Aug 02 2007
Please pay $100 to remain a customer?
I got an on-screen alert from our satellite TV provider (Starchoice) this morning informing me that our current high definition receiver (which is only a few years old) will soon be obsolete. The technical details aside, they’re changing to a new HD encoding that the current hardware isn’t capable of decoding, even with a firmware upgrade.
It will continue to work with regular definition channels, but since we watch a great deal of HD programming, we most definitely need a new receiver so we can continue enjoying HD.
Based on my past observations, when a service provider creates a hardware obsolescence they generally provide replacement hardware to the customer at no cost in an effort to have them remain a customer.
Instead, Starchoice is offering an “Upgrade” deal, which in my honest opinion is anything but.
The retail cost of the new HD receiver is $200. They are offering a $100 discount right off the top (Not bad), but then offering a $50 Pay Per View credit, and then expecting the customer to pay the remaining $50.
The pay per view credit means absolutely nothing to me, and in my mind does not equate to any value as the movies playing on the PPV channels are either bad, or very dated. In the last 7 years we have used perhaps $20 in PPV, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
So, I equate this mandatory upgrade effectively costing us $100.
To add insult to injury, Starchoice recently started charging extra for “Premium” HD channels, some of which we already pay to receive the non-HD version thereof. With HD becomingly increasingly mandated by law over the next few years, it seems wrong that we should be paying a premium for such at this point.
With the competition offering deals that are seeming more and more attractive (including a variety of free hardware for new customers) I’m not sure that I’m going to let our current provider penalize us for something that is effectively no fault of our own - I may just take our business elsewhere.
I guess I’ll see what they say when I call to cancel.
Mark, I have to say that I’m not surprised in the least.
As you know, Starchoice is a Shaw Communications company. I work for Shaw Cable, but they do the same sort of tactics with our customers too.
I think charging customers for a mandatory hardware upgrade is wrong. You’ve been a loyal Starchoice customer for years, and that’s how they thank you. I also think that it’s wrong to create tiers within HD Channels. If you spend the money on the equipment, and the service, that should be it.
I know the company line for why they do it… I still think it’s wrong.
When I called last night to inform them I was providing 30 days notice of my impending cancellation, I was (as I suspected would happen) forwarded to “customer relations”.
Yeah, the retention department.
Suffice to say I got the new receiver for free after explaining my intentions again.
[...] Where Is My Free iPod?? I just finished reading a blog by my friend Mark, about how Starchoice is charging him a fee for a mandatory upgrade his HD reciever. And it reminded me about a conversation I had with my wife a couple weeks ago… [...]
I’m glad to hear that you got a resolved.
The squeaky wheel gets the grease.. :)