Cycling TV

andyp

Who are these clowns are cycling.tv - they've just renewed my subscription twice without either informing me or with my permission?!

The service is appalling and I'm now taking steps to recover my money. If anyone is even considering using them again then I'd strongly recommend you avoid it as you can never get the service they offer even when you pay for it. What started out as a good idea has been poorly executed and terribly managed.

Keanocp

You're not the first and I'm sure you wont be the last to experience this with Cycling.TV

There's another thread running regarding the issues you mention http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12560524

They didn't reply to any of my emails and in the end I sorted it over the phone. Suggest you try the same and good luck.

Kléber

This happened to be a year ago. Apparently it's in the small print that they will renew your subscription. But doing it by stealth without an opt-out or even a reminder email is sneaky.

method

I agree with much of this, but when I signed up a while ago, it did say pretty clearly in the paypal bit that it was an automatic subscription and payment would be taken each year. I cancelled it before the year was up as it wasn't that good though. Not sure how you paid though, maybe its less obvious.

sing_for_absolution

method wrote:

I agree with much of this, but when I signed up a while ago, it did say pretty clearly in the paypal bit that it was an automatic subscription and payment would be taken each year. I cancelled it before the year was up as it wasn't that good though. Not sure how you paid though, maybe its less obvious.

Same here. I cancelled the automatic paypal subscription to cycling.tv and I wasn't charged again.

vermooten

Havent seen Brian here lately - he usually fields complaints about the 'service'.

afx237vi

vermooten wrote:

Havent seen Brian here lately - he usually fields complaints about the 'service'.

Which in itself is pretty crappy, because it's hardly his fault is it? He's good at what he does - it's just a shame that the same can't be said for the rest of the people at cycling.tv

andyp

afx237vi wrote:

vermooten wrote:

Havent seen Brian here lately - he usually fields complaints about the 'service'.

Which in itself is pretty crappy, because it's hardly his fault is it? He's good at what he does - it's just a shame that the same can't be said for the rest of the people at cycling.tv

Agreed. Him and his wife have just had a baby too so I doubt he's got time to waste on here!

My complaint isn't with Brian at all - he does an excellent job - it's with there useless systems.

BrianS

I have forwarded this thread link to the correct people like many others. Whether they will respond i do not know. As you guys have said i cannot do anything about the problems but bring them to the attention of the correct department. There seem to be many changes happening at the moment with Jump tv getting more involved. Lets hope things will get better soon. Its not good to hear that some of you guys are still having problems.

customer service email :cyclingtv@jumptv.com
CTV number: 0208 749 0700

vermooten

I saw cycling.tv's boss-man (?) being interviewed the other day before KBK, and he said that there would be improvments coming in the next few months, including changes to the user interface (thank fck). Sounds like it's taking longer than planned, but let's hope it's worth the wait.

BrianS

i do not understand the technology involved but it is frustrating to us in the commentary box knowing people are having problems. i even have problems myself so i can understand some of the frustration. here's hoping the changes can only make it easier to watch cycling wherever you are. i think the new interface is going live after the giro. i have problems with my internet provider so this does not help. here's looking at the future being brighter........

vermooten

BrianS wrote:

here's looking at the future being brighter........

+1

Once these issues are sorted then cycling.tv will be the best thing ever, especially as Eurosport's commitment to cycling seems to be dwindling, e.g. half an hour's live coverage of the Tour of Flanders. Half a frikken hour.

LangerDan

vermooten wrote:

BrianS wrote:

here's looking at the future being brighter........

+1

Once these issues are sorted then cycling.tv will be the best thing ever, especially as Eurosport's commitment to cycling seems to be dwindling, e.g. half an hour's live coverage of the Tour of Flanders. Half a frikken hour.

The problem is that quality of service has been heading downhill since the website changeover 10(?) months ago. This isn't an issue that has suddenly appeared in the last fortnight. What would have been really nice and not at all difficult is an email to all subscribers along the lines of "look, we admit there are problems, we will have new service in place by...., the improvement you should see is X, thanks for your patience, yada yada" It shouldn't be up to Brian Smith to have to come here and cool our fevered brows.

Unless he is the new Customer Services manager, in which case,,,,

snakeeater

I just get peed off when I see a live race available to 'premium' subscribers and when I click it I get a 'Hah, wrong country dimwit' error message.

Highly annoying. Anyway, I subscribed april 2007 and for some reason I got an email in january 2008 saying I'd unsubscribed. Well, after reading this thread I thought I'd check my paypal accoutn and it says I've unsubscribed so here's hoping they don't renew automatically.

cycling.tv is great of you want to watch ANY racing, but if you're after the big races only then forget your chances if you're uk based. I only want the classics plus a few of the bigger tours but this is not available in part to uk subscribers. Just my gripe. The commentary however is top notch

PutneyJoe

I also don't like the 'available in premium' 'not available in your country' thing. I paid to join premium (again better check I haven't been charged twice) in order watch Paris - Nice it said 'available in premium'. But then I couldn't see it as I'm in the uk.

Really if cycling tv want to do well in the UK they've got to do a deal with Eurosport. Eurosport don't stream these things so surely they can do some kind of deal? I don't want to have to buy the extra freeview thing for eurosport. Why don't they do a deal where they charge a bit more and give some cash to eurosport and stream the races that eurosport put on tiv?

squired

I also agree that it is frustrating the way it isn't clear which races can be seen in which countries. Lets face it, this can't be too difficult to fix.

The price of the service is going up substantially (in percentage terms) each year, but the service is declining. I would for example re-subscribe for the chance to watch Paris Roubaix given how little Eurosport will be showing. Of course the calendar doesn't tell you that it is only available from the US. I did manage to find this though on one of the other pages, but it should be on the calendar otherwise it is pointless having it:

• Paris-Roubaix (North America only)
• Ronde Van Vlaanderen [Tour of Flanders]
• Liege-Bastogne-Liege (North America only)
• Amstel Gold
• Fleche Wallonne (North America only)
• Criterium du Dauphine Libere
• Tour de Suisse
• Tour of California
• Gent-Wevelgem
• Paris-Nice (North America only)
• Omloop Het Volk
• Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne
• E3 Prijs Vlaanderen
• Eneco Tour
• Vuelta Ciclista a Pais Vasco [Tour of the Basque Country]
• Tour of Qatar
• Tour Down Under
• Tour of Missouri

I did contact the guys at Cycling.tv a few times in the past with questions, one of which being whether they might add an audio streaming service. Lets face it, streaming video at work (which is where most of us are when the races are going on) is generally a no-go. I could however stream audio. I never managed to get a response on that though unfortunately, even though all of my other questions were answered. More recently none of my questions have been answered, which is poor.