[VOOM] VOOM LIES (Newbies Be Careful) - Re: Voom-News Article

K

kfried001

Guest
Original poster
Given the fact that they need 1.5M customers to break even, why the
heck does VOOM continue to do nothing to keep customers from leaving
and even lie to them straight out and do nothing to compensate for or
address it.

Case in point:

I signed up with VOOM last October. A week before my moneyback
guarantee ended VOOM called to ask which plus pack I wanted. Instead
of choosing a plus pack I chose Va Va VOOM. I also purchased 4
receivers because I was promised that I would only have to pay a $5.00
household mirroring fee and not $5.00 for each receiver. To cover
myself (in case that policy changed), I had a supervisor send me an
email which stated that as long as I remain a VOOM customer and do not
interrupt my service, I will never have to pay for each receiver, just
$5.00 for the entire houselhold (up to six receivers). In addition,
the email said I could go back to the basic + 1 plus pack anytime I
wanted to and still maintain my Charter Membership. This is the only
reason I ordered the extra receivers. BTW, I was never by VOOM nor the
the CSR that called in April that I would loose my charter status if I
went with Va Va VOOM. (And what the heck does being a charter member
have to do with what programming you choose anyway? what intelligent
individual thought that one up?) Shouldn't the criteria for being a
Charter Memeber be based on the date you became a VOOM customer and
not on what programming package you chose. Heck, I guess they really
didn't want the extra revenue they were getting from the Va Va VOOM
package. I won't mention the supervisors name, but VOOM should have
more like him because he knows what customer service really means.

Since my original installation, I have had continual problems with the
VOOM service (loss of picture, OTA going out, boxes hanging, reboots
etc.) up until about a month ago. Wilt helped out by getting a
different OTA installed for me (they incrementally went to larger and
larger antennas until they got one that worked. It took 5 trips before
they put the one up that I asked for in the first place, but it also
needed a power booster. My wife wanted VOOM out of the house very
badly, she thought the service was a joke as she does not like being
on the cutting edge of technology. Nor did she appreciate how much
time I invested in VOOM both on the phone and with the installers. I
also helped VOOM's marketing department out in a variety of ways and
talked with outside vendors they used for various promotional and
programming topics. I was also asked by VOOM to attend several
conference calls with Motorolla and Install's Inc. to help them
identify which OTA worked in my area as we are surrounded by mountains
and some issues involving the STB. My wife and family wanted Direct TV
back as we never had any customer service or hardware/software issues
and that was what they were used to ( At least none that they didn't
do something to make us happy customers). In addition, my kids missed
all the Nickelodeon stations VOOM lacked. Now all we have Direct TV
for is the NFL ticket and Sports Package for my local RSN because we
canceled all the other programming with Direct TV when we got VOOM. I
stuck with VOOM and convinced my family to go along with me because I
knew Wilt would get all the technical issues resolved and VOOM had
always treated me great, with quick response times on services calls
and credits to my account to compensate for loss of service and
hassles. About a month ago the installer for my area sent out a senior
tech to go over the entire installation. He found a lot of sloppy
work, such as the switch box not being secured downed. Instead it was
left dangling from the antenna for dish (btw, they replaced the
switch 3 times because of fault equipment). same with the power for
the OTA. He found most cables were not crimped tightly and easily
moved. He was really upset that someone from his company did an
installation like this. Well he fixed everything and even caulked the
outside holes where the drilled for the cabeling. Now thanks to the
installation company and Wilt everthing in the house is rock solid. I
get all my locals incluing two from another city 90 miles south of my
house, I got a 30" dish to help with rain fade, all new receivers with
the latest software and new cable tips for all cables. For the last
month I don't think think I had a single audio dropout or a single
pixelation in the last month. I have Tivo set up for VOOM and HD
recordings look great when recorded in best quality mode.

I figured now VOOM is now prime time and is destined to be the best
satellite provider in the country once they added all the RSN's and
some additional "core" SD channels like Sci-Fi, all the Discovery
channels etc... So for 9 months we suffered with constant random
outages and just a very poor VOOM experience because of a lousy
install and initial receiver firmware bugs and lack of features. My
family now loves VOOM and everone thought I made the right decisions.
In addition all the kids have their own receivers so there is no
fighting of who can watch what and when.

Now I get this month's bill and I have $15.00 extra on my bill, $5.00
fee for each receiver, instead of $5.00 houshold mirror fee. I called
VOOM up to ask why all of a sudden I am being charged for the
receivers. The CSR said it was an obvious mistake since I was a
charter member and credited my account for overcharge. The CSR also
escalated this to the billing department so it wouldn't happen again.
Three days later I received a call from the VOOM billing department.
An extremely nice individual apologed for the mistake and was told it
was taken care of and I will not be charged again. He said for some
reason, my account recently was changed to non charter status. He sad
that he applied the credit and put me back as a charter member.

A few days later I get another call from the VOOM billing department
(this time a lady...name witheld) to let me know that was calling in
reference to an escalation they received from a CSR. I told the lady
that it was all taken care of and that a person from billing had
already called me up and told me everything was taken care of. She got
very stern and said she never authorized anyone to call me. She went
on to tell me that I had to pay the $5.00 for each reciver because I
was not a charter member anymore since I chose the Va Va VOOM package
back in April (She reversed my status to non-charter and removed the
credit as well). I asked her if that was the case, why wasn't I ever
charged until know. She didn't have an answer. I then told her I had a
note from a supervisor telling me that I was entitled to a $5.00
household mirroring fee for life. Now get this; she said she saw the
email noted in my records, talked to the supervisor who sent it out
for verification, and then said that VOOM was not going to honor what
they sent me in writing. I told her that I would not have purchased
the extra receivers if I had known that I would have to pay extra for
them as was told from day 1 that that was one of the benefits of being
a charter memeber. I was olso told on day 1 that my price of $39.95 +
1 free plus pack wold never change. I never heard of such perks in the
sateelite/cable industry but I figured that it was because VOOM was a
new company up against two very large competitors, and they were doing
whatever it would take to beat the competition. She said I could
easily disconnect the receivers if I didn't want to get charged. She
didn't get it, I paid $200 for each of them and had an email stating I
didn't have to pay $5.00 for each receiver. She said there was nothing
she was going to do about it, no credit, no buy back of the receivers
since my MBG ended in April and that was final. She wouldn't even
activate them if I sold them. I asked her why a company would treat a
customer like this so early in it's life when it needs to get and keep
as many subs as possible (no company should every treat a customer
like this anyway). She said "well, we are doing pretty well now". It
sounded like, OK, when we needed you we made promises to keep you pat
the MBG period. Now you can't get any money back and we are adding
subs at a good pace so we don't need you anymore. I was totally
shocked, stunned more like it. I could not believe a company would lie
like this and not stand behind a comitment they made. She said the
only thing she was willing to do was to escalate it to her boss, but
it wasn't going to change the situation. She would not give me her
bosses name or anyone else I could talk to about this. I asked her if
this was the case I might have to go to small claims court to get my
money for the receivers back. She then said if I was planning on suing
the company, she was no longer allowed to talk to me.

I did get a call from her boss a few days later, and he said he
contacted corporate and said VOOM would do the right thing by me (he
agreed I was entitled to the lifetime mirroring fee because I was
promised it, but said there was no official policy about how long the
charter members were even entitled to this benefit. He said he could
not change my status unless he received authorization from corporate
as he could loose his job. He PROMISED he would definately call me
back the next day when he was supposed to call corporate for an
answer. Well, it's been over two weeks and I have not heard back from
anyone. I have called VOOM to talk to him to find out the status but
the CSRs say they are not allowed to put people through to billing.
All he could do was fill out and escalation form and someone from
billing would call be back in 3 to 5 days. Every CSR I talked to could
not believe how VOOM handled this situation.

It is too bad, I got six people to sign up for VOOM and I really love
the programming. But this is just outrageously poor customer service.
When I got VOOM, I told Direct TV that I switch to VOOM but could not
get RSN's. I asked if I could buy their sports package which has all
the RSN's (all I really needed was mine Fox Sports Arizona) plus The
Outdoor Channel. They said that normally you need to have a base
package like total choice, but the CSR said they would do it because
they wanted my business back if I ever decided to leave VOOM (which sh
said I would probably do becasue they have a lot of HD programming
being lined up, inhd?). Now Direct TV has awesome customer service.
They always have, but this goes beyond being good, this is was great
customer service.

I just called Direct TV today to price an HD set up and because they
are offering 6 months of free HD programming. Most NFL ticket games
will be in Hi-Def this year. They had it noted in my account that I
switched to VOOM and asked why I was coming back. When I told her, all
she could say was "Oh My God". She got real friendly then and confided
in me about what HD channels they would be offering by the end of the
year, and this was just the begining. She awesome deal on the
equipment and programming and gave me every incentive offer they had.
She even dropped the price for the sports package if I wanted to keep
it to $2.00 per month for the next 12 months and offered some other
deals to help offset my loss for the VOOM equipment. I can't discuss
which HD channels they are adding, but is significant enough for me
not to worry to much about leaving VOOM (i may just keep the base
package for Worldsport and the Cinema's) which I feel I have no choice
based on pure moral reasons if nothing else.

This is a very unfortunate situation because I have enjoyed being part
of VOOM's growth and seeing a new company grow and helping where I
could. I am not putting down anything about VOOM, it is just their
customer service, policy changes and/or lack of clearly communicated
policies as well as a management I don't feel can take VOOM to the
next level quick enough, IMHO. I never even complained once about the
degredation in PQ, although looking at HDnet it looked sharper than
most VOOM channels especially Equator which has this look that I can't
explain. It is sort of like a little blur like you see in the summer
comming of the street, sort of wavey in some parts of the screen when
filming form the air. As for programming, I think the Cinema's have
come a long way, so noone should be complaining about content. Rave
has awesome PQ although I can see the same concerts on PBS. I was
expecting a channels with converted concerts and ones that VOOM would
shoot new, not just a rip-off of the PBS 1 hour series. So the way I
see the programming I will not be getting with Direct TV,

1) Cinema 10 - will miss a little. Shows movies I don't think I would
have ever seen without VOOM but could have lived without ever seeing.
But there are some really great movies on these channels and the
content is getting better and better.

2) Animania - my kids love Henry's World and the Grave Diggers, but
like Nicktoons better which VOOM Doesn't have.

3) HDnews - Won't miss.

4) MOOV, Gallery, Ultra, Auction - Won't miss.

5) Rush - Might miss because it has potential. It didn't turn out to
have as much new content or stuff that I like, speedboat racing, jet
skiing, ATV'ing, Wakeboarding (I know there is one episode from Hawaii).

6) Rave - Won't miss. HDnet has much better concerts (not just 1 hour
segments),I can watch SoundStage on PBS in HD.

7) Equator - Won't miss. I was excited about this channel at first.
But it doesn't take yo "into the streets" of different cities so you
can feel like you are there experiencing it.

8) Monsters - Will miss, but has becoe repetitive and doesn't have as
much new horror as I expected. I saw Children of the Corn II bit never
saw the others. But the Horror Channel is comming out in two months
and will have a larger variety but not HD.

9) Worldsport - Will miss without a doubt.

10) All Premiums, HBO, SHOW, CINEMAX, STARZ - will be on Direct as
will TNT and BRAVO. Plus Direct already has ESPN, HD PPV and HDnet
(Bikini Destinations!!!), HDmovies and they will have an exclusive on
the NFL ticket for another 5 years, next year ALL games will be in HD.

So if I take away the 21 VOOM exclusives I think Direc TV will be
pretty much on par with VOOM and maybe have a channel or two that we
VOOMer's have wanted for a long time and was even advertised in VOOM's
brochure at one time. Plus Direct TV has no sales tax. So with all the
Premiums + HD + Sports Package I will be paying only about $11 more
with Direct TV and have all the SD's like Sci-Fi that I don't get with
VOOM.

So I may have lost some money with the equipment but Direct TV helped
ease that pain somewhat if/when I decide to go with them, but VOOM
probably just lost 7 people that would have been customers for life. I
really don't see how they will survive if they need 1.5M customers to
break even and they are at 40K now and are not agressive in retaining
current customers.

Sorry for the long post, but I thought new people considering VOOM
should here how their policies may put them out of business quicker
than anything else would. So think a lot harder than I did ( I am a
very trusting person, but I only get burnt once ) before investing in
a lot of equipment, i.e. DVR - who knows, they will probably offer it
for no monthly fee at first and then start charging $25.00 per month
for the service for it. Who knows what policy will be next. THEY DON'T
EVEN HONOR WHAT THAT GIVE YOU IN WRITING. Another promise the CSR who
signed me up said was that all charter members would be getting a DVR
for free when they come out and charter members were the ones who
signed up before Jan 1, 2004. Oh yeah, but I forgot, I am not a
charter member anymore since I decided to give my satellite company
more money to help them be successful. Seriously, I don' watch StarZ
and could be paying $15 less per month.

So for a meesly $10 per month for extra receivers VOOM will most
likely loose 7 customers to Direct TV. My friends that got VOOM only
purchased one receiver so Direct TV will make it a wash for them. We
are the type of subscribers that would have subscribed to every
channel VOOM offered (most of them anyway) becasue we all had C-band
systems and gloated about how many channels we got, e/w feeds on just
about every channel. I can say however, that I have no worries
investing in equipment from Direct TV which will soon have 13 million
customers. A pretty large base to offer HDTV to. They also have the
market on sports. So after the next two quarters when they have added
the HD movies channels, they are going after HD sports. I was
wondering what they were going to do with three more satellite...

Ken


--- In VOOM@yahoogroups.com, "williamhunteman" <whunteman@n...> wrote:
> http://www.nypost.com/business/28594.htm




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What a mess! CS is the 2nd most important part of any venture, product reliability, I believe is 1st, pricing last.
Question, why can't you pass on the new HD channels D* is going to be offering? It's not a Doctor patient confidence?
Good luck!
 
jjabfjj said:
What a mess! CS is the 2nd most important part of any venture, product reliability, I believe is 1st, pricing last.
Question, why can't you pass on the new HD channels D* is going to be offering? It's not a Doctor patient confidence?
Good luck!

He's probably a Trojan Horse sent into the forum by DTV. :shocked
 
I actually have a good thing to say about VOOM's customer service...when my installer pushed my install back TWICE, VOOM gave me two months free!
 
I'm not sure I'm following... You said that you paid $200.00 a piece for your receivers, and you are on the rental option? How does that work (under the old offers)?

"She didn't get it, I paid $200 for each of them and had an email stating I
didn't have to pay $5.00 for each receiver."

You said it yourself "So for a measly $10 per month for extra receivers" over a measly $10 you got yourself SO worked up & posted such an exhausting message? I can respect that you were misinformed & that you want the programming you were offered, but to get so worked up about it... shheesh.
 
This is a babble of nonsense, DTV has 13 million members they should have all kinds of HDTV offerings, they don't give a damn, Voom has made them take notice. Some of the HDTV predictions (50 million HDTV sets being sold) as well. When you join DTV do you think they will know you are joining them because of their HDTV offerings? ha!
 
[VOOM] (Wilt) VOOM LIES (Newbies Be Careful) - Re: Voom-News Article

I wish Jeff Yapp was still with VOOM he would never of let this
happen. I will contact Chris Chabers before making a final decsion
but his email is on my desktop which is in Best Buy for repair. It is
people like you Wilt and Jeff, Chris, the dragon lady and the the
Supervisor that sent me the email confirming my mirroring fee (I
don't want to mention his name) that have really contributed so much
to VOOM. I remember when Sean was going to bail on VOOM several many
months ago. It was funny, we both decided to stay and sent each other
emails saying we are glad each of us stayed. It was because of the
dedication and hard work you gys put in to accomplish the job. Wilt,
you know how awesome I think you are and I hope VOOM survives for at
least your sake. It would suck if they didn't after all the crap you
took from some subs and all the hard work and issues you resolved for
this venture to fail.

What the heck happened to the people in the billing department. I
know they outsourced the sales group is that department outsourced as
well. They really have the attitude that they don't give a S**t about
customers. Well, maybe they are accountant types and not customer
service types, because the CSR's I know thnk I am geting shafted big
time.

I just want you to know that if I leave, I really appreciate
everythiing you ever did or offered to do for me. You really are a
top notch individual. As for switching to Direct TV, I know I am
taking a step backwards because I truley believe sosmehow, someway,
despite corporate policies that VOOM is and will continue to be the
best satellite provider for HD hands-hown and after the upgrades,
maybe een the best sat provider period. But VOOM needs to leave the
cable customer service behind. Maybe I was lucky, but the only
problems I ever had with dish or direct was my dish 6000 had to be
replaced twice.. Keep up the awesome work, VOOM is going to need you
with the new receiver and the mpeg4 upgrade big time.I wish I could
get in contact with the Dolans to let them know about this incident.
I would really like to here what they would say.

Regards,
Ken


--- In VOOM@yahoogroups.com, Wilt Hildenbrand <wilth@o...> wrote:
> Okay but I still passed it into the group. :)
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: kfried001 [mailto:kfried@c...]
> Sent: Monday, August 09, 2004 3:34 PM
> To: VOOM@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [VOOM] VOOM LIES (Newbies Be Careful) - Re: Voom-News

Article
>
>
> Wilt, thanks once again for getting involved, but I don't think you
> can get anything done about this one. You have helped everyone out

so
> much over the last year that I didn't want to bug you with an issue

I
> didn't think was worth your time, because it involves the billing
> department and corporate.
>
> You got VOOM to be just as stable as any other provider. It's just a
> shame that now that everthing works great and my family loves VOOM,
> that this incident ocurred. I dind't leave yet as I have two months

of
> credits, but I never thought I would ever leave VOOM. The system
> rocks, except for a few SD channels and the RSN's for everyone.
>
> Ken
>
> --- In VOOM@yahoogroups.com, Wilt Hildenbrand <wilth@o...> wrote:
> > On the other hand there was some info in there that was worth

checking
> > into, which we are and as we do with just about any rational post

here.
> > Thanks,
> > Wilt
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Robert Heitner [mailto:ddprobert@y...]
> > Sent: Monday, August 09, 2004 12:42 PM
> > To: VOOM@yahoogroups.com
> > Subject: RE: [VOOM] VOOM LIES (Newbies Be Careful) - Re: Voom-News

> Article
> >
> >
> > Yes, your replies are making it to the yahoo forum.
> >
> > .. and yes, his post was ABSURD in length considering the end

result.
> >
> > My bottom line is If you're not happy with Voom, go somewhere

else. If
> > you're happy with Voom, great. You're not alone by a long stretch.
> >
> > Loving Voom in Kemah, TX,
> >
> >
> > Robert Heitner Jr.
> > Data Developers Plus, Corp. http://www.ddpcorp.com

> <http://www.ddpcorp.com/>
> >
> > Home of DDP's Contact Manager http://www.ddpcontactmanager.com
> > <http://www.ddpcontactmanager.com/>
> >
> > _____
> >
> > From: Love [mailto:Love.1aqc8l@n...]
> > Sent: Monday, August 09, 2004 11:28 AM
> > To: VOOM@yahoogroups.com
> > Subject: [VOOM] VOOM LIES (Newbies Be Careful) - Re: Voom-News

Article
> >
> >
> >
> > I started wondering the same thing after I posted my reply here...
> >
> >
> > --
> > Love
> >
> >
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
> >
> > ADVERTISEMENT
> >
> >

>

<http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=129bpvk32/M=298184.5285298.6392945.300117
6/D=gr
> >

>

oups/S=1705036932:HM/EXP=1092156148/A=2164331/R=0/SIG=11eaelai9/*http:
//www.
> > netflix.com/Default?mqso=60183351> click here
> >
> >

> <http://us.adserver.yahoo.com/l?

M=298184.5285298.6392945.3001176/D=groups/S=
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> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> > * To visit your group on the web, go to:
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VOOM/
> >
> >
> > * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> > VOOM-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> > <mailto:VOOM-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubscribe>
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[VOOM] Re: Ken's message to the VOOM family

Hey, thanks fot the kind words and your honesty. I remeber a lot of
your posts as well, and I pretty much agreed with almost everything
you contributed to this forum.

I signed up in October and got installed the first week of November,
just a little before you, and you are so correct when you state that
you have to be a charter member to understand. It is so true, we were
the ones that watched the same movies on each cinema 10 for the an
entire month and had receivers that if you looked at it wrong it
would crash...Anyay, good to hear from you again.

I am definately getting the HD setup for Direct TV mainly for HDnet
and the NFLL Ticket as well as other sports that are adding very soon
in HD. That may be all I subscribe to right now until I have time to
really think about it and go off a gut reaction. They also have EOD
for StarZ at no extra cost, except that you must hae a DVR to
download your weekly selections.

You did mention that you never had another satellite company to
compare customer serice to. Well I would rate Direct TV as #1, Dish
#2, VOOM #3 and my local cable Cox #4.

Ken

Take Care,
Ken

--- In VOOM@yahoogroups.com, "seattlesatelliter"
<seattlesatelliter@y...> wrote:
> I've followed Ken's postings on here since he first signed up (we've
> been with VOOM since Dec. 12th) since I read all the postings on

Yahoo
> and many on Satelliteguys. While I've not always agreed with his
> attitude about VOOM's installation and service I do not think he has
> ever been other than truthful.
>
> I remember the $5 mirroring fee and could have gotten it myself but

we
> opted for one receiver for $749 + tax (Wash.). You really have to

be
> a charter member to understand Ken's point of view. I'm surprised

his
> message was so rational. Of course, VOOM has done a lot for him but
> if you have something in writing then VOOM should honor it. Period.
>
> Personally, I've kept track of every contact with VOOM be it by

phone
> or email. We had our issues early on but got them resolved thanks

to
> Wilt and a very competent and persistent lady at corporate

headquarters.
>
> We love VOOM but having never had any other satellite service have

no
> way to compare service. We do have Comcast--enough said! Yes, I
> expect our basic package will go up by $10 Jan. 1. We'll survive.
>
> Watching HDTV while barely surviving Seattle sun, Gill
>
> P.S.: Yep, we're softies when it comes to heat. Anything over 85

with
> rh above 50 and we're toast.




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[VOOM] Re: NEWS WRAP:Satellite Service Weighs On Cablevision Results

Bob,
Here is a positive for you. An individual in marketing told me their
goal was 25,000 subs be the end of may. June is only 4 weeks off
that mark. I would say now that the system is stable there will be
less churn and the increase in the number of subs next quarter
should be higer. Also, I believe this was the first quarter where
VOOM started using other channels and distributers for their
product, such as Brandsmart.

Ken


--- In VOOM@yahoogroups.com, "Bob Mankin" <bob@c...> wrote:
>
> > Satellite-TV service Voom posted an operating loss of $81.5
> > million, compared with a $3.6 million operating loss a year
> > earlier. The company said it had 25,000 Voom customers as of

June 30.
> >

>
> Looking for the positives here, would that be a tripling of the

customer
> count in a little over 60 days? I'm assuming "customers" would be

factoring
> in those that have left as well.
>
> Bob




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[ I would say now that the system is stable there will be
less churn and the increase in the number of subs next quarter
should be higer.

Ken]

I would not say the system is stable - the bug that causes audio/video drop when a weak OTA is tuned is rediculous. Especially when there is another bug in the system status screen where you check the OTA signal strength that causes a lock-up requiring a soft reboot. I am re-booting more now than I was with the last software version.

Joseph
 
Joeseph,
I am sorry to here this, but I really have not had a single blip in
any of my receivers or the entire system for that matter since they
fixed the wiring, replaced the faulty antenna card in the receiver
and got the new software. I wonder if you are having the same
problem I did with the antenna module. You may want to try pulling
it out and see if the system gets better. I have five receivers that
I have not had to reboot or touch in over a month.

Ken

--- In VOOM@yahoogroups.com, jnardone <jnardone.1as2i8@n...> wrote:
>
> [ I would say now that the system is stable there will be
> less churn and the increase in the number of subs next quarter
> should be higer.
>
> Ken]
>
> I would not say the system is stable - the bug that causes

audio/video
> drop when a weak OTA is tuned is rediculous. Especially when

there is
> another bug in the system status screen where you check the OTA

signal
> strength that causes a lock-up requiring a soft reboot. I am
> re-booting more now than I was with the last software version.
>
> Joseph
>
>
> --
> jnardone




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Joeseph,
I am sorry to here this, but I really have not had a single blip in
any of my receivers or the entire system for that matter since they
fixed the wiring, replaced the faulty antenna card in the receiver
and got the new software. I wonder if you are having the same
problem I did with the antenna module. You may want to try pulling
it out and see if the system gets better. I have five receivers that
I have not had to reboot or touch in over a month.

Ken

--- In VOOM@yahoogroups.com, jnardone <jnardone.1as2i8@n...> wrote:
>
> [ I would say now that the system is stable there will be
> less churn and the increase in the number of subs next quarter
> should be higer.
>
> Ken]
>
> I would not say the system is stable - the bug that causes

audio/video
> drop when a weak OTA is tuned is rediculous. Especially when

there is
> another bug in the system status screen where you check the OTA

signal
> strength that causes a lock-up requiring a soft reboot. I am
> re-booting more now than I was with the last software version.
>
> Joseph
>
>
> --
> jnardone




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[VOOM] Re: VOOM LIES

Bob,
No problem, don't worry about it. You do know that I am not or ever
was part of the "hope VOOM dies group". I hope VOOM thrives as we
need another innovative competitor to help keep the rest of the
market from stagnating. I also worked on bleeding edge technology
for the first 12 years of my carrer and Encore Computer Corporation.
We made one of the first Massively Parallel Computers in the world.
I worked in the bechmark group doing Oracle Parallel Server
benchmarks. The machine would always crash if the moon, the sun and
the start were not aligned and you looked at your x-terminal in the
wrong way ;-) So I no what it is like to work on bleeding edge stuff
and bringing it to market.

As for the DVR for NFL, I purchased a Tivo box just for VOOM. I am
not a videophile like a lot of people in this group and find that if
I record HD on Best mode it looks good enough for me. Just one more
thing, the only time I "bitches" was when VOOM lied to me and that
was twice. Once was for continually pushing out the date for the 39
HD channels promised and then droping the number 39 totally and
switch to over 30 and this past time. Sorry for any misunderstanding.

Ken

--- In VOOM@yahoogroups.com, "Bob Mankin" <bob@c...> wrote:
> Ken,
>
> My bad. Reading old posts I see your name in a thread about "DVR

by NFL
> season or else", but you didn't initiate it. Apologies for the

confusion.
>
> I'll hold my hand up now and plead guilty to being one of the "pro-

Voom"
> camp who would like to see the complaints die down for reasons

I've already
> stated. Perhaps my perspective is a bit different being that I

work on
> bleeding edge tech all day long(including CE hardware) and have a

better
> sense of the obstacles involved in getting solid hardware and

software
> solutions to perform up to expectations. I see statements that

want to
> suggest it is Voom and only Voom with the problems and that is so

far from
> true. Blanket and irrational statements like that serve no purpose

other
> than to rile the troops, while constructive criticism should not

only be
> accepted, but also directly addressed whenever possible. All IMO,

of course.
>
> People have to remember that the viability of Voom helps everyone,

even the
> current E* and D* customers, because it will eventually force them

to try
> harder. The incumbent DBS companies are already getting spanked in

some HDTV
> markets by the cable cos.(Comcast in my area), but it seems to me

they have
> only answered after much prodding. A strong third player in the

space would
> further speed wider availability of HDTV programming. The "hoping

Voom dies"
> crew are laughable and serve none of our interests.
>
> Good luck with whatever ultimate decision you make on the service.
>
> Bob
>
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: kfried001 [mailto:kfried@c...]
> > Sent: Monday, August 09, 2004 9:04 PM
> > To: VOOM@yahoogroups.com
> > Subject: [VOOM] Re: VOOM LIES
> >
> > Bob,
> > I think you may have me confused with someone else, because I
> > never threatened to leave before because of firmware issues.
> > The only time I said I might leave was before the my money
> > back gurantee was over. If I recall it had to do with the
> > number of channels VOOM promised us last year vs what they
> > actually provided. VOOM promised to have 39 channels by 2/01
> > and then push it off until 2/28 and then pushed it off until
> > 6/01 and then they stopped comitting to a date which I
> > thought was odd. I was concerned, and didn't know whether to
> > take advantage of the MBG or not.




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[VOOM] Re: VOOM LIES

Bob,
No problem, don't worry about it. You do know that I am not or ever
was part of the "hope VOOM dies group". I hope VOOM thrives as we
need another innovative competitor to help keep the rest of the
market from stagnating. I also worked on bleeding edge technology
for the first 12 years of my carrer and Encore Computer Corporation.
We made one of the first Massively Parallel Computers in the world.
I worked in the bechmark group doing Oracle Parallel Server
benchmarks. The machine would always crash if the moon, the sun and
the start were not aligned and you looked at your x-terminal in the
wrong way ;-) So I no what it is like to work on bleeding edge stuff
and bringing it to market.

As for the DVR for NFL, I purchased a Tivo box just for VOOM. I am
not a videophile like a lot of people in this group and find that if
I record HD on Best mode it looks good enough for me. Just one more
thing, the only time I "bitches" was when VOOM lied to me and that
was twice. Once was for continually pushing out the date for the 39
HD channels promised and then droping the number 39 totally and
switch to over 30 and this past time. Sorry for any misunderstanding.

Ken

--- In VOOM@yahoogroups.com, "Bob Mankin" <bob@c...> wrote:
> Ken,
>
> My bad. Reading old posts I see your name in a thread about "DVR

by NFL
> season or else", but you didn't initiate it. Apologies for the

confusion.
>
> I'll hold my hand up now and plead guilty to being one of the "pro-

Voom"
> camp who would like to see the complaints die down for reasons

I've already
> stated. Perhaps my perspective is a bit different being that I

work on
> bleeding edge tech all day long(including CE hardware) and have a

better
> sense of the obstacles involved in getting solid hardware and

software
> solutions to perform up to expectations. I see statements that

want to
> suggest it is Voom and only Voom with the problems and that is so

far from
> true. Blanket and irrational statements like that serve no purpose

other
> than to rile the troops, while constructive criticism should not

only be
> accepted, but also directly addressed whenever possible. All IMO,

of course.
>
> People have to remember that the viability of Voom helps everyone,

even the
> current E* and D* customers, because it will eventually force them

to try
> harder. The incumbent DBS companies are already getting spanked in

some HDTV
> markets by the cable cos.(Comcast in my area), but it seems to me

they have
> only answered after much prodding. A strong third player in the

space would
> further speed wider availability of HDTV programming. The "hoping

Voom dies"
> crew are laughable and serve none of our interests.
>
> Good luck with whatever ultimate decision you make on the service.
>
> Bob
>
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: kfried001 [mailto:kfried@c...]
> > Sent: Monday, August 09, 2004 9:04 PM
> > To: VOOM@yahoogroups.com
> > Subject: [VOOM] Re: VOOM LIES
> >
> > Bob,
> > I think you may have me confused with someone else, because I
> > never threatened to leave before because of firmware issues.
> > The only time I said I might leave was before the my money
> > back gurantee was over. If I recall it had to do with the
> > number of channels VOOM promised us last year vs what they
> > actually provided. VOOM promised to have 39 channels by 2/01
> > and then push it off until 2/28 and then pushed it off until
> > 6/01 and then they stopped comitting to a date which I
> > thought was odd. I was concerned, and didn't know whether to
> > take advantage of the MBG or not.




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[VOOM] Re: VOOM LIES

--- In VOOM@yahoogroups.com, "kfried001" <kfried@c...> wrote:
".....Anyway, I have had a lot of services calls, but I never asked
for any
credits. VOOM came back 5 times with different antennas until they
got
one that worked. Thanks to Wilt this was taken care of. I also had
the
receiver replaced 5 times in my bedroom, until VOOM and I started to
think it had more to do with bad wiriing than the receivers. My son's
receiver was replaced several times because it would hang every day.
I
found out what was wrong with the one in the bedroom. Each time the
receiver was replaced, the installed would take the antenna module
out
of the old receiver and put it in the new one. Well it turned out to
be a faulty antenna module that was causing the issues. As for my
son's receiver, it had do with a faulth cable run to his room. As for
the OTA going in and out, there was a bad switch one time and the
other time it was caused by the installer not securing it down
properly."

My point the other day was that you appear to be a high maintenance
customer. What you posted above solidifies my opinion of that. Your
25 posts over the last 3 days (yes, I counted them. He accounted for
over 20% of the posts here over the last 3 days. This, on a list
with over 2,010 members.) also solidifies my opinion of that.
With all due respect, this is not the "kfried group".

I have been here since January of this year, and, for you newbies
out there, there was another extended period where Mr. Fried wanted
to dominate this board with attention-seeking whining, and the other
members told him, in essence, to take a hike. He did, for about 2
weeks, but he couldn't stay away forever. It makes me wonder: with
all that time typing, how can you possibly find time to watch Voom?

The latest complaint is about a $5 mirroring charge.
As a charter member, didn't you get Vavavoom free for about 7 months?
Don't answer that.



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[VOOM] Re: VOOM LIES

--- In VOOM@yahoogroups.com, "kfried001" <kfried@c...> wrote:
".....Anyway, I have had a lot of services calls, but I never asked
for any
credits. VOOM came back 5 times with different antennas until they
got
one that worked. Thanks to Wilt this was taken care of. I also had
the
receiver replaced 5 times in my bedroom, until VOOM and I started to
think it had more to do with bad wiriing than the receivers. My son's
receiver was replaced several times because it would hang every day.
I
found out what was wrong with the one in the bedroom. Each time the
receiver was replaced, the installed would take the antenna module
out
of the old receiver and put it in the new one. Well it turned out to
be a faulty antenna module that was causing the issues. As for my
son's receiver, it had do with a faulth cable run to his room. As for
the OTA going in and out, there was a bad switch one time and the
other time it was caused by the installer not securing it down
properly."

My point the other day was that you appear to be a high maintenance
customer. What you posted above solidifies my opinion of that. Your
25 posts over the last 3 days (yes, I counted them. He accounted for
over 20% of the posts here over the last 3 days. This, on a list
with over 2,010 members.) also solidifies my opinion of that.
With all due respect, this is not the "kfried group".

I have been here since January of this year, and, for you newbies
out there, there was another extended period where Mr. Fried wanted
to dominate this board with attention-seeking whining, and the other
members told him, in essence, to take a hike. He did, for about 2
weeks, but he couldn't stay away forever. It makes me wonder: with
all that time typing, how can you possibly find time to watch Voom?

The latest complaint is about a $5 mirroring charge.
As a charter member, didn't you get Vavavoom free for about 7 months?
Don't answer that.



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