Reviews by kristenjo

kristenjo says "Price increase, service decrease. Basic cable was better." about DIRECTV

kristenjo — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:29:50 GMT

The whole experience was frustrating. The equipment was easy enough to use, but the least bit of rain and we were playin' DVD's. They installed the dish incorrectly twice, because they wouldn't take the time to get it high enough on the house to avoid tree interference. They dropped channels from the basic package on a regular basis and rarely added anything in its place, and the price still continued to go up. Never offered local channels in my area and excluded ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox from basic....

kristenjo says "Beats the hell out of Cable or Direct in my area." about Dish network

kristenjo — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 05:54:45 GMT

We switched from DTV earlier this year and haven't regretted it yet. With all the rate raises they had and their constant dropping of channels from the basic package, it wasn't worth the money we were spending every month on dish, especially since they installed our dish incorrectly and it would go out completely with the lightest of rain. DTV also never carried any of our local channels, and put the major networks (ABC, NBC, Fox, and CBS) on premium package.

Dish Network has a great basic package, offered us free DVR with signup, and gave us a two tv setup so that both tv's could be hooked up and see separate channels. There are kinks, but on the whole much better than anything we had with DTV. We pay a little more, but get so much extra that it's worth it.

Installation went quickly and smoothly, tech was knowledgeable and friendly.
...

kristenjo says "They kept us waiting for three years...for what?" about Microsoft Vista Home Premium

kristenjo — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 07:59:18 GMT

It is a huge leap from anything Windows has done, but it's a poorly executed one. They meant to jump over a puddle, but they fell into the one next to it.

With all the security features, it tends to suffocate the user, rather than protecting him/her. Lots of functions aren't even possible without disabling some security.
The fancy graphics and window viewing don't mean a thing if they slow down every other function the system tries to perform.
Doesn't play well with other manufacturers' software/hardware.
Doesn't execute hardware drivers well (or at all in some cases).
Made too many changes in areas that worked perfectly well and left buggy areas untouched.
More difficult to disable unwanted Windows features. (example: I always disable MSN Explorer and Windows Messenger on my XP installations.)

Supposedly there were three extra years of work put into it after the initial announcement of its arrival. I want proof. It's like a well-sharpened blade: it looks oh-so-smooth, but too much contact......

kristenjo says "Love it." about PC Magazine

kristenjo — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 07:41:38 GMT

I always find something fun when I open PC Mag. Even when I don't have big bucks to spend, they had something small and interesting that I can download for free, research for myself or others, or dream about for later. I mean sure, Mac is a good product, but PC is such a widespread interest that there's always something new you can tweak or upgrade. PC Mag indulges my need for play and solves some of my minor tech issues....

kristenjo says "Every time I turn around they try to screw me." about Sprint Nextel

kristenjo — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 07:29:43 GMT

I won't bore you with the long list of bad customer service experiences I've had with Sprint, but I will mention a few areas that are ridiculously out of control: sales people not being knowledgeable about plans and not communicating well with customers, barrier between customer service and store customer service ("You'll have to call customer service to have that changed before I can help you in the store."), efficiency of store operation, simple billing procedure, availability and cost efficiency of text and media message plans, text messages not being transmitted to AT&T phones, and many others.

The two I will tell you about are as follows: the last time I got a new phone, I sat and waited for ten minutes for the MANAGER of our store to hook my phone up and transfer my phone numbers because she made a personal call right in front of me; and since I've bought my new phone, they've changed my insurance plan four times without authorization from anyone in my family and they keep trying to......

kristenjo says "Why do I suddenly feel like I'm in Wal-Mart?" about JCPenney

kristenjo — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 07:16:53 GMT

Every since the remodel (at least at the local JCPenney), it's been like pulling teeth to get someone to help me in this store. I used to buy dresses there and only there just because they had a good sales team who would stick with me until I found something I liked and give honest opinions on how something looked on me. But since they've moved the cash registers to central locations, there are very few actual sales people. The quality of clothing has also diminished. The last pair of jeans I bought there got a hole after three washes. Taking them back wasn't an easy task, as the cashier acted like I was a moron, and the jeans had been rung up under the wrong bar code in the first place....

kristenjo says "Too bad you can't buy a protection plan for everything you own." about Zales

kristenjo — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 07:09:00 GMT

Some of the pieces Zales stocks are really, um, low-budget looking, but they have some really great diamond pieces (their specialty), and you can't beat the lifetime jewelry protection plan. Covers repair of any damage or replacement of any lost stones for the lifetime of the jewelry, plus free sizing on rings. If you're tough on jewelry, it's the way to go....