TV Confusion

[Not In France]

Right Guys I hope you can help,

My parents in law have just moved to their 2nd property in France and they never really got TV sorted at the old one.

They have been watching some English TV but no Channel 4 and 5

They want to watch English and French TV

They rang Orange (which I presume is France Telecom) to get the phone and Broardband sorted they sorted this in english (what number to do ring to speak to BT in French, I digress). Any way they were offered TV as well for a total of €39 a mth they were told the TV would be French and English.

A man from Orange turned up eventually and sorted the BB tryed to do the TV but said the "arial" was no good, I presume he and they mean dish? so they were left with no TV or what they had before.  

Through a contact they had a local man come and sort the TV he moved the direction of the dish, and installed new cable. They now have only French TV! plus BBC world and CNN.

Is this what they have been sold by Orange  http://abonnez-vous.orange.fr/residentiel/TV/ChainesIncluses.aspx?idnode=81113017 (sorry I cound not get the link to work)

Can they cancel this or do they have to stick with it for now (do they have cooling off period)?

From the basic reding I have done they need 2 dishes (or 1 with 2 LNB's pointing different ways) to get both sets of channels?

I dont think they need to be paying for any TV?

I have a spare sky box (with viewing card) here should I send that to them?

They have some other sat box (sorry I dont know what) that they were using at the old place and initally here does that just need "retuning" to get C4 and C5 on a dish that is pointing in the correct direction?

What is the "best" setup? should they get a freesat PVR box? they have a DVD R but they have never really mastered using it even when they were in the UK.

Thanks for reading

 

[Martin963]

Oh dear,  how frustrating for them.....

Yes,  the Orange TV is delivered by a combination of Broadband (ADSL) and satellite.   There are two sats to choose from (for historical reasons)  ie Hotbird at 13 deg E or Atlantic Bird 3 at 5 deg west.    There are others here who have the package and can advise in more detail,  but for starters:

I don't think that Orange offer any mainstream British TV on their package and I'd guess that you're (they're!) now on Hotbird where BBC World can be had without the intervention of Orange (although it suits Orange to say "they're" providing it) although I'd have to check that for certain.   But I guess that if they're getting the 16 general channels listed on that page you linked to then Orange will say that the box is working properly.   (I take it that it IS the Orange box providing the French channels they can get).    Unless they can prove what the sales person said about British TV I'm afraid I think they're stuck with it (but hey,  think of the language skills they'll hone!)

Anyway,  they'll need a second dish pointing at Astra 2 at 28 deg E for British TV.    Was their existing dish pointing there before the engineer moved it?   Or as you say a second LNB on the working dish,  but unless it's at least an 80 cm it won't work, and to honest getting two sats that far apart to work on one dish is fiddly anyway (and you'd have to find the right adaptor arm,  and I don't know where you'd get one with such a big angle of separation,  I'd really go down the two-dish route).

Their old  box (if I've understoood correctly) is fine for British TV using an Astra 2 dish,  and channel 4 and five can be added fairly easily,  although it might take some menu fiddling as some boxes are more co-operative than others.    The sky box you have is even easier as if it has an FTV card in it it should be fine when they get their Astra 2 dish.   If and when they get the BBC back then we'll advise how to tune a non-Sky box in to ch 4 and five.

Tim will be along in a minute as he's very pleased with his Humax PVR freesat box.  

[Anton Redman]

Any way they were offered TV as well for a total of €39 a mth they were told the TV would be French and English. The English language TV which was offered would be very limited probably to BBC World and some news channels  

A man from Orange turned up eventually and sorted the BB tryed to do the TV but said the "arial" was no good, I presume he and they mean dish? so they were left with no TV or what they had before.   Normally the French use parabole for dish which is a better word. 

Through a contact they had a local man come and sort the TV he moved the direction of the dish, and installed new cable. They now have only French TV! plus BBC world and CNN. Dish is pointing ay 19 degrees East which is where the French digital channels sit  

Is this what they have been sold by Orange  http://abonnez-vous.orange.fr/residentiel/TV/ChainesIncluses.aspx?idnode=81113017 (sorry I cound not get the link to work) Link needs to be start on a line and have a carriage return at the end http://abonnez-vous.orange.fr/residentiel/TV/ChainesIncluses.aspx?idnode=81113017

Can they cancel this or do they have to stick with it for now (do they have cooling off period)?  Not sure does anybody else know ?

From the basic reding I have done they need 2 dishes (or 1 with 2 LNB's pointing different ways) to get both sets of channels? I would go for two dishes. Iit can be done with one dish two LNBs and an offset bracket but it is far more complex than simple dish alignment.  

I dont think they need to be paying for any TV? Suggest they have a walk round the area where the live and see what their neighbours dishes and antenna look like. Choices are probably decent antenna and a TNT (Television Numerique Terrestrial) box,  or cheap analgue receiver and dish pointed a 5 degrees West (Being phased out probably less than two years life)  or an expensive TNT par Satelite box using the dish which is already aligned) 

I have a spare sky box (with viewing card) here should I send that to them?  Yes it far easier to set up than a French purchased numerique receiver and will keep track of changes of transponder and frequency

 They have some other sat box (sorry I dont know what) that they were using at the old place and initally here does that just need "retuning" to get C4 and C5 on a dish that is pointing in the correct direction? It will need new parameters imputing for C4 and C5 and I would respectfully suggest that if they have not come to terms with a DVD recorder it is by no means an easy job

 What is the "best" setup? should they get a freesat PVR box? they have a DVD R but they have never really mastered using it even when they were in the UK. I use a DVD recorder with a second Sky box for recording. If I did not have a digibox a freesat PVR is probably the route I would chose.

 

edit - crossed with MW's post

[Martin963]

edit - crossed with MW's post

....  but great minds think alike Anton!

[Not In France]

Cheers guys.

The fog is clearing in my mind as to what needs doing.

They will take on Orange there is nothing they like more than a good complain!

 

[Danny]

I can't be 100% sure but from your description of the Orange package, it sounds to me like the 'Net' package which is a 12 month subscription.

It is going to be very difficult for them to cancel the subscription, especially if - I am assuming - they are not fluent French speakers.

Orange will continue to take the 39 euros from their account even if they complain. It will probably involve a lot of hassle and maybe some cost to try to fight this as they will have signed up for a year. If they have misunderstood the contracts, Orange will rightly explain that they are not at fault.

From my experiences with big French companies, it may well be wiser to learn from this experience and use the services for a year. It is quite a good value package at 39 euros a month for TV, internet and phone.

good luck

Danny

 

[Danny]

Assuming I am right about which package they are on, here is some more info from the contract which is here

http://media.abonnez-vous.orange.fr/medias/pdf/cga/cga-net-internet-tv-tel.pdf

you have a right to cancel in the first 7 days - see article 17

after that you can only cancel in the initial 12 month period for a legitimate reason. Here is the text:

"Le Client peut mettre fin aux présentes pour motif légitime tel que :
-   déménagement de la résidence principale du Client à  l’extérieur d’une Zone de couverture et sous réserve que  la demande de
résiliation soit faite dans un délai maximum de quinze (15) jours à compter de la date du déménagement ;
-   handicap physique incompatible avec l’utilisation du Service ;
-   mise en détention dans un établissement pénitentiaire ;
-   faillite personnelle, redressement judiciaire du Client ;
-   surendettement du Client ;
-   cas de force majeure au sens habituellement reconnu par la jurisprudence française."

I doubt any of those are going to apply...

good luck

Danny

 

[Bilbo]

Orange have supplied what they said... internet, phone and TV with a bit of British TV and the French channels. Orange is not a UK tv provider so I don't think you will get very far disagreeing with them.

All you need now is a dish lined up for the correct satelite at S28E and your Sky box and you'll have what you want. These dishes cost about 30€ from the brico shops and there are loads of installers around France who can set it up for you, and preferably supply the dish themselves. I don't think you mentioned where your parents live so I can't mention specific local dealers.

[BJSLIV]

I agree.

Its also worth remembering that the Orange package without TV costs as much as the package with TV. So if you were able to cancel the TV pack you wouldn't save anything.

 

[pachapapa]

[quote user="Jane and Danny"]

Assuming I am right about which package they are on, here is some more info from the contract which is here

http://media.abonnez-vous.orange.fr/medias/pdf/cga/cga-net-internet-tv-tel.pdf

you have a right to cancel in the first 7 days - see article 17

after that you can only cancel in the initial 12 month period for a legitimate reason. Here is the text:

"Le Client peut mettre fin aux présentes pour motif légitime tel que :
-   déménagement de la résidence principale du Client à  l’extérieur d’une Zone de couverture et sous réserve que  la demande de
résiliation soit faite dans un délai maximum de quinze (15) jours à compter de la date du déménagement ;
-   handicap physique incompatible avec l’utilisation du Service ;
-   mise en détention dans un établissement pénitentiaire ;
-   faillite personnelle, redressement judiciaire du Client ;
-   surendettement du Client ;
-   cas de force majeure au sens habituellement reconnu par la jurisprudence française."

I doubt any of those are going to apply...

good luck

Danny

 

[/quote]

There seems to be a lot of people who do not appreciate the T&C included in a "Contrat AVEC engagement". Once your SIM card is activated then 12 months or even 24 months SAUF......and the SAUF terms cover fairly exceptional circumstances like death, emigrating to australia, going into liquidation, no cell phone reception at my house. So packing up your WIMAX kit and sending it back because JoeExpat has said they are a load of cobblers may not sing well in the local Tribunal de Instance and misquoting EU law will just aggravate the President of the Tribunal.  WIMAX contracts normally have a period for test and return, on the basis of non reception of signal.