This almost turned out to be a pit thread, but since it has a good ending, I figured it didn’t count. Mods, feel free to move if you feel it’s more pit-like.
So I got AT&T Digital Cable today. I had ordered it about 3 weeks ago, and at the time they asked me if I had a phone jack near my TV. I said “no” and they explained that I would not be able to order Pay-Per-View movies from the remote control without it. “Fine” I say “Can I just pick up the phone and order them the old way?” They assured me I could, and went ahead and scheduled an installation time. It was today, and the installer showed up promptly at 1:00.
She hooked up the box downstairs, then hooked up the other one upstairs. She called to get them activated. While we waited for activation, we tried to see if the digital channels were coming through. My downstairs television is hooked up so that all the TV comes through the VCR. In other words, it goes from the cable outlet on the wall to the Cable TV box to the VCR. The VCR is then hooked to the TV, and all cable shows come through the VCR. I did it that way to simplify things - when you have a DVD player, cable TV, a VCR, and a surround sound system things rapidly get complex. (an aside - We couldn’t get the digital cable box to work that way, and we never did find a solution to that. Something with routing it through the VCR doesn’t work. Dopers, have any ideas?)
In the process of trying to get the box to work through the VCR, we had to unhook the cable box. This required her to call and re-activate it. At this point, she was told that there had been a “change in policy” and that they would not give her the code that would allow her to hook up the box to work without a phone jack.
I don’t have a phone jack near my TV. I don’t want a phone jack near my TV. As you recall, I was told when I ordered the service that it was only necessary for Pay Per View movies, and I preferred to call and order them myself. The installer, I’ll call her D, said that they hooked it up without a phone line all the time in Denver, and this was the first she heard that my town wouldn’t allow it. In fact, she said that she herself has it hooked up that way since she doesn’t have a phone line in her house. She uses a cell phone exclusively.
She made a couple more calls, explaining to various people my situation, and how I was told I didn’t need a phone line, and that she herself knew it was possible to use it without a phone line since she’s been using it that way for a year. No go. At one point, a supervisor HUNG UP ON HER. She then explained to me that the only reason a phone line was needed was so that I could 1) order pay per view and 2) every 30-60 days, the cable box will ping the cable company and make sure everything OK (and probably send data on every channel I watched up to the cable company, but she didn’t mention that part.) She told me that if the ping didn’t work, the cable box would assume it was stolen or something and stop working. She said the code she needed was a code that told the box that it didn’t need to phone home.
So I got on the phone, and talked to my local cable company. The first peon I spoke to couldn’t do anything, so I talked to Rick, the supervisor. He said flat out no way was he giving out that code. In fact, he denied a code existed, and said that it was impossible to install digital cable without a phone line. I said “So the customer service rep who originally sold me this service, and D. the installer both lied to me?” He said “Yup.”
More arguing ensues. He claims that “they” specifically told him NOT to give out the code (the one that didn’t exist, I presume…). I asked for the name of “they.” He said he didn’t know a name. Bullshit! I say “You talked to someone, right? What’s his NAME?!?” He finally coughed up the name of a bigwig in the Denver office. He couldn’t, however, come up with anything like a phone number, so me and D. were on our own.
I get off the phone with him. I call the Denver office and harrass the receptionists until I get through to Mr. Bigwig. Keep in mind this was a full 45 minutes after I first got on the phone and tried to get this straightened out, and I’m PISSED. Mr. Bigwig answers, and I know I have Mr. Bigwig and not Mr. Customer Service Peon because he answers the phone with “Mr. Bigwig” - not “Hi, this is Bigwig, your account executive. How may I help you?” You always know you got through to the right person when they don’t immediately hand you a line of marketing bullshit when they pick up the phone.
I say “Hi, Mr. Bigwig” and proceed to tell him the whole story. He says “Well, that IS our policy…” and I think to myself “heeeerrre we go again…”. But he goes on to say “But I understand you’ve had a frustrating time, and I can go ahead and give you that code. Let me talk to your installer.”
YIPPPEEEE! She types in the previously non-existent code, and everything works just nifty. But gads, what an ordeal! What a bunch of morons at AT&T!
