In which I whinge... a lot

Link of the day: snopes.com -- go here before passing on that 'warning' letter you get in your inbox. Chances are, it's a hoax.

I'm feeling vaguely belligerent and I think I'm going to have to write letters. Or rather, I wrote one, and I am trying to figure out what to say on the other. On the first letter, I wrote to my radio station. This morning, they read a version of this letter on the air. So of course, as a one-woman crusade to stop the proliferation of bad information, I had to send them an email. Or rather, my alter-ego sent them an email :-).

I'm also thinking about writing to my cable company but I don't know what to say. See, my miffedness with them is sparked with the end of my free preview yesterday. Granted, I knew it would end eventually, but the X-Files ep "Leonard Betts" was on yesterday and "Memento Mori" today. I guess the logical, non-immature response would be to call the cable company and sign up for the package so I could see X-Files to my little heart's content. But I never said I was going to be mature about this.

My true unhappiness comes from the fact that I signed up for a package that included the local stations and a few other stations like ABC Family and TBS. My cable company has taken that package away and has replaced it with "More Television Stations You Can Ever Watch" at over triple the cost. In other words, if I want more than just 3 local stations, then I've got to pay through the nose. Which makes me wonder why I didn't just get an antenna in the first place.

I'm not a huge television watcher and rarely does my VCR come into play to help cope with the viewing schedules as the only time it really gets used is if I'm not going to be home for some reason. "JAG" is usually what gets taped since for some reason, it's Fridays I'm usually out on.

But I digress.

I haven't figured out what I want from the cable company yet. Oh wait, yes I do -- the original package I ordered 4 months ago at the cost I ordered it at. The problem is calling them is a pain in the butt. It once took me over a week to get someone on the phone to talk about a billing issue. A few times, I've called in, I'm told to call back and the phone hangs up. Every time it rains, the reception cuts out (it's actually satellite television, not cable). One night, we didn't have reception for an entire night and on one Thursday, it froze all of the local stations but not the other 3 gazillion stations. Another time, I got a wide message splashed across the bottom of my screen, effectively blocking off most of the picture; when I called for help, there was no one available to assist because it was the weekend.

So this is my irrational grievance and basically what I want to write: Dear DirectTV Company, Your customer service sucks, your packages are not customized for your customers, and you deliver a product that's not much better than over-the-air service or cable. In addition, you charge an installation fee which cable companies do not. The only advantage I could see with staying with your company is getting the five extra channels along with local service. I am contemplating cancelling my service. I would like you to reconsider -- some of us do not watch enough television to justify 100 channels or spending over $30 a month -- taking away the smaller Entertainment Plus package. Sincerely yours, Seema.

Hmmm, what do you think? At any rate, thanks to Yahoo, I've discovered the X-Files comes on the CBS affiliate here late on Saturday and Sunday nights. So I am not completely berefit.