Fix It....Phase III

/sigh

OK - so I have tried. I tried to give them a chance to fix it, I tried to give them a chance to tell me that my eyeballs were important to them. I tried. Now it's on to Phase III.

Remember how I said they won't like Phase III? Well this has been going on since the Winter Olympics, I have sent two emails which you can read here and here. I received no response from Corporate NBC to my email. (Note to businesses - placate your dissatisfied customers). So I went right to the top sending a letter mind you - typed, signed, and placed in a typed envelop with a real stamp.

Here is what I sent along with a copy of the two emails:

April 4, 2010

Mr. Jeff Zucker

NBC

30 Rockefeller Plaza

New York, NY 10112

Dear Mr. Zucker;

My recent attempts to get a transmission problem fixed (see attached) has resulted in no action by the local station and no response from your corporate office, so I am addressing this all the way to the top in hopes that maybe with your encouragement this can get fixed. All I am asking is that someone at NBC have a bit of pride in their product and get the lips to match the voices. It is difficult to watch your programs with this taking place and, in my opinion, you are selling a flawed product to those that are advertising in the College Station/Bryan Texas area. Would you please find a competent engineer to fix it.

Thank you

Today is April 23. I think I have waited long enough for a response. Nothing. You were a fool to ignore me Mr. Zucker! A fool! I warned you about Phase III (queue evil laugh) didn't I? I did not want to go there - I tried, but now NBC has forced my hand.

I want the lips to match the speech. You won't listen to me, so maybe you will listen to your advertisers - the ones I am now going to send silly emails telling them how NBC is ripping them off by selling them air time on a technically broken transmission.

First group of advertisers will be the local guys, because on top of my silly email I send I am going to tell them I will not patronize their stores or buy their products until they get NBC to fix this problem.

Seems harsh? Well you know that woman scorned hell hath no furry saying? Well try ignoring me and see what you get. Like I said I tried.

That's Phase III - you want to try for Phase IV? I am ready to go all the way with this. Seems silly and petty but it's the point now. Oh, and just so you know - I may get nowhere with Phase III, but there is a chance that one of your advertisers will take me serious. If it were me I sure wouldn't want that happening especially with the dismal line of shows you think make for good TV.

So on to Phase III - I will make a list of every advertiser that sponsors the Biggest Loser. From that list I will send an email telling them how NBC does not care about me as a viewer and potential customer for the product they are wanting to sell me.

If I was a betting man, I would say the odds of one of their advertisers listening to me is very likely.

We will see.....we will see (queue ending dramatic music)

Fix It.....Phase II

OK, I am trying. Sent the following last week on Sunday. One week later - no response from the folks at corporate NBC. So on to Phase II.5 - like I said, I am trying to get this fixed in a much more calm and collective way. But I aim to play hardball if that's the way they want it. So today I wrote a letter (on paper!) addressed to Jeff Zucker the CEO of NBC. I'll drop it in the mail Monday and will post it if I still don't get a response. No response - move to Phase III, like I said, they will not like Phase III. All they have to do is fix it.

Here is what I sent NBC in an email (feedback@nbcuni.com)last Sunday:

Hello;

At the end of this email is the email I sent to the local station - KCEN - responsible for broadcasting NBC through our cable provider, Suddenlink. At this point in time the same issue with lips not matching the voices is still going on. It has been over a month since I voiced my complaint but this issue has been dragging on for longer than that. I am not the only one complaining in College Station/Bryan Texas.

KCEN TV told me in a phone call the next day that the problem with lip syncing was not theirs but was a corporate problem from your feed to them. OK, so fix it. Nobody at KCEN has been able to get you to fix this problem, so I thought I would give it a try. Now I have been watching TV for a long time. Rabbit ears were able to get voices to sync with lips - unless it was a Japanese monster movie. So how come in the age of computers and digital, and fiber optics, and satellites, and......you guys can't get voices to sync with lips?

I would be curious to know how disappointed the folks spending their advertising dollars with you would be should I need to take my complaint to get this problem fixed to them?

Anyway something to chew on while you work this out.

Cheers!

Jeff

Fix It.....Phase I

OK, being a former business owner and working for a large entity, I know the trials and tribulations of trying to get something corrected. I am really aware of how tough it can be and so I try to be nice when I finally reach the point of complaining and I give what I consider a reasonable amount of time before I follow through with another course of action.

So I reached my limit way back on 2/24/10 - which for those of you counting is about a month ago. Here is the email I sent to the TV station complaining about their poor broadcasting during the Olympics:

To: Comments@kcentv.com

Re: Poor technical quality of broadcast

OK, I am going to be blunt. Watching the Olympics on your channel through SuddenLink in College Station has been brutal and I find myself yelling at the TV - which I am too young to be doing.

1. Last night, watching figure skating, young skater from Turkey, moving story of parents sacrificing everything for her, there she is on the ice and 2/3 through her routine you knuckleheads cut to an advertisement.

2. After knucklehead move we get dead air - nothing - black screen - only your channel is out. SuddenLink states its not them.

3. Tonight - advertisements not coming in at the right time, dead air only this time we get to see the peacock icon animation. Over and over again, same thing, poor placement of advertisements and local adds not coming on at the right time.

4. And my number one yell-at-the-TV issue: Get the gosh darn voices to match the lips. This has been an ongoing issue with your station not just for the Olympics. Your news cast seems to sync but the Olympics is aggravating to watch as well as the advertisements that are also out of sync.

You have some serious issues here, enough so that if it were not for the Olympics I would personally block your station so as to not have to deal with what appears to be incompetence on someone's part. Fix it or you will forever lose my eyeballs. I get the feeling that you must not watch your own station - because if you did you would find this unacceptable and would fix it. Oh, and if you want to blame SuddenLink don't bother writing me back. Fix it.

I received a phone call from their tech guy apologizing and giving me the sadsack story of "we purchased new equipment"...."digital to analog"....."I noticed it too"....."its not us its NBC."

One month later - same issue. Don't believe me? See other complaints here.

So what to do.... apparently my email to them did not stir them into action. Apparently I am the only one who complained or they really don't give a hoot about the quality of their broadcast - which in a round about way is telling me they don't care about me as a viewer of their NBC product.

I wonder if corporate NBC cares?

So today starts Phase II of "Operation Fix It." Let's see what corporate NBC has to say before I move to Phase III. They won't like Phase III, but sometimes you gotta play hardball with folks in order for them to do what they are supposed to do in the first place. Fix it!