Comments on: UPC Broadband, wonderful service unless you want to work at the weekends. http://patphelan.net/upc-broadband-wonderful-service-unless-you-want-to-work-at-the-weekends/ Mobile, Roaming and Social Media Sat, 19 May 2012 21:06:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Mick Wright http://patphelan.net/upc-broadband-wonderful-service-unless-you-want-to-work-at-the-weekends/comment-page-1/#comment-617053 Mick Wright Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:32:33 +0000 http://patphelan.net/?p=5237#comment-617053 Hold on 94 out of 13 household routers are operating with no problems? Really? Wow! 94 out of 130 routers is a disaster... it's certainly not something to boast about... that's a connection failure rate in one area of 27%... If you extrapolated that to a month you could assume your own router would be out of action for over a week of that month or more worrying and likely likely for almost 4 months in a year! Thats a terrible statistic to throw at people. It should be something like 1% or lower to be considered by their own service teams as acceptable. Its not a wonder their customer service team are so grumpy. However its not as sheer stupid as the one statistic I got from a member of their sales team when I tried to ensure the poor customer service would not be enacted upon my elderly neighbours who asked me to act a knowledgeable go-between for them when they ordered their bundle of TC, Phone and BB. I asked what assurances I have that if there is an issue they would respond give the really poor reviews of their customer service online. I would rather not have to continually support my neighbours broadband as a go-between, despite them being nice folks. He (the sales guy) told me that UPC had invested €600 million in their infrastructure, and support staff and do not farm out to call centres. Which means he is trying to tell me that UPC invested about €2,300 for every customer they have. That's over three times more than each customer pays in one year! So what he is saying is that their financial department are so bad at investing in technology that they spent more than AT&T do in north america last year for a tiny proportion of the customer base and ensured they wouldn't make a penny profit for the next decade... that's terrible... Even if that were true (and its most decidedly not) then it would be a clear sign to avoid such a company like the proverbial plague. Either that or he was simply lying... I suspect the latter since when I pointed out the maths to him he went rather quiet. I hope he's better at working out his commission structure.... the problem I think here is tha UPC do not vet their employees very well they hire what seem to me like the people least capable of reason. These staff members then try to apply their poor ability to reason to the general public which although only average an IQ percentile of 100 points are about 10 points higher than the average UPC employee. When you then consider somebody like me with 20 years IT experience and a professional understanding of networking calls them its like talking to a pack of turtles...now 'I like turtles' but not so much I want to do their job for them. Anyway that was a month or so ago and my neighbours are still waiting for the self install pack to arrive... ho hum! UPC are a total disaster. Management in UPC need to act on this now and be truly ruthless in their approach to the issue before it threatens to bleed them their customers faster than they can get them. Hold on 94 out of 13 household routers are operating with no problems? Really? Wow!

94 out of 130 routers is a disaster… it’s certainly not something to boast about… that’s a connection failure rate in one area of 27%…

If you extrapolated that to a month you could assume your own router would be out of action for over a week of that month or more worrying and likely likely for almost 4 months in a year!

Thats a terrible statistic to throw at people. It should be something like 1% or lower to be considered by their own service teams as acceptable. Its not a wonder their customer service team are so grumpy.

However its not as sheer stupid as the one statistic I got from a member of their sales team when I tried to ensure the poor customer service would not be enacted upon my elderly neighbours who asked me to act a knowledgeable go-between for them when they ordered their bundle of TC, Phone and BB.

I asked what assurances I have that if there is an issue they would respond give the really poor reviews of their customer service online. I would rather not have to continually support my neighbours broadband as a go-between, despite them being nice folks.

He (the sales guy) told me that UPC had invested €600 million in their infrastructure, and support staff and do not farm out to call centres. Which means he is trying to tell me that UPC invested about €2,300 for every customer they have. That’s over three times more than each customer pays in one year!

So what he is saying is that their financial department are so bad at investing in technology that they spent more than AT&T do in north america last year for a tiny proportion of the customer base and ensured they wouldn’t make a penny profit for the next decade… that’s terrible… Even if that were true (and its most decidedly not) then it would be a clear sign to avoid such a company like the proverbial plague.

Either that or he was simply lying… I suspect the latter since when I pointed out the maths to him he went rather quiet.

I hope he’s better at working out his commission structure…. the problem I think here is tha UPC do not vet their employees very well they hire what seem to me like the people least capable of reason. These staff members then try to apply their poor ability to reason to the general public which although only average an IQ percentile of 100 points are about 10 points higher than the average UPC employee.

When you then consider somebody like me with 20 years IT experience and a professional understanding of networking calls them its like talking to a pack of turtles…now ‘I like turtles’ but not so much I want to do their job for them.

Anyway that was a month or so ago and my neighbours are still waiting for the self install pack to arrive… ho hum! UPC are a total disaster. Management in UPC need to act on this now and be truly ruthless in their approach to the issue before it threatens to bleed them their customers faster than they can get them.

]]> By: kakaduvalaga http://patphelan.net/upc-broadband-wonderful-service-unless-you-want-to-work-at-the-weekends/comment-page-1/#comment-598059 kakaduvalaga Mon, 12 Sep 2011 23:39:22 +0000 http://patphelan.net/?p=5237#comment-598059 Verrry bad service. Costum supp is useless. I've had upc broadband for 8 months. In the last one month it is an utter crap. I have to restart router hourly /average/ and that don't work always either. Probably too many people fled from eircom's lousy service to upc, and they are not prepared for that. Question is , are they building their system or simply share what they have between the costumers and thats it. Is there any authority in ireland who is oversees the behavior of com providers? Nowhere to go? outrageous 13.09.11 Verrry bad service. Costum supp is useless.

I’ve had upc broadband for 8 months. In the last one month it is an utter crap. I have to restart router hourly /average/ and that don’t work always either. Probably too many people fled from eircom’s lousy service to upc, and they are not prepared for that. Question is , are they building their system or simply share what they have between the costumers and thats it. Is there any authority in ireland who is oversees the behavior of com providers? Nowhere to go? outrageous

13.09.11

]]> By: AIdan http://patphelan.net/upc-broadband-wonderful-service-unless-you-want-to-work-at-the-weekends/comment-page-1/#comment-590746 AIdan Sat, 30 Apr 2011 14:29:38 +0000 http://patphelan.net/?p=5237#comment-590746 I've had the 20Mb for 5 days having had to make do with a 3G modem (another joke!). Goodbye connection problems, I thought. No such luck. It often drops for no reason, slows to a crawl, or worse, the modem spontaneously resets itself. This is very annoying as my SSID and NW key are reset & you have to remove the connection from your wifi list and re-add it. After reading the above stories, I think I'll cancel the service. Such a joke and a shame that they can't provide a reliable service. Now, where did I leave that 3G modem?! ps if your wifi speedtest is coming in way under your wired connection, try changing the channel on the router. That's what the technician did in my house. A lot of neighbours may be on the same channel as you're on. I’ve had the 20Mb for 5 days having had to make do with a 3G modem (another joke!). Goodbye connection problems, I thought. No such luck. It often drops for no reason, slows to a crawl, or worse, the modem spontaneously resets itself. This is very annoying as my SSID and NW key are reset & you have to remove the connection from your wifi list and re-add it. After reading the above stories, I think I’ll cancel the service. Such a joke and a shame that they can’t provide a reliable service. Now, where did I leave that 3G modem?!

ps if your wifi speedtest is coming in way under your wired connection, try changing the channel on the router. That’s what the technician did in my house. A lot of neighbours may be on the same channel as you’re on.

]]> By: Ann http://patphelan.net/upc-broadband-wonderful-service-unless-you-want-to-work-at-the-weekends/comment-page-1/#comment-588188 Ann Mon, 04 Apr 2011 19:22:54 +0000 http://patphelan.net/?p=5237#comment-588188 I am fit to be tied. I have tried all evening to contact UPC. I just wanted to ask them if the awful TV reception I am getting is because of all the work they re supposed to be doing. Their customer support site will not accept my name or account number even though I am a customer. UPC should shut down. I am sick of hearing about their awful customer care and bad service. Although to be fair I have read on another site that the products they offer are really good and the senior people at UPC are genuine. The person who said that was believable because he was saying that the offer of a free TV when you sign up with UPC was wrong because the TV could only be used as a monitor after 2012 and it was wrong not to point that out to the people concerned. Then a smug reply came from someone supposedly at UPC saying that their legal team saw nothing wrong with the offer and listed off a string of legal eagles. I think they were trying to scare the original poster but they were put in their place and that was when the poster said the good things about UPC. The poster also said that the person who was giving junk TVs as part of the deal were letting UPC down and getting it a bad name. Well I want a job with UPC righ now. If UPC is really that good and if it is being let down in a really big way by the people employed there then they should employ me. I want to be paid a good wage like the useless crowd they are employing at the moment. I have no paper qualifications but I would represent my employers in a far better way than the people they are paying at the moment who should all be sacked and sent home immediately before they do any more damage to the good name of the company. I would be quick to learn all I need to know about the business and would attend to customers in a swift manner giving them all the help possible. UPC should take stock of their staff and sack those responsible for the bad image being sent out. My TV is still out. It is out more than three hours now...but on the bright side...While I was writing this I had the radio on and I was listening to RTE Radio. They were talking about books and Mills and Boon in particular. Someone called Abby Green was talking and she has sold millions of books through M&B so I am off to start my first book and it will be thanks to UPC and their shoddy company if I make a success of it.....But first I will send off that email to UPC at the address I got here. I am fit to be tied. I have tried all evening to contact UPC. I just wanted to ask them if the awful TV reception I am getting is because of all the work they re supposed to be doing. Their customer support site will not accept my name or account number even though I am a customer.

UPC should shut down. I am sick of hearing about their awful customer care and bad service.

Although to be fair I have read on another site that the products they offer are really good and the senior people at UPC are genuine. The person who said that was believable because he was saying that the offer of a free TV when you sign up with UPC was wrong because the TV could only be used as a monitor after 2012 and it was wrong not to point that out to the people concerned. Then a smug reply came from someone supposedly at UPC saying that their legal team saw nothing wrong with the offer and listed off a string of legal eagles. I think they were trying to scare the original poster but they were put in their place and that was when the poster said the good things about UPC. The poster also said that the person who was giving junk TVs as part of the deal were letting UPC down and getting it a bad name.

Well I want a job with UPC righ now. If UPC is really that good and if it is being let down in a really big way by the people employed there then they should employ me. I want to be paid a good wage like the useless crowd they are employing at the moment. I have no paper qualifications but I would represent my employers in a far better way than the people they are paying at the moment who should all be sacked and sent home immediately before they do any more damage to the good name of the company. I would be quick to learn all I need to know about the business and would attend to customers in a swift manner giving them all the help possible. UPC should take stock of their staff and sack those responsible for the bad image being sent out.

My TV is still out. It is out more than three hours now…but on the bright side…While I was writing this I had the radio on and I was listening to RTE Radio. They were talking about books and Mills and Boon in particular. Someone called Abby Green was talking and she has sold millions of books through M&B so I am off to start my first book and it will be thanks to UPC and their shoddy company if I make a success of it…..But first I will send off that email to UPC at the address I got here.

]]> By: AE McDonald http://patphelan.net/upc-broadband-wonderful-service-unless-you-want-to-work-at-the-weekends/comment-page-1/#comment-586180 AE McDonald Mon, 14 Mar 2011 18:01:18 +0000 http://patphelan.net/?p=5237#comment-586180 What a bunch of c.***** UPC are, just been passed onto Customer Loyalty at 5.30pm, left waiting, gave up dialed 1908 again to find out that Customer Loyalty closed at 5pm, they just didn't want to hear me, all I wanted as a long time customer was to get a lower priced package, everyone else has taken a hit in their wages what makes UPC different. If I don't get this sorted tomorrow. I'll stop now. So annoyed What a bunch of c.***** UPC are, just been passed onto Customer Loyalty at 5.30pm, left waiting, gave up dialed 1908 again to find out that Customer Loyalty closed at 5pm, they just didn’t want to hear me, all I wanted as a long time customer was to get a lower priced package, everyone else has taken a hit in their wages what makes UPC different. If I don’t get this sorted tomorrow. I’ll stop now. So annoyed

]]> By: paulhan http://patphelan.net/upc-broadband-wonderful-service-unless-you-want-to-work-at-the-weekends/comment-page-1/#comment-585598 paulhan Wed, 09 Mar 2011 14:37:10 +0000 http://patphelan.net/?p=5237#comment-585598 Just a word of warning. Unlimited downloads don't mean unlimited downloads. When they rang up touting for business, I went for the 10MB package, with the specific promise from them that it came with unlimited download limits. They installed it well enough and I was happy with the service overall, until I got a warning letter informing me that I had exceeded their "Acceptable Usage Policy", and if I do it again, they will either cut off my connection for the rest of the month or bump me up to a bigger package. Except they didn't wait for me to do it again, they just put me on the bigger package. Now three months later, I find myself out of pocket to the tune of €90, despite the fact that I warned the other users to watch the amount of downloading they do. The service has also got worse, going down at some times, slow at other times. Calling customer support was a complete waste of an hour as the only way I can find out what's going on is through an email address aup@upc.ie. I'm really not sure what to do now as the alternatives are not as good, but I don't want to encourage this sort of predatory behaviour. Just a word of warning. Unlimited downloads don’t mean unlimited downloads.
When they rang up touting for business, I went for the 10MB package, with the specific promise from them that it came with unlimited download limits.
They installed it well enough and I was happy with the service overall, until I got a warning letter informing me that I had exceeded their “Acceptable Usage Policy”, and if I do it again, they will either cut off my connection for the rest of the month or bump me up to a bigger package.
Except they didn’t wait for me to do it again, they just put me on the bigger package. Now three months later, I find myself out of pocket to the tune of €90, despite the fact that I warned the other users to watch the amount of downloading they do. The service has also got worse, going down at some times, slow at other times.
Calling customer support was a complete waste of an hour as the only way I can find out what’s going on is through an email address aup@upc.ie.
I’m really not sure what to do now as the alternatives are not as good, but I don’t want to encourage this sort of predatory behaviour.

]]> By: eddie http://patphelan.net/upc-broadband-wonderful-service-unless-you-want-to-work-at-the-weekends/comment-page-1/#comment-581581 eddie Fri, 11 Feb 2011 03:59:26 +0000 http://patphelan.net/?p=5237#comment-581581 Just did Upc speed test http://www.upc.ie/broadband/speedtest/ I have a 25mg with them download 13.17 upload 2.06 ftp files - your joking ============================ this what they advertise for 20 mgs ============================= Downloading local maps, videos or photos? Then 20Mb is for you and with unlimited usage don’t be afraid to download again and again. Be free from wires with a free wireless router so everyone in the home can go online at the same time. It’s also over twice as fast as eircom’s 8Mb Next Generation Broadband. . ========================================== read this http://www.asai.ie/selfregulation/law.asp The Consumer Information Act, 1978, makes it an offence to publish any advertisement that is likely to mislead and thereby cause loss, damage or injury to members of the public to a material degree. At the time of publication, under the European Communities (Misleading Advertising) Regulations, 1988, it is open to any person to apply to the High Court for an order prohibiting the publication of misleading advertising. TAKE NOTE ALL YOU POLITICIANS, WHO ARE SCAVENGING FOR VOTES !! Just did Upc speed test

http://www.upc.ie/broadband/speedtest/

I have a 25mg with them

download 13.17

upload 2.06

ftp files – your joking

============================
this what they advertise for 20 mgs
=============================
Downloading local maps, videos or photos? Then 20Mb is for you and with unlimited usage don’t be afraid to download again and again. Be free from wires with a free wireless router so everyone in the home can go online at the same time. It’s also over twice as fast as eircom’s 8Mb Next Generation Broadband. .
==========================================
read this
http://www.asai.ie/selfregulation/law.asp

The Consumer Information Act, 1978, makes it an
offence to publish any advertisement that is likely to
mislead and thereby cause loss, damage or injury to
members of the public to a material degree. At the time
of publication, under the European Communities
(Misleading Advertising) Regulations, 1988, it is open to any person to apply to the High Court for an order
prohibiting the publication of misleading advertising.

TAKE NOTE ALL YOU POLITICIANS, WHO ARE SCAVENGING FOR VOTES !!

]]> By: JOHN BEHAN http://patphelan.net/upc-broadband-wonderful-service-unless-you-want-to-work-at-the-weekends/comment-page-1/#comment-580292 JOHN BEHAN Wed, 02 Feb 2011 20:55:40 +0000 http://patphelan.net/?p=5237#comment-580292 just switched to upc feeling silly now as the smart I had was much faster and I never had a problem, have tv, phone and broadband with upc just over three weeks but will be contacting them tomorrow to cancel if they can't resolve the issues. just switched to upc feeling silly now as the smart I had was much faster and I never had a problem, have tv, phone and broadband with upc just over three weeks but will be contacting them tomorrow to cancel if they can’t resolve the issues.

]]> By: paul http://patphelan.net/upc-broadband-wonderful-service-unless-you-want-to-work-at-the-weekends/comment-page-1/#comment-579741 paul Thu, 27 Jan 2011 17:25:46 +0000 http://patphelan.net/?p=5237#comment-579741 UPC bill you 2 months in advance and charge €10 late payment fee if not paid within 2 weeks of the bill date. Also charge €2.50 for not paying by DD. Dont think this is very fair??????? UPC bill you 2 months in advance and charge €10 late payment fee if not paid within 2 weeks of the bill date. Also charge €2.50 for not paying by DD. Dont think this is very fair???????

]]> By: eddie http://patphelan.net/upc-broadband-wonderful-service-unless-you-want-to-work-at-the-weekends/comment-page-1/#comment-577775 eddie Sat, 08 Jan 2011 22:48:55 +0000 http://patphelan.net/?p=5237#comment-577775 Update.. My brother who lives in England , will upload my files, but I have to send them to him (snail mail) At least it will be quicker that trying endlessly for a month to upload about (59mbs) and not be able to. The hours wasted in checking all files and folders is not worth it, About 1/3 of the files only upload. If anyone has a better way i would like to know. How can they sleep at night ! :-( Update..
My brother who lives in England , will upload my files, but I have to send them to him (snail mail)

At least it will be quicker that trying endlessly for a month to upload about (59mbs) and not be able to.
The hours wasted in checking all files and folders is not worth it, About 1/3 of the files only upload.

If anyone has a better way i would like to know.
How can they sleep at night ! :-(

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