Getting frustrated with Cogeco

[eng911]

I picked up a 2500 with the 5.1 a couple of weeks ago. I had to call a few times to get it working properly. After a service call all was working and I was really loving it. Even though I had no VOD for a week I was just happy it was working.

I was so happy with the quality of the picture and the 5.1 sound that when I got my tax refund, I went otu and bought a 50" Grand Vega at Best Buy. As part of the deal I get a 6412 HD box for 12 months free and 12 months free programming. A sweet deal for sure.

I was at home on Thursday and the 2500 box stopped working. I called in and they said, "I see you have the HD box?". I told them the story about the new TV and the fact that the HD box hadn't arrived yet but was expected soon. The guy told me whoever added the HD box to my account had blown out the 2500 information. So he asked me for the GI# off the bottom of the box and said he would reprogram. "Sorry but no TV for 1/2 hour". No probbelm just get it working again.

So the box starts working again but now I am missing about 12 channels that I should be getting including the movie package and a pick 5 pack of individual channels. I have to call back and and he adds those and all seems well. Just before he hangs up he says, "You've got an 1800 box right?" No, I have a 2500 with 5.1. "Oh, something is wrong here. OK I'll fix that too."

So I hang up and just before American Idol starts I get a call from a tech telling me he needs to reprovision my box and it will be down for a 1/2 hour. This is really started to get me going, but I ask my wife to watch Idol in the bedroom and tell the guy to go ahead and program the box one last time.

I come home later that night and the box is working but now I have no TMN On Demand and no VOD channels. Error connecting to the server, call in and reference error number 204, says the message on the screen. So I call in and the guy tells me the VOD should work by the morning, if not call back. Mornign comes and no VOD so I call and get a guy who takes way to long to explain to me how VOD works, (i already knew all that) then tells me I must have a loose cable on my box or something and I need a service call.

Since it is the long weekend I can't get a service call until next week. New Sony Vega arrives tomorrow, 6412 HD box is here and ready to go, BBQ planned for Saturday with a movies or two to follow. No VOD and I'm getting really friggin tired of calling Cogeco and watching the little lights on my box blink on and off.

Frustrated in Windsor.

Tony

[Ready123]

Originally Posted by eng911

Frustrated in Windsor.
Tony

Why not use HDTV OTA... you should be able to get all the Detroit channels with an aerial, you may even get away with an indoor one. That would be HDTV free!!

[eng911]

You are right. You can get free hdtv in this area due to the fact that detroit is next door. I'm getting the box and programming free from cogeco too and I wouldn't get any pvr or movies over the air. I also would need to buy a tuner.

[Ready123]

Originally Posted by eng911

Since it is the long weekend I can't get a service call until next week. New Sony Vega arrives tomorrow, 6412 HD box is here and ready to go,

Why not get them to start up the 6412?
Then you should be able to have them make sure all your services are switched on that box.

What has also worked for many people is to unplug the power to the box wait couple minutes and when you put power back it resets itself correctly.
I don't see your problems as being service visit related... I think they are just not sending the correct data to your box.
Try the 6412 route... you may well get lucky that the tech does it right for that one.

[eng911]

I couldn't agree more. I did in fact get my TV today and hooked up the HD box. I'm very happy with how things look and I got the 5.1 going in just enought time to catch the Star Wars movie on CBC-HD. The pod racing scenes were awesome. The 6412 works fine for VOD so I think you are bang on with your assesment that they are not sending the right data to the 2500 box to make it work properly.

I'll call them again tomorrow when I hook up the 2500 in the bedroom. I just watched CSI on CTV-HD and it looked awesome. Now I have on Stargate Atlantis on the Movie Network On Demand. I'm happy because that looks awesome too. Regular cable channels just don't seem to cut it anymore

Now that it's all hooked up I'm much less frustrated but still have the 2500 problem. I have lots of friends that all these issues would just be way too much for. I'm an admitted techi but it's still a lot to take in.

[r2917]

Yeah that is Cogeco for you. We were having issues with some channels not working on one of my HD boxes and it took 3 calls for them to fix it. Morons.

Got a month free of TMN and 3 free PPVs out of it though....still, I hate when companies cant do a simple thing like make sure their service/product works.

[Flavario]

Did you ever fix the VOD error 204 connecting to server problem? I'm getting the same problem. I didn't call, hoping it would fix itself. I don't plan on ordering anything in the near future, so its not a big deal for me. Just curious to see it working.

[Veedio]

My VOD has been out for the last couple of days with different errors as well (203, 217, lots of 215s). Cogeco says it's the box (a 3 weeks old 6412), but I see flakiness on my older 2450 as well.

[Cromwell]

The problem with Cogeco is they get paid even if they don't do their job. The servis reps really don't care about you. And Cogeco supervisers can only be contacted thru a servis rep. So My question is. How the heck do you know if you are talking to a superviser?
Cogeco need to packup and leave town.
Why can't we have Direct TV? It has internet and lot's of great channels.
Thanks to the CRTC. We can't have anything good.

[wayout]

Originally Posted by Cromwell

The problem with Cogeco is they get paid even if they don't do their job. The service reps really don't care about you.

OMG, it is like talking to a brick wall. Having spoken to numerous reps throughout the past couple of months regarding problems with both our VOiP and digital cable services, we've noticed they have a "troubleshooting" list they go through. And as soon as they've exhausted that list, they start it all over again! The one I spoke to yesterday even stated, “I’m sorry, I cannot see trouble you are having on my list anywhere,” just before he offered to reset my digital receiver remotely.

The only way we've ever been able to get hold of a supervisor was when we had to get ugly and really ignorant on the phone. Which is not our style, but we were beyond frustrated with their lack of "support" when it came to their VOiP service 2 months ago and it just "happened" - we flipped out. And even then we ended up only talking to a "supervisor" with even less brains than the regular rep we'd just spoken to.

Now, I'm sure they are trained by this "list" that they are given, and most "workers" feel satisfied with having a job where they just follow a procedure, but we have lucked out at least twice (during regular business hours and after) where we ended up talking with reps that not only cared about the customer, but also about their own pride in their job. Like they really wanted to do something for the customer, instead of just repeating what is on this "list". But, you have to keep trying, as they will never put you through to anyone you ask for, if you happen to write down the name of anyone who was actually able to help you before.

It's madness. So many intelligent people out of work, and they hire possibly the dumbest tech reps out there (for the most part, not all of them). And I'm willing to bet, the intelligent ones? They are equally as frustrated with their incompetent counterparts who share their workspace, as well as supervisors who get paid more than they do but have even less of a clue than the regular dingdongs manning the phones.

Here’s hoping that Cogeco get their act together and start hiring some more of the GOOD reps, and get rid of the ones who are clueless twits. (end of rant)

[Scruffy]

Here’s hoping that Cogeco get their act together and start hiring some more of the GOOD reps, and get rid of the ones who are clueless twits.

WOW... you are pissed.
They are a monopoly... what you are expecting/hoping for is unrealistic.
You need to fix your problems yourself... so your choices are DirectTV grey market, Canadian satellite, going OTA... and maybe the most important one just accept that your cable service will never be acceptable.
Why not put your town/city location rather than region in your location.... I'm not sure if OTA can be an answer for you.
I augment my cable with OTA right now and am leaning towards getting a DVD recorder so I can replace cable feed fully.
Your problems sound like they are caused by lack of bandwidth in Cogeco's plant feeding your location.
It took me 6 months of complaining and monthly service rep visits before they made the equipment improvements which have reduced the frequency of problems. I still get some of the problems but they are much less frequent.
I no longer get pixelisation.
I still get sound drops (via digital sound only) which I can almost totally remove by watching every program with my PVR rewound a bit... i.e. watching recorded not live!
I still have some channels which are digitally incorrectly flagged... centre channel sound not 2ch mono.
I am DSL for Internet... dropped Cogeco Internet years ago as they have never been as trouble free as xDSL for me.
I will wait for Bell Voip for the above reason and it sounds like they are now ready to offer VOIP via non Sympatico DSL.
Good luck with making the adjustments you need to make to allow for an improvement in your TV viewing.

[MedievalMan]

Anyone in Windsor using an antenna to pick up HD? If so, how is the quality? I live in Windsor, it would be good to know

I haven't used an antenna since like 15 years ago -- and they were a pain in the arse back then (constantly manually scanning for better reception -- I would hope this would be done by an automatic antenna position control system or something now a days.)

How much do HD antennas run anyway?

[Thurin]

Originally Posted by eng911

Frustrated in Windsor.

Tony

Tony,

I don't know if it's just a Windsor thing, but the Cogeco service is very bad. Everybody I know (including me) who deals with Cogeco service has horror stories where they have to repeatedly call again and again and again.

[james99]

Many folks in Windsor use antennas to pick up Detroit HD. Depending on how close you are, an indoor one might work.

That being said you still need an external box (assuming you have an HD ready tv) to pick up the signal. Check the OTA forums for more details.

I don't have any complaints (yet) regarding service.

[asif9t9]

My complaint is with the fact we don't have all the channels as Rogers and the rest. Right now, I want Raps HD and Score HD (for basketball season).