[TelstraClear] T-Box Pay-per-view issues

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mcclymontp

15 posts

Geek

#85777 24-Jun-2011 21:21

Having never "rented" a "live movie" before, I though I would give it a go this evening.

So I tried to follow the instructions in the big glossy T-Box manual for a movie due to begin in an hour. I couldn't find any "rent" button to select on-screen, so I rang faults.

He was as perplexed as I was, until after a considerable amount of searching on his part he found the problem: you can only rent after 15 minutes before it starts and until 10 minutes after it starts.

A pity he didn't know this and the manual didn't mention it.

So I waited until the relevant time and rented successfully, then turned the TV off, got dinner, then settled down to watch the movie (having read in the manual that you can watch it any time within a 24-hour period).

But it was already playing, about 30 minutes in. I tried pressing stop, rewind, pause, to no effect. I tried going into the planner, but it wasn't there. I went to "Now's Good", saw that it was definitely rented, chose the "view" option, and it started playing "live" again.

Rang faults again, he was perplexed again, couldn't understand why it wasn't in the planner, eventually told me that my issue has been escalated and I would hear back within a day or two.

Does anyone know anything more about this than TelstraClear Faults?

As I said in the first line, I have never tried this before, so have no idea what's normal and what's not!

mcclymontp

15 posts

Geek

#488010 30-Jun-2011 18:21

Update;

I hadn't heard back so rang again. There was no record of my call last week!

After lots of to-ing and fro-ing, finally talked to a guy in tech support who first of all informed me that you can only watch the movie you order "live". When I pointed out that the manual said that you could watch your rented move "at any time in the next 24 hours" he went off to get more info, then told me that you could watch it "live" at any of the listed times in the next 24 hours (which explained why you can still rent a move after it starts). Then he said he wanted to check his facts again, and when he returned he informed me that his previous advice was wrong, and that this was no longer the case, and in fact you really can only watch the showing that you have rented!

The people at TelstraClear obviously don't know how to use these machines. I usually ask, and I have never found anyone who has one at home. Isn't that appalling?

Can anyone tell me how it really works? I don't want to waste my money trying again, until I know what to do. Why can't TC have some clear instructions? Is it too much to ask?

RobertT

120 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 1

#488175 1-Jul-2011 10:04

Too much to ask in my experience.
You're right - the staff should have these things and be reporting on their issues. When I called the first time with the problem of the screen freezing at a black screen when fast-forwarding a recorded program that I had just selected to watch, I was told I was the first to have this issue. I was able to repeat the fault on other systems, and other people in the forum mentioned th efault.
I can only assume the testing that is done before release is woefully inadequate. I offered to beta test but never got a suitable answer. I don't think TC do Beta testing; instead they have a small test inhouse before releasing to the masses

I work in IT, architecting solutions and managing projects and have to say I'm not very impressed with the end product, the testing or the support.