Faulty Box?
 

NB (It's a PACE box I think and I have seen other threads which indicate same problem but not to same extent. I was told to reboot for 10 seconds as well not 20 as I've seen mentioned.)

On most occasions when I try to access Movies on Demand I get a message saying I can't access the service currently and to call 151 etc

This has been going on for months now with sporadic access to the film list but the error message can easily turn up at any time, and even when it did work ie when we were able to watch a film, it kept stopping dead with an error message, the same one I think and we'd have to go back and start again so we'd be stopping and starting all the way through the film which some films not being able to start again at all.

I gave up with the Front Row films full stop, reasoning that as I was on the Freeview package they'd done something to make it crap as I wasn't paying for it.

Anyway I decided that as I want to go onto Broadband and as I'm already with AOL and need to be with BT to sign up for their Broadband, I'd threaten Virgin that I was going to cancel the phone service as I wasnt getting any joy with the films. They told me that it was to do with not rebooting the box often enough, which is blatant rubbish! When the films weren't working all we were doing was constant reboots.

The girl at Virgin sent a reset code and asked me to reboot the box which I did, knowing full well it would probably work and it did in so far as I could actually access the Movies on Demand list. I said that still didn't prove that any film I started watching wouldn't keep halting. She said I should call customer service when the problem occurred so that they could test my connection. I had said I knew it must be the box itself as I've had it a long time; since they were Telewest before, but they seemed loathe to replace or come out and look at it.

Later this evening I thought I know, I'll endeavour to watch a film and what happens? - the error message, not even allowing me to access the film menu.

I tried accessing via another route ie a TV on demand? button instead of the Movies one and some strange Virgin-specific advertising video I've never even seen before came up with access to Movies via the yellow button and after using this I actually got to the film menu. I could scroll down the film menus for a certain amount of time, then the error message window (service not available at this time) turns up, then after fiddling with different access methods, I could carry on, then the error message again. The whole thing is so f-ing exasperating!

So I tried phoning the customer services via 150 and was endlessly listening to music with no indication of where I was in the queue so tried 151 and it was the same story. Then I tried a 'to pay your bill' option and they soon answered and said I needed to phone 151 lol. He did send a reset code for me and I did another reboot but it was same story after.

I give up!

I am going to spend tomorrow getting them to deal with the problem but I wondered if anyone has experienced this level of erraticness with their box and if it is the box itself - to my mind it must be as things are so intermittant.

Re: Faulty Box?
 

I experienced extremely poor TV service with VM on a Pace and then a Samsung box.

I had to reboot every day, sometimes twice a day, just to be able to see the EPG. VOD was unavailable a lot of the time and unpopulated for a lot of the time it was available.

VM Engineers told me that was the best I could expect to receive so I went to Sky+.

It's been about a year now and it's been wonderful. TV that just works. No dramas, no rebooting, just switch on the TV and watch what you want when you want.

Personally I wouldn't have VM TV if they paid me to.

Re: Faulty Box?
 

Hi aeon,

That's more likely to be a signal problem rather than a fault with the box. Either way, you need a tech sending out to fix it.

What error number do you get when it fails?

Re: Faulty Box?
 

Thanks for your replies Mick and Spiderplant

I am about to try watching a film and I will report any errors straight to customer services and not leave it until they agree to either send someone out or replace my box.

I am a naturally cynical person but part of me just knew things would go like this when Virgin took over - the level of service is atrocious and I knew this would be so by the very glossiness of all the marketing materials - all form and no content. Why is all their marketing material directed at some kind of brain dead vaccuous teenager?

This is how everything will be in the future - companies like Virgin will have a monopoly over everything and there will be no quality of service as a result. They've already opened one of their new Health Centres in Swindon, whereby you go to your GP on the NHS but there will be private Virgin medical services available in the same clinic. Good luck to anyone using those! :angel:

Re: Faulty Box?
 

I contacted VM Customer Services, saying I wanted a replacement box. The girl initially said there was a general fault in my area, which I said was ridiculous because the fault never seemed to get fixed and how come it suddenly started working after they sent a reset code through. She sent the reset code and it started allowing access to the VOD Menu. She said when they picked up certain error codes it indicated it was linked to a fault in the area. I didn't have any of the three 10** codes she quoted and when I told her my code was 1021 she was surprised and said did I get a flashing light on my box, which I do very frequently. She then said oh it is probably a faulty box, I will book an engineer to come out. She said the engineer will probably replace my box, which is what I wanted in the first place :rolleyes:

Surely they should start off by asking what the error code is. When I told her that the error window said 'On Demand is temporarily unavailable' she didn't ask for any more details, just assuming it was a general fault in the area.

Re: Faulty Box?
 

Mick, I have the same issues as yourself ;)

Switch on the tv and the sky+ box and guess what? it does not crash, no reset to do, so much so that even the wife has now noticed the dust gathering on the floor in front of where the ntl set top box used to sit.


Your final comments are my sentiments exactly, just need to get a bigger hard drive now to give me more space to fit my recordings :)

Re: Faulty Box?
 

Glad to hear you enjoy your TV service as much as I do. :)

Re: Faulty Box?
 

She did just the right thing. If someone rings in from an area that has a known fault, the chances are they are suffering from that fault, so she was right to check that first. That keeps the average call length down, even if it didn't in your case. When it turned out you had a different fault, she followed the right procedure for that fault.

I still think it's more likely to be the signal than the box, though.

Re: Faulty Box?
 

" VM Engineers told me that was the best I could expect to receive so I went to Sky+. "


Mick, in response to the above and as an afterthought, having read the new television advertising piece in the sunday mail about the " TV Revolution " I wonder if the VM Engineers, not having a go at them, and the bean counters at VM are singing from the same sheet.

Or will the TV Revolution really mean when people get fed up with poor service and go elsewhere.

Reading the advert I thought it was about something new, when in fact its just been polished up from a mailshot I got about a year ago.

Re: Faulty Box?
 

I am sorry but as I do not take a Sunday Newspaper, or any other newspaper for that matter, I did not see the advert so cannot comment.

When dealing with VM everyone, it seems, has a different script to read from. The reason being, I assume, is that VM are as tight lipped with their staff as they are toward their customers and saying "Sorry, don't know" whilst on the phone is perhaps a sure way of inviting a tirade of abuse or in an engineers case, whilst in the home, inviting a vote of no confidence.

I really do not know why the TV service is as bad as it is for some while others say they are happy with it. I suspect spiderplant probably knows but cannot comment. Some say it is not VM's fault as it is due to the inferior infrastructure they have inherited from some other Cable Company that they have assimilated. In my case the Cable Co that got assimilated was ComTel which, I think, was the base Company from which Ntl grew. If this is the case then the infrastructure argument won't wash. In any case the infrastructure is now owned by VM so, while maybe not their fault, it is, undoubtedly, their responsibility to put right.

I suspect that VM are happier to see customers with tricky problems leave than be forced to put them right as for VM it probably represents the cheapest short term solution.

Re: Faulty Box?
 

http://www.virgin.com/News/Articles/...07/290208.aspx


There we are Mick ;)

How long can they go on blaming previous administration for the issues they have? somewhere along the way they have to " own the problem " and sort it.

It may be easier for customers to just leave when they get that frustrated at the poor service, but at what point do they decide that too many are leaving and " Hey, lets sort the issues "

Re: Faulty Box?
 

Thanks.
Seems to me like another load of wasted money. I seem to remember VM publicly admitting that they could not compete in the TV arena, had resigned themselves to being an 'also ran' in the TV Service stakes, preferring to pour what little resources they had into BroadBand.
Maybe they are financing the Ads with 'anticipated rake offs' from Phorm.
I think the only thing keeping them afloat is largeing up the broadband and suckering punters into a locked in 12 month contract. Hence the maniacal over selling of the service in some areas.

Re: Faulty Box?
 

I had OD problems with my new V+ box and they were going to replace the box - but when I told them the problems was the same with the 2 Pace boxes and the Samsung box I had - they got networks to deal with the fault.

They found a signal fault in their cabinet and not had a problem since.

Re: Faulty Box?
 

That's a nice thing to hear. :tu: I'm glad they managed to sort out your problem. :)

Re: Faulty Box?
 

We do have a script to 'read from' - rather a flowchart that tells you what processes to do, we have to do this or we have disciplinary action taken against us. We always check for area faults before looking further into the code reported - but I normally ask for the code first hand to make it easier for both of us...1021 is normally a tech job.

I hate being so restricted with my job but that's the way that it is, do as your told or theres the door attitude from management is still here, even from the early days of NTL. I could go on forever about how much they annoy me with unachievable stats and 'help the customer and be empathetic but do it in under 5 minutes' bull...but sod it.

I'd rather get the issue resolved than try to make management happy.