Guys, had a very happy ending to my install, including some truly excellent customer service from 1-800-GET-VOOM -- after a bit of a rocky start.
Apparently there was some sort of inventory problem with my boxes, and which installer they were assigned to. When I called today, the woman (nicely) told me I needed to call back tomorrow, when my problem could be resolved. Assuming, however, that my installer had called Installs, Inc. to re-register the boxes under his account or something like that. I asked her "what if he doesn't call in tomorrow?" And she said "Well... then there are some things we can do to activate the boxes anyway." So I said "How about if we just do those things now, so I don't have to worry about this tomorrow?"
She declined, but I (nicely) asked to speak with a supervisor.
The guy I got was awesome. Took all my S/N's and smart card numbers, called Installs, straightened out whatever needed to happen, and got me authorized and watching in about 1/2 hour. He was knowledgeable, polite, and had the authority to act. Bam.
Over the course of the day I had to call back a couple of times. My box froze during updating, and I wasn't sure if resetting it was wise at the time. CSR told me it was fine and walked me through. Instant answer, no hold, even initially. Very good.
And we were so busy oooh-ing and aah-ing over the VOOM channels that I didn't even notice that all the other channels (ESPN, etc.) were just showing as black. So, once again, I called, and the CSR walked me through a fix, AND took time to notice my other boxes didn't look quite right (they weren't, unbeknownst to me) and walked through fixes.
With so many negatives floating around, thought I'd throw something positive into the mix. (And I'm no Dolan or employee; if I was, maybe I wouldn't have had to go through the cancellations and box problems in the first place.)
Cheers!