An extract from an email I have sent to complain to Tiscali, like many users I've had many years without problem from Homechoice however the first time I have an issue with tiscali you get to see what they are like!


....
....
About two weeks ago my tiscali/homechoice box stopped
working. I then rang customer support who then
suggseted a time for a site
visit to fix the problem. The time pasted and about an hour later I was
called to say that due to a lack of boxes I will not
be able to have the problem fixed and told I will be
rung some time in the future regards a replacement.
When I rang customer support to complain they suggest
this is a known problem and that they book
appointments on the off chance that a spare box is
available! ....
....

I guess this means it is anyone's guess when this will be resolved. Has anyone else had a similar problem and know how to go about fixing it?! It's now been over 3 weeks without a service and I still haven't heard from them. But yet they still seem intent on sending me my bill and what great things there are to view this month on TiscaliTV.

B8.

just leave and go to sky, it's cheaper especially with the free sky plus box offer at the moment. tiscali disconnected me by accident two months ago and ive had numerous emails and visits to get it reconnected, even the head of complaints got involved. but they have been completely useless. the bottom line is even tho IPTV is a wonderful product, the UK doesnt need it because sky has penetration, so it will never make the money a company like tiscali expects of it, so it will never have good customer service. LEAVE TISCALI, life is too short. i can recommend SKY or O2. customer service at 02 is especially great and also they will launch a rival IPTV later this year. so go one ditch TISCALI

I have a Homechoice box if you want it..... I have gone over to Sky because of Tiscali's incompetance. If anyone would like the box they are certainly welcome to it. PM me on this site and you can have it. All I will say is that if you do want it you will have to pay postage!!!

Thanks Jon I'll send you a message.

I would move to Sky but I live in a flat which means I can't just put a dish up. The IPTV solution is great or should I say was great its just a shame Tiscali CS are not as good.

Sky isn't cheaper, Tiscali TV is £15.99 for the first three months and then £19.99, this includes TV, broadband and line rental.

Sky is £16 for the basic channels, this includes basic broadband but only if you are in an area with sky broadband coverage, otherwise it's £17 for Sky Connect and line rental at £10.50 isn't included.

So Tiscali is £227.88 per year, Sky is £318 in a sky broadband area and £522 in a non-sky broadband area.

This is why I have been thinking of moving to Tiscali but I'm not quite sure what the reliability is like yet.

Runaway from Tiscali,they were simply dreadful in 2000. I dread to think what they are like now.

Sorry to hear you are having troubles. Not a good way to run a business!

Thats pretty shocking! - I cant believe they cant give you a working box, is that not breaking their contract as they are not providing a service you pay for?

I would be absolutely fuming if that was me!

I agree it is really shocking that Tiscali want to charge you for a service, which you have no way of using because you're STB is broken down ... and they can't give you a replacement. I am sorry to say however, that this is not an isolated case. If you look at http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...d.php?t=713135 you will see this happened to someone else recently. They asked if she could wait until May (with no service as her HC STB was defective also) until she was upgraded to the Tiscali platform... are they for real?

So they cant even supply a telsey box? I thought they were a stop between box until we all get the new box?

Hope that box I gave you worked Jay, but I cannot believe that they couldn't be bothered to give you a replacement box. As I said to you at the door yesterday, I moved to Sky for that reason but you are unfortunate in the fact that where you reside you can't have Sky. Maybe you would be better off considering Virgin Media. I always kept my options open. I thought that it was best to see out the years contract (as at the time I lived in a flat that couldn't get Sky and only could get analogue Telewest/ Virgin), and once I had either moved or either of the other two were available to me then I would change!!

Yeah thanks for the box it seems to work! I'll now have three boxes when they do finally get round to changing the other one! I can't beleive they don't have there own ones and are not willing to give me any replacement.

My folks have got sky and though numerous people on here don't like their monopoly status I must say given the choice I'd probably go with them.

It is a shame really as with Homechoice they did seem to not only deliver the product but go out of their way to make sure everything was okay, such as ringing you up before your visit/etc. I guess commercial considerations (cost cutting) means it is not possible with Tiscali.

Thanks again.

That info is wrong, you can get line rental through Sky and it costs around £10 a year. I would do it but the only proviso is that you need to have had a BT line for at least 12 months.

I get the following:

£45 for all the mixes and also Sky Sports and Movies.
£10 for the max 16mb Broadband
£5 for all calls free anytime
£10 for the extra multiroom box
So in total I pay £70 + any mobile calls.

With Tiscali/ Home choice I was paying around £20 more on a monthly basis. When you think that for £16 you get over 200 channels then I think Sky is still better value for money than Tiscali. You may have PVR etc, but then the Sky Anytime service is better as you get that free on your Sky+ box and also you can download the Anytime software and download any of your films and sports free (as long as you subscribe to Sports or Movies). The only downside I have found is that you have to pay direct to Setanta if you want the sports, whereas with Tiscali you pay them. Even then though you onlt get 3 Setanta Channels for £9.99 where as with Sky you pay £9.99 and get around 9 channels. Also this biggest con I found with Tiscali is that with Sky Movies you only get 4 of the premium Movie Channels. That's not Tiscali's fault, that's down to Sky. With Orange TV though coming out soon and also other IPTV companies in the pipe line Tiscali may start to wain. It really needs some competition as at the moment, from personal experience, I think Tiscali TV customers get a raw deal and a sub-standard service. It's a shame as Homechoice was a revolutionary service a few years back!!

It says on Sky's website that their line rental is £10 per month not per year, so that would be £312 per year in a sky broadband area and £516 in a non-sky broadband area, I only really watch Sky 1, FX and Paramount so Tiscali would be okay for me, plus I'm not in a Sky broadband coverage area so would be saving more money, it's just the bad reviews from some of Tiscali's customers that are putting me off at the moment.

That is right, and that was a typo mistake on my part!! By 2012 I would think this will all change anyway. Sky though STILL works out cheaper than Tiscali, and I know how it feels not to be in an area where you cannot pick up a certain service. Where I lived previously we could only have analogue Telewest as they would not put in a digital box in our street as Croydon Council refused to allow Telewest to install a Digital junction area in our road. We tried to get Sky, but due to Health and Safety they couldn't install it!! Homechoice was the only service we could recieve a digital service through. The only other option now is to pay £150 to Sky and and get Freesat.

Don't forget Sky Pay once watch forever at £75
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...op%2Bboxes.htm

Also, BBC Freesat should be coming soon...

Hi beckenham8,

I need your customer details to be able to assist further.
Can you either post your query in the Tiscali TV Forum, or if you are happy I am who I say I am, PM me with your HC account number and BB enabled phone number.

Cheers

I had Tiscali installed on Saturday and I must say I'm NOT IMPRESSED. I cannot record and watch at the same time, I don't have Living (which I was sure I was going to get - my bad though), it freezes loads, it makes horrible screeching noises!!!

The only reason I went with Tiscali and not Virgin (unable to have Sky due to rules) is that I wanted Sky one.

Can anyone let me know if it's possible for me to keep Tiscali (just for Sky One) but still have a Virgin+ box? Is that possible?

The STB shouldn't screech. Have you called tech support yet?
Sounds like you've been unlucky. Give them a call and they should send an engineer round to have a look for you.

I will do, but last night I couldn't record ITV and watch BBC! I'm really hoping this isn't normal.......

Unlucky??? He and other customers have had no end of problems with Tiscali sinmce the takeover of homechoice!! I am guessing you work for the Tiscali??? The service is a shambles and the sooner Tiscali realise that and address the many issues with the service Tiscali will just fade into the distance.

Are you sure you've scanned in your DTT channels via the aerial?

Do you have an ariel plugged in ???

When I scan my DTT chanels it either won't detect them or only two or three. My DSL light on the front of my modem is amber....Could only watch BBC1, ITV & CH4 last night!