Dumping Voom...

[Indy]

DVLos,

I called Voom roughly 2 months ago to get a bigger dish. The CSR knew exactly what my problem was and in her words:

"Its rain fade, we need to get you a larger dish"

So, I wait patiently, for 3 weeks. Take a Friday off of work and wait.

The tech shows up, no larger dish and no clue whats going on. He then goes into a nice speech on how there is no larger dish and poors water from an 8oz glass over my dish telling me "Look, its ok".

First off, when Don Lorr came over the first time, he showed me the larger dish he has in his van! I saw it firsthand!

I told the guy this "No sir, no larger dish"...that royally pisses me off...he calls the warehouse and they tell him there is a larger dish but he has to come back to the warehouse, a whopping 15 miles, country miles, meaning 70mph and a 15 minute trip.

He refuses claiming he has to go further west, and east is in the opposite direction. That right there was the most intelligent thing that came out of his mouth the entire day.

I call Voom, they tell me...there is no larger dish! I was livid at this point, so they go get a manager...no larger dish they tell me.

This to me is like a line of idiots telling me the sky is not blue on a clear day. Finally after 25 minutes I am told "Its a case by case basis", well my case is bad and I want it fixed, of course that is after I've been lied to by 3 different people.

They tell me it needs to be escalated, so they do that.

That was 3 weeks ago. Not a single phone call back, no bigger dish and still the problem exists.

I emailed Wilt, got a single response and not another after that.

I could care less about a credit or free service, I don't plan on paying either way since they can reimburse me for my day off via credit, not to mention here in Michigan it rained religiously on Sunday nights, while the Soprano's and The L Word was on, and thats the premium channels I paid for.

"They tell me it needs to be escalated, so they do that." What I think that phrase means is this. We took your complaint, printed off a copy and put it in the restroom just in case we run out of TP. I have NEVER heard of a resolution of a problem after Voom tells a customer "we need to escalate that." Good f'ing luck.

 

[Impatient]

It took four trips for Don Lors to install my preapproved 24" dish. You have to ride them constantly. I got it done by calling the scheduling department at Don Lors the day before, confirming with the secretary that I have a 24" dish listed on the work order, having her put me on hold an calling to the warehouse and confirming my dish is in the warehouse. I did not have to resort to having them write my name on it, but I suggest you do.

 

[TheTimm]

Don Lors sucks. They came out to upgrade my antenna and brought the same antenna that they had already installed. The next week, they came with no antenna at all. And have never once been on time, or anywhere near it. Good luck.

 

[vurbano]

No we don't need two threads, only one thread exists here, the other exists in the Yahoo group.

Whining? Nearly 100 dollars per month is whining? I'll forward you over the bill, you pay it, I'll be fine.

Problems, I've been mostly problem free. I have rain fade which wasn't even the end of the world, it was the BS they put me through to get a dish, which I still have not gotten.

Its the utter idiot you speak to on the phone, nearly EVERY SINGLE time you call. I was lied to, by 3 people in a row that there was no larger dish, even though they are at my house, to install a larger dish that a CSR setup 3 weeks ahead of time! Its the unreturned phone calls, its the wasted time to get some action when I know the problem and resolution.

It has not much to do with the service.

Voom defines a good business run poorly. The amazing thing is, they are not even a large company, someone should be able to be in control and no one is.

I believe in not only supporting a good product, but a good business, and if they continue to operate this way, they get what they deserve. Its an idea lost on the American public and the reason customer service has gone in the sh*tter.

We buy premium products and expect customer service to go with that product. If you buy a $10.00 shirt and it lasts 2 months, fine, you buy a $50.00 shirt and the same thing happens, someone is going to hear about it and it better be resolved or I'm taking my money elsewhere.

Voom I believe is beyond saving, even at the exspense of losing customers they have not really cracked down and fixed this. Things move faster, you don't have time to dick around.

They wasted too much of my time and us and our money is going elsewhere, believe me, if someone at Voom read this, they certaintly would not call it whining, they'd start seeing the end of the road unless they figuire this out quick.

IM not paying your bill. ive got my own 107.00 dollar bill to pay. If you want a handout go vote for Kerry. ANd yes you are whining. I complain about the same things often, bad management etc. But ya know what? complaining as your leaving is like complaining about a spouse while your divorcing her. No one really wants to hear the complaining. Just leave and get it over with.

 

[andrzej]

IM not paying your bill. ive got my own 107.00 dollar bill to pay. If you want a handout go vote for Kerry. ANd yes you are whining. I complain about the same things often, bad management etc. But ya know what? complaining as your leaving is like complaining about a spouse while your divorcing her. No one really wants to hear the complaining. Just leave and get it over with.

vurbano, it doesn't happen often but I fully agree with you.

 

[calikarim]

Cry Baby's aren't voom subscibers just jealour D* And E *

Anyone notice that the people that are crybabies are not even current voom subscribers. They are just jealous D* and E* subscribers that are upset they only get 4 channels of HD are are tired of hearing voom breaking new HD news again and again. Voom is the leader in HD by FAR. Dish still doesn't have Movie Channel, Starz, Encore, Bravo, Playboy in HD not to mention 21 exclusive channels. Voom has jumped from 2000 to 35 000 subscriber in matter of months . With additional funding and satellite capacity and new codelcs they are going to blow Direct Tv and Dish away. Voomers patience will pay off hang in there. I have spent almost $20, 000 on my theatre and now thanks to voom i have something to watch and show to my frinnds, other than discovery channel and HD net on dish. Thanks voom, for making my HD life better

Karim Vooming since April and Loving every HD minute

 

[vurbano]

My point is, the gripes in these "im leaving epistle threads" arent new issues. We all have voom and we know what the problems are. I wouldnt blame anyone for leaving, we all have our own threshold. I would like to see some of the stupid Sh$t fixed though. That white dot has been around for how long?

 

[Eric_C]

umm, I've had Voom longer than you have...

And if anyone is silly enough to think that Voom will launch WM9 ontime I'll put a month of a VaVaVoom subscription on it as a wager.

They can't even get the software right, can't get the installers to do it right, can't get good signal strength on the West Coast, and certaintly can't answer the phone.

But at the flip of a light switch they are going to go WM9 and all will be happy? They don't have the staff or technical prowess to fix the problems they have now.

Don't think so, plus rates will probably go up again, I'm sure MS will want their penny out of it.

Hey if they do it, I'll resubscribe, I just want the problems fixed, thats all I've asked for from the very start. I don't even have the bad problems, my STB never locks up, I'm very happy with the PQ, but I've spent a total of 22 hours trying to get a 30" dish.

I knew what the problems were before I sub'd and was willing to live with the, the BIGGEST reason I sub'd was the apparent availability of the bigger dish to fix the rain fade.

It 100 percent has to do with the incompetency of the people I talked to at Voom, if they had installed the 30" dish almost a month ago like they were supposed to, none of this would have happened.

 

[z71tahoe193]

The people that you have mostly talked to at Voom are college students that work for a company called West. I am currently in college and a have subscribe to Voom and HD cable. If it wasn't for this website I would know nothing. With this said what were your main concerns. Did you know the mbps of color tv, or the exact amount of colors on the screen. You don't have to know the amount of dis-infectants or the effectiveness of them to be a janitor, but you have to know how to use a mop.

 

[ChetK]

umm, I've had Voom longer than you have...

And if anyone is silly enough to think that Voom will launch WM9 ontime I'll put a month of a VaVaVoom subscription on it as a wager.

They can't even get the software right, can't get the installers to do it right, can't get good signal strength on the West Coast, and certaintly can't answer the phone.

But at the flip of a light switch they are going to go WM9 and all will be happy? They don't have the staff or technical prowess to fix the problems they have now.

Don't think so, plus rates will probably go up again, I'm sure MS will want their penny out of it.

Hey if they do it, I'll resubscribe...

Firstly, I would never take that bet. I am 99% sure that you are right about the implementation of WM9 and I agree with you 100%.

 

[andrzej]

Before we bet on it. What's the officially announced date for launching WM9?

 

[Bilodeaumj]

Two Weeks...

 

[Ken Thompson]

umm, I've had Voom longer than you have...

And if anyone is silly enough to think that Voom will launch WM9 ontime I'll put a month of a VaVaVoom subscription on it as a wager.

They can't even get the software right, can't get the installers to do it right, can't get good signal strength on the West Coast, and certaintly can't answer the phone.

But at the flip of a light switch they are going to go WM9 and all will be happy? They don't have the staff or technical prowess to fix the problems they have now.

Don't think so, plus rates will probably go up again, I'm sure MS will want their penny out of it.

Hey if they do it, I'll resubscribe, I just want the problems fixed, thats all I've asked for from the very start. I don't even have the bad problems, my STB never locks up, I'm very happy with the PQ, but I've spent a total of 22 hours trying to get a 30" dish.

I knew what the problems were before I sub'd and was willing to live with the, the BIGGEST reason I sub'd was the apparent availability of the bigger dish to fix the rain fade.

It 100 percent has to do with the incompetency of the people I talked to at Voom, if they had installed the 30" dish almost a month ago like they were supposed to, none of this would have happened.

For the record, I'm on the West Coast and I get great reception - 95 on satellite and 99 OTA. I think a lot depends on the geographic features of the area you live in. I've had very few problems with my box other that a few usability gripes. I also have the best of both worlds as I subscribe to my local digital cable service as well. Yeah, my combined bill nearly equals a car payment, but I'm divorced (no alimony) and childless so I can afford it. Between Voom and my cable service I probably have every HD channel currently available and I'm a very happy viewer.

 

[Seawaves]

For the record, I'm on the West Coast and I get great reception - 95 on satellite and 99 OTA. I think a lot depends on the geographic features of the area you live in. I've had very few problems with my box other that a few usability gripes. I also have the best of both worlds as I subscribe to my local digital cable service as well. Yeah, my combined bill nearly equals a car payment, but I'm divorced (no alimony) and childless so I can afford it. Between Voom and my cable service I probably have every HD channel currently available and I'm a very happy viewer.

OTA signal power has nothing to do with the Voom signal. Don't your realize that you could be getting a 55 with SAT power and Voom can make sure that it's "says" 90.

 

[gunn55]

I would like to go this route but 200/mo for TV? Hard time justifying it to the wife ... you do have the best though I'll give you that! I said about 3 months ago this is the only way to have the best of both worlds.

I also have both, Cable had or still has a come back to cable special for $60.00 a month for a year and all I had to do is give them a current satellite bill.witch at the time I had D* & V*
And thats for all channels for a year.
Cable $60.
Voom $40.
= $100.
At the end of the year I will decide who will stay.

 

[Eric_C]

My bill totals around 100, plus my DSL at 55 dollars.

I throw the two of them together since in decision making they are a combined cost through everyone else except for Voom.

My 'neighbors' down the road can get Brighthouse, they offer an amazing deal, 3mbps internet service, SD cable, Digital Cable, HD cable(majors plus InHD and HD Net stuff, plus OTA), and the biggie, a HD DVR for the measly price of 120 and some change...

The HD DVR is 10 bux a month, and when you get that box it includes Digital, then you pay 6 bux for the HD Package with OTA, and of course any premiums that offer HD.

Have not seen it yet, the guy at work is waiting for his HD DVR, they were backordered and Brighthouse told him next week to get it.

I'll take a WM9 date within 6 months.

My west coast comment migth have been wrong, I know there is a problem at the ends of the country, may east then, either way a problem that should have been noticed/addressed in the planning stages.

 

[Dvlos]

Before we bet on it. What's the officially announced date for launching WM9?

As far as I know there is none. The last press release stated that Oct. 1 a new bird is in the sky, and that WM9 implementation would follow shortly after, giving Voom the ability to house 96 HD channels or something outrageous like that.

 

[Ken Thompson]

OTA signal power has nothing to do with the Voom signal. Don't your realize that you could be getting a 55 with SAT power and Voom can make sure that it's "says" 90.

Regardless of what the numbers say, I get a great picture (better than my cable service anyway) so I'm not complaining. All I need now is the PVR that's supposedly just around the corner. I already have one for cable (Scientific Atlanta 8000HD).

 

[Ken Thompson]

My 'neighbors' down the road can get Brighthouse, they offer an amazing deal, 3mbps internet service, SD cable, Digital Cable, HD cable(majors plus InHD and HD Net stuff, plus OTA), and the biggie, a HD DVR for the measly price of 120 and some change...

The HD DVR is 10 bux a month, and when you get that box it includes Digital, then you pay 6 bux for the HD Package with OTA, and of course any premiums that offer HD.

I have Brighthouse and this is the exact same package I have including the 3mbps Internet access and HD DVR. It's pricey, but you get a big variety of programming. Here is a list of HD channels I get through Brighthouse:

1. OTA ABC
2. OTA NBC
3. Discovery HD Theater
4. INHD
5. INHD2
6. HD NET
7. HD NET Movies
8. HD Special Events
9. TNT HD
10. HBO East HD
11. HBO West HD
12. Showtime East HD
13. Showtime West HD

 

[Seawaves]

That's a nice package at Brighthouse!