F...My Cable Company!

[MTK]

Originally Posted by TheMalcolmConnection

I don't know if DTV offers this, but DVR is the greatest thing I've ever had.

They do, I have one. Don't know how I ever lived without it!

[FRPLG]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

They do, I have one. Don't know how I ever lived without it!

Finest innovation in entertainment since hookers.

[mheisig]

Originally Posted by TheMalcolmConnection

I don't know if DTV offers this, but DVR is the greatest thing I've ever had.

How does it compare to a new or used hooker?

[dmek25]

ok, lets here it from everyone on the count of 3. f my cable company(and where it applies,f comcast)

[jbcjr14]

I can't - the hail storms and thunderstorms are too much for the dish throughout the year. Its a sacrafice I have to make so I can watch the skins.

[mooby]

Originally Posted by jbcjr14

I can't - the hail storms and thunderstorms are too much for the dish throughout the year. Its a sacrafice I have to make so I can watch the skins.

Yeah i had DTV for about two years, and every thunderstorm, small or not, it wouldn't work. So my family switched to cable back in december, ever since then it's been awesome. I think i should invest in Tivo or w/e it's called though, i've heard nothing but great things.

[ArtMonkDrillz]

But why does customer support suck so much?

[dblanch66]

I'm in LA and Adelphia sucks donkey. Customer service??? What's that?? They are almost as bad as Dell computer but not quite. I can sort of understand the spanish dialect at the cable company's "office", but at Dell, I just can't pick up the eastern Indian accent...

[joecrisp]

Originally Posted by ArtMonkDrillz

But why does customer support suck so much?

Why does customer support suck so much at any company? It's usually a highly stressful, low-paying, heavily-monitored and virtually thankless job. Trust me, I know. When I first got out of college, I had a couple of customer support jobs in the ISP and software industries.

Because companies that provide high-maintenance products such as cable service are required to keep such a large customer support staff on hand to handle high customer call volume, they can't afford to pay much money to each individual support rep. This means the people they hire for those jobs aren't exactly holding advanced degrees. It also means the people they hire for those jobs generally don't stick around very long. I lasted all of about 3 months on my first job as a technical support rep for a dial-up ISP. On my second job, as a customer support rep for a software-maker, I lasted about six months. And trust me, I'm not the exception. The turnover rate for these kinds of jobs is exceedingly high.

Why? Imagine being the most pissed-off you've ever been about any product or service you've ever bought. You call in to give customer support absolute hell. But because there are 500 other customers trying to call in and give customer support hell at the same time, you have to wait on hold for 10 minutes. Now you're REALLY pissed! By the time you actually get to hear a human voice, you're just bursting with fire and brimstone. Who gets to handle all that hellfire? Some guy just trying to get by, who has the unenviable position of having to handle about 100 to 150 more people just like you before he gets to go home and think about doing it all over again the next day. Most folks can't tolerate that kind of life for very long. Those that can-- or don't have any choice, like I did-- usually become pretty jaded, cynical and desensitized early on in the process.

That leaves you with basically two kinds of support reps: inexperienced, naive and sensitive (like I was); or jaded, cynical and desensitized. None of those qualities are really what you want in customer support representative.

[mheisig]

Originally Posted by joecrisp

That leaves you with basically two kinds of support reps: inexperienced, naive and sensitive (like I was); or jaded, cynical and desensitized. None of those qualities are really what you want in customer support representative.

I was jaded, cynical and desensitzed BEFORE I went into customer support.

I lasted all of about a year - had some good times with callers though. One woman asked me what in the world the red button (the mouse) in the middle of her IBM keyboard was and if it was safe to touch it. I warned her in a very serious, stern manner that the button was only to be pressed in extreme data management emergencies, as it was the self-destruct for her laptop.

To this day I'm not sure she ever caught on - she just used the trackpad instead

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by joecrisp

Why does customer support suck so much at any company? It's usually a highly stressful, low-paying, heavily-monitored and virtually thankless job. Trust me, I know. When I first got out of college, I had a couple of customer support jobs in the ISP and software industries.

Because companies that provide high-maintenance products such as cable service are required to keep such a large customer support staff on hand to handle high customer call volume, they can't afford to pay much money to each individual support rep. This means the people they hire for those jobs aren't exactly holding advanced degrees. It also means the people they hire for those jobs generally don't stick around very long. I lasted all of about 3 months on my first job as a technical support rep for a dial-up ISP. On my second job, as a customer support rep for a software-maker, I lasted about six months. And trust me, I'm not the exception. The turnover rate for these kinds of jobs is exceedingly high.

Why? Imagine being the most pissed-off you've ever been about any product or service you've ever bought. You call in to give customer support absolute hell. But because there are 500 other customers trying to call in and give customer support hell at the same time, you have to wait on hold for 10 minutes. Now you're REALLY pissed! By the time you actually get to hear a human voice, you're just bursting with fire and brimstone. Who gets to handle all that hellfire? Some guy just trying to get by, who has the unenviable position of having to handle about 100 to 150 more people just like you before he gets to go home and think about doing it all over again the next day. Most folks can't tolerate that kind of life for very long. Those that can-- or don't have any choice, like I did-- usually become pretty jaded, cynical and desensitized early on in the process.

That leaves you with basically two kinds of support reps: inexperienced, naive and sensitive (like I was); or jaded, cynical and desensitized. None of those qualities are really what you want in customer support representative.

My wife worked in a customer service job for about a year right out of college. Imagine all that hellfire getting directed at her all day long, and then imagine being the guy she came home to in the evenings!

But still, DirecTV costs me significantly less than Cable. I pay $58 a month for one receiver with TIVO service, and a second regular receiver in the den. I get NFL Network, ESPN News, and a whole slew of other channels. And when I call them up for customer support, I've gotten nothing but friendly and very helpful people on the other end.

I think part of the problem being a rep at a cable company is that the cable company makes you so mad in the first place by charging so damn much. So like you said Joe, naturally callers are going to get mad at that. DirecTV customer support reps probably don't face as much anger from the get go, because in general, that company keeps people happy with it's core service. Maybe that's why their reps seem so friendly.

[joecrisp]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

I think part of the problem being a rep at a cable company is that the cable company makes you so mad in the first place by charging so damn much. So like you said Joe, naturally callers are going to get mad at that. DirecTV customer support reps probably don't face as much anger from the get go, because in general, that company keeps people happy with it's core service. Maybe that's why their reps seem so friendly.

I used to catch a lot of hell as a DirecTV installer, actually. Maybe their customer service has improved a lot in the past five years, but when I was working for them, one of the customers' biggest complaints (aside from the picture going out when it rains) was the crappy customer service over the phone. Plus, most customers were locked-into contracts that required them to pay a penalty for cancellation of service, and they had to purchase the equipment. So if the equipment went bad, they were "SOL".

As far as prices go, if you look past the sign-up promotions and actually study what you get for the price, cable and dish's non-promotional standard rates are about the same, though there is always some variance from market to market. I'd expect that's pretty much how it's going to work with Verizon, as well. I think if politicians' claims were to come true that consumers will save $30 to $40 on services per month, we'd see a lot of bankrupt telecommunications companies. Well, a lot more than there are now, at least.

[ArtMonkDrillz]

Good point, I was just giving you crap because I'm naturally a jerk.

[FRPLG]

Cable is a good example of why government having close oversight of an industry causes more problems than it is worth. A lot of the problems in the cable industry stem from badly conceived regulations and non-sensical enforcement. That being said I do get the distinct impression that cable companies are doing very little the remedy the situation.

Any company should want to compete in a market that allows them flexibility to achieve their best profits. Because they are essentially granted monopolies(you can call them what you want. they still get a market to themselves.) they have no incentive to change pursue change within the industry to create a more competitive market that would in turn reduce cost and increase customer satisfaction.

I do think a lot of the issues aren't in the cable companies control but I think what gets informed customer sos mad is that cable companies dont seem to care that everything is screwed up.

[Summo]

I work for Cablevision here on Long Island and I agree totally with what Joe said. Everyone hates the cable companies but no one understands what the cost's are to run one. VIVA CABLE!!