HDTV

I'm really not much of a TV watcher. I have mentioned previously how much I like TiVo, because it means there is always something on when I'm in a TV mood. Well, now I have to re-evaluate how often I want to be in front of the TV, because I just got the DirecTV HD receiver. What an AMAZING picture!

I'm already addicted to Discovery HD Theater. Sadly, my TiVo doesn't record the HD streams, and it'll probably be a while before I spring for the $1000 receiver that does.

File Extension

Scott made me do it.

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I Hate Comcast

Boy do I hate Comcast. Over the next 6-8 weeks, I expect to throw them out of my house entirely. I'll replace their cable with DirecTV HD satellite service (mmm... HD), and their high speed internet with DSL from Verizon (who I'm also not too fond of, but I'm going for the lesser of two evils). This is not the first time Comcast has pissed me off, but here's how they angered me this time...

When I moved from the apartment to my house, I brought my cable box with me. It has the right combination of ports on the back to give me s-video as well as a serial connection to my TiVo for channel changing. I ended up bringing it in to the customer service center to show it to them, ask them for one just like it (for the workout room, which has a TiVo), and to have them enter it into the system, since the tech who installed our cable didn't put it in. The woman at the customer service center read the serial number off the back and added it to the system for me.

Yesterday, the box stopped displaying video. It still gets/shows the program guide, but all channels are black. I used the automated system to schedule a reset, but it had no effect.

Today, I called the customer service line and was told that there is an anti-theft measure in the box, and it is programmed for my old address. The woman on the phone said "Whoever added your box to the system wasn't supposed to do that. It won't stay set that way. If I were to put it in the system now, it would just have this problem again next month. You have to swap out the box."
Me: "Well, it's not a good time for me to drive to the customer service center right now, but I can do it on Friday. Can you add me to the system again to buy me a few days?"
Her: "No, I can't do that."
Me: "By policy, or technology? Because something the other woman did worked for a while."
Her: "She shouldn't have done that."
Me: "So, you're talking about a policy issue."
Her: "Yes."

At this point, I asked to speak to a customer service manager. I was told she could put in a request and someone would contact me within 24 hours. I said "this is a customer service line I called, right? Because that's not what I'm getting." She said "that's what this line is; you're just not getting the resolution you like." I said "No, a customer service line should be about doing what it takes to make a customer happy with their service, not sticking to some ass-covering policy even when it means a paying customer of yours has no television service."

So, Comcast, here's the deal. Learn this, or you will lose more people like me.
* Customer Service means you service a customer. In this case, all it took was adding me to the system just like someone else had done before to buy me a few days time until I could drive over there. You see, it's the customer that needs the service here, not a policy. Violate a policy like that a few times, and no one gets hurt. Violate customers, and they leave. With no customers, you have no need of policy.
She knew I wasn't a thief subverting the system, because she had verified my identity. She therefore knew I was a paying customer, and was unwilling to give me the service (cable television) I was paying for. I won't pay for it much longer.
* A customer service organization would have a manager on staff to ensure that the customer is serviced at the appropriate time. The 24 hour delay, to me, says you don't care if people hang up angry. It also says to me that you deal with a lot of angry people.
This person's job is to make sure I get the service I pay for and that I don't get so pissed that I (a) disconnect my service, as I am going to do, and (b) write about it on the Internet so other people know just how bad your customer service is, as I am doing right now.

Unbelievable

I've been saying for years "I hate people." But, I didn't realize until tonight just how much I hate my fellow Americans. For Christ's sake... 4 more years of Bush? What part of "he is fucking up our country" do you people not get?