Customer Reviews of KyLinTV

This blog has been running for a while now and there is no doubt that there are a lot of people upset with KyLinTV! I receive a constant stream of e-mail and posts from disgruntled customers (past and present.)

I thought that since many of their comments are buried I would bring excerpts of them to the surface for everyone to see:

One word for Kylin - "SUCKS".
needless to say, outage at most of time, long time buffering, low quality picture ...
the thing really bug me is:
I have tried to cancel their service for 6 month. Every time I called them and was told to call another number to billing dept and after I dialed billing dept, its went voice mail directly. How many times I tried to call them to cancel? COUNTLESS!!! - Calvin | 11 Aug 2008

Honestly, I think you should go with DishNetwork. -KyLinViewer | 17 Jan 2008

Kylin's business model needs a serious review. - Kevin | 20 April 2008

Kylin is getting worse by the minute it seems. - Anonymous | 2 Aug 2008

This company is cheating, and I will send out a formal complain. - Anonymous | 27 Aug 2008

Never never go to KyLinTV. Otherwise, you will keep charging your credit card after you cancell the service. The service is terible and false ads. - Anonymous | 01 Sep 2008

The absences of CCTV-4 was upsetting and they lied about the outage. Now that it is back, they are reconfiguring the packages so if I want to have what I have now when my subscription expires, it would cost something like $600, up from $360....
These people are very greedy and instead of making subscribers happy, they want to wring out as much cash as they can from the subscribers... - Patsaison | 01 Sep 2008

this is ridiculous, i signed up with kylintv for about 4 months and i decided to cancel my service 2 months ago, i asked them for a return shipping box and received no reply for 2 ENTIRE months!
Today i checked my credit card bill and I see a $198 charge from KylinTv!! What the hell happened to the "Free Set top Box" or the response to my email, if I knew I was going to be charged $198, I sure as hell would send it back and pay the damn shipping myself!!! - Anonymous | 20 Nov 2007

Not happy at all with the kind of service we got. - Anonymous | 04 Aug 2008

What is up with all the channel cutting lately? KylinTV going out os business? - Anonymous | 16 Jul 2007

KyLinTV Tried to "Stick it to Me!"

Well, after cancelling over the phone I was told to ship back the Set-Top-Box, on my own buck. So I packaged it up nicely, took it to the post office (stood in line for 20 minutes) and paid for adequate insurance, paid for priority shipping with tracking and felt relieved.

I tracked the package online through delivery (took 4 days, 3 business days.)

Several days later I received this e-mail from KyLinTV:

Dear Customer,

Our records indicate that you had previously cancelled your subscription to the KyLinTV Services. At time of cancellation, you were required to return the KyLinTV Equipment. As of this date however, we have not received the Equipment that was initially shipped to you. Please send the Equipment to:

KyLinTV
1600 Old Country Road
Plainview, New York 11803

In accordance with the Terms of Service, which you received with your Equipment, "Customer must return all Equipment upon termination of Services. Failure to do so will result in a charge to be determined with reference to KyLinTV's then current penalty schedule, which amount shall be due immediately. Customer agrees to pay such charges whether the Equipment is lost (through theft or otherwise) or destroyed"

If the Equipment, including but not limited to the Set-Top-Box, cables, wires, cards, and remotes are not received by KyLinTV within the next ten (10) business days, then in accordance with the Terms of Service we will charge your credit card the amount of $198.

Should you like to discuss this further, please call (877) 888-8588.Thank you in advance for your understanding.

Sincerely,


KyLinTV Customer Service

Well, needless to say I was furious! I called KyLinTV at the number they provided in the e-mail and was told they could not handle these issues over the phone. I would need to contact KyLinTV via e-mail to resolve the matter.

I then proceeded to e-mail support and explain that they had received the package. It was insured. I had the tracking information (and provided it to KyLinTV). And phone support cannot handle these issues.

A day later I received an e-mail that they were researching the issue with receiving and would make a note on my account. Another day later they admitted to receiving the package and said everything was ok.

A great slap in the face after putting up with all their sh!t for over half a year of outages!!! Whatever happened to "Free STB?" And I was a member for over a year.

I have heard reports for readers and posters on this blog that KyLinTV was pulling the same trick with them. It seems in my opinion that KyLinTV may be fraudulently charging people for their Set-Top-Boxes when returned. If I hadn't had evidence and insurance they would likely have charged me for not returning the box.

So, word to the wise, INSURE and GET TRACKING when sending back your box. KEEP the TRACKING INFORMATION.

Good riddens KyLinTV! Thanks for the fnck in the @ss and slap in the face.

Goodbye KyLinTV & Call to Action

After half a year of outage (I was a paying customer for almost about 1.5 years), deceptive practices, and no progress from KyLinTV I finally boxed up the Set Top Box (Which isn't free as another person found out, it's on a $198 loan) and sent it back on my own buck.

While KyLinTV was plagued with Mainland outages, DishNetwork and DirectTV were able to maintain service. FTA programming remained available as well. KyLinTV blaming the Chinese government for the outage repeatedly was a poor excuse in my opinion.

The video quality degraded and was never great to begin with. Artifacts, synchronization problems, buffering issues all were never solved and never improved. Comments were ignored and support was slow to respond.

The programming offered in lieu of the advertised channels Fig. 1,2were channels KyLinTV should have been paying me to watch most of the time. It is a issue of taste of course, but I joined for certain channels and was force fed something else. Month after month KyLinTV promised "Soon the outage will be over," but nothing happened. Just more channels that quite frankly sucked and none of the channels returning which they advertise! Customer even posted to this blog stating that KyLinTV wasn't informing them of the outage when they were signing up for new service. Per my advice they called KyLinTV back and specifically asked. Upon this the answer was given that their monthly fee would be reduced and admission of the outage was explained.

Fig. 1


Fig. 2




Ending service was as enjoyable as the past half a year of service. It wasn't. Had to send back the STB, so it wasn't really "Free" as advertised on the very first page of their website. Fig.3,4 Not only that, I had to box it and pay for return shipping. No offer of a return shipping container or anything. Just, "OK, your account has been canceled, just send it back to us."

Fig. 3



Fig. 4



I think the FTC should be alerted to the false advertising that KyLinTV habitually carries out. Maybe if enough people file formal complaints something will be done ;-)

I will keep the blog going for all the KyLinTV customers out there and as a warning to future consumers.

I would like to also extend my willingness to KyLinTV to review their products should they ever decide to want a fair and balanced report to the public. During this whole time I was a paying customer and this blog has recorded the issues, treatment and history of my time with KyLinTV.

I hope that my effort and time can serve as an informational tool for others. Of course, everything I wrote is only my opinion and that may not be valued by all. Nonetheless, I hope that I have helped just one person.

Goodbye KyLinTV

Mainland Channel Service Update

I spoke with KyLinTV today and asked about the Mainland channels coming back. I was told by a representative that the holdup is with the Mainland Chinese government restructuring the way channels are censored through before being sent out internationally. Contracts are already in place between KyLinTV and the TV stations in China. However, the government must now approve the changes that have been made and ensure full compliance regarding the censorship and processing methods.

I have no idea who to contact in China to get their side of the story so please keep in mind that this is only KyLin's version and it cannot be confirmed as of now. If any one has contacts that may be helpful please let me know.

The problem still remains that customers don't have service.

I wonder why DirectTV and Dish Network and FTA (Free to Air) stations are not having similar issues?

I at least give KyLin credit for providing good phone customer support and taking the time to explain what their side of the story is. I must say that I have always had positive experiences when dealing with their customer support. Mistakes are sometimes made but they are eager to correct them and always helpful.

KyLinTV... Seems like they are going down :-(

Mainland Channel Outage

Well, anyone with KyLinTV service has likely been concerned over the past several months. With every passing day things drag on and nothing happens. KyLinTV doesn't update us and progress seems to be really, really slow.

Service for all the Mainland channels has been out since the middle of the Summer. Only Video-On-Demand (Cost extra) and all the channels KyLinTV should be paying me to watch are available.

Lack of Updates

The service update informing customers that KyLinTV is working to resolve the problem is far outdated and not very informative. It states that Summer is almost over and soon September will be here. Well, it is October now and no new news.

Deceptive Sales

Of course, on their website there are no user forums, outage information, updates or warnings to new customers that they are going down the tubes. Really, wrong of them in my opinion to not warn customers and not take care of current customers. How hard is it to type a message and broadcast it?

Oddly, KyLinTV does advertise the Mainland channels are part of their service. At best this is deceptive. At worst it is a matter for the FTC.

It is unfortunate that things have come to this. Maybe the outage is not the fault of KyLinTV but they need to take care of us customers and be completely honest with new ones.

They Were Trying, Not Anymore

Now, let me give KyLinTV a little credit. They are providing some really crappy programming for free via Video-On-Demand. Crappy is an understatement, it is so bad I can't explain it. Phoenix North America Channels for free, not very interesting, especially for people interested in Mainland issues. And some of the absolute worst "live" programming available. I know they are trying but this isn't working anymore.

Political Issues

I don't know who is to blame for the outage. KyLinTV or Mainland TV programmers. Either way here is the deal.

Right now ALL I get is a Taiwanese viewpoint. By holding up the Mainland perspective and programming there is an interesting thing happening. KyLinTV subscribers are getting one side of the story about back home. They get the Taiwan/American slant on everything. Often, the viewpoint is so slanted it is amusing.

So here is my question and stay with me here. Is KyLinTV a purposely refusing to air Mainland programming? Is this a pro-Taiwan / anti-Mainland China action? Is political influence being exerted by the American or Taiwanese governments?

It is just a curious situation and something worth thinking about. I am not saying there is a conspiracy or anything but without any explanation from either KyLinTV or the Mainland we are are left in a mystery. I wish one side would come out and force the other's hand in providing an explanation.

Competition Coming?

Anyhow, why doesn't China Telecom start sending IPTV boxes overseas and providing Mainland service to overseas markets? I mean the debut in several cities over the past year or so has already taken place in the Mainland. Hmm... maybe that is what is happening. Maybe KyLinTV is going to be forced out of the market by emerging services from major providers.

KyLinTV, Still Not a Player

Well, either way KyLinTV doesn't seem to be ready for the "big-time" yet. They were the first to come and it is looking like they may be the first to go as well. They intermittent service, lack of updates and complete halt of innovation all signal bad things to come in my opinion.

KyLinTV Customer Service EXCELLENT!!

Well, I was having a lot of trouble with KyLinTV the past few weeks. Turns out it was my wireless router was on the fritz. However, KyLinTV was extremely helpful. They were quick to respond to e-mail support requests. They also responded with useful and worthwhile comments. So many technical support centers simply respond with, "Call us." In addition, KyLinTV called me I don't even know how many times trying to correct the issues. They were technically knowledgeable and I can't say enough good things about their support team.

They speak Chinese and English very well and there is no communication problem even during the most technical issues.

Good Job KyLinTV!

High Motion Video - KyLinTV Still Having Problems

I must say that while I am impressed with many features and services of KyLinTV, I am also frustrated by their inability to improve the performance of their video. Nearly any video including a lot of motion or activity will drop many many many frames and jitter, jump and skip A LOT!
Watching for instance, a dancing with stars show, action movies or sports becomes quite annoying. It is almost a strobe effect it is so bad. I am not sure if it is on the encoding or decoding side but KyLinTV really needs to work this out. I would rather have "blockiness" (is that a word) than dropping frames and jumping around. Many shows just lose their effect when the smoothness is gone.

Subtitle Info

We watch movies in a multi-lingual environment and it would be great to know if the shows and movies (especially on-demand) had subtitles and in what language before watching. Maybe the folks over at KyLinTV will add that sometime soon :) Just a little request...

Full Screen - Are we ever going to have it?

I am sure many have noticed the issue with KyLinTV and the screen size. I certainly noticed it out of the box.
The problem is that the picture coming from the KyLinTV STB (Set Top Box) is not set to a resolution which fills a standard TV screen. Therefore, there are slim black bars on the right and left side of the screen at all times. Really annoying!
Another issue may be with their encoding process (which the first maybe as well, not sure).
I have noticed that with several programs there is a digitized looking static bar at the bottom of the screen. It reminds me of the VHS days when there would be stripes of interference across the screen on certain recordings.
I really hope that these issues can be resolved soon. KyLinTV, I hope that you are out there hearing my calls ;)

Video / Audio Sync

Okay, I know that Internet video sometimes lags. I also understand that occassionaly during the encoding process the video and audio don't synch perfectly. But KyLinTV needs to get it together!
I have only had the service a few weeks now but this appears to be major problem. I would venture to say that 90% or more of the time the video and audio on KyLinTV is so out of sync that there is anywhere from a 1-5 second difference. This isn't a problem if you are watching a show where you don't see the person talking ;) but when you actually watch the mouth and hear their voice 1-5 seconds later or vice-versa, it is incredibly annoying!
I would just like to see their encoding process improve at least enough that the video and audio are synchronized.
Anybody else having problems with this?

Just because I know somebody will ask my bandwidth test results are below from SpeedTest.net: