Nope. Economy too booming. Everybody is hurting.

Kudos to *C

I used the askJim email to inquire if their were any deals on 505 and 530 as a couple of my receivers were loosing signal periodically - I moved bad receivers to a known good location and a working receiver to the 'bad location' before contacting *C. Although they don't have anything beyond the $50 PPV credits, I was offered two replacements a 207 and 317. Via email we arranged for a technician to give me a call between a set time and confirm my receiver problems and although I was told I would have pay one way shipping all shipping was waived. The tech even asked where they should be shipped, home or work. They will be coming to my work address so I won't have to go to the Purolator depot.

I learned a couple things about too short cable lengths and too long cable lengths (although neither a factor here).

So the one receiver that I have had since 2001 (301) is being replaced for free with a 207 and the other one not as old is being replaced gratis as well with a 317. I get newer technology, the new guide and Star Choice gets a very satisfied customer.

So I would encourage anyone concerned about wait times to use askJim and if necessary they will arrange a time that they will call you. Overall I am totally impressed with the service. I wasn't expecting free replacements perhaps some sort of credit towards new equipment and didn't even ask for shipping to be waived. Overall this was a great customer service experience - A+ to Star Choice.

They'd give the farm away during these times if you ask me. Its great service but interesting business.

Went ahead and purchased the DSR505. Had nightmares about waiting on the phone line, but all went exceptionally well. I think the trick is to phone early Saturday morning. Phone was answered on the second ring, no hold, and DSR was activated very quickly with no problems. So far, so good.

I came back from vacation to see one of my DSR530s with a blank front screen and scrolling blue lights.

I knew the 530 was pretty much fried, as it was already a refurbed replacement unit and was showing the same signs as the original unit did before it died.

I rebooted, and got it to work, but it was unstable, and would re-boot itself at the drop of a hat.

Called *C and they did a factory reset (which I knew was not likely to help, but I played along) It continued to be really unstable for a week. Finally it crashed and would not respond at all.

Here's the frustrating part. I called *C and got the spiel about a 45 minute wait time and was given the option of a call back. I took the option, and my call was returned within the hour. But, when I talked to a CSR, and told them my problem, they said I needed to talk to a level 2 tech, and transfered me. Then I get the spiel about a 35 minute wait, but with no call back option, so I had to stay on the line. arrrggghh. Eventually, I got through to an extrodinarily polite CSR, who tried to get my 530 working, with no success. So he quickly said he'd send me a brand new unit (not a refurb) free of charge. This was Thursday afternoon.

I was pleasantly surprised to see the unit arrive the very next day.
I set it up, and called to have it activated. Again, I get the spiel, except this time it was "more than 60 minutes" but I wasn't given the callback option.
Finally, I got through and was up and running quickly. The software was also updated the first night, and (fingers crossed) it works fine.

So except for the waiting on hold, which I find rather excruciating, I'm quite pleased with the *C service. Does anyone know why it is hit and miss to get the call back option instead of waiting on hold? Could it be because I called two different numbers? One was 554-STAR and the other was STAR-WEB (this is the one where I was offered the callback option)

TQ

Apparently, they only offer callback when both call volume and the number of available CSRs is high. I guess the idea is that customers that really need support will hold, those that do not will hang up. If everybody uses the callback, then wait times for the callback increase.

I tried using the "Ask Jim" feature on the web site as I had a couple of questions that weren't of an urgent nature. This would save me waiting on the phone and be one less person in the Q when people with more urgent problems to fix are trying to get through.

I sent it in on Saturday and got the "We've recieved your question" e-mail not too long after. It's now past COB Tuesday, and nothing. Any experience out there with how long a response takes when you use this feature??

Cheers,

RH

I used it yesterday (asking about extended IPG...apparently delayed to early 2008...) and got a repsonse within 30 minutes.

OMG Has anyone been able to call SC lately? Each time I've tried... 50 minutes expected wait, 60 minutes, 20 minutes...

I noticed when trying to wait one night they were advertising for jobs at the call centres... time for them to step up to the plate and pay their call centre people more so they can retain staff... or does SC think that a 30 minute wait is acceptable?

Sorry to tell you that getting and keeping staff in Calgary is near impossible.
If Wal-Mart is paying $17/hour, can YOUR business afford to find and retain people.

Besides, other than a re-hit and a technician roll, your BEST support options are the forums here anyways.

First... a call centre in Calgary these days is a bad idea... you're right... I have call centre in my company as well. It's not that the company is unable to afford the salaries... it's willing to accept the turnover and potential poor customer service in an effort to try to boost revenue results. Or possibly boost the yearly bonus of upper-management.... or wait is that SC or my own company? Probably both.

Unfortunately in my case the last time I was able to get through w/o an insane wait they did a factory reset on my 530... still didn't fix my self-rebooting machine. I believe I need a replacement now.

PS And you're right. The best support is always from forum members. :-)

Called earlier today about the 505 audio outs. I used the callback feature. Took 2 hours (though it said 90 it would take minutes). I was firm about the length of time it was taking for them to acknowLedge (let alone fix) the audio problem and wanted her to know I was not impressed. She denied that there was a rampant problem and explained that her 505 and 530 at home are fine. I suggested she try Google and that there is lots of discussion of this on the internet. She suggested that I shouldn't believe everything I read on the internet.

These people need to understand who the customer is here. When you deny a well known truth to a customer, you are creating a bad relationship.

I have found threads on this that are a year and half old. She had argued that there had only been 2 software downloads in that time. I asked her if that meant they were admitting a software bug. She wouldn't give in on that one. Did she realize it could be some kind of uplinking problem on her side?

I wasn't impressed and it showed in my tone as she started to ask my about my connections. In the middle of describing my dvi to hdmi converter I heard a click and she hung up on me.

Thanks a lot. Now that they have my money they are activing a lot like Rogers and Bell.

I look forward to the next return call (60 minutes so they say).
.

Wow. I phoned last night (8pm mst) and got through to CSR in less than 2 minutes. Are the tides changing or was I the luck millionth caller?:)

Must report on the excellent service I got on the weekend.

Had a 530 do the blue dance of death. Phoned up and got the "estimated wait time of...." and then silence. I though "great, the wait is so long they do not even have a number for it". But moments later I got a very pleasant CSR. I did not pretend I knew anything but let him talk me through 15 minutes of cable swapping. He then announced that the 530 was now under the "lifetime warrantee program and they would be sending out a replacement.

He asked If I would mind paying the $13 shipping charge. I was so impressed with this attitude that I agreed it would be a token on my part.

I was impressed with the quick response, friendly attitude and the "your the customer, phone us 24/7".

If all CSRs were as customer oriented as Marc, Starchoice would win any award.

Tom

The 530 is in fact not covered under the "limited lifetime warranty" covered by the MRC charge. With that said you would be hardpressed to find a TSR that would not replace the rcvr at the cost of shipping for you.

Glad to hear you got the result you were looking for Tom :D

I just got Starchoice yesterday. The tech installed the dish and everything. I have the DSR 505 for my HDTV and another DSR 207 in the basement.

The technician said, after calling to activate the service, that the DSR 505 needs about 30-45 minutes to download the guide or whatever, but in the mean time we could use the printed channel listing and change channels directly. I just left the TV on TSN HD.

The technician said there is a chance that the DSR505 will freeze when downloading the new guide after 45 minutes. If that happens, he told me to unplug the receiver and replug it in to retry. When 45 minutes came and passed, I tried to change channels and the receiver did not respond at all. No receiver functions worked either on the remote or the front panel. My guess is that it was frozen.

So I did what the technician said, and unplugged it. Waited 5 minutes, then plugged it back in, and it would not turn on or boot at all, like there is no power at all. However, there is a slight "humming" sound, pretty faint coming from the receiver.

Called Starchoice, they're sending a new receiver and all I have to do is return the old one in the box that they are sending the new one in. It's another 5-10 business days wait. :( At least when the new one comes in, I should have my HDMI/DVI cables by then.

Can't say I'm all that displeased though, the customer service was, although unable to solve my problem with the 505, very helpful in getting the RMA order done.

fromage, good lord what did StarChoice do wrong that you need to rant?

Sometimes units are defective, its unfortunate but it happens. It sounds like SC has handled things professionally and is going to fix the problem.

Sounds very professional and in fact complimentary to SC.

The tecnician should have checked the channels before leaving. He's supposed to check the operation of the unit and explain the features to you.

Take my rant remarks lightly. It was never meant to be a knock on StarChoice. The hardware however, according to many other threads on similar issue, indicates that they're not very reliable.

The 500 series definately has a long, troublesome, history. However, look at the forum. There are fewer compliants of hardware issues than on the BEV forum. The 500 series has moved forward from a rocky past. Surely, the Q2 update will bring them where they need to be.