I have a newly-built house in Au ZH, and have tried to get a new UPC package (Giga Internet, Telephone, TV) in place. I have had an impossible time and now, four days before our move in to the house, UPC still cannot confirm my service contract and have not sent me the necessary hardware. I have been in endless revolving-door discussions with UPC’s call centres, to extreme frustration. I have about reached my wits’ end and am ready to give up and change to another provider.
In this odyssey I have had many calls with various UPC departments - Vertragsabteilung, Administration, Auftragsmanagement Ost. I share my story in the hope that (a) others will be aware of how painful an experience this is, and (b) UPC will be motivated into finally solve the problem.
I ordered the package in late June, cancelling my old Sunrise package for my old house and agreeing a new UPC package with Herr Foronda. Plenty of time, I thought. All done by telephone. We agreed a UPC package deal that I was happy with. I was told that I would receive written confirmation in a few days.
Two weeks later, I still had not received written confirmation of my order. I called and spoke again with UPC, this time with Herr Yildiz in the contract department. “The person you spoke with earlier did not have the right to enter this into the system,” he told me. “I’ll do it now for you and it will be resolved.”
A week goes by, still no written confirmation. I call, get transferred around, and finally wind up in Administration. “We can see your order in the system,” they told me, and confirmed it correctly verbally. “But it’s waiting for the cable connection to your house to be completed before it will be automatically released.”
Ok, I thought. The cable connection to the new house hasn’t been finalised yet. Then, two weeks later, this was complete. UPC’s regional office and my electrician both confirmed that it was good to go, plug and play. Still, no confirmation of my UPC package. I call Administration and they tell me there is nothing I can do but wait.
Three days later, no confirmation. I call the UPC regional office and speak with two people over two days. “Oh, we had a problem in how your address was entered into the system,” Frau Trost there told me. “We’ve now fixed it and everything should now show as fine.” I tested online whether Giga Internet was available for my address: success! So that’s confirmed, all ok, right?
Wrong. Still no confirmation from UPC, no hardware. I call again last Thursday and am told, “the hardware will be sent later today, just wait.” But no confirming email.
On Friday morning I have my doubts, so I call UPC administration again. “There’s a problem in the system in your case”, I am told by Herr Erreti. “I will have this solved either today or Monday, please give me until then.”
Today is Monday. I have not heard anything back from UPC. I have called Admnistration, waited for 50 minutes on hold before giving up. Then I called the Contract Department to cancel my package, only to be told “Oh, our system is currently down and we cannot see any contract details. Can you call back in 30-60 minutes?”) I called again, only to be told “It’s still down, please call back tomorrow.”
So here I am. Four days before my move into my new house, without internet or telephone. Having spent many hours chasing UPC to take steps forward. I am extremely unhappy with UPC, and ready to give up and sign a contract with someone else.
I hope that this serves as an example for others on how painful the experience with UPC is. Unfortunate, all along.
