I've been a customer with directv for about 10 years and have recently purchased an HDtv. Trying to upgrade to directv hd has been quite a headache. It all started more than a month ago when my first installation appointment came. The installer came out and looked at where the dish, took out his little protractor thing, and said there was no los and then got in his truck and left. So I called directv and asked what was up with that. So I asked if they would simply send me the equipment so i can so a self install in another place in my yard. Well they said sure, it wouldn't be a problem and told me they would have an installer come out and leave me the equipment. So the tech came and basically stared at me like I was crazy when I said that he was just supposed to give me the equipment. So he preceded to look at my current dish, did a los sight test and said yeah thats a problem. He then said he would have to call his supervisor for approval. After trying he said he couldn't get into contact with him and said he would be back later in the day to leave the equipment and then never returned. So I rescheduled for the following Saturday morning. When that day came around I got a phone call that mornig from a dtv tech and asked what was up with him leaving the equipment. I said that the people at dtv said it wasn't a problem. He said hed have to talk to his supervisor about it. 5 minutes later and the phone rang again, said he couldn't do it and that i would have to buy the dish myself. So after this I asked if he would come and look at all of the different points on my house and find a los. He refused. So he told me he would call me back with a resolution and hung up. He never called back. So after that I called dtv and told them the story so far. The first csr told me that they should of left the equipment, the second csr said the same, the third said the same, and the forth said that they would only give me the box, but under no circumstance would they give me a dish. So I asked if they would send someone out to find a los on my house and do an install. They said that they would have a supervisor come out the next day and do a survey. The next day I sat around the house all day to have the supervisor completely blow me off and not show up. So I, being so fed up, just gave up, until the other day when I finally broke down when I found a pretty good deal on ebay for a slimline. So I dug the hole outback for a pole mount and am now waiting for the dish to come. So once when I get that set up I need to call up directv and get a receiver. Now I am not someone who is to ask for things free but after this instance what do you think my chances would be to get some free things, especially if I call the retention dept? I am scheduled to get the H20, which I am getting for free, but do do you guys think there may be a chance in maybe telling this story and possibly get a free or cheap upgrade to an hr20. I know the techs, according to a csr, will have to bring out this receiver but do you think I might be able to negotiate a good deal (hopefully free) on an hr20. If not maybe some good deal credits. I know it may be a long shot but whats your opinions? Thanks
Do you think directv will give me anything?...
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Best bet is to call them and tell them you are thinking about leaving them for Dish Network as they are giving HD DVR's for free. Tell them you have been a customer for 10 years but can't stay unless they upgade you at little to no cost.
This method usually works well.
This method usually works well.
Call into resolution department, describe what you have been through. Tell them you want the receiver free and reimbursment for the dish you purchased elsewhere since the installers would not give it to you.
Do you think you'll be able to aim the slimline / peak it? Do you have any meter or anything? The installers should have been willing to do something to move it to a new location or a pole mount or something.
Do you think you'll be able to aim the slimline / peak it? Do you have any meter or anything? The installers should have been willing to do something to move it to a new location or a pole mount or something.
the final basic installer who called on the phone instead of coming out to the house said he'd do a pole mount for about $110.00 and then charge me to bury the wires. I said why pay you when I could do the same thing for a fraction of the price. They still refused to give the dish. I did ask for them to come and do a complete los survey for my house and thats what the supervisor was supposed to do but he never showed up.
The reason the installers aren't supposed to leave the equipment with you is because D* charges them for the equipment they use. If the installer left the equipment, then his company would be out the money they spent to get the equipment because they left the equipment and did not have an associated work order to recoup the costs.
The D* CSR can not obligate your local HSP to spend money like this. If D* wants to send you the equipment directly, then that is a different story.
The D* CSR can not obligate your local HSP to spend money like this. If D* wants to send you the equipment directly, then that is a different story.
In my opinion, however, directv should be aware of the fact that they can not obligate the installers to do this and since it is directvs fault that I was misinformed I should recieve some kind of reimbursement fo my aggravation. I am not one to say this unless I truly believe I deserve something and directv should some how make up for this miscommunication. The people directv choose to represent them, the csr's, should be better educated or they should have to somehow make up for the mistakes they make. Also the local service provider would not even come to my house to do a survey of any other points on my house. The supervisor of the company didnt give my the time to even see if they'd install. Overall my complaint is not that I had to pay for the dish but rather of all of the aggravation I have been through just to pay them $10 more a month for their service. I just think that maybe they should help me out for everything that I had to go through.
ya, im gonna call in for the receiver once i get the dish in and setup. Do you think they will mail the receiver or have an installer come out and hitch it up? I hope they just ship it because i dont have a meter ad was hoping to use a regular receiver to get the main three satellites and thn use the hd receiver to fine tune for the ka sats. If a tech comes and sees that the dish isnt properly aligned do you think he wouldn't leave the box? Do you think he may fine tune it for me without charging me or will he refuse to touch the dish and claim liability or something. That is if he were to actually show up, which would be weird if he actually does. Does anyone know which contractor services central mass and if there are mor than one which is best to use as I will request a specific one if there is one that is better than another.
the nightmare continues...
it turns out the dish i ordered from ebay was a scam auction. To think I have had years of good experiences with ebay until this item, the one thing I really want, is just my luck. Now i might have to wait up to 30 days to get my money back from paypal. I guess i was just never meant to get hdtv. I don't want to be libelous but dont buy from bumble bee wings on ebay. I guess im just gonna set up the ota antenna for now and add the dish eventually when I get everything sorted out.
it turns out the dish i ordered from ebay was a scam auction. To think I have had years of good experiences with ebay until this item, the one thing I really want, is just my luck. Now i might have to wait up to 30 days to get my money back from paypal. I guess i was just never meant to get hdtv. I don't want to be libelous but dont buy from bumble bee wings on ebay. I guess im just gonna set up the ota antenna for now and add the dish eventually when I get everything sorted out.
Why not just go to E*, they will do it all for free. My folks had D* for over 10 years and all they were offered when they tried upgrading to HD service was $10 a month off for 6 months. I called for them and told D* about the offers others got, but they offered NADA, so I told them to go jump in the lake and got them signed up for E* with DVR, 3 rooms, top 200 and HD for free. I had the same experience with D* a few years back when I went to HD, but, by this time next year my local co-op telco will have added HD to their existing digital TV service, via fiber and I will probably drop all of my SAT service.
Check out the thread at What the Deals are, and what are you being told by CSR? - DBSTalk.Com to see what others have done to get discounted or free upgrades to MPEG4 hardware.
My advice is the following below. Just buy the dish itself at a local store like Circuit City if you can afford it. But before buying the dish call the customer retention department and say that dish offers a free HD DVR and after all the trouble it was been getting the dish installed I will accept nothing less than a free HD DVR. Also tell the retention rep that you want to pick the box up at a local store and to give a 300.00 credit on my bill. So you would most likely be able to drop into your local Circuit City store for example and pay the upfront 299 bucks charged to your credit card. Just make sure you log onto your DirecTV account and make sure the credit is present. They tend to give you 30 days to buy the box and "activate" the box before they take away the 300 buck bill credit. Again the credit is for a free HD DVR so you won't get that bill credit unless you buy and activate an HD DVR.
I know for a fact this can be done as I'll be doing it in about a week or so and I see my bill credits under my DirecTV account. Also make sure you don't tell them you "will" cancel okay as you want to appear like you really want to stay (as I believe you do) but that you cannot justify paying anything for the HD DVR now considering other companies offer it for free in addition to all the wasted time and energy/stress you suffered from all the lack of communication.
Try to get the information across in the manner above okay because if you do I believe you will be very happy at the end result. I believe you even have a chance to get a free HD DVR "and" a few other bill credits. They may even give you free HD Access for a year and the HD DVR for your trouble. This would result in about a total of 420 bucks in credits and its something I know isn't out of the question as I'm a returning customer who got well over 500 bucks in different hardware and programming credits to return. Working a deal with three HD DVRs on my account and getting all programming including NFL Sunday Ticket is quite a bit of money for DirecTV. Plus it didn't hurt that my two or so years as a customer before I cancelled was filled with nightmare after nightmare.
You are very lucky because IMO DirecTV is the best company I've ever seen with regard to credits to satisfy the customer for both upfront hardware costs and for programming as well. They flatout offer more on a year to year basis than any company I've ever dealt with. At least its been this way for the last couple of years in the sheer volume of credits people are offered. I guess its a very good time to be a DirecTV customer all around.
I know for a fact this can be done as I'll be doing it in about a week or so and I see my bill credits under my DirecTV account. Also make sure you don't tell them you "will" cancel okay as you want to appear like you really want to stay (as I believe you do) but that you cannot justify paying anything for the HD DVR now considering other companies offer it for free in addition to all the wasted time and energy/stress you suffered from all the lack of communication.
Try to get the information across in the manner above okay because if you do I believe you will be very happy at the end result. I believe you even have a chance to get a free HD DVR "and" a few other bill credits. They may even give you free HD Access for a year and the HD DVR for your trouble. This would result in about a total of 420 bucks in credits and its something I know isn't out of the question as I'm a returning customer who got well over 500 bucks in different hardware and programming credits to return. Working a deal with three HD DVRs on my account and getting all programming including NFL Sunday Ticket is quite a bit of money for DirecTV. Plus it didn't hurt that my two or so years as a customer before I cancelled was filled with nightmare after nightmare.
You are very lucky because IMO DirecTV is the best company I've ever seen with regard to credits to satisfy the customer for both upfront hardware costs and for programming as well. They flatout offer more on a year to year basis than any company I've ever dealt with. At least its been this way for the last couple of years in the sheer volume of credits people are offered. I guess its a very good time to be a DirecTV customer all around.
I had D* for 8 years and just got tired of all the "promises", got E* and had both services for about 9 months, had time to objectively judge them side by side. Dropped D* primarily because of the pathetic HD offerings. D* called me up many times after I dropped them and all I got was the 150 HD spiel from them, finally just told the sales droid to just F*** off and stop calling me.
Ok. Everyone has to make their own decisions. I dont knock anyone going to Dish nor should anyone knock Directv. We make decisions by what fits our household. That may be children's shows, local HD channels or the combination of different things. Not just directed at you Enoree since its a slow night but the one liner pipe ins glorifying Dish Network and Satanizing Directv (and visa versa) doesnt help anyone.
well I ordered another au9s satellite dish so I am defiantly staying with dtv. As soon as I get it setup i will be calling directv retention to try to work out compensation for all my aggravation. I will use the echostar deals on top of my horror story to try to work some deals.
You could do what I did. I bought the equipment from solid signal and installed everything myself. Be warned though I bet I spent about $300 when all was said and done.
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