Direct TV make the beast with two backss me!

[TAftonomos]

I've had DTV service for almost 3 years now.  A few months ago my wife gets a call offering a service agreement/damage replacement package for $5 a month.  She figures why not, and they sign us up.

3-4 weeks later my dog chews through the coax outside, causing one of the LNB's (sp?) to go out.  Now some channels didn't work, couldn't record one channel/watch another, etc.

We figure hell, we just got the damage service package thing, so we'll call and they can come do it.  I've got a pair of coax crimpers and could add a splice, but if we're paying for it...call them!

First lady is rude as hell to my wife.  Say's that isn't covered under the damage agreement.  "What is covered" says my wife.  Rep says only faulty installs and acts of god are covered.  We decide "what the hell good is it then, how can you have a faulty install after 2 years?".  We tell her to cancel the damage svc and ask for a credit which we recieve.

2 hours go by a customer service rep calls and ask why we cancelled the svc.  Explain the situation to them, and get so many apoligies I can't count them all.  NO svc fee for the call, someone will be out tomorrow to fix it, free this, blah blah blah.  Next day svc guy comes out, fixes it, tells us no charge and leaves a svc call tag with NO CHARGE written on the damn thing.

3 weeks later.....I get a 49.95$ charge on my AMEX for "SVC CALL DTV".  I call these scum buckets who promptly tell me it doesn't matter what the rep said on the phone, doesn't matter what the service guy told me, I owe for it. 

I get frustrated, and tell them to turn it off, I'll go somewhere else.  5 mins later it's out/off/gone.

less than a day we get a call from "customer retention dept".  Signs us back up, 4 months free, free HD packages, free movie stuff, etc..  OK I say, great...free TV fo ra few months and then cheaper than we were paying before.  SVC fee credited to account, etc.

Next month...we get a bill for the SVC fee and a months worth of TV.  I call, get a decent rep, who tells us it was a mistake and promptly gets it credited.

Following month the new bill comes in....now it's 2+ months of TV and the SVC fee is back.  I call......get a rep that gives me a number to call to explain what has happened.

I leave a message a day on the only person in DTV that is supposedly able to help me.  Finally after a week and a half she calls back (message says she will call back within 24 hours).  Ask her what is going on, she tells me my account has recieved excessive credits, and isn't elligable for free anything.  I tell her what the reps said, offered, etc.  "Doesn't matter sir, you owe it".  I restate that the only reason I stayed with DTV was because of the customer retention offer....I was already cancelled and done with it.  Now I've got 100 some odd $$ I owe because I was conned into agreeing to continue service.  "The rep wasn't authorized to give you that deal".  Well, too make the beast with two backsing bad, they did.  It's a verbal contract you made with me over the phone.  "Prove it" she says, and HANGS UP.

I'd like to say make the beast with two backs YOU DTV.  make the beast with two backs YOU!

[Scottish]

  Let me tell this one again.

I had DTV for about 3yrs in NM with all the premium stuff, never had a problem in NM. Moved to CO and had them install a new dish for my old gear. About 4 monthes later my signal sucks. I climb on the roof and find that there are about 2 bolts that are still tight on the entire rig. I call them up to have someone fix it.


  
 ME: My dish is messed up somone needs to re-aim and tighten it down, your installers left the bolts to loose.
  
 DTV: Okey-dokey they say. Your service charge will be XXXXX amount of dollars.
  
 Me: Wait no, this is because of installation issues, I haven't done anything to it.
  
 DTV: Sorry it's over 90 days we'll have to charge you unless you want to pay an extra $5 a month for insurance.
  
 Me: No, I'm not paying for this when it's your guys issue, I'm not outside throwing basketballs at the dish. It's loose cause your guys didn't install it right. In the three years I was in Alb I never had this problem so it's your installation.

DTV: Well we can't do a service without a charge or an insurance plan.
    
Me: Look this is completely ridiculous. Your service tech can be here and gone in under 20 minutes. I've been with you guys for three years at $85 a month for all the goodies and I'm lazy so I'd like to stay with you. Do the math how much have you made off me? I can get a brand new system installed from dish with DVR for free, they can be here tommorow. Send a tech to take care of me or I'm gonna call them.
    
DTV: Ok we'll send a tech.... you'd like to sign up for the insurance then?
    
Me: NO, you are going to send a tech and NOT charge me or I walk.... let me speak to your supervisor.
    
DTV Supervisor: Same thing.
    
Me: This is insane. If I leave you you'll send me an invite in a month with all sorts of goodies to come back but you won't work to retain a customer you already have... give me your disconnect dept I'm over this.
    


I go through the disconnect business.


    
DTV disconnect operator at the end of the call: We're very sorry to see you go, is there anything we can do to keep you? Will give you 2 room DVR upgrade.
    
Me: Are you serious? You'd send a tech out to install all new stuff but not to repair the gear I already had? You guys are the worst business I've ever seen the GOVT doesn't operate this ineffeciently. I will NEVER come back to DTV. I will also NEVER pass up an opportunity to tell people how horrible your service has been. Goodbye.
    

Epilogue: I still think about trying to reach a corp officer to tell them about my experience, there is NO way that they could be ok with that kind of waste. Losing customers that have literally payed thousands over a $45 service charge, WTF?

Two weeks later, the dish actually fell off of my roof, base and all.

They still send me offers to come back.

[Porsche Monkey]

I have direct TV.   As far as I'm concerned they all suck.  There is no such thing as decent customer service anymore. Its a myth.

[Gator]

Scottish - Why didnt you just tighten the bolts while you were up there?

It would have been faster than the phone call and you don't have to worry about pop-ups while watching porn...
seems worth it to me.

[hypurone]

Shit! and I was seriously thinking of switching to DTV from Comcast who is starting (really always has been since the promo ended) to be ridiculously expensive... Crap, now what? Anyone got any GOOD providers/deals?

[lwszabo]

sort of on the same topic of poor customer service. I have cable (time warner) I pay extra for the baseball package so I can watch the Yankees here in NC. ($189.00 per season) The teams that are blacked out are; Toronto(AL east), Baltimore (AL east)  Chicago W-sox,Atlanta, (Inner league) and Cincinatti (Inner league)...The reason they are blacked out.....They are local teams to North Carolina!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is at least 1/4 of the schedule!

[lwszabo]

Shit! and I was seriously thinking of switching to DTV from Comcast who is starting (really always has been since the promo ended) to be ridiculously expensive... Crap, now what? Anyone got any GOOD providers/deals?

what about dish?

[junior varsity]

I switched to U-Verse in Dallas. Its the first company that I have been happy with. Surprised at the level of service and friendliness of the installer.

I can't and won't ever switch back to Comcast/Timewarner (free HD my ass!) or DTV.

[lwszabo]

anyone ever be scared of the jackass installer mounting a dish to your roof? I am thinking every so often someones roof leaks.

[faolan01]

file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau http://www.bbb.org/us/ explain the entire situation (minus the cursing  ) and how you expect DTV to resolve it.

My old roommate had a running fight with Verizon over something similar (they agreed that they didn't have wireless service in our neighborhood and that there wouldn't be a cancellation fee, then kept sending bills for it), and the last straw was when she got a letter informing her that the account had been turned over to a collections agency. We filed the complaint explaining everything and that she expected them to not only stop trying to charge the fee, but also to inform the collections agency that it was their mistake and that they would take any steps necessary to ensure the false "non payment" from appearing on her credit report, and in less than 5 minutes Verizon called her apologizing like crazy and promising to take care of everything.

legitimate companies (no matter how much they suck) freak out when you take the time to file an official complaint. It's amazing how quickly they learn to do their jobs at that point.

[Scottish]

Scottish - Why didnt you just tighten the bolts while you were up there?

It would have been faster than the phone call and you don't have to worry about pop-ups while watching porn...
seems worth it to me.

The dish needed to be re-aimed. Truthfully I didn't want to mess with it to much because then anything wrong they could say was from me messing with it.... was the reason I didn't do it in the first place. Not that it mattered in retrospect.

[superjohn]

Wow. A lot of high expectations here. If my dog chewed through a cable I'd get rid of the dog and replace the cable. And if my dish was loose after 2 years, I'd tighten the thing back up. The provider has no way of knowing you haven't been up their messing with it and field techs are pricey.

Of course, there's no excuse for rudeness in customer service, so I would certainly fault them for that.

[Scottish]

Wow. A lot of high expectations here. If my dog chewed through a cable I'd get rid of the dog and replace the cable. And if my dish was loose after 2 years, I'd tighten the thing back up. The provider has no way of knowing you haven't been up their messing with it and field techs are pricey.

Of course, there's no excuse for rudeness in customer service, so I would certainly fault them for that.

What if the dish was off after 4 monthes in a new house? I'd been a customer for 3yrs previous to that. At $85 a month that's $3,060 I'd payed them. I don't think a 20 minute service stop to fix a faulty installation is "high" expectations. I take pride in not asking of others to do things I wouldn't do. If I had been in their shoes, I would have had somebody there in 24hrs and apologising profusely for the bad install.

I don't have high expectations, I learned a long time ago that in todays day and age you're in for a lot of disappoints like that. I do however maintain some basic expectations. There are enough companies out there I can still get those met mostly.



And would you? Would you really get rid of a beloved family member over a coax cable? The point was the plan didn't cover crap, and they couldn't get the credit right etc....

[hypurone]

what about dish?

I had them at one point and it was pure shit. Mebbe they have changed, dunno. Would like to hear from someone first.

I switched to U-Verse in Dallas. Its the first company that I have been happy with. Surprised at the level of service and friendliness of the installer.

I can't and won't ever switch back to Comcast/Timewarner (free HD my ass!) or DTV.

I wanted U-verse, but not avail in my area! 

[NAKID]

I wanted U-verse, but not avail in my area! 

Same here. I'm signed up for them to let me know when it becomes available in my area...