Polaris TV Package

Darren,

You're right, prices do go up and down, but I bought the package just five weeks ago. Surely Polaris knew what was going to happen to the price and good customer relations is, after all, part of business, isn't it?

Dogbrush

We were actually told it had dropped to 283 euro's and only when my son paid did we find out it was just 209 euro's. Think its just been luck really and this sort of reduction does happen with electrical items occasionally.

Its a bit like the Polaris card- we didnt collect our welcome pack as we knew no-one would use the offers until later this year and it only lasted 3months from collection. Now you have to pay for it, so we missed out on that.

Fair point, 5 weeks is a bit of a bummer! Hope you get something out of them!

Guys,

This has nothing to do with the price of electrical items,  but more to do with market forces.  In the beginning Polaris believed that they had a captive market and therefore charged an exorbitant price for their box.  As others started providing alternate boxes at  25% to 50% lower the price Polaris charged had to fall or they wouldn't be able to sell any, simple as that.

But there is still room for the price to fall even lower

Phil

Hi

This is nothing to do with the cost of electrical items and them falling in price over time as popularity increases, this particular electrical item (Digebox) is sold in shops for about 50 euros. The only difference is PW have had it coded so we have to buy it from them at the inflated price they charge for this and most other things. So the only reason they are selling it a lesser-inflated price is enough of us haven’t been stupid enough to pay the higher price, unfortunately that doesn’t include me, as I paid 399 in May and yes that’s my fault for paying my money and supporting PW, especially as I could have waited. But as someone else said the phone/internet system has no chance I wont get bitten by them again, I will opt for one of the other providers which are being mentioned on the forum so PW may have benefited from my eagerness to pay them for the rip off digebox but they wont be benefiting from any monthly phone or internet subscriptions unless I am sure they are the cheapest option.

Phil

Hi Phil

With regards to the internet do you know if anyone will be providing this service apart from PW. Would like to have it installed but was under the impression you could only receive from PW. Would appreciate any info you have.

Thanks

Lesley and Sandy

Block 13 Penthouses

Hi Lesley and Sandy

Mel who is one of the Presidents and others are looking into alternative Phone & Internet options, which can be provided. I think one option is by something like Microwave Transmitter, Camposol have a system something like this.

Another option is mobile broadband when the cost comes down to something reasonable which I don’t thing will be to far off.

And of course if mugs like me that bought the TV package at 399 don’t buy the phone and Internet subscription they may well reduce the cost to something reasonable. lol

Keep watching

Phil

Hi  Lesley,

I believe that another of the residents Dringman is looking at a mobile broadband solution with a voip phone option that looks very competative and certainly better/cheaper that PW.   You there Dave?

Phil 

If one or two people in each Garden had a wireless router we could make the whole of Condado a WiFi hotspot? I am sure if we added 1 euro per month to everyones service charge this would more reinburse the costs for the people who sign up for the broadband?

Hi Folks

Our friends near Alicante have just had there phone and internet connected. All they have is a small box where they receive there internet and phone signal from. They had the guy come out and he done a free survey to see if they could pick up the digital signal required. Think they pay something like 22 euros plus tax for phone and internet. With this they also get a good ammount of free minutes to the UK every month. I called him the other night on his new line and it sounded ok. He did say the broadband speed wasnt great , but as he doesnt download a great deal of stuff wasnt such a problem. Have asked him to find out if available down our way or not. Will keep you posted with any news.

Lesley

When I posted earlier I suppose I wasn't really relating my comment to specific electrical items rather that there are often offers in relation to supply and demand and it has been purely luck for us on this occasion that we have benefited. We have also gone with the PW modem and had the tv remained at 400 euro's we would have still gone with that price this week as we wanted it in and done. Our concerns have been that in using an outside supplier can PW affect the signal in any way, can they require dishes and outside suppliers to be removed from the resort?  We have believed from the beginning that PW wanted only their services used on the resort- which as a monopoly is unfair but it is an opinion that has been reinforced to us recently when making an enquiry about something else. Hopefully thats not really going to happen and in the future when we use the apartment more, we may look at another supply service for the tv especially if the amount of sport on the PW package is limited.

Everything I have read on this post so far relates to having to go into PW customer services and booking the installation and paying at the office in person or having someone to do it for you. I have had an e-mail back from PW saying that now all installations are dealt with by e-mail and payments are to be by credit card or bank transfers. Having already just transferred the installation fee to my keyholder to make the payment on my behalf, this now appears not to be an option. Has anyone else encountered this change of direction ? 

 I am a little bit aprehensive about e-mailing credit card details, it just does not seem to be the safe way to make a payment. I know when you make a telephone transaction you are pretty much doing the same thing but i have always been told to avoid e-mailing credit card details.

Any thoughts

Hi All, my take on a couple of issues hear are:

Will & Jackie, my parents are at Condado right now, they paid in cash for the system this Monday, there was no mention of a credit card payment. I am sure your keyholder will still be able to pay in cash at the office.

Excellent post, as ever, Phil! Would really like to investigate the possibility of making Condado a wifi hot spot! With my very rough calculations this would add less than 1 euro per month onto our service charge.

Hi Darren,

Thx for that. Did not want to go down the road of  disclosing my credit card details by e-mail. If it came to that the booking of the installation would have to wait until we got there. It seems that it is a classic case of right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing again.

Agree with your comments there Phil. That's the good thing about this forum and and Condado residents. There are plenty of 'can do' people who will not be put off and sidetracked easily. With this attitude we can make Condado go from strength to strength and not just roll over and accept everything Polaris would like to shaft us with. You only have to look at the way the cosy little arrangement has worked for them with RPM prior to the association, together with it's presidents, being formed. Things like communal facilities being accepted by RPM when they were certainly not to the standard you would have accepted as an individual on your own property for example. I find this one of the most annoying con's that we have had to endure so far - we are paying for these people to accept things on our behalf and not turn a blind eye - but of course that is why they got the contract in the first place isn't it !!

Regards,

Why would we all pay for a further system to be installed if we are already paying for using the exisiting infracstructure in our present community charge. Then we would be paying for two which wouldnt make anything cheaper- didnt the Spanish owners who dont want the tv system find they have to pay for it in their community charge whether they use it or not?

We used the areanet cards when staying at La Torre and it worked very well- it means your guests pay for their own usage. Its less competitive if you want regular access though. The downside to PW systems is that they can increase charges and find additional charges and they have a monopoly. If it things were much more clearly explained by RPM or PW it would be much better , although I understand that PW have had a very good take up on the new offer.

At La Torre the owners weren't paying for any infrastructure use for the tv and internet and then PW decided that they should be and also wouldn't permit another company to use their infrastructure.

With regard to the TV package, I personally think the 209 euro package which is meant to be a ONE OFF payment is a fair deal. OK, the boxes may only cost a quarter of that but the installers have to be paid and Polaris do need to make a profit along the line. I hope they take note of the influx of interest that is generated when you pitch a product at a reasonable price and maybe the bars & restaurants follow suit.

What i have not seen yet is the contract that actually stipulates the one off payment (can anyone who has taken the service confirm ??). This package adequately meets my families needs - after all, we will be on holiday. Look forward to watching  sport in the pub where it should be watched ! Like we all now know, we pay ongoing maintenance for the infrastructure and part of our purchase price was for the installation of same so how could any other charges be justified. When Polaris provide what they have promised in their literature i don't think many would complain as the finished product reflects pretty well what was illustrated and is to a pretty good standard.

Regards,

With regard to the TV package, I personally think the 209 euro package which is meant to be a ONE OFF payment is a fair deal. OK, the boxes may only cost a quarter of that but the installers have to be paid and Polaris do need to make a profit along the line. I hope they take note of the influx of interest that is generated when you pitch a product at a reasonable price and maybe the bars & restaurants follow suit.

What i have not seen yet is the contract that actually stipulates the one off payment (can anyone who has taken the service confirm ??). This package adequately meets my families needs - after all, we will be on holiday. Look forward to watching  sport in the pub where it should be watched ! Like we all now know, we pay ongoing maintenance for the infrastructure and part of our purchase price was for the installation of same so how could any other charges be justified. When Polaris provide what they have promised in their literature i don't think many would complain as the finished product reflects pretty well what was illustrated and is to a pretty good standard.

Regards,

hi

my husband is in condado at the moment, he popped into customer services today with the money to pay for the tv but was told that he had to now do it over the telephone with a credit card. He had the cash there with him but they wouldnt take it???

they gave him a number to call which i will do on monday

Michelle

I think this change just reflects the interest they have had with the offer. Maybe it wasnt financially viable to use a credit card system with the low number of apartments who had the packages installed but now there's been quite an influx. In saying that it seems a pity they wont take cash if you are actually there at the desk. Maybe thats a securrity thing with more money coming into the office. Doing it by telephone means you can book installation for your next visit though, which is an improvement on the paying cash method.

My son has been at CdA this week and said the tv package is adequate, the installer turned up as they said they would and the whole thing took less than half an hour to sort.