DCI

[Florida Sun]

I wouldn't buy a product in a store that recieved bad reviews ,i would not buy into fan net work after reading coments here all season long ,I do know if there;s problems with the tele cast in the moives they either refund your money or give you to free pasts to the moive to be used at any time .FAN NET WORK is a bad joke ,And this year DCA is offering it . There frisit telecast of Mission Drums was a poor ,i wouldn't buy into any thing fan net work offers here .

[Stu]

... Take a chill pill and calm down. You're waffles will be done soon...

The first time my Waffles are prepared incorrectly by a particular establishment I chalk it up to a mistake; the second time I am fine with taking a chill pill but I will also voice my concern hoping this does not become a pattern; how many times should a person tolerate poor service from a particular establishment, no matter the small staff or volunteer staff situation, brfore lodging a complaint in the manner of the OP? SFZFAN Please answer.

[NakedEye]

It's unfortunate that many seem to have had such a rough time with the Finals broadcast, but my own experience was very positive. We streamed it to an iPad and AppleTV to an indoor set for the first half, and then when the weather cooled, moved it outside to a projector on a large screen in the yard for the top 6. We got to see a dome show outside.

At most there were just a handful of minor blips in the feed, mostly early on, and occasional pixelization, which always cleared up quickly. Overall, the picture was clear and the sound was good.

We split it 4 ways for $17 a piece and will definitely do it again next year, if it is offered. I wonder what percentage of the issues encountered had to do with various internet providers?

[soccerguy315]

The G7 in particular has advocated cutting DCI's staff down to a bare minimum. I'm assuming that would involve gutting what staff remains to work on Fan Network and audio/video products. Maybe DCI should outsource to BD Mediabox...

... that's exactly what they want, I'm sure.

Then instead of all the corps benefiting from audio and video, it would only be the 7. Just like CrownTickets and YEA event management (or whatever they were going to do according to the powerpoint)

[skywhopper]

... that's exactly what they want, I'm sure.

Then instead of all the corps benefiting from audio and video, it would only be the 7. Just like CrownTickets and YEA event management (or whatever they were going to do according to the powerpoint)

Well, three of the ten livestreams were TOC shows. Five of the rest were regionals and semis. Only two did not primarily feature the G7, although DCI West did have three G7 corps out of six WC corps on the bill. The Muncie show only had one G7 corps (Cavies).

So yeah, what you said.

[WIS]

Honestly - they way the OP comes off on DCP - I'm betting any customer service person having to deal with him would have to possess the patience of an angel. Remember DCI is a small staff - even less people in the office during the tour. I had relatively small issues this year except for the Boston show and they promptly refunded my $ for that one. Take a chill pill and calm down. You're waffles will be done soon...

After reading this I had to go back and re-read the original post to see if I missed something. I originally read it as having a conversational tone of someone stating their feelings. I didn't read it as a rant or that he was a difficult person. On second read I had the same impression as the first. Amazing how individuals can read the same words and come away with completely different impressions.

Maybe I read it as conversational because that is how I would discuss my experiences with DCI. I have been disappointed with their service and have many of the same feelings as the OP. In 2012 I wanted to give my family a great experience, with premium seats for all three days at finals. I paid the higher Friends of DCI membership and ordered the premium seats - this was not a small chunk of change to arrange for four people to have access. We did get great seats. However, the 6 seats next to us were filled with different people each day - and each group stood up to check out where their original seats would have been (we were in the 300s) and how much better these seats were - they would just move if the real seat buyers showed up. I sort of wished that I was the sort of person who could do that with a clear conscious,it would have been much less expensive - but I'm not. I suspect DCI will say it is too costly (or they don't care) to have staff monitor seating. Just tack another $1 onto each premium ticket and they could probably pay the staff time. The annoyance with the chair rotation to the left, however, was offset by the hilarious group that sat behind us all three days.

It was at the beginning of this season that I realized that I hadn't received any form of communication from DCI about renewing my Friends membership. After my 2012 experience I had already decided that I'd give the funds directly to my favorite corps rather than Friends of DCI - but it made me wonder how much funding DCI may have lost from other people that they hadn't communicated with. An email doesn't cost much to distribute and may make the (former) Friend feel like they are valued and want to remain a member.

We went to three shows this year - and I had ticket issues at two of the shows. In both cases I bought the tickets on-line through DCI. In both cases the stadium layout shown did not match the actual layout of the seating. People who thought they had bought aisle tickets found themselves in the middle of the row. In one case I ended up with much better tickets than I thought I had (thought I was on about the 35 based on the DCI ticketing layout - was actually right on the 50 - not a small variance). Unfortunately, that other time was a complete disaster that I'm trying to put out of my mind so it doesn't prevent me from wanting to go to that same show next year.

Is this a rant? Maybe, but that's not how I feel as I'm writing this. I now know to not expect that you are getting the ticket you think you are buying and that you may need to boot someone out of "your seat" when you arrive (although I usually get to a show plenty early to check out the souvenir booths. I was glad that I didn't pop the extra money for the finals on Fan Network based on all of the problems everyone is writing about. I did get a letter this year saying Friends "missed me" - but I've already decided that I could put that money to better use. I was frustrated that I couldn't see scores on Saturday night because I was unable to access dci.org - I gave up, went to bed, and checked scores in the morning.

Crap happens. I've lowered my expectations so I won't be surprised / disappointed when more crap happens. In the mean time, support the individual corps and enjoy the shows.

[d1358531]

I just purchased the audio from the FN of one of the prelim shows and am a little disappointed. It sounds very quiet compared to other shows I've purchased. Still a great show...I just have to crank up the speakers to hear it! lol

[MisterA]

Honestly - they way the OP comes off on DCP - I'm betting any customer service person having to deal with him would have to possess the patience of an angel. Remember DCI is a small staff - even less people in the office during the tour. I had relatively small issues this year except for the Boston show and they promptly refunded my $$ for that one. Take a chill pill and calm down. You're waffles will be done soon...

Interesting you should mention that. I don't think I ever got a true "customer service representative". I got people who answered phones, voice mail of people that were supposedly "customer service representatives" left messages stating the issues and asking for someone to please call me back. But never once did I speak to the 3 different people that I was referred to. I almost wondered if they have fake voice mail accounts to people who don't exist so they don't have to deal with the issues.

I didn't mean to seem like I was a really #####y person. But you would think in 3 weeks, we would have received a response from DCI when we weren't able to receive our service the way we were supposed to. 3 different people we were referred to, and not one email, or return call. I don't even really want a refund like some people. I just want a return call, an apology for service issues and tech support not being able to figure things out. I just want to feel that I am a valued customer. On an average summer my wife and I probably spend over 7,000 between tickets, travel expenses, merchandise, and puttng money into gas funds. DCI doesn't know this, and it shouldn't make a difference when it comes to customer relations. But it almost seems like the only way I might get a response is if I do demand a refund. This is something I probably wouldn't do, as I want to support DCI and the drum corps. But if enough people do start to complain, maybe then it will make a difference? More of a question than anything. All I know is I wouldn't want to be working in the DCI office this week after hearing about the finals feed fiasco.

My actual voice message to what DCI called their tech support person was this.

I have been having issues with my fannetwork live feeds, and tech support at thefannetwork doesn't seem to be able to solve the issues. Could you please return my call at...............

I guess you are right, I can understand why they were so ticked off they couldn't return my call. I really do need to learn how to "chill"

[Tim K]

I have to give a few cheers for DCI customer service. Somehow my Fan Network subscription got messed up, which required a refund and rejoining, and the person was apologetic that an error occurred, was very pleasant and helpful. I also called to order DCI East tickets and they directed me to buy from a corps that had better seats than what they could offer. However, DCI did not give at least two corps the ticket sections promised which meant corps had to explain to their supporters who purchased tickets from them why they were not sitting where expected, which in my case was a disappointment. I had premium tickets with an obstructed view.

Out of curiosity, what is the size of DCI's staff? I would assume it's rather small. Am I wrong?

[AlexL]

We, as a society, have gone through a paradigm shift concerning the acceptance of poor service, and we just have to deal with it.

We accept ###### service for stuff that 'just works' most of the time, and only because we have no other choice.

We accept cable customer service sucking because ideally you deal with them rarely and lets be honest, what's your option? There's no other option other than cutting the cord. Of course the number of those doing that is rising by the day.

We accept ###### customer service from phone companies because they all suck, and therefore it does no good to complain. We cant just have no phone.Additionally most of the time we dont deal with them aside from replacing a phone.

We accept bad customer service at mcdonalds and walmart because hey, its cheap.

However,if the product sucks, and the product is expensive people wont be so forgiving. People will just cancel. And DCI cant afford that.

Edited August 14, 2013 by AlexL