My So Cal VOOM is STILL Out!

[warkovision]

No signal here for 4 hours. It's raining off and on. Right now it's raining pretty hard. Don't know how much longer we'll have this weather, but at $125 a month and two and a half weeks of spotty reception I'm getting discouraged.

 

[tdillon]

I don't have signal again since the rain started again last night. I called Voom to request a larger dish. At 5:30 AM local time it took 9 minutes for a CSR to answer the phone. Voom CSR tells me that my zip code isn't approved for a larger dish, because it hardly ever rains in southern California. When it begins to rain here we deal with it for about 3 months. I requested a credit for lack of signal. They would only give credit from 10/16 through today, 10/20, because their records indicate that is how long people in my area have been reporting rain fade. I will need to build a history of rain fade issues before they will approve a larger dish. They offered me an opportunity to pay $300 to upgrade the dish to a 24", but I need to work out the details with my Installs tech. Why is this CSR education process necessary? And why doesn't my neighbor experience rain fade on his E* 18" antenna pointed at nearly the same spot on the horizon?

 

[Boondockbill]

I don't have signal again since the rain started again last night. I called Voom to request a larger dish. At 5:30 AM local time it took 9 minutes for a CSR to answer the phone. Voom CSR tells me that my zip code isn't approved for a larger dish, because it hardly ever rains in southern California. When it begins to rain here we deal with it for about 3 months. I requested a credit for lack of signal. They would only give credit from 10/16 through today, 10/20, because their records indicate that is how long people in my area have been reporting rain fade. I will need to build a history of rain fade issues before they will approve a larger dish. They offered me an opportunity to pay $300 to upgrade the dish to a 24", but I need to work out the details with my Installs tech. Why is this CSR education process necessary? And why doesn't my neighbor experience rain fade on his E* 18" antenna pointed at nearly the same spot on the horizon?

I feel exactly like you do because this is day 6 with no pic or signal for me. Tech service either is a no-show or they call and can't make it because of "bald tires" on their truck (rain issue). They say they might be able to come out Friday or next week!

VOOM just keeps emailing me, called me once, and I just keep replying to them. It's a stalemate. I have realized two things:

1) VOOM is having financial difficulties
2) Their communication to me and service techs is horrid
3) Their receivers are poorly made overseas (what else is new)
4) VOOM's left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.

I'm hopping on my roof to re-align the dish myself (I installed my BUD and my now gone, DISH-HD by myself). Watch - I'll tell VOOM that the alignment is fine but the receiver is bad and they'll say, "we'll have to have a service tech check it out before we send you a replacement receiver."

I'm in conversation with Directv - they have a great track record, some good deals, and evidently, launching a huge HD satellite very soon - 500 HD channels!

The cost? $299 for a great HD receiver. Heck, after only one year, VOOM is $120/year. Adds up pretty fast. PLUS the horrid price of VOOM.

Even with my DISH-HD for almost 2-years there NEVER was a rain-fade issue.

 

[Vreesar]

launching a huge HD satellite very soon - 500 HD channels!

Just so you know, those 500 HD channels are actually just locals. So You personally will only get 5 or 6 HD channels.

 

[Boondockbill]

Just so you know, those 500 HD channels are actually just locals. So You personally will only get 5 or 6 HD channels.

They have 3 more birds going up. Doing a quick calculation, the only VOOM HD channels I watched were the NEWS, sometimes RAVE, maybe a movie or two from their "B&C" movie channels, sometimes ESPN (disappointed with the 720i signal), and HBO, SHOW.

All in all, the last 7-months of VOOM have been full of pic dropouts, days of no signal, confused customer service, accounting double billing me THREE X's, and now the horrid rain-fade issue. Don't get me wrong, I love the VOOM programming and guide but the rest of the equation simply doomed it for me.

I like things that work.

BB

 

[warkovision]

Just got off the phone with VOOM (2nd call in 5 days) and they have put in a request for a 24 inch dish and scheduled a service visit for Wed. the 27th. I know requesting the larger dish is not the same as getting it but I'll remain hopefull. They said they would also credit my account for some odd $23 for lost service. I went up on the roof just to check the install and it doesn't appear that there is anything protecting the diplexor from the weather. It's also not attached to anything but the RG6 cables, just hanging there in mid air. I've got the feeling that this might not be acceptable. Just so I've got this straight, the diplexor is the "splitter looking" device where the cables from the satellite LNB and OTA antenna go in, and the cables to the STBs come out, right?

 

[tdillon]

The Installs guy showed up on Thursday. He didn't have a larger dish, of course, because his work order showed that he was supposed to "check the connections." The connections were fine, and at the time he showed up my satellite signal was a perfect 97. We chit-chatted for a while and I asked what it would take to get a larger dish. He said that Voom HAD authorized several others in the area for upgrades, but not everybody. He said that his hands were tied until he got Voom to approve the upgrade. He said that he would try. After he left I called Voom again and told them that the installer also felt that I should get a larger dish. They said that the installer was supposed to offer one, but at my cost. I told them that the installer said he wouldn't install one unless they authorized it. The Voom CSR said that Voom would call Installs to find out what was going on.

I figured that I would have rain fade until I built a history of calling every time I lost signal.

To my surprise, Voom called today and wanted to set up an installation appt for the 24 inch dish upgrade. I asked if I would have to pay, and the CSR said no, that they determined that the larger dish was necessary to prevent rain fade and it would be done at no cost to me.

All Right Voom!

I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome. Now let's see those DVRs ship.