Cable Company idiots!

[Rex]

I recently bought an LCD HD TV. So, I called the cable company to get an HD box, which might be a waste right now since there are only about a half dozen channels in HD, but I decided to see the difference. Well, I wasnt home but my wife was, so the guy put the box in and couldnt get the HD channels to work. He tried and tested everything, so he had to reschedule an appointment with a technician. I went home that night thinking what the hell could be wrong, then a light bulb went off in my head the next day. The cable box in hooked to component 2 and the DVD is hooked to component 1. Then I realized you have to go from the TV menu to the Component 2 input and then you can view the HD channels. Maybe the Cableguys should go back to school,and Im even a novice at this stuff.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Give the cable company a call, especially if you paid for installation.

I told the cable company that I would not pay if the technician that came out to install, as REQUIRED by the cable company, could not hook up to my display device without my help.

I ended up not having to pay when the guy looked at my projector and started scratching his head.

When I moved to my apartment they just handed me an HD box and told me to call them if I had any questions about how to hook up the HD/DVR set top box. Never needed to call, it is REALLY straight forward.

 

[Duffinator]

DirecTV

I had a similar problem with DirecTV. I installed a 5x8 multiswitch in my whole house distribution cabinet. I already had HD and all the guy needed to do was 1. connect the other two coax cables coming from my dish to the cables that were already at the access point, and 2. connect the power and two coax into my new TiVo unit. I didn't want to go up on a tall ladder to connect the coax from the sat which is all he really needed to do. I had everything ready for the guy and it had to be one of the simplier installations he had in months. But he couldn't understand what I was trying to do. So this guy gets on the phone with his supervisor for two hours discussing what to do. He wouldn't listen to me and didn't want to hear that it was really easy. He finally starts on the project and finishes within 30 minutes. When he went to connect the TiVo unit he couldn't believe I already had the two coax connected and waiting for him. He never did appologize for wasting my time but did manage to charge me an extra $50 for his time.

Obviously there are a lot of good cable/sat installers out there but you should keep an eye on those guys just in case you get one that doesn't know what they are doing.

 

[Rex]

Im going to call them and demand my money back for the installation charge for sure. Like I said all I did was realize to select a different input from the TV menu to Component 2 and, Shaazam!, it worked. Kind of a no-brainer.