Messages

My P2 successfully contacted IceTV about 2 hours ago, working fine...

Mark

Sorry, typo, lol

My bad, it was very late when I realised there were no series recordings left against my Skippa 😀

Dave,

Help please!!!!

I factory reset my box (something I seriously don't recommend you do anymore) and it has now erased ALL of my series recordings in my IceTV account.

NOT COOL... Can you please do me a big favour and restore them with magical powers you have, hopefully, praying , pleeeeeeaseeee...


Mark

It's not new owners.

It's the same old, Colin o'brien is back behind the relaunch.


Mark

If anyone is in WA and want me to look at their faulty skippa I'm happy to help.

Hi everyone...

I have absolutely no idea if it will work - for people that have already received the Skippa unit, but i have lodged a PayPal claim, and here is the way in which i did that - in case it assists others in doing the same. I do not know if it will be successful or not but you may as well try.

----------------------------------------------
Find payment to IceTV in the activities section of Paypal.
Open the transaction, down the bottom click on "You can still report the problem in the Resolution Centre within 180 days."
Select "I have a problem with an item I purchased" then continue.
Select "I received my item, but it is significantly not as described. For example:" then continue.
Under "How was the item significantly not as described?" select "Incomplete Duration".
Under "Link to the product website" type "http://www.skippa.tv".
Under Category select "Home Consumer/Electronics".
Under message to seller I wrote the following, not sure if it will work or not but we can only try...
----------------
The item provided by IceTV Pty, Ltd - being one (1) x Skippa branded PVR unit -  no longer functions.

The Skippa device REQUIRES MANDATORY ACCESS TO THE ICETV EPG DATA SERVICE in order to function. It also requires access to IceTV servers to confirm product activation. Without being able to receive this data the device no longer functions at all in the manner for which it was designed.

The reason for non-function is that the company (IceTV Pty, Ltd) has gone into Voluntary Administration and is now unable to continue to trade financially or find a new owner for its business. Therefore the IceTV EPG data service and IceTV servers have been shut down. Technical staff no longer work for the company, and the Skippa PVR unit no longer functions as per manufacturer specification. There is no chance of this situation changing. The device is now worthless.

The device has a 12 months warranty as per Australian Consumer Law and a LIFETIME IceTV EPG Guide subscription, which means that whilst the physical product was delivered and received - one (1) x Skippa branded PVR unit - the service component of the product purchased has now been withdrawn and therefore this falls under the "incomplete Duration" category for PayPal Resolutions.
-----------------
Tick "I would like to request a refund of" and enter amount - mine was $417.00.
Select continue.

You will then be notified that the seller cannot be contacted and that the claim is being escalated straight away.
Select "I do not believe we will be able to reach an amicable resolution".
Then either select "I will only accept a full refund" or enter the amount that you are happy to accept as a refund.
Tick that you will provide honest information blah blah blah...
Then submit...

Job done...

No idea if it works but what have we got to loose. The more that lodge claims the better I think.

It's $400 i can put towards some other project at home.

Just thought i'd post in case it encouraged or helped others to do the same...


Mark

Best of luck to all the staff at IceTV, I wish you all well. Thanks for the great service.

Dave you have provided sensational customer service, thanks for everything.

I hope you all do well from here on. What a shame it couldn't have been taken over.

Take care Dave!

Mark

Bit of a coincidence that the UEC webpage has also gone down? http://www.uec.com.au/

Actually its not...

The UEC web page has been flaky for years. Being an owner of an Altech 9600, there has been many times its been down for weeks at a time, let alone days.

This has been well reported by many users on Whirlpool in the 9600 thread.

at home?!?!?!

:( bad news - very bad news....

I am so sorry Dave, I can almost feel the anguish from here....

I'm starting to get the feeling that the new firmware isn't coming and that the staff (Daniel and Dave included) have either been told to stop working on it or have left on their own or been given marching orders...

I really hope that's totally wrong, but it's been very quiet even for them...

At the VERY LEAST why can't UEC just release FTA firmware for this thing.

It would allow people to keep using it and it's what Dave said was the plan...

Comments yesterday from Colin about it being defunct, was that literal, as in its now gone gone, no more firmware or support?

I just want to know either way, whether it's total crap (what I have started to feel may be true as above) or that I'm completely wrong...or even something in between, just so I know... Either way...

Then if it's true, I will play around with trying to put the Altech 9600 firmware onto this unit to see if it works.

If you have ever seen inside of both units, you would know that there is at least a BIG CHANCE it will based on the mainboards being near identical.

I say yes also, BUT at $7.99 a month, they had better maintain it to the same level as current or better otherwise I'll switch to auto timers on the T3 instead.

What worries me is if the level of service or quality drops because the new company cuts corners or cuts costs to make it more attractive to them...

Dave and all the others at IceTV have worked hard to make the guide a really good product, I just hope that whoever takes it over can maintain it to the same standard otherwise I'll pull the pin pretty quickly.

I knew the existing subscriptions were gone, it had to be the case, there is just no income stream for an new company to take it over if they honour existing subscriptions, why would they...

Mark

PS, I too would resubscribe if given the opportunity, I wouldn't hesitate.

But I do consider my existing subscriptions as gone...

The more I look at this situation, the more I see the writing was well and truly there, I guess I just didn't want to believe it...

Extending subscriptions to 10 devices instead of 5
Continuing to offer cheap deals for subscriptions
Offering 5 year deals
Constant delays with Skippa

The list goes on, I feel pretty stupid in hind sight...

I've already said this to several people that have asked me, but my opinion is that existing subscriptions are gone forever. I think peteru summed it up well.

What most people probably don't yet realise is that IF - big IF - the TV guide service does continue and gets taken over by someone else, they will likely NOT honour the lifetime Skippa subscription for the skippas or anyone else's paid subscriptions for that matter either, otherwise that company buying into it will be zero profit for a long time to come as they have no income stream until people start to subscribe again. Technically if they are only purchasing the guide service itself, they don't have to honour the previous subscriptions which were contracted to the previous owners not the new owners. They could choose to just purchase the technology, hardware and even employ the staff to run it all, but the existing subscriptions are as good as dead.

If you think about it how will any prospective buyer purchasing the guide service make any money out of it when everyone currently using it is either a lifetime IceTV subscriber or has many years to go, not all that many people I've seen posting are due to renew any time soon. I remember reading that there are 16500 subscribers, if a large chunk of them are already paid up, then where is their income source.

People have signed up to these 5 years subscription services now, they have been on offer for at least 6 to 12 months now. And many of the hardware items they have sold lately have been with lifetime IceTV as well, Like those lifetime humax deals, and the Skippa too. So again no income stream for the prospective buyer.

No income stream for the foreseeable future means not profitable which means no takeover...I am very hopeful that I'm wrong about it, but I give it a low probability of success for takeover. Who in their right mind would pay money for a business where most of its customers have already subscribed so far into the future or for life, with little chance of income being generated...

The only hope is for someone to purchase the technology and hardware and employ the staff and start over possibly offering existing subscribers a good price for 12 months of service including skippas too, i cannot see them continuing to provide a service to people for free for life once taken over.

Only my opinion.

Makes sense Dave,

Could also be a loose wire/connection in the adaptor plug, seen that before many times.

The adaptor needs to be at least a 4amp adaptor 12v with 2.1mm plug centre positive.

We carry good quality 12v 5amp adapters on the shelf for $29 plus postage.

Altronics Sell similar for $56 so check your prices before you buy as there is a lot of markup on parts like that.

The Skippa unfulfilled orders have been told the order will never be fulfilled. Even if a new owner for the business is found.

Actually,I've been wondering why that is.  If someone buys the business, surely Altech would be happy to get rid of their stock of Skippa?

As I understand it the Skippas are no longer the property of the purchasers.
They are the property of the manufacturer. And as the manufacturer is apparently in receivership then no one actually owns them.
If they are ever returned to the market it will be as a brand new unit that you would have to pay for......again!
If the Skippas ever came to market I certainly would not buy one. They are dependant upon the IceTV EPG and even if that discontinued and a s/w update changed that dependency, the unit then becomes nothing more than a standard PVR.
And there are plenty of those around with better warranty and service backup that the Skippa will ever have.

This is totally inaccurate, these rumours going around about Altech Multimedia or UEC going under as well as icetv are simply untrue. (Thats the manufacturer).

Go to uec.com.au main page and read the blurb on there.

They are simply closing their australian operations to concentrate on other sales areas, and have appointed a distributor/agent here instead to sell the Altech line.

The brand and products will continue, its just the direct wholesale that will stop.

This is likely the reason that icetv are in trouble, i imagine they had an arrangement in place with them for payment, but when altech MM overseas decided to close the doors on their australian operations, they most likely wanted to wind it all up without any strings left attached or debt.

I dont know the real reason, its just a guess, but i do know that the manufacturer is not in administration. Far from it.


Mark