...and within 2 minutes he locks the Digibox with an invalid pin attempt three times.

"Oh, you have a different pin code. We have to wait now again."

3 weeks, phone calls twice a day, sometimes up to an hour each. Every day we are told an Engineer will contact us. Finally, after asking to cancel our account, an Engineer turns up.

I thought I had been lucky on the Cablecom Customer Service Fiasco.
I was wrong.

So what happens now - you have to wait, again?
I'm so sorry, this sounds truly maddening.

That's because you're not dealing with an "engineer", you're dealing with a technician.

Engineering is a profession, like Law and Medicine.

The engineer is the guy who designs the whole system such that you can get internet at home. Engineers build the chips that go in your computers. Engineers write the software that makes airplanes fly. Engineers design cars so that your bones don't shatter the next time you hit a tree at 40 mph. Engineers ensure your house gets electrical power, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year so that your food doesn't spoil. Engineers design valves that make open heart surgery possible. They build the looms and industrial processes that deliver you cotoon t-shirts at the Migros for only 10 CHF. They design the trains and program the software that ensures your train arrives to the airport not a minute late, and suffering no collisions with other trains. And on, and on, and on.

What you get when you call customer service from your local cable or telephone company is a technician: a guy who has spent 2 or 3 years in an apprenticeship with another technician, without doing formal university studies, and can fix your installation because he has learned by watching someone else do it, but has relatively little understanding of how it works let alone how to design one from scratch (which an engineer would have).

Do not confuse the two. Callining the fixit guy from cablecom an "engineer" is a big insult to the real engineers who spend years honing their profession studying subjects like advanced mathematics, physics, chemistry, mechanics, information theory, and statistics, subjects which the majority of people find "too hard" and too intimidating to even contemplate, and who make the lives of people like you and me comfortable and possible thanks to the wonders of the technology they have invented, tamed, and developed.

He has gone now.
Tried another Cisco box. Picture is fine.

Am off to the Service Centre tomorrow to pick up another/new/the latest Cisco box. The thought of missing 'Masterchef' for another week is unbearable.

Still, the end is in sight.

(I'll do my flies up )

Of course. I stand corrected. AKA Spare Part Mechanics.

Regrettably though, synonymous these days.
I hope none of our technician forum members take offence.

Right&WRONG at the same time. The technician is not an Engineer ETH or an Engineer HTL, but most likely has made such an apprenticeship, and this means that he not just was advised by colleagues about things but spent between 10 and 20 hours per week in the technical school. He got his "Lehr-Abschluss-Prüfung" not from his company but from the technical school.

This in fact is similar in the KV (Kaufmännische Schule = Commercial School). This in apprenticeship in the early 70ies already was some 11 to 14 hours per week and in the 80ies had risen to some 20 hours per week in the KV-school.

No, not at all. Also a mechanic here cannot work in business without having had a proper school education as outlined above.

It's not that simple. People get hired - both at Swisscom and at Cablecom, and also other providers - with various expectations. Then they are put at their jobs based on what HR & hiring & the current local management thinks of them. This does not necessarily overlap with their abilities, however, most of the time, it does. Some other time, it does not.

If you go with Cablecom in order to pay 20 CHF less a month, you can expect a degradation in services compared to going with Swisscom, who are not perfect either, but they at least struggle to keep up with the level their marketing shows (it is a good question how succesful that is supposed to be).

Swisscom is always late with sending checks, reacting to requests due to their hugeness, but has a higher standard of services (and sure you pay more money for that).

My guessing is our choices are not so "free". You either do Swisscom (go with the flow), or you select a smaller provider and then you get these problems.

So CJ popped down to the service centre in Zoll Strasse with just the box and came back with a full new kit, updated Cisco recorder, new remote , new power cable and HDMI,Scart cable. A few spares in case.

Perfect picture, box reports signal and strength more than twice as good as before. All problems gone. Even the memus are faster and punching in channel numbers no longer has that awful delay.
Phew. What a long winded saga that was.


So, if you have the old style Cisco PVR, and you get signal quality problems, don't phone up. Try taking the old box to the service point and see if they will exchange rather than waste time trying to get an Engineer technician out. Failing that, sorry to say, you might have to go the full 10 rounds with
Cablecom support, in which case, have patience and good luck.

Thanks for listening.

Let me guess...you are a technician?

Have to say the Service Center was a whole different experience to bad service provided on the phone. Wandered down thinking I was going to be sat there for ages, took my ticket and was the very next person to be seen. A couple of beeps and bar code scans and there I was walking out with our new box.

I have nothing but praise for Cablecom.

I ordered one of their packages online on a Wednesday, the whole lot arrived Friday.

Unpacked it plugged it all in and the set top box didn't work! I called the free helpline (even free from my mobile) and they sent a technician straight over, this was Friday 4pm.

He said the set top box is faulty, he made a call back at the office and by 7am the next morning I received my new box express delivery.

How's that for service?!

You have been "cablecomed"...I guess we all had our share from that brilliant compay! It's like a standard procedure! Must be the worst rated company in CH...

I, some months ago, for a colleage, went to this place at Zollstrasse, with a bag full of stuff. Nice chaps there and things got settled in a nice way.

We thought that the first time we had a problem. In fact even posted that on here. It didn't last very long, am sure they check to see how long you've been a customer. If you've been around a while they don't bother, only try to impress the newbies .

I may be pleasantly surprised the next time we have a problem, but one bonus is apart from this hardware failure we don't have too many problems

what ever you do, do not change or update your subscription they will definitely mess up !!! if it works, it works... i

I'd also add my recommendation, to those that have gone before, that if one has Cablecom problems, to pitch up at one of their Service Points , instead of hanging on the phone all day and repeatedly.

List is here...

The above is also sound advice

Thursday 16.30
Cablecom phones not working again.
Anybody else in the same boat?

Call them between 9am and 4pm