me saying it seems like you had a run in with NTL at some stage and heard an answer you simply didn't like, took that personally and are now stuck in a "you against the machine" fantasy land.


Its no skin off my nose what you think of them as at the end of the day all they do for me is supply my tv and internet but ya have to admit how ..... ah hem..... "intense" ..... you seem about them?

All I have to say on this thread is from personal experience over a number of years with them is that they have excellent value,products, good customer service and helpful staff. Their customer base seems to be mixed with the majority of people happy with their service to the point where they dont need to give it a second thought and the small percent who weren't happy and took this as a personal attack.


Ether way they are here to stay and no amount of bad mouthing or "warning off" from the small amount with bad experiences from NTL is going to have any effect on their uptake or bottom line in any way at all.

vibe666

hightower1 wrote: »

Are you seriously implying that UPC bought the award???? LOL I'm sorry but thats hilarious!

how so exactly?

there is a clear conflict of interests for any company (in any sector) who is one of the main sponsors of an industry event to be nominated for awards in that event, regardless of whether or not they actually win anything.

nobody is saying specifically that they paid directly to win an award, but it is highly irregular for a major sponsor of an event to be nominated in it and it is easy to see how in such events that organisers would feel obliged throw their sponsors a bone, so to speak.

hightower1 wrote: »

All I have to say on this thread is from personal experience over a number of years with them is that they have excellent value,products, good customer service and helpful staff. Their customer base seems to be mixed with the majority of people happy with their service to the point where they dont need to give it a second thought and the small percent who weren't happy and took this as a personal attack.

Ether way they are here to stay and no amount of bad mouthing or "warning off" from the small amount with bad experiences from NTL is going to have any effect on their uptake or bottom line in any way at all.

interesting to note though, that despite all the money UPC are pumping into the company in Ireland that overall they LOST 5200 customers in Q1 2009.

BUT, that is your own personal experience and you are very lucky because from my own personal experience having been a customer of NTL (twice), chorus AND UPC at various different times in 3 different addresses, the overwhelming majority of my billing, customer service AND technical support experience with them has been negative.

unfortunately, every single time I have used them it has been out of necessity rather than choice.

both times with NTL in apartments in Dublin for my TV as they were the only option open to me and bot times I had multiple billing and service issues with them, the time with chorus (again with billing and service issues) was so I could get TV because at the time sky were demanding either a landline or a 200€ deposit when we moved into a new house and most recently because UPC were the only ones able to offer me broadband faster than eircom's 7.6mbps DSL and I was leaving BT due to their own poor customer service.

I'm happy to say that the engineer who installed my 20mbps cable did a decent enough job and was actually the same guy who installed my chorus tv 3 years previously and he did a good job then too and was quick, friendly and helpful both times.

BUT I've had to call UPC 5 times since I signed up in november last year. 4 times when my broadband went down (all external issues) and once to ask if they did a UK landlines call package (turns out they are about the only phone provider in Ireland who don't).

the first time it had been down for 3 hours on a friday afternoon and when I called them I was told (after some initial testing) that there were no issues in my area so it must be on my line and she would have to send out a technician on the monday. later that evening my next door neighbour mentioned to me in passing that this ntl broadband and phone were down too so I called back and an automated message told me there WERE problems in my area etc. etc. and would be fixed as soon as possible. I cancelled my engineer visit and about the same time the following day it was back up again but I had been without broadband and phone for approx. 24 hours. Sunday night I got an automated call confirming my engineer visit, despite me already cancelling it with them. i cancelled it again.

it went down again the following weekend and i called and they said an engineer was already on his way to fix it and that they knew what the problem was this time (i.e. same as lst time, but it wasn't permanently fixed) and it was all sorted in about 4-5 hours total, but was another 4 hours with no broadband and phone (during the day at the weekend).

it went down again a couple of months later and when I was explaining to the support person on the phone that I had already performed all the usual checks (poweroff etc.) was checking the modem and that the downstream was fine but that the upstream was not syncing she didn't know what I was talking about. I mentioned the scientific atlanta modem by name that they had supplied me with during install and that i was checking the config in it and that was what I had found and she didn't even know what it was and went away to check with someone (WTF???). at this point I hung up out of frustration and left it. my broadband was back the following morning around 8am (again a saturday morning).

the next time it went down I called up but the person i got through to had such a thick indian accent that I could only understand about 1/3 of what he was trying to tell me and I had to hang up after a few minutes. I'm pretty well travelled and have gotten pretty good at understanding people who do not speak english as their first language and actually regularly speak to colleagues in india on conference calls at work, so for this guys accent to be so thick that I couldn't understand what he was saying is a pretty poor choice of employee on UPC's part. a reasonable command of the english language needs to be a pre-requisite for providing telephone support in that language imho. my broadband was back up again the following morning, again a saturday (starting to look like a pattern).

the last time I called it was to ask about UK landline calls as my phone bill with UPC is actually about 1/3 higher than it was with BT due to the UK bundle I had with them. the girl was very firendly and as helpful as she could possibly be, but since UPC are (afaik) the only landline provider in Ireland who don't offer a UK landlines call package she could not actually help me.

That is my own personal experience of UPC in the last 6 months or so since I signed up and I have had many, much worse problems with chorus and NTL before them since I first dealt with them in or around 2002.

no irrational hatred, no conspiracy theories, just one persons very poor experiences with NTL?Chorus/UPC in it's various different guises over the last few years.

In addition to that, in the time I, Dub45 and many others have been using boards.ie we have all seen hundreds of people with similar or worse issues with the company and their agents.

they have pretty much the worst customer service history in ireland and whilst it may have improved since UPC took over they are still pretty damn far from perfect at this point in time which is something you only need to look at in this very forum to see that a significant number of people are still having various issues with them (comparitively speaking, compared to their % market share) so telling people they are great just doesn't work as it's plainly untrue for a large portion of people.

i don't doubt that they have many satisfied customers, but whatever the percentage is between satisfied and unsatisfied it still does not compare well to other companies and I find it much much easier to believe problems posted on here from real users with real issues with the company and it's services than what a UPC sponsored award ceremony says, but maybe I'm just part of a larger conspiracy. :rolleyes:

dub45

I am one of the rare people who has lived in the same house all my life so my family initially and then I have been a customer of theirs through all their various incarnations. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTL_Ireland

So I have personal experience of all of them. There is no doubt in my mind at all that UPC are considerably worse than any of the earlier pre 'computer customer service incarnations'.

I listen to FM radio a lot and with the earlier companies if there was any problem at all you could actually ring up and speak to the guys who looked after the radio side of things. A couple of years ago (in the NTL time) there was an going problem with constants disruptions from digital hash type noise on the radio. I rang them umpteen times and they did not even know that they supplied an fm service!!! I had to make a complaint to Comreg who actually supplied me with a number to talk to the radio people. The staff there had actually been anxious to talk to customers to try and isolate the problem.

UPC have just taken on this mess and in my experience made it worse. A couple of months ago I rang up to report a tv fault in the area. Having got through the enter your account or a telephone number nonsense I was then answered by one of the most inept people I have ever had the misfortune to deal with. Firstly i was asked was I sure I was a customer of theirs!!!

I was then told that there had been disruptions in the area due to work carried out and there was nothing wrong. When I disputed this i was told that there had been a fault earlier in the day but it was now fixed. I pointed out I was looking at a blank screen and was told they would have to arrange an engineer call out or they could not log the call as a fault. I pointed out that I had checked with several neighbours blah blah and was told that didnt matter I would have to arrange an appointment etc etc.

It really is very difficult to be that bad.

jor el

OK, enough with the bickering on this thread. No one has to respond to what's posted, take their silence in whatever way you want, but stop with the snide comments.

I have no personal experience of UPC (except the Chorus part of it some years back), but the consumer issues forum has had it's fair share of complaints about UPC's lack of service. It's always the same thing too, waiting weeks for an engineer visit, they never turn up on the day they're booked for, waiting ages on hold to talk to them, never getting the promised call-back, etc.

All in all, I'd be very skeptical about any award ceremony that you pay to enter, and has no clear independent overseer.

dub45

jor el wrote: »

OK, enough with the bickering on this thread. No one has to respond to what's posted, take their silence in whatever way you want, but stop with the snide comments.

I have no personal experience of UPC (except the Chorus part of it some years back), but the consumer issues forum has had it's fair share of complaints about UPC's lack of service. It's always the same thing too, waiting weeks for an engineer visit, they never turn up on the day they're booked for, waiting ages on hold to talk to them, never getting the promised call-back, etc.

All in all, I'd be very skeptical about any award ceremony that you pay to enter, and has no clear independent overseer.

Reading the page about the awards it essentially looks like an industry love in (irrespective of the winner). Surely any award that is to be respected by the public should give the criteria that it is awarded on and who the judges are.

I remember first becoming sceptical about these type of awards a few years ago when UTV won it after an absolutely disastrous period of customer service and boards being full of complaints about them. Whereas there were many years that they were fully deserving of any such award the year they won it certainly wasnt one of them.

Nehaxak

dub45 wrote: »

Surely any award that is to be respected by the public should give the criteria that it is awarded on and who the judges are.

+1. I think a FOI request would be well in order to find this information out if not readily available.

hightower1

dub45 wrote: »

Surely any award that is to be respected by the public should give the criteria that it is awarded on and who the judges are.

Have you read the site? They have all this information a click away....

Internet Service Provider

This award is open to all ISPs/Telcos servicing the digital media space.

Entries will be judged on the following criteria
Strategy 30%
Results 30%
Product Range 40%

Source:http://www.digitalmedia.ie/2009/categories1.html

dub45 wrote: »

I remember first becoming sceptical about these type of awards a few years ago when UTV won it after an absolutely disastrous period of customer service and boards being full of complaints about them. Whereas there were many years that they were fully deserving of any such award the year they won it certainly wasnt one of them.

And again you have done no research here before posting because the Judges even has its own section on the page....


Aphra Kerr Lecturer in the Department of Sociology in NUI Maynooth
Barry Bodeker Creative Director, First Impression
Brian Greene Senior Producer, TalkingVoices.com
Cameron Ross Managing Director, Newmedia
Damien Mulley Technology Columnist for the Sunday Tribune and Organiser of the Irish Blog Awards & Irish Web Awards
Dr. Stephen Brennan Director of Marketing and Strategy, Digital Hub Development Agency
Dusty Rhodes Managing Director, Digital Audio Productions
Eamon McGrane Media Consultant and Journalist
Emmet Ryan Journalist and Media Consultant
Irene Gahan Head of Marketing & Operations for New Media Lottery Services in Ireland & the UK
Jim Friars CEO Irish Computer Society/ICS Skills and chairman of the ECDL Foundation Ltd.
Katherine Meenan Director, Connect-World
Martin Murray Managing Director, Interactive Return
Nicky Gogan Director of Darklight Film Festival and Filmmaker
Ray Walsh Senior Development advisor, Enterprise Ireland
Rhona Bradshaw Head of Marketing, UPC Ireland
Ronan Harris Director of Online Sales and Operations
Sinead Murnane Managing Partner of digital media consultants, Doop
Tom Hayes CEO Lightbox
Tracy Fahey Head of Dept. of Humanities in IT Carlow & Immediate Past President of the Institute of Designers in Ireland

Source:http://www.digitalmedia.ie/2009/index-2.html



Obviously all of these people believe you are wrong in your opinion.

dub45

hightower1 wrote: »

Have you read the site? They have all this information a click away....

Internet Service Provider

This award is open to all ISPs/Telcos servicing the digital media space.

Entries will be judged on the following criteria
Strategy 30%
Results 30%
Product Range 40%

Source:http://www.digitalmedia.ie/2009/categories1.html





And again you have done no research here before posting because the Judges even has its own section on the page....


Aphra Kerr Lecturer in the Department of Sociology in NUI Maynooth
Barry Bodeker Creative Director, First Impression
Brian Greene Senior Producer, TalkingVoices.com
Cameron Ross Managing Director, Newmedia
Damien Mulley Technology Columnist for the Sunday Tribune and Organiser of the Irish Blog Awards & Irish Web Awards
Dr. Stephen Brennan Director of Marketing and Strategy, Digital Hub Development Agency
Dusty Rhodes Managing Director, Digital Audio Productions
Eamon McGrane Media Consultant and Journalist
Emmet Ryan Journalist and Media Consultant
Irene Gahan Head of Marketing & Operations for New Media Lottery Services in Ireland & the UK
Jim Friars CEO Irish Computer Society/ICS Skills and chairman of the ECDL Foundation Ltd.
Katherine Meenan Director, Connect-World
Martin Murray Managing Director, Interactive Return
Nicky Gogan Director of Darklight Film Festival and Filmmaker
Ray Walsh Senior Development advisor, Enterprise Ireland
Rhona Bradshaw Head of Marketing, UPC Ireland
Ronan Harris Director of Online Sales and Operations
Sinead Murnane Managing Partner of digital media consultants, Doop
Tom Hayes CEO Lightbox
Tracy Fahey Head of Dept. of Humanities in IT Carlow & Immediate Past President of the Institute of Designers in Ireland

Source:http://www.digitalmedia.ie/2009/index-2.html



Obviously all of these people believe you are wrong in your opinion.

Thanks for that information you have confirmed my scepticism. the criteria are meaningless in that they are not defined and the 'competitors' make their own case?. And how can any panel of judges be taken seriously when the Head of Marketing UPC can participate? And not one typical consumer type representative there:(

hightower1

The criteria are not defined? They are self explanatory?

Strategy - Marketing and business development strategy

Results - The turnover over the above category

Product range - ????? does that need explaining??? REALLY?


And you say that as ONE out of TWENTY judges working for the winner voids the result??? Nonsense.

Also you mention that there are no customer representatives here? Again I ask have you actually read the facts that you blatenly denied even existed in the first place? (I find it hard to believe you did not see the stand alone judges section on the website)

Damien Mulley - Columnist for the Sunday Tribune and Organiser of the Irish Blog Awards
Emmet Ryan - Journalist and Media Consultant
Brian Greene - Senior Producer, TalkingVoices.com
Eamon McGrane - Media consultant and journalist

All of these Judges work for public media! Or are you saying now that news media is controlled by UPC also lol?! If news media does not represent the public I dont know who does!

The great UPC global conspiracy unfolds! Ah haaaa!

dub45

hightower1 wrote: »

The criteria are not defined? They are self explanatory?

Strategy - Marketing and business development strategy

Results - The turnover over the above category

Product range - ????? does that need explaining??? REALLY?

That's your interpretation of the criteria. And none of your interpretations necessarily make for a good isp. Do people say ''hey thats a great strategy and you have a great product range: a cheap product, a middle range product and a luxury product great stuff full marks

Oh and you have made tons of money but is it though cutting back on customer service for example?

hightower1 wrote: »

And you say that as ONE out of TWENTY judges working for the winner voids the result??? Nonsense.

So you have the winning company as co sponsors and the marketing manager as one of the judges - you couldn't invent it if you tried!!!:rolleyes:

hightower1 wrote: »

Also you mention that there are no customer representatives here? Again I ask have you actually read the facts that you blatenly denied even existed in the first place? (I find it hard to believe you did not see the stand alone judges section on the website)

Damien Mulley - Columnist for the Sunday Tribune and Organiser of the Irish Blog Awards
Emmet Ryan - Journalist and Media Consultant
Brian Greene - Senior Producer, TalkingVoices.com
Eamon McGrane - Media consultant and journalist

All of these Judges work for public media! Or are you saying now that news media is controlled by UPC also lol?! If news media does not represent the public I dont know who does!

The great UPC global conspiracy unfolds! Ah haaaa!

And how can we know who if any of those judges has actually used the isps involved and for how long? Has there been any data gathered in an attempt to judge their actual performance on a day to day basis? Have they spoken to any customers of isps?

And how can any award be taken seriously with 3 on the short list? Unless of course there were only five entrants!

hightower1

LOl ok, first you say they have poor customer service....
You are then shows they have won awards for best ISP...

The you claim it was rigged as they sponsor the event...
You are then shown that FOUR other companies also sponsor the event.

You then claim its rigged again as there is no information on the judges or criteria....
You are then shown that they do in fact list all of this on the website.

Then you claim it is still rigged as ONE of the TWENTY judges is a UPC employee.....
You are then reminded that the other NINETEEN judges are not.....

Again you claim its rigged as there has been no customer representation on the judging panel....
You are then pointed out that FOUR of the judges are journalists or in public media so their lively hood is based on representing the public.



Now you want to know what ISP's the judges have???? Are you serious????
I don't know how concise you need a decision to be in every day life but I for one am completely satisfied that the whole affair is put to bed. This stance you have bangs of Viki Pollard "Ya but no but ya but"

You have been proven wrong on five separate occasions with nothing but plain and readily available facts with nothing more than speculation as a retort. Until you find pictures of UPC's CEO handing brown envelopes out like party favors at the event, Bills from all 20 judges houses showing their home ISP's and for a finish reveal the true identity of UPC's CEO to be none other than Cenetor Palpatine aka the sith lord himself.... I think the case is closed.

vibe666

_Sidhe_ wrote: »

Yes Dub.
Fail to address a posters valid points again.

and yet the pro UPC camp does exactly the same thing in ignoring mine and Dub45's personal experiences of UPC as well as the hundreds of threads on boards.ie (that are there to see for anyone willing to look) of users having various issues with them, from broadband to phone and TV and are happy to base their cast iron immovable views on nothing but their own limited experience of themselves and a couple of their friends and a couple of industry awards, some of which were sponsored by the company in question. would people pay any attention to the Oscars if film companies were allowed to sponsor the event? no I think not, which is why they are not allowed to.

the thing here is that I can happily agree that you have had the best customer services experience in the world EVER and that does not preclude me from still being able to say 100% hand on heart truthfully that UPC suck at customer service because I have had poor experiences with them (which I have already detailed on the previous page and have seen time and time again on boards.ie from other users with issues) BUT you have to totally discount mine, Dub's and those hundreds of users with issues for your viewpoint to be an accurate depiction of the truth.

you are, of course entitled to hold whatever opinion you like, it's a free country after all, but you need to accept that despite your positive views there are a whole bunch of people on here and around Ireland who strongly disagree with you and have had a great deal of bad experiences, both with UPC's previous incarnations and it's current one.

this forum has proved time and time again that people will see whatever they want to see, all the way from religion to politics and everything in between and the only thing that's been proved so far is that people will always disagree on SOMETHING no matter what.

I think the only real way of settling it would be for boards to do their own broadband awards ceremony and have it's members (i.e. the actual users of broadband) do the judging based on their own experiences and then we'd see a true picture. maybe mods could set up a poll with posting disabled so we could get a good look of who has what opinions of what ISP.

other than that you're just going to have one group of people who think they are brilliant and another who think they aren't, all working from their own personal experience and every thread just turns into a tit for tat argument that ends up missing the point entirely.

OP (if you haven't already been scared off): people obviously disagree on whether or not UPC are good and in what areas so just have a read through and see what you think and make up your own mind and whatever you decide, just let everyone know how your experiences went.

EDIT: fleshed it out a bit.

_Sidhe_

But that's just it Vibe.
I haven't had bad experiences with UPC, so I don't make asumptions.
You have, so you state, and I quote, to say 100% hand on heart truthfully that UPC suck at customer service because I have had poor experiences with them.
So you've had a bad experience, so they suck.
I'm sorry, but I didn't know that you were their only customer.

The simple fact of that matter here, is that people who have problems complain.
People who don't have problems, don't praise.
How many Joe Duffy shows are about people ringing up to praise companies?
When you get a company with hundreds of thousands of customers, and a few hundred complain, then because the hundreds of thousands don't praise, everyting looks skewed.
It's basic logic.

You had a problem.
I'm very sorry for you.
I didn't.
And because I tend to post in forums, I have no problem with saying that.
But there are thousands upon thousands who don't have problems who don't come onto forums to praise.

You come out and say that other ISP's don't get as many complaints.
Yes.
They don't have a many customers!
The only one who compares is Eircom, and they get every bit as many complaints as UPC.
(I'm reffering to all of UPC's services of course, seeing as TV has been brought into this).

And no, this forum having an awards ceremony would mean diddly squat.
Because as I said, the people who generaly post on forums, are the type who complain.
All the hundreds of thousands of happy customers wouldn't be represented.
A fact that you seem incapable of accepting.

UPC have a lot of problems.
They bought two terribly ran companies, in a country that relied a lot on MMDS, had to completely relay the network, and at the same time, keep on track with the "fibre power" roll out.
Yes, UPC could have tried to fix all of the Customer Service problems.
But if they had, there's no way that they would have been able to be ready to roll out 120mb Broadband by next year.
And ye would have just been complaining about that instead.

Take you for instance.
You roll out a catalogue of your bad experience with UPC.
And in it, you admit to hanging up yourself twice!
That sums up everything to me.
They may have bad Customer service.
But you may also be a bad customer.
You complain about how you told the agent on the phone that you've already ran all the checks and she asked you to do them again.
What do you expect?
You could be lying through your teeth, as I'm sure a lot of customers she deals with every day are.
You know your way around a computer, but most people who ring her up probably don't.
I remember a friend calling me up before and saying her broadband wasn't working, I've had to call to her house God knows how many times before for simple things, so I asked her if she'd rebooted everything.
She insisted that she had, so I asked her exacly what she'd done.
To which she replied that she'd gone into Control panel....lets just say I stopped her right there.
She HAS to ask you to go through all the checks with her on the line, so she can verify it.
Again, that's simple common sense.
And you complain about UPC having an employee who's English wasn't great.
Hey I agree with you.
But do UPC have a whole department in India/Pakistan like a certain telephone/BB company?
If your example of UPC's "bad service" is one agent, then by your definition, Eircom must be terrible.

But going back to Dub.
Are you going to answer my question yet?
You want to go all Mulder and Scully on the Digital media awards (not to mention ask for the judges life stories, shoe sizes, and what they had for dinner!), grand.
In a way I can see your point.
Even if nothing untowards happened.
It does look a bit dodgy.
So, I'll ask you again.

Irish Contact Centre And Shared Services Awards 2008

The technical support that you were asked about in the first place, came second.

Now.
Let me guess.
The CEO of UPC is actually going out with the CCMA heads mother.:rolleyes:



What it all comes down to is this.
As I have said here a good few times.
In the past I have had horrible, horrible, experiences with Eircom.
Ones that would make your experiences with UPC look like a Sunday stroll.
But if someone asks me my opinion on them, I'll say that they should ask somebody else, as my bad experiences will cloud my judgement.
In fact, I've said that very thing here only a few months back.
I had horrible experiences.
I know that I'm in the minority.
So I wouldn't do what you (Dub) did at the start of this thread, and state that they have horrible customer service.

But hey, that's just me.
I try and be reasonable.

Hank Scorpio

tl;dr

UPC can either be very good or very bad, just depends if your lucky or not

Customer service is pretty poor from all the ISPS, except for smart.

There, this whole thread summorised in 3 lines

jor el

hightower1 wrote: »

And you say that as ONE out of TWENTY judges working for the winner voids the result??? Nonsense.

The fact that one of the entrants has a voice on the judging committee makes the whole thing a farce. Add to this the fact that the whole thing is sponsored by the entrants, you have to question the validity and point of an award ceremony where it's paid for by the entrants, and judged in part by them too. An influence, no matter how small, is still an influence.

I wouldn't call it a conspiracy, but it is a sham of an award.

_Sidhe_ wrote: »

In the past I have had horrible, horrible, experiences with Eircom.
Ones that would make your experiences with UPC look like a Sunday stroll.
But if someone asks me my opinion on them, I'll say that they should ask somebody else, as my bad experiences will cloud my judgement.
In fact, I've said that very thing here only a few months back.
I had horrible experiences.
I know that I'm in the minority.
So I wouldn't do what you (Dub) did at the start of this thread, and state that they have horrible customer service.

But hey, that's just me.
I try and be reasonable.

What makes you think you're in the minority? If everyone who had a bad experience followed your lead, then we'd never know. If you had a bad experience, you should have no problems in stating the truth of the matter. If you exaggerate the problems you had, that would be unreasonable, but if you do state it clearly and honestly, what's not reasonable about it?

jor el

nuxxx wrote: »

tl;dr

UPC can either be very good or very bad, just depends if your lucky or not

Customer service is pretty poor from all the ISPS, except for smart.

There, this whole thread summorised in 3 lines

O2's new support forum is also quite good, and their telephone support has always been given good reports too.

4 lines.

Hank Scorpio

Do O2 provide DSL / Cable or fixed wireless now?

Been a while since i read the broadband forum

_Sidhe_

jor el wrote: »

What makes you think you're in the minority? If everyone who had a bad experience followed your lead, then we'd never know. If you had a bad experience, you should have no problems in stating the truth of the matter. If you exaggerate the problems you had, that would be unreasonable, but if you do state it clearly and honestly, what's not reasonable about it?

Would you consider the statement "I really dont think any of the others could be quite as bad as UPC no matter how hard they tried" unreasonable so?

Cause that's the biased and misleading statement that annoyed me enough to post in this thread first place.

It was the proverbial straw on a number of over the top posts, in a multitude of threads.

I have no problems with complaining or warning, but unless UPC are secretly harbouring Nazi war criminals, some of the posts here are a wee bit over the top.

But while I've had problems with Eircom, I know others who haven't.
And I know people who've had problems with UPC, Smart, Imagine etc.

However, people complain about UPC, for things that they expect, and accept from other providers.
Like UPC's tech support not all having IT degrees.
Unlike everyone else who does.
Or UPC having a non national employee, while it's okay for Eircom to have it's disconections dept in Asia.
Or UPC agents asking you to do the excact same checks that every other provider will ask tyou to do.

It's unreasonable.
Plain and simple.


One of the main reason is the preconcieved notion, that posts like that above give.
The original poster assked a question about the service quality, and speed of install.
But it seems that all you have to do is mention the words UPC to get certain posters in here badmouthing the Tech support.
And as soon as you disagree with them, you either work for the company, or it's all a big conspiracy.
And when you post a valid point, like I did with the Irsh Contact Centers Awards (about 3 time now!) it ges completely ignored.

I know that internet forums are all about opinions, but that doesn't mean that baseless acusations shouldn't be questioned.

_Sidhe_

jor el wrote: »

O2's new support forum is also quite good, and their telephone support has always been given good reports too.

4 lines.

Yes, and that's why O2 won the best tech support award that UPC finished runner up in.

Hank Scorpio

_Sidhe_ wrote: »

Yes, and that's why O2 won the best tech support award that UPC finished runner up in.

Do you work for UPC or have a friend/relation that does? You`ll really taking this to heart

hightower1

_Sidhe_ wrote: »

And as soon as you disagree with them, you either work for the company, or it's all a big conspiracy.
.

LOL I have to say Sidhe...... must get boring being proved right all the time! lol

jor el

nuxxx wrote: »

Do O2 provide DSL / Cable or fixed wireless now?

Nope, but you referenced ISPs, which O2 are.

_Sidhe_ wrote: »

Would you consider the statement "I really dont think any of the others could be quite as bad as UPC no matter how hard they tried" unreasonable so?

No, if it's a genuine experience by the poster.

_Sidhe_ wrote: »

Cause that's the biased and misleading statement that annoyed me enough to post in this thread first place.

You call it biased and misleading. I call it a truthful and honest experience. It's only biased or misleading, if the users experience leading them to make that statement were falsified or exaggerated.

I had a bad experience with BT Ireland, twice, and both times they called it a once off incident, even though it was the exact same thing both times, and it was the same thing that many others had experienced. I wrote a letter to the CEO where I compared the actions of his company to that of gangsters, by trying to extort money out of me using false debts and threats of legal action. Is it biased or misleading of me to let as many people know of the possible pitfalls of becoming a BT Ireland customer? I don't think so, and I've warned many people of my experience, and will continue doing so in the future.

My opinion of BT Ireland's customer care would be similar to the quote you gave about UPC above, as a result of my lengthy experience with them.

_Sidhe_ wrote: »

However, people complain about UPC, for things that they expect, and accept from other providers.
Like UPC's tech support not all having IT degrees.
Unlike everyone else who does.
Or UPC having a non national employee, while it's okay for Eircom to have it's disconections dept in Asia.
Or UPC agents asking you to do the excact same checks that every other provider will ask tyou to do.

The Three thread over on the Midband forum is full of complaints about being asked to do the same thing over and over, and about the language barrier of explaining your problems to someone who isn't a native English speaker. I have also seen complaints about pretty much all the ISPs, in which people have not accepted all those things you listed here. This is not exclusive to UPC complainers, so don't make out that it is.

_Sidhe_ wrote: »

One of the main reason is the preconcieved notion, that posts like that above give.
The original poster assked a question about the service quality, and speed of install.
But it seems that all you have to do is mention the words UPC to get certain posters in here badmouthing the Tech support.

There are pros and cons with all ISPs, be it support, price, availability, speed issues, etc, and anyone asking about any ISP should be informed of them. If your experience was positive, say so, if it was negative, say that too.

_Sidhe_ wrote: »

I know that internet forums are all about opinions, but that doesn't mean that baseless acusations shouldn't be questioned.

No, and you've put your argument forward for all to see and make up their own minds.

bealtine

dub45 wrote: »

I am not an employee of boards.

As regards UPC and ''the many bad things'' that I have said about them - I have said that they have lousy customer service and produced evidence for it. (and by the way the web is full of it if you want more)

UPC tech support is a hit 'n' miss affair. The endless holding (and that silly robot that seems to do nothing) and then when you finally get through and the problem is at their end, they escalate it to 2/3rd level support. You are promised that you will be contacted within 24 hours.

I'm still waiting for that callback that I've been promised and promised and promised. Nobody bothers to call back. I still have the problem nearly 2 weeks later.

Is that the right way to run a tech support service? Not a chance it's lousy service and whoever is running it should be fired.

First level support seems ok for what it is, usually courteous and considerate but mostly clueless.

So in effect UPC tech support is all over the place, tiresome and badly organized.