Beware of digital television conmen
Consumers are being warned to beware of hard-sell practices by some TV equipment firms.
WHILE the roll-out of digital TV continues across France, consumers are being warned to beware of hard-sell practices by some TV equipment firms.
According to the consumer protection body UFC, in the Marne, one of the areas going all-digital this autumn, some firms have been phoning people up or visiting door-to-door in a bid to get people to buy unnecessary or over-priced equipment before the switch-off of analogue TV.
The targets are often elderly or isolated people, the body says.
One elderly man, who was not taken in, reported that he told a sales rep he already had digital TV, through a paid subscription, but was told he would need a satellite dish when the changeover took place, which is not true.
Other people have reportedly been urged to buy digital decoders at “unbeatable” prices of €60.
A UFC spokesman said: “There’s a risk there will be more and more inappropriate calls. Unscrupulous salespeople will try to manipulate people who are not au fait with what is needed because of the change.”
Only in about 5% of France, especially in isolated rural areas, is it necessary to have a satellite dish to get digital television. In most areas, it is enough to use your ordinary aerial plus a television with a built-in digital receiver (this includes all new ones sold in France since March 2008) or a set-top decoder box.
The decoders are from €20 from television shops, so it is unnecessary to buy a premium-priced one.
Those people who, prior to the switch, have been getting the six basic channels free via satellite (using the Atlantic Bird 3 satellite) can continue to do so in all parts of France until the end of November 2011.
They will not then be able to receive these analogue broadcasts, but need to get a special digital adaptor box for the dish, which start at €100.
It is not, however, necessary to change the dish itself (costing several hundred euros).
Those people who already get digital via the internet or private subscriptions will be able to continue to do so.
Several regions in the north-west and Alsace have switched to digital and those coming up this autumn are: Champagne-Ardenne (September 28), Lorraine (September 29), Centre and Poitou-Charente (October 19), Burgundy and Franche Comté (October 16) and Nord-Pas-de-Calais (December 7).
There is also a (French) helpline on 09 70 81 88 18 (local call cost from a landline).
Note that there are grants for those on low incomes who need to buy equipment like decoders, satellite dishes etc. Free digital TV includes 18 national channels and a regional one.
