Delancer - could they care less ?

chico bill

Dogs Better than People
May 6, 2016
12,573
6,329
113
Showed up at a Delancer Office today to request service at a new location. The house already had Delancer service for 15+ years, but the prior occupant recently passed away in the hospital in POP, may she rest in peace.

OK $5,900 pesos install - ridiculous (bend over) as the service cable already is in the building

But before I got to this point of being s*domized for install costs (surely they won't show on time as stated) I tried to just transfer the prior occupants account - nope had to open a new account -else how could they charge the $120 ?

New Accounts - at the next window there is a chubby guy who handles new accounts, he's actually sound asleep with his head on the counter on his folded arms at the window. (Too big a lunch buddy ?) A girl had to shake him to wake him up - because her yelling his name and me pounding the counter didn't do it.

Yeah, I get it, his job probably isn't the most stimulating one in the world but I can bring 20 people in there tomorrow who are willing to handle new accounts and glad to stay a wake the whole day for that likely small paycheck he gets.

And on top of it he also had a I don't give a sh*t if you get service or not attitude with a too frequent "I dislike extranjeros rude-boy attitude.

Hey Delancer time to clean house - it's way overdue
 

delancerguy

Member
Feb 15, 2018
69
26
18
Hi Chico bill,

thanks for charming description we will check cameras to see what has happened.

i would like to remind you that you were not charged for the installation, installation is free. We are changing technology and most likely new cables and/or connections will have to be made, new equipment has to be provided, etc.

Because your service does not have commitment contract and you are a foreigner, you are asked to make 2 months deposit.

Nobody charged you for the installation and you didn't have to sign 18-24 months contract.

Best regards,
Delancerguy
 

chico bill

Dogs Better than People
May 6, 2016
12,573
6,329
113
Hi Chico bill,

thanks for charming description we will check cameras to see what has happened.

i would like to remind you that you were not charged for the installation, installation is free. We are changing technology and most likely new cables and/or connections will have to be made, new equipment has to be provided, etc.

Because your service does not have commitment contract and you are a foreigner, you are asked to make 2 months deposit.

Nobody charged you for the installation and you didn't have to sign 18-24 months contract.

Best regards,
Delancerguy

The factura says installation
 

chico bill

Dogs Better than People
May 6, 2016
12,573
6,329
113
Hi Chico bill,

thanks for charming description we will check cameras to see what has happened.

i would like to remind you that you were not charged for the installation, installation is free. We are changing technology and most likely new cables and/or connections will have to be made, new equipment has to be provided, etc.

Because your service does not have commitment contract and you are a foreigner, you are asked to make 2 months deposit.

Nobody charged you for the installation and you didn't have to sign 18-24 months contract.

Best regards,
Delancerguy

So a foreigner with permenant residency gets charged a deposit when a Dominican doesn't ?
That doesn't quite seem fair.
I guess it's the deep pockets policy?
 

delancerguy

Member
Feb 15, 2018
69
26
18
It is deposit, it says installation because it has to be installed. The person that attended you is a new employee and is still in training and i guess didn't explain that it is a deposit.

we do not discriminate between dominicans and foreigners.

Everybody has to make a deposit. Because we do not require commitment contract. When citizens/residents do not pay they can be reported to credit score agency, this is not the case for foreigners. Therefore risk is higher. Keep in mind Cable Atlantico is a small provider - there are costs.
 

Cdn_Gringo

Gold
Apr 29, 2014
8,671
1,133
113
Delancer's customer service has gotten better in the past few months. delancerguy's efforts with port blocking, account issues and his apparent interest in this forum is much appreciated. The counter staff at the office for the most part could learn to smile sometimes, especially when you are handing them a bank roll.

The recent doubling of internet speed for no cost increase was a pleasant surprise. The costs are still much higher than those of Claro for example. A step in the right direct though.

On several occasions, I have reported the loss of TV channels that I really enjoyed watching. Global (Canadian), ION (USA) to the counter staff and there is never an explanation of why the channels suddenly disappeared and no idea ever if they will return. When new channels to the lineup are added, to view them, it is usually necessary to have the decoder update its channel list but there is never any announcement that the new channels are available, so it is only by happenstance that you discover them when trying to see if one of the missing channels can be resurrected and then only if you happen to notice a new channel inserted here and there in the listing.

All in all, the service is far from perfect but is for the most part pretty reliable. The human to human interface needs a lot of work and the general attitude of getting the customer to leave with promises of looking into issues and then then nothing happening and no further followup needs to change. When people make a point of going in to report problems the least Delancer can do is get back to them with an answer if one is not immediately available. Usually, lots of employees playing with their phones when I'm there, they could be sending out emails or making calls to customers instead. I have to go there every month to pay my bill so a big sign on the wall announcing new channels/services/channel changes would be helpful.
 

beeza

Silver
Nov 2, 2006
3,480
732
113
They are improving slowly. I was one of their first internet customers and I've been happy with their service for the most part.

Very few outages and I usually get a technician on the day when I ask for one.

Although I agree that their customer service could be improved. It's a concept that very few Dominican businesses embrace, but some are learning that it is important to keep your customers happy unless you have a monopoly in your niche.

One thing that I do find ironic is that Delancer provide internet, yet refuse to communicate via email or send out e-bills, or even have a website!
 

delancerguy

Member
Feb 15, 2018
69
26
18
They are improving slowly. I was one of their first internet customers and I've been happy with their service for the most part.

Very few outages and I usually get a technician on the day when I ask for one.

Although I agree that their customer service could be improved. It's a concept that very few Dominican businesses embrace, but some are learning that it is important to keep your customers happy unless you have a monopoly in your niche.

One thing that I do find ironic is that Delancer provide internet, yet refuse to communicate via email or send out e-bills, or even have a website!

Our website is http://www.cabledelancer.com/
and i'm sure bills by email can be arranged.
 

rhanson1

Active member
Feb 23, 2012
284
54
28
Offering to arrange for bills to be sent by email does not help. What Delancer needs to offfer is a more convenient way to pay the bill other than having to trek to their office in Charamicos every month. The amount of the bill is the same every month, so we already know the amount and it is not necessary to see a bill every month. What we need is a convenient way to pay the bill. All the other utility services offer easy payment methods such as payment online via credit card, or payment at a nearby pharmacy or supermarket, and other methods for easy payment. To the best of my knowledge, Delancer is the only local service provider that makes you go to their office every month to pay your bill.

I asked the Delancer service rep if there was a more convenient way for me to pay my bill, and the only other option he could offer was for me to go to Banco Popular and deposit funds into the Delancer account and then send Delancer proof of my deposit. But that option makes no sense and is certainly not more convenient. Waiting in line for a half hour at Banco Popular to make a payment and then trying to get the Delancer accounting staff to acknowledge that payment would surely present a whole new set of problems. I cannot understand why Delancer makes it so difficult to collect money from their customers.
 

rhanson1

Active member
Feb 23, 2012
284
54
28
I am absolutely sure Delancer could not care any less!!! For cable their Channels I find much better than Claro or whoever the other providers are.

I agree on both counts - the Delancer cable channel lineup is better than Claro's, and Delancer could not care less about customer convenience. I finally ended my Delancer internet service a few months ago and switched to Claro, and I don't know what took me so long. My internet service is now twice as fast for half the price. And I can pay my monthly Claro bill in any number of convenient ways including online payment via credit card or any nearby pharmacy or supermarket. I wish that the Claro TV channel lineup included the American commercial networks but they don't. So I continue to use Delancer for my cable TV service despite that fact that half their channels are now broadcast with an incorrect aspect ratio that makes everything look squeezed and out of proportion vertically. This problem began a year or so ago when Delancer forced me to accept their new cable TV boxes. I complained about it at that time, but they said that there was nothing they could do to fix it because this is how they receive their signal from Comcast. So I continue to live with it rather than give up some of the channels that I watch. Such is progress in the DR.
 

tee

Bronze
Sep 14, 2007
1,044
429
83
Cabarete
While Delancer customer service has never been what it could be, I have been impressed with them recently and if you are lucky enough to be in an area where they have fiber optic the quality is really good. The internet is much better even though I still find it a little expensive, but you cannot complain about the quality via fiber optic. They also have some new HD cable boxes that are excellent. You have to pay 1000 pesos for each box but when the went digital years ago you also had to pay 1000 pesos. Although I have not tried this yet, with these new boxes you can also record TV programs if you put a memory stick in the back. There are some great HD channels for just 100 pesos extra per month. It does not matter what company you use here, Delancer, Claro or any other company if you are in Santiago or the capital, you just will not get the customer service that you are used to in other countries but I think that Delancers service has improved a lot recently. The other day the technician that came to my house to install the new boxes arrived at my house before I did...now that never used to happen!
 

rhanson1

Active member
Feb 23, 2012
284
54
28
No bank to bank transfer option?

I don't know if bank to bank transfer is possible, but it is a moot point for me because I have no Dominican bank account. I had an account with Banco Leon once, but I finally canceled it due to their ridiculous fees and difficulty with both deposits and withdrawals. Now I simply use my Charles Schwab checking account to get money from any ATM in the world with no ATM fees and an exchange rate equal to the full bank to bank transfer rate for that day. There are no account fees whatsoever, no minimum balance, and Schwab reimburses my account for whatever ATM fees are charged by the local bank. And with no Dominican bank account, there is also no need to declare and explain on my income tax return why I have a foreign bank account. I can see no reason whatsoever for opening a Dominican bank account.
 

delancerguy

Member
Feb 15, 2018
69
26
18
Just to let everyone know that person that delivers your bill has verifone with them and you can pay your bill right on the spot.

for the aspect ratio can you tell me please what channel you having problems with? and we do not receive anything from Comcast.
 

ROLLOUT

Silver
Jan 30, 2012
2,198
35
48
It is deposit, it says installation because it has to be installed. The person that attended you is a new employee and is still in training and i guess didn't explain that it is a deposit.

we do not discriminate between dominicans and foreigners.

Everybody has to make a deposit. Because we do not require commitment contract. When citizens/residents do not pay they can be reported to credit score agency, this is not the case for foreigners. Therefore risk is higher. Keep in mind Cable Atlantico is a small provider - there are costs.

Hmmm......... where have I heard this before?
 

USA DOC

Bronze
Feb 20, 2016
3,162
757
113
Hi Chico bill,

thanks for charming description we will check cameras to see what has happened.

i would like to remind you that you were not charged for the installation, installation is free. We are changing technology and most likely new cables and/or connections will have to be made, new equipment has to be provided, etc.

Because your service does not have commitment contract and you are a foreigner, you are asked to make 2 months deposit.

Nobody charged you for the installation and you didn't have to sign 18-24 months contract.

Best regards,
Delancerguy

....Delancerguy...are you guys related to comcast in the USA?....the words in the quote are almost the same word for word as the ones I recieved in a e-mail in USA from comcast....sounds like the same playbook...anyway...If any company in the DR gets serious about GOOD customer service...they will reap rewards beyond your wildest dreams....sorry about the sour reply but you tv guys have been the cause of many ****ed up days in the USA and now the DR. for me.......Doc........