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vision media television
directv
DirecTV Installer: You Can't Have DirecTV. Stop Trying.
Mark had an impossible request for DirecTV: a one-line DVR and a SWM (Single Wire Multiline) Dish. Sure, it might seem like a normal work order, but the subcontracted installer, Bluegrass Satellite, couldn't secure permission to install the necessary components even after several three-way calls with DirectTV. One exasperated installer explained that Mark wasn't eligible to receive the equipment and gently told him: "[You] cannot have DirecTV and should stop trying." More »
commercials
Duracell's New Ad: 'Oh No Your Kid Just Got Stolen!'
MSNBC's Ads of the Weird blog is a little creeped out by Duracell's new kidnapping commercial, and so are we. Making people feel bad about something is advertising's job, we get that, but trying to scare parents into thinking their kid will be stolen from the playground by the classic man-in-a-van is going a little overboard. (Watch the commercial below.) More »
NBC and General Mills are planning on launching a "Biggest Loser" line of food this fall. The idea of someone sitting at home watching that show while munching a "Biggest Loser" energy bar is deeply depressing. [Entertainment Marketing Letter]
dtv
FCC Plans Road Trip To Educate America About Digital TV
The FCC has decided to travel around the country and talk to people about the upcoming digital TV switchover.
...the five FCC Commissioners and other Commission staff will fan out to [selected] markets to raise awareness and educate consumers.
Dear FCC, please please please let these commissioners show up with cheezy t-shirts pulled on over their normal button-and-collar shirts. In fact, t-shirts for everyone! This is America, after all.
More »
snake oil
Gee Whiz, It Turns Out That Kinoki Foot Pads Are A Scam
The nice folks at NPR have done us all a favor and taken some used Kinoki foot pads to be tested to see if they'd drawn anything out of a guinea pig reporter's body. Guess what? They didn't. More »
comcast
Comcast Tech Accuses 74-Year-Old Man Of Stealing Cable Service
Pretend you're a Comcast tech who has been asked to transfer Ally's account and internet service to her 74-year-old grandfather's house. Your work order shows that Ally ordered only internet service, but when you shimmy up the pole, you see that the house is also set to receive cable service. Do you:
- A) Connect the internet service and leave.
- B) Connect the internet service and check to see if the 74-year-old man has a separate account for the cable service.
- C) Accuse the 74-year-old man of stealing cable, and declare "I don't want to see your fucking bill" when the granddaughter tries to explain the situation.
directv
DirecTV Force-Feeds You Movies
DirecTV customers are complaining that a software upgrade is shoving pay-per-view movies onto their DVR hard-drives, eating up disc-space and causing headaches. Tipster Buzwardo says, "I find it pretty darn annoying that DirecTV is sending me PPV content that I now have to make sure my kids don't play." More complaints can be found in the DirecTV Forums.
best buy
Best Buy Refuses To Replace Your Defective TV Because You Followed Their Instructions
Umar bought a DLP in 2005 with a $400 Best Buy Performance Service Plan. The TV keeps blowing through expensive bulbs (Umar has replaced 7 $275 bulbs in 3 years,) and rather than wait 2 weeks for a technician every time this happens, Best Buy provided a telephone number and told him to order and replace the bulbs himself. Now, because he followed their directions, Best Buy is refusing to cover the TV under the "lemon" provision of the service agreement. More »
videos
Lowe's Driver Caught With Hand In The Hooker Jar
Sick of prostitutes and their customers infesting their communities, Oklahomans are videobusting them and posting the results on YouTube. This one catches a Lowe's delivery driver picking up a hooker in a residential neighborhood and retiring to the back of his truck for a playdate. It's the work of a one man citizen journalism campaign by Brian Bates, who's been at it in OK since 1996. It seems in the 12 year he's been at it, he hasn't run out of material. Full vid inside. More »
call Charles Ergen
Updated: Contact DISH Executive Customer Service
If you have a problem with DISH and regular customer service isn't working, try these folks: More »
extreme makeover home edition
Extreme Makeover Home Edition Leaves Homeowners In Perdition
Some of the winners of ABC's Extreme Makeover Home Edition (EMHE) got a boobie prize. The Free Money Finance blog has found a few examples of EMHE recipients now in foreclosure, because after the workmen, camera crews, and glitz left, they were left with more house than they can afford. In one case, the town is hosting dinner raffles to help keep the family afloat. Here's an extreme makeover for you: how about giving the people a house that fits their budget? I guess that doesn't sell as many Twinkies.
Two More Extreme Makeover Home Edition Homes in Trouble [FreeMoneyFinance] (Photo: Newtownia)
comcast
Andrew's Epic Comcast Debacle
UPDATE: After he sent an EECB, all of Andrew's billing errors have been resolved.
Comcast is a horrible tangled mess of utter crapitutde, as reader Andrew's story aptly, if not concisely, illustrates...
More »
free gas
What Would You Do For Free Gas?
Reuters has a wrap-up of some of the wackier gas-related stories of recent weeks, including the Nevada Brothel's free-gas-card offer, a church that's holding a weekly $50 gas card drawing during mass, and an Orlando father who pledged to name his baby after local radio hosts in order to collect a $100 gas card. There's also some gas thieves in Mesquite, Texas, who are siphoning from church vehicles, but that's not so much a "wacky stunt" as a type of criminal "preemptive charity." (""All he had to do was come and ask us and we would have bought him a tank of gas," said the pastor of one church.) More »
telemarketing
Dish Telemarketer Fined $75,000 For Hanging Up On Customers
The FTC fined a Dish Network telemarketing firm $75,000 for hanging up on customers, reports the Deseret News. The company used teleautobots to dial peoples' homes, which were then supposed to connect to a live telemarketer when someone picked up. However, the system would sometimes get more live customers than there were telemarketers, leaving some customers with a silent line. Federal regulations stipulate that if you use teleautobots, you have to connect the customer to a person within two seconds. The FTC made this law because people, in particular women and old people, were worried they were being stalked when they answered the phone and no one was there.
Provo marketing firm fined for hanging up on customers [Deseret News] (Thanks to Brandon!) (Photo: Getty)
marketing
Study: Baby Boomers Are "Savvy Shoppers" Who Brand-Jump More Than Younger Generations
It's time once again to play Categorize The Shopping Public, this time using a survey commissioned by TV Land to convince advertisers that its Boomer-centric programming is relevant. If you or someone you know is between the ages of 40-59, you won't want to miss this very important message—but to summarize it for the ADD crowd, it seems younger folks are (slightly) more likely to choose a brand based on fashion and hype, whereas Boomers are (slightly) less brand-loyal and seek greater value. This runs counter to the conventional wisdom that younger consumers are savvier shoppers, and gives Boomers something to gloat over—before they forget what it is they're gloating about. Ha ha! Old people are so old! More »
Universal TechTronics
It's A Miracle! This Free Digital TV Converter Box Will Cost Me $100
We know you're too smart to fall for this ridiculously fraudulent digital TV converter offer, but maybe you know someone who's not wise to the facts of the upcoming switch to digital TV—specifically that converter boxes cost less than $100, and that you can get a government coupon to offset $40 of that cost. Universal TechTronics—the same scam outfit behind those "Amish" Heat Surge miracle fireplaces—is now conning the less knowledegable with their "free" converter box offer: pay nothing but a warranty and shipping, bringing the total cost to anywhere between $68 and $97. The Los Angeles Times says this is "the first large-scale [converter box] scam the Better Business Bureau has seen." More »
best buy
