Yes, I had a meltdown this afternoon. Full of me yelling and cursing at everyone and no one. At least it was in the comfort of my apartment. In theory the only people that could hear me was my family, the two other people in the apartment (more on that later), and those in the attached apartments. Now for the story.

Today I was to finally get HD service from Directv. I had suspended Directv service back in August when I was moving from Denver. My brother also has Directv service, so we initially decided to keep his service. Since he doesn’t have an HD receiver, our only option for getting HD service was to finally cancel his service and reinstate mine. I, on the other hand, have a $200 HD/DVR receiver (it might have cost more but I don’t remember), a standard DVR receiver, and a standard receiver. Now we get to the good part.

Apparently, all 3 receivers, including the HD/DVR receiver I purchased late last year, are not compatible with the service at Mariners Village. This is because Mariners Village and Directv contract out their service to a third party called Consolidated Smart Systems. Trust me, the systems and the people are not very smart. Or, maybe they are and I’m the only one that is willing to call them on it. Add to that, I have no other options for TV service. Cable is not provided at Mariners Village and I have no view of the southern sky to install my own satellite for Directv or Dish.

So, in order for me to continue service with Directv I either have to downgrade to standard service (no HD) or pay $199 for an HD/DVR and another $99 for separate DVR’s in each room to replace the ones I had. Add to that the $200 I paid last year for an HD/DVR receiver that is now useless. That’s $200 to initiate the service last year and $400 to continue it this year. How ridiculous is that?!?! Should I add more question marks and exclamation points to get my point across. Now, mind you, this is not new service, this is to continue service which is still under contract. In the end, I’m quite pissed. And I still have a 50″ plasma sitting in the living room without an HD connection. Such a waste.

If I had my way, I would have canceled my Directv contract all together. From what I understand, I have this option – without a contract cancellation fee – when I move to a location that doesn’t provide the same service. Yeah, there’s probably a little gray area in there that I’d have to take advantage of somehow.

Anyway, let’s hear your stories, especially from Joker and Me, getting customer service horror stories from other people sometimes helps me feel better. If not, I’ll make sure to head out for a few drinks tonight. From what I hear, tonight’s one of the various amateur drinking nights of the year.

UPDATE: Earlier today, January 2nd, after attempting to resolve the problem with Directv and Consolidated Smart Systems to no avail, I sent complaints to the Better Business Bureau for Directv and Consolidated Smart Systems noting monopolistic behavior. This is the first time I’ve gotten to the point where something like this was needed between me and a service provider of any kind. I wonder how it’ll work out.