Gone, going, gone…
Back when I worked tech suppor—err, “customer service,” one of the things we were told not to mess with was peoples’ sports. It didn’t matter if we were Steelers fans and the person on the line was a Packers fanatic, if we felt the Dodgers hadn’t been any good since they left Brooklyn and our customer was from L.A., or if we felt it was ridiculous to subscribe to the 15-channel Cricket Network. We did not comment on their sports choices.
I also learned very quickly that the most outraged and violently-inclined customers were the ones who – because of a problem with our product – would not be able to watch the sporting event they had been looking forward to. Thankfully, I only ever had to deal with regular season games – I quit the day before a massive Oscar De La Hoya pay-per-view, and people I went through training with told me later that I dodged a bullet by doing so.
So what is the MLB thinking – beyond “Here’s a way we can make greedy little fistfuls of extra cash” – when they tell their fans the games they bought from the MLB’s website can no longer be played? And furthermore, what are they thinking when they tell their customers that they can’t have their money back? [link via Boing Boing]
Just got off the phone with a MLB customer service supervisor.“MLB no longer supports the DDS system” that it once used and so any CDs with downloaded games on them “are no good. They will not work with the current system.”
Great. Just effing great. ... As I told the supervisor, this is right in line with how wrong-headed and stupid and ass backwards MLB does everything.
I was told there is absolutely nothing MLB can do about these lost games. Plus, they said my purchases were all “one-time sales” and thus “there are no refunds”.
ahem.
<soapbox>DRM does not add value. DRM does not enhance the viewing experience. DRM cripples content. DRM cheats the consumer of money, time, and property. DRM is a crooked business practice that allows corporations to withdraw a product they have sold to the consumer at any time without warning or restitution. DRM also serves as a gatekeeper to major online publishing outlets, keeping out poorer content providers. Until all companies are DRM-free, the consumer and the independent publisher will have no rights in the intellectual marketplace.</soapbox>
And on a further note – don’t mess with peoples’ sports. They’ll kill you.