Telewest Broadband TV Drive

Curly_Sue_3

Having been a Telewest customer for at least 8 years I was delighted to see them advertise their new super whizzy TV drive box, a box which is everything Sky + is and much more (being able to record 2 programmes at once and watch a third!).

I was so delighted I was straight on the phone to order mine only to be told that all existing customers would have to pay £50 installation fee, which would be waived if I keep my existing digital box for another room and pay £5.00 per month for the priviledge. Funnily enough new Telewest customers would receive free installation.

I said I did not want to keep my old box but they would then have to charge the £50.00 installation fee. This is scandalous. Each month my bill to them is at least £60.00 (sometimes much more) for TV, phone and internet, yet they refused to budge. Even the girl in customer services said they had had a lot of calls like mine and she could not understand why they (Telewest) were doing this.

I would like to know if anyone else has had a similar experience and whether people power will prevail and Telewest will back down and give their faithful, loyal customers the service they deserve. (I feel better now I've had a rant!!) :eek:

shaymenRup

I think the only way Telewest respond is by threat of cancellation.

Mention to them the current Sky + deal and the fact that it would be cheaper to swap.

I'm with telewest and I am currently waying up a cheaper broadband supplier so that I can threaten and then if needs be change all three.

I already don't use Telewest for phonecalls - far too expensive. (Use superline instead)

I know threats of cancellation have worked before with their all three for 30 quid offer for six months.

CIS

You'll get advice on what to do here
http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/forumdisplay.php?f=49

Curly_Sue_3

Thanks for the advice. I will let you know how I get on. :T

Curly_Sue_3

Tried twice (both nicely) to see whether Telewest would budge on this issue. This is the reply I received. You might want to put the kettle on before reading it, because it takes ages. Bottom line is they will not move.
I'm a bit cheesed off. Please let me know if anyone gets round this one!

Thank you for your e-mail dated 7 March 2006.

I refer to your complaint regarding existing customer installation fees for TVDrive.

I apologise for any inconvenience caused. Telewest Broadband aims for the highest standards of customer satisfaction and is disappointed when these are not met.

I do appreciate that, at first glance, the charging of a (GBP) 50.00 installation fee to existing customers, whilst new customers qualify for free of charge installation, may appear discriminatory toward existing customers.

However, I can assure you this is not the case. Telewest Broadband places high value on the loyalty of our existing customers and will always endeavour to provide existing customers with special offers and unbeatable quality Digital television, telephone and Broadband Internet services.

The charging of such installation fees relates to the logistical costs of the actual installation itself. To explain, the cost incurred to Telewest Broadband for each engineer visit to a customer?s home is, on average, over (GBP) 100.00.

The installation of TVDrive, in the case of new customer orders, does not appreciably add to the logistical expense of installation, as we are already attending the property in order to install basic services.

In the case of existing customer orders, an independent engineer visit is necessary. As I am sure you will appreciate, from a business perspective given the expected high demand for TVDrive (being borne out by current incoming order volumes), we are unable to support such costs without a customer contribution.

However, we do prefer, as with initial installation, to provide our existing customers with the opportunity to make the financially necessary contribution to installation costs in a manner which delivers additional improvement their Telewest Broadband service package.

To this end, we are offering all our existing customers the opportunity to retain their pre-existing set-top box as an additional outlet elsewhere in the home at the vastly reduced charge of (GBP) 5.00 per month (usually charged at (GBP) 15.00 per month).

Existing customers can therefore enjoy the convenience of Digital Television in another room in the home for only (GBP) 60.00 over a 12 month period (paying only (GBP) 10.00 more than the cost of basic installation over this period). Hence, providing the necessary contribution to installation costs whilst experiencing additional service benefits.

In this manner, we aim to deliver the best possible deal to existing customers, and to continue to provide all our customers with the highest possible service quality and value.

phoebe03cat

Anybody know what the position is if you already have the max. number of boxes??? :rotfl: