Empty Guide

[starkg]

I've just purchased and installed Eye-TV (3) and it works fine.

I have programmed in my account details for Ice-TV, and ... when she got there, the cupboard was bare.

Nada.

Nuttin'

Empty.

Zilch.

I have data in my dashboard widget, the Eye-TV setup assistant tells me that my account is valid until Jan 1 2009, but not a bean. Given the (absence of quality) of many of the programs available, some might say this should not be an issue, but that's not the point.

Why am I not seeing any data?

[starkg]

And now my widget is empty too.

[Marc]

Please email IceTV support via the form on our contact us page. Hopefully it's something simple to fix.

What happens if you click on the widget (to select it), then press command-r to reload it? Does the TV guide info come back?

[starkg]

Please email IceTV support via the form on our contact us page. Hopefully it's something simple to fix.

Done.

What happens if you click on the widget (to select it), then press command-r to reload it? Does the TV guide info come back?

The widget is flaky. Sometimes it loads data - maybe about 30% of the time. It was without data for maybe three hours last evening, when I went to it about 10pm last night it again had data.

[Marc]

Version 2.1 of the widget is due very, very soon and fixed all known bugs and is much faster. Your widget will let you know when the update is available if you leave it open (or subscribe to the IceTV blog as we'll post as soon as it's released).

[starkg]

One would hope that it not only gets released somewhat sooner than RSN, but that it also gets tested beforehand: right now, for me, the widget shows a grand total of just one program for today.

ONE!

That's from all of NINE stations available - eight of them have nothing.

That suggests some serious issues in the application, or your database, or ....

And the response from support this far has been something less than stellar. It took them all day, and the response seems to have gone off on a tangent. It certainly did nothing to address the problems I'm seeing.

No response thus far to my answer to them.

I accept that I'm on a freebie account/trial subscription at the moment. It seems to me that this is when support should sparkle - show me how good they are, show me that they're responsive and quickly able to resolve issues if and as they arise.

Instead, it seems to be lethargic, and as such, it's doing little to convince me that this is a service provider with whom I should be doing business.

The jury's still out, but first impressions are not exactly positive.

[Marc]

I'm sorry you feel that way. Free users are very important to us.

The widget should be released today.

[starkg]

I'm sorry you feel that way. Free users are very important to us.

The (lack of) speed of your responses to me - by email - suggests otherwise.

The widget should be released today.

I look forward to seeing it.

Importantly, I look forward to being able to use it; the current version is, IMHO, unusable.

[Marc]

The (lack of) speed of your responses to me - by email - suggests otherwise.

I'm not part of the support team (so I wasn't the person who answered your query), but I think a response within 24 hours via email is very reasonable. For issues that need to be addressed faster, please call 1300 654 803 from 9am to 9pm (Sydney time) on weekdays and from 12pm to 6pm (Sydney time) on weekends and public holidays.

[starkg]

The (lack of) speed of your responses to me - by email - suggests otherwise.

I'm not part of the support team (so I wasn't the person who answered your query), but I think a response within 24 hours via email is very reasonable.

I think that if a real response is going to take longer than a few minutes, then an immediate, personal acknowledgement is in order.

We're living in the 21st century, and email is basically immediate.

While 24 hours is in some ways not unreasonable, in other ways it's a very long time, and something more immediate - but more personal and less condescending than a "dear valued customer" needs to be put into place.

For issues that need to be addressed faster

We're talking about a TV guide, aren't we? 

What I'm seeing is partly broken ... requires prompt, but not immediate, attention.

Basically, the widget issues seem like poor QC to me.

Likewise, the Eye-TV issues seem to come under the QC heading as well ....