We got some first-hand experience with British customer service one of our first weeks here. There was a digital satellite box attached to our TV when we moved in, but it didn’t work. We asked to get it hooked up. After we explained this fact to the apartment people (they seemed surprised that it was there), they got us a new smart card to put in it and they sent out their TV “expert” (some 20-year-old kid) and he wasn’t able to get it to work. Shortly afterwards a guy from the satellite company appeared and was ready to install a brand new one. We said, all we want is this one to work, and he said he couldn’t fix it because he didn’t put the first set there.

So, we were back to square one, and we had to get a new card, which took about a week. The best part is, the new guy who came out with the equipment to install the new box took the extra parts with him (that’s reasonable, we couldn’t use them), but we were supposed to call the customer service department to make sure the landlord isn’t charged. I didn’t get that part. I haven’t called yet, and this was a few weeks ago.

The system works pretty well, although we do get a lot of channels we’ll never watch (anyone want me to make some tapes of Pakistani movies for them? I didn’t think so). Every once in a while when changing channels, the box freezes up and has to be restarted by unplugging it from the wall. It must be running an older version of Windows.