This is a really stupid thing to be livid about but...
So my cable company is in a war with a network TV channel. Over money, of course. The TV network decided to go dark tonight, just in time for the Oscars. I don't really care that much, though this cable company has a history of getting into stupid wars with TV networks. (Great story from years ago about ALL of Yankee Stadium chanting, by pre-arranged cue spread by newspaper, radio, phone and only a little internet help, "it's all about the bucks; Cablevision sucks!" Yes, 50,000 people at Yankee Stadium, in the middle of a ball game, started chanting - and it was heard on the radio. It was awesome, and yes, I was there. We kept it up at every game until the war was resolved. Anyway...)
So cable company, in an effort to make nice with its customers, decided to let us all watch Movies on Demand for free today. Great. The selection of Free on Demand features is usually OK, but not great. The paid Movies on Demand are cheaper than renting out or going out, and considerabley more comfortable. So I decided to take advantage and finally watch some movies. Started with Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.
Since it's on my cable box, I can pause anytime I want. So I did - in order to cook dinner. I only paused the movie twice.
Came back after the second pause and the screen had reverted to the menu. No problem. Just resume.
NO DICE! Just an error message that says "unable to play video at this time, please try again later."
Well, have been trying for over an hour. Have also been trying to get through to tech support on the phone (because the online tech support is useless). The phone is busy (can't imagine why) and have been unable to resume, restart or order a different movie.
Apparently, this is not uncommon with this cable company for On Demand movies anyway. I have never ordered a paid movie before so I didn't know. So... you order a paid movie, and are happily enjoying it, and then boom, no signal. Restart the cable box. No difference. Call tech support, no answer and/or no help (one customer blogged that she should make sure she paid her bill, which is stupid, because the customer service person would have that info in front of them). But they bill you for the movie, that you couldn't watch, anyway.
In my case, I'm not paying for this (at least, it had better not show up on my bill!!!) so I really shouldn't complain. But I am anyway. I had planned to watch 2 movies, time allowing, but now I won't even get to watch 1.
I changed cable companies because my old one was shanking me for lots of money every month and the service in general was terrible. I was happy to come back to this company... but the service has become really terrible since I hit the second year of my promotional period (fixed price).
I really want to just throw out all modern technology that is controlled by megacompanies. Seriously.
So cable company, in an effort to make nice with its customers, decided to let us all watch Movies on Demand for free today. Great. The selection of Free on Demand features is usually OK, but not great. The paid Movies on Demand are cheaper than renting out or going out, and considerabley more comfortable. So I decided to take advantage and finally watch some movies. Started with Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.
Since it's on my cable box, I can pause anytime I want. So I did - in order to cook dinner. I only paused the movie twice.
Came back after the second pause and the screen had reverted to the menu. No problem. Just resume.
NO DICE! Just an error message that says "unable to play video at this time, please try again later."
Well, have been trying for over an hour. Have also been trying to get through to tech support on the phone (because the online tech support is useless). The phone is busy (can't imagine why) and have been unable to resume, restart or order a different movie.
Apparently, this is not uncommon with this cable company for On Demand movies anyway. I have never ordered a paid movie before so I didn't know. So... you order a paid movie, and are happily enjoying it, and then boom, no signal. Restart the cable box. No difference. Call tech support, no answer and/or no help (one customer blogged that she should make sure she paid her bill, which is stupid, because the customer service person would have that info in front of them). But they bill you for the movie, that you couldn't watch, anyway.
In my case, I'm not paying for this (at least, it had better not show up on my bill!!!) so I really shouldn't complain. But I am anyway. I had planned to watch 2 movies, time allowing, but now I won't even get to watch 1.
I changed cable companies because my old one was shanking me for lots of money every month and the service in general was terrible. I was happy to come back to this company... but the service has become really terrible since I hit the second year of my promotional period (fixed price).
I really want to just throw out all modern technology that is controlled by megacompanies. Seriously.