Tata Sky + HD --Quality sucks

[prankey]

TS had deactivated my connection without giving any reason on 14th night. I was travelling and didn't know what happened when I got that SMS. Thought it was done on error as I had SEVERAL things including MATCHES scheduled to record. I had written to CC and Nodal Officer team only to get a call today (after 7 days) informing that it was DEACTIVATED as 2 months HD pack as promised by the sales team was a fluke and I was charged for it and hence my subscription was reduced by about 10 days! They promised to credit Rs.100 towards it and promised to resume my subscription immediately. However when I came home, no luck in the last 8 hours. Have immediately escalated to the CEO and looking for a compensation for this. First they NEVER sent the engineer who was supposed to come about 30 days back to validate the PQ and SQ and now they deactivated my connection SUDDENLY without giving any reason AND, no update even after I immediately complained on why I got such SMS.

Dish TV is doing everything to resolve my issues which are just some settings related to Audio and random corruption issues, however TS has been FAR BELOW PAR in resolving my concerns when I had asked for a refund immediately after I FINALLY got HD pack activated after FINALLY getting the box installed on 23rd Feb after 10s of escalation for escalation after 10th Feb and another 10s of escalations after I was promised installation by 20th on 19th.

It seems TS are just a bunch of sweet talkers who are taking IGNORANT customers like Debapriya who is giving us blank comments like he/she is "happy" with quality when I am straining myself to decide whether to keep Dish HD and TS+HD both as I need that dual recording feature and can not compromise on PQ and SQ which is FAR SUPERIOR in Dish HD.

 

[shyam.b]

Hi Prankey,

For me Dish's customer service was not so nice either.
After scheduling for installation, they have never followed up properly and it took 10 days for installation. To my frustration, they were suggesting that I follow up with their technicians to get my installation done. Dish's pricing is also unfair. Like you, I am also trying to provide my feedback to their officials so that they understand the customers' pulse (if they care)
In general, none of these companies are so far completely good.
I used videocon for about 1.5 yrs and their support was decent, but the issue was that it was always tough to get call connection. Earlier I was with Tata Sky and their pricing was very high.
I hope some decent company emerges and everyone else will fall in line.

 

[prankey]

Hi Shyam,

Yes I completely agree with you. TS has more educated, better behaving staff than the average Dish TV staff. I also got my Dish HD activated after about 18 days when I got the STB around 8th day (I had to go purchase from dealer instead of Dish TV service team). Later that STB I purchased was defective and was rebooting and freezing randomly which was replaced after ENDLESS followups for 2 months (including nodal officers). However later they promised to give full credit of number of days the connection had issues which unfortunately still persist on some channels due to their incompetent technical staff (like in TS they have audio issues in Nat Geo HD which they fail to acknowledge even after we have complained to them endlessly). I was hoping for a far superior support from TS having read reviews many times, however, I am unfortunately terribly disappointed as they are inferior in terms of content as well as they are not coming up to the support expectation.

 

[jsanand]

Has anyone of us tried mailing a link to this post to nodal officers of both TS and Dish TV.

Its time they better take notice. If not, would it not be better to blog all this in one post as to what we get for 4K in TS+ HD (It is too cheap however to expect anything at that price - but they advertise so should deliver) and the support services for both Dish and TS.

They spend millions showing SRK jumping on a sofa with a babe, or Kareena and Bablu, instead if they would have put just a fraction of that in building a strong product, word of mouth would have pushed their sales way ahead. (As infact it did on this forum as soon as TS+ HD was launched)

 

[prankey]

I have emailed, called the nodal officers multiple times of both TS and Dish TV. While there is a sense of ownership by TS and finally after 4 months a senior manager from Noida has owned the responsibility to resolve some channels related concerns left now.

TS is still in denial mode that there are quality issues in their SD channels which is more related to compression and upscaling on TS+HD box which needs them to report to Pace (STB manufacturer) and increase bandwidth allocation on these channels. Dish is better equipped to resolve those issues which are more related to audio settings and needs to investigate random picture corruption issue on the new HD channels.

 

[prankey]

Check this out - Even emails to CEO of TS has not yielded any revert from them in 3 days and they deactivated my account 9 day before the 1 month Grand pack and about 40 days before the 2 months HD Gold pack! Their Bangalore Nodal officer's number does not yield any response either. Always, NO ANSWER in the last 3 days. Seems they have RAN off from Bangalore and probably hiding somewhere in Pune or so.

They are making me loose today's quarter final match as well.

Check the transaction details below which will prove them SCAMMING the customers:

Bill Ref # Type of Transaction Amount (Rs.) Description Transaction Date View Bills
163468097 Subscription Charges 0.00 HD Gold 2 Months Free Pack(24/02/11 - 28/02/11) @ Rs.0 per day 02/03/2011 04:37:54PM
163468097 Subscription Charges 0.00 Tata Sky Plus Usage fee(23/02/11 - 28/02/11) @ Rs.0 per day 02/03/2011 04:37:54PM
163468097 Subscription Charges 0.00 Hindi Regional Free Pack(23/02/11 - 28/02/11) @ Rs.0 per day 02/03/2011 04:37:54PM
163468097 Subscription Charges 0.00 Punjabi Regional Free Pack(23/02/11 - 28/02/11) @ Rs.0 per day 02/03/2011 04:37:54PM
163468097 Subscription Charges 0.00 Showcase VoD Free Pack(24/02/11 - 28/02/11) @ Rs.0 per day 02/03/2011 04:37:54PM
163468097 Subscription Charges 0.00 Grand 1 Month Free Pack(23/02/11 - 28/02/11) @ Rs.0 per day 02/03/2011 04:37:54PM
0 Other Services 0.00 Service Visit 11/03/2011 10:41:10PM

This clearly proves that I had subscribed for 1 month Grand pack from 23rd Feb and 2 months HD Gold pack from 24th Feb for FREE. Hence, their CLAIM of charging Rs.100 is absolutely wrong and also, there was NO service visit on 11th March as they have documented here which proves them committing FRAUD with the customers. They have been promising service visits since 24th Feb when I complained about their FILTHY SD channel's quality and have never been able to visit for the same. Infact they were supposed to come on 24th to replace the damaged Antenna which they never did either.

 

[prankey]

I just got a call from TS support rep from Hyderabad informing that my account went in negative balance on 15th as that was the recharge date and it is currently in Active state and if I recharge my account now, I will get the channels. WOW what a news, that lady had absolutely no idea WHY SHE CALLED me and what she was DICTATING! She was scared like hell and was somehow reading out statements without knowing anything about what has already happened.

This is how TS is now treating us for no apparent reason. Nodal officers number is still not replying.

 

[jsanand]

Will still say email a link of this post to the TS seniors and also state that forum members are starting a facebook group to indicate these issues if they dont respond.

In the mail state how many views and responses it has had and how does that impact. You can also state that many have reverted their decision to go to TS+ HD because of this and if denied deserving support we will put in our energies to highlight issues faced rather than spending money on another DTH provider.

Lets have support from all HFV members to have these guys learn that they ought to provide what they promise.

 

[anandtheleo]

I was gung-ho about buying this in the run-up to its launch, but after this thread I have put off my purchase.

Will not buy until all the glitches are rectified, we are guinea pigs for Tata Sky.

 

[prankey]

^ True, however if you do not have any other HD box and can also live with a cable STB besides, you may consider buying it particularly for the value proportion and dual tuner recording features.

To update, I got a call from a escalation contact (representing CEO and MD) yesterday evening around 6PM and he has promised looking at the quality issues at the earliest by sending a senior Tatasky engineer by today evening.

Also my account was credited with Rs.226.80 and was reactivated after I went on call with a supervisor yesterday (Nodal officers were still unreachable). Took more than an hour when they kept insisting for a call back. I went adamant that I have to watch the match and they are responsible for this UNEXPLAINED blackout.

I got a call from the service team today informing that for such quality issues, they might not be able to help. I agreed to the person and told that I have said the same thing to the support and escalation teams. He has promised a call back by 6PM today to update me on what they could do to resolve the issues.

 

[sivaprasadv77]

Prankey,

Any updates on the technical team visit? I'm also one of the victims of the Poor SD picture quality using the HD+ Tatasky. I complained them 3 times and every time they visited the house checking the signal strength and replied the same that every thing is fine. The last technician showed me that it's not problem with Signal Quality which i have complained them about and said that with bigger TV (Mine is Samsung 46" LED) you need to maintain good distance so that blurness will be negligible. I immediately showed him switching to my Digicable set up box which gives more clarity picture than TATA SKY and he doesn't have any answer. After I Visited this forum i realized that these issues are because of the compression not because of the Signal Quality/ LNB problems. Please let me know if you find any resolution to the current problem.

-- Siva.

 

[prankey]

Prankey,

Any updates on the technical team visit? I'm also one of the victims of the Poor SD picture quality using the HD+ Tatasky. I complained them 3 times and every time they visited the house checking the signal strength and replied the same that every thing is fine. The last technician showed me that it's not problem with Signal Quality which i have complained them about and said that with bigger TV (Mine is Samsung 46" LED) you need to maintain good distance so that blurness will be negligible. I immediately showed him switching to my Digicable set up box which gives more clarity picture than TATA SKY and he doesn't have any answer. After I Visited this forum i realized that these issues are because of the compression not because of the Signal Quality/ LNB problems. Please let me know if you find any resolution to the current problem.

-- Siva.

Yes, signal quality or LNB has nothing to do with this problem. Its compression and TERRIBLE UPSCALING on the TS+HD BOTH. Upscaling BLURS the edges instead of enhancing them like it is supposed to be done to improve quality.

I am waiting for the PR Rep to call today evening to update, otherwise no update yet. They have promised an update by Wednesday. You should write to their CEO and MD for them to realize they can not give us JUNK and expect to digest. Ask for a refund if they do not resolve this issue. Its not just PQ but SQ as well which is way lower fidelity than even an analog cable!

 

[sivaprasadv77]

Thanks for your reply. If the compression is really causing us the problems then Tata SKY moving to Mpeg 4 is the only resolution that makes things right. Otherwise there is no other solution. Lets wait for the technician visit and can think about the next steps.

-- Siva

 

[prankey]

Thanks for your reply. If the compression is really causing us the problems then Tata SKY moving to Mpeg 4 is the only resolution that makes things right. Otherwise there is no other solution. Lets wait for the technician visit and can think about the next steps.

-- Siva

Even if they move, they have to do something on TS+HD terrible upscaling as well which seems to be a greater issue as it will spoil the picture even after they upgrade to MPEG4 infrastructure for their SD channels (not sure if it will happen in another 10 years).

 

[cruise_1982]

Quality of SD channels in TATA sky HD has reached a new low in past two days. Is anyone else facing the same issue, or is it only me?

 

[reachbennym]

Tatasky has very limited bandwidth available - any new channel results in further deterioration of existing channels since they need to be compressed further - Even more so if the new channel is HD.

anyone with insider information? will tatasky be shifting to another satellite ? when can we expect this to happen?

 

[naveenroy]

Wow and here I was thinking of getting the TS HD+. NO way now. Well, thats what you can say for anything associated with that name! All offense meant there.

But TS - what I have now has probably been their only feather in the cap!

 

[aakashr]

After reading the complete thread of TS Launch, looks like i may have to go for DishTV HD. Someone even mentioned that quality of SD contnets of the cable STB is much better than TS HD+

That was a shocker for me! What a blunder Tatas did with what could be a potential winner!

Hi, I have Dish TruHD and I still feel Tata Sky would be a better option. If you have a home theatre set up you would need 5.1 audio which only Tata Sky and Airtel give you. Dish TV only has one HD channel in 5.1 which is Movies Now. All other channels will give you only stereo. Also, i feel servicewise Tata Sky is a lot better. Dish HD set top box also has some audio issue that keeps recurring................so I still feel go with Tata Sky!!!

 

[aakashr]

Wow , thats terrible to read.

Well just my 2 cents - I have tata sky HD (not plus) , and Dish Tv regular - both installed. IMHO dish TV sucks big time. Tata sky SD channels on my HD box is not great either ... But Its miles ahead of Dish TV SD on the SD box.

I'm probably going to get the Dish Hd box and see if it's better than their SD box this week. Will post my comments and pics.

do not get Dish HD..........tats sky is must better!!! I am using Dish HD and it does not support 5.1 audio. Only Movies Now has 5.1, all other channels output in stereo. I am thinking of switching to another service. I don't watch much of SD but there are audio issues on the dish HD set top box.

 

[aakashr]

Hi Shyam,

Yes I completely agree with you. TS has more educated, better behaving staff than the average Dish TV staff. I also got my Dish HD activated after about 18 days when I got the STB around 8th day (I had to go purchase from dealer instead of Dish TV service team). Later that STB I purchased was defective and was rebooting and freezing randomly which was replaced after ENDLESS followups for 2 months (including nodal officers). However later they promised to give full credit of number of days the connection had issues which unfortunately still persist on some channels due to their incompetent technical staff (like in TS they have audio issues in Nat Geo HD which they fail to acknowledge even after we have complained to them endlessly). I was hoping for a far superior support from TS having read reviews many times, however, I am unfortunately terribly disappointed as they are inferior in terms of content as well as they are not coming up to the support expectation.

totally agree!!! I have dish HD and am thinking of switching but if Tata Sky is also not that great, what are the other options??? anyone has any experience with ICC HD service? They are giving the HD box free and even though they might not have that many HD channels now, they do support 5.1 audio. any ideas guys???