Monday, December 08, 2008

Monday: UGH......UGH.....should I ditch Directv?

With the 1st Lady staying with her Mother as much as possible in the hospital in Hannibal, MO, I was up and barely going by 6:45 this morning. An appointment scheduled for anytime between 8am and 12noon didn't really give me any change to be lazy this morning, just because I didn't really know when the....hmmmm...."Tech Specialist"....was going to ring the doorbell.

OK....at 8am, after one cup of freshly ground French Roast coffee, the telephone rang....and it was the Directv service man who had been here a week ago Sunday, the one who could do nothing to improve my picture quality on either tv. He said he had been assigned to come back. Well, my blood pressure immediately soared to unknown heights, but I kept my tone and dialogue on the conversational level......somehow! I told him, and to be offensive I said, but it wouldn't do any good for him to return. He thoroughly agreed, but I asked for the phone number of his supervisor, the same person that I talked with a few days ago about needing the Tech Spec. Soooo, with his home phone number I called him. And....that conversation was not quite as civil for either of us as the 1st one was this morning. I requested that HIS supervisor call me......some rebuttal on that request....but he couldn't say no.

About an hour later, the 1st guy that had called....David.....called and said that there would be a head supervisor coming over from Illinois....about a three hour drive and that then he, David, would meet him here. Well....it was almost three hours later they arrived.

From that time on for the next three hours, they discussed with me the problems of the blurry picture quality in both tv's.......the trial solutions which have failed....and then they set to work to change out EVERYTHING: all cables, the LNB's on the dish, the connectors, readjust the position of the dish, change the braces stabilizing the dish which had not been put in correctly, and then testing everything, including the grounding. And....after three hours, nothing had changed AT ALL!!!!!!!!! The picture on the plasma non-HD channels was still blurry, as well as on the standard tv where all of the pictures are very blurry, so much so that on some channels, you cannot distinguish the features on faces of individuals that are not right at the front of the screen/picture.

And so, on all paperwork that I had to sign, I wrote out a statement that I am still not satisfied with the installation due to the quality of the picture on each set.

Then the Directv phone calls began to come in......3 or 4 asking if the work that had been completed met with my satisfaction.........hmmm, I imagine you know my answers on those types of questions. Then about an hour or two later, the Case Manager from S. Dakota called me. This guy is the ONLY one who has seem to take any interest in my problem.......honestly interested in taking care of me, the customer. Sooo, after some pleasant discussion, he suggested that they send out a different receiver....an older model that is not like the one that I have for the standard tv which can be upgraded with a software change. The one he says he will be sending out will be a model that is just slightly older than the one I have........to just try it out and see if it improves the picture. Soooo, another 3-4 days before we can decide if we are going to set this all out on the curb for them come get and then return to Charter, or if we think we can tolerate the horrible picture quality...........?????

To say the least.....I am exhausted. And......I'm still living with the same problem I have had for almost three weeks now.........what to do?....what to do?

Tomorrow, I have an appt. for the truck to get it ready for our winter travels.....only three weeks before we leave, three weeks from tomorrow. And.....our schedule for those three weeks is really, really packed with some appointment or activity almost each day!

The 1st Lady's mother?? Not any improvement....the doctor is NOT satisfied with her progress. Doesn't appear it is pneumonia, but she is sooooooo congested in her lung, which are so weak anyway, as well as the rest of her body. Soooo, the 1st Lady is also worn out from just being in the hospital with her all day..........

OK.....another day in the Life of this sagging hulk of Me......and it hasn't been the best one possible, but as I always say......there are soooooooooo many others who are much, much more miserable situations that I find myself in......I can't complain! Soooo, with that thought in mind........as always, ......

LIFE IS REALLY, REALLY GREAT!!!!!......And, I hope it is for all of you, also!!!!!

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