Among the many disappointments of yesterday, one of the greatest had to be the thousands of Coug fans (and most likely Bobcat fans as well) who had planned four hours of their Saturday to sit down and watch the Washington State-Montana State game that was scheduled to be shown live on Fox College Sports-Pacific. FCSP is a premium channel, coming with a $5.99 a month price tag.
As most of you already know, FCSP determined it would be better to instead show a REPLAY OF SOUTH-CAROLINA CLEMSON SOCCER. I have no idea what prompted this change, as every schedule you could possibly find said that the WSU-MSU game would be aired. So I followed LeaveItToWeaver's lead and emailed Fox Sports about the problem. This is the response I received:
Response (Scott) 09/12/2010 09:12 AM
Dear Viewer:Thanks for taking the time to contact FOX Sports.
Each week we receive hundreds of inquiries from viewers on a variety of topics. Unfortunately, while each is read, due to the high volume we’re not able to personally respond, and for that we do apologize.
We welcome viewer feedback, and appreciate your point of view. We’ll pass it along to our senior executives.
Best regards,
FOX Sports Viewer Services
I ranted a few weeks ago about how Fox Sports makes questionable business decisions, but this whole episode takes the cake.
If you don't think Fox Sports sucks at what they do by now, just look at the email. They receive HUNDREDS of inquires a WEEK. OH MY GOSH THAT IS LIKE SO MANY. HOW DO THEY EVEN HAVE TIME TO SEND OUT THIS AUTOMATED RESPONSE? Seriously though, who doesn't receive hundreds of emails a week? Is it really that difficult to respond to fifty emails a day? Isn't that why you have "customer service" in the first place?
"Hundreds of inquiries" is not high volume. It is the standard volume for any single person that works in an office. Not a nationally recognized organization that operates dozens of television networks.
But of course, they are going to pass it on to the "senior executives!" The lowly customer service representative is too busy to answer this email, but the guys in charge have all the time in the world to do with it! That sure does make a lot of sense, Fox Sports.
This is just another thing (but quite possibly the worst) that Fox Sports has done to piss its viewers off. I am having a lot of trouble wrapping my head around what went into the decision to broadcast an old college soccer game over the scheduled live event. We do not pay "premium prices" to watch replays. We know that the game was produced, because DirectTV/Dish Network viewers who have the satellite alternates were able to see the game. That is why I sent an email, I wanted an explanation. I did not get one because of "high volume."
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Run Larry Scott, run far, far away from these guys when it comes to negotiating the Pac-12 television deal. Or at the very least, demand a higher level of professionalism (and more money).