Growing up

Meimei is walking. Over Thanksgiving weekend, she went from taking a few steps on her own to walking across the room and walking to most places (with the occasional plop! onto her butt because she lost her balance).

She's also in a growth spurt and some of her 18 month clothes no longer fit. Even the ones I just bought three weeks ago. We had to come up with something because she keeps getting her pants off, so we tend to dress her in coveralls or dresses with thick cotton tights.

And she's starting to talk to us and get some words. Here's what she's got:

• Hi/Hello
• Bye (or BYE!!!!)
  
• Mommy and Daddy
• Cheese
• Num num

So we're getting all grown up here at el Casa del Pants.

So close...

They came. DirecTV. They came. The guy called at 11:15 and said he'd be here in about 45 minutes. It was an hour and fifteen, but hey, he came.

He proceeded to spend over 3 hours switching out the dish. Apparently the guy who hooked us up was a hack, which we knew. But really, we kinda had places to go.

Anyway, so the guy leaves like his pants are ablaze because he is hours late for his next appointment in FARMINGTON already (for out-of-towners, this is at least a good hour from my house) and I turn the channel from the annoying DirecTV informational channel to an HD channel.

And... nothing. They did the whole install, but did something wrong. We get local HD channels, but none of the cable channels.

So now we have to wait for another service appointment for them to come fix it. Aargh.

Wrong:

• Being half an hour later than you quoted, which was outside of the service appointment time we had anyway. I distinctly remember Orlando saying we were to be the first appointment.
  
• Taking so damn long to do it.
  
• Not checking the channels before you left.
• Leaving the old dish for us to throw in the trash.

Right:

• I guess you get a pass for actually coming. It's sad that service should sink this low that this is the best you can do.
  

Waitin on DirecTV

When we last saw our intrepid heroes, they had been denied 2 (3?) times for an upgrade to HD service. Can they overcome the satellite giant to live an HD life?

So I called Premier after the last post to get my appointment "pushed", or moved up to a closer date, as the best DirecTV could give me was December 3. Premier informed me that they were so busy that they weren't "pushing" any appointments for any reason. And the girl informed me she just had a customer yesterday that had been screwed over even worse than me, and they wouldn't push their appointment either. Yes, thanks, I feel so much better. Oh, and Premier can't give me a credit, I have to go through DirecTV.

And Dec 3? Not on a Saturday. I called back to get my appointment moved to the next available Saturday. I tell the operator, "If I take a day off and you stand me up again, that's a whole new kind of mad." I get scheduled on Dec. 15. And they submit a claim for the "On-time guarantee credit" and someone will call me in 48-72 hours about it when it's been reviewed.

Cut to Thanksgiving. It's been 10 days and I have not heard anything. I'm figuring I will have to call tomorrow to start the complaint process back in motion, when lo, the phone rings. It's DirecTV and they want to come this weekend. They want to come tomorrow (I'm on the cancellation list). Yes, I say, we will be here tomorrow between 8 and 12. Please come and upgrade my dish.

And no, they didn't come. They called at 3 and rescheduled me back to the Saturday I had before.

So I called DirecTV again and this time I actually got to speak to a supervisor. The kid who answered was so scared of me he got a supervisor immediately. I wasn't even being mean! I was actually laughing.

The supervisor offered me $10 off monthly for the next year and Showtime for 90 days for free, which I took. There was some technicality under which I could not get the On Time guarantee, but the money off is even better.

And then something strange happened. At 5:30, the doorbell rang. ("Pizza, mommy, pizza!) It was DirecTV! They're here!

"What seems to be the problem, ma'am?"
"Uh, no problem, we just need an upgrade to HD."
"We were told there was a service problem. You don't have a service problem?"
"No, just an upgrade."
"Oh, we're really sorry, we were told this was a service call that had been rescheduled 5 times, so we don't have the equipment for an upgrade. Let me see if we can get someone out tomorrow."
They call around and say someone is coming tomorrow.

This morning. 8 or 9. It is 9:06 as I write this and no one has come yet. I really thought they would come this time.

So let's go over what went wrong this time:

• Refusing to push my appointment after they messed it up.
• Not calling me back after my complaint was registered for the On-Time guarantee.
  
• Coming out for a "service problem" when I just need an upgrade.

And here's what went right:

• Getting me to a supervisor immediately.
  
• Giving me the discount when it was clear I couldn't get the On-Time guarantee money. Also giving me the free movies.
• Giving me a number to call if it happens again - personal voicemail!
  
• Having someone come out, even if it was for the wrong thing.
  
• Them calling around to get someone to come for today - although this will move into the "wrong" list if they don't come.
  

So, it's starting to go better. Even the Showtime will just drop off the account after the 90 days, we don't have to call to cancel.

The saga continues in our quest for... HDTV.