Chorus Service Charges

LegacyUser

Does anyone know who actually owns the black-box ? If Chorus own it then shouldn't they pay to fix it.. ?

LegacyUser

Apparently Chorus DO own the black box. In their contract they say that if you (the customer) defaults on payments for suscription, the decoder box will be removed as it is their property. It also applies that if you give them 30 days notice in writing to cancel your contract with Chorus, they will remove the box.
So YES, if the box is theirs...they should repair their own property.
Not like Sky. After 12 months the digibox is yours, even if you reniew the contract or not. Not bad for fifty quid........
I had a problem when high winds blew my dish slightly out of allignment. Nothing serious I could still get 99% of the stations. Talking to Sky (Call centre in Scotland) they were very helpful. They arranged a date & time for repair. At the date concerned, the engineer telephoned me to say they would be an hour late!!!!!And the call-out and repair was FREE.
Thats what I call service. Not the "Crap" you get from chorus..........

LegacyUser

Well...I've done it. Disconnected the box..adjusted the aerial in the attic and can now get all the Irish terrestrials in nicam...picture isn't magnificent but I have seen worse on cable...pckaged up the box and am going to drop it into them tomorrow.

LegacyUser

THe OTDR regulator has written to Chorus, today, asking them to remove thier service charge or risk losing their licence.
They have until Wednesday to reply.
This has been a PR disaster of the highest magnitude for Chorus.

LegacyUser

Irish Examiner - Irish Business - 19, February, 2001 '); Chorus wants us to pay for what amounts to an incompetent service
THERE used to be an old saying that went something like ’you can dress him up but you can’t take him out’.
That old saying could be just as easily converted into ’you can call your company a new snazzy name but it doesn’t make it any better’ or alternatively ’the punters will still not forget how good or bad your service levels are’.
Most of us will have seen many familiar names vanish recently more often to be replaced by a single catchy name. There are several examples of this such as Andersen Consulting to Accenture, and Avonmore/Waterford Co-ops to Glanbia.
But the one of most interest today is one that affects many of us all around Ireland, Irish Multichannel to << Chorus>> . The name sounds as if we are all working in unison and are all on key. In the case of << Chorus>> it could not be further from the truth.
It wasn’t so niggling when << Chorus>> kept its head below the parapet but they’ve chosen to stick it up and they’ve done it in such a way that we cannot simply lie down and say nothing. If you’re in Cablelink/NTL land or are receiving multichannel television from one of the private, or is it pirate, operators you probably will not know what I’m talking about, but if you are you certainly will.
<< Chorus>> is the main provider of multichannel in many parts of the country but specifically in the Southwest where it was formerly called Cork Multichannel. << Chorus>> provides the service through a set top decoder or ’blackbox’, as it has become known.
The blackbox was presumably an attempt to restrict peoples’ ability to hack into the cable to get a free service. Unfortunately, the blackbox also restricts your ability to watch one channel whilst recording another - you simply have to have another blackbox, at an additional charge, of course.
If you go on holidays you can only record the channel pre-set on both blackboxes. Annoying and inconvenient to say the least.
Other providers do not seem to have the same restrictions. << Chorus>> customers will also be familiar with frequently extremely bad reception, so bad indeed often times that it is non-existent, and that includes domestic channels. Even more frequently, direct reception on RTE and TV3 is considerably better than getting from the cable.
Now once again it would not be so bad if you could get it sorted out. But getting through to << Chorus>> is virtually impossible. Sometimes after trying for up to an hour you get some sort of answering machine which spews out some message which often makes no sense.
Sometimes, when you do get through, they tell you that they must boost power to your area and away you go again with a less than adequate, but better than nothing, service.
In saying all of the above, I do not believe that I am exaggerating. Reception is frequently bad, service is likewise but we’ve got used to them for want of an alternative. So what does << Chorus>> do to set our blood boiling?
In the middle of last week we received communication from << Chorus>> that they intend charging us an additional £2.50 per month to improve our service. Better still, if we didn’t agree to this new charge they were going to charge us £45 for each call out. And to top it all if we didn’t pay the 30p necessary to send the card back to them they were assuming that we agreed with their proposal.
Brass orbs have nothing on those lads and lassies. So what are they saying to us? Clearly their current level of service is less than satisfactory. They surely do not rank amongst the best providers in Ireland and they want us to pay for what amounts to their incompetence.
Its customers only call out because their service is bad that is clearly not the customer’s fault. Yet, somehow << Chorus>> feels that because it has a virtual monopoly that it can do what it likes.
Fortunately, Etain Doyle the Telecommunications Regulator does not agree with it but with fancy lawyering that position could change. Suffice to say that many of us currently paying << Chorus>> will be looking at an alternative if << Chorus>> gets this increase and maybe even a bit of lawyering of our own.

icdg

You got there before me! The'll be a full Editorial on this tommorow.

But first I must saw that although the article makes some excellent points about Chorus' rubbish customer services, it comes across in part as a rant against the long-standing ex-Cork Communications policy of using STBs. In the digital world, we'll all have STBs, and then the inequity will be gone - but the problem of what to do with VCRs is a real one - one that won't be solved by SkyDigital anyway.

In fairness to Chorus Cork, they provide more channels than any other analogue cable operator in the Republic. That's possibly the only good thing to be said about them, though.

LegacyUser

Has anyone actually posted their cards to give their approval to opt for the service. I for one didnt and wont.
In typical Chorus fashion of excellent customer service, I received the card the day BEFORE the cut-off date.
Surprised by their actions...Im not...
We could talk for hours about Chorus. The end result: It is rubbish....The ODTR should take away their licence.

LegacyUser

I too received the card just prior to cut off date, and subsequent to fagan's appearance on Joe Duffy (Duffy was really good to my surprise, as I had previously thought him something of an "old woman")when he said that a further notice would follow "clarifying" these charges...as usual nothing. Also, I am still awaiting a response to an e-mail to chorus on this issue-equally no surprise.
Just wait, one day soon we will awake to news that it has been sold-although who would pay good money for such an incompetent basket case of a company remains to be seen.
I shall have Sky digital next week, and this is the best response we can all provide to chorus.

ps. Further to a post the other day regarding the number of Shy Digital dishes popping up, yesterday, I was travelling locally, a little out of the way of my normal route and was staggered to see the number of dishes on view-Sky are really "going forth and multiplying".

icdg

I have to disagree on that one. Taking away Chorus licence would be an extreme step - its a "neuclear option" that would leave quater-of-a million people without TV. Unless the ODTR had a replacement licencee lined up that could take over the network, of course. Perhaps the ODTR should be able to order cable TV companies to sell their networks?

The same applies, of course, to anyone who would have the ODTR take away NTL's licence. (That would be a very politically unsound thing to do!)

LegacyUser

Well something has to be done. i admit that taking away a franchise licence for cable/mmds would be very politically sensitive, especially with a rumour about elections shortly.
However the point remains, what can be done about Chorus?
I ask you to re-read all the contributions to this and other Forums.Most are dismissive of the company. The only favourible remarks about Chorus have been the grand total of 2, and that was about their EPG Guide, and NO reference was made to their service OR quality of reception, just the EPG.
many people are "Fed Up" with this company. The situation remains that most customers are not happy, and need something to be done.......Question is: "What".....

LegacyUser

I'd not take their licence (I accept that this would be a political impossibility given independent media's clout; remember the front page editorial against the rainbow coalition over the deflector issue?). ODTR should simply remove the exclusivity provisions, ie. allow other operators in to their areas to compete.
Unfortunately, we must remember, this is Ireland and such things never happen to vested intrests!.
(incidentally, it is interesting to see the independent jumping again on the anti ntl bandwagon; does anyone out there remember a single independent article that referred to chorus'problems which as we know are at a multiple of those of ntl? ("independent" my arse.)

LegacyUser

What has happened to the ODTR's decision on the illegality of Chorus's service charge? Is silence ominous?

icdg

Nothing's been reported so far (although when the news come through, don't expect the Indo to cover it!). But as soon as I hear anything I'll alert you all.

This however, is one case where no news is bad news...

LegacyUser

Has anyone tried to ring their customer support number? More often than not I used to get "There are 8 people in front of you in the queue, please try calling again later. Goodbye. *click*" or words to that effect. If I did manage to get through, the response was totally apathetic and designed to put me off pursuing my legitimate problem any further.

LegacyUser

I had to ring chorus twice this week due to a problem with VH1. I rang 1890706050 (comes up on screen when theres a problem)My calls were ansered after 4 rings. I was amazed this was the fastest ive ever been answerd.

LegacyUser

I tried to ring their business sales line last week, and it was engaged!....not even a "your call is important..please hold"!

LegacyUser

looks like Chorus and NTL are going to be in trouble, BBC1 and BBC2 are to launch in EIRE this weekend, so i guess their uptake will be small ?.

LegacyUser

It's been a while since we have had any updates on the proposed Chorus service charges. Have they been approved (and £2.50 added to subscribers recent bills), or has the OTDR made them retract the charges?

LegacyUser

I think they cancelled it. With only three subscribers left, the £7.50 a month they would get from this charge wouldn't even put fuel in their service van. It was an internal executive decision to withdraw the charge - or so I have heard.

Mark.

LegacyUser

This has not gone away. I finally received a response to a request for info on this issue to the effect:

"...we will be sending all our customers a copy of Comprehensive Service Commitment Option Plan which will contain the Terms and Conditions of this optional service..."

"..we would like to clarify that the call out charge of £45 will apply to customers who have opted out of Comprehensive Service Cover and only in cases the fault is NOT Chorus related ie outside the Chorus system.

Lets wait for the document, however my subscription will probably have expired by then, and at present I'll not be renewing.

LegacyUser

I've already sent my letter to cancel the account. I won't be shedding a tear. Must get round to ordering SkyDigital.