[Useless]

Damn cable companies.

I have Directv and I have always been a fan of it. But a few weeks ago I was looking into getting the Directv Tivo box and discovered that each time you make any kind of change (additional equipment, change equipment, use their "free" moving service), they automatically sign you up for a two year contract, and if you cancel your service before those two years are up, they bill a penalty fee and you must return your equipment or be billed for that as well. I have no need for my Directv boxes if/when I cancel, but it pisses me off because I purchased those fucking things from a retailer -- I didn't get them from Directv for free. Directv now refers to that purchase price as a "rental deposit" or some shit like that so that they don't have to refund your loss. Fucking fuckers.

There are, as you can imagine, a bunch of civil suits against them for these practices.

So, I'm intentionally screwing myself out of being able to record television programming because I don't want a two year contract even though I can't see why I'd be canceling in the next couple of years anyway.