Head Banging

Do you ever feel like you are banging your head against the wall when you are talking to the customer service people who are supposed to be there to help you with your problem?

I won't name the company, but you will be able to tell it is one of the satellite providers.

We have used this company since 2000 when our local cable monopoly made Bob mad. In 2003 or 2004 we upgraded to HD in one room and added another (a non-HD with TiVo) receiver in another room. Back in November we upgraded the non-HD w/TiVo to an HD with DVR. From install until the storms we had in June everything was fine. Since then there have been some channels that we can only watch the "searching for signal" graphic. Most are HD, but not all. At the time it wasn't priority because most of the ones we weren't getting were channels we didn't watch or we could watch them in standard def.

Friday when I get an email about upgrading the older HD receiver, I jumped at the chance. This box is different technology from receiver we got in November and doesn't get as many channels. When I called to set up the appointment for that upgrade, I was told we would get a new HD receiver, a new satellite dish, and a couple other things. I thought getting a new dish was strange since they would just be putting up what we already had, but I didn't say anything since I was fairly certain our "searching for signal problem" was an alignment issue. I knew a new dish would have to be aligned which would take care of our problem.

The tech came out today. His work order was just to replace the box. He swapped the receiver and did a check of signal strength. It was low -- as we already knew. However, he said he could not do the work because it was not on the work order and if they found out he could be reprimanded. We went out to take a look at the dish location. He stared at the dish for a few moments. When suddenly he said, do you have the service plan? He was contemplating doing the alignment so we wouldn't be charged the $80 service call, but since we have the service plan included for a year there will be no charge for a service call. So we came back inside, he activated his receiver and was on his way.

(As I continue remember, the tech already told me the problem is the alignment. The tech who has seen the dish and the signal strength in person.)

Shortly, after he left I decided to call the satellite company. The woman has me tune into a few channels and says my problem is that we don't have some sort of converter hooked up to the back of our boxes. So, I ask if something in their technology has changed because the signal was fine up from November until these storms. She said no, but still wouldn't set up a service call for the alignment. The worst part: she says we have to wait for a tech to bring the converters, hook them up, and then if there is still a problem we will have to call AGAIN for the realignment.

I probably wasn't as nice as I could have been, but she just REFUSED to listen to me when I was telling her what the tech told me or when I told her it worked fine until the storms. I stood my ground, and got that appointment I wanted it the first place. It only took 35 minutes -- not including the 10 minutes of hold time before I got transferred to her.

Now who wants to place bets on if the tech will arrive in his NOON - 4:00 PM window? The one today was nearly two hours late for the 8:00 AM - NOON window.