cbs screwing up

just when you wondered if this blog really lived up to it's name, here is a complaint about the programming goofs at cbs and, of course, the continued screw ups at brighthouse... simply, i am setting the million dollar piece of crap equipment brighthouse calls their digital cable box and dvr to record a show and for whatever reason, sports special, presidential speech, special report, whatever, the show apparently started twenty minutes late and the smart software technology brighthouse uses apparently could not identify that change of programming so instead of watching a whole episode of the mentalist as planned, i was left frustrated without an ending... and the following week, the same stupid brighhouse-cbs miscommunication... and i pay extra for this frustration, right...

so i don't know if jane lives or dies after he married the happy mismatched couple and is taken hostage in the church and whatever happened in the episode before that and worst of all (for the moment, at least), i am missing all the subtle clues to the magnificent obsession with red john, so tell me, seriously, how can i sleep at night?...

yeah, so thanks brighthouse, again, for consistently disappointment and frustration... and cbs, all i can say is if you screwed up my recordings of any other shows, well, you are gonna be on my shit list for a long time... especially since this might be the last season ziva is on ncis...

yeah, meaningless complaint, but righteous, ya know?...

UPDATE... ah, so paying a bit of attention to the night the mentalist is on, i discover it is on sunday nights which means football probably pushed the start time back so i am not enjoying the mentalist on CBS at all because the dvr is only recording half of the show and i am missing the endings so i am not following the continuing storylines and the writers and producers and sponsors are wasting their time and energy and money cuz i am turned off to any products associated with the show thanks to cbs and brighthouse...

in case they care...

blogger bust

the blogger (aka google) servers are sucking more than ever these days... maybe brighthouse is not helping and maybe kaspersky is complicating things and whatever whatever, but blogger sucks lately, really big sucks... have they tagged my account as using too much blogger space or maybe that is just toying with paranoia... the fact is, of my eighty some odd blogs here at blogger, yes, eighty some odd, not a one, not the newest that have merely a few dozen entries nor the daily that has more than five thousand entries, yes, five thousand, are easily managed or navigated or added to these days and it's been going on all year, even before we moved here back in late january or so where the brighthouse cable internet service sucks even more than it did where we used to live...

and come to think of it, google's gmail has become unusable for me on my main account because it will not download mail to me client (Windows Mail) on my laptop and i don't have time to navigate thousands of emails a week without filters on the gmail website... so maybe it is time to find an alternative to gmail, google, blogger, and the crap they and microsoft put out...

so i am blogging less, which might be what blogger wants, and they just might get me to invest wordpress or some other blog software and move to my own domain, but for the moment i shall wait and see cuz i don't have desire, time, or patience to learn how to do more than i already do with my own domain and besides, i'd have to pay more for more space there because i've used up the space i pay for at the moment... my own server with a t3 line?... maybe some other time, for now, i'll just meaninglessly complain some more...

what's up blogger, how's things google?... your service sucks this year, ya know?...

brighthouse, surprise! (sarcasm)

wel, just when you think the service at Brighthouse hit a new low (you can read all about my last service experience here, i have another bone to pick with the geniuses in their programming department in this meaningless complaint)... all summer they've been sucking me in to watch the entire four or five seasons of Heroes and just as they are scheduled to show the last six episodes of the final season last week and the dvr was all set to save them, i checked tonight and found they were not recorded... my first thought was... another equipment failure...

but nooooooo... they simply decided to stop carrying the network that was showing heroes... no warning as i was watching that network for the last three months, just poof, and it's gone...

it took me a half hour of internet searching to find this out, more time wasted on brighthouse... and on tv in general... and once again brighthouse leaves me dissatisfied with their product...

how have they failed me, let me count the ways...

brighthouse, not
brighthouse disrespect
brighthouse
the continuing saga of brighthouse suckage
cable services
brighthouse sucks, chapter whatever
brighthouse sucks again
brighthouse service, not
not brighthouse
cable and internet search
brighthouse continues to suck
waiting for a brighthouse connection
brighthouse is amazing
brighthouse shut me down again
brighthouse does it again
brighthouse is ridiculous
brighthouse, wow
brighthouse "service"
another brighthouse folly
brighthouse issues, yet again
brighthouse equipment
still poor products from brighthouse

still poor products from brighthouse

Here is part of a chat session I just had with seven different Brighthouse support people in over twenty-five separate online chat sessions... the connection kept dropping during the session, which is the best proof i could have given them of their poor product and we shall see if that changes anything...

I started a new chat session. During the previous chat session I started in the last hour, there were 25 disconnects so far, four support people. Adrienna, Kathleen, Chris, and a name I do not recall. I was on the phone before I started these ridiculous online chat sessions. I was disconnected.

Brighthouse needs to start paying me for my time or I will reluctantly move to another cable and internet provider.

Here is my account information, again: ******************

Two issues:

1. I cannot access ESPN3 again. The error message on ESPN is Bright House Networks is unable to match your Account Number with a current Bright House Networks customer. Please try logging in again and if you continue to receive this message please visit Bright House Networks at httpwww.brighthouse.comcorporatesupportcontact I am logged into Brighouse now so my login works. I have accessed ESPN3 with this account in the past.

2. My Turbo30 internet service remains intermittent. Streaming is not a pleasurable experience as there are more lags than before when I had Turbo20 at another location. Even when not streaming the internet is dropped several times a day at least during normal browsing. This is consistent across multiple computers and browsers. This was not happening with Turbo20 at our previous location.

[NOTE: the above was the issue that initiated the chat... the connection was dropped more than 25 times during these chats... below is the final chat i had with them today]

Ric: Seven support people in this attempt to resolve this issue.
Joyce: Welcome back, Ric! I'm sorry that your connection keeps dropping, and for the problems you're having. I have your account up, and checking the diagnostics right now. I would recommend a technician for your connection though for sure.
Joyce: If it drops again, is there a best day and time for a technician to visit?
Ric: Monday or Tuesday after 5pm. I can try to be there. I am starting a new job and do not have much flexibility.
Joyce: Your My Services account must still be attached to your old address. You don't currently have one showing on your current address, but I can transfer that. You'll be able to sue ESPN3 once I do.
Joyce: Thank you very much! I hope your new job goes well! I understand though for sure. I'll see if we have any 6-8pm appointments on Monday or Tuesday.
Ric: Resolving ESPN3 would be good, but with the disconnects I doubt I will even attempt streaming video.
Joyce: That is very true. It may take 24 hours after transferring it anyways, so with the technician visit, and the My Services on your current address, it should all be set for sure. :) I'll credit you as well for the problems you've been having.
Joyce: Oh good! We do have a 6-8pm on Monday. Is there a best phone number the technician can contact you at?
Ric: Another tech told me I need to re-register again. I've registered four different times with Brighthouse online and that is very annoying. I appreciate you having another solution.
Ric: [phone number]
Joyce: Oh no, that's okay. We have the ability to transfer it to the new address, so the log in information can stay the same. I'm happy that i can help with this! Thank you for the phone number too!
Ric: Thank you very much Joyce.
Unable to connect to the application server. This may be due to a firewall or network connectivity issue. Please try reconnecting later.

I didn't attempt to reconnect... seems like i got as much done as i could... so the people coming over to watch college football tonight will likely not get to see the game they would want to see most which is only being shown on ESPN3 as Joyce said it can take 24 hours for the account correction/transfer to the next address to be completed... why they do not simply do that automatically when someone moves is baffling to me... and since i did not sleep last night and did not get the nap i intended to get today thanks the the hours i've spent trying to resolve this, i will likely not go out after the football dinner party here o i will miss night two of the bachelor party for a friend... i must get sleep tonight as i have three softball games to play tomorrow... so Brighthouse, friend, upsets yet another weekend for me and my actual friends... we shall see if the credit to the account satisfies me enough to stay with Brighthouse...

brighthouse roadrunner broadband turbo internet (updated 7/8/13, back down again):

working near perfectly working adequately not working properly not working at all

5% of the time 20% of the time 70% of the time 5% of the time

no problems slow downs intermittent connection, reboot requires a call to tech support or repair visit

brighthouse digital hd cable tv (table updated 7/8/13, a bit better):

working perfectly working adequately not working properly not working at all

0% of the time 20% of the time 75% of the time 5% of the time

no problems delays, box/channels reset occasionally, software does not adjust aspect ratio and picture size automatically sound does not go on at start (this is 80% of the time), picture doesn't come on until channel is changed box/channel resets randomly or other issue requires reboot, call to tech support, or visit

meanwhile, Brighthouse has it's own history in this meaningless complaint blog... obviously because they are my friend, right?... without a sense of humor, i'd have tossed the cable and internet equipment into the lake years ago... feel free to browse our history...
brighthouse, not
brighthouse disrespect
brighthouse
the continuing saga of brighthouse suckage
cable services
brighthouse sucks, chapter whatever
brighthouse sucks again
brighthouse service, not
not brighthouse
cable and internet search
brighthouse continues to suck
waiting for a brighthouse connection
brighthouse is amazing
brighthouse shut me down again
brighthouse does it again
brighthouse is ridiculous
brighthouse, wow
brighthouse service
another brighthouse folly
brighthouse issues, yet again
brighthouse equipment

UPDATE 7:00PM: So they gave me a $25 credit which comes to about minimum wage for the time i put in trying to resolve today's issue and about ten cents an hour adding in the previous time they did not give me credit for... and then, this happened...

despite the listing of the game i specifically paid $10 to watch in the brighthouse guide, that game is not on... so with guests here hoping to watch that game, i call brighthouse back... after transfers and discussion and checking into it, i am told it was espn that chose to put the miami game on two stations and not put the florida state game on as scheduled and they had no explanation for that illogical choice... they gave me a $10 credit for the sports pass since they could not provide the service i was paying for and let me keep sportspass for the month...

so my guests and i shall not watch the game they game over to watch...

meanwhile, they don't tell you, however, that when you order sportspass (or any premium) for a month, you have to actually call and cancel it if you don't want it for the following month and future months... deceptive advertising, since the screen says it's for one month and there is no fine print saying it will automatically be renewed each month unless it is cancelled... sadly, i should have expected this from brighthouse...


UPDATE: Monday, 8:30PM... the continuing brighthouse saga... The service call was scheduled between 6-8PM and I received three calls since last night reminding me that it was scheduled today between 6-8PM... unfortunately, the live call (the other two were automated) resulted in this unpleasant information...

the live person told me my appointment was scheduled for tomorrow between 6-8PM... I corrected her and she apologized and said she was calling people about Tuesday appointments and sounded flustered... i don't think this is brighthouse coming out tonight, i think it is a subcontractor and rarely do subcontractors have trained people, just people like me who can plug in wires and read instructions... She asked me what the problem was. She said she had no access to the service chats we had on Saturday that prompted the service call. She said my signal looks perfect. It seems ridiculous that the tech coming to the home does not know why he or she is coming. A big waste of time and poor communication with techs in the field equals very poor service.

if my signal is perfect to the router, then I hope he has a new router to switch out or we've wasted our time again. They get paid for this time, I do not.

so he finally arrived about 7:45 and he did have a new router, and after explaining the issue, he installed the new router... the router WiFi was turned off even though I have WiFi with Home Networking so he called to turn it on... there was no confirmation that Home Networking was turned on though.... I am concerned about too many WiFi signals in too small an area as my shared-wall neighbors all seem to have Wifi... but if Brighthouse has an issue providing the service I pay for, that should not be an unresolvable problem... they can charge less or get better equipment....

it was sad that the guy had no training, but he was a really nice guy and way too honest... he told me he has to use google and youtube to find solutions to issues he finds when he gets to homes because they send techs for no training... he could not answer most of my technical questions about the router and modem settings and did not know about cable boxes... he worked for a subcontractor and apologized for his lack of training... this is the sad truth about brighthouse, they are nobody's "friend" and provide untrained service technicians and defective products...


UPDATE: Tuesday, 2:30AM... i visited the support chat again and sought to find out why the promised fix of the ESPN connection was not done... i spent three hours and the intermmitent disconnects returned, though not as often so there was improvement with this newer new modem that had two antennae (the last one had none), but still i was disconnected a dozen times, at least... the first tech support agent went home during one of the disconnects and another agent spent twenty minutes reviewing the chat history... both reset the brighthouse myservices account and sent emails with new passwords and and neither worked, so now i've had at least six brighthouse online accounts and you think that might be confusing the server?... for a while i could log into brighthouse but neither worked to get ESPN to work and for a while i could not sign into brighthouse... after hours, they said they were having server problems (the catch-all excuse i have heard too many times from brighthouse) so they could not provide me with the service i pay for...

the disconnects lead me to a third agent and he was ignorant and rude wanting to start at the beginning (disregarding more than two hours of chat logs and trouble shooting efforts and i asked him for a copy of my service logs and he said he couldn't do that, he repeatedly said i could copy the chat when i clicked on the "done" button and refused to understand (or acknowledge) that the disconnects prevented me from seeing 98% of the history... i asked for a review by management and a way to contact a manager and he gave me a telephone number... he was giving me the hard core brush off and that was totally wrong after i patiently worked with the previous agents on hours of failed fixes, totally typical of brighthouse when they cannot find a solution to their problems...

i called the number and danced through the automated recordings and ten minutes later asked for a supervisor... the tech gave me the typical runaround asking to start at the beginning and i said check my support chat logs for tonight and for saturday and it was apparent she could not... i finally asked if she was refusing to connect me to her supervisor and she connected me...

i asked the supervisor, rob, for a way to contact brighthouse corporate quality control and he played dumb at first asking a lot of questions... i asked him if he was refusing to give me the information i was requesting and he said he will look it up and put me on hold... twenty minutes later he returned still hedging and i told him i want a review of the customer service experience i received the past three days by the quality management department and asked for his name and id number... he gave that to me and i explained, briefly, the nine hours i spent working with brighthouse to resolve issues that are still not resolved... i explained that i have a second service call tomorrow and i want someone who knows more than i do about computers and networking and he advised me to call back tomorrow and talk to a tier three tech who would make sure i had a well trained service tech come to the service call... the tier three techs are gone at this hour... i told him it was 2am here and wished him a good whatever time of day it was there and he said it was afternoon... he said he is creating a case for the local district manager to review and gave me a reference number...

we shall see if i find time to call tomorrow...

UPDATE: Tuesday, 5:00PM... so the service tech arrived... he didn't identify himself (which would be a good idea for Brighthouse to institute), but he was in a Brighthouse truck with a Brighthouse shirt on and more important, he seemed to know more than i did... he checked just about everything, including the outside box, all of the internal boxes, the router/modem, and my computer... hopefully the settings he changed will not affect other computers in the house that are not here at the moment... lots of setting changes...

the ping test was shaky at first but he seemed to find a fix... the speed test was as usual, very variable, but one did reach 28Mbps... the signal was dropped while he was working on the laptop... and the moment he left and i clicked on a browser link, the signal was dropped again... he did suggest i use an ethernet cable or get a better modem and i appreciated his honesty as he said Brighthouse does not provide the best quality of equipment and i had one of the best they provide, but there are much better router/modems available for purchase... i might go that route next if the connection continues to drop often...

at least a knowledgeable senior tech was sent and he spent an hour here working through all the physical products that bring internet to this computer... it is likely an inferior router/modem with a weak signal that drops out from time to time, especially when accessing a new site or refreshing a current site... or when more than one device is accessing the internet simultaneously... so much for paying for home networking and a wireless connection...

so now when will the online services errors be fixed?... stay tuned, the brighthouse saga continues...

kaspersky and microsoft

yeah, well, for years kaspersky was reliable and i never thought i'd be putting kaspersky and microsoft in the same complaint, but i've been without the laptop most of this afternoon and it started when kaspersky suddenly voided my license... i was able to find a number to call, which was great because the last time kaspersky screwed up i searched and tried fixing it for hours... sadly, the tech was condescending and rude (and yes, it is possible to be both)... anyway, i the tech sent me an email with the license key, only it never arrived... i asked him why the license would suddenly go unvalid and whether there could be a problem and he disregarded my question and said just follow his instructions... after ten minutes i asked him to send it again and he insisted he got the email right, but i ignored his you are an idiot tone insisted... and it arrived instantly... i entered the key and the license was revalidated... then i asked if they fixed the problem with the scans scheduling and he said he'd send me an email and i should follow the instructions in the email to fix it... i explained that i set all the scans to manual but the scans still started automatically and slowed the laptop, sometimes crashing it... he repeated rudely just follow my instructions and follow the email... i decided he would be of no further help so i said thanks and we hung up...

the email was just a link and i clicked on the link and the instructions were half in russian or some other language... kaspersky reached a new low of poor service and no-support...

i decided to forget it for now and restarted my computer and it would not restart, rather it suggested "restart repair"... i ran restart repair, accepted rolling back to a previous restore point, and had to re-license kaspersky again...

the next thirty minutes were spent waiting for microsoft to update... at least when i finally restarted, nothing went wrong... but it would have been nice to have a computer i could actually use this afternoon...