Willow TV podcast from Bored Cricket Crazy Indians

The podcast for Bored Cricket Crazy Indians' take on the Willow saga is up at Bored Cricket Crazy Indians.

The Willow TV Saga - update

Sorry for the lack of updates on the Willow TV saga. As of now, here are how things stand:

1. After Devanshu's story on how Willow TV seemed to have gone out of business was posted, the Willow TV CEO, Vijay Srinivasan contacted both Devanshu and myself, stating that they were still in business
2. I spoke with Vijay on the phone, who went on to explain that the site had been undergoing back-end maintenance after the World Cup
3. I pointed out that a simple notice on the site explaining this to customers would have been useful, as would have an automated reply from the support account
4. Over the next couple of days, I spoke on the phone with support in India, who repeated some of Vijay's information, and also told me the Pakistan-West Indies series was in fact, not to be shown in the US. Again, I suggested a notice would have helped
5. As of now, it appears there is a notice that the Pak-WI series is not available for US viewers and finally, it appears monthly subscriptions are available again

Finally, I hope Willow have learned from this experience. If your website is the face you present to the world, it behooves you to keep it looking good i.e., informative, topical and easy-to-use.

Sources for the Willow TV story from Deep Backward Point

Here are Devanshu Mehta's citations for the Willow TV story.

The Scoop on Willow TV

Thanks to some intrepid journalism by Devanshu Mehta, who blogs at Deep Backward Point, we have the scoop on why Willow TV has gone dead. Read it and weep.

This constitutes a spectacular Jonty-like catch at Deep Backward Point. Well done Devanshu!

Willow TV Fail - Spreading the Joy

As comments on my posts on Willow TV(on this blog and over at Bored Cricket Crazy Indians) show, its not personal. They aren't just dicking me over. Many of their customers are getting screwed. Yesterday I heard from Peter Della Penna, who runs the Stars, Stripes and Stumps blog over at Cricinfo:

[Your experience is] Pretty much a carbon copy of my experience, from historical failures to this current debacle for access to matches post-World Cup. I've been subscribing to Willow since 2006. They wouldn't know what customer service was if it came up and bit them in the ass. The fact that they've never ever had a phone number to call for customer service and instead rely only on the support@willow.tv address for (nonexistent) communication has always lead me to believe that this was a boiler room operation and that they are completely taking the piss when they say they have a headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. I used to subscribe to the Setanta Sports broadband package in 2007 to get Champions League and Rugby World Cup matches etc., and Willow is a million miles beneath the standard that Setanta provided in every way imaginable, from customer service to web site organization to stream quality. I'm not sure who has been a worse steward of cricket in this country, Willow or USACA. It's certainly a very competitive two horse race. I'm a strong advocate of buying proper services instead of going the pirate route, but just about the only thing Willow hasn't done to piss off anyone trying to follow that path is moon them. It would be wonderful if someone else took over the rights packages they still possess.

The Willow TV Fail Saga Contd.

An update (a bizarre one, I promise you) on the Willow TV snafu has been posted over at Bored Cricket Crazy Indians (I'm trying to see if other folks in the US have had the same problem).

I'm really, really perplexed. Are the folks at Willow offended? Are they hurt? Why can't they answer emails?

Willow TV's Epic Fail In Gory Detail

I've complained about Willow TV before. Here are the details of my latest complaint. For starters, check out www.willow.tv. It still advertises the World Cup, which ended 40 days ago. And it doesn't just advertise it, it is the main attraction, even though new offerings have shown up below it on the left hand bar. Right off the bat, thats a lazy, complacent website for you. Second, check out the new offerings, because thats where the trouble begins.

Three new tours are advertised. Pak-WI, SL-Eng, and India-Eng. So, like an innocent, I decided I want to watch Pak-WI, and clicked on watch. I get taken a to match menu. I click on one of the match buttons. I'm asked to sign in. I sign in. I'm told I am not subscribed to the package and should subscribe. Fair enough. I'd like subscribe. So I click on sign up. And then I'm told I'm already signed up. To the World Cup package! Right. So I email support. This is where the fun begins.

But, as prelude, note that on February 1st, I sent an email asking them whether their claim to be supporting all OS's was accurate. NO REPLY and on April 8th, I sent an email asking about IPL 2011, availability, NO REPLY,

Then the following sequence:

Mail#1, Dated April 21

Folks:

1. Is the Pakistan-West Indies series and the Sri Lanka-England series included in the monthly package or is it in the World Cup package?

In general, by signing up for the monthly package, do I automatically get subscribed to any and all cricket shown by Willow TV?

2. I watch Willow telecasts on my Roku box. When will the streaming interface through that be updated (right now it shows World Cup on the live portion and has nothing on upcoming). Will all live telecasts be available through this streaming interface?

In general, I would say your website needs some updating.

NO REPLY

Mail #2, Dated April 21

Folks,

When I click on the live video button I am told I am not signed up for the event. When I try and sign up, I'm told I'm already subscribed via the World Cup package. What is the real situation here?

Also, will this game be streamed live for those watching via Roku boxes?

Please reply at the earliest.
NO REPLY

Mail #3, Dated April 23

Dear Support,

This is my fourth email in the last couple of days trying to elicit a reply from you regarding the availability of the Pakistan-West Indies series on Willow. You website shows links for the live telecast but the Roku channel continues to show a button for the World Cup channel, which ended three weeks ago. There are no links under "upcoming" for the series either. Is the Pakistan-West Indies series being shown through Roku? (The fourth time I have asked this question without an answer).

Please reply to customer emails and please fix your Roku service. Googling for "willow" will show that in many customer forums online, people are frustrated with Willow's service.

NO REPLY.

The last email was copied to the owner of Willow.tv, Vijay Srinivasan, who I happen to know, from our IRC chatting days. No reply from him. Bizarrely enough, in the meantime, I had emailed him as well as follows:


Mail #1, April 21st:
Hey Vijay,

Whats up? Hope all is well. I'm just trying to figure out what is happening over at willow.tv. The Pakistan-WI series is advertised, but when I try and watch, it says I'm not signed up. When I try and sign up, it says I'm already subscribed to the WC package. My Roku box interface doesn't show a link for the game either.

I've sent multiple emails to support but haven't heard back yet. Any clues? The T20 game has already started.

Vijay wrote back:

Are you a Willow monthly subscriber?

I replied:


I can't subscribe when I click on the link to watch. It says I'm signed up already. In fact, there is no "sign up" button on the monthly package section, just a "watch" link. When I click on that, it says "not signed up". When I try and sign up, it says I'm subscribed to the WC package.

NO REPLY

I then followed up with:

Vijay,

Incidentally, I also sent an email to support, asking them about the IPL but never heard back then. I would say the website is a little disorganized at the moment, honestly. If you guys were not going to carry the IPL, you might as well have just put up a small notice. I'm sure tons of folks must have asked the same question as me!

BTW, I really enjoyed watching the World Cup through my Roku box. Great quality, nice interface. It'd be nice if we could get the same interface through Roku as we have on the website with links for highlights, replay etc. Or is that technically impossible/difficult?

NO REPLY

Frankly, this is easily the worst customer service I have encountered in my life. The disorganized website, the lazy updates, the poor interface, the lack of response, it all adds up to an incredibly unprofessional operation. If anyone has their ear, let 'em know they suck.

Willow TV Fail

I do not have the patience to type up my latest set of complaints against the holders of the exclusive rights to stream cricket over the net in the US. Suffice it to say their spectacularly disorganized website and non-existent customer service is really, really trying me at the moment. All the gory details very soon. Some numbers should help: 5 emails to support; 0 replies.