Cables woes

So I signed up for "free digital cable" whatever that means... i can get some shows whenever I want them rather than waiting for when they're really on.... anyway - got 3 cable boxes in the mail... none of the 3 work. Called the company... impressed they were able to send someone the next day. He's here today and my friend is at my house to meet him. Apparently he couldn't get them to work and so he called into the company and then he gets put on hold. "Ha" if one of the employees can't get thru to the cable company... who can?