DIRECTV(I can't take it anymore!) [Archive]

IA_Chiefs_fan

09-13-2006, 07:11 AM

I recently switched to DIRECTV so I could get the NFL Sunday Ticket. I even purchased the Superfan so I could get most of the games in HD.
I have one receiver that's completely flaky.
They won't send me the free portable DVD Player I was promised.
My Superfan HD channels are freezing up so I couldn't use them this past Sunday.
I've had billing errors on both of the first two bills I've received.
Now the real problem: Calling Customer Service is a horrible experience. They have a crappy IVR system that is not user friendly and when you get a Customer Service Rep they're all foreign. They are very polite and I have yet to hurt their feelings but they cannot help me! They can speak English well enough to read scripted responses (again they are very polite) but they are unable to converse in a way that can solve a problem. I even spoke to a supervisor that it was semi-difficult to communicate with. The Supervisor was supposed to call me back last week and, of course, never did. Of course there's no direct line to her.
What can I do? Any ideas how I could reach an AMERICAN employee? I'd give anything to speak to some rude, under-paid English-speaking American Customer Service Rep!!!!!!!!!

jspchief

09-13-2006, 07:14 AM

I've never gotten a foreign customer service rep from DTV in dozens of calls.

Are you calling 1-800-directtv?

Bill Lundberg

09-13-2006, 07:14 AM

Strange, I've been with them for 4 years and always get right through to a CSR who speaks very good english. I've never had any problems with them. In fact I'm on the phone with one right now upgrading to the HD.

IA_Chiefs_fan

09-13-2006, 07:18 AM

I've never gotten a foreign customer service rep from DTV in dozens of calls.

Are you calling 1-800-directtv?
I'm at work right now so I don't have access to the number I've been calling. It is the one on my bill.

IA_Chiefs_fan

09-13-2006, 07:19 AM

What time of day/day of the week do you guys usually call? Maybe they overflow calls overseas during certain busy times.

Skip Towne

09-13-2006, 07:30 AM

Obviously, I call Directv multiple times each day and I have rarely gotten a camel jockey. They have a huge call center in Tulsa (21st and Sheridan). It is in a former Lowe's building. Another center is in Nevada (I think). I know of no overseas centers. It is the sales company, not D* that owes youthe DVD player. I have no idea why your bills are incorrect. Call 866 678 9471. It is the tech line and they answer very quickly. They have a very high turnover rate among CSRs and most of them are new and inexperienced. As to the pixellating, it could be a loose fitting, faulty multiswitch or bad LNB. Does it only do it on HD channels?

kepp

09-13-2006, 07:32 AM

I've had DirecTV for 5 years now and have never gotten a foreign customer service person...and they've always been very helpful. If the number you're dialing is 1-800-directv I would try it next.

ChiefsLV

09-13-2006, 07:50 AM

Skip Towne

09-13-2006, 07:53 AM

My friend worked at their callcenter here in Las Vegas. They haven't outsourced. You must have been calling the company you ordered the DirectTV equipment from. Some of those companies can be very flaky. From what I've heard, you aren't missing out with the quality of DVD player they send out.
I'll bet you are correct on those DVD players. I've never seen one but they give them away by the thousands. Probably a $15 toy piece of junk.

Reerun_KC

09-13-2006, 07:58 AM

Direct TV rules. have them for over 8 years now. Love the Sunday Ticket, but I dont have naything in HD....

htismaqe

09-13-2006, 08:17 AM

I never had a foreign CS rep with DirecTV.

Of course, I never had a really nice one either.

Their customer service is the reason I finally decided to move on.

Skip Towne

09-13-2006, 08:19 AM

I never had a foreign CS rep with DirecTV.

Of course, I never had a really nice one either.

Their customer service is the reason I finally decided to move on.
Aren't you the guy who has had 4 new cars in 6 years? You seem rather hard to please.

htismaqe

09-13-2006, 08:20 AM

Direct TV rules. have them for over 8 years now. Love the Sunday Ticket, but I dont have naything in HD....

I had them for about 8 years too. And now that you mention it, I never had a problem until I upgraded to the 3-LNB HD dish...

Demonpenz

09-13-2006, 08:24 AM

Everytime i call i used to call someone who like they acts like their job is rocket science. Just read your little book and help me asshole. I guess these kids today rather pimp ho's or listen to hip hop than help a tax payer out.

htismaqe

09-13-2006, 08:24 AM

Aren't you the guy who has had 4 new cars in 6 years? You seem rather hard to please.

ROFL

I've bought 4 new cars for 2 reasons:

1) I had two kids in a 2-year span. The first of the 4 new cars was a 2-seater, purchased just a few weeks before my first child was conceived.

2) I changed jobs and traded a 10-mile commute for a 50-mile commute. Shortly thereafter gas shot up to $3 a gallon.

As for DirecTV you can save it...I was more than accomodating as a near decade-long customer. They treated me EXACTLY like the cable company did. They placed no value on me being a customer, or they would have fixed my technical issues instead of telling me to find another provider.

TinyEvel

09-13-2006, 08:27 AM

I'll bet you are correct on those DVD players. I've never seen one but they give them away by the thousands. Probably a $15 toy piece of junk.

I got the DVD player. YOu are right. It's made by COBY (font same as SONY).

You have to mail a copy of your first bill along with the free gift redemption form. I cna't remember if the form came in my first bill, or with the install. I also got a redemption form for $100. Whcih I got a check in the mail within a few weeks. :shrug:

unlurking

09-13-2006, 08:34 AM

I've had problems with channel 501 flaking out for the last few weeks (since it was only 1 channel, I just assumed it was the sat or HBO screwed up). Then Sunday some of the Ticket channels were flaking out hard core. The Chiefs HD channel stuttered occasionally, but thankfully not often. Someone was out Monday evening about 7:30 and replaced the LNBs. It "almost" sucked ass, but I didn't miss the game and they came out pretty damn quick.

As far as the 1-800 number, I found that just jamming the "0" button constantly gets you to a single mini-menu to take you to tech support, billing, etc. Just keep jamming that button when the recording starts telling you about the website or troubleshooting. All of a sudden you here "You are an A-List customer, your call is being routed", or something like that.

Anyways, just check your HBO channels and that 30-second NFL channel replay in the 700s. If they aren't coming in, you may have the same problem I have. The tech said that that is usually a sign of a bad LNB.

As far as the billing problem, I had serious problems with billing for almost a year (being charged twice for Center Ice, and other shit). Got to the point that we had to call every month for about 6 months. They gave us a $25 credit every month we called though, to "apologize" for the problem. Make sure you complain if you end up calling regularly with billing problems and they'll take care of you.

unlurking

09-13-2006, 08:39 AM

I never had a foreign CS rep with DirecTV.

Of course, I never had a really nice one either.

Their customer service is the reason I finally decided to move on.
When I first got DTV, their customer service was the best I'd ever had for ANYTHING. About 2003 or so the customer service started to become absolute shit, and if it weren't for Sunday Ticket, I would have switched.

Over the last 3-6 months I have found it slowly improving. It's not nearly as good as it used to be, but I feel like they took good care of me with the last issue I had, and I don't feel like shooting anyone after getting off the phone with them anymore.

I just hope this trend continues.

Skip Towne

09-13-2006, 08:43 AM

I had them for about 8 years too. And now that you mention it, I never had a problem until I upgraded to the 3-LNB HD dish...
Didn't you install that yourself?

KUalum

09-13-2006, 08:46 AM

kcxiv

09-13-2006, 08:48 AM

I have had Direct tv for 6 years now. Never had a problem with thier CS or thier Hardware. Also, never had any foreign phone service either. Always, been nice and friendly to me. I wont ever go back to regular cable.

dtebbe

09-13-2006, 08:49 AM

Just so you know, the stuttering or freezing that was happening on 723 (HD chiefs/bengals feed) was on the network end, and eventually cleared up towards the end of the 3rd quarter. It did it for a while at the beginning of the game and then again after halftime, it looked like there was some sort of sync issue when the network switched from the studio to the remote (stadium) feed. When I switched around to other HD games they were fine (naturally).

I'm a DirecTv homer, been a happy customer since 96. It does piss me off to pay $99 for HD games and then have the one I want to watch stutter for a quarter of the game. If I called and bitched they would probably give me showtime free for six months.... maybe I will call, I hear Xfactor is guest starring in Queer as Folk this fall.

DT

Skip Towne

09-13-2006, 08:51 AM

Skip - I hope you can answer this question.
I want to switch to DTV with HD and cancel TW. The problem I have is that I do not have a landline and can not justify the expense of one just to plug into DTV. My cell plan is fantastic, my roommate works for Sprint and gets free cell and our wireless broadband is only $15/month unlimited. If I could only get a good deal on DTV with HD I would switch in a heartbeat, but I definately want local channels in HD and I don't want to face black outs in Sunday ticket or any other sports because I don't have a land line. Is there anyway around the landline issue.
Thanks
You do not need a landline for D*. They used to try to enforce it but there are just too many folks with cell only phones. If you would PM me I'll get you in touch with a sales person.

unlurking

09-13-2006, 08:54 AM

Just so you know, the stuttering or freezing that was happening on 723 (HD chiefs/bengals feed) was on the network end, and eventually cleared up towards the end of the 3rd quarter. It did it for a while at the beginning of the game and then again after halftime, it looked like there was some sort of sync issue when the network switched from the studio to the remote (stadium) feed. When I switched around to other HD games they were fine (naturally).

DT
Interesting to see someone else had the same problem on 723. Unfortunately, the non-HD version of the game was working about 10% of the time for me, as were most of the non-HD games by half time. Guess I was looking at a local and a system wide problem.

htismaqe

09-13-2006, 08:54 AM

Didn't you install that yourself?

Nope.

It was installed, and RE-installed, by a technician of their choice. When I refused to PAY for a third installation, they told me to find another provider.

1adam1238

09-13-2006, 08:56 AM

I hate the so called customer service as well. I have had DTV for 6 years and only have it so I can watch the Chiefs. There services sucks donkey balls. When you finally can talk to someone, they don't know shit. I have had times when trying to order a pay-per-view game (college football) the technician didn't even know what channel it was on. What a freaking pain in the ass to call there service number.

Skip Towne

09-13-2006, 08:56 AM

Nope.

It was installed, and RE-installed, by a technician of their choice. When I refused to PAY for a third installation, they told me to find another provider.
WOW! Just WOW!

unlurking

09-13-2006, 08:56 AM

Skip - I hope you can answer this question.
I want to switch to DTV with HD and cancel TW. The problem I have is that I do not have a landline and can not justify the expense of one just to plug into DTV. My cell plan is fantastic, my roommate works for Sprint and gets free cell and our wireless broadband is only $15/month unlimited. If I could only get a good deal on DTV with HD I would switch in a heartbeat, but I definately want local channels in HD and I don't want to face black outs in Sunday ticket or any other sports because I don't have a land line. Is there anyway around the landline issue.
Thanks
Don't know about not having a land line, but they obviously have some way to do it since they sell sevice to RVs and boats.

As far as local channels in HD, they've been launching new satellites for that, but I think the last article I read about it (last year maybe?) said the service really wouldn't be available until 2007.

dtebbe

09-13-2006, 09:00 AM

Don't know about not having a land line, but they obviously have some way to do it since they sell sevice to RVs and boats.

As far as local channels in HD, they've been launching new satellites for that, but I think the last article I read about it (last year maybe?) said the service really wouldn't be available until 2007.

HD locals depends on the market. My neighbor gets the Atlanta HD locals drom DirecTv. He's got one of those new 5 LNB dishes and the MPEG 4 receivers.

I have a RV receiver, not connected to a landline. As far as I know it just can't order PPV. Otherwise it works fine without the landline. You can order PPV online at no charge, however, just not from the remote.

DT

unlurking

09-13-2006, 09:04 AM

HD locals depends on the market. My neighbor gets the Atlanta HD locals drom DirecTv. He's got one of those new 5 LNB dishes and the MPEG 4 receivers.

I have a RV receiver, not connected to a landline. As far as I know it just can't order PPV. Otherwise it works fine without the landline. You can order PPV online at no charge, however, just not from the remote.

DT
I've got the 5 LNB and a brand new HD DVR (don't know about MPEG4, it's about a month old), but I cannot yet get local HD. Maybe there are doing a regional roll-out. I will have to call again and see when it might be available in my area. Thanks for the heads up.

htismaqe

09-13-2006, 09:16 AM

WOW! Just WOW!

Exactly what I thought after being a loyal customer for nearly 10 years.

I'm sure you could have fixed all of that all by yourself, right?

Skip Towne

09-13-2006, 09:22 AM

Exactly what I thought after being a loyal customer for nearly 10 years.

I'm sure you could have fixed all of that all by yourself, right?
I very likely could have helped. Were all the installs at the same residence? You are allowed to use the MOVERS program twice a year if they are different locations. If it was just correcting a bad install I probably could have talked you through fixing it. This is the first I've ever heard of them inviting someone to leave. I'll bet the higher ups don't know about it or heads would roll.

Frazod

09-13-2006, 09:31 AM

I've got the 5 LNB and a brand new HD DVR (don't know about MPEG4, it's about a month old), but I cannot yet get local HD. Maybe there are doing a regional roll-out. I will have to call again and see when it might be available in my area. Thanks for the heads up.

Welcome to my personal hell. My dish won't pick up local channels, so I have to use a UHF antenna to get them in HD - the antenna picks up every channel EXCEPT channel 2, which just happens to be the local CBS affiliate. Therefore, if the local CBS channel carries the Chiefs game, DTV blocks its HD channel in my area, but I can't get it because my f#cking DTV equipment won't pick it up. Couldn't watch last weekend's game in HD, and the local channel is, of course, carrying the Broncos game this week as their 4:00 game. I have Sunday Ticket for ONE REASON - to watch Chiefs games in HD. I'm paying $300 for this shit, and so far haven't got a single minute's use out of it.

Of course, if I had cable, and didn't pay any extra, I'd have no problems whatsoever.

:cuss:

Skip Towne

09-13-2006, 09:33 AM

Welcome to my personal hell. My dish won't pick up local channels, so I have to use a UHF antenna to get them in HD - the antenna picks up every channel EXCEPT channel 2, which just happens to be the local CBS affiliate. Therefore, if the local CBS channel carries the Chiefs game, DTV blocks its HD channel in my area, but I can't get it because my f#cking DTV equipment won't pick it up. Couldn't watch last weekend's game in HD, and the local channel is, of course, carrying the Broncos game this week as their 4:00 game. I have Sunday Ticket for ONE REASON - to watch Chiefs games in HD. I'm paying $300 for this shit, and so far haven't got a single minute's use out of it.

Of course, if I had cable, and didn't pay any extra, I'd have no problems whatsoever.

:cuss:
I'd go with cable. Seriously

Frazod

09-13-2006, 09:33 AM

And yes, their customer service sucks balls. I generally get English-speaking types, but now that I know they're in Oklahoma, well, that certainly explains a few things. I'd probably be better off with the foreigners.

Frazod

09-13-2006, 09:34 AM

I'd go with cable. Seriously

For the first time in 5 1/2 years, some useful advise.

htismaqe

09-13-2006, 09:41 AM

I very likely could have helped. Were all the installs at the same residence? You are allowed to use the MOVERS program twice a year if they are different locations. If it was just correcting a bad install I probably could have talked you through fixing it. This is the first I've ever heard of them inviting someone to leave. I'll bet the higher ups don't know about it or heads would roll.

No, it was the same residence. They came out and installed the HD LNB (that part was free) and immediately I had problems with poor signal quality on the non-HD channels. I thought it was out-of-alignment, so they came back and looked it over, told me nothing was wrong, and charged me $36.

So, I called them and told them it was still doing it. They came back, looked it over, changed out a bunch of cables and some other stuff, and charged me $155.

It started doing it again about 3 days later so I called and explained to them what was going on, told them I wasn't gonna pay for another unsuccessful house visit, and they said flat-out that if I wasn't happy I could always go to Dish Network or cable...

The problem turned out to be the box on the back of the dish itself (I think you were the one that actually told me about it)...

Skip Towne

09-13-2006, 09:46 AM

No, it was the same residence. They came out and installed the HD LNB (that part was free) and immediately I had problems with poor signal quality on the non-HD channels. I thought it was out-of-alignment, so they came back and looked it over, told me nothing was wrong, and charged me $36.

So, I called them and told them it was still doing it. They came back, looked it over, changed out a bunch of cables and some other stuff, and charged me $155.

It started doing it again about 3 days later so I called and explained to them what was going on, told them I wasn't gonna pay for another unsuccessful house visit, and they said flat-out that if I wasn't happy I could always go to Dish Network or cable...

The problem turned out to be the box on the back of the dish itself (I think you were the one that actually told me about it)...
I wish the powers that be could hear this story. I'm going to try to find an email addy for the president. His phone number is 888 237 8327.

The Bad Guy

09-13-2006, 10:02 AM

You have to milk the retention system.

Currently, I'm getting HBO/CInemax/Stars and only paying for one of them.

I get the HD package free.

15 bucks off my base package.

They've given me so many credits it's ridiculous.

I have Sunday Ticket and Superfan as well with DVR service and an additional receiver and I haven't had a bill in 3 months.

I refered two people, but still.

I have had numerous problems with their movers connection, a refurbished tivo catching on fire, an installer drilling into the apartment I'm staying in when I specifically told him no drilling.

But, they have paid for their mistakes with me.

Just call retention and explain the problem to them. Call the normal 1800Directv number and ask to speak to the retention department.

htismaqe

09-13-2006, 10:07 AM