The Strangest Story Ever Told - called NBC to report problem

[jaymer]

(OK, its not THE strangest, but it was very weird for me) :)

This is even stranger than Larissa dating Fabio (which was no big deal to me).
Since AVSForum now reports that Las Vegas was not in HD nationwide ( see this thread: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=373941, then you would have thought that this should have been an easy thing to clear up with a simple call to the local NBC (no body cares) affiliate.

Phone Call #1 & #2
So, by 9:10, I’m on the phone to NBC at 228-8888 (then option 4 and 1 for the news desk). What I was about to experience TOTALLY BLEW ME AWAY.

The 1st words out of my mouth were: “Could you please put me on hold and ask master control if they know why Vegas is not in HD?”
Simple enough… but after a minute the phone rang into someone’s voice mail.
Pressing zero got the voice mail menu for “The Tampa Tribune” with 2 options… 1 for something and 2 for news desk. Pressing 2 got me a “we are closed” msg.

Had to redial.

Some guy answers again (mystery man # 1, we’ll call him Kevin, cause that’s what he said his name was).
I asked “Are you the guy who I just talked to about Vegas not in HD?”
He said he didn’t know so I started again.

“OK, well I just called and got transferred into voice mail”
[interrupted] “that’s because you asked to speak to master control and NO ONE gets to talk to them”
“Uhhh, no I didn’t. I asked to be put on hold so you could check to see if something was wrong with Vegas”
[voice louder now]”Now, you are beginning to question my credibility” and he started to argue with me again about what he heard me say in the prior phone call (I guess this was the guy who I spoke with 60 seconds earlier). I must have misunderstood him, because I know he said something about something being recorded… and it sounded that like in his defense, he was saying that these phone calls were recorded and he could prove what I asked in the prior phone call. I asked him his name and somewhere in there he asked “Who’s this” and I said “a friend of Mark Schafer’s”, whose name I know because we [the website via Bryan Schneider] are supposedly friends with, and we frequently see reports of letters from Mark Schafer to HDTV viewers. [And of course you have to understand my frame of mind at this point, because some idiot didn’t do what he was asked in plain English (he wasn’t an idiot at the time of my FIRST call though) and then got in my face about it when I called back. So, yes, I admit it… I “name dropped”!!!] During my movement to get a pen to write his name down (I had to ask it again) he quickly said “I don’t have time for this” and I think he told me to call NBC and hung up on me.

Phone Call #3 – Mystery Man # 2 – she called herself Heather
Same story on my side, and she said “they were not able to bother master control and to call back tomorrow.”
“You’re saying you cannot bother master control to see if they are having a broadcasting problem?” I asked.
She confirmed and also could not tell me the name of anyone else I might have talked to, because after getting hung up on, I forgot that guy’s name. I asked if there was a Tony or Kevin there and she said she didn’t know anyone by that name. (How big IS the news department over there at 9pm on a Monday night?)

Phone Call #4 – Mystery Man # 3 – deep throat (because I didn’t get his name, but if you called over there he’d be the guy with the deepest sounding voice since James Earl Jones).
My first words to him were “Can you help me?” and then “I’m trying to find out if there is a problem with Vegas – it is not in HD. Can you ask master control if they know about it?”
“Let me see what I can do” he nicely replied.
“The producer says that due to a program change or something it didn’t get recorded and will not be in HD.” is his answer when he returns.
“Its on every week at this time” I said, and he mentioned that because of the crack down with the FCC, all the broadcasters are scrambling.
I mentioned that if he was talking about what is called the Broadcast Flag for OTA transmissions, that doesn’t go into affect until July 2005 (it’s a modification to the signal that’s aimed to cut down on re-use of recorded HD OTA material.) He mentioned something to do with the FCC again and Bubba the Love Sponge being cancelled and then I was really lost. Hung up – no Vegas in HD tonight.

Phone Call #5
… because I didn’t remember that idiot’s name, so I had to call back.
Guess what, Kevin answers the phone and immediately says “Jaymer (he used my last name cause that’s what his phone said), I have Mark Schafer on the phone and he says he has no clue who you are.”
hehe, so they have caller ID and are playing games with me all along.
I said “tell him its Jaymer from TampaHDTV.com” and his reply was “He doesn’t care who you are, but yada yada yada.”
I seriously cannot remember the yada yada yada part.

Did he say “he doesn’t care who you are, don’t call the station”?
Did he say “he doesn’t care who you are, its not going to be in HD”?
I really don’t remember… after all, what did I do wrong?

--------- dream sequence ---------
this whole thing made me think of the Fox series “The OC” about Orange County, California. I enjoy the show cause I like Orange County and enjoy the scenery. But they just went through a story arc about this crazy guy who tried to come between the 2 stars and break up their relationship. To everyone from the outside, it looked like the “good guy” was really acting messed up, while in fact, the crazy guy who was obsessed with the girl would torment him through lies and deception, and actually to the inner circle of people HE was the one who looked just fine.

I feel like the “good guy” here because this wanker Kevin not only twisted my words around, hung up on me, has his other croanies to tell “hey, this guy’s an idiot, so stall him” and then calls Mark Schafer to cover his butt… because guess who I was going to call tomorrow to report this guy?
Yes, I know, you lose credibility when you start using names – ok, big deal, heard that before in life, but I’ve already got the odds against me because rule # 1 is that a boss has to back his employee. Even if the guy is lying through his teeth about anything I said, the boss has to be loyal to his employee or the whole system will break down. I’m just some guy in a city of millions with no credibility once Kevin starts spreading lies about me.
--------- end dream sequence ----------

So, who is the customer here?
I guess they (the TV station) aren’t a Gov’t agency or Utility, so they don’t have any obligation (or any formal overseeing) to even care what I say when I call.
And since they have a monopoly on the NBC coverage, they don’t really have to compete…its not like they let us get our signal from somewhere else where there would be competition. Yes, they compete for viewer counts to increase advertising dollars, but during prime time many of that is handled on a national basis.

Really, when something like this happens, who cares? The station manager? Nah, no one really. Just bend over and take it.
Oh, for completeness, I have to say I cussed out Kevin at the end and called him a *&*&^*&% moron… twice in fact.
He threatened me with this “just call back here again and cuss me out and you’ll be transferred to TPD”. Oh well, I guess I can take that from a station that I watch for 1 hour a week – what do they care?


PS _ I might add that over the past 2.5 years that I've had OTA HD, I've called the local ABC affiliate and PBS and had great conversations with them and found the engineers and everyone quite pleasant to deal with. Its only been a few calls, and in the case of ABC was about an Alias episode that was being delayed by network, but still people that answered (who were getting lots of phone calls) were pleasant and even connected me with an engineer who was eager to help. And of course we know our UPN friends have had a longtime rapport with Bryan, so its really a shame that one bad apple at No Body Cares has to tarnish the station/viewer relationship.

[bdraw]

Wow Jaymer you are very dilegent. I have to say that I would have stoped after the second call.

You are right in this situation. They have forgotten about the customer You were simply calling to address a broadcasting problem.

I don't watch NBC at all because they don't care. I used to watch L&O and Las Vegas. So it is only a few hours a week that I can live without.

If I were you I would write a letter to Media General headquarters, and to the FCC. Throw this guy under the bus, most big corporations won't deal with attitudes from their people, NO MATTER WHAT YOU SAY TO THEM. They should be nice and try to help. If they can't all they have to do is explain why. You would be surprised how much action can be the result of a couple of well written emails. Or if you really want it to make a difference write an actual letter. I really do think you should file a complaint with the FCC. Seems to me they not only cared to correct their broadcast problem, but they also used the telephone to belittle you, and attack you personally.

I worked for CC for years, and when a customer called,emailed,wrote a letter, to the corp office, it didn't matter what was said, someone was getting fired.

[LonghornXP]

Well than you talked to Kevin the a*swhole. He did the same thing with me when I called about BHN carriage as well as problems with their signal when I got OTA. I also called about many other issues. Well I said something about recording HDTV and made a statement about piracy but I never said I was going to pirate anything. Well he submitted a report to the FCC with my caller ID information and a statement about what I said on the phone without the recorded message so it was his word and when I submitted a request back to the FCC after they contacted me I asked them to get NBCs call logs and NBC replied back and said they don't have them anymore. To put a long story short is that my father has given the FCC so much shit over his years that they hate my family and would do anything to discredit us and with that said I sent via certified mail the next day an audio take of everything I said to him since I covered myself and that was that. You don't know me but anyone at any station would know who my family is by looking at caller ID and lets just say if I didn't cover myself he would have moved up within NBC very quickly and frankly I still don't know why they haven't fired his as* since than.

Also I won't say who I am because if you have been in my shoes my whole life you wouldn't want to give it either. I don't need 500 reporters over at my house because I've been there and done that for many other reasons and to be honest and I say this in the nicest way is that fanatics such as ourselves drive me crazy and I will say that I drive others crazy just like they do me.

But you are right and the Tampa Tribune as well as NBC don't care about viewers like they should. In case you haven't heard but a former ex NBC big wig just got named on the board for the St. Pete Times but that hasn't been made public but when this happened you had the Times buy the rights for the Ice Palace which is now the St. Pete Times Forum and that cost them about 30 million and to get that money they cut all heath benefits as well as 401K and profit sharing from all of its 900 plus carriers. They right now are having very bad service problems. I also heard that the Times are currently looking at buying the rights for the Devil Rays statium at from my last update would be for between 50 and 75 million and they will be cutting benefits for other employees besides what they have done as of yet. This is NBC and now the Times are NBC in that they will do anything to make more money even if it hurts its viewers or customers.

[rowlanja]

Jaymer, having worked for large corporations that are required to keep records of their customer service calls, let me offer a couple tips. First, you will run into the Kevins of the world at every large company. Rather than let them get you rattled ask to speak to the shift supervisor. If they won't transfer you leave a voicemail or call back and fight the battle later. Cussing someone out, no matter how much they deserve it, drops your credibility to zero.
Second, keep track of when you call, who you talk to and the result of each call. Do this in a logical, rational manner without being overly anal about the details. When your call is escalated to higher levels this will strengthen your case.
Finally, stick to your reason for calling. Name dropping, theorizing on company policies and obligations, threatening and arguing only cloud the issue and cause people to get defensive. Once the person on the other end of the phone turns against you, you are fighting a losing battle. If things turn ugly and you are not making any progress the best you can do is start over with someone else.
Believe me, this comes from 20+ years of experience being on both sides of the customer service experience. You really do catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. And every once in a while you will run into a Kevin who's only power is when he is at work and he can belittle anonymous callers on the phone. It is not worth getting your panties in a wad over this guy. Believe me, his employers know that he is a pain and he will get his.
Hope this helps,
Jim