| [Niagara] Cogeco 'Contract' Apparently when we got the TV/internet/phone bundle that they locked us in a contract.
Where can I find this contract and how long does it usually last? |
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DavesnothereNo-BHELL-ity DOES have its Advantages
join:2009-06-15
START&Cogeco
kudos:6 |
Shouldn't you instead be asking 'The Hangman' any pertinent questions about his noose ? 
Actually, Cogeco seems to favour a lot of 1 year stuff, but don't quote me.
There ought to be some standard ToS on their website, but they usually snail-mail this to you right after you verbally 'sign up', and if you do not call right away to back out, then they regard that as acceptance.
They sent me stuff last December, but I filed it unread, as I was not contracted to a term. |
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 FarchordLost somewhere.
join:2004-08-28
Shawinigan, QC
kudos:1 | reply to robman50
Hello Robman,
I've seen this on past Cogeco offers in Quebec, but I believe the government voted a law in to force cogeco to divulge those kind of details on signup.
Basically, if I'm not mistaken, you signed up when they had a deal going on, no? If you would have looked at the smaller print, it would have mentionned that you were locking yourself into a contract, that's normally the basic term in those cases. |
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| reply to robman50
Well first we got the service for TV and internet like many years ago and than added the digital phone and bundled the services earlier in 2011.
Would this contract info be on the monthly statement that they send out in the mail and have on the 'my account' site? |
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| reply to robman50
Would this be the contract I am looking for?
»www.cogeco.ca/export/sites/cogec···0901.pdf |
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 rjbrakePremium
join:2010-06-19
Petawawa, ON | reply to robman50
If you're on the 14MB cable internet, upgrading to a higher speed will void the contract. |
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| reply to robman50
I found out that the phone is on an promotion discount until May 3rd.
Also my HD box is still free for the year until November, can I return the HD box while the $9.99 discount is still active?
We are thinking of cutting down on our Cogeco services so I'm trying to figure out what we can and can't do. |
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| You could return the HD box while it is on discount, but you may be charged a $75.00 fee. I returned an HD box lst November that was on discount until Januarry of this year. I kept my phone and internet with Cogeco (I now have Shaw Direct for TV, which is better and cheaper). I asked about cancelling cable before I did, and they put a note on my account saying not to charge me the $75.00. However, if you cancel everything, you will probably be charged. |
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| Really? Shaw Direct is better? I have been looking for another TV service because the price is to high for the quality of channels that we get. Here is what I was I have been thinking.
Cogeco TV -> Shaw Direct (essentials HD system with the 'silver' package
Cogeco phone -> TekSavvy regular phone
Cogeco internet (turbo 14, 14mbps/80gb cap) -> TekSavvy DSL 6 (6mbps/300gb cap)
How is Shaw Direct in the winter season when snow gets on the dish?
For dropping the Cogeco service, I could first drop the Digital Select 1 SD pack and hope they will just charge me the HD access while the box is still on the discount. Then I could drop the other 2 services.  |
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FarchordLost somewhere.
join:2004-08-28
Shawinigan, QC
kudos:1 | Every TV provider in Canada has their ups and downs:
Bell TV: More channels, but you pay a bunch of crooks
Cogeco TV: Seems to have some quality issues in Ontario, missing some key channels I personally like
Shaw Direct: Imo the best of the 3. Lacks HD channels though, but that will be remedied once the new satellite takes flight.
Note that Shaw Direct's HD is only 720p, although they pretty much all are afaik. |
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 dillyhammerA. Good. Start.Premium,MVM
join:2010-01-09
Hamilton, ON
kudos:9
 ·Start Communicat..
 ·Cogeco Cable
·TekSavvy DSL
·Caneris
| reply to robman50
said by robman50:How is Shaw Direct in the winter season when snow gets on the dish?
Snow does not get on my dish. That said, we didn't have much this year, but it is positioned in such a way as to not accumulate any snow or ice. If it does, it's also positioned above a lower backroom roof that I have access to, and also outside a bedroom window that's double hung, so I can always fire a broom out the window and sweep that sucker off.
FWIW, I switched off Cogeco and over to Shaw last fall, and haven't been happier. More channels, way better picture quality, cost is less per month, and they threw 2 receivers and the install at me for the HST, $38. No equipment charges every month - can't get over that, I own the stuff.
They seem content with me paying my monthly fee as opposed to nickle-n-diming me to death like some other company who shall remain nameless cough Cogeco cough.
Mike
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Cogeco - The New UBB Devil -»[Burloak] Usage Based Billing Nightmare
Make The Switch - »openmedia.ca/switch |
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| reply to robman50
We have found that Shaw Direct is better picture and sound quality, and the package we have that is comparable to DS1 from Cogeco, is cheaper wiht more channels. If you go with Shaw Direct, ask for Digital Indulgence or Digital Indulgence Lite (which compare to DS 1, but are cheaper). Also, there have been no problems when snow got on the dish. |
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rjbrakePremium
join:2010-06-19
Petawawa, ON | reply to Farchord
All the provider's HD is 720p, that's broadcast standard. |
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 GonePremium
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON
kudos:3
·Start Communicat..
| said by rjbrake:All the provider's HD is 720p, that's broadcast standard. Neither of you are correct.
Shaw Direct's HD is 1080i for the vast majority of their channels, though The Score HD for some reason is 720p. Set your receiver's resolution to "Native" and you can see for yourself.
720p is also not "broadcast standard" by any means. Fox, ABC, CBC (inc. Newsworld), The Score and A&E broadcast in 720p. Everyone else - NBC, CBS, Global, CTV, TSN, CNN, Sportsnet, etc etc etc - broadcast in 1080i. I am watching WUTV off-air right now in 720p. If I switch over to WGRZ or WIVB the signal coming in is 1080i. WKBW is 720p, being an ABC affil and all.
If you have a newer receiver (that is - not a DCT6xxx) on Cogeco you can set the output resolution to native. If you do this, you'll receive the native resolution each channel is sending. For the most part, it'll be exactly what I described above - ABC, Fox, CBC, The Score and A&E will be 720p, the rest will be 1080i.
Having said that, Bell TV does - and this is specific to Bell TV - broadcast exclusively in 720p. This was done years ago back when their boxes couldn't switch resolutions or something silly like that. As a result, they take an HD source (regardless of the resolution) and recompress it into 720p before sending it back out. You end up with a lot less macroblocking on Bell, but the image looks a lot softer and lacking obvious definition that you'll see on Shaw Direct. Overall PQ is a lot better on Shaw Direct than on Bell as a result so long as you aren't sitting two feet in front of the TV.
Shaw Direct also broadcasts some of their channels in MPEG4, which is the exact same stuff Bell uses on Fibe. Nat Geo Wild is their first HD channel in MPEG4 (they've had a whole bunch in SD for a whole now), and every channel that will be carried on G1 will be in MPEG4 as well. Not only does MPEG4 use a lot less bandwidth, but there's a lot less macroblocking. The image quality on Nat Geo Wild is one of the best I've seen on Shaw Direct so far. |
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| said by Gone:Shaw Direct also broadcasts some of their channels in MPEG4, which is the exact same stuff Bell uses on Fibe. Nat Geo Wild is their first HD channel in MPEG4 (they've had a whole bunch in SD for a whole now), and every channel that will be carried on G1 will be in MPEG4 as well. Not only does MPEG4 use a lot less bandwidth, but there's a lot less macroblocking. The image quality on Nat Geo Wild is one of the best I've seen on Shaw Direct so far.
Bell TV is switching to MPEG4 at some point...they just went through a program to swap out receivers for customers which wouldn't support the new MPEG4 programming. |
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GonePremium
join:2011-01-24
Fort Erie, ON
kudos:3 Reviews:
·Start Communicat..
| said by got_milk:Bell TV is switching to MPEG4 at some point...they just went through a program to swap out receivers for customers which wouldn't support the new MPEG4 programming. It's going to be tough for them to do that as they lack transponder space to do an easy switchover. |
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PhorksterPremium
join:2004-06-27
Windsor, ON
kudos:1 Reviews:
·Start Communicat..
·Cogeco Cable
 ·voip.ms
| reply to robman50
Just becareful when dealing with Cogeco. I called up to get my "free" adapter for the digital transistion. They offered instead to give me a basic SD receiver for $2/month instead of the $4/month.
When I eventually cancelled my account I was told I had to pay a $70 early cancellation fee. To which I expressed dismay as I had not signed up for a contract for anything. They proceeded to tell me that the receiver I took instead of the adapter was under a 1 year contract. That sealed the deal for me and I will never go back to Cogeco again. |
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dillyhammerA. Good. Start.Premium,MVM
join:2010-01-09
Hamilton, ON
kudos:9 Reviews:
·Start Communicat..
·Cogeco Cable
·TekSavvy DSL
·Caneris
| said by Phorkster:Just becareful when dealing with Cogeco. I called up to get my "free" adapter for the digital transistion. They offered instead to give me a basic SD receiver for $2/month instead of the $4/month.
When I eventually cancelled my account I was told I had to pay a $70 early cancellation fee. To which I expressed dismay as I had not signed up for a contract for anything. They proceeded to tell me that the receiver I took instead of the adapter was under a 1 year contract. That sealed the deal for me and I will never go back to Cogeco again.
I'd bitch that right to the CCTS and not budge on it. After a certain amount of time I'd swap it over to small claims. I'd be demanding proof I agreed to any of that in any way shape or form, or my $70 back. One or the other. If I lost in small claims I'd likely appeal it.
That's just bloody obscene that a) they do this, and b) the government lets them.
Fsckers.
Mike
--
Cogeco - The New UBB Devil -»[Burloak] Usage Based Billing Nightmare
Make The Switch - »openmedia.ca/switch |
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PhorksterPremium
join:2004-06-27
Windsor, ON
kudos:1 Reviews:
·Start Communicat..
·Cogeco Cable
·voip.ms
| said by dillyhammer:I'd bitch that right to the CCTS and not budge on it. After a certain amount of time I'd swap it over to small claims. I'd be demanding proof I agreed to any of that in any way shape or form, or my $70 back. One or the other. If I lost in small claims I'd likely appeal it.
That's just bloody obscene that a) they do this, and b) the government lets them.
Fsckers.
Mike
I got it all back. Including the overage of $80 that lead to the cancellation of all the services. My story is buried in one of these threads. CCTS was contacted with me sharing my screenshots of usage for the last few months and compared to Cogecos usage graphs. Mostly it was similar, except for one month. I called in (the first time in 15 years as a customer) and to my dismay the Rep accused me of everything from piracy having my network compromised.
As I proceeded to tell him that I recently switched offsite backup services to explain why I uploaded 30GB+ in January, his reply was "pictures aren't that big".
Long story short, more than happy with Start Communications and Shaw Satellite. I already switch to voip.ms awhile back. |
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| reply to robman50
It's strange though that they will give you an free box for a year and if you want to return it with in that time that they will slap down an $70 fee on you. You would think if you were to return the box back to them that you would not have to pay a fee. |
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