At the end of March, Microsoft’s highly anticipated new HBOGo app went live, days before the much-heralded season two premiere of HBO’s Game of Thrones. The app, which allowed the popular online HBO service to be watched through your Xbox 360, (provided that you already have an HBO subscription) was seen as another feather in the cap of Xbox Live Gold, and another reason for gamers to plunk down $60 a year for a service that other systems give away for free.
That is until late April, nearly a month after launch, when a mandatory update killed the app for DirecTV customers.
Gamers who try to log in to HBOGo are met with an error message from DirecTV saying that the service is temporarily down, and an 800 number is given “if the problem persists.” And it does persist. Now, two weeks into May, the service is still down.
If you call the 800 number that DirecTV offers, the customer service rep says, as if reading from a script, that they are aware of the problem, and there is no time frame for resolution. Repeated calls can escalate to a supervisor, who toes the company line of, “We know, and we’re trying to fix it. Sometime. Soon. We hope.” When asked for an official response, I was told that there is no official response.
The rep I spoke with requested that I not print her name.
Attempts to contact Microsoft via their troubleshooting forums lead to finger pointing, where technicians have said, “It’s up to DirecTV to fix,” and “It’s HBO’s App.” Regardless, almost three weeks into the problem, no one is taking responsibility, and no one is offering a solution.
DirecTV has no timetable for a fix, and Microsoft is just apologizing and asking angry gamers for patience, or directing them back to DirecTV.
If a solution is found and implemented, TheHDRoom will expediently pass along the information. Also, please keep in mind that this outage only affects DirecTV customers.
