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BHN gives free premiums for Florida outage, adds 4 new HD nets early
We can't possibly overstate the awesomeness of competition, and it's readily apparent in this here scenario. After many Central Florida-based Bright House Networks customers were left without TV service for around eight hours earlier this month, the outfit made known that small refunds would be given. Now, it's stepping the apology up another notch by promising a free month of Showtime HD, The Movie Channel, Showtime on Demand and TMC on Demand. Additionally, it's adding in those four high-def stations -- SciFi HD (1369), FX HD (1370), Travel HD (1365) and USA HD (1399) -- a few days early, giving you four more to enjoy over the Christmas holiday. Thanks, AT&T.[Thanks, Rob]
Poll: Are your Blu-ray Discs taking forever to ship from Netflix?
We've beaten this bush down before, but it seems that the issue is cropping up once more: Blu-ray Discs are taking ages to ship from Netflix. A recent CNET piece on the quandary took a closer look at why we're all paying more ($1 per month, but still) to get less. According to company spokesman Steve Swasey, the problem is twofold. First off, Hollywood simply "isn't providing enough Blu-ray copies of newly released films as the company would like to get," and secondly, Netflix is being ultra-cautious about spending too much dough on BD. Sure, some 500,000 customers are signed up to receive them, but that's a small chunk of the 9 million total that it serves. According to Steve: "These things [Blu-ray Discs] cost money. We deploy money where we think it's going to be most efficient to keep subscribers and investors happy. It's always check and balances." So, we're interested in seeing just how bad the issue is for our readers in particular -- drop your vote / rants below. %Poll-24092%
Sharp's AQUOS Advantage support program launches in Canada
Sharp just recently announced that its AQUOS Advantage Program would be expanded to cover 32- and 37-inch sets here in the States, and apparently it felt quite rotten about leaving our dear friends to the north out in the cold. Sadly, the Canadian launch of the platinum-level customer support experience -- which includes "priority repair services, extended weekday and weekend telephone support hours and a dedicated toll-free support line staffed by highly-trained AQUOS Advantage Advisors" -- only applies to HDTVs 42-inches and up, so those looking to get a set for their bedroom will likely be sorely disappointed in the lack of coverage. C'mon Sharp, whatever happened to fair and equal treatment?
Comcast going all digital in Seattle, bringing DTAs to the Pacific Northwest
You already know what Comcast's Digital Transport Adapter looks like, and for folks in Salem, Eugene and Corvallis, Oregon (not to mention Seattle, Washington), you'll be seeing 'em in the flesh soon enough. Comcast has announced that its all digital transition will be heading up from Portland and into Seattle in the near future, and it's upsetting quite a few locals with Media Center PC / TiVo setups. Of course, these are just the growing (or should we say "changing") pains associated with a mass switch from analog to digital, but at least in theory, the conversion should free up oodles of bandwidth for the carrier to expand its HD lineup. And remember, a cable company choosing to pipe its channels out in digital is very different than the broadcast change coming in February 2009 -- it's confusing, we know, but the read link does a fairly decent job of spelling everything out.[Thanks, Doug]
Bright House gives refunds for 8-hour service outage in Florida
With all the price hikes and complaints about quality, it's not often that you find a story tied to a cable company that's positive. And in fairness, it's totally not positive that Bright House Networks' subscribers in Florida had to deal with an eight hour TV outage starting at around 3:00PM Monday, but just bear with us. In an effort to express its "sincerest apologies," the carrier has decided to automatically issue credits to affected customers. Sure, the refund won't be huge, but it's a sentiment that's rare and much appreciated in today's cutthroat business world. The outage was unlike any other outside of times in which a hurricane had struck, and a corrupt database used to deliver programming to cable boxes was blamed for the incident. We know, you're still upset that you missed the series finale of Boston Legal and / or the trouncing of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but hopefully a few pennies back on your next bill will make things easier to get over.
Sharp expands AQUOS Advantage Program to cover mid-sized HDTVs
Maybe companies really do get in the holiday spirit, as it seems that about this time each year we get wind of yet another concierge type service related to HDTVs. This year, we're seeing Sharp kindly expand its AQUOS Advantage Program to cover mid-sized HDTVs. Previously, only AQUOS sets 42-inches and up were eligible for the special customer service program, which grants owners "priority repair services, including next business day scheduling and expedited service visits." Now, even AQUOS HDTVs of the 32- and 37-inch varieties are included. Unfortunately for Sharp, we still get the feeling that cash-strapped consumers will be eying that sticker more so than any fancy extras this holiday season, but we reckon it can't hurt.
Panasonic reopens VIERA HDTV Concierge Service to the public
It's official: Panasonic reopens its VIERA HDTV Concierge Service to the public at large every single holiday season. This year, however, is different. Rather than shutting down the lines to all but those who actually own a VIERA HDTV on December 31st, Panny will keep the cords of communication open through February 17, 2009. Yep, from now until the Digital TV Transition takes place in America, any human with access to a phone can call in to receive all sorts of buying advice and subliminal encouragement to choose a Panasonic set over any other. If that sounds like something you'd be interested in, hit 'em with your best shot at 1-888-777-1170. Just mind the brainwashing and you'll be a-okay.
Cable One makes some HD channels viewable only with CableCARD / STB
At first glance, we assumed that Cable One had relegated a number of channels to switched digital video, but that doesn't appear to be the case. Instead, company officials have proclaimed that "cable programmers like Discovery HD, Nat Geo HD and ESPN HD have requested their signals to be scrambled," meaning that subscribers will now need to fork out for a CableCARD or cable company-issued set-top-box in order to see all 24 high-def stations offered in Sioux City, Iowa. Ah well, you've been looking for a valid reason to make the leap to a carrier with a real dose of high-definition anyway, right?
Verizon notches gold in retail satisfaction study
While Sprint recently saw its CSR response times skyrocket, Verizon's doing a happy dance of its own after pulling down a gold medal from a recent J.D. Power and Associates survey. Curiously enough, it's not one we see as being particularly awesome -- call us crazy, but we tend to care about amazing coverage more than how spiffy a sales associate looks -- but the carrier is apparently numero uno in retail satisfaction. What's that mean, you ask? It takes into account four factors: sales staff, store display, store facility and price / promotion. Evidently, Verizon has the whole B&M experience thing locked down, and these days, we reckon you take every chance you get to celebrate. Party on, in that case.[Via RCRWireless, image courtesy of DayLife]
Sprint's CSR response time skyrockets to first in recent survey
Last summer, Sprint was the laughing stock of the major US carriers in terms of customer service. Fast forward 15 months, and the very same carrier is now sitting atop the pile. A recent report compiled by Pali Research has found that Sprint's wireless customer care response times were best in class, and just 2.5 years ago in its first survey, Sprint was dead last. The carrier answered a whopping 91% of calls that researchers placed to the care center in under 30 seconds, while 99% of calls were answered within 2 minutes. If you're curious how the other guys did, try this: Verizon grabbed the silver with 85%, T-Mobile followed with 43% and AT&T took home the award of shame with just 33% of test calls answered within half a minute. So, the real question is: have you Sprint customers noticed an uptick in service levels? And are you AT&T subscribers growing increasingly impatient?[Via phoneArena]
T-Mobile attempts to mitigate customer service costs with Nuance Mobile Care
In a growing effort to keep costly CSRs from spending entirely too much time trying to explain how to activate a speakerphone over the, um, phone, T-Mobile has inked a deal with Nuance Communications to bring an on-device application to select mobiles. Essentially, the Mobile Care software will rear its head whenever someone with one of the aforementioned handsets dials up customer service; from there, an "intuitive, user-friendly" guide attempts to walk users through "issues such as diagnosing and repairing configuration problems as well as with making account and billing inquiries." T-Mobile asserts that trials of the service have shown that customers actually prefer this over a live human, which probably has everything to do with the wait times that invariably come with calling a fellow Earthling. Still, we can imagine quite a few smashed phones deriving from frustrations with this computerized service, at least one of which we hope to get captured on video for posting.[Via RCR Wireless News]
AT&T's U-verse TV notches high ranks in J.D. Power study
Aside from the recent compression bit, we haven't heard a whole lot of negative things about AT&T's U-verse. In the same breath, we'd like to add that we haven't heard a tremendous amount of praise either, which leads us to believe it's about as good as every other middle-of-the-road carrier out there. Clearly, those assumptions are remarkably misguided, as AT&T has pumped out a release tooting its own horn over the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Residential Television Service Provider Satisfaction Study. In the three regions where it was critiqued, U-verse TV ranked highest in customer satisfaction, with the service receiving particularly high marks in the "offerings and promotions factor and the performance and reliability factor." So, the question beckons: agree, or disagree?
Dear Auntie TUAW: Did I overstep my data limits?
Cara Tia TUAW, I need your help please. I am in Mexico and have an iPhone with a 150 MB data plan and 300 minutes. My carrier says that I have passed my data limit and owe them around $150 usd. According to the Cellular Network Data on my iPhone, I have used 35MB and 83 minutes (Settings > General > Usage). My question is, is this information technically good enough to fight back these charges? I think it must be, but I have to be sure. Can you help me, please? Love, Joe P p.s. Why I don't have an unlimited data plan? because it costs around $110 usd a month, that's why. My current data plan costs about $55 a month. Thank you! Dear Joe P, Auntie wishes she had better news for you, but the usage meter on the phone is notoriously unreliable. If you've restored or updated your iPhone in the last month (2.0.1 anyone?), you may have accidentally reset those values. Personally, we at TUAW can sneeze through 150 MB just by loading our own home page (or maybe it just seems that way). Of course, feel free to contact customer service -- but relying on the onboard usage stats isn't going to take you very far. Sorry for the bad news, caro. Love, Auntie TUAW
Yahoo! offers up coupons and refunds to DRM server-shutdown victims
If you woke up this morning worried about what Yahoo! is planning to do for its Music Store customers who are about to be left in the lurch with its DRM server shut-down, have no fear. Yahoo! has announced that it will offer customers coupons or refunds for those songs you bought. Basically, you'll get a coupon that you can use at RealNetworks Inc.'s Rhapsody download service. Their songs, of course, are DRM-free. For those of you who have "serious problems with this arrangement" (their words, not ours), refunds will be available. The servers go down on September 30, so start combing your collections, kids.[Thanks, JC]
Dell Studio Hybrid mini pc shows up in hidden Dell customer service page
If you've been paying attention, you remember all those blurry-vision pictures of an upcoming Dell mini desktop called the Studio Hybrid. As it turns out, those spy images were more than speculation, as an anonymous reader tipped us off to one of Dell's internal customer service session pages that guides the rep through some wireless keyboard and mouse resynchronization steps. The Dell Studio Hybrid appears to be codenamed "Nausicaa" (if image filenames are to be believed) and will ship with a wireless mouse and keyboard. It seems Dell believes that customers will need some help setting up these potentially finicky peripherals. As for when this new mini-desktop will be available, we're still in the dark on that, but a back-to-school number this like wouldn't be such a bad idea. We're not sure how long the page will remain up once our readers have poked at it, but we captured the images in a handy gallery for that inevitable moment.UPDATE: Looks like the Studio Hybrid will also be available with a Blu-Ray drive and user-changeable color panels to match your design scheme. It will also launch within the next two weeks, if our other anonymous tipster is to be believed.%Gallery-28625%
Yahoo! to compensate DRM-protected Music Store customers
Hey, both of you Yahoo! Music Store customers, listen up. Just hours after Yahoo! affirmed that it would be powering down its DRM servers, along comes a spokesperson to alleviate any worries that you two will get screwed in all of this. According to Carrie Davis, customers "will be compensated for whatever they paid for the music," and she continued on to state that Yahoo "had not yet decided what exactly it would do, but it would take care of its customers." Some of the possible options include getting cash back for the money spent on tracks or receiving MP3 versions of the jams sans DRM (we'd take the former, thanks). Depressingly, there doesn't seem to be a definitive time table laid out just yet for the restitution process.
Pioneer issues firmware update for screwy AVIC F-Series navigators
Just over a month after the internet got all fired up about the problematic AVIC F-Series navigators, Pioneer has come to the rescue (we hope, anyway) with a free firmware update. Aimed specifically at the US-based AVIC-F90BT, AVIC-F900BT and AVIC-F700BT, the update will reportedly "improve overall system performance and resolve certain software issues." The outfit also notes that the AVIC-F500BT doesn't need the upgrade, and even if your unit has been a-okay thus far, it still recommends applying the software. Take ten minutes or so and see what the latest firmware has to offer, and be sure to let us know if all (or some) of the kinks have indeed been ironed out.[Thanks, Steven]
Panasonic extends Concierge service to plasma and LCD HDTV owners
Owners of Panasonic LCD HDTVs can finally enjoy the same luxuries afforded to the plasma owners, ending a two-year phase of panel discrimination. The outfit's "exclusive" service has been rechristened VIERA Concierge and is now available to both LCD and PDP owners. Per usual, callers will be connected with subject matter experts to answer any questions they have, and there's also an HDTV loaner program which "makes HDTV loaners available at no charge to customers who have a plasma or LCD undergoing repair." It's about time LCD users got some respect around here, yeah?
Texas Instruments extends projector-based DLP chip warranty to 5 years
In a bid to assure you, the prospective customer, that Texas Instruments' DLP chip is "bullet-proof" (its word, not ours), said outfit is stretching the warranty on any single-chip DLP module to five full years. Of note, this announcement covers chips within education, business, and home theater projectors only, and each manufacturer will be responsible for "providing details regarding their warranty programs, taking into consideration this new five year extension." Curiously enough, we can't decipher whether units that have already been purchased will be covered under the extension or if only new units purchased post-July 1, 2008 will be affected. If we owned one such device, we'd sure be on the phone with our manufacturer with this press release (in the read link) in hand.
DirecTV opens sixth call center in Huntington, West Virginia
Hot on the heels of DISH Network's call center expansion comes word that DirecTV is doing similar by opening up a 114,567-square foot facility in Huntington, WV designed to improve customer service. The center becomes the satcaster's sixth in the US, and some 550 company customer service representatives and supervisory staff will be employed here. Maybe it's expecting a rush of new calls about a bundle of new HD channels we aren't at all expecting? Ah, a man can dream, can't he?
