What is the point of having an awesome looking website if it doesn’t do what it says it does? I’m a little bit OCD, which means that I double check things more than most people when it isn’t very important to me. And when it is very important to me I double check things more than a rocket scientist at NASA. I am very good with computers, and I’m very good at operating software and I’m very good at navigating websites effectively, so I know good and well that I didn’t make any mistakes when I placed my DirecTV upgrade order online. I spent a couple of hours trying to call DirecTV and talk to a real person but I failed miserably at that, so I figured that I had better trust the website to do what it says it is going to do.
BIG MISTAKE!
I had a hard time finding the option to upgrade to local channels on the website but I finally found it so, ••• I was very careful to make sure that I was 100% sure that I had picked the $62.99 Plus DVR with Local Channels Package. ••• The website carefully explained that upgrading to local channels meant that I was going to need a new satellite dish which would require a “free” installation from a DirecTV Technician.
(They apparently take this money for the “free” installation out of the $99.00 fee that they immediately charged me when I placed my order to LEASE the DVR from them for $5.00 a month.) (They do not offer an option to purchase a DVR out right.) (And the fine print clearly states that I can not cancel my new DVR service for EIGHTEEN MONTHS without being charged HUNDREDS of dollars as a penalty even though I will also be required to immediately ship the DVR back to DirecTV.) (But I live too far out in the country for cable TV to reach my house, and DISH Network pretty much charges the same amount of money for pretty much the same features, so I guess they have pretty much got me by the b***s and I pretty much don’t have any other options, do I?)
So, anyway, I scheduled the day and time for the technician to bring out my new DVR receiver with local channels. ••• The DirecTV website made it very clear that the technician would take the time to carefully explain how to use all of the new features to the person over the age of 18 who is required to be there during the four hour period that is scheduled for the installation. ••• The DirecTV website clearly stated that this new package would allow me to record two different channels at the same time.
Very few of the promises made on the website actually occured when the technician arrived a week later. I was not able to babysit the technician myself, because I had to be at work, so I had to rely on my dad to supervise the installation, which I did not think was going to be a problem, but I guess that is what I get for thinking that a “professional” installation by a major corporation like DirecTV Corporation, would actually occur as promised by their fancy expensive looking website.
So, here is what happened:
- The DirecTV Technician arrived at 10:00am instead of 8:00am as promised.
- The DirecTV Technician did not hook up ANY of the local channels.
- The DirecTV Technician did not install the ability for the new DVR to record two channels at the same time.
- The DirecTV Technician did not spend ANY time explaining to my dad how to operate anything that he installed.
- The DirecTV Technician just left the new DVR box and the old receiver sitting in the middle of the floor even though the website said that the old receiver is property of direcTV and will leave with the The DirecTV Technician.
- The DirecTV Technician did not mention anything to my dad about anything that was missing from the installation.
- The DirecTV Technician appears to have not communicated anything to the DirecTV Corporation about the failure to install the local channels and the ability to record two channels at the same time. If I was not technology savvy it may have taken me weeks or even months to figure out that everything was not installed correctly as promised by the website.
- My dad said that the DirecTV Technician just took off like he was in a big hurry without explaining anything about the installation.
- The DirecTV Technician did not leave any phone number or any way for us to contact him to ask any questions about the installation. The only phone number that The DirecTV Technician left was the national DirecTV phone number which I had to wait on hold for about half an hour before I was finally able to talk to a real person to tell them that I can not figure out how to find the local channels. The person on the phone dryly informed me that his computer was showing that I was not subscribed for local channels. NO S**T SHERLOCK!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am really mad at DirecTV.
They have horrible customer service.
Their website looks nice but they don’t deliver what you ask for.
Pathetic.
DO NOT EVER WASTE YOUR TIME WITH DIRECTV,
BECAUSE THEY ARE AN ABSOLUTELY PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A CORPORATION.
THEY EITHER DON’T KNOW HOW TO DO ANYTHING RIGHT,
OR THEY JUST DON’T GIVE A S**T.
ok.. so, here goes! first thing with this blog i noticed, (i’m affiliated with DirecTv) is that there IS an option to purchase the equipment outright right now a hd/dvr will cost you around 499 and a sd dvr(r15) will cost you between 299 and 349 depending on the offer. The reason that it is leased is because these are somewhat expensive, now.. after time, the lease option will roll off, for example, when the equipment rolls over to legacy equipment.
The technician arriving at 10 is completely fine, that is why the company gives a 4 hour window for the tech to arrive, there are millions of customers, and thousands in your market… to around a hundred technicians… simple math.
The other issues, you should definitely, and I stress….DEFINITELY contact DirecTv through one of the prospective numbers, and ask to file a complaint against the installer….I’ll admit, there are some horrible installers out there, and DirecTv has committed to getting that taken care of…
Last but not least, the reason i’m commenting on this is not to be a jerk, or anything like that, I just deal with things like this all of the time. You can say that DirecTv customer service is horrible, and some aspects of it do need some work, but I do know that the department/company that I work in takes pride in what we do, and want to take care of our customers.
all due respect
Steven, you’re a joke. Directv is horrible!!!!!! The customer service reps are a joke and are insanely mean to customers. I hate Directv and hope the corp tanks.
I have been a loyal customer of Directv since 1995 and I have had enough of their technical ineptitude, their rude customer service reps, and their incredible arrogance (or ignorance) to think they pride themselves on customer service! NEVER will I sign up for that service again and I will do EVERYTHING in my power to dissuade others from making the mistake of signing up for their product. JUST AWFUL!!!!
Here is an update.
They sent three different people out to my house on three different days, but they never got the local channels to work and the caller ID still doesn’t work on my new DVR. Some features on the DVR are easy enough to use, but they are not reliable. I’m starting to wonder if this thing was made by the same people who made Microsoft Windows 98. On a daily basis the DVR is doing erratic things like:
• skipping all the way back 90 minutes when I hit the rewind 6 seconds button.
• skipping all the way forward 90 minutes when I hit the fast forward 30 seconds button
• on at least five different days the DVR has decided not to record the scheduled show, but the next day it will record that same scheduled show without me changing anything between the two days. So basically this dog gone DVR just decides when it doesn’t want to record shows without my permission.
• the DVR is really really slow when I try to do things faster than a six year old would do them.
• To make a long story short, I am really unhappy with this DVR and I really wish I did not get it. I’m starting to think that maybe I should have tried to get TIVO instead, but I have no idea if TIVO would really end up being any better, especially now that I have heard that TIVO is teaming up with DirecTV. Isn’t there something the government can do to make all these big companies stop combining with other big companies. It seems like the only people benefiting from all of this big corporate merger is the very few executives that are privileged enough to have one of those golden parachutes.
WEll to all of you that do not like directv. Reps are probably rude to all of you because you because you are probably using rude language to them.whats the point of getting all mad its not going to get you anywhere.Just be nice and you will get what you want.I do. and if you dont like directv well then just go somewhere else.If you complain about prices.first of all you must have money to be even spending on cable services ,so why complain>? Gheesh you people.
Bottom line, their customer service is not good at all. D-
hey im a directv rep as well and just to let everyone know we do love our customers…just like everyone of u has a complaint about customer service so do the representatives. how would u like it if someone called u to ur phone yelling and screaming at u and u dont know who they are or what the heck is going on. look were not perfect and it doesnt matter what company u go with everyone makes a mistake along the line. some customers call cursing and venting when we already have stress on our shoulders u have to understand we are regular people just like u. we are not robots. and truely they only reason we are rude to u is cuz thats what is reflected from ur attitude. and from personal experience by the calls ive taken as well as coworkers we only raise our voice cuz u raised urs first. ppl calling about their bills and economy going down its not our fault we do what we can to help u and nothing will ever get done by yelling at us. and i understand that the installers who go out there dont finish there jobs at timesor dont show up on time we have procedures for that and as a matter of fact we release contracts for that as well. get over urselves and take our feelings into consideration. treat people the way u wish to be treated is that not the golden rule. whatever complaints u have against directv customer service is dumb we are only like that cuz u are like that to us. after all its only TV!!! if u dont like it dont get it!
The only reason customers call pissed off screaming is because Direc TV’s terrible service makes them that way in the first place. Most people are not like that in less someone sents them off and after personaly dealing with this scam of a corporation I can honestly say Direc TV brings it on themselves and if there is a good honest person working for this company. My advice to you is get out well you can because Direc TV sounds alot like MCI Worldcom and they will screw thier employees over as well.
not telling, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yawn. Some people just get off on complaining.
If it helps here is the phone number to the president of Direct TV 1-800-666-4388 It made me feel a little better at least
Yeah. DTV could do better. Biggest mistake they made was dropping TIVO for an inferior system. I understand DISH has a better DVR. Far as the technician goes, I had a fantastic technician. He installed and checked everything and explained everything in detail. Maybe he was old-school or something. This was back in 2002 I think. But the guys that put the antenna dish thinkie in didn’t make it stable and I had to get it corrected a year later.
Customer service is nowhere to be found at DrecTV. I had been paying $61 a month for months and never offered a reduced rate because I was a current customer. So, I asked to suspend the account, couldn’t do that before the $61 was paid, then I was suppose to get a $27 credit that showed on my last statement. When I called to request the credit back to my credit card, I was told I had to terminate my account which I did, To do that, they had to restart the service and then terminate it, thereby reducing my credit for a day. It’s now about principle, not the money. I called the credit card company, and have contested the amount of the last charge until I get the credit. I would never tell anyone to use DirecTV – EVER!
BEWARE! DirecTV is a rip off – Customer Service Reps will outright lie to get a sale. The programming and the pricing all sound good but you’ll know your getting ripped off as soon as the first bill comes in. When you call back to argue the bill, the second REP will tell you what the first REP forgot to tell you. If you disagree the only choice you have is to pay more than you agreed to or cancel your contract, then they’ll hit you with a $440.00 cancelation fee. I recommend paying only what you agreed to, dispute the bill and quit paying when they keep charging you. DO NOT CANCEL – let them cut your service for non payment. They won’t be able to charge you a cancelation fee.
Sounds like the best plan.
After being enticed to leave Dishnetwork with all these great promotions We soon found that you have to contact an outside promotions company to get them. You don’t find this out till after your first billing cycle. Which is also the same time frame to lose out on the promotions. So we never got it. DirectTV said to talk to the promotion company. They told us to to DirectTV. Needless to say, we’ve paid full price from day one. We were also told we would never pay full price because they were always offering promotions to current customers. Rogelio is correct. I’ve never met a bigger bunch of lying sales rep’s. We thought we had signed for 1 year. But they now inform us we have another year to go. Almost all providers have the same channel packages at similar price’s. It’s the equipment that makes the difference. With Dishnetwork we needed only one DVR. You can record both TV’s on one DVR. Not with DirectTV. If you change channels, call up the menu, push the recall button. It can take up to 2 minutes to make the change. If it changes at all. I now wish I had never made the change to DirectTV. Most of these companies are crook’s. And after having cable and satellite. (And I’m not endorsing Dishnetwork.) I’m going to follow Rogelio’s advice and stop paying DirectTV and go back to Dishnetwork. The least of 2 evils.
Hmmm idiot yes they can charge you for the cancellation fee it is stated in the agreement they can charge you whethwler the cancellation is done on your part or their part. Because moron you are breaking your agreement by not paying.
THE IS NO DOUBT THAT DIRECTV IS A MISERABLE COMPANY TO WORK WITH. I HAVE BEEN CUSTOMER SINCE THE FIRST SATELLITE WAS IN ORBIT. I HAVE ALWAYS HAD TO PURCHASE MY OWN EQUIPMENT(OVER $1500 OVER THE YEARS).
I HAVE CANCELLED MY ACCOUNT WHICH IS PAID IN ADVANCE VIA CREDIT CARD. THEY ARE REFUSING TO ELIMINATE MY INFORMATION(ACCOUNT) WHICH INCLUDES MY CREDIT CARD INFORMATION, SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER, ETC. IF THEY DECIDE (THE METHOD OF DETERMINING ANY FURTHER CHARGES NOT SPECIFIED BY EITHER OF THE TWO REPS I SPOKE WITH) TO REFUND ANY OF MY ADVANCE PAYMENT, IT WILL TAKE MORE THAN 6 TO 8 WEEKS TO RECEIVE!!!
FOOT NOTE
I didn’t read any of the blogs before I posted mine. The rah-rah DirectTV staffers. I myself never had any problem with customer service. They did an excellent job considering there was not much they can do with company policies they are held to. They were never rude and polite. Under paid, over worked. Its not easy. But then most of us are too. On the other hand your sales staff choose to lie,cheat’ and steal for their commissions. And then stick the customer with inferior crap technology. Well, then your going to hear about it. That’s your job. Next time your at a sales meeting or eating lunch with sales rep’s. Try putting the turd on their plate and see how they like it. It may not change anything, but you’ll feel better. Or just get a new job.
as a technician i can honestly say there are days were over booked and when ur looking at being charged 50 to 100 bucks for being late to ur next job we cant always be perfect. that being said the technician that didnt hookup the second line for the dvr should b shot. there is no reason it wasnt hooked up without an explanation now to the rest of it. u have to kinds of customer service reps sales reps and service reps. sales reps will lie because theyre paid on commision. service reps are firemen so realize the difference and ur experience will be much better. but my no 1 recommendation is deal with ur local retailer the little shop in town that installs and services dtv. ya theyre a little more expensive. but its a one on one experience most the time u deal directly with the owner. whos business name is on the line. and theyre technicians are 100% more reliable and proffesional. most of us techs that go to retail do it because of dtv themselves its smoother on us and our customers. when u deal with a small company compared to nationwide. much more personal and enjoyable. ive had the same customers for years and theyre all very happy with my services. they deal with me directly. no hold times no attitudes just an honest man making an honest living. hope this helps
I have bawled after getting off the phone with so called service reps. I’ve been out right lied to and they have stold from my bank account (over$400) upon being called out they said they would credit my banks account, After waiting a MONTH and still no deposit I was told the last SR didn’t know What they were talkingabout and I gat a “Directv credit” . What can you do? Not one damn they, you are FORCED to take what they dish out or pay out the ***!!!!!!!!!!!! I HATE directv
oh and by the way dtv dvrs are still programmed and designed by tivo note dtv is the only one that hasnt been sued by tivo they just dropped the name and changed the menus. and tivo s are coming back late next year or early 2011 they havent released a date yet.
so thats my 2 cents
directvWILL LIE to you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There custmer service people are RUDE! They debited my account in an amount over $400. for equipment that I owened, after clearing the issue up they would NOT refund my money ( that they STOLD from my bank account) they gave me a directv credit on my bill. They tell me I don’t have a service comitment but won’t send me paper work to verify it so if I cancell they can charge me early cancellation fees.
Ok – lets be sensible for a moment. First, nothing is perfect in this world of ours. DIRECTV is still so much superior than anything else out there. Secondly, for those of you who have your panites in a wad, maybe you should just go back to “Rabbit Ears” If your life is that bad that you have to complain all the time about your DIRECTV service then you need to look in the mirror and make an adjustment to your life. TV is a luxury not a necessity. Cable and Satellite services do their best to help their customers. Are all their employees perfect – of course not but, their service is 100% better than the competition. Local channels became a huge problem for cable and satellite companies. Those companies had no control over that. Writing on a blog does no good except maybe to make you feel better. Write your congressman and see what changes congress can and will make if they’re not too busy banging their assistants. In the meantime; here what I would do – take your receives and throw it in the Hudson River if this is stressing you out. Because when you die and go to heaven, St. Peter is gong to give a rats ass about your cable problems.
Cable and Satellite services do their best to help their customers.
LMAO
N/S, Directv’s customer service does in deed suck. Ever notice when you call them it sounds like their reading from a script they have in fron t of them. I usually hang up and call back until I get a person who sounds like they know what their doing, don’t be afraid to do that. If your having a lot of trouble ask for the manager not the supervisor, that’s jusat a waste of time.Tell the manager what you want and have it recorded on your account, If all fails ask for the cancellation department and tell them why you want to cancel, they WILL work with you.
Lastly you can also go to corporate to file a complaint at
http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/contentPageIFnorail.jsp?assetId=P4960016#h:691.437
Hope this helps, good luck
Sweeet! Thank you Defa!
The bottone line is… If any corporation would like to stay in business in this kind of economy, they should treat thier customers with respect and gratitude. Directv’s customer Service reps and managers are the worst of the worst. Yeah, some of you might find some decent ones every once in a while, but 90% of the people I have talked to and my own experience tells me they are HORRIBLE! They are rude, disprespectful, and happy we are making sure they have a job. Becasue really, the consumers are paying thier wages. Without us, they have no job! I will make it a goal of mine, (until I am out of my contract, and probably afterwards too) to let every possible person I know not do business with directv. Of course the reps who replied above have a different out look! They work for them! HELLO! I have one thing to say to them. Come to the other side and see how you feel then MORONS! Stick up for them as much as you like. The percentage of people who think you are bad do NOT lie. Think about it. Directv is the worst possible satellite company to do business with! BEWARE!
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/getNFLback Would you reward a kid for stealing from your purse? Of course you wouldn’t.Then why is the NFL rewarding Directv with exclussive rights? They lie , cheat , and steal.They charge you to lease their equipment , then charge you upto $5.99 to protect it against repairs.They will also make unauthorized charges to your credit/debit card.This is 100% accurate , google directv complainsts , it will blow your mind , they had over 20,000 complaints in 3 years , thats a BBB record.They have 3 lawsuits pending , in California , Washington , and Oregon.This does not include the silent suits.My goal is to get congress to open the NFL Sunday Ticket to cable companies , And all Satellite companies , At the top there is a Petition , my goal is to get 10,000 signatures then I’m sending the petition to congress.America needs competition , what if there was only 1 electrc company , gas company , Or auto maker?You Get the point , Thanks for your support! Earl David Evans
http://www.directvscams.com Would you reward a kid for stealing from your purse? Of course you wouldn’t.Then why is the NFL rewarding Directv with exclussive rights? They lie , cheat , and steal.They charge you to lease their equipment , then charge you upto $5.99 to protect it against repairs.They will also make unauthorized charges to your credit/debit card.This is 100% accurate , google directv complainsts , it will blow your mind , they had over 20,000 complaints in 3 years , thats a BBB record.They have 3 lawsuits pending , in California , Washington , and Oregon.This does not include the silent suits.My goal is to get congress to open the NFL Sunday Ticket to cable companies , And all Satellite companies , At the top there is a Petition , my goal is to get 10,000 signatures then I’m sending the petition to congress.America needs competition , what if there was only 1 electrc company , gas company , Or auto maker?You Get the point , Thanks for your support! Earl David Evans
Recently I signed up for DirecTV with a third party vendor who told me my bill would be $24/month. After having service for 20 days DirecTV will not let me cancel my account for free on the grounds that I was lied to and that they never sent me anything within the allotted 24 hour period that would have encouraged me to cancel. In other words, I never received a bill estimate following installation. I just want what I signed up for…
I am extremely upset with DirecTV because we became new customers in May 2010 and from the first week of service until December 2010 I spent a lot of time calling DirecTV because the DVR was not operating properly. Once we turned the TV on, it would take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour before we could change a channel. I promise you that I called DirecTV at least 10 times about this problem and they always wanted to troubleshoot. I would have called more often but I got tired of coming home from work and spending half an hour to an hour on the phone with them, accomplishing nothing. The first 2 or 3 times of troubleshooting was okay but at what point do you not realize that troubleshooting was not working. We got to the point of having to leave our TV on whenever we left the house so that we would not have a problem changing the channel when we returned. What makes it so bad is that we are paying a monthly maintenance fee and they still wouldn’t send anyone out to take care of our problem. It took exactly 7 months for DirecTV to send a technician out to solve the problem because I told them I was not going to troubleshoot again, that they had better send someone out or they could discontinue our service. He replaced the DVR and everything is working fine now.
I just got off the phone with technical support. Getting the person to understand the problem was tough but some of her suggestions were definately not thought out. The problem : the two prior days two channels were confused. Select ch209 (ESPN2) I would get ch659 (FSN Pgh) Then today I would only get ch209 regardles if I selected ch209 or ch 659.I have 3 other sets connected to directv from the same dish. She first suggested the game I wanted to watch (hockey, Pens-Bruins) was blacked out! It was on 3 other sets! After crawling behind the cabinet the set was on, looking for a box that wasn.t there, I suggested resetting the DVR (which is only a receiver because I canceled the recording after I expected it to be free with a promotion so I canceled it). That didn’t do anything immediately. They wanted to send out a repairman at $49.95. I asked if they were nuts.because it was their equipment screwing up not mine! I nixed and suggested they send a new receiver and they could have the DVR back. she was quiet for some time, figuring I guess, and told me the receiver wiuld cost $199.00! I nixed that and behold the hockey game came on and the channels changed correctly. 2x. Hopefully it will be OK. If not I’ll cancel. I only have directv for the NFL ticket and it is over anyway. I’ll be visiting a friends house next football season if this happens again.
Robert, I am extremely sorry to hear of the issue you have just experienced with DirecTV. It’s no wonder that DirecTV’s DVR has been criticized for “operational bugs” and its receivers has been called “a headache” according to tech review site CNET. I’m both a customer and employee of DISH Network and I can say that our baseline DVR receiver, the ViP 722 family, has consistently won Editor’s Choice awards from the likes of CNET and other tech review sites. DISH Network beats DirecTV in value, customer satisfaction, and loyalty – so why put up with bad service?
I Think DirectTV is into bait and switch. They really need to upgrade the customer service. The Customer Service is the worst I have ever experienced!