PVR Fu

I have to admit that we broke down and got a PVR.  All for that chance to record the second show that always seems to be on at the same time as a favorite - and no other time that you can find in the foreseeable future.

It's taking some time to get used to being able to pause a TV show.  I'm used to waiting for an ad to get up and pee.

And fast forwarding, whether for a live show which I've paused, or a recorded show, is an art in itself.  But, some of us - not me really - are so good now that they manage to get it back to the show just as the show starts.  Now that's PVR Fu.

Let me tell you how this all started.

We signed up for satellite 14 years ago, after our rotational antenna started to have difficulties.  Up to then we had 3 channels, the fourth fuzzy channel on still nights or during winter.  We succumbed to child-pressure and bought into satellite when Canadian satellite became available.  Being good Canadian viewers and trying to stay as legal as possible - we'd heard horror tales about US satellite 'police'.

We didn't get the biggest package, but we suddenly had so many channels we purchased a VCR, mainly to tape shows we'd be sleeping through.  But, inevitably, we'd find we had '400 channels' (not really) and nothing much on.

The PVR came after much discussion and many whines while the commercials showed on TV.

 The Telus Saga
We even switched providers - ok I gave in to a high pressure (Telus) sales phone call.  The sales person misrepresented the deal, although we didn't find out until we did the switch.  I complained.  No problem, a customer representative said.  just try it for the month, at no charge, and if you still find you'd prefer to go back to your old company (Star Choice) it hasn't cost you a nickle.  So, from February 15th to March 12, we tried.  Hated the new set up, loved the search function.  Hated the fact we didn't get the music channel (CKUA) we listened to religiously ever Sunday morning.

That channel was the deal-breaker.  That and one of my science channels - my favorite viewing every Monday night.  We'd been promised.



The next surprise came with the phone bill.  Yes, because we're in rural Alberta, Telus is the best provider - wish it weren't so.  Remember the whole 'free' for a month to try it?  So did I.  Even then, the monthly charge was supposed to be $87.00.  Weren't supposed to be charged for anything else - like the installation, the PVR itself.  Nope, just $87/month.

The bill came to $683.29.  That's telephone and satellite.  Needless to say, I called and complained.  'No problem.  We'll fix it."  So I paid my regular phone bill and waited. 

And the next bill came.  Lots of adjustments showing.  Now I only owed $172.67.  All but $45 (telephone bill) overdue.

Can I say I was livid.  So of course I called.  And was promptly put on hold.  I hung up, angrier than I thought good for me.  I called again, remembering what my youngest son told me about swearing and yelling while on hold.  Something about software that can hear an angry customer.

Works like a charm.  In less than a minute, even though my holding message had told me there was an hour wait for customer service, I had a real live operator.  She switched me over to customer appreciation immediately who listened to my tale of utter woe, looked up my service record to see we'd been good customers for over 20 years, and started to fix the problem.

Now, when the satellite was installed, for some reason, Telus mandates a grounding wire.  That ground wire went over our flat roof to the telephone box.  The flat roof we'd just spent a fortune fixing with a 5mil covering that can melt if a charge ever goes over it.

We live in a lightning area, being the tallest thing around out here in the prairies.  We've been struck before - that was exciting, I'll tell you about it one day.

So we knew, even at the time of installation that a ground wire over our flat roof was asking for trouble.  I'd even talked to the insurance company and had it registered.  I had told Telus to remove it, several times, including when I first told them I wasn't happy with their package, again when I insisted they remove the satellite service, and again when I screamed about the bill.

Can you believe, the customer service person tried to talk me into a direct withdrawal from my bank account.  Unsuccessfully I might add - imagine trying to get back the $683.29 they'd taken from my account?  And try to explain to the bank that Telus didn't have the right to take that much to begin with, while covering an overdraft so other bills didn't bounce.

Wasn't until I talked to them finally in May - livid about the bill - and promised to make sure this did hit the Web/Internet, that the service desk promised, finally to remove it at the earliest date available - as if I hadn't been promised that many times already - along with the dish itself, which sat on our patio collecting bugs and dust.

I had actually been eying the dish as a nice birdbath for the yard.

Back to Star Choice / now a subsiduary of Shaw
We switched back, paying for the PVR rather than getting it 'free' for only a 3-year contract.

I will say I did like the Telus search function better.  And the way it would look two/three weeks into the future for all available dates/times/channels.

But we have CKUA back.  We have the old setup back - though that took a bit.  And we got a much better package than our previous Star Choice package - one not offered unless you bitch about the high price and have been a good customer for 14+ years.

We don't have all the channels we used to have, and we have no real say in the program, but for $40 less?month, I can't really complain.

You know, we wouldn't have left Star Choice in the beginning if their customer service rep had told us about the better package deal.  

Live and learn, eh?