Leaving ExpressVu or got a Rant then post it here!

wow...that is crazy...i would recommend writing a formal complaint...customers can't be treated like that...it is completely unacceptable.
 
I'd like proof of that one!

That certainly may have been true several years ago but if you can sell a DVD player for $39 in Walmart (not to mention countless other high tech appliances for less than $100), I really have a problem believing a 3100 at $199 is less than cost.

A PVR has a $65 or $75 dollar hard drive in it and costs $299. I can buy a cheap Linux computer for that price
 
I for one would never go back to expressvu, customer service sucks,the programing may be a little cheaper than star choice. Still not worth while going to bell. They are also directly related to ctv, so you basically get little or no programing from the us. Regardless if you are paying for the us networks. They change to a canadian station just before the program starts. SC does not do this. I had it out with bell and I also wrote CRTC. I am satisfied, I was able to vent my issues to these people.

noah
 
I bought a 5900 PVR on Saturday. 299.00 plus 79.00 for the switchbox. (3 rx's total). They told me there is no extra receiver charge.
An hour later when I was on the phone to authorize it, they told me that the plan I was on (super 7 pack) is an old plan and they wanted 4.99 a month to add my new receiver.
OR, I could change to the new plan where there is neither service charge nor extra receiver charges.
They've rearranged the packages. Now there are 2 levels of news, 2 levels of sports, 3 lifestyle and 3 variety.
I took the first level of each. My bill went from 53.00; down to 46.00
I've lost a few specialty channels and gained a few others.
I want to know why nobody told me I could save by changing packages before?
I get my HD, OTA. Bell is going to have to offer a lot more (and better quality) HD channels and drop the price on the 9200 before I run out and buy one.
The good news is I really like the 5900. My wife loves it. The kids don't like me having it programmed to switch and record shows while they're trying to watch something. So what! They can go downstairs and watch it on the other TV.
I've had more than my share of trouble with Bells services over the years, but this time it works, as advertised, first try. Of course EchoStar makes the rx, but it works. My oldest RX is a 1000, almost 7 years old and still working.
Best Regards, from Ajax.
Tom
 
PPV? Never heard that programming credits had anything to do with PPV.

When I purchased my DVR from Videotron I got programming credits every month for 6 months. I doubt BEV would apply such credits to PPV.
 
...LOL...Way back in '98 when I was "kicking the tires" of both ExpressVu & StarChoice....

.......the ExpressVu CSRs had me worried if I could communicate with them....reason #3 to go with StarChoice
 
if the guide and search function sucks?. Less than 2 days of guide and search function is totally worthless. If I run a search for a program that I want to record and it isn't within the couple days of the guide or search. You can't set the PVR to record to the hard drive. Thats what I am guessing happens?. I like setting up the shows I want to record through the search function. I was thinking of getting a 9200 but with a poor guide and search function it ruins the point of having it. Yeah, you can buy their magazine but I don't want to go looking from page to page to find something. I don't even know if you can set the 9200 to record on certain dates?. I can't believe Bell are being idiots giving us such a poor guide and search compared to other satellite companys.
 
Only $4.99 ppv are considered in the credits. You rent an adult ppv or special event, and you will be billed for it.
 
what number were you calling to set up your install appointment?

it should be 1-888-366-2690...i haven't heard of any wait times at Express Serve's install centre.
 
Not 100% true.

I had *C and I WAS simsubbed. It all depends on your location. BTW - I live near Barrie, ON. I had Simsubs on many US networks.
 
It's all the luck of the draw.....

*C may have better customer service (open for debate) but Bell has the better product. I've had both and have come back to Bell for the 9200 PVR. The DSR530 from *C was not ready for release when I owned it. From what I understand it's better now but the feature set on the 9200 is above the DSR530 and it's cheaper!

Bell also offer's more programming if your looking for selection.

Another topic that comes up alot...." *C has a better picture " I've had both providers on the same TV....I can see no difference...in fact some Bell channels (PPV) are cleaner then *C....another open for debate topic.

Cheers
 
After weeks of unanswered emails and endlessly waiting on the phone, I went to a Bell dealership the other day to order a HDTV receiver for my condo.

They told me they do not deal with MDUs and to call Bell. So It old them that I already had done that, and it was fruitless. So they gave the phone number of a MDU installer and I left voice mail with them.

After some waiting, I ordered a HDTV receiver on the Bell website last evening. Today the MDU installer called me and said that they cannot sell MDU HDTV receivers on the website and I should cancel it.

Oh dear - this is the start of the worst customer service I have seen in history of ever dealing with any company. First of all, I waited for about 30 mins (I called the commercial line - MDUs are not regular customers apparantly). The guy said that I needed to cancel the MDU order because they cannot provide me with a HDTV receiver for a MDU to purchase - I should go see a dealer. Why their website is stupid enough not to tell me that, or why it allows me to purchase a receiver then, is beyond me.

Anyway, I did not have my order number with me, so he could not cancel it. He said I had to cancel it within 24 hours or I will be charged. I drove all the way home, and got the number. Got back on the phone to ask them to cancel - waited endlessly.

Then I decided to give the regular phone number a try. After 25 mins wait a very rude CSR answered and basically told me she could not help me and the order would be cancelled automatically.

Having read these forums in the past, I know that things don't work as they should with Bell. Eventually she said only a manager could deal with my problem. Instead of transferring me to him, she just cut me off.

So back on the phone to the commercial line - at least they knew what I was talking about the first time. I waited for 30 mins - then I noticed on the website there is a virtual webstore office or whatever - so I thought I would call them - seeing that I had ordered with them in the first place.

Amazingly there was just a voice mail saying that the office was closed (this is in the middle of the day) because of technical difficulties.

So I get back on the phone with the commerical line - after 1 hour wait and still no answer, I put the phone down.

How on earth can these people do business and why would anyone want to deal with them.

My only other choice now is to go with Shaw which has just a pathetic lineup. I do not think I can deal with this kind of non-existent customer service - and I stil don't know if I can or cannot get HDTV service in my MDU.

And if I could would I really want to deal with this poor service. BTW - I tried
StarChoice a couple of months ago and I did not have line of sight from my suite. I was going to put a dish on my balcony - so that is not a choice either.
 
about the 30 days notice, I'll explain with the example of a good customer

mr.X subscribe on april 15th so his bill goes from the 15th to the 14th of the next month.

mr.X as always been paying his bill on the due date, a few years down the road mr.X believe he should get a mind of own and decides to cancel is brainwashing tv service. Since mr.X did his homeworks he calls in on the 15th of the month saying that he wants to cancel his subscribtion, after giving hell to the deactivation guy and passing through the maze of saving offers he gets his disconnection but with a 30 days notice.

But there's a dilemma mr.X receives a bill a few days later (or sooner) charging him for the 30 days perdiod where he doesn't receive services. In all his wiseness mr.X knows that Bell will reverse the charge on his account at the end of that 30 days notice so he just ignores the bill.
 
unfortunately, when you are in an MDU, only one department can handle your service...regular stores and retailers can't sell you the hardware...also, your MDU must be equipped with the Sat Upgrade Kit in order for you to be able to use HDTV on it...the people on the MDU line will know if it is equipped or not.
 
Hello everyone.
It's nice to see a canadian forum dealing with our issues.
Now to start, I was a *C subscriber for close to 7 years, (401 reciever), never had any major problems and was happy with the service.
I started to get the bug to upgrade to HD but with money being what it is I had to think about doing this piecemeal. Early last year I got interested with the 500 reciever but the local *C guy said I should wait as they are having lots of problems with the unit. So I decided to get the HD dish first, I could not tune that thing in for the life of me and finally had to have the installation guy do it for me, so I'm up to about 150.00 total now.
Everything was back to normal, late in the fall my man on the inside said the reciever(the 500) had most of the problems worked out so I should think about the upgrade. In early Nov. the reciever, no dish, went on sale for 399.00 so I picked it up. So now I was up to close to 600.00 with taxes.
Well from that point on our T.V. life became a major hassle, days of phone calls could not resolve the issues of channels changing by themselves, horrible motion artifacts on the HD stations and some audio troubles, plus the fact that although *C says they offer 9 HD stations only 7 are accessable unless you but into some movie package and no TSNHD, now I know that Bell owns TSN and it has been said that they wouldn't sell programing to *C, I rather believe that *C wouldn't buy it because they don't seen to me to be that into HD programing period.
With all of this going on I decided to switch to BEV, found the 6100 set online at futureshop for 299.00 (up over 900.00) now, it was very easy to tune in and get going. Everything was fine but the picture was extremely dark! Back to the phones, over a week of calls with hours on the the phone = no change!
We are just living with it now until we figure how to deal with this. Maybe we'll just watch CBC OTA and be done with it.
mightymike
 
the only rant i have about expressvu is the lack of channels. compared to rogers a lot of channels are missing, some (i.e. MSNBC, discovery wings, TMN on demand) were never even added despite the obvious demand for them. all i hear from BEV are excuses instead of solutions. i'm seriously considering switching to rogers digital cable. it may cost a little bit more every month but at least i'll get more programming and more choice, especially since rogers is already carrying fox news for 6 months. fox news, MSNBC, discovery wings, TMN on demand are not even on the horizon with BEV.
 
Found a thing about how they changed it here: http://www.outtv.ca/p/column.asp?columnID=53

I didn't read very far into it as it was beyond my comfort level; especially being at work at the moment. You never know who's going to come around the corner and look at your screen.
 
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