XBR_II
04-09-2002, 4:46 AM
As some of you may recall, I purchased a StarChoice system and one year's subscription as a Christmas present for my in-laws. Unfortunately, either the system was improperly installed or one or more components is faulty (there's a complete loss of signal every couple of minutes, which makes watching tv all but impossible).
The sad thing about this whole affair is that they were too embarrassed to tell me about this for fear of hurting my feelings. They're in their late 70's and early 80's and, frankly, a little intimidated by the technology. This meant they were reluctant to contact StarChoice directly to try to get this matter resolved on their own.
I first discovered the problem in mid February when we spent the weekend at their home. I called StarChoice and they arranged to have the original installer come back and check it out. I (and I assume StarChoice) thought the problem would end there. Sadly, it did not. The picture continued to cut in and out but, again, my in laws said nothing. What they did instead was haul out their old B&W set and dust off a pair of rabbit ears. Only when we visited again at Easter did we discover the truth.
I called StarChoice again and they arranged another service visit (I believe this call was placed on Saturday). Thursday arrives and still no call from the installer. I called the installation company directly (I won't mention the name) and they dispatched two guys that later that morning.
Great, I thought. We can get this put to bed once and for all and my in laws can finally watch television again. Nope. These two guys tell my in laws that the signal is cutting out because of moisture behind the dish (!) and that a line of trees on the neighbouring property is blocking the signal. They tell them they will have to call StarChoice to get authorization to move the dish and leave without saying when they will come back.
I wasn't satisfied with this explanation and neither was my brother in law. My brother in law took a look at the dish and noticed that if he tapped the LNB the signal would shoot up to the high 80s and then slowly drop back down to the low 50s. Tap it again, same thing. Apparently, the installers never even swapped out the LNB to determine if it might have been defective, something I would expect would be standard procedure.
I spoke with my in-laws earlier today and they still hadn't heard back from the installation company. So I called StarChoice yet again and this time my call was passed on to a very pleasant lady by the name of Lea. I think she was genuinely appalled by what I told her and said she will personally monitor this case and ensure that it gets resolved promptly (and I believe she really means it). She walk my brother in law through resetting one of the receivers so that the installer would have to get it re-authorized (thus ensuring that they don't "fluff off" the old folks one more time). She also put through an immediate credit to their account for the full duration of the outage and promised a further credit to cover the period from today going forward. And she sent a request to the quality assurance department to launch a review.
I'll just add that Lea called me back this evening to update me on what has taken place thus far and said I would be hearing from her every step of the way. I have to say I was greatly impressed by this young lady and have every confidence things will turn out right in her hands.
I'll be sure to keep you posted.
The sad thing about this whole affair is that they were too embarrassed to tell me about this for fear of hurting my feelings. They're in their late 70's and early 80's and, frankly, a little intimidated by the technology. This meant they were reluctant to contact StarChoice directly to try to get this matter resolved on their own.
I first discovered the problem in mid February when we spent the weekend at their home. I called StarChoice and they arranged to have the original installer come back and check it out. I (and I assume StarChoice) thought the problem would end there. Sadly, it did not. The picture continued to cut in and out but, again, my in laws said nothing. What they did instead was haul out their old B&W set and dust off a pair of rabbit ears. Only when we visited again at Easter did we discover the truth.
I called StarChoice again and they arranged another service visit (I believe this call was placed on Saturday). Thursday arrives and still no call from the installer. I called the installation company directly (I won't mention the name) and they dispatched two guys that later that morning.
Great, I thought. We can get this put to bed once and for all and my in laws can finally watch television again. Nope. These two guys tell my in laws that the signal is cutting out because of moisture behind the dish (!) and that a line of trees on the neighbouring property is blocking the signal. They tell them they will have to call StarChoice to get authorization to move the dish and leave without saying when they will come back.
I wasn't satisfied with this explanation and neither was my brother in law. My brother in law took a look at the dish and noticed that if he tapped the LNB the signal would shoot up to the high 80s and then slowly drop back down to the low 50s. Tap it again, same thing. Apparently, the installers never even swapped out the LNB to determine if it might have been defective, something I would expect would be standard procedure.
I spoke with my in-laws earlier today and they still hadn't heard back from the installation company. So I called StarChoice yet again and this time my call was passed on to a very pleasant lady by the name of Lea. I think she was genuinely appalled by what I told her and said she will personally monitor this case and ensure that it gets resolved promptly (and I believe she really means it). She walk my brother in law through resetting one of the receivers so that the installer would have to get it re-authorized (thus ensuring that they don't "fluff off" the old folks one more time). She also put through an immediate credit to their account for the full duration of the outage and promised a further credit to cover the period from today going forward. And she sent a request to the quality assurance department to launch a review.
I'll just add that Lea called me back this evening to update me on what has taken place thus far and said I would be hearing from her every step of the way. I have to say I was greatly impressed by this young lady and have every confidence things will turn out right in her hands.
I'll be sure to keep you posted.