Tag directv bad customer service

So for the huge Thanksgiving race I left my normal job early two days to be able to help at the running store that was hosting early packet pick up.  This week the race was large with over 1000 runners but I didn’t anticipate being involved in packet pick up since it was not a chip timed event.  Well I got reports during the day from the store owner that he was being overrun with people and he had  no volunteers assigned to help out in the task.  Evidently this need was never considered for some unexplainable reason.  Anyway I again made arrangements to leave work early to go help for a couple hours.  I felt bad for Carl, he actually was having to ignore actual customers to address the huge lines of people waiting to get their race stuff.  This theme of poor planning resounded consistently throughout the entire event.

Our race morning responsibilities were reduced from their normal level since the event was not chip timed.  Somehow the morning still had a high level of stress again from a lack of planning.  When we showed up on site we looked around at each other wondering where we were supposed to set up, another detail that should be well established and known well in advance.  Once the location was established I asked where the closest power connection was located, another detail that is supposed to be scouted ahead of time.  The school liaison said she wasn’t aware we needed power for registration.  Luckily our equipment manager had brought our portable generators.  I fired one of those up to provide power for the registration laptops.

I left Cindy alone to handle data entry while I went with the equipment manager and a couple others to set up the finish line.  Since this was a first year race the course was new.  It was designated as finishing on the track inside the football stadium.  Apparently whomever laid out the course did not measure it accurately, the advertised 5K race (3.12 miles) was actually more like 3 miles in reality.

While we were unloading the finish line equipment a school security guard/track police came rolling up in his golf cart.  He was extremely irate and started chastising the equipment manager and anyone else in the area for daring to drive the truck on the track.  He said it was STRICTLY forbidden and the truck had to be removed immediately.  The equipment was off the truck at that point so the equipment manager took the truck out of the track area.  The track look unaffected by the truck’s presence.

Even after the truck was off the forbidden zone the track police followed our equipment manager after he parked the truck and continued to scold him for driving on the track.  Bill finally had enough and told the guy there was nothing he could do about it now and he should just shut the f up abut it.  The track cop was not very happy with the response.  I’m glad it didn’t escalate into a “Don’t taze me bro!” situation.  The incident somehow seemed appropriate going along with the very messy planning for the event.

So even though the event was not chip timed it was supposed to have very basic awards.  They were supposed to recognize the overall first place winner for adult male and female as well as the top boy and girl in elementary, middle, and high school.  The way the kids were supposed to be identified was by looking at the bib of kids as they crossed.  The bib was supposed to have an A, H, M, or E on them to identify the classification of the finisher.  In theory this plan should have worked but it was again missing a key component, volunteers to execute it.

There was nobody actually tasked with collection this information so last second I threw Cindy out there to try to collect what she could.  We got some of what we needed but not all of it.  We were lucky that the event organizer from the school district has a very can do, go with the flow personality.  She ad-libbed the awards in such a way that did not put a spotlight that all of the advertised awards were not being presented.  The race was a very frustrating reminder of why I no longer enjoy being part of this process.

Not long after getting home I was outside working in the yard working on getting weeding and some other basic stuff done.  After eating lunch Cindy and I headed out for a Rural King/Home Depot trip.  Shortly after leaving home we were on Immokalee Road.  I spotted an object moving across the road , close to the bike lane on the right.  I swung left and saw the turtle creeping along, I was amazed it got that far.

I immediately identified the turtle was in danger.  Cindy said she thought the turtle would be fine, I told her there was no way it could get over the curb it was approaching.  I made a command decision and cut over to the left turning lane that was maybe a 100 yards down the road and threw the Prius in park.  I crossed back across the road and started running towards the turtle in my flip flops.  My pace accelerated as I saw what I feared was coming true, the turtle got to the curb and turned around, now heading back out into the lanes of traffic.

As I ran I started pointing to the right and yelling at oncoming traffic to get over, hoping to get the attention of the drivers, even the ones that stupidly had their face in their smartphone.  As I closed the distance there were a couple close calls where the car did not get over until the last second.  I imagined how terrible and furious I would feel if some idiot would hit the animal just as I was moments away from saving it.  As I got there, there was a small break in traffic allowing me to scoop up the soft shell turtle and put him on the bank of the canal he was trying to reach.  I felt fortunate to have reached the turtle before an idiots tire reached it instead.

We grabbed our stuff from the two stores and returned home.  At Home Depot we grabbed some mulch to replenish the areas that the chickens keep emptying.  They find scratching in mulch, even the fake rubber variety to be a lot of fun for whatever reason.  If you are the type of person that places a lot of value on perfectly maintained mulched areas do not adopt free range chickens. Saturday night we were quite tired from the race alarm clock.  We decided to just stay home and catch up on DVR content which was fine with me.

Sunday morning we headed out to do a run.  We only ran a little over 3 miles but doing it at a 9:20 pace was enough to make me work at a level higher than I should have to.  My running endurance just sucks anymore.  The only positive I can say about it is my regular IT band stretching seems to at least have made the day after soreness and pain on my right side much less severe than it was.

Since the Eagles didn’t play the Patriots until 4:30 I had some time to get stuff done.  I hopped on the tractor and mowed the property which was looking pretty shaggy from the unusually high amounts of November rain.  While I did this Cindy took it upon herself to wash all three of the vehicles.  The skies were overcast which made for some very comfortable temps for mowing, I actually didn’t sweat.

So I sort of assumed that once again my Sunday Ticket would be wasted this week.  I was pretty sure the local Fox affiliate would be broadcasting the game which would mean it would be blacked out on satellite.  I was surprised when I saw FOx was actually showing the Panthers/Saints game.  Ok, well I guess I will flip over to the Sunday Ticket.

So I fire up the satellite receiver and find the Eagles game in the guide.  When I select it I get a message that the game is blacked out locally, WTF? Surely it has to be a mistake so I call up DirecTV.   I explain to “Omar” that the game is being mistakenly blacked out  on my receiver since it is not being broadcast locally. ( I checked cable and OTA antenna)  He said he did see the game being marked as blacked out but did not know why.  He also claimed there was absolutely nothing he could do about it as this is controlled by the NFL.

I found this statement illogical.  I told him I receive my feed from Directv.  If Directv agrees a game is being blacked out incorrectly, why can they not remedy the situation?  Omar had no resolution available except to apologize repeatedly.  I found this situation extremely annoying since I have already had 5 or 6 Eagles games this year that I have not used the Sunday Ticket for since they were broadcast elsewhere, significantly lowering the bang for the buck the 250 bucks I fork out for the service delivers.  I told him I would expect Directv to compensate me in some way for not providing content I pay for and should be entitled to.  He said he would transfer me to a “customer loyalty representative” who would arrange for appropriate compensation.

I am transferred to another rep named “Eva”.  I explain the situation for a second time to Eva.  Unlike Omar, she says she doesn’t see the game as being listed as blacked out.  However I asked her if she showed the Panthers/Saints being being blacked out (it was as well) in my area.  She said no so I think she just was not looking at relevant or correct information.  She again apologized and said she would speak to her supervisor to see what compensation they could offer me.  While I was on hold I figured a $20-$25 credit would be reasonable.

When Eva returned she said her supervisor authorized her to offer me a $5 credit.  I laughed out loud and asked her if she was serious.  I then asked how they arrived at that tiny number.  She said her supervisor said there are a total of 512 games available on the service over the course of the season so through some fuzzy math that equated to 5 dollars for not being able to see one game.  I explained to her I don’t watch 500 games, at most his year I will be able to see 10 games of the Eagles.  For that privilege I am paying roughly 250 bucks, hence my $25 idea.  When I expressed my dissatisfaction with 5 bucks she placed me on hold and came back a few minutes later saying the most the supervisor would authorize was $10.  All of a sudden I felt like I was in a car negotiation except Directv was haggling me over much smaller amounts of money.  When I threw out my 25 dollar figure Eva challenged my math, wanting to divide my 250 bucks by 16 instead of 10, regardless of how many Eagles games I get to actually see on the service.  She said it works out to more like $15 a game.

I found myself flabbergasted that I was actually getting haggled over $10-15 in a situation where Directv is clearly in the wrong and not providing service that I paid for.  I said to Eva, “so just to be clear, you are telling me that Directv is that concerned with $10-$15 that it is willing to haggle a 15 year customer of theirs over it?”  Eva was silent for a few moments and then started to just repeat the same crap.  I cut her off and told her to just forget the $10, instead letting her know this interaction will be communicated to Directv support and will be considered when it comes time to renew the service. Without waiting for any further response I said goodbye and hung up.  Idiots.

To be honest I expected the Eagles to get smashed anyway so being forced to just listening to the game wasn’t a huge penalty, or so I thought.  It turns out that thanks to Directv I did not get to see the most exciting game of the season.  It seemed to be a very odd game where the majority of the 35 points the Eagles put on the board were scored by members of the team not playing offense.  The Eagles scored every non-conventional way you can imagine, a blocked punt, interception return, and a punt return were the way 21 of the 35 points got on the board.

The Eagles were up 35-14 with the time running out.  The Eagles almost managed to completely collapse allowing two quick Patriot touchdowns which included a successful onside kick in between.  Then after an apparent near game clinching defensive stop Sam Bradford gave the Patriots one last shot with an inexcusable fumble.  The Eagles barely escaped with their lives as the Patriots ran out of gas driving for a game tying touchdown as time expired.  I am pretty sure this will be looked back on as the highlight of the 2016 Eagles season and I didn’t get to see any of it thanks to Directv, thanks guys.

These next two weeks are going to be quite busy with normal work, timer work, holiday prep, and the the NYC trip all occurring simultaneously.  I will try to pick off action items as efficiently as possible as procrastination is something I just don’t do.