VOOM with annual HD Pak subscription

[BillJ]

As several have reported here and in other forums, when I tried to add VOOM the CSR insisted I had to cancel my annual HD Pak subscription and go to monthly billing. Instead I contacted E* corporate and found that this is not true. The HD Pak/VOOM Channels are being treated as a new package so the part about canceling the existing HD Pak is true. But they can then re-bill the annual HD Pak at the same price and add the $5 monthly VOOM billing. No idea why they made this so complicated.

In my case they credited and debited $61.30 for the HD Pak and added $3.38 for VOOM prorated to my next billing date. Then my monthly bill will increase $5.

As of Friday E* corporate knows that most CSR's are not handling this correctly. I expect they'll get the word out. If you lost your annual HD Pak discount, try calling again in a few days.

[Stewart Vernon]

Big business is often screwed up... and sometimes CSRs are in the dark... and sometimes people just don't do their jobs... but many times there are just screwy rules in place that shouldn't make a difference, but do.

For instance... there's a local video store that I frequent and buy DVDs... and they have coupons sometimes and special offers and discounts and all that... and I'm friendly with the folks there... but their cash registers are very picky. Coupons and items have to be scanned in a certain order or it doesn't work. Some MUST be scanned before others even... which can make it difficult on the clerk ringing me or others up... one accidental misstep can void the whole deal and they have no choice but to start over.

I sometimes wonder, when I see the Dish CSR complaints, if the CSRs aren't victim of similar things... they must push certain buttons in a certain order, and one wrong misstep takes them down a path they can't back out of easily. I feel sorry for folks sometimes when I see the technology they have to deal with... and even when they want to help, the computer in front of them simply won't let them go to that screen!