Enter the Twilight Zone

I don't watch a lot of tv. I have a satellite so I can get VS so that I can watch bike racing. Guess what, VS hasn't shown a lot of bike racing, and they don't show cross over the winter. With the economy in the toilet, why have satellite? So when my trees grew enough to block the signal, I decided to ditch the dish.

Except, as a 10 year customer, DISH really didn't want to loose me...

So they sent out a little man to check my satellite. My only caveat since they do 1/2 day scheduling, the little man had to call me before coming. Heck, if I'm going to miss a 1/2 day of work, a call might actually allow me to not be tied to the house. Yeah, no call, and no signal.

End of story? Afraid not. DISH was sure that their "Area Manager" could fix this problem and they'd be happy to send him out on a Saturday. Again, 1/2 day schedule, he would be there between 12 and 5. Again, I requested a call first. No problem.

Again, no call. And if that guy was an area manager... I'm Sara Palin- lipstick and all. He barely spoke English, I had to loan him a ladder, and when I asked him about the call, he told me they don't do that. He asked me why he was there, and then told me that I had too tall trees and would have to cut them all down. Then he left, but not before telling me that if I got a real expensive package, I could have signal. No thanks.

So last night I get a call from this snarky woman who wants to reschedule my appointment since I wasn't home when their guy came out... What? Yes, she had it on her list, that I wasn't home. I told her that I was home, described the "area manager," his vehicle, what he did at my house, and the fact that I had to loan him a ladder as he was not prepared. Then I told her that, and yes, he didn't call before coming out.

Oh, they don't call... she does. When the guy is about to leave his last job, he calls her and she calls. Every time. I asked her what number she called me at... she didn't know. But she logs it. I asked her if she had her log. Yes, she did. So what number was on the log. There wasn't one... So if there wasn't a number, how did she call me? Well she didn't think that that mattered... Oh, and if you didn't reach me, is that why you put that I wasn't home, even though I spent 30 minutes with the "area manager?"

To make it even more funny, this "area manager" was supposed to make sure my service was cancelled. My dish was deactivated when the first guy came out. Did he stop my billing? Nope.

So now I can drive over to Cliff's to watch the one or two more races VS shows this year. And I'll save 50 bucks a month. That's almost a tank of gas. Almost...