I Vote We Bomb DirecTV - ViperEye - 11th Nov 2003 18:12
I am a very happy customer of DirecTV. I long ago learned the glories of sattelite television, and many a day will go channel-surfing through their oh-so-navigable menus. I often find myself checking Tech TV, Spike TV, and the all-glorious FX and Comedy Central channels many times a day. Recently, however, I realized that I needed more. I needed to be able to record shows. Screw pausing live TV - the reason they have commercials is for bathroom and Coke breaks, not to sell you crappy products some dude's mom thought up during her midday nap. But with my merciless schedule, I'm never able to watch anything I want to watch when it comes on. There's no way I was ever going to waste my time with VCR timers... what am I, fourty years old? No, digital was the way to go.
So I ordered a DirecTV DVR (that would be DirecTV with incorporated TiVo, for those who are twits) exactly one month ago. I was told, much to my misery, that the DVR would have to be installed three weeks from the time of the order. For all you math PhD's, that's exactly one week ago (today is Tuesday, the 11th, for those that can't read dates). The installation appointment was scheduled for some time between 8 AM and 12 AM.
The fourth of November comes. The day my DVR would arrive! 8 AM comes. And passes. So does 9 AM, 10, 11, and noon. At 1:00 PM, I finally get a phonecall: "We're sorry, but we couldn't find a technicion to help you in the three weeks we had to look, because we procrastinate like you wouldn't believe and spend all day playing Moraff's UltraBlast and ZZT. We're going to need to rechedule for NEXT tuesday."
My thoughts: "SCREW YOU!" My words: "Okay, thanks." Hell, I wanted my DVR, and I was willing to wait however long it took to get it! Well, yesterday rolls around. It's about 7:00 PM or so. I get a phonecall from the installation company. It goes something like this:
Me: "Tennant residence, Daniel Speaking." (shut up, I'm a polite phone guy) Them: "Hello, this is (some lady's name that I forget) from the local DirecTV installation company. I'm very sorry, but we have to rechedule tommorrow's appointment for December 17th." Me: "..." Me again: "..." Me all over again: "..." Me: "December 17th?" Them: "Yes, Sir, I'm very sorry, but the parts didn't come in." Me, thinking: "YOU GODDAMNED PEOPLE HAD THE PARTS LAST WEEK AND COULDN'T FIND SOMEONE TO INSTALL THEM! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T HAVE THE PARTS?" Me: "..." Them: "Will that be okay for you, Sir?"
By now, the carpet was soaked from my silent tears and the ceiling was dripping from the steam rising from my forehead, but I kept my temper, somehow. I asked to cancel the order, and they directed me back to DirecTV. So I called DirecTV, and they got in touch with the local installation company themselves, and after about ten minutes on hold, I was told that yes, the system WOULD be installed the next day.
Crisis averted. Thank God.
Well, It's now 1:00 PM EST. No, they didn't come. I fact, I called them, and they said that they had me scheduled for NEXT WEEK, not today. Even though they told the DirecTV dude that they'd be coming in today.
There's no moral to this story. I'm just pissed off. Of course, I had the charge put back on my credit card, which I'll use to buy my copy of the Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers Special Extended Edition tommorrow, a full week before it gets released to the public. But I'll still have right around $60 or so to spend. So I'll put it all to you: how should I spend my $60 that I didn't have in my budget?
Honestly, I'm thinking about some sort of online subscription, like a FilePlanet premium account or something. What do you think? with what you think I should waste my money on, or leave a comment for me here. I'll be waiting!
And now, to fulfill that need you all have to hear some Troopers news. We're testing the final version of the upcoming patch TONIGHT. That's right, TONIGHT. So stay tuned tommorrow. You never know what might happen. =)
Ahh the ol directtv runaround...Ihadthemfor one year, had to disconnect , buthad a similar ugly installation problem. DVR woudl be cool.. maybenext year for me.. LOTR platinum edition Rocks by the way, mucho more backstory. Wish that some local cine was showing the extended versions, Iwould haev togo to NYC to catch one...O_o ahh well last chapter coming soon enough...
Buy the DVR from Bestbuy
Nico - - 20th Nov 2003 18:46
You can always buy the dvr from bestbuy and you can set it up your self. You just have to call to atcivate your card. Simple.
Yoshiro - - 11th Nov 2003 22:10
There is the I'm yoshi and as poor as a church mouse fund.
Comlink
news by email
back
