Here is the meaning of LIFETIME from the American Heritage Dictionary..
This morning I woke up and me and my family decided to go out for breakfast, we have anice breakfast and then came home. We had some odds and ends to do in the house, so we put the baby in his room and turned on the TV so he could watch his PTV collection of shows recorded off of Noggin.
I pressed the PTV button on my Dishplayer remote and was greeted by a screen welcomeing me to the world of Personal Television, and advising me if I wanted PTV service I needed to call Dish Network to subscribe.
I called Dish Network and spoke to a friendly rep who appologized for the error and put me on hold to get a solution.... I was on hold for over 20 minutes with the rep coming back often appologizing about keeping me on hold and he was working to fix the problem.
After 25 minutes or so he came back online and told me he was unable to turn my PTV service on, however for $9.95 a month I could add PTV service to my Dishplayer again. I explained to him I had two Dishplayers and the other one was working fine, and that I purchased my Dishplayers when Dish was offering FREE "LIFETIME" PTV server. The rep was friendly and then put me on hold again. He came back a few moments later and read me a statement from Echostar saying how Dish Networks definition of Lifetime PTV service was only 3 years, he then on and went to say that they could not give me the PTV service because they are no longer partnered with Microsoft.
I started getting a little upset (but wasnt vocal or anything) and asked to speak to the reps coach, I told him I purchased the unit with LIFETIME service and I wanted the LIFETIME service that I was due. He agreed with me and mentioned that it was out of his hands, he was very friendly the entire time. He put me on hold and instead of getting a supervisor I got someone in advanced tech support.
Immediately the Advanced tech started reading me the paper the other rep read me. I started getting upset when he kept saying that a lifetime PTV service was only meant to be 3 years and I was lucky to get free PTV up until now.
I got smart, my cell phone can record up to 15 minutes of a phone call. I was trying to figure out how to enable the recording but couldnt get it to work, however I got smart and told the rep that I was now recording the call and asked him to repeat the statement how a lifetime of service only meant 3 years. The rep went off on me telling me I was violating Virginia State law by recording the conversation, I told him I didn't care about Virginia laws, I was in Connecticut and was followiing Connecticut state laws on recording conversations. After him telling me I couldn't record and me telling him too bad he asked me why I wanted to record him anyways. I told him I had audio from the Charlie Chats and Retailer Charlie Chats where Charlie said the deal was for a lifetime of PTV service and how I was going to take his explanation of Lifetime being only 3 years and was going to take it and file a formal complaint to the state attorney generals office, I was also going to send a copy of the recording to the Clark Howard show, plus I was going to place a MP3 of the call on line for others to download. The phone went silent...
After a long silence, he said "Sir can I put you on hold for a moment" I said sure... He came back and said he spoke to his supervisor and I was correct and should be getting PTV however there is no code in their computer to allow them to enable the PTV service.
I told him I didn't buy that as just a few moments before they were trying to sell me the PTV service. I told him to remember I was still recording and that I needed his rep number and also the supervisiors information as well, and on Monday I would be contacting the executive offices for resolution, he got quiet again and asked to put me on hold...
A few moments later he came back again after speaking to his supervisor, this time he tells me that somehow they magically found a code to give me PTV service back on my Dishplayer. He was also very appologetic about the entire ordeal.
I went on to talk to him more and tell him I wasn't trying to be a jerk about it, but to me a liftime of service is not 3 years, he went on to agree with me and told me he had to follow the company line. We then talked for a few more moments about some other things and we ended our call (and I had my PTV back)
All in all the call lasted close to an hour and a half, the entire time though I stood my ground and would no waiver, and while I was not actually recording, they did not like the fact that I said I was recording.
The moral of the story is if you purchased something and were promised something, just don't sit there and take it, stand your line when you know you are correct and FIGHT FOR IT. After all a lifetime is not 3 years.
