Chorus... again :(

decob · 02-01-2003 12:31am #1

It's now 2003, and i still haven't got any new channels as promised. Have they actually increased the basic package anywhere?

Guess it's time to contact comreg! :mad:

John2002 · 02-01-2003 6:04pm

Got my new channels there in the middle of December. I'm based in Limerick.

Rebel18 · 02-01-2003 8:07pm

Does this affect all anologue chorus cable areas?

sceptre · 03-01-2003 2:13am

Just out of curiosity (given how long it took me to get rid of them), what new channels did they add?

John2002 · 03-01-2003 10:40am

Originally posted by sceptre
Just out of curiosity (given how long it took me to get rid of them), what new channels did they add?

Got pretty much everything bar the movie channels, Sky Sports and Playboy. Got UK Gold, Bravo, Trouble, TCM, Paramount, can't remember others. About 15-20 in all I'd say.

John2002 · 03-01-2003 10:41am

Originally posted by Rebel18
Does this affect all anologue chorus cable areas?

Don't know, I'm using a digital box.

channelsurfer · 03-01-2003 5:18pm

yes arent we privileged to subscribe to chorus with all the extra channels they promised us (or the odtr) when they got their price increase by end of 2002.i contacted the odtr in november and chorus to enquire about the progress and was told by chorus categorically they had no plans to give us the 16 basic channels they promised. as for the regulator all i got back was a standard letter quoting word for word the agreement ( odtr 01/83 if your interested) stating that chorus would be liable to decrease their price by 10 % until their commitment was met. now this is a laugh cos chorus increased the price another 20 % in my area. effectively they are free to do what they want as the minister never signed in the legislation to allow the odtr to sanction them if they refused to meet their targets. it took the odtr over a year to tackle ntl about mmds so expect something in 2004 probably!!!!

spongebob · 03-01-2003 5:38pm

Originally posted by channelsurfer
effectively they are free to do what they want as the minister never signed in the legislation to allow the odtr to sanction them if they refused to meet their targets. it took the odtr over a year to tackle ntl about mmds so expect something in 2004 probably!!!!

umm no, the minister had to 'create' Comreg in early December all right but otherwise he has to sign nothing for the ODTR or Comreg to 'do their job'

Comreg should maintain the position that their Decision on 17/10/01 in doc 01/84 (not 01/83) has the force of Law.

If Comreg say that their decision does not have force of law as and from I would dearly love to see the name of the official and the contents of the Comreg position posted in here.

No doubt the Mods would love to see this too.

M

channelsurfer · 04-01-2003 4:05pm

sorry muck i meant 01/84 thanks for correcting me but my point is will we if anything see chorus forced to reduce their price or will we get the basic 16 channels as promised?

spongebob · 04-01-2003 6:44pm

Originally posted by channelsurfer
as for the regulator all i got back was a standard letter quoting word for word the agreement ( odtr 01/83 if your interested) stating that chorus would be liable to decrease their price by 10 % until their commitment was met.
<snip>
they are free to do what they want as the minister never signed in the legislation to allow the odtr to sanction them if they refused to meet their targets.

In your post you seemed to say that you have been told that the ODTR had no power (or not enough) to actually make Chorus obey the Regulations they laid down over a year ago.

I asked you if you could expand a bit on this, as in who said this to you and if in writing could you detail it a bit for us. Did it come from the ODTR or Chorus for starters?

M

channelsurfer · 05-01-2003 3:44pm

sorry for the confusion the letter i got back was from a spokesperson for the odtr. it said that the second condition attaching to the price increase was "introduce standard package of basic analogue service in terms of the min number of programme services by end of 2002 in all cable areas."
it goes on the quote the provision " if these conditions are not met the director will require a 10% reduction in the new standard rate until they are met"

it says that if i have any further queries please contact them"

basically that is just a requote of the consultation document , it mentions nothing about enforcing it though.

spongebob · 05-01-2003 7:02pm

Compliance was required by the 31/12/02

as and from the 010103 they must give you your reduction or your channels. Send them a letter demanding it.

if they refuse, they are no-compliant and you can demand that Comreg step in.

Good Luck

M

decob · 06-01-2003 3:06am

Originally posted by Muck
Compliance was required by the 31/12/02

as and from the 010103 they must give you your reduction or your channels. Send them a letter demanding it.

if they refuse, they are no-compliant and you can demand that Comreg step in.

Good Luck

M

Yeah, i;ve fired off an email to Comreg, couldn't find any email address for chorus because their website seems solely dedicated to powernet. Go figure

tiggerhappy · 06-01-2003 6:05pm

I have Chorus for two years,I have never had a service call-never had a problem,I got extra channels just before christmas and they are great.
37 channels for €27.99 that better than Sky

BigEejit · 07-01-2003 1:18am

[rant]I reckon Tiggerhappy is a chorus employee .... everyone I know who has/had chorus cable has given out stink about them continuously and some lucky few (like me!) got rid of them and got Sky ... Chorus are crap, the product they sell is crap and their customer service is crap ... they used to charge £10 pm for ONE movie channel FFS ... basically if you signed up for all available Chorus channels (16 IIRC) you could have got practically everything Sky had to offer for the same price ...
ahh .. sometime though I think back to the on again off again channels and mono sound ....ahhh .. the good old days
[/rant]

All I ever hear from them is "channel 4 and UTV" ... thats it .. thats their sole raison-d'etre ... they would be gone overnight if they lost those two channels...

They are losing customers at an incredible rate though anyway ... they will hopefully shuffle off this mortal coil (the company, not the employees) soon and make way for a company that will invest in the infrastructure ....

tiggerhappy · 07-01-2003 11:02am

Actually I work for Dell based in Raheen Limerick,
Just because I have never had a problem with the service does not make me a employee.

DMC · 07-01-2003 12:08pm

No, but it makes you unique here!

Welcome along!

tiggerhappy · 07-01-2003 2:13pm

Thanks have you been having problems with Chorus?

sceptre · 07-01-2003 3:57pm

Originally posted by tiggerhappy
Thanks have you been having problems with Chorus?

I'm not being a smartarse - but you're probably the first poster here that has had a Chorus TV service that hasn't had any problems with them. Honestly.

Change the view of the forum from "last 10 days" to "last 100 days" or "since the beginning" (or just do a search for Chorus) and you'll see what I mean.

channelsurfer · 08-01-2003 8:01pm

yes its unusual for someone to be happy with chorus on this board. now if only they could manage to get their other 220,000 odd customers to experience what your getting. they would make a fortune.
as for the letter to chorus ill write doubt ill get anywhere though. usually i dont even get a reply. will let you know what happens.

ozpass · 09-01-2003 10:41am

I fired up the Chorus EPG last night to find out what pixellated distortion was on offer and noticed we've been given half a new channel. Starting in February (or "Coming Soon!" in Chorus speak) the QVC channel is set to become E4 between the hours of 14:00 and 04:00. Has anybody else noticed this, or is it just Chorus trying (and failing) to stop me from berating their Customer Service staff every other day?

I have Chorus Digital BTW and am in Cork (as regular sharers of my pain are aware).

sceptre · 09-01-2003 4:10pm

E4 only runs between 14:00 and 04:0 (the rest of the day is filled up with previews) so it's effectively a full channel if you do get it.

ShaneOC · 09-01-2003 5:09pm

Originally posted by sceptre
E4 only runs between 14:00 and 04:0 (the rest of the day is filled up with previews) so it's effectively a full channel if you do get it.

With the exception of the couple of months during the Summer when E4 has a live stream of Big Brother throughout the night.

strettie · 09-01-2003 10:49pm

Did you sign up for the Chorus digital to get the extra channels or are you on analogue cable ??

And what extra channels did you receive ?

I am on analogue and have only discovered 1 extra channel . I would be much happier if they gave me good reception on the channels I am paying them for.

And the reason I have not switched to Sky is because there are 2 TVs and a video in the house so paying sky 3 subs is not an alternative sadly.

decob · 10-01-2003 1:16am

Originally posted by strettie

I am on analogue and have only discovered 1 extra channel . I would be much happier if they gave me good reception on the channels I am paying them for.

Just wondering what extra channel did you find?

And the reason I have not switched to Sky is because there are 2 TVs and a video in the house so paying sky 3 subs is not an alternative sadly.

My reason is 5 tv's! ..... don't ask

rsb · 10-01-2003 2:43pm

What is Chorus EPG?

I don't get QVC at the moment so I reckon I am being screwed anyway.

I have Digital and I am in Cork and I am another Chorus user who wants to go postal with them.

:mad:

ozpass · 10-01-2003 2:53pm

The EPG is the Electronic Programme Guide (the screen that lists the channels and what they are showing). I'm surprised you don't get QVC. I have the 'even more ****' package from them and I'd be horrified if this included QVC (pay extra for that garbage?)

Chorus are a lost cause as far as I'm concerned. I will honour the remainder of our contract and ensure that I never, ever, ever deal with them or any of their subsidiaries as long as I live. I will advise anybody else do the same.

Their 'phone service, somewhat bizarrely, is absolutely excellent. I have never had a moments trouble with it (save arguing the b*stards into installing it in the first place).

Wow, that felt good

i haven't ranted like that about Chorus in a good while now.

rsb · 10-01-2003 3:00pm

Well I think they have given me the "biggest ****" package they could find.

You name a channel I guarantee I don't have it. I had more channels on cable than Digital. Lost CNN etc. Have the expected Sky1 and the rte etc, but extra's only a couple of crappy diy channels, paramount, uk gold and sky sports, which of course is extra.

So should I phone the feckers and ask where are the rest of my channels?

8 and half months to go and contract termination becomes a reality. Roll on the happy times...

ozpass · 10-01-2003 3:08pm

I am gazing into my crystal ball....I am seeing the future unfold before me.........

rsb: "Where are my extra channels"
Chorus: "Someone will call you about the extra channels"
(1 week later)
rsb: "What happened to the 'phone call?"
Chorus: "Someone will call you about the missed 'phone call"
(1 week later)
rsb: "I called you twice, nobody called me back"
Chorus: "What was the problem again?"
rsb: "What's your name please, I'm going to write it down and complain"
Chorus: "Errrrr, Ian"
rsb: "Ian, you are clearly a girl- do you take me for a f**king idiot?"

etc. etc. ad infinitum.

Unless you have had radically different experiences when dealing with Clownus, the situation wil almost certainly unfold like that

rsb · 10-01-2003 3:11pm

a bientot · 10-01-2003 6:31pm

The increase in price of the basic Chorus package in 2001 was granted on the basis that all areas would provide the same channels for the exact same price by the end of 2002.
Why should the people of say, Limerick, pay the same price as customers in Malahide or Athlone who have had TV5 for over twelve years?
Is this the case.............?
Chorus should be providing TV5 in ALL towns by now...if not Etain DOYLE and her two new colleagues should be informed immediately.

Chorus have provided TV5 in Cork since 1986 and did and do so because of their awareness of the fact that Ireland is a European country and that it is not part of the U.K. ...... Of course the fact that TV5 is free to all cable services is another bonus.
TV5 is also the third most available from satellite tv station in the world after MTV and CNN may also be another consideration.

watty · 10-01-2003 6:32pm

I was on just free Sky Digital Channels for a year and we wanted to add just Discovery, Animal planet type stuff.

Chorus said the cheapest I could get was €38.38. (Digital MMDS).

Sky turned my card back on in 5 minutes for about €22 Euro. At Christmas I unpraded to full family pack (200Chs?) for about €26.

UTV is very similar these days to TV3 (It's not like when I came to Limerick from UK in 1983 and only had RTE1 and 2).

Even people in UK hardly watch "five". Compared with when C4 first started (I was in UK) I would hardly watch it. So it is hard to see how Chorus's poor service can servive against the cheaper better service from SKY.

Also when you cancel Chorus you only have the Aerial TV channels and when you cancell Sky (any month notice after first year) you still have 50+ Radio and about 10 or so decent TV out of 50 odd Free TV channels.

So I got a 2nd Digibox now out of money I saved not having Chorus... I may cancel Sky sub for a while if the Pay TV channels have too much repeats and then connect again in six months..

decob · 13-01-2003 12:19pm

Just got a reply from ComReg regarding my complaint about Chorus... they are looking into it,

Dear Mr xxxxxx

I refer to your email below of 4th January 2003.

The Commission is currently looking into the matter and will reply to
you directly in due course.

Best Regards,

Paul Brennan
Consumer Management

channelsurfer · 14-01-2003 9:06pm

me too i got the same reply as you got word for word. wonder what theyll do about probobaly making up their mind as to if they really have the power to sanction chorus

channelsurfer · 18-01-2003 2:48pm

rang up chorus yesterday looking for my 10% rebate on my bill and was told as chorus was no longer a monopoly that agreement no longer applied to them . i said so ure gonna ignore that decision by the regulator. she said they were no longer regulated. then changed to that they were only regulated on price. after a long "discussion" i asked for her supervisor she went to him and came back with the same thing. said she had people on looking for the same thing but the odtr letter was not relevant to them. to cut a long story short basically she was trying to get me off the line and told me that i was given an answer and that was it. bottom line as far as chorus is concerned is that odtr 01/84 is null and void as they are not a monopoly any more. would have got more joy out of talking to a brick wall

spongebob · 18-01-2003 9:14pm

and you told Comreg the details, names , time of calls etc. etc.

I'm sure they would be delighted to hear that they are now totally irrelevant...according to Chorus, as irrelevant as their customers have always been.

Chorus... again :(

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