When did you decide to Drop Chorus/NTL?

corm500

I got rid of Chorus when Rte/Tv3/Tg4/N2 came to sky. I was wondering how many of you guys have dropped cable since you got sky. A lot of my mates are still holding on to cable because of UTV/C4 not being on sky (yet).

So the question is:

When did you drop cable?

sceptre

Dropped it (Chorus) recently due to rank incompetence (movie channels constantly disappearing requiring a callout each time), poor QoS (audio disappearing from time to time - usually on a Sat night movie on Premier), billing problems (phantom charges appearing on bill, getting charged late payments since Christmas due to their fault, not mine, getting billed twice two months on the trot), poor customer service (waiting times, credit card payments not going through), lack of channel choice compared with Sky (even accounting for lack of C4 and UTV) & charges same as Sky even with less channels, charges for Chorus Digital being greater than Sky with less channels (after adding in Paramount, music channels etc) & lack of interest on the part of Chorus on dealing properly with the above. Lack of a reasonably priced cable internet service meant that Chorus had nothing to offer me.

Couldn't/wouldn't have dropped Chorus if BBC and the Irish terrestrials weren't available. British soaps are mostly duplicated on the Irish channels so lack of UTV wouldn't have been a major issue. Would still have been tempted though - they're incompetent idiots (can't be libel if it's true - see list above) with no interest in developing the network to provide betterservice for customers. Sky aren't without their problems and the service isn't without its disadvantages but they do have the best choice in digital television (and that's a fact - see ASAI decision:D)

corm500

I agree Sceptre. I had Chorus and I used to call them all the time about their digital rollout in the north Kildare area. Used to get the same reply for about 2 years " your area should be going live in about 2 weeks". They also cut me off once( a mistake on their side) then tried to charge for reconnection. They also double charged my visa once. Bloody incompetent. Their reception was disgraceful they should have been embaressed to charge for it. Sky have their shortcomings, god knows I moan about it. but nothing compared to Chorus.

Corm 500

Tom Dunne

I couldn't have put it any better than Sceptre.

Chorus were simply not interested in the fact I could not watch certain channels.

September 1st, 2000, I believe, is when SKY came to Ireland.

September 4th, I believe, is when SKY came to my house and Chorus went.

TD.

bucks73

Got rid of Chorus last month. I had the digital and analogue (lack of) service and really only used it for recording things while watching Sky. Didnt see the point in paying two bills for TV so I bought a quad lnb and another digibox with card.

For the disconnection Chorus told me they would be out on a Monday between 9 and 1. Having taken the morning off work they never arrived. Next day in work I get a call from an engineer saying that the job was scheduled for that day. I told him it wasnt and that the only day I would be there now is Saturdays. He said he would disconnect me and pick up the digital box another day.

When I got home I noticed that the aerial had been taken off the chimney but the analogue cable was still connected. After two weeks I gave the decoder to Mr.Binman. Still have the cable too.

speedfreak

We dropped Chorus when we got SKY. Had rabbits ears for RTE/TV3, which wasn't far off Chorus' picture quality! As has been mentioned more than once before, Chorus in North Kildare is particularly poor.

Mossy Monk

we got rid of Irish Multichannel as it was then because of shocking reception and excessive charges. the reception had to be seen to be believed

Tony

Hi, the only reason I have it at all is because I'm in a broadband area.

Tony

Leesider

Hmmm. Chorus. They'll never really know the anger, frustration, stress and grief they have given me over the years.

I held on to their pathetic service for over 9 years. I basically wanted the Beeb, and they had a monopoly in my area (and boy, did they ride it bareback).

As soon as I heard a rumour that the BBC was coming to Sky, I was gone. I had great pleasure in telling Chorus to cut me off. They had the gall to ask me if I had a problem with their service.

Once, I had no BBC1 for 4 days, and after calling Chorus - and being on hold for 45 mins - I was asked 'what do you expect me to do about it?'.

Now - the joy of uninterrupted, quality digital service. Bliss.

byte

Notice that most unhappy cable subscribers were from Chorus. Tony, I assume you're from Dublin and thus on NTL? I was in Dublin last weekend and the house had analog NTL but it was an excellent tv signal. All stations looked good. Plus, the channel line up wasn't bad with E4 & Discovery though CNBC? Not sure about that one! :rolleyes:

Still not as good as me oul' satellite though! I'm apparently in a Chorus franchise area though there is no cable available from any provider. Have to rely on a poor deflector which don't work half the time! :rolleyes:

bazza

I dropped Chorus in July after having Sky Digitial since the previous Sept. Right in the middle of Big Brother too, but I didn't care about losing C4 and UTV, as long as I didn't have to pay that excuse for a service any more money.

Chorus were so bad that I ended up writing to the ODTR about my experiences with them. I CC'ed Chorus on my letter to the ODTR and as a 'peace offering' they offered me a months free subs for the trouble I had experienced. Fabulous.... not.

I remember ringing Chorus on one occasion, enquiring as to when Chorus Digital would be available in my area. When I eventually got to talk to someone who didn't want to transfer me to someone else, the response I got was "Well, if you see some Chorus vans in our area, then you MIGHT be going digital". And thats the best response I got from them...

Incompetance doesn't even being to describe what I've seen and had to deal with in relation to Chours. I work in a service industry and if I treated my customers like Chorus have treated me then I wouldn't have a job, plain and simple.

LFCFan

I recently moved into a new house in Tyrrelstown(Dublin). A week before we moved in we ordered a new phone line and then ordered Sky Digital. As you have to have a phone line now before you can get Sky we rang €ircon again to make sure we would have the line before we got Sky and they informed us then that we wouldn't have a line for at least 6 weeks because of some complications. Well, at the stage we were in the house 3 or 4 weeks and were using an antenna for the 4 channels and couldn't put up with much more so had to order NTL Digital. That cost €130 to install(bloody rip off) and for the first 2 weeks we had nothing buy hassle. Our Digital Remote went on the blink and it took nearly a month to get a new one. A PPV Footy match we ordered went missing. There was general problems with the picture freezing etc.

Well, now I have to say I am happy enough with the service. The picture quality is excellent. Couldn't be any better. There is a good range of channels(Although nowhere near as many as Sky) and we have an extra point in the bedroom for only €3 extra a month. We also of course have UTV and C4. There is no interactive services as yet though and I would love to have Sky Sports Extra. Being able to watch one channel and tape another and having a tele in the bedroom with all the NTL analogue channels is a massive advantage over Sky so it looks like I'll be sticking with NTL for the foreseable future. Hopefully some day I may even get a Cable Internet service though I won't be holding my breath.