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There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch!
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I've walked and I crawled on six crooked highwaysI am a RacingUK subscriber and even I cannot watch the video replays, tried to ring the customer helpline just kept continuously on hold, sent them an email and I might get a reply this side of Christmas
In Customer Service, they make Ryanair look like Amazon. I canceled my online sub and was minded to do so by paraphrasing the 12 year-old letter below, sent to NTL, by someone who was considerably less than gruntled.
Dear Cretins:
I have been an NTL customer since 9th July 2001, when I signed up for your four-in-one deal for cable TV, cable modem, telephone, and alarm monitoring. During this three-month period I have encountered inadequacy of service which I had not previously considered possible, as well as ignorance and stupidity of monolithic proportions. Please allow me to provide specific details, so that you can either pursue your professional prerogative and seek to rectify these difficulties — or more likely (I suspect) so that you can have some entertaining reading material as you while away the working day smoking B&H and drinking vendor-coffee on the bog in your office.
My initial installation was cancelled without warning, resulting in my spending an entire Saturday sitting on my fat arse waiting for your technician to arrive. When he did not arrive, I spent a further 57 minutes listening to your infuriating hold music, and the even more annoying Scottish robot woman telling me to look at your helpful website. HOW?
I alleviated the boredom by playing with my testicles for a few minutes – an activity with which you are no doubt both familiar and highly adept. The rescheduled installation then took place some two weeks later, although the technician did forget to bring a number of vital tools — such as a drill-bit and his cerebrum.
Two weeks later, my cable modem had still not arrived. After 15 telephone calls over four weeks my modem arrived, six weeks after I had requested it – and begun to pay for it. I estimate your internet server’s downtime is roughly 35% – the hours between about 6 pm and midnight, Monday through Friday and most of the weekend. I am still waiting for my telephone connection.
I have made nine calls on my mobile to your no-help line and have been unhelpfully transferred to a variety of disinterested individuals who are, it seems, also highly skilled bollock jugglers. I have been informed that a telephone line is available (and someone will call me back); that I will be transferred to someone who knows whether or not a telephone line is available (and then been cut off); that I will be transferred to someone (and then been redirected to an answering machine informing me that your office is closed); that I will be transferred to someone and then been redirected to the irritating Scottish robot woman. And several other variations on this theme.
Doubtless you are no longer reading this letter, as you have at least a thousand other dissatisfied customers to ignore and also another one of those crucially important testicle moments to attend to. Frankly I don’t care. It’s far more satisfying as a customer to voice my frustrations in print than to shout them at your unending hold music. Forgive me therefore if I continue.
I thought British Telecom was crap; that they had attained the holy piss-pot of god-awful customer relations; and that no one, anywhere, ever, could be more disinterested, less helpful or more obstructive to delivering service to their customers. That’s why I chose NTL and because, well, there isn’t anyone else is there?
How surprised I therefore was when I discovered to my considerable dissatisfaction and disappointment what a useless shower of bastards you truly are. You are sputum-filled pieces of distended rectum, incompetents of the highest order. BT – wankers though they are – shine like brilliant beacons of success in the filthy mire of your seemingly limitless inadequacy.
Suffice to say that I have now given up on my futile and foolhardy quest to receive any kind of service from you. I suggest that you cease any potential future attempts to extort payment from me for the services which you have so pointedly and catastrophically failed to deliver. Any such activity will be greeted initially with hilarity and disbelief and will quickly be replaced by derision and even perhaps bemused rage.
I enclose two small deposits, selected with great care from my cat’s litter tray, as an expression of my utter and complete contempt for both you and your pointless company. I sincerely hope that they have not become desiccated during transit — they were satisfyingly moist at the time of posting, and I would feel considerable disappointment if you did not experience both their rich aroma and delicate texture. Consider them the very embodiment of my feelings towards NTL and its worthless employees.
Have a nice day. May it be the last in your miserable short lives, you irritatingly incompetent and infuriatingly unhelpful bunch of twits.
May you rot in Hell,
Robert Stokes
What a rather unfortunate ‘i’m alright jack’ attitude you seem to display.
What a ridiculous comment to make – how do you come to that conclusion?
I was simply making a statement of fact, as it happens it makes no difference to me whatsoever as I don’t subscribe to RUK and have no intention of doing so.
The point is, as business they can choose whatever charging methodology they wish – if sufficient choose not to adapt to their strategy they will soon change it – it’s called market forces.
Most of the races from Jockey Club tracks are available free here – and the quality is better than on the RUK website as well:
Most of the races from Jockey Club tracks are available free here – and the quality is better than on the RUK website as well:
That’s handy to know, thank you. I am able to watch on SL as I’ve opened an account with Skybet but have never deposited any money in it. But like Nathan says they could close it after a period of time if it’s not used.
Very handy as I’ve now been able to see Urban Hymns’ demolition job from Sunday which wasn’t available on the other replay services which unfortunately rely on RUK.
As AP says the picture quality is also much better.There was no pricing strategy from RUK.
There was no offer of a replay subscription for non-subscribers – just that you are now booted off.
About as un-business like and customer unfriendly as you can get.Perhaps he majority of its potential customers are at work and do appreciate the option to catch up on racing held during work times or when away. They are effectively told to get lost.
Even the "marketing" excuse given was a fabrication – the changes in fact do not require non-subscribers to be booted off.
When logged in they as always can only go to the parts of the website RUK agrees to – that has not changed only that another part has ben added to the banned section.Why some people continue to excuse poor service from monopoly suppliers is amazing in this day and age. We are never going to regain competiveness that way.
RUK seems to be pushing sectionals and exposing their benefits but can it be bothered to superimpose basic furlong marker lines on its race films like practically all non-UK sports broadcasters – no way.
A good business attracts as many customers it can and strives to be the best to keep them. RUK seems to be serving only itself at present.
I do agree with Paul that why should people expect a free service ?
However, the big problem at the moment is I am paying customer to their online service and am not getting any. Last week it was virtually unwatchable, the week before their site was down for the whole week and so was unable to watch. Now I can’t even get onto their service since the site has changed. There is just no answer from their telephone as you are just on hold. They don’t respond to tweets or other messages. They are taking peoples money but not providing a service. No mention anywhere of refunds to customers affected.
Absolutely disgusting.
I do agree with Paul that why should people expect a free service ?
However, the big problem at the moment is I am paying customer to their online service and am not getting any. Last week it was virtually unwatchable, the week before their site was down for the whole week and so was unable to watch. Now I can’t even get onto their service since the site has changed. There is just no answer from their telephone as you are just on hold. They don’t respond to tweets or other messages. They are taking peoples money but not providing a service. No mention anywhere of refunds to customers affected.
Absolutely disgusting.I received this email from them yesterday.
Please accept our sincerest apologies for the wait on the phone lines but we are experiencing a large volume of calls at the moment.
The activation email will be sent to all customers in the next 48 hours. Thank you for your patience in this matter.
Please note; only Racing UK Anywhere subscribers will be able to access full race replays from now on. However there is still plenty of free content to browse and enjoy, including news, racecards and results, plus replays of all Group 1 contests, other major races and significant news stories. You can access these free on the website, YouTube channel and Apps..
That sounds ominous Ken.
Are RUK in financial trouble?Who knows. Tried to contact them via their website contact form. That doesn’t work. You just get enter a proper email address. I have.
On browsing their new website I now notice they have upped their online prices by 33% and imposed a 12 month contract. I can’t even get in touch with them to cancel my service. I can’t use the my account page on their website as you need new log in details for their site. I have had no email from them and can’t contact them to get them.
This is an utter disgrace. Time for Trading Standards to get involved I think.
I also have a RUK online subscription and the service has been dreadful last few weeks. New marketing emails very confusing regarding new site. Tried registering today and new site worse than before and gave up and cancelled my subscription.
If the last couple of weeks reflects the talent of their management in general, they won’t last. The service and comms have been utterly appalling.
This crap that these big companies dish out – ‘We are experiencing a larger than normal volume of calls’ when the truthful statement should be ‘We are miserably understaffed, which reflects our general strategy of having no consideration whatever for our customers, who are all fools because they keep paying.’
I do agree with Paul that why should people expect a free service ?
However, the big problem at the moment is I am paying customer to their online service and am not getting any. Last week it was virtually unwatchable, the week before their site was down for the whole week and so was unable to watch. Now I can’t even get onto their service since the site has changed. There is just no answer from their telephone as you are just on hold. They don’t respond to tweets or other messages. They are taking peoples money but not providing a service. No mention anywhere of refunds to customers affected.
Absolutely disgusting.I received this email from them yesterday.
Please accept our sincerest apologies for the wait on the phone lines but we are experiencing a large volume of calls at the moment.
The activation email will be sent to all customers in the next 48 hours. Thank you for your patience in this matter.
Please note; only Racing UK Anywhere subscribers will be able to access full race replays from now on. However there is still plenty of free content to browse and enjoy, including news, racecards and results, plus replays of all Group 1 contests, other major races and significant news stories. You can access these free on the website, YouTube channel and Apps..
So does that mean that the big races: Derby, Cheltenham Festival, Grand National replays will still be free to watch? Sounds odd to me. The rest of it I can get from RP and ATR so why would I bother going to RUK instead?
I’d be quite happy to pay to see races/replays if there was just one company covering all of the races, but I can’t afford to pay twice. Wish ATR and RUK would combine in some way. If I did have to pay anyone, I’d pay ATR because I’m grateful that they allow me to watch replays for free.
I was out this afternoon and got home with the intention of watching the race replays via RUK online as is the norm on a Saturday tea time.
I tried to log on…..log on failed. I read the small print and they are sending all subscribers new log on details in the next 48 hours…no good for this Saturday afternoon though.
What planet are RUK on to modify customers accounts BEFORE advising us of the changes? As mentioned by many on this thread their customer service is appalling and smells of good old Setanta Sports. I’m going to vote with my feet and cancel my full subscription.
Not ideal as it’s on small screen but I’ll use the Bet365 archive for RUK races from now on.
RUK is a subsidiary of Racecourse Media Group. Anyone know if this company shows a profit? It does say that all profits are returned to the racecourses but no facts or figures are given on the website.
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