Voom to disable OTA tuner in STB?

[ralphfr]

Wase4711...i Humbly Disagree......

A car lease is a flawed analogy. The dealer did not come to my house to deleiver or install anything. The car is a commodity in and of itself. I went to the dealer to pick-up my car and I'm expected to return at the lease termination.

If VOOM needs ther equipment returned then they should do whatever is necessary to retrieve the equipment with th least amount of inconvenience to the customer. If they send me boxes to return the box I'm not going to pack them up and run off to the USPS or UPS. They better make arrangements for a pick-up at my convenience. Besides unless the dish can be used for another service then they're not taking the box without taking that too. And they better fix the holes in my roof if that's the case.

This is not a backlash because VOOM folded. That's was not my fault. It was there's.

 

[wase4711]

But Ralph, you INVITED VOOM to come over to your house; I assume they did not telemarket you and sell you on their service that way...You CHOSE VOOM, and agreed to their TOS, and, I assume, even though I haven't read the "fine print" lately, that there is a mention in there about returning their equipment when the "lease" period is over..

The holes in the roof were made because YOU asked them to install their system on your house, NOT because they decided arbitrarily to come to your house and make holes in the roof...

I guess reading the fine print in their TOS is what they will eventually fall back on if folks don't want to return the equipment...

 

[SeattleVoomer1]

Vicki, the voice of reason! I didn't think I'd live to see...

What the heck is everybody fighting about? As far as I know, no one has asked for any equipment back from the customers.

If they do ask for it back, and they send a prepaid mailer, I'll call UPS, FedEx, or whoever to pick it up and send it back. If they don't send a prepaid mailer...it'll be S.O.L., as I agree with Vurbano that the time and money expenditure is not gonna be on me...let Cablevision foot that bill.

When I disconnected last summer, they sent someone to pick up the STBs. The de-installer was ready to take the dish and antenna, but when I told him if he wanted to, I would expect him to pay for any further repair costs on my roof, he decided he didn't really need to take them.

Why not just chill out until we know whether we have something to holler about? Vicki

the day!

Just kidding, Vicki. Good post amid all the speculation. I have a feeling we'll find out about OTA when we find out and not before. Since we purchased our VOOM service I guess we'll be out of luck on getting our money back but life ain't always fair.

However, still enjoying HDTV until VOOM is buried under sunny, of course, Seattle skies, Gill

 

[Vicki]

Since we purchased our VOOM service I guess we'll be out of luck on getting our money back but life ain't always fair.

However, still enjoying HDTV until VOOM is buried under sunny, of course, Seattle skies, Gill

Gill, I am a "leased equipment" customer, and I do feel that those of you who bought the equipment are due a prorated refund. But again, nobody knows anything at this point (what else is new?!), and however it washes out, there's no point in hollering until we know for sure we've been hurt...not that losing VoOm isn't hurt enough! Vicki

 

[ralphfr]

Wase4711.........

Yes I did invite them. And I invite them back to come and get the equipment at my convenience the same way they came for the install. And since they chose to install the dish and OTA antenna by drilling holes in my roof I feel they should reverse the process. I'm not asking for them to repair anything that was not a direct result of the install. My expectation was that I would have satellite tv service continuously until I decided not to.

And maybe there is a little defiance/anger in my opinion about all this. They can never make up for my loss of EQUATOR and DISCOVERYHD.

 

[dankgus]

Gill, I am a "leased equipment" customer, and I do feel that those of you who bought the equipment are due a prorated refund.

Just how is Voom supposed to Prorate the purchase price? When you have a bill from say, the cable company, and you only had service for half a month, they prorate it and charge you half the normal rate.

So, what length of time could Voom possibly use to base a prorated price on? You could argue that Voom SHOULD have lasted 25 years so you deserve like 99% of your purchase price back, while Voom could argue that their service lasted about 95% of the expected life and you get only 5% back. In reality, there was no length of service specified.

The purchasers knowingly took a risk in buying the equipment. There were NO promises of length of service. I rented equipment as I didn't want to have it break and be stuck without equipment, or a new model come out and obsolete my purchase, or *Voom could go out of business*. I calculated things out and determined renting was just the only way to go. Some apparently didn't think things through and bought the equipment instead (which makes NO sense to me but hey, whatever floats your boat).

--Dan

 

[TechCop]

Purchase price minus $5 per month...

So, what length of time could Voom possibly use to base a prorated price on? You could argue that Voom SHOULD have lasted 25 years so you deserve like 99% of your purchase price back, while Voom could argue that their service lasted about 95% of the expected life and you get only 5% back. In reality, there was no length of service specified.--Dan

Isn't thant the fee per month we "rental" customers paid?

I have to admit, fear of Voom's demise did play a part in my decision to rent, but I don't think those who purchased should be stuck with a overpriced paper weight.

 

[Vicki]

My thought on proration was more along the lines of spread out over the warranty period. I think it could be argued that there was an implied length of service period due to the specificity of the unit being only compatible with VoOM, and the length of the warranty would imply that VoOm expected to provide service at least that long.

But hey, I don't understand the legal ins-and-outs, I just feel a pro-rated refund based on how long someone used the unit vs. the warranty period would be fair. Vicki

 

[madpoet]

Prorating a refund would be quite simple. Take what I would have paid to lease my boxes for the time I had them versus what I did pay to buy them. Give me the difference.

 

[jnardone]

Prorating a refund would be quite simple. Take what I would have paid to lease my boxes for the time I had them versus what I did pay to buy them. Give me the difference.

That seems fair - I'll take that too - but should we have to pay the full lease price for those first few months with bad firmware, no guide information, constant reboots and no OTA scanning?

 

[dankgus]

You can't be serious

You guys are taking this too far, its hard to believe you are serious. Buying the boxes was a big risk that had little chance of ever paying off.

 

[philhu]

Again, I say, VIDEOGUIDE!

Recap - They sold a box only good for their service. When they closed, they had people return purchased boxes and refunded their money. Exact same precident. Exact same. I know, I got $100+ back from them.

If you sell something under warranty and the box no longer works, whether system wide or because they choose not to send a signal to it, it is broken! And don't give me the stuff about OTA is still working, people bought and paid for SATELLITE service. VOOM is NOT going bankrupt, so Cablevision/Rainbow must still honor their obligations!

 

[madpoet]

dankgus, here's the delimna. Those boxes were sold with a 2 year warranty. Legally they HAVE to honor that warranty. Voom did not go bankrupt because they were never a seperate entity from CV. Thereforce CV assumes the responsibility and liability. I've got about a year left on both my boxes for warranty, and you better believe if they don't buy me out I will file warranty requests on both of them. And if it isn't honored, I will contact my state AG. He likes to sue everyone and their mother anyway. I'm not being silly here and asking for all my money back. I want a very fairly prorated refund. They can have their hardware back, and I will never say a bad word about them.

-MP

 

[timnchi]

You people are throwing things out of proportion. What if, there's plenty of them, another company buys the failing Voom and lets the customers use the same equipment?? There could be a new company forming to replace Voom.. Until I know for sure, I am not going to work my nerves for all the drama...

 

[johnalan]

HEY VOOM...

If you'd like make a few dollars on this satellite deal, leave the OTA portion of the box working. The folks who bought the box will feel a bit better, being able to use it for OTAs, and those who were leasing the box - you could SELL them the OTA at a reasonable price, so they too, could continue to get locals...sans the prgm guide.

I agree, there may be someone waiting in the wings. Having several thousand receivers already in people's homes is a good first step. Who knows, maybe some other group will use the voom stb.

Everyone needs to relax and enjoy VoOM while we can. We can fuss about all this other stuff later. Hope there is still a VoOM forum for a while after the service is gone.

 

[bryan27]

Johnalan, my thoughts exactly. If OTA continues to work I would gladly pay $200 for the box. USDTV's OTA STB sells for $199 brand new and will receive PSIP guide data from local stations so $200 is more than reasonable for a box that is 1 year old, receives OTA only, and doesn't receive the PSIP guide data.

 

[jbtcajun]

owned receiver will still have ota?

Was wondering if the owned receivers were going to keep functioning. Wouldn't it be a hassle for Voom to disable all ota and not owned receivers? This ota thing has me on the edge of my seat as that will determine how quickly I switch to another provider.

 

[madpoet]

THey supposedly will, but no official word yet.

 

[wase4711]

Unless the warranty SPECIFICALLY states that it remains in effect if VOOM goes under, you folks who purchased would have no legal recourse; there is no "implied" codicilles in the warranty; read it closely and I am sure there is a disclaimer about "implied warranty"..

I have gone through this before, and inevitably the consumer gets screwed, so I wouldn't plan on seeing any $$$ if you decide to bring litigation...
I was going to sign up for VOOM very early on, but they only offerred a purchase program for their equipment at that time, so I waited for the rental/free install offer..

Lesson to be learned: NEVER EVER buy hardware for ANY VIDEO provider, unless there is no rental program offerred...

 

[madpoet]

Actually, you'd be incorrect. Unless it specifically states it DOES NOT remain in force if Voom goes under then it still applies and the are still liable. Again, the company running Voom did not go bankrupt.