Thought I would give an update, now that all summer I've made what seems like an infinite number of phone calls, had 6 tech visits (one of the techs twice!), 7 tuning adapters that did not work except for my lucky #3 (the second one I picked up from the local store after the one I had died); it locked in BUT still could not receive SDV channels. So Spectrum told the tech to tell me to "go get another one", because they could not talk to that one from their end because it looked like it was on somebody else's account. Which I stupidly did; since I had only picked up 2, I thought surely I could find another one that worked. But, no. They actually brought #7 from an old Brite House location (with three guys - one Field Supervisor, the Quality Supervisor and another tech) and it still didn't work. I was really irritated with Spectrum not only for all of this, but because their personnel were constantly blaming this on my "Fifo" as one guy called it, and telling me I should "let go of old technology" and get their own World Box DVR. The last straw? I dug deep into FB and Linked In, of all places, to find two other Field Supervisor's names and a higher-up Operations Supervisor's name. I had a phone number on the one I was working with who was doing nothing and only an email address (likely outdated) on one of the others. So I went to the main headend location and to where all the local Spectrum bosses work. They front the place with another store. The two store employees WOULD NOT let me make an appointment with anyone I named, WOULD NOT let me see anyone I named - I really got angry and stood there, just asking more and more things I might be able to do - "Can I just walk back there myself, to find someone?" No, you are not allowed back there. They kept telling me how "they didn't have the power" to get in touch with any of them - all behind the badge-locked door. I said I knew that wasn't true, that even the store closest to me knew all of their names and had all their email addresses and had written in on my behalf before (with no answer). I finally had stood there and yelled for so long, that I ended up leaving a hand-written note with my phone number, listed the 4 people I knew of and said I wanted them to give the note to their Supervisor (who was 'in a meeting'); the note said I wanted one of them to call me that day.
Before I wrote the FCC, I gave them every chance. I called the one I had the number for multiple times without callbacks. I called another one I found the number for (home number); the number had been disconnected. I sent an email to the third, not even knowing if it was a current address. I drove out to my local headend, but people can carry guns here w/o a permit, and the place was surrounded with fence and large "No Trespassing" signs everywhere - even though it was just AN OLD HOUSE, with a giant black dualie pick-up outside and one single Spectrum truck. After driving by glaring multiple times, wondering if I should even try to talk to this guy, I knew I'd better go before the local police showed up. I also cleaned up everything I could think of at my end. I had put it off and put it off (I thought I might screw it up), but I re-did the Guided Set-up on the Roamio just to make sure I was on the right line-up. I called the Cable Card number one more time, and was so angry to discover I had a problem spoken of in these threads many times - they found the equipment on my account 'had been placed in the wrong order', and they were able to fix that - just one more piece towards solving this puzzle. I never even asked them about that, because it was so simple, I thought surely, in all the times I had called them, that would have found a problem like that early on!
I filed the FCC complaint on Aug. 30th. I didn't expect anything, since I am aware of the FCC ruling last September. But on Sept 6, Labor Day, I got two calls from Spectrum in the evening - the first from the "Company Escalations" department in Florida - Who Knew (the number was 855-707-7328) - from some guy who gave me his first name. When I asked for his last name, he said, "We don't give out our last names on a first call" - DUDE, CHILL. The next call was from a local Spectrum manager I had not found before. He asked which field supervisor I had been working with; I told him. He called again the next morning - always assuring me 'this is going to be fixed'. Next I heard from the field supervisor; they wanted to retrieve the non-working TA which was fine by me, so they could troubleshoot it. NOT LIKE I HADN'T BEEN ASKING FOR THIS ALL SUMMER. So, we'll see. I'm frankly shocked; I expected nothing. I think the key statement I used in the FCC complaint - this was just a numbered series of the factual events with as much of my emotion removed as I could manage - was at the end: "As long as they advertise that they are supporting heritage customers with cable cards and TAs, I think they should do so." But the FCC also asks for a solution to the problem. So I gave two: That I've been told there is a systemic problem in this area with TAs from the refurbishing plant in Dalton, GA, but I've also been told that Spectrum 'has nothing to do with that - knows nothing about it'. I said that was not true, that any company of Spectrum's size should have a QA department that has Qualified Vendor's Lists that would allow them to visit the Dalton plant and leverage them to troubleshoot/fix the problems. I also said I had read from a lone person online that their Motorola TA in Le Grand, Oregon was working fine, so I suggested that they ship some TAs from Oregon to here. Anyway, I know I am long-winded but I wanted to get out anything that would help anyone else!
I may get my Roamio fixed, but for how long? I feel terrible for everyone who has TiVOs and moves to another location and try to hook up their cable; they are screwed (they will not be supported).
