GolfHos

Equifax.  MAJOR HATE!!!  [sm_devil] [sm_devil] [sm_devil] [sm_devil]


Tried to sign-up tonight - I get phone calls about a 'problem' creating my account.  I'm on hold for several minutes before they even know what the problem is.  I verify all of my information three times over - then they tell me its the credit report from Equifax.  But its not even credit related - seems they have my date of birth incorrect by 20-something years.

Then they tell me I have to call Equifax to fix it before they can create my account - I tell them how foolish they are being and to cancel the order.  Then I call Equifax anyway - go through the verification process again, before they tell me that my report is outsourced to another vendor, CSC, and I would have to contact them to have anything changed.

Well, seems CSC doesn't even take phone calls, everything tells me to go to their web site - which then tells me everything must be submitted by mail and I have to wait 30-45 days to get anything changed.

Meanwhile, because of the most basic and stupid error by some *fudge*ed up company - and a jacked up policy by DishNetwork - I cannot get service from them.  I'm calling a local reseller tomorrow to see if they can help me out - otherwise I'm going to DirectTv.  If I have the same issue there, ...well, I may blow an artery - ambulances standing by.


Jeesh - I can get a home mortgage, car loans, but when it comes to satellite service I'm outta luck???   WTF!!!!!

HATE!  [sm_devil]


(this all JUST happened so its a raw nerve right now  ;) )

(http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/specialengagements/afewgoodmenjacktruth.JPG)

You can't handle the Setanta!!!

I'm so pissed right now, Col. Jessup would back away slowly and say 'very sorry to have bothered you sir, can I get you a drink?'

I hate to tell you this, but Directv is not a suitable option if you at all value the functionality of the remote/channel surfing ergonometrics in your cable/satellite choice package.

As far as I'm concerned, this key user interface modality alone is worth the unfortunate trauma that you are currently experiencing by the Dish Network No Customer Service staff.

My advice is to go over their heads, if at all possible and contact the Dish Network CEO directly.  He seems like a very nice guy.  He's on several Dish Network channels chatting up the customers 24 hrs at a time, including one in high fidelity HD  

Not to mention, Dish is $15 less per month than Direct - but thanks for rubbing it in  [sm_devil] ;)

isn't $15 a month worse it for 100% better HD picture quality? i hardly get the impression that kind of $ would break your bank

no such thing on dish right now.

Dish just completed their MPEG-4 upgrade a month or so ago - supposed to have very nice HD service now.

well , i got my info from wikipedia ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dish_Network

according to wikipedia (which i assume was up to date) they are not full mpeg4 yet.  i haven't been on avsforum much lately, so if they have gone 100% mpeg4, good for them.  i assume they are still downressing and bitstarving their mpeg4s more than directv though, so they can achieve more channels/transponder and hence keep up the 'more channels' claim.

feel free to point me to some better info. i don't like spouting wrong info.  :o

I've heard there are things worse than turning 60, but I can't personally verify that.

Oh, thats just cold.








 ;)

Well, perhaps they're not finished - I just know they have what I want and are ahead of schedule on the mpeg-4 rollout.  Nevermind anyways, as..........

The resellers have to go through the same process.

So, problem solved..............

That depends, do you get some kind of Senior Citizens discount card when you turn 60?

I just spent a week in the Catskill backwoods in a cabin that had no phone, no intergoogle, no radio reception, but it did have Directv.  

Given that I have Dish at home, and was considering ditching the Dish as a protest for their brazen dropping of the Voom HD programming, this was exceptionally good fortune.  I calculate that the probably that I'm the only person on the planet who can directly compare the channel surfing modality of the two satellite superpowers is approximately 0.999999999999999999999999999999999999
999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
999999999999999999999999999999999 give or take 10E9 decimal points.

I can conclude with similar confidence that the Directv channel surfing ergonometrics blow tom tom turkey phallus wrt that available to loyal but extremely pissed off Dish customers.  

It is not even a close call in this regard.

If you are the sort of tv viewer who's scores a 9.8 or higher on the Rickie scale of channel surfing proclivity propensity (the scale is log based) and value, as I do, the ease by which channels can be scanned for entertaining programming at a speed that is only limited by your ability to perceive and quickly digest information (my own information processing rate, if I am not too unmodest, operates on the millisecond time scale), then I cannot in good conscience fail to warn you that Dish is your best alternative between the two, by a hugely large margin, irrespective of a difference in HD picture quality that is, for all practical, imperceptible to everyone but those who think they can tell a difference because they read about it in some obscure trade/aficionado organ.

YMMV

You've been completely duped.

At almost the precise moment I opened this thread the first time (about 45 minutes ago), my Dish Network lost its signal and has yet to regain it. No *feces* whatsoever.

Well, I just placed my desire to have the service prior to the winter weather setting in - and not to do business with a company with such a policy - above channel surfing ergonomics.

I'm not a channel surfer anyway.  Tried body surfing once though - but what happens in Destin stays in Destin, so thats all I can say about that.

plug in a 55+" 1080p tv or so, sit at proper range, and compare a signal originally designed for 1080i broadcast at 19.2 mpbs  mpeg2 that has been downressed and bitstarved to 1440x1020 (or worse) mpeg2 @ 5-6mbps or mpeg4 @ 5-6 mbps and ANYONE with vision in the 20/20 range (corrected or not) will notice INCREDIBLE difference in any* motion scene because the mpeg4 will suffer less macroblocking instances, and the macroblocks will be individually smaller, when they occur.  the codec is simply that much more efficient. add in an extra 1-2 mpbs and almost all the macroblocking is gone entirely. 


i'd like to inquire when you 1st got HD broadcasts?   although i was medium-ish entryin 2003, i had a friend who had ota and cable since late 2001 and I have seen 1st hand the gradual decrease in hd quality as more and more compression/downressing/bitstarving have entered the marketplace to accomodate the 'quantity over quality' movement.
see http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1008271 for examples of moving 18.x-19.2 mbps mpeg2 down to 12.x mbps mpeg2. then realize that at best, that 12.x mbps mpeg2 can be cut in half or so to mpeg4 and retain the same 'quality'   i'd prefer to be closer to the 'above' rather than the 'below' on my screen in every instance.  but maybe i'm just perceiving that horrible image degradation  ;)

ymwnv.  8)

i will concede the hd-dvr guide is a bit slow, but other than that, i dont notice any difficulty in operating it.  i will conced that i have read that the dish hd-dvr is generally rated more user friendly though.

I've had both.  I can't compare quality of video/audio as I went to HD at the same time I switched to DirecTV.  I do know this, my DISH DVRs would crap out every six months or so.  It got to the point where I was paying $5 per month for DVR insurance.  Complete B.S. and a total scam IMO.

I have trouble during light snowstorms with DirecTV.  If I get six inches of snow on my dish it's fine.  If I get a trace I lose the signal.   ???

Other than that, 100% glad I switched.  I've not given any thought to the remotes.  They both seem fine to me.

Oh... I do have a beef with DirecTV.  That they charge me for HD and then want me to pony up for the four "special" HD channels pisses me off.   [sm_cussing]

whatevs

I happen to value the user interface over these other aspects of technical performance that are so important to you.  Neither of us is right.

I simply felt compelled to point out this aspect of the Dish v Directv choice to our Colleague, Mr Hobbit.

And for my TV viewing habits, ease of channel surfing is way high up there in terms of user interface aspects that are important to me.  It is not just how the remote itself functions, the differences between the two are almost trivial, though I still would rate the Dish remote superior to the Directv remote. 

To be clear, what I find most attractive about the Dish user interface is how one can scan through current and coming programming on screen.  And the HD pröñ channels.

I doubt I'd be able to tell the difference in quality on my equipment between the directv hd programming and the dish stuff....and if I could tell the difference, I doubt that would be as important to me as the channel surfing function.  I don't have the best available technology for HD programming.  I don't intend to pay for that until I'm sure I can pay for the future needs of my progeny, to whom I will each assure only one education, one car and one wedding.  I've run the calculations, and highest end HD technology is incompatible with said objectives.

Don't get me wrong, Dish Network customer service has eroded steadily over the 5+ years we've been a customer, to the point where it rivals the cable company that we dropped because of its horrible customer service. 


ps, we had the same weird Dishnetwork outage last night but in cloudless sky's while the entire Blader clan was glued to the TV watching the ghey catfights on the Bravo network's Flipping Out fest. 

I'm guessing it is coupled to some sort of software "upgrade" they've been jacking around with.  Doesn't look like much was happening in space/solar weather last night that could explain the disruption.