Surprising discovery to transfer service

[kjaslow]

I'm getting ready to move. Despite any of the turbulence with Voom as a company, I've been happy with Voom from the start. I've had a hiccup here or there, and there are some channels missing (originally Food, and BBC America...now just BBC America). And to be sure, the DVR fiasco has been a problem. But all in all, I'm very happy I switched to Voom.

So, all that said, I'm moving house from DC to San Francisco. I called up today to find out about transferring. What I learned was surprising, and would be interested to hear from anyone here who's had a similar experience.

Since I'm a long-time Voomer, I never needed to sign any sort of contract to get Voom going, which means I can leave any time without any sort of cancellation fee. But if, instead of cancelling, I decide to transfer my account from DC to San Francisco, I have to pay a $125 fee. It's cheaper to quit and come back than it is to transfer.

Here are some more details that play into this. My basic fee would go up from $39.99 to $49.99/mo, and my HBO would go from $14.99 to $19.99. So, net, the service would go up by about $15/mo if I quit and re-subscribed to the same services I pay for now. But each box would go down from $9.99 to $5. Ok, net monthly fee is increased by $10/mo for my exact same configuration. But factor in the transfer fee, versus the free ($1) install if I leave and come back, and basically, for the first year, it's a better deal to quit and come back, than it is to stay with the service as it is.

I suppose the kicker will be what Voom does with the DVR for existing subscribers. Will they make us switch to the new pricing to get the DVR? If so, then this is a no-brainer. Much cheaper to leave and come back than to stay with Voom. Seems to me that if it were my company, I'd want to make sure my subscribers never leave, and would give all sorts of incentives to stick with the service, even though this seems like a temporary thing. I mean, if I cancel all together, then I will probably do a little due diligence when I get to San Francisco to make sure Voom is the right gig on the other end. Who knows, maybe my dish would be blocked, or something that would give me reason to consider other services.

Anyone else got an opinion?

 

[TheTimm]

BBCA is on channel 526.
Other than that, it seems like you got a pretty good grasp of the pros and cons of the choices, only you can decide what's best for you. When I moved, I paid the transfer fee.

 

[BlackCatt]

kjaslow, I am going through the same thing, except I am a charter member and own my equipment. I already moved to my new house but still haven't decided what to do. Don't want to miss out on any incentives for being a charter member, but I really want a multi-room install.

 

[parrothd]

Guess I don't understand your issue..

Why don't you take the dish and reciever with you, and plug it in at your new place?

I wouldn't tell Voom anything, just plug it in, aim the dish and start watching T.V, create an online account so you can pay your bill online, but if you want to pay extra then...........

 

[Vreesar]

Guess I don't understand your issue..

Why don't you take the dish and reciever with you, and plug it in at your new place?

I wouldn't tell Voom anything, just plug it in, aim the dish and start watching T.V, create an online account so you can pay your bill online, but if you want to pay extra then...........

either that or move, install your equipment and then call and tell them you have a new billing address

 

[judybob]

self install in RV

HI all
We are home and have been from oct 94, But we plan to take off again around NOV 05 for between 3 and 8 months.
And want to take VOOM with us ( but do not want to pay $125.00 every 2 or 3 weeks to have someone install it.
We have had Dish in our Motorhome for over 4 years, BUT DO NOT Want to go back to dish ( Yuck ) ,
I can line up to and lock on to a satellite in about 5 min. as can any RVer , who does it every few days or weeks
look in any RV park & next to or on top of most of the RV, you will see satellite dish
Voom is missing out as a lot of the RV are coming out with HDTVs installed in them.
P.S. WE WANT VOOM TO BE AROUND FOR A LONG TIME, THERE IS NOTHING LIKE IT, dish & direct don't even come close .
Bob

 

[Shawn95GT]

I'll second that dish pointing for Voom isn't a big deal.

I eyeballed the azmuth and had pre-set the elevation on a 18" D* dish and I was suprised to plug in a reciever and be watching TV. I had 86 for signal - lol. A couple minor tweaks and the signal was at 95. I got the 'target' numbers from the dish pointing calculator floating around these forums. I specified 61.5 and my zip and it gave me the elevation and azmuth.

I'll have to read through the details of the contract. I can kind of understand where they have reason for concern on leased equipment. I wonder if you can be fined or whatever for self-installing / moving the service.

On a side note, how does OTA work out in the motor home? I guess you do OTA via a seperate tuner when outside of your DMA.

Shawn

 

[Lobstah]

Or you just don't get PG info?

Lob

 

[Shawn95GT]

Or you just don't get PG info?

Lob

Yeah - you're probably right - lol.

Shawn

 

[judybob]

Hi
we have never tried to get the local o t a channels as they are to far away most of the time , that is why we went to satellite as we can always see the sky , we may need 50 or 100 ft of cable to get around trees.

The man that installed our Voom satellite said that the Voom receiver has all the info to set up on the install menu just like dish or direct, i have not checked that out yet
Bob

 

[judybob]

With Dish we always had PG info right away

But with VOOM it will most likely take overnight
i know if i reset the receiver it takes from 1 hour to overnight
bob

 

[weagle]

vooms on ebay can be transfered?

just wondering if you can pay a $125 fee to transfer, can the same be done if you buy a used voom unit from ebay and have it transfered to a different name and address?

 

[Ilya]

just wondering if you can pay a $125 fee to transfer, can the same be done if you buy a used voom unit from ebay and have it transfered to a different name and address?

weagle, and the answer as before is "No!"
VOOM still does not allow self-installs and will not activate STB not purchased from an authorized source.

 

[TYORK]

just wondering if you can pay a $125 fee to transfer, can the same be done if you buy a used voom unit from ebay and have it transfered to a different name and address?

don't waste your money on the ebay reciever cause most of them are stolen and voom will not activate them . Repeat DON"T WASTE YOUR MONEY>

T

 

[jbphoenix]

I'll second that dish pointing for Voom isn't a big deal.

I eyeballed the azmuth and had pre-set the elevation on a 18" D* dish and I was suprised to plug in a reciever and be watching TV. I had 86 for signal - lol. A couple minor tweaks and the signal was at 95. I got the 'target' numbers from the dish pointing calculator floating around these forums. I specified 61.5 and my zip and it gave me the elevation and azmuth.

I'll have to read through the details of the contract. I can kind of understand where they have reason for concern on leased equipment. I wonder if you can be fined or whatever for self-installing / moving the service.

On a side note, how does OTA work out in the motor home? I guess you do OTA via a seperate tuner when outside of your DMA.



Shawn

You can scan for channels and receive those channels if you are not in your home DMA, but your PG will not show any program guide for the channels you receive that are not in your home DMA, and if you are not in your home time zone, the time will not be correct either. This is all set by V* over the sat. signal to your STB. As far as the moving and installing the equipment yourself, I did disassemble and then re-install when I moved from Houston to Phoenix, and V* was not real happy, but after a brief discussion with a manager about my previous install in Houston, they did allow me to keep the service and changed my DMA and time setting over to Phoenix. I am not promoting that anyone should do this by no means, but as far as a fine for self-installing / moving, I don't think that would be an issue. I had a certain day that I had to be moved out on and the installation company (installs, Inc.) could not accommodate the removal before that date, and I was for sure not going to leave the equipment behind! IMHO I think that V* will eventually ease up on their installation process, but then again maybe not. In any event, I do enjoy V* and would not have any other Satellite or Cable service.