Somebody Give Me What I'm Paying For, Please.
Feb 6th, 2008 by 'holic
I should have known! Three weeks to get a response from Setanta, and in fairly succinct fashion they have pointed the finger firmly at Virgin Media.
“Thank you for your e-mail and please accept my apologies for the delay
in response.
Setanta Sports is available on many cable platforms. It is however at
the discretion of individual platform providers to decide what how many
channels they offer.
I would advise you to contact your local cable provider for further
information.”
OK, now Arsenal and Setanta obviously feel they are teflon coated on this issue. A word to the wise though if you are a policy maker at Setanta. I am paying Virgin to receive your products. Like Arsenal supporters on Sky I am paying for ALL of your products, so a little more evidence of you applying some pressure on Virgin (and NTL in Ireland) to provide me what I am paying for would be appreciated. I assume my money still ends up with you even though my contract may be with a third party? Let’s not forget it was your advertising and telling the world we would receive this channel on Virgin Media that persuaded many of us to part with our subscription cash.
For now though I will take the advice you have offered and ask my ‘local cable provider’ to expand on the issue. I have sent the following to Virgin Media today.
An Open Letter To Virgin Media
Dear Virgin Media,
Until very recently I was a very satisfied Virgin Media customer. I have enjoyed a relatively trouble free-service with television, telephone, and broadband internet from yourselves. Indeed so pleased was I that when Setanta and Arsenal Football Club announced that they would be launching Arsenal TV, and advertised that this would be available on Virgin Media, I upgraded my television package to your XL offering.
On the weekend before the launch stories began to circulate that you would not be carrying the new channel. I contacted you by e-mail, and was obviously not alone in so doing. I did get a telephone response four days later, assuring me that stories suggesting you were out of capacity were incorrect. I was told that in fact you were ‘assessing the demand’ for the new channel, and the person I spoke to confessed that given the reponse there was no question that the channel would launch, ‘sooner rather than later’.
I am astonished that there was ever a doubt that there would be a demand for a television channel dedicated to the club with the largest membership in the world! I am even more astonished to read on the Arsenal website just this week that you are still proffering that as an excuse not to have launched the channel. Setanta too are advising me to contact you for an explanation.
Clearly the response I have received to articles I published on my blog, Goonerholic, suggest a number of your customers have upgraded their service to receive the channel as a result of the pre-launch publicity. Many others are waiting for you to resolve this fiasco before upgrading. A look around various internet forums will also tell you that Sky are benefiting from your prevarication.
So here I am, a previously happy customer with a deep sense of grievance, and a blogger with a number of readers who are also disgruntled Virgin Media customers. Can you provide us with an explanation behind the delay in the launch of the new channel, and more importantly a date when we can expect to receive a service we believe we are paying for?
Please take this opportunity to rectify what I hope is just a bit of a public relations mishap on your behalf. Don’t let poor customer service, and poor judgement, cost your business any more goodwill. A lot of people are watching closely just how well you respond to this issue, and most of them are customers who have a choice.
Yours sincerely,
Goonerholic.
34 Responses to “Somebody Give Me What I'm Paying For, Please.”
I too have contacted Setanta and got precisely the same response. With Virgin I was told that they are in negotiations with Setanta. I am 5 months through a year contract and like many other Gooners was swayed by the XL package and of course Arsenal TV. If this is not going to happen then I’ll want out and I’ll just go back to Sky.
[…] Finally for today, if you’re a Virgin Media or NTL customer and you’ve subscribed to the Setanta Sports pack in the hope of getting Arsenal TV you’ll know there have been some problems. Goonerholic is our Arsenal blog watchdog type dude so check out his site for more. […]
This is the email response I received from Virgin Media when I complained about the unavailability of the Arsenal Channel:
Thanks for contacting Virgin Media regarding the availability of Arsenal TV at your area.
We apologise for the inconvenience caused as Arsenal TV is currently not available for you.
At Virgin Media, we are really keen for our customer to provide the channels and programmes which they like, so that they can get the best benefit of it. That means fair prices and flexible packages.
We wish to inform you that our discussions with Arsenal Football Club and Setanta Sports, who distribute the channel, are on going and we hope to launch the channel soon.
As soon as this channel gets launched we will definitely inform you through relevant Media.
I’m in the same boat as you…
When I read this news article (http://tinyurl.com/235jom) on .con the other day I wondered if this was arsenal trying to pressure virgin to somehow save money or if virgin realy don’t belive there is a demand for this.
What do you make of it?
Thanks Alan, a number of readers have sent me something similar.
Dear Virgin, we are looking for something more than the standard response here. These are your customers and they want dates, not vague promises.
Thank you.
Setanta suck too. I subscribed to watch the Villa-Arsenal game on December 1st and I’m still waiting for them to activate the signal on my Sky box, despite having taken £40 from my credit card.
After their initial failure to supply I have been trying to cancel the service and get my money back, but they lie, fail to pass on messages, lose my letters, don’t respond to emails and are generally the most deceptive, devious bunch of corporate thieves I’ve ever come across. Either that or they’re simply so inept that they must be staffed entirely with children.
I’ve now had to take it up with my credit card company. Don’t give these people your money – it’s bad enough having to pay both Sky and Setanta hundreds of pounds a year, but when they fail to deliver and treat customers like fools just there to be ripped off, it’s time for everyone to boycott them.
And Setanta, if you’re reading this (which I seriously doubt given their indifference to customer criticism) reimburse account 3507610 and apologise to me – maybe send me a gift – before you turn me into a twisted man who dedicates his entire life to revenge on your obnoxious organisation.
hey.. i sent an email a few weeks ago to Virgin Media and i actually got a phone call back from them as well as that same automated email. The guy couldnt give me a timeframe on when it would be available though, he just said they were still in negotiations
I’ve emailed virgin also re: this issue as I also have setanta and no arsenal TV – I got a standard bounce back email sayinmg reply in 3 days….no reply and it’s been about 3 weeks…hmmm
They’ve also started capping my broadband service as well in the evenings – in short – when it was telewest all the services were fine – bransons a c*nt!
They’re pretty good at spamming me with mail every week though!
I get Setanta and Arsenal TV with no problems if that helps
Why not get Watchdog to look into it? Between you and the other blogs we have evidence of the demand for the channel and we have the bad faith (if not deliberate misleading) of Virgin which Watchdog go for.
Just having them sniffing around might spook Virgin into action.
Oh Jackster, why didn’t you tell me sooner? Now look, I’m in up to my ankles and all because of you!
😉
I don’t understand what they mean by ‘in negotiations’. Arsenal want Setanta to broadcast Arsenal TV so how much negotiating is necessary. We’ve got Celtic, Rangers and Liverpool TV. I can’t believe those tight wads negotiated too much so come on Setanta, get your finger out!
Goonerholic,
the problem is the Virgin network, they have bandwidth problems, they won’t admit to this, but believe me this is the problem. They can’t even broadcast Ch4 HD because of this.
They seem to think that everyone wants their ‘hero’ product broadband at 20+ meg, from what I have heard they even have problems providing that!
It has nothing to do with ongoing negotiations
Steve,
If there is any hard evidence you can pass on to me you can send it to gooner@(remove this)goonerholic.com
No names, no pack drill.
Thanks.
Steve is right – this is a Virgin capacity issue and has nothing to do with ‘ongoing negotiations’; these negotiations have already been had.
Arsenal obviously want the channel on Virgin Media.
Setanta definitely want the channel on Virgin Media.
Virgin said it would be ready to launch at the same time as on Sky, but it wasn’t…
Keep hounding Virgin is the best advice – as the club have suggested on their site this week.
Maybe we should give Mr Branson a call?!!
Ditto, I called Virgin the first week it came out only to be reassured;
Sky have the rights for the first week of Arsenal TV and we will be getting it in the second week… fair enough I said.
This week I called again and the response I received was;
‘we are currently negotiating with Arsenal TV and hope to bring it to you as soon as possible.
SO WHY ADVERTISE IT THEN, IF YOU DON’T HAVE IT YET?
I might advertise exclusive rights to all Arsenal games that are not on television and make people sign up to my tv channel… in the hope of… maybe… securing them.
Sorry,
no evidence as such, you only have to look at the lack of CH4 HD on virgin, also, there was a new channel (DMAX or something) that came along, to broadcast this they had to remove one of the timeslipped channels.
I haven’t seen anything in writing, but the visible evidence speaks volumes IMHO
PS, Steve you’re right we’ve been waiting for 20 gig broadband for ages and still don’t have it.
I’m no lawyer but without a shadow of doubt Virgin and/or Setanta have led us to believe that if we switch to Virgin or upgrade to the XXL package we would be receiving the Arsenal TV channel on launch date!
As this certainly was my main consideration when signing up to Virgin I’m of the oppinion that Setanta / Virgin are culpable of misleading advertising.
Check the relevant sites. Might make sense to start group action.
Check the Office of Fair Trading:
http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resources/resource_base/legal/misleading-advertisements/what-is-it
What is a misleading advertisement?
“An advert is misleading if it deceives or is likely to deceive its audience and affect their economic decision-making.” & “An advert will be likely to affect the economic decision-making of readers if, for example, it persuades them to part with money.”
and for anybody who cares to read:
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1988/Uksi_19880915_en_1.htm
Gonnerholic: Start rolling the Snowball!
I have Virgin Broadband and Phone and was considering upgrading to TV as Sky sometimes comes through very patchily. I have told Virgin that unless they have Arsenal TV I will not upgrade. Response – NONE. Maybe they are not looking for new business!!
hi i have cpomplained to BBc Watchdog about this and am awaiting their reply.Think if lots of people complain maybe it will get on the show
Here is the link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/tv_and_radio/watchdog/contact_index.shtml
Because of promises of Arsenal channel on Virgin i am now stuck in a 1 year contract til November which i am unable to cancel without paying £10 each a month for all services cancelled.just a word of warning if you are looking to upgrade braodband , tc etc you will get stuck in a new 1 years contract from date you upgrade package.So as well as being stuck in contract fora year you can’t upgrade package unless you want to start new 1 year term.
I lived in Ireland and on NTL full package that offers full Setenta package as a bonus. I have to cancel my Sky subscription to avail of this service(NTL) just because I was promised that Arsenal TV will be included as part of the current Setanta package. When I called NTL Ireland I was told they are not aware of any Arsenal TV now or in future. A request to pass me to a technical person also proved abortive. I have threathened to cancel my subscription but could not because we have no alternative to other providers outside Sky that does not offer much in terms of football over the weekend. Simply put they’ve stuck 2 fingers to me and sadly there is nothing I could about it as I stand to lose out!
I have been a loyal Virgin Media/NTL for over 5 years.. but I am loosing my patience with them.. I supported them wen they took off sky 1 and SSPORTnews, and I can bear not having any HD channels (apart from bbc hd) even though I am paying the same amout as a sky hd customer and get 90% less content…
I have emailed virgin and gave them till march to sort out ARSENAL tv, or I will be moving to SKY…
How is this for Customer Service. Regarding the Arsenal TV debate I phoned Setanta at 11.45 in the morning and got the following voicemail message.
“Thank you for ringing Setanta Sports we are closed at the moment . However we are here to help and our opening hours are 9.00-5.00!!”
Why are you not then there at 11.45 I asked myself, which, unless the world time clock has changed, is between 9.00-5.00
Assuming I had picked a day when it was was someone’s birthday and they had all gone down the pub for a few jars of Guinness, I rang twice more at different times on different days – always between 9.00-5.00- same message each time. Absolutely bloody ridiculous.
A frustrated Gooner
Thanks also to ‘you-know-who-you-are’ for the link below.
http://www.virgin.com/News/Articles/VirginMedia/2007/051107.aspx
So all three parties promised the service to us. The options open to us are multiplying.
I have today given notice to terminate my contract with virgin media and have subscribed to Sky. Fortunately I am in a position to do this. I have clearly cited Arsenal TV as the reason. At the end of the day they will happily spout platitudes about ongoing negotiations etc. just to keep people on board. I think by hitting them where it hurts as I just have they will take more notice. I have printed off the adverts linked today by goonerholic and am posting them together with a letter of complaint to their head office. In this letter I am clearly going to state that their dithering and intransigence over this matter has cost them my custom directly and is likely to (and indeed hopefully does) cost them many more.
Branson 0 Murdoch 1
The only language these muppets understand.
Mt letter to NTL (Ireland)…
“When will I receive Arsenal TV on my Setanta package please?
I pay a large subscription to get all of the channels from you guys and was greatly looking forward to having this channel in particular, as it is carried by Setanta and I pay a separate subscription to you for their channels, I expected to have been receiving it since it launched.
Failure to deliver either Arsenal TV or a discount for its conspicuous absence will give me no choice but to switch to you competitors. I’d rather not, please help.”
PLEASE FOLLOW SUIT ALL GOONERS IN IRELAND!!!
I urge anyone in a position to switch to Sky to do so and tell them exactly why. They deserve to lose customers over this fiasco. Money talks. They will soon wise up.
Switch to sky id say, Its a better service altogether!
For those who have been watching Arsenal TV dont
you wish it was on air for a longer period of time?
17:00 – 23:00 and thats it. Its near impossible to get
near my tv at them times with people dictating that
the ‘soaps’ have to go on. It makes me sad 🙁
Good idea for those who can switch guys, but some people are prevented from taking Sky by planning restrictions on dishes. Just another reason why Virgin have a duty to offer the service to their customers.
Before I hear you shout Freeview, I was told by a number of readers that was not an option either three weeks ago. Is that still the case? (Let’s not forget that freeview reception is not nationwide yet anyway.)
The reply I got from NTL last month included:
“Unfortunately we do not carry Arsenal TV and at present do not have any plans to carry it. This will be reviewed in future once interest for the channel is monitored. ”
I have today replied:
“Thank you for your reply.
I am aware that you do already carry several channels that are dedicated to other UK football clubs, including Liverpool, Glasgow Celtic and Manchester United, which is fair enough considering the high levels of support here in Ireland for those clubs along with Arsenal.
But you also carry Chelsea TV.
Do you monitor the interest in that channel? If so, you must be aware that there is little or no interest in it here or in the UK beyond part of south west London.
Are you aware that support for Arsenal in Ireland (and all over the UK outside part of south west London) vastly outnumbers that for Chelsea?
Are you aware that in terms of membership numbers Arsenal (180,000+) is the best supported football club in the world?
Are you aware that the capacity of Arsenal’s stadium is 50% higher than Chelsea’s but there are more people on the waiting list for Arsenal season tickets than there are people who attend Chelsea matches, which very rarely sell out?
Are you aware that Arsenal’s Youth team has recently played in front of bigger crowds than attended Chelsea’s recent Champions League fixtures?
Are you aware that every one of Chelsea’s considerably fewer members can each purchase four tickets for every home game whereas the considerably higher demand restricts Arsenal’s to one ticket each?
Are you aware that many of your customers who follow Arsenal only added the premium Setanta package due to advertising misleading them that you would be carrying the channel?
Are you aware that Sky has carried Arsenal TV since its launch last month?
Are you aware that your customers all have a choice?
Please advise me when “in future once interest for the channel is monitored†is planned to take place. If the lack of Arsenal TV on your service continues beyond the end of this month, I refer you to the above three paragraphs in terms of my own NTL subscription.”
@ Hlever
Excellent work mate..That ought to teach em poxy cunts! :X
Well there’s a surprise. Got a call at 14.54 and I asked for a response in writing. Not a problem it seemed at the time, but over eight hours on and that written response is conspicuous by its absence. Wish I had taken the call an hour or two earlier because it would have made a difference to something else I was involved in today.
Thanks to everyone who has e-mailed me rather than leave comments here. It is clear from the response when this issue has headlined on ‘holic that there are thousands of you who are at very least interested in the issue. A large number of you are clearly Virgin customers who feel as though they have been taken for a ride.
At this precise moment I feel let down by all three parties to this shambles. What must the advertisers be thinking of them all?