Just another note on customer service from *C.
I had to replace a 530 again. So I take tech. sup. advice, I go to the store I purchased it from got another one. No issues at all.
Get home friday night and call in to tech support to have the new unit activated and I am told that Tech Support can't actually activate my 530 as only a "special team" is authorized to do 530 activates due to the delicate nature of the device.
Great. I ask to be put through to this "special team" and promptly an told that they only work during normal business hours and I should call back tomorrow morning.
Here I am with a replacement unit and no TV. I ask what happened to the 7x24 tech support and I am told that activations is not tech support. I don't see the difference. I have to have a unit replaced. That is tech support according to the Rep, but the new unit activation is not tech support. Nice of them to tell me this earlier.
So I am a little PO'd but I wait until sat morning. Kids are up they want to watch their cartoons. I am on the phone with *C trying to get the 530 activated.
I get tech support. who has to take the old reciever off my account and enter all the serial # information, etc from the new box into my account. I ask why this couldn't be done last night and I am told "The night shift does not always handle things well" and left at that.
Once all the info is in I have to wait on hold for 5 minutes while I am transfered to the "special 530 activation department". The csr there asks for all the serial # infor again. I tell here the Tech sup. guy just put it all into the system. She tells me that the tech sup system is different from the activation system and she needs to renter it again. Great. So we go through it all a second time (mean while I have a pair of 2 year olds complaining about the lack of cartoons).
She activates the unit and I get channel 299 and 298. Nothing else. I ask her to fix it and load my channel map into the box and make sure IPPV is working. She pauses and tells me we have to wait for 5 minutes for the channel map to come in. Fine we wait.
15 minutes later I still have only channels 299 and 298. She is dumbfounded. I check the system status and notice that the reciever is still in MP authorization. I tell her that it will not work in MP and she tells me straight out "I don't know what you are talking about. My instructions tell me to hit the box with your programming and I did, I don't know anything else about these 530 I will have to have you call tech. support to solve the problem"
So I get transfered to tech support and wait on hold for another 20 minutes. Finally a tech support person get the box authorized and I get to watch tree house with my kids. Almost 1.5 hours to activate a 530.
What is the most irritating thing is the "experts" at activating the 530 are only following a script. A script that the night shift should be able to do with out issue, as proven by the complete lack of knowledge of the csr I had activate mine.
Way to go for *C 7x24 hour support