Cancelled before install

[ram1220]

I've been a long time DN customer but am disappointed with DN's lack of HD content. Voom seemed the logical choice so I had ordered it a few months back when they had a free install promo. After an installer no-show I decided to skip it and just keep DN. Today I thought I would give Voom another shot, but after ordering I thought I would browse the forum to see what people are saying.

Needless to say I was nervous. Horror story after horror story, not just about install issue, but billing and customer no-service. Then more stories about west coast problems, people forced to spend additional money for equipment (multiswitch) despite what was clear to me to mean free equipment in the ad I saw. Then OTA antenna problems that take months for Voom to resolve; having to request 24" dishes for areas that obviously should be them by default.

So I cancelled my install rather than risk signing up with a commitment and having to deal with possible penalties. Guess I'm stuck with DN for the time being.

Good! I'm glad to see that maybe I helped save another person from being a Voom victim.

 

[davekendra]

If you want HD stuff to watch, VOOM is still the only provider that really shines in terms of hours of HD material per week available. Argue all you want about whether you care about the content, but in actual HD content, nobody else comes close. As a charter member of VOOM, I've had my share of headaches, but I want to see it succeed. They may have gotten off to a shaky start, but most of us who signed up for VOOM weren't happy with simply more SD channels we wanted that HD for our HDTV. That's the bottomline; and until anyone else gets remotely close to VOOM's mass of HD material per week, I'm not switching. PERIOD.

Dave Farrow
Lancaster, PA
Charter member of VOOM since 11/2003

 

[andrzej]

Good! I'm glad to see that maybe I helped save another person from being a Voom victim.

No ram1220, you (and zubinh) are sorry losers who just can't stand the obvious fact that there are many satisfied Voomers who enjoy their Voom experience and have no problems with billing, lockups, rain fade, OTA reception etc. Your efforts are pathetic, and nonsensical, and I will gladly remind you about it as often as you post here.

 

[FrankJo]

billing, lockups, rain fade, OTA reception etc

This is Vooms problem. Customers for the most part like what they watch, but don't want to deal with the other stuff (above). We want to turn it on, watch, and not think about it. I just switched to e* because of a programming issue (no rsn's). I was happy with voom, but i'm hoping that I don't have the problems that i had with voom. We must admit voom has had time to get thier act together and hasn't progressed in dealing with customers as well as it should have by now. I really think voom is a good choice for people who really want more HD content AND are patient because their will be some gliches. What I found was that I wasn't watching very much of Voom's hd content, so switching wasn't too bad for me. In the end though, they did lose a customer. I hope all this talk of 70 channels is true, but frankly, I doubt it. They still don't have the DVR out yet, and I've been hearing about for a year, so i'm a little skeptical about 70 hd channels.

Voom needs to get subs by offering exclusive content that the masses will purchase (i.e. Sirius signing up Howard Stern).

 

[voomvoom]

Voom needs to get subs by offering exclusive content that the masses will purchase (i.e. Sirius signing up Howard Stern).

Strange, I haven't gotten Sirius yet. Now that I know Howard Stern is on there, there's no need to. I'll just keep my Voom. And if Voom gets Howard Stern, I won't quit, but I'll be sure and parental lock out that channel.

 

[ram1220]

No ram1220, you (and zubinh) are sorry losers who just can't stand the obvious fact that there are many satisfied Voomers who enjoy their Voom experience and have no problems with billing, lockups, rain fade, OTA reception etc. Your efforts are pathetic, and nonsensical, and I will gladly remind you about it as often as you post here.

The only thing I "lost" are the constant headaches of dealing with the labotamy called Voom. If that makes me a loser than so be it. At least I'm not waiting for Voom to deliver on all of their lies and promises. ie DVR, larger dishes, mpeg4, upgraded antennas, proper billing system, etc... I say that since you are still waiting and are paying these morons, you are an idiot. Voom is just stringing you along.
I had almost every problem mentioned in this forum with Voom. So I dumped them and moved on. I hope they crash and burn. And I'm not going to shut up if it helps people avoid Voom. This is absolutely the worst company I have ever dealt with. So from a loser to an idiot, have a nice day. You can use the Motorola POS for target practice when Voom folds.

 

[johnalan]

Time for a reality check.

ALL satellite services suffer from:
1. rain fade - I have DTV, DISH and VOOM...same story with all of them. I paid for my own bigger dishes to help reduce rain fade. This is not VOOM's fault, it's simple physics.
2. OTA locals problems - you should see the locals on DTV - HORRIBLE quality. So, I put up a real OTA antenna and now have beautiful HD locals thru my Voom receiver, something DTV doesn't even offer.
3. Billing problems. I've had them all mess up at one time or another. You're dealing with humanoids and they are not perfect. Expect occasional problems with anyone you pay monthly bills to, it happens.

I had a simple installation problem with VOOM and called them on it. Within an hour I received TWO calls from their people promising to get the problem corrected. They then had it fixed sooner than they said they would and called again to make sure it was handled satisfactorily.

If you're looking for the perfect satellite service, come back in about 50 years or after Jesus comes back. As for me VOOM is GREAT. Great HD, great HD locals and great service. Plus the most HD anywhere for the best price.

Sorry, I think VOOM is just fine, thank you. And I will enjoy it whether it lasts a month or a decade! Heck, I may not last as long as VOOM does! Enjoy it while you can.

 

[Bruce]

Time for a reality check.

ALL satellite services suffer from:
1. rain fade - I have DTV, DISH and VOOM...same story with all of them. I paid for my own bigger dishes to help reduce rain fade. This is not VOOM's fault, it's simple physics.

I have no answer for this,I have never had rain fade with E*,but I installed my own dish,peaked it til it would not peak no more.

2. OTA locals problems - you should see the locals on DTV - HORRIBLE quality. So, I put up a real OTA antenna and now have beautiful HD locals thru my Voom receiver, something DTV doesn't even offer.

SD Locals on D* and E* do suck, but if you had a HD-STB from D* or E* and a antenna,you would get HD just as well, it not "something DTV doesn't even offer", none of them offer it yet, except cable(yech).


3. Billing problems. I've had them all mess up at one time or another. You're dealing with humanoids and they are not perfect. Expect occasional problems with anyone you pay monthly bills to, it happens.

Again,never had a billing problem with E*, but I don't doubt that it has happened, same with D* and V*, some people have had the problem,some have not, the problem is with a start up company, things get more blown up.

I had a simple installation problem with VOOM and called them on it. Within an hour I received TWO calls from their people promising to get the problem corrected. They then had it fixed sooner than they said they would and called again to make sure it was handled satisfactorily.

If you're looking for the perfect satellite service, come back in about 50 years or after Jesus comes back. As for me VOOM is GREAT. Great HD, great HD locals and great service. Plus the most HD anywhere for the best price.

Sorry, I think VOOM is just fine, thank you. And I will enjoy it whether it lasts a month or a decade! Heck, I may not last as long as VOOM does! Enjoy it while you can.

I have said it before, if Voom adds my local RSN and a DVR, I will give them another try, as long as I get a different install company then that last time.

 

[skeedatl]

Well I see my post was misinterpreted as a troll. While it may appear that way I'm certainly no DNFan just looking to bash the other guys. It simply came down to ater reading some other threads about install problems (let's try not to revise history here...Voom has more than their share of install issues, especially here on the west coast) I cancelled the online order. Then after reading a few more I decided to give Voom a try by phoning my order in instead. Reason being it seemed that there were a few key things that were needed for success with Voom here and while there are tons of complaints about Voom, there are legitimate recurring themes that seemed to resolve many of the problems. One was the 24" dish, the other was an upgraded OTA antenna.

So during my phone order I asked for those and was told no problem. Great I thought. Finally an alternative to DN and Comcrap. I thought maybe with the 24" dish and better OTA antenna I won't have the problems some of the others here had. In addition I requested paper billing rather than autobilling to avoid some of the billing issues I read about...they were fine with that too.

Well come Monday the 13th I was supposed to be installed. Well...another no show (similar to my experience with 2 installer no shows back in July). I had called Voom throughout the day after 1PM (for the morning install) and they kept telling me he's on the way he's on the way...give 'em another hour. I finally call back at 6PM asking them what the problem was? I don't think I was unreasonable and I was polite. Every company has problems with 3rd party contractors and I was just unlucky (for the 3rd time). Frustrated but not ready to give up I got rescheduled for yesterday. Well the installer showed up (YAY) and said I don't have LOS which was pretty amazing to me since I have a very clear view in every direction. Turns out that the Voom satellite is so low on the horizon that even a house of the same height next to me was blocking the view (mind you the dish was going on the roof). In talking to the installer he said that 8 of 10 of his installs go this way...LOS problems, OTA problems. Now these are beyond Voom's control and I was bummed. HOWEVER, even if I had LOS I wouldn't have let them install since they didn't give the installer the 24" dish I requested or the OTA antenna they said they were providing. That I think is under Voom's control.

So yeah, I'm disapointed...I'm not going to bash Voom for the sake of bashing Voom like some here kiss the ass of Voom just for the sake of doing it. Being a start up I expect problems, but not 3 no shows, customer service string alongs (like I got on Monday), now 4 lost days of work, incorrect work orders and I'm not even a subscriber.

I'm not happy with DN's line up and Charlie thinking it's more important to have 50 Polish channels than Starz HD or other channels people may actually watch...I'm also not happy with Comcast's CONSTANT price increased.

I really wanted to get Voom. I really wanted this to work out. So much so I gave Voom 4 chances. Call me a troll, flame me I don't really care, but IMO the forums shouldn't be all about kissing the behinds of these providers. Is about sharing experiences. I benefitted from reading complaints about the 18" dish reception here and about OTA antenna problems. Maybe someone would benefit from my issues of installer issues to the point they'll schedule a weekend install app't just in case. Reading about people loving Voom doesn't help people thinking about getting it, or help people prevent potential problems. While some may not like complaint threads, I do...not because I like to see a service bashed, but 'cause if you see a recurring problem you may be available to avoid it before it happens.

You may be very content with your service...instead of complaining about those that aren't seeing your success with the service, how about helping them with suggestions like other do (eg the 24" dish).

 

[skeedatl]

No ram1220, you (and zubinh) are sorry losers who just can't stand the obvious fact that there are many satisfied Voomers who enjoy their Voom experience and have no problems with billing, lockups, rain fade, OTA reception etc. Your efforts are pathetic, and nonsensical, and I will gladly remind you about it as often as you post here.

I would love to have been one of those happy Voomers. I'm certainly not going to try and talk people out of trying Voom (IMO that's dumb), but like some others do I will make suggestions so that people avoid what happened to me (like choosing a weekend install just in case).

I'll tell ya, despite all the problems I had trying to get installed...I'm not going to hold it against Voom. If they get another satellite up somewhere so that I have LOS or I move I'll be right back on the phone trying to get service from Voom.

 

[DarrellP]

The LOS issue sounds like a boat load of crap. The installer is probably looking at the way the dish appears to be pointing toward the ground and automatically saying it won't work. There is no way a house of the same height next to you will block LOS if you are on the roof.

I'm sorry to hear about all of your troubles.