I hate dealing with Customer Service. (updated with good news)

UPDATE *scroll down

Direct TV just cost me $55.00 because their equipment is faulty.  Not to mention two days of no telephone at the house.  Frustration....

My Phone service went out, every jack in the house.   This is problematic because I do not have a cell phone.  So no 911 no getting important calls, no making calls.  Oddly enough, our internet was still running fine.  It is DSL and comes through the same phone lines.

I tried various trouble shooting things,  with no luck.  I then called Century Link to file a service repair ticket. If the problem is on their side of the box, it costs nothing.  If it is on my side of the box $85.00.  

The tech found that the DirectTV box was shorting out the phone lines.  He further said this was common and I should contact Direct TV for reimbursement of the money.  His name is Jay, his Tech number is 488.  His boss is Ryan 541-440-3110.

When Jay unplugged the DirectTV box the phone service was restored.  Which really makes the culprit clear.

So, I contact Direct TV.  The automatic crap sees I am bundled with Century Link for the discount and transfers me.  Despite my screaming NO!  I get Charlie from customer service, who proceeds to tell me that it is Century Links problem, not theirs and the Direct TV boxes NEVER have this issue and they will not be able to provide any compensation.

I ask to escalate this up to a supervisor and Charlie decides to give me a one time credit of $30.00.  Not being happy with the $55.00 I will be paying out of pocket, I ask to speak to a supervisor.

For the next eight minutes 38 seconds I am waiting.  Listening to the sounds of the call center.  At that time Charlie goes to transfer me to a "Supervisor" and I am on hold for another 2 minutes 15 seconds.  Charlie tells me someone cut in line and it will be even longer.

Charlie then wants to make a deal and provide me a 10 dollar a month credit for the next 12 months.  At this point I am more interested in disconnecting my Direct TV then being hooked into another 12 months with faulty equipment.  So I tell Charlie to issue the $30.00.  

Oh, this is not over.

UPDATE:
I got a hold of various e-mail addresses for Direct TV Corporate.  I just got a call and they are issuing me the balance!  WOOT!