All I want for Christmas is a multistream card...

We finally decided to go HD and since we love Tivo, we got an HD Tivo too! Little did I know the headaches that would follow all caused by Cablevision. Because we have Tivo, I was told I needed to get either 1 multistream cable card or 2 singlestream cable cards to get a digital signal on our HD Tivo. So I called and set up the appointment.


Tuesday Jan 26 appt window 2-5 pm
Cableguy arrived around 4'ish and told me he had no more multistream cards. Ugh! But he did rewire our cable lines to get a stronger signal to the living room so after the initial disappointment, I was okay esp when he said he would return tomorrow with a multistream card.

Wednesday Jan 27 I thought the appt window was 2-5 pm but it was really 8 to 8!
5:30 rolled around and I thought "cableguy isn't going to show". I called Cablevision and they said my appt was until 8 pm. Since we were already home for the night, I said that was fine.
8:00 pm rolled around and the cableguy called -- he was still at another job, could he resched for tomorrow? That was fine -- I always hated working late when forced to so I understood. He promised to be at the house at noon.

Thursday Jan 28 I thought my appt was at noon but it was really 8 to 8!
I rushed home from my eye appt with dilated eyes to be home at noon for the cableguy. 1:30 rolled around and I finally called Cablevision. They said my appt window was until 8 pm that night. Hmmm...I was a bit upset at finding out I was expected to stay home until 8 pm and they said I could reschedule. I decided to just put up with it and wait.
3:30 -- cableguy shows up with no cablecards -- he thought he was there to fix wiring. I said no, I need 1 multistream or 2 singlestream cards and he said he is a subcontractor and can't install them anyway. He left, I called cablevision just a tad bit upset and resched appt for Friday.

Friday Jan 29
:-( I had to cancel the appt because our brand new Tivo had been sporadically freezing up on us and everything I read sounded like it was a hard drive issue. So I called Cablevision and resched for Sunday.
If you'll notice, I called Cablevision in the morning to cancel my afternoon appointment -- how courteous of me to cancel BEFORE the actual appointment window.

Sunday Jan 31st appt window 2-5 pm
3:30 pm -- cableguy calls and says he has no multistream cards.
Honestly, I feel badly for customer service reps so I always try to be nice even when things are not going well. But now I had really been pushed to the limit. Countless phone calls and lots of appointments and over 20+ hours in appointment window times. I called Cablevision and I was very very upset. The poor sales rep tried to sell me on their phone service and I said I refuse to give Cablevision anymore of my money. After that phone call I now had my own personal customer service rep who was going to call me when the multistream card was in and no matter what, she would call by Friday.

Friday Feb 5th
Surprise! No phone call.

Thursday Feb 11th
I finally called Cablevision. I waited patiently and honestly I didn't feel like getting upset so I just didn't want to call. But since it seemed apparent that they were not going to call me, I had to call them. I called and customer service said they were sending an email to my personal customer service rep and I should hear from her in a few days.

Wednesday Feb 17th
Still no word from Cablevision so I called again. This time a sales rep told me she could mail me the multistream card and I could self-install. Really? I had asked for that option earlier and was told it had to be installed by a cableguy. She said if the system let her mail it then I could do it myself. So she said to expect a card in a few days. I got off the phone somewhat optimistic.

Thursday Feb 18th
I woke up thinking, I should just call Cablevision to find out if she is sending me the right thing. Turns out all she managed to do was add the $2 charge to my account for a multistream card I DO NOT HAVE! Now the rep I was talking to told me someone could come as early as tomorrow with a multistream card and install it AND they were going to waive the $34.95 install fee.

Friday Feb 19th -- today! Woo hoo! It's multistream card day! NOT!
Cableguy showed up with 2 singlestream cards -- that's fine. I called Cablevision and they said they would only charge me for 1. Cableguy tried to install the cards and the install failed. Something to do with firmware. He will be back on Tuesday with a multistream card which Tivo says should work because it shouldn't have to update any firmware. So let's see if we will ever get a multistream card or HD for that matter.

Things I've learned...
Cable companies are a monopoly. Our only other choice is DirectTV.
Cablevision schedules appointments for multistream card installs when they have no clue if there are multistream cards in the warehouse. Apparently they have no inventory control.
A big van with Optimum online in big words means Cablevision employee. Small words mean subcontractor.

Things I've done...
I finally started telling them hubby works for Verizon to get them to stop asking me to switch to their phone service. I don't care if Verizon costs more. I will give Verizon more money just to not give it to Cablevision.
We dropped our movie channels (Starz/Encore) which cost us $15 a month in favor of Netflix for $9 a month -- I can get DVDs and instant stream. It wasn't the $6 a month savings but really the whole Cablevision avoidance thing.
Once we get our multistream card, if we ever get it, I am returning our cablebox too. Honestly, if it wasn't for the fact that we watch channels that only come on a digital signal (SyFy!), I'd just forget the whole multistream card and watch non-HD on our HD tv and Tivo.