Shaw High Def TV

[MikeP]

I currently have a shaw HD cable box but they have really ticked me off lately. I was told when I bought the box that shaw would not charge for any HD channels including any new ones added in the future, and how they were so great cause on their boxes when you are on a HD channel everything is HD unlike a satellite which one show might be HD and the next show might not be broadcast in HD. Anyway now they have gone against what they told me (and others I know) and decided to start charging for what they call HD plus which is a few of the new channels added not to long ago as well as some of the ones that have been free since I got the box :mad: I have talked to them on the phone and sent emails but no one there seems to care that they are a the verge of loosing all my business (cable, phone, and internet). Is anyone else mad about this? I have been thinking of switching to a satellite system, does anyone have a review for Bell or another company?

[ridder]

Bell has the most HD channel line up and you will be paying around $70 a
month for the package.

[woodcarver]

Be careful before you change over . We were ticked of with cable and tried one of the sattelite services ,I can only say it was a nightmare and not the service or cost we were led to believe.
Like you ,I don't like the way cable operates or charges but it seems the better of two evils .
Thinking of cancelling cable and just renting or buying videos and using the computer for other viewing !!!
.................Dave

[Phanman]

Call shaw and talk to the Customer Accounts Representatives "CAR" team rather than the Customer Sales Reps "CSR" that you will get when u first call in. Explain the situation, and they do something for you to keep you as a customer.

[dirtyreefer]

Be careful before you change over . We were ticked of with cable and tried one of the sattelite services ,I can only say it was a nightmare and not the service or cost we were led to believe.
Like you ,I don't like the way cable operates or charges but it seems the better of two evils

Can you please explain what problems you've had with satellite services? I am thinking about switching to Bell from Shaw and thought satellite was the way to go for HD programming etc. Any help would be appreciated :)

[skylord]

I went out and spent almost 1000 on the shaw PVR with the cables. Very nice by the way. Almost never watch the other Chanel's now....but was was not impressed the other night when half the Chanel's disappeared. I called them to ask why and then let them know what I thought about it. First I let them know I wasn't impressed with the false advertising. I was told by their rep that I would always get the HD programing at no extra charge (that lasted just over a month). I really just let lose on them about a few issues I had with their service like spending 1k when satellite companies offered the same equipment for 300 and that even though I was paying for the extreme package for INTERNET that my neighbors ADSL was faster most of the time.

And what really set me off was having to wait on hold for over 1 hr(seems like a lot of people were misled and I had to wait in line to be pi$$ed). Poor young lady who had to deal with me. What she was able to do for me was give me 3 months extended service at no charge. I told her I just wanted the HD channels and wasn't interested in watching 30 channels of CSI and another 20 devoted to Law and Order. She gave me all anyway. Then she asked how long I have been getting slow INTERNET service and gave me a credit for that and some other stuff....by the time she was done I will get almost a year worth of credit for the HD programming. Worked out to be 80 or $90 worth of credit....still not real happy but my only other choice is to sell the PVR for half the money.......

Call them and let them know your not happy with being misled.

Scott

[woodcarver]

Hey Dirty ,Maybe we just had a bad experience but we found ,after being told that similar programming to our existing package would be less expensive ,it was actaully going to cost more.
The guy who came to install left a birds nest of cables ,almost impossible to hide.
The picture sucked compared to cable.( I realise this can be subject to a number of variables but this is just our experience.
We have three T.V's and were told we would need a box for each one or only be able to watch the same Channel on each T.V. With cable we can at least get the basic channels without an extra box.
Finally we had a huge hassle getting our money refunded ( it was an offer we took up from the company we purchased our new T.V. from for a free trial with approx.$ 200 deposit on the equipment )
Despite having all the information regarding invoice numbers etc.They refused to make a simple phone call to confirm the details and we had to arrange for copies to be faxed before they agreed to cancel the amount outstanding.
All in all we just heaved a sigh of relief that we had not discontinued cable !!
As I said earlier ,this was just our story and I know there are plenty of people out there whom are perfectly happy with satellite dishes.
....................Dave

[DanG]

A bunch of guys I work with have all switched from shaw to bell for HD, the packages are better and you have more choices.

[woodcarver]

Hey Scott, just read your post . We were thinking of going the Shaw PVR route but guess we will hold fire for the moment.
As you say who the hell needs all those repeats and recycled movies and Shaw on demand is just a bad joke !!
................Dave.
P.S. I suppose it stops us watching too much T.V.:) :)

[Pescador]

We have 2 Shaw HD PVR's and 2 other regular terminals we're pretty well stuck with it now. Gave Shaw a lot of money upgrading boxes from the one tuner PVR (which was useless) to the two tuner to the bigger two tuner. And the HDMI won't play with my amp cause it needs a firmware upgrade. Now I find out Bell rents their boxes.
But the PVR's are great it's hard to watch commercials anymore.

[EmilyB]

Bell is awesome, I have never had a single complaint.

[StirCrazy]

see and I see the opposite out here. every I know that had satellite is going to shaw. I did check out satellite and for what I have now it would be about 30.00 more a month because of the deal you get with the bundled tv/internet/phone.

Also they all stated what was already mentioned above.. even though you have more HD channels they are only HD shows about 3 or 4 hours a day not 24/7 like shaw.

Steve

[MikeP]

The one thing that has always been great about Shaw is the tech service. I'm on to my 4th PVR high def box and I have never had a problem getting a new one. Although it has been a bit of a PITA. I'm just so ****ed that Shaw is going back on what they told me when I was looking into buying a box from them. When I bought my home theater the retailer had a package that included a bell set up that was a bit cheaper but I decided to stick with Shaw because I felt comfortable with their service and their pricing. I don't understand why they can't stick to their word for those of us that were told there would be no charge for HD services and let any new customers know what the pricing is. Shaw makes milloins of dollars a year, to bad they don't have more respect for the people that make them successful.