HDTV and Telewest

[AlanHo]

Does anyone have any information regarding the channels - if any - being broadcast in HD by Telewest cable. Their website is very vague on the subject and clearly well out of date because it looks forwards to the World Cup.

I have phoned customer services - but they did not know.

Does anyone have the Telewest HD box and hard drive - if so - what is your experience.

Anyone know of a more specialised forum where I might find more info?

[expertec]

Digitalspy probably has more info...

[g_dootson]

Does anyone have the Telewest HD box and hard drive - if so - what is your experience.

Below is a copy of my personal TVDrive blog which I started cos telewest said there were no notes on my account for any problems I had reported. I have also attached a few pics.

Im sick of reporting the same problems over and over.

Im sick of rebooting and formatting and getting my box swapped.

Sick of loosing hours and hours of unwatched TV which I have paid for.

and sick of being told there are no major issues with the tvdrive.

For all the help TW CS are I may as well talk to the dog.

So am I on my own, is it just me having problems, am I going mad... can anyone help?

21st march - tv drive installed

28th march - didn't record series links

30th march - called customer services

31st march - 25 - 31st march rebooted 13 times - over 6 days

28 - 31st march missed 20 recordings

11th april - query re: bill - paid £45.25 - balance left £96.81

13th april - phoned twice re: problems on tv drive

14th april - 11.05pm phoned code 2056 - paused on loading data on tv drive menu

amy **** - liverpool

15th april - 1.30pm - picture funny - green dotted lines - sparkles

michael broadband support

16th april - 11.59pm - watching footballers wives 11 mins into blue screen counter

continues - when pressed paused counter when to 00:00

not open - rebooted twice

17th april - 20.37pm green sparklies

not open rebooted twice

19th april - 11.05pm - watching the bill went off after 7 mins - rebooted

code error 2056

rob broadband support

20th april - 8.30am - andy engineer - not on job sheet for tv drive can't

fix prob re-assigned to someone else left 9.06am

11.00am phoned said would be there before 12pm

11.59am 2 blokes in 2 vans changed tv drive box

22nd april - 10.12pm didn't record casualty manually even though showing red on

screen - recorded something twice as well

23rd april - 7.42pm tv drive screen locked + recording a programme

fran broadband support

8.05pm - froze after x2 then rebooted by itself

8.45pm - rebooted - green sparklies

kay ******* broadband support

24th april - 12.09pm - engineer came - waste of space just wrote all problems

down said would pass to techinal support?

25th april - 8.22pm - tv drive locked loading data

kevin broadband support - 2nd level

dean ********** - customer care £55 refund

27th april - engineer - stuart knowles

2nd may - engineer out changed connection in green box said looks like cable been

spliced, poss need new cable - pull through

tv drive froze again

john ********** - broadband support 2nd level

3rd may - only have 1/2 picture

recording stopped - no fix till friday

phil ******** - liverpool

4th may - picture funny and froze on menu

5th may - engineer came says wasn't booked for a pull through can only do

12th may - morning

phoned re-booked pull through with jamie ******** for mon 8th may

8th may - engineer came not booked for pull through - he phoned his boss

says coming friday 12th may?

spoke to jennifer ******* refunded £27.50 for loss of days off

says once fixed 12th may phone and refund from 30th march -

12th may will be credited

10th may - telewest phoned re non payment says owes £30.59 last month

total £94.36

spoke to catherine ****** says have pay by 19th may £30.59

can't work out why it spilt like that - phone for

refund 12th may if sorted

15th may - phoned 10.44pm tv screen black with white bars top and bottom

guy put through to alan got cut off!!!! Phoned back - woman sent

signal out to box booked tech for thursday spoke to jennifer

******* - emailed photos

18th may - engineer came changed tv drive box says shouldn't have any more

problems now!! We'll see!! Phoned telewest gave us a refund

of £55 for tv drive and tv package from 30th march - 18th may

paid outstanding balance of £39.36 - now up to date.

22nd may - went out and bought new tv to hopefully solve some problems with tv drive!!!

26th may - watching the bill when kicked us out to blue screen counter

still going also on channel 144 (e4) spoke to rob *******

said either a format or engineer - been there done that

got the t-shirt when will they fix this???????

27th may - tried to watch casualty on teleport wouldn't play reset

box again got quote 9002 phoned on hold for 32 mins

then was told national fault bye!!

28th june - crash no pic, 50min on phone, leave till engineer comes

29th may - 10.30pm - already reset box 3 times today - went to watch

big brother ( c4 9pm ) counter on 00.00 but played

12 mins of new tricks which was on bbc 1 at 9pm what

is going on???? also noticed there was a content

recorded for 5 mins - what the??? phoned spoke to

paula ******** she went through to 2nd tier and came

back to be as a national fault nothing they can do???

why did i ever get this????? oh yeah to watch things

when busy - spend most of my time on phone to telewest.

30th june - engineer, today, reset and left, said network engineer would call.

night - frozen, wait 20min, then call back...

2nd july - no tv guide all day, cant record anything

not noted loads... 2 enginers been etc... fed up.

20th july - missed a series link, and kicked out to this channel off air

21st july - cust serv - bill pay from 22june to 21st july (but also -tv 18may-22june)

didnt call back, dwain *******.

stacy padgett. - confirmed credit avaiting, + no call back.

22nd july - told to ring 151 by esther *****

1.2h - paul ****** manager 0151 ******** tue - sat4pm-mid, to sort refund. not very nice man!

(sold the service for ser link, flex view times, etc.)

no consistency of service. 2engineers, 5th box, 2formats,

inconvenience, multiple endless phone calls + days off waiting for engineers

kicked out of recordings.

gale *****, fault operations manager,

23rd july - no play any recordings, please wait, rec 2, 2nd box is working.

12min naomi *******, 2 to 5 days call back, no playbacks nationally

25th july - assist fault manager wigan, aniel *******,

confirms cable not pulled through. arrange for thurs 17th august

29th july - holiday till 13th aug, told not to call any probs till cable pull on 17th

17th aug - cable pull, again, last was only done halfway,

and the splice had been bent back on itself

also, cable was damaged near garden,

night,,, wont play recordings, tv black with white bars.

18th aug - 11.45pm, wont play recording, tv b+w bars, reset,

no prog info for 1/2 channels, for 15hrs

19th aug - 9.05pm wont play recordings, tv b+w bars, recording 2 progs,

phoned flicked through channels got half a picture with white bars,

nicola ****** - glasgow, promised call back from analyst team (20min)

no call back.....

20th aug - 10pm wouldn’t play recording, tv b+w bars, recording 2 progs,

phoned maureen ******, glasgow

30th aug - 5.30pm, tv drive says boot, boot, boot, boot,

not been in use all day, so.... with 3 1/2 weeks of rec.

35min hold dan ******, liverpool, not very nice man,

only offered format or 'engineer to fix problem'

31st aug - obviously no fix so box swapped, maxtor drive,

no dolby logo, original fw, 1.3.10.107, updated to 1.4.5.107

all recordings from holiday lost. 3 weeks worth of paid for unviewed tv lost.

well did manage to watch big bro.....

31st Aug - green sparklies again, reena schofield, v nice, helpful,

engineer booked. for tomorrow to replace box....

[catgate]

That sounds like real success story by anyone's standards. How much a month are they paying you?

[andsome]

I had severe problems with the digital boxes supplied by NTL, same group now as Telewest. I was having to reboot the boxes several times a week, and had several exchange boxes, all equally as bad. I finally asked them to take the damned thing back. I now have Sky, and in twelve months have only rebooted once. I have been more than pleased with the service. I still use NTL broadband and telephone service.