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Hello everyone,

First time user and subscriber to this website and to Directv and let me tell you that your site is doing much better than Dtv is. I am about to tell a story of a journey that I have been suffering though that most would have given up on long ago. My patience is near it's end and I am not sure who else to go to for the exception of the Better Business Bureau. It all started in Feb 2007 when I made my first call to Dtv's 800 number. I placed my order to a rep and everything went fine. She said that I would get a phone call in the next 72 hours from a installation tech. The next day I received an email from them which had my order on it and I believed that all was good. So 3 days goes by and no call from the tech.... I decide to be proactive and call Dtv to ask if there was any problems. This is where it starts to go really bad....

The rep that I talked to stated that because of where I am at (Fairbanks, Alaska to be specific) that there was a massive backlog of users that needed installation due to Alaska Wireless going out of business. Because of this, my installation appointment was scheduled for June 12th 2007! Yes that is right... 4 months later. So, believe it or not, I stuck with it. I thanked the rep for the information that she gave me and prepared to wait. Now some people would ask, "Why didn't you just go with Dish network?" Well from what I have researched, Direct seems to be the better option. Not so sure about that at the moment.... So if you are still awake it gets deeper. The end of May rolls around and I am starting to get giddy about getting the service. I call up Dtv to verify that my installation date is still the same. Yup, still the same. I go along carefree waiting for the 12th of June. So between 8 - 12pm I wait at home on the 12th. 10am rolls around and I start to get worried that there was a problem with the address for the house. I call Dtv again and speak with a rep that tells me my account has become cancelled due to inactivity. Hmmmmmmm do you think so?

An inactive account because I was told that the installers wouldn't be out there for 4 months. So how was it that I was able to verify my account to be installed just 2 weeks ago in the end of May? Frusterated, I sat on hold while the rep talked with several supervisors. I believe that I sat on the phone talking with different people (who couldn't find my account due to inactivity....I became quite good at telling me story) for 3 hours before I was told that a service rep would call me in 72 hours. More waiting and... yup you guessed it....they never called. I called back and talked with someone in the Dtv installation dept. who read the account history log. He was absolutely shocked to see that I had a account number with a install id number that had expired. He told me that the best thing for me to do would be to start all over to get a new install id number. *Sigh* So I do it. I get a credit refunded back to my credit card and he transfers me to a sales rep so that I can start this wonderful journey over again. (Several explicits were yelled as I listed to choppy elevator music while the phone was on speaker)

After a while a rep answered and I was happy to hear that Dtv recognized my troubles and offered to give me 32 months of discounted satellite tv. We will see if that sticks. So at the moment, I sit calling nearly 3 times a week asking if I have acquired a installation date from an installer that is like a ghost. I call the local number (907)264-0097 for Micro communications (the Alaska installer) and it goes straight to a voicemail telling me to call a Dtv number if I need an installation. Ok so we are now at present day and here I am typing asking/begging/pleading if anyone else in Alaska is going through the same headaches that I am. If anybody has information about this company or a different phone number, I would greatly appreciate it. I know that Dtv is not really to blame for this but I would have guessed that (going by some of the other blogs from other Alaskans on here) they would have hired more installers up here to take care of this.

Ok I know that I have written a book about this but hopefully someone has some answers or this will get read by others that are experiencing the same frustrations.

Thanks for your time.

Charley Slater
Fairbanks, Alaska