I let go of Foxtel

[Mike13]

On 20/07/2018 at 11:34 AM, audiofeline said:

I would like to clarify that when I told her that I wasn't interested in hearing more offers and I just wanted to have the disconnection processed, I did not do it it a rude or aggressive way

I get your frusration. Cutting people off, however, is rude. Is it not? Manila call centre staff generally have excellent English. She shouldn’t have hung up on you.

 

Telco businesses don’t usually advertise or automatically upgrade you. You have to research and ask. Same with utilities. Same with insurance. Same with banks and mortgage rates.

 

I do find it annoying with TPG that I’ve been missing out on their new, cheaper plans, but I’ve got used to having a look every six months. 

 

On 20/07/2018 at 4:33 PM, Andre28 said:

Its just so ridiculous having to go over the same thing each time you call, like they don't put any notes in there

So true. I make sure they put notes in and read it back to me.

 

On 20/07/2018 at 11:09 AM, Andre28 said:

Plus all this time I have still been getting charged for the extra non functioning box.

I’d be surprised if they didn’t compensate you for a period without service despite whatever is in the contract.

 

I worked on a project for a big telco to reduce complaints. If you can get through to the national based complaints teams, by asking to be and mentioning the ombudsman, they have discretionary amounts and offers for compensation. 

[Andre28]

2 minutes ago, Mike13 said:

I get your frusration. Cutting people off, however, is rude. Is it not? Manila call centre staff generally have excellent English. She shouldn’t have hung up on you.

 

Telco businesses don’t usually advertise or automatically upgrade you. You have to research and ask. Same with utilities. Same with insurance. Same with banks and mortgage rates.

 

I do find it annoying with TPG that I’ve been missing out on their new, cheaper plans, but I’ve got used to having a look every six months. 

 

So true. I make sure they put notes in and read it back to me.

 

I’d be surprised if they didn’t compensate you for a period without service despite whatever is in the contract.

 

I worked on a project for a big telco to reduce complaints. If you can get through to the national based complaints teams, by asking to be and mentioning the ombudsman, they have discretionary amounts and offers for compensation. 

Cheers, yes this will be the next step, appreciate the reminder. They seem to just be getting extra coy about transferring you to such a team.

 

[ELYAS]

On 25/07/2018 at 11:44 AM, Chill3 said:

Make sure you return the box, if no return envelope /box arrives chase one up !  I disconnected last year, had an old box, nothing turned up, so I stupidly thought they must not want a 8 year old box back. But nope and months later got sent a bill for $300   
 

I trust you laughed and gently placed that bill in the bin?

[Steve M]

Foxtel content is crap compared to Netflix, Stan etc (except for live sport) ...I get the feeling Foxtel programming is repetitive and they just can’t afford to purchase what we modern consumers expect in this day and age of streaming. My prediction is Foxtel will be dead in the water within 5yrs.

[LogicprObe]

 

Foxtel was never any good.............and even worse once you had to pay to watch commercials!

[Guest jakeyb77]

Same thing. Had HD premium for years. iQ3 was so crap I went through three of them. Asked to “downgrade” to IQ2. They wanted $150 to downgrade. Managed to get that box for free after some long calls. Found out recently the IQ l3 box has been fixed. Called them and offered to re-sign if they exchanged my box. Same thing. $150 for the box I am already paying for. That was the last straw. Cancelled it. Rang back a week later. They had cancelled my cancellation. Couldn’t answer why even though I’d got all my confirmation emails.

More calls and finally cancelled. Had to drop the box to a collection point. They already had boxes on the counter and advised me all they are doing lately is sending Foxtel boxes back. Won’t be long.... bye bye Foxtel 

[Batty]

I have just moved house and I was charged $100 to move my Foxtel, I plugged it all in and all worked.

Yesterday I received a call from Foxtel saying a tech would be around on Wednesday to install my dish etc. I told them there was no need as everything was working.

They still wanted to switch me to satellite, I told them no need as everything is working as it should, I was then told that it couldn't be as Foxtel doesn't work via the NBN.

I don't have NBN and it is not in my area, Foxtel were adament that I had to have a satellite installed until I told them I was renting and did not have permission to fit a dish to the property and if they did so the owner would be contacting them. After about 15 minutes of this I told them that the easiest solution was to cancel my subscription.

Silence.

about 30 seconds later I was informed the tech had been cancelled and to continue using the current system as it is.

 

I shall probably cancel when I get NBN if it is true that it cannot carry the foxtel signal. I'll wait and see.

 

I still had to pay the $100 for moving my IQ3 to my new home and plugging it in for them.

[audiofeline]

On 25/07/2018 at 11:44 AM, Chill3 said:

Make sure you return the box, if no return envelope /box arrives chase one up !  I disconnected last year, had an old box, nothing turned up, so I stupidly thought they must not want a 8 year old box back. But nope and months later got sent a bill for $300   
 

 

On 29/07/2018 at 12:32 PM, ELYAS said:

I trust you laughed and gently placed that bill in the bin?

 

Foxtel assured me that even though they would cancel my subscription they would keep my credit card active in case I didn't return the box.  They are not going to risk loosing their $300!

[audiofeline]

On 01/08/2018 at 7:36 AM, jakeyb77 said:

...More calls and finally cancelled. Had to drop the box to a collection point. They already had boxes on the counter and advised me all they are doing lately is sending Foxtel boxes back. Won’t be long.... bye bye Foxtel 

The Age, Sat Aug 11, Business section, p.4. - quote below:

https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/news-corp-chief-backs-foxtel-despite-subscription-revenue-fall-20180810-p4zwmo.html

 

Quote

Foxtel has stemmed a decline in subscribers while reporting a $US33 million ($44.7 million) revenue hit in the last quarter of fiscal 2018.
The pay-TV platform had 2.8 million subscribers by June 30, driven by streaming offering Foxtel Now. In June 2017, Foxtel reported having 2.8 million subscribers - down from 2.9 million in June 2016 - partly due to the closure of Presto.

 

 

[audiofeline]

Well, my Foxtel subscription was due to expire at midnight.  Fourteen minutes past the midnight hour, the video went black and a title indicated that "The smartcard was not authorised" and to call Foxtel to fix this.

 

I checked the channels, all displayed this message.  Except for the two shopping channels which were working perfectly.  Funny how they are still wanting me to spend money.  These are the two channels I will miss least (well, to be honest there are others that I will miss equally least as well). 

[Kaynin]

[davewantsmoore]

On 01/08/2018 at 10:46 AM, Batty said:

I shall probably cancel when I get NBN if it is true that it cannot carry the foxtel signal.

 

The NBN internet should work alongside the payTV signal .... just like the Telstra/Optus cable internet was able to work over the payTV signal .... BUT.

 

NBN uses more of the cable (to achieve the higher speeds)

The cable sometimes not of the expected quality/condition, and doesn't work when pushed further

This means either non-working NBN, or picture quality issues (or missing channels) - and so the rollout was paused for a time in payTV areas

 

Regardless of these interoperability issues.... Telstra and Optus are planning to move all their customers off cable eventually, so NBN can use the entire cable.   So you will eventually need to have a dish (but if you stall, this might be years away).

 

 

[Kaynin]

4 hours ago, davewantsmoore said:

 

The NBN internet should work alongside the payTV signal .... just like the Telstra/Optus cable internet was able to work over the payTV signal .... BUT.

 

NBN uses more of the cable (to achieve the higher speeds)

The cable sometimes not of the expected quality/condition, and doesn't work when pushed further

This means either non-working NBN, or picture quality issues (or missing channels) - and so the rollout was paused for a time in payTV areas

 

Regardless of these interoperability issues.... Telstra and Optus are planning to move all their customers off cable eventually, so NBN can use the entire cable.   So you will eventually need to have a dish (but if you stall, this might be years away).

 

 

 

Is that the same for fibre to the home?

[davewantsmoore]

1 hour ago, Kaynin said:

Is that the same for fibre to the home?

No.  FTTH is different.

 

In NBN HFC areas ... you have NBN providing the data service(s) ... and then you have Foxtel providing the TV alongside.

 

 

For fibre to the home..... very few people receive TV over fibre optic cable in Australia.    It was going to be a core part of our NBN (and still could be), but moving to the "multi technology mix" approach for NBN made that both complicated, and likely that it won't be available to all equally.

 

In the tiny number of cases where people have "TV signals coming out of a fibre optic cable" .... it is the same entity responsible for providing the data services and the TV service.   (eg. NBN, Telstra, or Opticom).

[Kaynin]

41 minutes ago, davewantsmoore said:

In the tiny number of cases where people have "TV signals coming out of a fibre optic cable" .... it is the same entity responsible for providing the data services and the TV service.   (eg. NBN, Telstra, or Opticom).

 

Yes, that's the case for me.  We live in an Opticom estate and we get our free-to-air TV through the optic fibre.  I'm looking at Foxtel, so does it mean that I won't need a dish and can get the service through the fibre?

[davewantsmoore]

1 hour ago, Kaynin said:

We live in an Opticom estate

Ah ha!      (I wondered why you would be asking)

 

1 hour ago, Kaynin said:

I'm looking at Foxtel, so does it mean that I won't need a dish and can get the service through the fibre?

No.   Unless that is something Opticom offers (I've never heard of it).

 

Otherwise, you will just got Foxtel with a dish like everyone else.

[Kaynin]

35 minutes ago, davewantsmoore said:

Ah ha!      (I wondered why you would be asking)

 

No.   Unless that is something Opticom offers (I've never heard of it).

 

Otherwise, you will just got Foxtel with a dish like everyone else.

 

You're all over it DWM, no doubt about that!

[davewantsmoore]

4 minutes ago, Kaynin said:

You're all over it DWM, no doubt about that!

It's my "day job"   

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

I've seen Foxtel at friends'/clients' homes. They run advertisements! 

 

People actually pay for TV with ads! 

 

[SHAKES HEAD]

[crisis]

12 minutes ago, Zaphod Beeblebrox said:

I've seen Foxtel at friends'/clients' homes. They run advertisements! 

 

People actually pay for TV with ads! 

 

[SHAKES HEAD]

Its pretty much how banks got us to pay for using auto tellers.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

2 minutes ago, crisis said:

Its pretty much how banks got us to pay for using auto tellers.

I don't use them either.

[t_mike]

6 hours ago, Zaphod Beeblebrox said:

I don't use them either.

Nor self serve checkouts!

[Batty]

I pay foxtel to show me all the MotoGP bike racing.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

7 minutes ago, t_mike said:

Nor self serve checkouts!

Don't get me started! 

 

Coles is the nearest grocery store to me. Every time I use their self-serve checkout, I experience some kind of problem. The assistant frequently makes me feel like some kind of Luddite, because I have so many issues. Anyway, when Woolworths announced their plastic bag ban, I decided it was worth driving a little further to shop there. NOT ONCE have I had a problem with a Woolies self-serve checkout. Since Coles are so hopeless with their system and so hopeless with the plastic bag ban, I will never darken their doors again. 

[rantan]

2 minutes ago, Zaphod Beeblebrox said:

Don't get me started! 

 

Coles is the nearest grocery store to me. Every time I use their self-serve checkout, I experience some kind of problem. The assistant frequently makes me feel like some kind of Luddite, because I have so many issues. Anyway, when Woolworths announced their plastic bag ban, I decided it was worth driving a little further to shop there. NOT ONCE have I had a problem with a Woolies self-serve checkout. Since Coles are so hopeless with their system and so hopeless with the plastic bag ban, I will never darken their doors again. 

I always try to avoid SS check outs,but when I do use them I have found the exact reverse.

The Coles SS checkouts are problem free in my experience,unlike Woolworths which almost make me scream and the "bag issue " that east coast people seem to be so bothered by,isn't an issue in SA.

Anyway, this has zip to do with Foxtel,sorry.