Direct Tv

"Agggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh" to quote Charlie Brown.

I work in tech support, I know how the system works. But why, why must they make my life hell. I don't ask for much. I just want to record my shows, come home, sit on the couch and relax on my off nights watching those previously recorded. Unfortunately, Direct TV doesn't see it my way and last night took the cake.

For the past six weeks, my DVR and I have not been getting along. Either the receiver says searching for service or it is like watching a show with 400 hiccups in it. Of course, at first they tried to say it was the connection. No, it is not the connection, live TV is fine, and the box hasn't moved locations since it was installed and no one can get back behind with the cords (well except the fur balls). They have tried resetting, they have tried doing updates, blah, blah. In the end, it "fixes" the problem for a few days and then we are back to square one.

So, last night was the the breaking point for me. The past three days of work have just been hell and all I looked forward to was a good run and watching the Biggest Loser from the night before. Well, before I got that far, I tried to watch Y&R (my guilty pleasure). Last time I checked if you are watching a DVR'd show, an hour show should take you less than an hour to watch, not an hour and 45 minutes to get through it. So, I just couldn't take it and called the customer support and my saga crumbles.

The first lady I received was very nice but she kept telling me that my only option was to format the hard drive. Of course I will lose everything from there. The pay-per-views not fully watched nor my shows. I didn't want to spend another hour on the phone going through this and just was done with it all - send me a new DVR. Sorry mama, we can't do that. Fine, let me talk to your supervisor. My thought was that the supervisor would be more willing to work with me.

Big, big, HUGE mistake in thought. This lady redefined the word attitude. In no shape or form will I be compensated for anything and until I reformat my hard drive - I can't do anything else. Since I am just beyond frustration and at a boiling point, fine, do what you have to do. Well, I follow her instructions and why the system is formatting the hard drive, she asks me to confirm my address and reads it to me. I say yes. She was like Mame - I need you to confirm your address - so I yell yes thinking she can't hear me on speaker phone. No Mame, I need you to repeat your address to me. WTF - you just read it to me and now you want me to tell you what you said. So I give her my street address...hot under the collar by now. Not good enough - so I give her my city, state and zip - spelling it all out so she doesn't get confused. I know I am yelling by now but it is just because of the pure frustration and rudeness with this lady. She then tells me that she is going to have to terminate the call, tells me to have a nice day and hangs up.

So, I call back. They ask how they can help. I give my best polite effort when mad and say I was on the phone with a supervisor. Well, she puts me through to a supervisor and happens to be the same one. Seriously - is this a cruel, cruel joke? Well, she is resident evil by this point. I didn't realize right away it was her and explain how I was hung up on, she then goes into you know why I hung up, don't you. Uhhh, I just tell her I am not calling to rehash this, I want it solved. She has complete attitude and really is making no effort. She even then starts bitching about how she works three jobs. Seriously, do you think I care. At no point in my career have I EVER considered telling someone I was on a support call with how many jobs I work, let alone a VERY frustrated & angry customer. Are you kidding me.

Well, some how - even though she wasn't on the phone while it did the reformat, she determined that I need a new DVR. Then proceeds to tell me that it is going to cost me $19.95 to send it out. Ah no, I am not paying for that. She was like "Are you telling me that or asking that". At that point I had enough of the attitude and said I would call back and deal with someone else. Please forget about it and I will deal with it tomorrow.

So, while I am typing up my letter to the Better Business Bureau, I receive an email informing me that my DVR has been shipped and they are billing me for it. I am so ready to hit the roof on this, it isn't funny. I tried to call on my way into work but apparently they don't support people until 8 am. So, guess it is going to be a drive home call.

Again, to quote Charlie Brown "Agggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh"