Anyone else ever have a bad experience with Westwood One tech support?

[spinjector]

I just had an interesting experience with a Westwood One technical support person for my suddenly comatose MAX receiver.

This nice young lady I spoke to has some serious gaps in her temperament, communication skills, and telephone manners. I was getting so frustrated towards the end of the call that I did something I cannot recall doing for a very, very long time: I shouted at her. I told her to slow down, stop talking all over me, and let me finish my sentence.

So...anyone have any idea whom I should call/write to to file a complaint? It was one of the most irritating phone calls I've had in quite some time.

 

[OKCRadioGuy]

I'd call back at another time, during the day, and ask for the boss of that department. I'd also follow that up with a complaint to your rep that sold you the programming. With bothe the sales side and the service dept head hearing you out, something tells me your "friendly" tech support person will have some fancy explaining to do to keep her paycheck. Normally I've has fairly positive results with Westwood. My guess is you got the dud. On a side note, these damn new max receivers, xds, and other goofy-assed sat receivers have caused indigestion for both sides of the telephone line on tech support calls. Someone further up the foodchain on the distribution side came up with this crap and left NOCs and affiliates holding a stinky bag IMHO.

 

[ncfradio]

Had a similar bad phone experience with a Dial Global tech wanting to raise her voice at me just this evening. I am having a bad receiver problem and they want to raise their voice at me? These companies must have finally gone too far with over working their tech people. Most everyone at Dial Global has an attitude these days that was not there even 6 to 8 months ago. I know you are talking about Westwood One, but was going to start a similar thread about DG.

 

[xmusicmatt]

I say speak with your stations pocket book.. Shelf the over priced, canned sounding automated satellite fed voicetracked music format and do something local! No worries of the MAX recv taking a dump on you.

 

[Lazy J]

Before you get too pissy with WW1, make sure that your IT/Engineering skills are up to par with todays radio equipment. Personally I think the new receivers are a god-send for automation. If they are too complicated for you, you might want to have someone help you get up to speed. It is very hard to provide support to someone who thinks their IP Address is the same as their Street Address. This may not be your case, you may be very proficient, but it's something to consider.

That being said, I would still let your affiliate rep know that you were offended by the way you were treated. It needs to be brought to the girls attention that she can't treat people that way. I know that when I call WW1 tech support, they usually just don't know the answer to my questions.

 

[boiseengineer]

Interesting. When I call WW1 the NOC answers the phone.
Must have a different number.

Anywho, I really appreciate the XDS and MAX. A lot less work on the enginering side since the PDs can do their own program scheduling on their office or home computer. If there is a problem we can usually fix it or find the cause from home.

Downside so far with the MAX. Occasionally there were no closures. MAX log said there were closures. Fluke and the SS32 log says there were none. Fixed by rebooting. Haven't had to reboot for a while so maybe they fixed it? Still no way to time-shift shows?

The XDS has made life so much easier with the time-shift feature. Plus you can do seperate schedules on two different ports for the same station!

With the XDS stacking NetCue closures on a relay has simplified the SS32 I/O. Cut the number of closures on one station from 23 to just 7!

 

[Chuck]

Does the MAX do time shifting? Just wondering...

 

[OKCRadioGuy]

I certainly agree on the time shift thing being an improvement. I've had to do the time delay both ways and I'd much rather have the sat receiver do it. With that being said, I have never had a xds sent to me preconfigured right. Either the closures werent mapped or something. Most ofthe time they don't even have the proper station in the database for authorization. That's multiple networks I've seen this with. The boxes are so complicated compared to a starguide it becomes a issue in many cases. I've never had to send one back, but I have more often than not had to call the NOC. It's things I can't fix in the field like them sending out docs with wrong info on it or things not even in the database. I've never had an IT related issue.

 

[Prais]

xmusicmatt said...
I say speak with your stations pocket book.. Shelf the over priced, canned sounding automated satellite fed voicetracked music format and do something local! No worries of the MAX recv taking a dump on you.
______My turn;
With alll due respect, Sir, that "overpriced canned sounding auutomated satellite fed voicetracked music format" is a VACATION compared to whiney OVERPAID, overegoed, oversexed, mostly overweight and unwashed, drug and alcohol infested fatheads who have all the personality of a gerbil, LIE to management about everything, and yet want vacations, and raises, and pay advances and off on holidays, yet can't show up on time for a shift, mispronounce local town names, brand names and English, in general.

The good thing is, the people I described (above) way back in the 1980's, motivated me to FIRE them ALL and switch from LIVE dj's to satellite automation (that DOES sound "local") with GREAT programming and announcers INCREASE OUR ENGINEERS PAY (and respnsibilities) and DRASTICALLY CUT expenses, so we hired MORE sales professionals on 30% commission - INCREASING the bottom line, and paying for college for my 2 kids, and a nicer car for me.

PS We had multiple cases of people show up at the station, looking for Jeff Rollins and Chick Watkins (the satellite dj's). We also hadlots of local sports, GREAT news, and community involvement.

There, I feel better. Thanks

 

[Lazy J]

Does the MAX do time shifting? Just wondering...

No, Chuck, the MAX for WW1 doesn't do time shifting. However, it will do programmed channel changes. That's helpful because you just program what channel at what time and it goes there. It's not even close to being as awesome as the XDS, but at least I don't need a Starguide with 6 cards and 25 closures to get all of my shows.

 

[Chuck]

Does the MAX do time shifting? Just wondering...

No, Chuck, the MAX for WW1 doesn't do time shifting. However, it will do programmed channel changes. That's helpful because you just program what channel at what time and it goes there. It's not even close to being as awesome as the XDS, but at least I don't need a Starguide with 6 cards and 25 closures to get all of my shows.

Thanks, I didn't think it did, but I wanted to make sure I didn't miss something. Although it is obviously based on a PC motherboard, I don't think it has a hard drive. That's a shame, since I think it could have done time shifting at very little additional cost.

 

[LA_Guy]

Call Mitch Glider...

Mitch is a good guy and he will fix you up..

Mitch Glider
Vice President, Technical Operations
212 975 2046
[email protected]

 

[spinjector]

...I'd also follow that up with a complaint to your rep that sold you the programming.

Thanks, I wouldn't have thought of that.

Someone further up the food chain on the distribution side came up with this crap and left NOCs and affiliates holding a stinky bag IMHO.

That would be my HO as well. When these started coming out 3-4 years ago, I saw they were embedded PC motherboards and I was like HUH? Are you crazy? I bet they even run Windows. Probably Windows 95 like those studio consoles from around then. =-)

 

[spinjector]

Had a similar bad phone experience with a Dial Global tech wanting to raise her voice at me just this evening. I am having a bad receiver problem and they want to raise their voice at me? These companies must have finally gone too far with over working their tech people. Most everyone at Dial Global has an attitude these days that was not there even 6 to 8 months ago. I know you are talking about Westwood One, but was going to start a similar thread about DG.

Yea, phone manners aren't what they used to be. And these kids nowdays all have Truman Syndrome and think they get bonus points for having the last word.

 

[spinjector]

I say speak with your stations pocket book.. Shelf the over priced, canned sounding automated satellite fed voicetracked music format and do something local! No worries of the MAX recv taking a dump on you.

We were going to, but the two baboons in the driver seat said to buy a canned format.

 

[spinjector]

Before you get too pissy with WW1, make sure that your IT/Engineering skills are up to par with todays radio equipment. Personally I think the new receivers are a god-send for automation. If they are too complicated for you, you might want to have someone help you get up to speed. It is very hard to provide support to someone who thinks their IP Address is the same as their Street Address. This may not be your case, you may be very proficient, but it's something to consider.

That being said, I would still let your affiliate rep know that you were offended by the way you were treated. It needs to be brought to the girls attention that she can't treat people that way. I know that when I call WW1 tech support, they usually just don't know the answer to my questions.

Thanks, my skills are fine. And I worked in a tech support call center for five years, so I know the business. This girl would have been fired from the company I worked for back then if she'd had a call monitor session with the QC dept.

 

[spinjector]

Interesting. When I call WW1 the NOC answers the phone. Must have a different number.

Anywho, I really appreciate the XDS and MAX. A lot less work on the enginering side since the PDs can do their own program scheduling on their office or home computer. If there is a problem we can usually fix it or find the cause from home.

Downside so far with the MAX. Occasionally there were no closures. MAX log said there were closures. Fluke and the SS32 log says there were none. Fixed by rebooting. Haven't had to reboot for a while so maybe they fixed it? Still no way to time-shift shows?

The XDS has made life so much easier with the time-shift feature. Plus you can do seperate schedules on two different ports for the same station!

With the XDS stacking NetCue closures on a relay has simplified the SS32 I/O. Cut the number of closures on one station from 23 to just 7!

Yes I do like the embedded web server configuration page, very handy when one is on the road 200 miles away and the boardop calls in a tizzy. And the time-shifting is fun-we use that regularly. But other than that, no one here will use the scheduler. The previously mentioned baboons in the driver seat said not to "because it's too complicated", yet they don't hesitate to set up a DRR recording in RCS.

I also agree on the relay tweakery. We have gobs of satellite programs, and it's like the new Swiss Pocket Knife with all the tools and a LED flashlight & USB drive built in too. =-)

 

[spinjector]

Does the MAX do time shifting? Just wondering...

Yup it shifts like an 18-speed mountain bike.

[edit]

Sorry, I was thinking of the XDS when I typed that. The MAX does not shift as far as I am aware.

 

[spinjector]

xmusicmatt said...
I say speak with your stations pocket book.. Shelf the over priced, canned sounding automated satellite fed voicetracked music format and do something local! No worries of the MAX recv taking a dump on you.
______My turn;
With alll due respect, Sir, that "overpriced canned sounding auutomated satellite fed voicetracked music format" is a VACATION compared to whiney OVERPAID, overegoed, oversexed, mostly overweight and unwashed, drug and alcohol infested fatheads who have all the personality of a gerbil, LIE to management about everything, and yet want vacations, and raises, and pay advances and off on holidays, yet can't show up on time for a shift, mispronounce local town names, brand names and English, in general.

The good thing is, the people I described (above) way back in the 1980's, motivated me to FIRE them ALL and switch from LIVE dj's to satellite automation (that DOES sound "local") with GREAT programming and announcers INCREASE OUR ENGINEERS PAY (and respnsibilities) and DRASTICALLY CUT expenses, so we hired MORE sales professionals on 30% commission - INCREASING the bottom line, and paying for college for my 2 kids, and a nicer car for me.

PS We had multiple cases of people show up at the station, looking for Jeff Rollins and Chick Watkins (the satellite dj's). We also hadlots of local sports, GREAT news, and community involvement.

There, I feel better. Thanks

Oh I like you. Where do you work? Is there an opening in your engineering dept..? =-D