Platinum Members Speak Out

[Long Time Fan]

I can't remember the webcasts from last year having as much trouble. Granted, this year's webcasts have been of great video and audio quality compared to last year.

I know that the infamous chat log was posted in the Webcast thread. Still, I think DCI should at the very least publically explain why the audio quality was subpar throughout the entire webcast and why the video quality was subpar until The Crossmen showed up on the field.

I'd hate ask for a refund and condemn the whole system because personally, the webcasts have worked just fine for me up until Saturday night. I have a feeling DCI will try very hard to make it up to us within the next week.

How should they make this up? We lost what they promised to provide. Are you saying if they get it right for Semifinals then this is OK. What about those corps that we will not get another shot at because they will not make it out of Quarters?

[perc2100]

They are charging a lot more this summer, aren't they? Is it not right to presume that, with a larger fee, this would mean they are going to do a better job?

You would think. I believe they're charging at least DOUBLE what the cost was last year, and, IMO, it was worse this year. Tonight was the SECOND webcast that didn't work at all for me (the first being Anapolis, which ended up working OK about half way through via DCI's freebie). By big problems:

1. After Anapolis DCI refunded PPV, but gave NOTHING to platinum members (their bread and butter). At the time, I wasn't super mad, assuming things would be fixed the rest of the season. But after tonight, I'm uber ticked.

2. While not being able to log in at all tonight, I spent roughly 25 minutes WAITING FOR THE TECH SUPPORT TO BECOME AVAILABLE! NOTHING happened, and I never got through. So not only did DCI drop the ball tonight in many ways, but they couldn't even offer any tech support to help me out

3. Tonight was the biggest debacle of the season (so far, to paraphrase Homer Simpson), but the rest of the season has not been smooth either. Anapolis sucked, and I have still never had one show where something didn't go wrong multiple times: EVERY show I couldn't watch full screen, and it froze up multiple times during multiple corps. I have never seen any live web cast all the way through without an cliches.

4. Through these problems, I've received ZERO contact from DCI. No "I'm sorry," no "please accepct ______ as a gift for our mistakes," no nothing. A little bit of customer service can go a long way, and no customer service goes even further.

5. The price for the Platinum membership has doubled, and the service has not grown at all. I'm paying more money for what feels like less product (while there were some issues last year, there was never a show where DCI didn't at least work it out half way through so I could watch most of the show: even the one where SCV's webmaster had to step in and save the day).

I told DCI that I was expecting some kind of refund, and I think that $14.95 for Anapolis and $14.95 for Stanford (PPV prices) are not unreasonable. ON TOP OF THAT, if DCI wants my business next year, I would expect to be thrown some type of bone. The refund will make me slightly less pizzed about tonight, but it won't make me feel OK dropping $90 next year. If DCI also gave me a discount for next year (they could even make it the same price it was the year before, when it was for just 3 months or something, and I would feel OK), I would think about resubscribing. Also, they definitely need to hire someone to handle this: they've "grown up" in this technology, and "we're new at this" doesn't work when you double the prices. If they hire out to provide the web casts, they can then guarantee their product with a complete refund type thing, and that could go a long way with making us feel at ease.

Honestly, I don't feel bad about DCI shelling out money for refunds. They promised a product, and could not deliver. In the business world that's suicide, and kills businesses in the long run. DCI might take a hit now, but it will pay off in the long run when people who currently swear they won't do it again can be shown a little bit o' DCI love, and be won back over next season.

[Danpod]

Now that's a solid policy. How does that help the Platinum Members who already paid for this service?

How about giving Finals to the Platinum Members??? Now that would be saying you are sorry.

That's a very good question. It's a lot easier to refund the money of a pay-per-view user because at least there's a specific transaction for that show. With Platinum Members like myself, we only made the one time transaction of $89. I wonder how the Fan Network keeps track of that stuff.

Finals to the Platinum Members would be absolutely unprecedented. We can dream, right?? :)

[perc2100]

Now that's a solid policy. How does that help the Platinum Members who already paid for this service?

How about giving Finals to the Platinum Members??? Now that would be saying you are sorry.

Now THAT would appease me: it would be like "trading" events, and DCI giving us Finals would be a LONG freaking way to show us they're truly trying to make us happy. They could ONLY do it for Platinum members (i.e. not open it up for PPV or anyone else), so they wouldn't lose a ton of money on anything (I would bet a lot of Platinum members will be at Finals anyway).

I would SERIOUSLY doubt DCI would do this, which would make it that much more impressive if they did. If they offered this as a way of saying sorry, I wouldn't care about a refund, and I would more than likely renew my membership for next year, thinking "well, if DCI was that serious and gave us Finals, then they HAVE to be serious about making it better this year."

I would be so insanely happy if they did this, but, again, I would be SHOCKED if they did. My guess? Right now they're freaking about logisitcs for Finals (finding housing for the large handful of corps still without, plus the other 'normal' stuff), that this will not be a huge issue in their minds. I, on the other hand, would expect immediate response/resolution, or I will be EXTREMELY disappointed and will probably be done shelling out $90 to DCI to screw up the web casts next year.

[sardomus]

As much as I want to support DCI, I think that, in order for things to get better on DCI's end, people need to remember the frustration that they're feeling tonite when it comes time to subscribe next year, because if everyone cheerfully throws down their 90-something bucks, DCI will have no motivation to fix things.

The first year that Quarters was broadcast in the theater, I took a train for 45 minutes into NYC, and walked a half hour to my nearest theater. The program was so unwatchable (due to satellite weather conditions) by the time that XMen performed, there was a mini-riot at the theater, police were called, and a line formed demanding refunds. That was my first and last time trusting in DCI's technology department. How many times last year (and even this year) has DCI's website crashed due to an overload of fans getting scores. That's just website traffic... and we're surprised that they can't get a webcast going right?

I haven't been to a quarterfinals broadcast since. Nor have I purchased a single webcast... not at these prices. I don't trust DCI yet to get it right, I'll wait until threads like this don't exist anymore, and if more people did the same, DCI would be motivated to figure out where everyone went. But if all people do is complain on DCP, the wheels of progress may move slowly.

[Danpod]

How should they make this up? We lost what they promised to provide. Are you saying if they get it right for Semifinals then this is OK. What about those corps that we will not get another shot at because they will not make it out of Quarters?

In addition to a full explanation, I think the "gift" should be relative to the Annapolis situation.

They experienced technical difficulties before the Annapolis webcast. There were even strong rumors about not being able to broadcast the show at all. However, they remedied the situation, made the feed available for no charge, and even refunded the money to those pay-per-view customers. At least the majority of viewers were able to see and hear the Annapolis show with no problem.

Now we come to Saturday night. We had a dark and fuzzy picture from the beginning of the webcast up until The Crossmen. How bad was it??? Try hooking up a regular cable line to a fancy High-Definition TV and then try to watch The Blair Witch Project on it. The camera showed a close-up of the Mandarins drum major right before they began their show. You could not see his face at all. It was kinda freaky! The audio was a big issue all night. We had to listen to sound constantly fading out from mono to stereo and back again. It was very irritating, to say the least.

Here's my point:

At least with the Annapolis show, we had plenty of people that experienced a glitch-free webcast (Good video quality, consistent stereo sound). With the DCI West Championships, every single person who shelled out money to watch the show tonight had a bad experience. Every single one. I don't know what DCI should do but it should be generous.

[Whiskey]

How about free platinum membership for the 2008 season? Let's just call this year a worthy effort, give me next year free and all will be forgiven.

[Tekneek]

This is all well and good, but I expect to silently be given nothing. If anybody gets anything, it will be those willing to make the most noise. DCI won't go out of their way to please anybody who doesn't complain, although they must certainly know the webcast last night stunk.

[toph34]

My response to DCI:

Dear DCI--

I am dismayed at the quality of the DCI West webcast last night. I understand there were issues and multiple attempts were made to correct the issue with audio but the experience was less than positive. The quality of the sound really was unbearable. I enjoy the Season Pass/Fan Network experience and appreciate the efforts by DCI to keep the fans connected to the activity throughout the season but you missed the boat on this one. Couple that with the problems at Annapolis early in the season, I have to ask myself "Will I be subscribing next year?" I am a strong supporter of DCI, spending hundreds of dollars each year on merchandise, tickets, travel, fuel funds, etc and will continue to support the activity that instilled terrific values in me and continue to do so for the sake of the performers but I do have a certain expectation in terms of value for my dollar and do not feel that value has been met regarding quality of the broadcasts this season. I am not asking for a refund of my Platinum membership fee but a small token such as a copy of the 2007 CD or mid-season DVD might go a long way to instilling a sense of confidence in your product when the time to renew approaches. Thank you for your time and I do appreciate the very many things you do right. Good luck for the remainder of the season.

Christopher

Will let you know how that goes. I don't feel a full refund is in order for me as I do utilize the EnCorps video quite alot and have had some success with other webcasts but last night, well... I thought my ears would bleed by the end. :P

[crfrey71]

You would think. I believe they're charging at least DOUBLE what the cost was last year, and, IMO, it was worse this year. Tonight was the SECOND webcast that didn't work at all for me (the first being Anapolis, which ended up working OK about half way through via DCI's freebie). By big problems:

1. After Anapolis DCI refunded PPV, but gave NOTHING to platinum members (their bread and butter). At the time, I wasn't super mad, assuming things would be fixed the rest of the season. But after tonight, I'm uber ticked.

2. While not being able to log in at all tonight, I spent roughly 25 minutes WAITING FOR THE TECH SUPPORT TO BECOME AVAILABLE! NOTHING happened, and I never got through. So not only did DCI drop the ball tonight in many ways, but they couldn't even offer any tech support to help me out

3. Tonight was the biggest debacle of the season (so far, to paraphrase Homer Simpson), but the rest of the season has not been smooth either. Anapolis sucked, and I have still never had one show where something didn't go wrong multiple times: EVERY show I couldn't watch full screen, and it froze up multiple times during multiple corps. I have never seen any live web cast all the way through without an cliches.

4. Through these problems, I've received ZERO contact from DCI. No "I'm sorry," no "please accepct ______ as a gift for our mistakes," no nothing. A little bit of customer service can go a long way, and no customer service goes even further.

5. The price for the Platinum membership has doubled, and the service has not grown at all. I'm paying more money for what feels like less product (while there were some issues last year, there was never a show where DCI didn't at least work it out half way through so I could watch most of the show: even the one where SCV's webmaster had to step in and save the day).

I told DCI that I was expecting some kind of refund, and I think that $14.95 for Anapolis and $14.95 for Stanford (PPV prices) are not unreasonable. ON TOP OF THAT, if DCI wants my business next year, I would expect to be thrown some type of bone. The refund will make me slightly less pizzed about tonight, but it won't make me feel OK dropping $90 next year. If DCI also gave me a discount for next year (they could even make it the same price it was the year before, when it was for just 3 months or something, and I would feel OK), I would think about resubscribing. Also, they definitely need to hire someone to handle this: they've "grown up" in this technology, and "we're new at this" doesn't work when you double the prices. If they hire out to provide the web casts, they can then guarantee their product with a complete refund type thing, and that could go a long way with making us feel at ease.

Honestly, I don't feel bad about DCI shelling out money for refunds. They promised a product, and could not deliver. In the business world that's suicide, and kills businesses in the long run. DCI might take a hit now, but it will pay off in the long run when people who currently swear they won't do it again can be shown a little bit o' DCI love, and be won back over next season.

I am totally with you on this. I emailed DCI last night just after 7 PM Pacific time demanding a full refund for my PPV. What also is disheartening and absolutely bad is that DCI updated their website already from the shows last night, with nice stories, recaps, etc... Yet, no apology or even a reference to all the technical diffculties from the webcast last night. Even during intermission last night, they could have made a statement on the air, apologizing for the lack of a webcast and all the technical difficulties. Sorry, no excuses for what happened last night and no excuses for the lack of any acknowledgements or even apologies.

Edited August 5, 2007 by crfrey71