I called in on 8-24 with a 019 error message( smart card cannot be read). Ths CSR decided after a couple of retries and reboots to send a new smart card. It arrived 8-27 and could not be read either. I get the next CSR and he intimates that the 1st CSR gave the wrong solution. Once the smart card reader goes , it usually doesn't come back and it is very rarely the smart cards problem. They should have sent another receiver. The CSR tried to send another receiver, but could not. Once you have a trouble active , you cannot have a 2nd one within 5 days and the supervisors have no way to bypass this computer rule. So I have to return the smart card with their enclosed return label. Then I have to wait until the 30th to call for another receiver. If that takes 3-4 days to get here , you have 9 days without use of a receiver. If the computer requires them to have received the smart card back it will take even longer. I asked that my bill be adjusted to meet the number of days I am without service.
The worst part of this is there is no way to recover what is on the hard drive. I have an EHD but cannot get the receiver on. What a dumb design. The smart card is to keep receivers from stealing E* programming. Why would they put it in line to stop already recorded material. The CSR had no answer to help me recover the programming. I did a search here and the few work arounds ( use an eraser on smart card, use alchohol to clean it, and use a business card on top to force it down ) did not work. My hard drive was at least half full.
What a poor business model!! Incompetent CSR, dumb software to restrict time to get a fix, and dumb receiver design to cause loss of stored programming. I am just thankful I put most of my programming on my EHD.
