Wednesday, September 17, 2003

TV installation woes - the exciting conclusion

I spent plenty of time reading blogs on my day off yesterday, but I forgot to actually write in my own. The soft glow of the television lured me away.

Yes, we finally have television at home now. The Dish Network guys got us hooked up a couple days ago. And, of course, it was a fiasco...

They were scheduled to arrive between 8 a.m. and noon. We got a message the night before that they'd be there between 8 and 10 a.m. Misty called at 11:00. and was "guaranteed" they'd be there by noon. At 1:00, she called again. This time, they "guaranteed" her they'd be there by 4 p.m. If not, they said, she should call immediately and ask to speak with a superviser. At 4:05, she made that call. The superviser "guaranteed" that someone would be at the house by 5:15 and that he'd personally come along. At 5:35, the superviser showed up. The regular installation guy arrived about 10 minutes later.

The first thing they told us was that our wiring was substandard and that it wouldn't support satellite feed. I think they would have preferred to just go home and let us call an electrician, but we were none too keen on that plan, so they had to run their own wiring. Unfortunately, the two spots in the house best suited for televisions are not two spots that can be wired easily. Neither could be accessed from the attic, so the installation guys had to run cable along the outside of the house and drill holes in.

After 7½ hours of delays and 2½ hours of work, they got the job done, and our television unleashed its glorious light.

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