My regular readers know that I invited an AT&T solicitor going to door into my house several weeks ago.(You can read that post here if you missed it.) After reviewing all the information he provided me, I decided to call him 4 days later and sign up for the bundled services. He was really surprised to receive my call and wasn’t sure who I was until I mentioned the incident with Tiara. Then he remembered. Ha,Ha.
The offer was that if I switched my Dish network to AT&T and kept them for phone and internet I would save 60$ a month, plus receive a $200 Visa card. Well, in my current financial state $60 a month is a lot of month, so I decided to make the switch even though Lou wasn’t on board. He didn’t say NO, but he wasn’t thrilled. He hates when I mess with his television or have people in the house working on stuff. He is really paranoid and easily annoyed with change.
Of course I do what I want and I really wanted to save the money, plus my internet is really slow and I was excited to have that working faster so I decided to move forward with the switch. Yesterday a guy from AT&T with a curled mustache and a rather brash attitude arrived at the door at 2:30. He seemed a little odd but nice. I worked on buttering him up right away. I find great pleasure in turning cranky, salty workmen into happy, talkative people by the time they leave my house. After looking around and assessing the situation he started switching everything over on our big flat screen in the family room first.
Just a little background on this television. We got it about 7 years ago through a Mercedes-Benz awards program at Lou’s work. It is the most beautiful flat screen I have ever seen. It has ambient lighting that frames the TV and looks really fabulous, plus it didn’t cost us any money out of pocket. People always comment on what a nice TV it is.
The technician admitted to me it was his last job for the day was eager to finish it up as quickly as possible. Wow, that makes me feel loved! We both soon realized that wasn’t going to happen because the tv wasn’t working with the new box. He started claiming it was my television but I sweetly professed, “MY TV IS NOT BROKEN.”
He proceeded to go through 2 different boxes and neither worked on the big TV but then he came up with a brilliant idea. He moved Tabitha’s TV out to the family room so we could test whether it was my TV or the box. Well, sadly Tabitha’s TV worked right away , concluding my TV was broken. I was devastated but still not convinced. Now, I still didn’t believe him but the truth was my TV had been acting up on the DVD setting for over a year. Sometimes I have to turn it off and on 3 times to get it to work, so in the back of my mind I knew he could possibly be right. I felt so defeated. Now all the money I was going to save was really going to cost me $750, which I don’t have. I was so depressed.
Just so you know I have a long history of fixing my TV and entertainment system. Last February I spent almost month working on the system, it was most of my first posts. You can read it here.
I just kept mumbling “Oh my God, my husband is going to kill me! He is going to be so mad!” He had really softened up at this point and appeared honestly concerned. “Is you husband really going to be mad?”
“Oh, yeah, he is going to mad.” He stared at me funny and seemed really stressed. He then said, “If there was anything I could do, I promise I would. I am so sorry,” He had told me earlier he grew up in a really bad neighborhood as a child and I then realized he was concerned for my safety. I laughed and said. “My husband isn’t going to beat me or yell at me, he will just be mad. I am being super dramatic, don’t worry I’ll be OK.”
Sigh of relief from Matt, my technician. “Ohh, OK I was really worried.” He then went on to say, “you could take it down to a TV repair shop in Little Saigon, they have them on every corner.” I instantly started forming a plan as how I could get the TV, which is super heavy into my Prius with Tiara and go to Little Saigon in Garden Grove.
On another note, Tiara was in a horrible mood and kept throwing things all over the house. She has another sinus infection and sometimes gets even more violent when on antibiotics. Either way she was beyond crazy and Matt was getting to witness it all first hand.
Matt spent 4 hours at our home and finally left at 6:30 after I fed him my homemade chocolate chip cookies. Lou came home and as suspected was super frustrated and upset. I did a little research on the cost of new a television after Lou threatened me I was not allowed to go to Little Saigon with Tiara, nor would he be going. Personally I love shopping there you can find great deals, but I felt as if the project may be beyond me and I should listen to him on this one. It looked like the cost of a new TV was about $750. UGH!
The next morning after my walk I went to Best Buy while my mother in law stayed with Tiara. I met the greatest salesman. I showed him a picture of my TV and told him the story. He couldn’t believe it. He said my TV was one of a kind, and I should try and get it fixed. He went on and on about how cool my TV was, making me feel worse by the second. He then said “I don’t think your TV is broken. I bet you anything it is a connectivity issue. Get the model number off the back and Google it. You will find out if anyone hashad the same problem.” I instantly felt thrilled. What a great idea, there is hope! I went home and took a picture of the number since I couldn’t get my body behind the TV.
I found the direct line for Phillips and shockingly enough a real person answered on the second ring. That was the biggest surprise of the day.
I told the lady my whole story and she agreed with the salesman from Best Buy. She suggested I try a 3 prong cable instead of the HDMI. I went to the TV and saw that both the 3 prong and the HDMI were plugged it. That’s weird? I unplugged the 3 prong and just left the HDMI and guess what?
THE TV CAME ON WHILE CONNECTED TO THE NEW AT&T RECEIVER. I FIXED THE TV!!!!!!!
I jumped up and down screaming and yelling and my Mother in law came in and declared, “WOW TT, you Mom isn’t crazy after all, she fixed it!” TT clapped for me and told me “good job.”
Now all I have to do is feed everything through the receiver and I should have my home theater system back in action. This may take a while but who cares at least I know it will work in the end.
Yay Me!!!
Have a great Thursday! Look for another w.w.t.d. later today or tomorrow.
xoxo tiffani
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I don’t know what we ever did before the internet! I always find myself plugging a problem into Google and others who’ve experienced the same issue have already described how to fix it.
Good for you!
Now your husband should be in a fabulous mood and fork over $300 (half of what he saved for his wife’s ingenuity) so you can spoil yourself some.
Great idea but unfortunately I manage all the money so I couldn’t bring myself to do that. UGH!
xoxo tiffani
I love when I fix things myself! good job!
Thanks Dara! It feels so great to do it yourself!
xoxo tiffani
You go girl!! What a rush when you fixed the problem yourself and it didn’t cost $750!