DirecTv makes it hard to not like them...

[dtebbe]

Ok, so I've been a DirecTv customer (and Sunday Ticket subscriber) since 1996. I had decided this year that I would not renew Sunday Ticket, since they charge $99 extra for the "SuperFan" package which you have to buy to get the games in HD.

So I get an email a couple weeks ago, thanking me for being a long-time subscriber, and saying that it was my anniversary so they were giving me 3 month of free Showtime as an anniversary gift. Cool, I thought... Then towards the bottom there was a link to click if you had any complaints or compliments about DirecTv service.

I figured "what the hell" I'll complain about having to pay $99 extra to get Sunday Ticket in HD, and explain that I won't be renewing sunday ticket this year because of that. So I did just that.

My bill shows up this month, and Sunday Ticket early renewal is on there, along with free SuperFan.

It's hard to have a problem with that.....

DT

[BWillie]

I still wish I had Time Warner instead of Comcast. Never had DirectTV, but Dish Network sucked worse than all of them put together.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by The Bad Guy

I'm not trying to break balls here, but how in the hell can they charge you for an extra receiver you're not using and you not know about it? The amount of receivers are clearly stated on the bill and what the charge it.

I have never had one complaint with DirecTV. They have really taken care of me for the 10 years I have had them. No complaints what so ever.

One of them was on the bill; one of them wasn't. I also pay the bill automatically each month (something I'm not going to do anymore), so I normally don't even look at it. So yes, I guess I am at least partially at fault for not pouring over the ****ing statement line by line to ensure that they aren't trying to screw me every month, but SHOULD THAT REALLY BE NECESSARY? Do you really believe it should be? I mean, apparently it is necessary because this company is so awful, but it shouldn't be.

If I'm reviewing a contract, or my boss is, and one of us misses something important that costs the client money or puts him at a disadvantage, and the client doesn't catch it for several months, we take responsibility for that mistake and correct it. We don't blame the client for our mistake, or charge him extra to fix it. When did that stop becoming the norm? I don't know what you do for a living, but are you able to shove your mistakes off on others as a matter of course?

When we as a people have become so accustomed to bad service that we feel we should be responsible for not getting screwed BY THE PEOPLE WHOSE SALARIES WE PAY, something is really, really wrong.

[BigMeatballDave]

Originally Posted by BWillie007

I still wish I had Time Warner instead of Comcast. Never had DirectTV, but Dish Network sucked worse than all of them put together.

If DISH had Sunday ticket, I'd be a customer.

[KCChiefsMan]

**** that business. Their marketing strategy makes me want to travel to India and fuck some shit up. I had to get rid of my lan line because of them, they would not stop calling no matter how pissed off I got with the guy, I put my number on the no call list and still over a dozen phone calls per day ranging from 7am - 10pm. It drove me insane, I couldn't just unplug my phone because I was expecting job related calls. Would never do business with that company ever.

[Ultra Peanut]

Originally Posted by frazod

I'm waiting to hear back from a consumer advocacy attorney as to whether or not I have a decent case to sue them. They've been charging me for deactivated receivers for years (only one of which showed up in the fine print of the bill) and have told me they'll only credit me for their obvious mistake going back two months (because I didn't notice their ****-up before now, it's my fault).

With any luck this attorney (who has won a case for us in the past) will take the case and turn it into a class action. Eight years with these mother****ers, all the problems I've had, all the times they'd randomly add shit to my account hoping I wouldn't notice, and I can't switch because of their unholy hold over Sunday Ticket.

What a horrible, horrible company.

I want in on this. There is nothing they seem to love more than randomly making shit up, and whenever you call them, it stays fixed for maybe a month before it starts happening again. It's liberating to have finally dropped them.

[Frosty]

I have been with DirecTV for about 12 years and have never had an issue with them. My only problem with them is they are getting expensive. Our monthly bill is $63 a month with one DVR and no premium or sports channels. We are thinking of dropping to the minimum package except during football season.

I am pissed at Dish at the moment. I was visiting my grandpa last weekend. He had just upgraded to HD and had paid $80 for the installer to come out and put in the new dish and receiver and hook it all up to his new LCD HD TV. He was showing it to me and talking about how disappointed he was in HD and it didn't look any better than regular TV.

I looked at how they installed it and they had used a regular video cable (the red, white and yellow kind) between the receiver and TV. It says right in the manual that you won't get HDTV if you don't use an HDMI or component cable. I had to run into Wal-Mart and get an HDMI cable (for $30) to get it all to work right. He was a little more impressed then.

I think it was preying on the elderly, pure and simple.

[Ultra Peanut]

It's really amazing how many people have probably had that happen to them.

An HDTV being hooked up with composite cables, ugggh, it hurts to even think of it.

[Frosty]

Originally Posted by Ultra Peanut

It's really amazing how many people have probably had that happen to them.

An HDTV being hooked up with composite cables, ugggh, it hurts to even think of it.

I remember Skip saying that he didn't think HD was any better than SD. Makes ya think, doesn't it?

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by arc

I have been with DirecTV for about 12 years and have never had an issue with them. My only problem with them is they are getting expensive. Our monthly bill is $63 a month with one DVR and no premium or sports channels. We are thinking of dropping to the minimum package except during football season.

I am pissed at Dish at the moment. I was visiting my grandpa last weekend. He had just upgraded to HD and had paid $80 for the installer to come out and put in the new dish and receiver and hook it all up to his new LCD HD TV. He was showing it to me and talking about how disappointed he was in HD and it didn't look any better than regular TV.

I looked at how they installed it and they had used a regular video cable (the red, white and yellow kind) between the receiver and TV. It says right in the manual that you won't get HDTV if you don't use an HDMI or component cable. I had to run into Wal-Mart and get an HDMI cable (for $30) to get it all to work right. He was a little more impressed then.

I think it was preying on the elderly, pure and simple.

$63 is expensive??? Shit. I have Comcast, 2 HD boxes and one DVR and no premium channels and it's $145. It's 21 dollars for each additional HD DVR I want. I mean that is just ridiculous. I wish Comcast and Time Warner would stop their stupid KC agreement and compete against each other. How is that not creating a monopoly?

[JD10367]

Originally Posted by arc

I have been with DirecTV for about 12 years and have never had an issue with them. My only problem with them is they are getting expensive. Our monthly bill is $63 a month with one DVR and no premium or sports channels. We are thinking of dropping to the minimum package except during football season.

I am pissed at Dish at the moment. I was visiting my grandpa last weekend. He had just upgraded to HD and had paid $80 for the installer to come out and put in the new dish and receiver and hook it all up to his new LCD HD TV. He was showing it to me and talking about how disappointed he was in HD and it didn't look any better than regular TV.

I looked at how they installed it and they had used a regular video cable (the red, white and yellow kind) between the receiver and TV. It says right in the manual that you won't get HDTV if you don't use an HDMI or component cable. I had to run into Wal-Mart and get an HDMI cable (for $30) to get it all to work right. He was a little more impressed then.

I think it was preying on the elderly, pure and simple.

This goes on ALL THE TIME in Florida. It pisses me the f**k off. Either the workers down there know they can pull a fast one on the old people, or they simply don't give a shit enough to do their jobs so they outright lie to them. My elderly parents bought a humongous HDTV, and paid to have the store hook it up. The asswipe comes out, and literally tells my father, "No, you won't be able to hook your TiVo up to this TV". Friggin' pudknocker, he just didn't want to do it or think about it. I literally had to fly to Florida for the weekend to hook up his TiVo, DVD player, and VCR to the TV for him.

If you want to live in Florida, you could easily move there and start a company whose sole job is to go to old peoples' houses and help them hook up their TVs and computers. The poor old bastards are clueless, and would happily pay you $50 an hour to do it right for them and not screw them like everyone else does. (Yeah, that's kinda screwing them too... but with better intentions, LOL.)

[ArrowheadHawk]

Originally Posted by arc

I have been with DirecTV for about 12 years and have never had an issue with them. My only problem with them is they are getting expensive. Our monthly bill is $63 a month with one DVR and no premium or sports channels. We are thinking of dropping to the minimum package except during football season.

I am pissed at Dish at the moment. I was visiting my grandpa last weekend. He had just upgraded to HD and had paid $80 for the installer to come out and put in the new dish and receiver and hook it all up to his new LCD HD TV. He was showing it to me and talking about how disappointed he was in HD and it didn't look any better than regular TV.

I looked at how they installed it and they had used a regular video cable (the red, white and yellow kind) between the receiver and TV. It says right in the manual that you won't get HDTV if you don't use an HDMI or component cable. I had to run into Wal-Mart and get an HDMI cable (for $30) to get it all to work right. He was a little more impressed then.

I think it was preying on the elderly, pure and simple.

You can use the composite cables to get hd you just have to plug them into the the red/blue/green(component) spots and use another cable for the audio.

[Frosty]

Originally Posted by BWillie007

$63 is expensive???

For what we get, it is. SD, no movie channels and no sport channels, except for what comes with the basic package.

[JD10367]

Originally Posted by ArrowheadHawk

You can use the composite cables to get hd you just have to plug them into the the red/blue/green(component) spots and use another cable for the audio.

Yes, but the quality via Composite isn't as good as via HDMI. But, you're right, it's a hell of a lot better than Component a/k/a "RCA" cables.

[BigMeatballDave]

Originally Posted by JD10367

Yes, but the quality via Composite isn't as good as via HDMI. But, you're right, it's a hell of a lot better than Component a/k/a "RCA" cables.

Component cables are the red/green/blue. Composite video is yellow.

[JD10367]

Originally Posted by arc

For what we get, it is. SD, no movie channels and no sport channels, except for what comes with the basic package.

Yeah, that seems a little pricier than basic cable.

I pay Cox Communications around $133 a month, but that gets me regular cable on any TV I want, digital cable via a two-tuner HD DVR, all the music and other channels that go with it (couple of hundred channels), HD channels at no extra cost, plus high-speed cable modem for Internet as well as digital telephone. It's not a bargain, but since it's phone+computer+TV I guess it's okay.