Friday, August 18, 2006

I finally figured out why I haven't had a landline in 5 years.


I'm pretty fed up with the new AT&T/SBC/Dish conglomerate already, and I've only had their "service" for a couple weeks. Basically, I switched from Comcast cable so I could have a phone line that would work with my alarm system. Plus, according to the AT&T rep I spoke with on the phone, I could get it done for about the same price I was paying Comcast for similar service with no landline.

It would have been great, had she not been lying through her teeth.

The first problem I had was when the installer set up my TV. I have an HDTV, but unfortunately it has a 4:3 aspect ratio. I realize I'll have black bars at the top and bottom of my screen when I watch widescreen content. I'm used to it. What I didn't expect is that in addition to those, I get black bars on ALL FOUR SIDES of my TV when watching 4:3 content. WTF? If I'm watching 4:3 content on a 4:3 television, there should be NO letterboxing, much less letterboxing on all 4 sides. The installer said every TV he'd installed Dish on did the same thing. Well, that's great, but my Comcast HD box didn't do it. I suddenly have a TV that's effectively a 27" instead of a 32".

Then I noticed I'm not subscribed to some of the channels I'm supposed to be hooked up with. Then I try to use the DVR feature to record the William Shatner Roast on Comedy Central this Saturday. It doesn't work. I call tech support for Dish, and they tell me I'm subscribed to the Bronze package, and don't have a DVR.

I get transferred to AT&T, and they tell me they don't have access to Dish's stuff, so they transfer me back to Dish. I talk to them, they blame the problem on AT&T, and transfer me back to them. Lo and behold, I've been on the phone long enough that it's after 9PM, and they're closed. So here I am, with no DVR, missing some of my favorite channels, and I'm getting ripped on the price.

I was told I could get the Silver Package, Unlimited Long Distance, a landline, DSL, HD, and a DVR for 117/month. As it turns out, I'm only getting bronze, and no DVR for 114/month. And I'm in a contract. And their customer service sucks.

Their tech support goons tried to tell me for an hour that my router was broken, so I finally hung up on them. As it turns out, they gave me bad information during the setup, and I fixed it myself in 15 minutes.

I'm REALLY not pleased so far. I'll keep you updated as I try to get out of my F'ing contract. This ruling might help, actually, but I'll have to see what happens on appeal first.

On a related note, some of you may remember my problems with FedEx losing a MacBook Pro I shipped with them. It appears my very first angry lawyer letter did the trick. They hopped on it immediately, apologized, and sent me a check for the full amount.

1 comment:

Nathan said...

So a few things. First, I can't wait to write my first angry lawyer letter. It'll be a nice diversion from being stonewalled all the time.

Second, Snakes on a Plane is AMAZING!!!! It's clearly the best movie of the summer. My question is, does it also have the best hero of the summer? Superman v Samuel Jackson.

Tough contest.

Third, and finally, I did buy one thing in the wootoff. I got the wireless earphones from logitech. I've recently started working out at the gym. My current mp3 player is my phone, and I'm tired of dealing with the crappy battery life. Now, I can just play music from my laptop. I'm pumped.