CSTV - call to complain last year, sue 'em this year?

Has anyone tried the painstaking process of calling to complain and getting nowhere about poor and missing video feeds? Maybe stronger action is required this season. Too bad Eliot Spitzer isn't a Big Red hockey fan.

No matter what the fine print says, I think it's implied that for $7 a month you got video when you clicked video, barring acts of god. Random screwups don't count.

I've been on hold for 20 minutes since we lost video. However, I had no real problems Thursday or tonight until we lost it.

jkahn
I've been on hold for 20 minutes since we lost video. However, I had no real problems Thursday or tonight until we lost it.

The Robert Morris feed came in Thursday for me, too. But then we're not getting the video for this second game of the season. That's not a five-nines service level. It's more like a single five SLA. Or service level disagreement.

I would've driven up for the day except I knew we were going to be crushed by Princeton over at Schoellkopf plus it was raining. Maybe it would've been a good idea after all.

billhoward
Too bad Eliot Spitzer isn't a Big Red hockey fan.

What? You want Spitzer to fine them one week of profits and let them go back to what they were doing?

Spoke with Dave at wherever CSTV outsources their call center. He put me on hold for about 10-15 minutes, then reported that he spoke with CSTV and that it's an "encoding problem" and they are working on it. We'll so far I've seen 1 of the 2 periods.

An encoding problem? They switched encoders between periods 1 and 2? That's a new one. CSTV customer support must have a new spinning wheel of explanations.

Does anyone else get a black screen with the "loading interface" message that never does anything else? I have IE7 and all.

IE7 wont be compatible until late November early December according to the CSTV all-access FAQ (they're still 'testing)

I think our real efforts should be on getting Cornell to come up with its own, in-house solution to a webcast. I'm sure there's at least one engineer who would love this as a senior project. Anyone have any ideas on how we could effect such a plan?

Just imagine the prospect of having to make an international call to get put on hold by their customer service monkeys.

ftyuv
I think our real efforts should be on getting Cornell to come up with its own, in-house solution to a webcast. I'm sure there's at least one engineer who would love this as a senior project. Anyone have any ideas on how we could effect such a plan?

Cornell also outscources the Cornell Big Red sports site as well, also to CSTV, and as you'll notive if your browse the nation's college sport sites, there are only a finite # of designs times the # of college colors.

What it's going to take is a Cornell athletics steering or advisory committee of web savvy alumni and students, including preferably former athletes, who can come up with a better solution that would include audio, video, a gametracker service, and site design services. The Ivies may rule the world of academia in Nobel Prizes but if the Ancient Eight cut loose in sports (let alone Cornell on its own), CSTV would have its own version of the See Ya, Goon cheer. CSTV may even have contracts with, say, Boston University or Michigan State that says CSTV shall be the only and exclusive provider of game states leaving the BU or Spartans rink.

ftyuv
I think our real efforts should be on getting Cornell to come up with its own, in-house solution to a webcast. I'm sure there's at least one engineer who would love this as a senior project. Anyone have any ideas on how we could effect such a plan?

Yeah, I was pretty familiar with how this worked.

You bring up good points. I wonder what Cornell's contract with CSTV is. Clearly there's not 100% exclusivity of content leaving Lynah, since these other schools provide audio. Maybe Cornell could provide its own service -- or even just stand by as a student provides one -- without breaking its agreement with CSTV.

Are you new here?

Um, define new. I've been lurking for about a year or so I guess, maybe a tad more.

[elf.elynah.com]

Ah. I see.

Um, why, when I try to watch the Cornell-RIT archived game, do I get the Cornell-Princeton football game instead? I'm assuming this isn't just me.

(EDIT: called them; they're working on fixing it...)

Let us know if the second period shows up in the archives (it wasn't in the initial broadcast).

Liz '05
Let us know if the second period shows up in the archives (it wasn't in the initial broadcast).

If it was an encoder problem (likely, since everyone was affected), then it won't be there. I put my money on that.

Kyle

krose

Liz '05
Let us know if the second period shows up in the archives (it wasn't in the initial broadcast).

If it was an encoder problem (likely, since everyone was affected), then it won't be there. I put my money on that.

Kyle

I wasn't willing to put in the effort to check myself for precisely that reason. But if it DID show up, well, then I'd go watch it.

CowbellGuy
http://elf.elynah.com/read.php?1,9840,9840#msg-9840

Ah, memories.

Liz '05
Let us know if the second period shows up in the archives (it wasn't in the initial broadcast).

I emailed them to let them know that the wrong game was archived and got this response -

Hi Avash:
For this issue you will have to contact the University, it is their responsibility to keep up with their site.

CSTV Customer Support

Avash '05

Liz '05
Let us know if the second period shows up in the archives (it wasn't in the initial broadcast).

I emailed them to let them know that the wrong game was archived and got this response -

Hi Avash:
For this issue you will have to contact the University, it is their responsibility to keep up with their site.

CSTV Customer Support

Actually, it might be worth forwarding Athletics your original email to CSTV and the very "helpful" response so they know that proper archiving of games is their responsibility and not included in the services they are contracting from CSTV.

I would not expect Athletics to do anything, but maybe they might have a better idea of the level of customer support we receive from CSTV.

Maybe Big Red hockey is a trial run for the wrestling webcasts. Those, one suspects, will upload and transmit flawlessly.

Do you honestly think they don't know how bad their customer service is? One would assume that if they treat paying fans this way, they probably treat the paying schools similarly...

An excellent point was brought up earlier on this thread: there's only a finite number of companies that do this type of work - have you seen the trash that Harvard and Dartmouth are using now? Their live stats looks like my four-year-old did it with her crayons. From my research, there's three main companies that do this - CSTV, College Sports Direct (AKA XO Sports) and American Eagle - and they all look like garbage.

Until someone comes up with a better plan to host the thousands of pages of information athletics puts out there every year, this is probably what we're stuck with.

Anyone have any ideas why since the end of Age's Lynah Cam, we seem to have had a different company doing this shit each year? And by shit, I think you all realize I do mean shit. There was i2Sports, something before that, now CSTV for a couple of years but it almost seems like CSTV scrapped last year's POS for a new POS. I understand software upgrades and all but you'd think they'd at least build on top of last year's POS instead of going with something that seems completely new and different that is also a POS. I mean, hell, I've had to rgister a new account each year. what, is it too much of an effort to keep me in the database?
Sorry, had to rant.
So, does anyone have a contact email for both CSTV and athletics in charge of this?

syracuse has someone doing the b-ball and its not bad quality.. but thats a separate issue to hosting a web site.

judy
Anyone have any ideas why since the end of Age's Lynah Cam, we seem to have had a different company doing this shit each year? And by shit, I think you all realize I do mean shit. There was i2Sports, something before that, now CSTV for a couple of years but it almost seems like CSTV scrapped last year's POS for a new POS. I understand software upgrades and all but you'd think they'd at least build on top of last year's POS instead of going with something that seems completely new and different that is also a POS. I mean, hell, I've had to rgister a new account each year. what, is it too much of an effort to keep me in the database?
Sorry, had to rant.
So, does anyone have a contact email for both CSTV and athletics in charge of this?

i2sports had issues but at least the guy seemed to care and you could see that he incorporated criticism. I've never bought the CSTV product but it appears that the comments fall on deaf ears. I'd much rather have i2 back.

No All-Access again tonight. I'm eversoglad I paid for this service.

I am waiting on hold with CSTV. I want a refund for tonight's No Access. I called last night too. Monday I will call Cornell Athletics.

This sucks almost as much as Hahvahd does!

I talked to a supervisor and got a one-month credit, even though they do not offer refunds. I guess I badgered and complained enough, or maybe it was the threat of contacting American Express and having them inquire as to why I was being charged for services not rendered.

The supervisor said that there is no way that they can guarantee 100% service. I told her that if this is the case, then they should not use the name "All-Access".

She indicated that this weekend's problems were due to encoding problems.

Even after CSTV becomes compatible with IE7, they will still support IE6.

Rita
Even after CSTV becomes compatible with IE7, they will still support IE6.

As well as they do now?

they dont have to provide 100 % service.. they just need to provide something when the service is down.. if i go to BK and buy a whopper, and then open my bad and theres nothing there.. i go back and get my whopper or a refund..

i am now 0-4 as it didnt work the first games for me either. the response was read the FAQ and figure it out.

CU could provide the same service for less money themselves. they need to be a little proactive and look around for a better deal..

bandrews37
Do you honestly think they don't know how bad their customer service is? One would assume that if they treat paying fans this way, they probably treat the paying schools similarly...

An excellent point was brought up earlier on this thread: there's only a finite number of companies that do this type of work - have you seen the trash that Harvard and Dartmouth are using now? Their live stats looks like my four-year-old did it with her crayons. From my research, there's three main companies that do this - CSTV, College Sports Direct (AKA XO Sports) and American Eagle - and they all look like garbage.

Until someone comes up with a better plan to host the thousands of pages of information athletics puts out there every year, this is probably what we're stuck with.

Recall Daniel Patrick Moynihan and "defining deviancy downward." Moynihan said you could reduce the crime rate by making fewer things illegal or not treating serious crime seriously. Same thing here, too: CSTV may be the least bad of the people doing this for money, but they still are bad. "Least bad" is still bad. My not unserious suggestion was that if someone (a group) actually challenged their quality of service, they might have to cough up some money if it was a legal matter, and that would change their tune. No matter what they say in the click-here-to-agree contract, they can't fail to deliver the webcasts and say that's the luck of the draw. Or if Cornell really is the culprit in supplying a crappy web video feed, they're still partners in crime.

I'll be calling tomorrow and asking for a credit.

York: no video (not planned, either, but I won't bother telling them that).
RM: success! at least for me.
RIT: no video for the second period
Brown: no audio until the second period
Yale: no audio at all

That's five games down, four to go (one of which will be televised) in my month-long subscription period. Not cool, All-Access, not cool.

Josh '99

CowbellGuy
http://elf.elynah.com/read.php?1,9840,9840#msg-9840

Ah, memories.

I have to say, last year's webcast, when it was working, was better for me than the old LynahCam. However, I imagine LynahCam, had it been allowed to evolve, would have been better last year than it was in 2002 as well.

I was just heading over to CSTV's site to tell them that I would subscribe if I hadn't heard all about their bad service. Their hockey page has a picture of a guy from Maine with the caption:

Top-ranked Maine got off to a great start Saturday, scoring two quick goals, but BU battled back with two of it's own to come away with a 2-2 tie in the heavyweight Hockey East matchup.

Emphasis mine. Apostrophe theirs. All the more reason not to pay them a dime.

Ya think, John? Really? 5 year-old technology, the team's old, crappy, rented camcorder with the burned-out CCD and laptop from 2001 didn't match up well with the current offerings? I'm shocked.

Liz '05
I'll be calling tomorrow and asking for a credit.

York: no video (not planned, either, but I won't bother telling them that).
RM: success! at least for me.
RIT: no video for the second period
Brown: no audio until the second period
Yale: no audio at all

That's five games down, four to go (one of which will be televised) in my month-long subscription period. Not cool, All-Access, not cool.

Oh, so we ARE supposed to get video this year? I thought we had taken a step back and gone to an audio only service this year. But maybe that's just cuz I didn't bother reading the specifics and haven't seen any video yet.

CowbellGuy
Simultaneously, he displayed a modified Cornell logo that was highly critical of Athletics on the eLynah Forum. Although the logo was clearly parody, Athletics then chose to escalate the situation by threatening Mr. Manocchia with legal action for trademark infringement.

Grow some balls Age, and anyone else who is afraid of Cornell actually suing you for copyright infringment. They have bigger fish to fry. Anyone threatened by a cease and desist letter over bullshit like this obviously hasn't consulted with eLF's legal counsel, Beeeej. You don't deserve to call yourself a journalist.

I would like to see this "modified Cornell logo that was highly critical of Athletics." Can you post it again?

so who is chancing that all access is gonna work for the harvard game? Deciding between signing up for the sports package on directv for the weekend instead of chancing all-access not working.

jaybert
so who is chancing that all access is gonna work for the harvard game? Deciding between signing up for the sports package on directv for the weekend instead of chancing all-access not working.

Just sign up for the sports pack for the weekend. It'll be prorated anyways (I think) and takes only a couple of minutes to activate.

judy

jaybert
so who is chancing that all access is gonna work for the harvard game? Deciding between signing up for the sports package on directv for the weekend instead of chancing all-access not working.

Just sign up for the sports pack for the weekend. It'll be prorated anyways (I think) and takes only a couple of minutes to activate.

yea, I was going to...but in the email I received from Directv, they also mentioned some $10 cancelation fee if I cancel the service within a month. Anyone experience that before?

Whats the best way to sign up if I choose to go that route? Call in? Or can I do it online? (I havent bothered setting up my account online yet....just got it last month)

They've always tried to impose some sort of charge to reduce any service. You can add programming all you want, but once you try to drop something, they slap you with a fee.

I've never actually been charged a cancellation fee and I've rarely kept the service for more than a month. Note that if you cancel mid-billing period, they usually charge the full monthly rate and then offer a pro-rated refund the next month so it still works out to less than $12. But really, I don't worry about it since I'd pay more than $12 for a ticket to the game.

judy

jaybert
so who is chancing that all access is gonna work for the harvard game? Deciding between signing up for the sports package on directv for the weekend instead of chancing all-access not working.

Just sign up for the sports pack for the weekend. It'll be prorated anyways (I think) and takes only a couple of minutes to activate.

They now have a one month minimum on any new additions to service, which seems fair. As I understand it, the $10 cancellation fee only applies if you cancel within the first month.

jkahn

judy

jaybert
so who is chancing that all access is gonna work for the harvard game? Deciding between signing up for the sports package on directv for the weekend instead of chancing all-access not working.

Just sign up for the sports pack for the weekend. It'll be prorated anyways (I think) and takes only a couple of minutes to activate.

They now have a one month minimum on any new additions to service, which seems fair. As I understand it, the $10 cancellation fee only applies if you cancel within the first month.

I'd say suck it up, pay for the month, and watch a few Goofers games on Fox Sports North, but that's me. (Actully, the danger there may be that you get hooked on having ~5 different college hockey games on every weekend and keep the Sports Pack.)

jtwcornell91

I'd say suck it up, pay for the month, and watch a few Goofers games on Fox Sports North, but that's me. (Actully, the danger there may be that you get hooked on having ~5 different college hockey games on every weekend and keep the Sports Pack.)

There are worse things to get hooked on.