29 responses so far ↓

• 1 Anthony // Sep 16, 2009 at 10:54 am

  Twice this summer, on consecutive hot Sunday afternoons, I was trying to watch the last rounds of exicting golf tournaments. In both cases, the cable, phone and internet all went out.

  When I call Insight, a recording said they were aware of the problem and were working on it. Never spoke to a human being. Their computer system said they would call me when service was restored. Did they? No. I missed the end of both tournaments.

  Here’s what I have since been told (not by Insight). When it gets hot, the the power that Insight sends through the cable has to be increased to overcome the resistance created by the extra heat, or something like that. If this is true, don’t these fools know when it is going to get hot, and can’t they take preventative action?

  As soon as it is available in my area, I plan to switch to the new AT&T U-VERSE service. I can’t wait to dump Insight!

• 2 PlayerPianoPlayer // Sep 16, 2009 at 11:31 am

  Here, m-fing, here! The only thing worse than Insight’s delivery of their product is the torture that awaits you if you ever have a problem and call them to fix it. A recent phone call to them about service outage got me a 40 or 50 minute wait on hold. When I got a human, he had no real fix for me beyond turning the box off, but scheduled a technician before transferring me to someone else. 40-50 more minutes on hold. New human who was just as unhelpful and told me I need to schedule a technician visit. I said “I just did that with the other guy,” but he insisted and gave me another appointment. Frustrated, I got off the line, fixed the problem myself and called back (40-50 minute wait) to cancel the technician.

  The next day, I received about 25 calls and hang-ups from Insight’s number. When they wer e finally able to master the technical skill required to place a phone call, I found out it was to confirm my appointment THAT I HAD CANCELLED. And I learned that they had scheduled TWO APPOINTMENTS, like I asked them not to.

  In order to remedy a problem with their product, I think I logged something like 4 hours on the phone with them, got no help and a good portion of that time was spent helping them straighten out the scheduling mess they had made.

  Believe me, if I had a good option, I would drop them like a hot rock.

• 3 jake // Sep 16, 2009 at 11:40 am

  Thanks for all the feedback, folks! Keep it coming.

• 4 Brad // Sep 16, 2009 at 12:10 pm

  Want a simple solution?? Dump cable, get a dish service and DSL. AT&T DSL is pretty good but Dish Network rocks! Their customer service has been excellent the last five years that I’ve had them. (no I don’t work for AT&T or Dish) I pay $55 a month and get all the major networks, HD channels and 300 hours of DVR space. The few times I’ve had trouble they busted balls to resolved the issue. (…no one in my family works for them either) I can’t imagine going back to cable.
  My 2 cents.

• 5 Bill // Sep 16, 2009 at 12:11 pm

  On September 7, 8, 11 and 14 Insight either never aired the HD feed of the Reds game or joined it in progress. Considering how bad the Reds are, some might say it’s a blessing in disguise. But I’m paying x number of dollars per month to watch sports in HD, so I don’t feel it’s unreasonable to ask Insight to do something that they are supposed to do in the first place.

  By the way, twice I was told someone from Insight qould contact me. Needless to say, the never did. Insight is a joke of a business. Ninth largeest cable compant in the country. And shrinking daily.

• 6 jake // Sep 16, 2009 at 12:18 pm

  DSL isn’t an option when you don’t want to be a traditional telephone subscriber or have old and terrible lines in your neck of the woods.

• 7 Brad // Sep 16, 2009 at 12:22 pm

  Jake – you no longer have to have the traditional phone to have DSL; at least through AT&T. They finally realized that no one gives a crap about a homephone.

  However, point taken on the old/terrible lines.

• 8 Ann All // Sep 16, 2009 at 12:54 pm

  Here’s the experience of a pal and coworker, which I blogged about. She got her broadband back after posting a blog post of her own.
  http://www.itbusinessedge.com/cm/blogs/all/head-customer-frustration-off-at-the-pass-to-avoid-online-showdowns/?cs=31327

• 9 Ann All // Sep 16, 2009 at 12:56 pm

  Also, some of us still live in neighborhoods that are DSL dark spots. We just can’t get it. I’ve tried calling dish providers and providers themselves. Can’t get it. So I am a wary Insight customer due to my need for high-speed Internet.

• 10 Gordon // Sep 16, 2009 at 1:13 pm

  I’ve heard the new AT &T is the way to go. A coworker who lives in St. Matthews just signed up. Not sure when they will cover the entire area but sign me up!

• 11 Bill // Sep 16, 2009 at 1:14 pm

  I don’t know but my Insight 20.0 services is just here running along just fine. As far as the cable service for TV, it leaves a little to be desired and its mostly in the area of menus and the boxes. But as far as Internet goes, I would take Insights 20.0 well over anything else the competition has to offer. ATT has 6.0 Mbps and thats the most expensive plan. You’re telling me thats real competition. The only thing local you could get thats worse is either dialup, Bell South DSL, or satellite none of which are worth much. I’ll keep my Insight until someone worthy comes along that can really give them a run for their money. And compared to a lot of Louisville businesses at least they act like they care if you show concern.

• 12 Bill // Sep 16, 2009 at 1:20 pm

  One thing that helps to buy good quality equipment for your home networking. After it gets to your home jack and if its there, no amount of tinkering by Insight is going to fix your system. Buy good quality wireless routers like Linksys by Cisco or setup your own LAN. We had problems during the ice storm for other than a few short outages at late night theres never been a major issue.

  Thats coming from a subscriber with several computers all hooked up to the main line through routers, wireless and using an LAN as well.

• 13 Bill // Sep 16, 2009 at 1:26 pm

  P.S. Just a general disclaimer. I am in no way affiliated with Insight, have no family that works there and know no one who works there. I’ve been pretty impressed with their service most of the time and the rare occasion of getting bad customer service is chalked up to getting people who are bad hires, inattentive, or in some cases just plain dumb.

• 14 Beth // Sep 16, 2009 at 3:16 pm

  I had a big problem with them during the snow storm when my internet, phone & cable were out for 2 solid weeks. My mother told me (since I had no cable tv service) that the news said Insight would correct the bills as long as power was not out due to the storm. Our power was never out.
  I was infuriated by my first call, when I was not allowed to speak to a manager. I gave the phone to my boyfriend, who talked the girl down in price a little.
  I wrote a letter to Insight stating I wanted my bill totally corrected for the entire two weeks service we did not have, and I let them know that if the situation were reversed and I refused to pay for two weeks’ service I received, I would be in big legal trouble.
  They eventually corrected my bill, thankfully. But it is still utterly frustrating every time I have to place a call to them, knowing I will be put on hold and never fully get the situation resolved. And if they want to send a technician out, they expect you to take off work for them to do it — and then the technician doesn’t show up. They don’t seem to understand that we have to work for our money, too.

• 15 c d kaplan // Sep 16, 2009 at 3:32 pm

  I’ve found the Insight Broadband 2.0 to be really fast as advertised and quite reliable. When I do need tech support, I’ve found that a little assertiveness is helpful. Ask to be bumped to the next level. It was a little more finicky when I lived in Crescent Hill, but here in the Cherokee Triangle it is stable. I’d like more HD channels, but, for the most part, the cable service is also reliable. I don’t especially like their policy that they won’t come fix a neighborhood TV problem immediately unless they get three calls, but, when it happens, I simply get my neighbors to call and we get service within a reasonable period of time.

• 16 syvyn11 // Sep 16, 2009 at 6:07 pm

  You learn little tricks here and there when there are problems. Most problems you can handle yourself by a simple disconnecting a power supply and reconnecting. Prices are horrible and hopefully competition with AT&T will start to lower prices when U-Verse spreads out more and more.

  With that said, when U-Verse gets to Buechel, sign me up!

  Even if I have to pay the extra 10 bucks a month for TVG.

• 17 syvyn11 // Sep 16, 2009 at 6:09 pm

  Last few overnight hours, volume was out for hours. Had to disconnect the cable box and put it directly through the TV.

• 18 Crutnacker // Sep 16, 2009 at 7:29 pm

  I have noticed that my Insight service has had many more minor hiccups recently. Internet speeds have been up and down, cable picture quality varies, and minor outages have been more frequent. I don’t think their service is horrible, at least they are in this country.

  That said, I recently had an outage that Insight said they would get to when they got to it. Since I needed both the Internet andphone for work purposes, I was furious that Insight couldn’t give me any real indication as to when a tech would fix it. I then found out that my street connection had been broken into and disconnected. The tech reconnected it, but told me I had to call THEM to get the lock repaired.

  THe AT&T U-Verse service sounds very intriguing and more advanced than what Insight is offering. But I can’t imagine their service is any better, and who wants to switch to a new technology that nobody in the area has really tested yet?

• 19 steve // Sep 16, 2009 at 8:37 pm

  I was feeling alone in my troubles with insight, glad im not the only one..i to was told insight didny have to maintain thier lines in my neighborhood..( who has this responsibility?) I’ve had problems with my phone and internet service for more than a year..8 visits 14 techs, (some came two to a truck), and still no results, i canceled the phone in july..internet will be gone sep 30 th..good job insight, you have lost another paying customer

• 20 Bill // Sep 16, 2009 at 10:06 pm

  If you have issues, maybe a talk with the Kentucky Public Service Commission would help in regard to consumer complaints. Not sure if they have any jurisdiction over Insight but if you are getting these types of problems, then by all means, its worth getting someone to take notice.

• 21 Adam // Sep 16, 2009 at 10:29 pm

  Insight is a joke. The service is always up and down. My HD cable box is frozen for the first 5 minutes I turn my television on and no one at the company cares. They claim to be a leader in telecom services yet offer very few options in the way of HD channels. I have friends in other cities that have upwards of 100 HD channels and very consistent internet. When I saw AT&T was coming signed up to get an e-mail from them when if becomes available in my area. I cannot wait to dump this joke of a company and quit giving them my money.

• 22 Tech Guy // Sep 17, 2009 at 12:58 am

  Insight’s advertised speeds are faster than DSL, but their reliability is horrible, and far behind AT&T DSL. They oversubscribe their nodes, and in some areas during peak (8 p.m. – 11 p.m.) their speeds are equivalent to a dial-up modem (or worse). Many customers complain about Insight’s unreliable phone service, especially for those who jump from the dependable Bellsouth/AT&T.

  AT&T’s technology and backbone is stable and far superior, although they have their own problems — namely slamming you with new services and features you don’t sign up for. Their marketing partners, who call their customers on behalf of AT&T, are unethical scammers. I’ve complained to the PSC about AT&T practices, and unfortunately they fall on deaf ears, as AT&T controls the Kentucky PSC.

  We need more competition, maybe with wireless, WiMAX.

• 23 Carter Burger // Sep 17, 2009 at 8:50 am

  I have had mixed results with Insight. I went through three set top boxes before I dumped Insight’s CATV service and signed up with DirecTv. Direct looks better, has more HD channels and is only about $5 more than Insight’s crappy service. However, on their broadband side I have had very good luck. When I switched to Directv I made it VERY CLEAR to them I was NOT dropping broadband. I fully expected to come home to a dead cable modem, but it hasn’t dropped yet.

• 24 Robyn Sekula // Sep 17, 2009 at 9:59 am

  This weekend, I bought a brand-spanking new LG flat screen and an indoor antenna. I hooked it up and discovered I can get 25 channels without cable or satellite. Bye bye, Insight.
  My complaints: I once called because the cable as they had done it was falling apart. Was told they would charge me to fix it. Um, no. Second time, I asked them to come out and install internet. They wanted to put it exactly where the cable came in to my upstairs office, which was also a bedroom. The cable was on the opposite side of the room from the computer. Technician refused to move the cable – said he didn’t really want to – and suggested I drape the cable across the floor. I told him I was pretty sure that would be a tripping hazard. Technician said to buy a rug to cover it. Insight technicians have twice parked in my driveway to service next door houses after I’ve repeatedly told the same person DO NOT do that. Insight, you can use the excuse that these people are contractors if you want, but that’s lame. They have your shirts on, and your signs on their cars. They’re yours. Take some responsibility.
  And this is why, even though it would save me hundreds per year to do so, I will NOT switch to Insight for phone and Internet. I’d have to be nuts to leave something so crucial in your clumsy hands.

• 25 syvyn11 // Sep 17, 2009 at 11:17 am

  Two things: One, I’m in a apartment building, and not allowed to use a Dish, is that standard for other apartment dwellers?

  Two: Where in Louisville is U-Verse? A few weeks ago, Fox41 punched in address of various newsroom employees and no hits. What neighborhood did U-Verse start in here?

• 26 punditarod // Sep 17, 2009 at 5:26 pm

  syvyn11 –

  I believe there’s a federal law that prevents an apartment building owner from stopping a tenant from getting a dish.

• 27 Bill // Sep 18, 2009 at 5:27 pm

  Its definitely worth looking into because my wife and I would love to get Dish Network but supposedly our complex will not allow us to have a dish without having a balcony we can put it on. Some people do have dishes because their balcony faces the southern sky. However, most do not and are tied into Insight or other providers.

• 28 Bill // Sep 18, 2009 at 5:29 pm

  Here is a page put out by the Federal Communications Commission regarding satellite dishes and antenna placements.

  http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html

• 29 Kim // Dec 11, 2009 at 1:33 pm

  For the last 4 months we have had nothing but trouble with our service, 2 months ago they came out and it took 3 box changes before they could even get it going again and then had to come AGAIN to give us a new remote control. Now 1 month later we are having disruptions in our service where the channels go out and some of the blips in and out until they are permanently out. When you call you get these comments “we have people in the area working on it, no ETA”. They won’t even offer to give you any kind of credit on your bill or any other service for the inconvinence but don’t pay your bill for a month and watch them turn it off!

  Get real Insight, this is not our grandparent’s days when all of this was new but a new generation that shouldn’t have to put up with bad business service and excuses!

  I guess because they won’t allow any other cable provider in our area (which is a bunch of bull) they think they can take advantage of everyone and a lot of places in Louisville will not allow you to have a dish.

  What a city that allows this type of services to be done and not protect its tax payers!

Leave a Comment