Sysadmin Field Notes

February 19, 2006

On the day of the super bowl a few weeks ago, our Tivo missed Grey's Anatomy. Yes, everyone else in the world knew that it was on following the superbowl, but you know, we fast forward though ads so we didn't. Our Tivo missed it because the program guide was wrong. Had the 2-3 hours after the game marked as TBD, and Anatomy on at the normal 10:00pm time-slot.

So I decided to email around until I found the culprit, and get them to apologize. Or find out for me if it was going to be replayed and get the time.

Checking our ABC affiliate's (KXTV News 10) website, they had the right schedule there. Maybe they didn't get it to the right places in time. The only programming related email they had on the site was for the program director, Erin Tognetti. I didn't necessarily want to go that high with my little complaint, but she must be used to it if her email is right on the site like that. I got a quick, real reply saying that they had sent the program guide to the right places weeks ago, ABC would not be replaying it as of yet, but if I wanted them to the best bet was to contact them and ask for it.

So I went to their website and did just that. Never got a response, but the site said that there might not be one, so that was okay with me.

Then I emailed directTV, which was hilarious. Again, just wasting time, basically looking for a "sorry, thing X happened, won't happen again." Here was my message:

Just wanted to register my annoyance that the local listings this week for the ABC affiliate in my area (KTXV Channel 10) had Grey's Anatomy on at 10:00pm, when it was never scheduled to air at that time. It was always scheduled to air after the superbowl, and according to the channel program director the listings were updated 4 weeks ago.

And their response:

Dear Mr. Meyer,

Thanks for writing. I'm sorry to hear about the programming schedule of KTXV Channel 10. Our goal is to provide a wide variety of channels and programming content. Unfortunately, we can't predict or control when the programming selection of a particular channel chooses to air. While we continually work with our programming partners to improve your television entertainment experience, it helps us all if you also forward your feedback to ABC's local affiliate KTXV.

We understand that not everyone will like every program aired on DIRECTV, and we take customer feedback very seriously. However, our ongoing research tells us that most customers agree with us, and like being able to choose from so many options.

Thanks again for your interest in DIRECTV and stay tuned to DIRECTV.com for the latest news and information about our services.

Huh? That's totally nonsensical. It sounds like they just ran my mail through a Markov text generator. No apology, explanation, or anything. More then that, they toss all the blame onto the local station or ABC which seemingly did nothing wrong. They even go so far as to direct me to those outlets, sending a potentially disgruntled customer to the wrong place (who's going to be even more disgruntled if they get back to DirecTV).

Speak with a human voice to your customers, and they won't hate you as much, even if you screw up once in a while. Speak to them like their idiots, and every fault will be magnified to a major issue. I'm just a dumb code monkey and I've picked that much up by reading a blog here and there.

To make the difference even more pronounced, Erin emailed me back a day or two later, to let me know that ABC did decide to re-air it and gave me the time. Very, very nice, and above and beyond what I'd expected. Thank you Erin and Channel 10.