Are Samsung STBs still in short supply?

[PeteM]

Hi all,
I receive broadband via a (Pace 2000) stb; back in April, wishing to take advantage of the speed increase, I phoned Customer Services and requested an upgrade to a Samsung box. An appointment was made for 10th May. The day came... and went, but NTL didn't! On phoning CS again they told me the appointment had been cancelled because they didn't have a Samsung box available; presumably they thought the best way of letting me know this was to simply not turn up!

Last week I thought I'd have another go. I phoned CS, and an appointment was made for Wednesday 7th September. Imagine my surprise when Wednesday came... and went, but still no sign of (or contact from) NTL! This time when I contacted CS they could offer no explanation... no comments added to the call, it was simply ignored. CS can't give me a contact number for the local scheduling office (understandably I suppose), so I'm in the dark.

I've now made a 3rd appointment (for Tuesday 20th)... if they don't turn up for that (or at least let me know they aren't going to turn up), I'll have to throw all my toys out of my pram!

Is this normal procedure? Am I unlucky? Do NTL hate me? Are there so many outstanding requests for stb box upgrades that they're being ignored?

As a long time lurker in this forum, I'm sorry to make my first post so negative (and long winded!), but I'm getting a bit grumpy now!

[marky]

Hi and they dont hate you

but if they are short of boxes that must be down to the supplier not ntl
ive no doubt they are as frustrated as you are, after all its them that get the flak.
and yet another warm welcome to cf

edit>just seen your join date

[Stuart]

to cableforum.

AFAIK, unless you are upgrading to the 2 Meg or 3 Meg broadband connection, then NTL don't allow you to specify a type of box to install. You get whatever they happen to have in the van at the time.

[PeteM]

Hi Marky and Stuart, thanks for the welcome...


Stuart, I'm already on the 2Mb service, except of course I'm capped at 1Mb due to the constraints of the Pace box. With all these upgrades going on (or proposed), it's getting confusing referring to your connection type by speed! I mean I'm on the £24.99 service, currently 2Mb/s, formerly 750kb/s, prior to that 600kb/s...
I just followed the instructions on NTL's website for speed upgrades for those who get broadband via stb... option 2 package changes etc...

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the fact that I haven't got a Samsung box yet... this isn't a fault situation, just a request for an upgrade to take advantage of the services NTL offer, and I appreciate that faults take priority. I'm just a bit (well, a lot really) miffed that if they haven't got a box available they haven't contacted me to say so and that the appointment won't be kept...

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by PeteM

Hi Marky and Stuart, thanks for the welcome...


Stuart, I'm already on the 2Mb service, except of course I'm capped at 1Mb due to the constraints of the Pace box. With all these upgrades going on (or proposed), it's getting confusing referring to your connection type by speed! I mean I'm on the £24.99 service, currently 2Mb/s, formerly 750kb/s, prior to that 600kb/s...
I just followed the instructions on NTL's website for speed upgrades for those who get broadband via stb... option 2 package changes etc...

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the fact that I haven't got a Samsung box yet... this isn't a fault situation, just a request for an upgrade to take advantage of the services NTL offer, and I appreciate that faults take priority. I'm just a bit (well, a lot really) miffed that if they haven't got a box available they haven't contacted me to say so and that the appointment won't be kept...

Fair enough. If you are on the 2 Meg (£24.99 ) service and are connecting through a Set Top Box, they should have upgraded your box.

[Begize]

I've recently had an engineer not turn up and when I called, CS told me that no one had actually made the appointment on the system.

I complained because I had waited in for them and I got a £10 credit to the bill.

Not a great deal but it's something.

[PeteM]

Well, if they ignore me for the 3rd time there's gonna be some serious complaining!!!

[patrickp]

Originally Posted by PeteM

Hi all,
I receive broadband via a (Pace 2000) stb; back in April, wishing to take advantage of the speed increase, I phoned Customer Services and requested an upgrade to a Samsung box. An appointment was made for 10th May. The day came... and went, but NTL didn't! On phoning CS again they told me the appointment had been cancelled because they didn't have a Samsung box available; presumably they thought the best way of letting me know this was to simply not turn up!

Last week I thought I'd have another go. I phoned CS, and an appointment was made for Wednesday 7th September. Imagine my surprise when Wednesday came... and went, but still no sign of (or contact from) NTL! This time when I contacted CS they could offer no explanation... no comments added to the call, it was simply ignored. CS can't give me a contact number for the local scheduling office (understandably I suppose), so I'm in the dark.

I've now made a 3rd appointment (for Tuesday 20th)... if they don't turn up for that (or at least let me know they aren't going to turn up), I'll have to throw all my toys out of my pram!

Is this normal procedure? Am I unlucky? Do NTL hate me? Are there so many outstanding requests for stb box upgrades that they're being ignored?

As a long time lurker in this forum, I'm sorry to make my first post so negative (and long winded!), but I'm getting a bit grumpy now!

Pete, I found myself in the same boat as you when the upgrades started: I was on the 750Mb service and wanted to upgrade to 2Mb (same tier). Like you, I was connecting through my black Pace box. They told me there was a big backlog on Samsung boxes, which I would need for the 2Mb service. In the meantime, a helpful person in CS suggested I _downgrade_ to the £19.99 service, so my speed would go up to 1Mb, which the Pace box could handle, so I did.

To cut a long story short, it was getting on for 2 months IIRC, and no Samsung boxes in sight. So another helpful CS person suggested I have a cable modem and keep the Pace box for the TV. Did that, went on to 2Mb and I'm well happy now - not sure, but I suspect I may actually be better off with a cable modem than a Samsung box.

Ask your CS people if you can have a cable modem for your broadband connection.

Patrick

[PeteM]

Originally Posted by patrickp

Pete, I found myself in the same boat as you when the upgrades started: I was on the 750Mb service and wanted to upgrade to 2Mb (same tier). Like you, I was connecting through my black Pace box. They told me there was a big backlog on Samsung boxes, which I would need for the 2Mb service. In the meantime, a helpful person in CS suggested I _downgrade_ to the £19.99 service, so my speed would go up to 1Mb, which the Pace box could handle, so I did.

To cut a long story short, it was getting on for 2 months IIRC, and no Samsung boxes in sight. So another helpful CS person suggested I have a cable modem and keep the Pace box for the TV. Did that, went on to 2Mb and I'm well happy now - not sure, but I suspect I may actually be better off with a cable modem than a Samsung box.

Ask your CS people if you can have a cable modem for your broadband connection.

Patrick

Hi Patrick,
Yeah, I have considered going down the cable modem route, especially as I have a TiVo and I'm getting conflicting reports as to how well TiVo can control the Samsung stb (some saying channel changes are more reliable than with a Pace box, others saying it barely works at all). But I'd prefer the single box solution, and the Samsung is generally regarded as a better box all round, so I'm sticking with plan A! To be honest I can live with my current 1Mb connection, but I don't want to miss out on the 10 Mb we're all supposed to be getting by the end of next year!
Pete.

[Angua]

It must be an area thing cos my mate has recently moved, and with the move was supplied with 2 Samsung boxes and a cable modem (which has only just started working).

West Oxon area

[Ignition]

Originally Posted by marky

Hi and they dont hate you

but if they are short of boxes that must be down to the supplier not ntl
ive no doubt they are as frustrated as you are, after all its them that get the flak.
and yet another warm welcome to cf

edit>just seen your join date

It all depends on the area you are in, in mine they are like gold dust.

Also it's not down to the supplier, no-one is forcing ntl to refurbish used Pace boxes rather than buying new Samsungs. It's all down to it being cheaper this way.

[spike7451]

Originally Posted by Ignition

It all depends on the area you are in, in mine they are like gold dust.

Also it's not down to the supplier, no-one is forcing ntl to refurbish used Pace boxes rather than buying new Samsungs. It's all down to it being cheaper this way.

And 9 times out of 10,the 'refurbished Pace STB's leave S & C still faulty!!!

[leeswin]

Originally Posted by spike7451

And 9 times out of 10,the 'refurbished Pace STB's leave S & C still faulty!!!

nice!

[orangebird]

Originally Posted by spike7451

And 9 times out of 10,the 'refurbished Pace STB's leave S & C still faulty!!!

9 out of 10? Do you want to prove or quantify that Spike? Or just admit you're exaggerating a teeny weeny bit.

[spike7451]

Originally Posted by orangebird

9 out of 10? Do you want to prove or quantify that Spike? Or just admit you're exaggerating a teeny weeny bit.

I'm not exagerating one little bit!around 60 to 70% of phase 3 Pace boxes are ****e!!!The other day i went thru 6 to find 1 good one in a punters house!!! Not a good impression & the punter actually asked me what was Sky+ like!!!
I always carried spare Pace boxes 0n a 3 to 1 ratio but a 1 to 1 ratio for Samsung!
And 1 have tons of faulty Pace boxes up in stores awaiting return to prove it!