Held hostage by DTV service

[Jimbo]

Thanks for the help. I am going to take my chances with the FiOS DVR service and equipment. Like I said before, I know folks with that service/equipment and they are singing its praises. I would have stuck it out with DTV, but the rank condescension and outright inept handling I received was totally uncalled for. As stated, I am a 12+ year customer. Never been late and even keep my bill paid in advance. And this is the service I get for my hard earned cash. I think not.

Doesn't sound like you had ANY plans of staying with D* from the sounds of this thread.

Im have to wonder, have you even got to the level of person on the phone that can do something about this ?
Have you talked with the Retention dept.
Have you PM'd Stone Cold here yet ?

BTW, over 12 years you never upgraded your system ?
Had you gotten into the H version of recvrs, you probably would have had better luck.
H series recvrs HAVE gone out to those with out HD for quite some time now, in some not all instances.

 

[Jimbo]

Stonecold isn't a service tech he is a customer service rep.

And I'm not touching this one either ..... he's not a CSR either

 

[harshness]

If he u0pgraded to a new recvr a year and a half ago, he would be.

This sounds more like a "like for like" replacement which should not earn the OP an extension.

 

[s2emgill]

Stonecold isn't a service tech he is a customer service rep.

My mistake. New guy here. I obvioucsly was not speaking to him when I called DTV because from the posts I read by him on this board, he is well schooled in the knowledge of the biz.

 

[s2emgill]

Did you give any of the retailers a call in your aera to see what they could do for you..

No. I started my vacation on Tuesday of this week. The same day the issue with my unit happened. I have been dealing with that each day since then. I figured, if DTV is not that concerned with a customer, why am I blowing my vacation stressing over this. The die has been cast. I made no calls and just resolved to have them come out on 13JUL2010, replace the unit and wait until 24JUL2010 when Verizon will come to hook their service up. Then I will say tootles to DTV.

 

[Jimbo]

This sounds more like a "like for like" replacement which should not earn the OP an extension.

Someone else mentioned that earlier, and they may be right, after thinking about it.
I guess his best bet would have been to call back and talk with retention, but I think he's already decided ...

 

[s2emgill]

Doesn't sound like you had ANY plans of staying with D* from the sounds of this thread.

Im have to wonder, have you even got to the level of person on the phone that can do something about this ?
Have you talked with the Retention dept.
Have you PM'd Stone Cold here yet ?

BTW, over 12 years you never upgraded your system ?
Had you gotten into the H version of recvrs, you probably would have had better luck.
H series recvrs HAVE gone out to those with out HD for quite some time now, in some not all instances.

After I was told by a manager and a supervisor there was no one else that could assist me, I gave up and made the switch. Had I known about retention, I would probably have given them a try. I would have PM'ed Stone Cold, but I am new to this board and I did not know there were people here that provided that type of help. Its all water under the bridge now.

My Tivo unit was replaced with the R15 unit. After that one bombed out after 9 months in my home it had to be replaced. I told the CSR the R15 units have had bad reviews on service & reliability and could I have a replacement that had a better track record. As I said before, he said he could not guarantee that and another R15 unit, which is the one here now that died after 3 weeks, was mailed out to me.

My parents have the H2X, I do not know the exact number my dad's vision is bad, and they have not had any problems with it. I also like how that unit is set up with its guides and search tools.

 

[Jimbo]

After I was told by a manager and a supervisor there was no one else that could assist me, I gave up and made the switch. Had I known about retention, I would probably have given them a try. I would have PM'ed Stone Cold, but I am new to this board and I did not know there were people here that provided that type of help. Its all water under the bridge now.

My Tivo unit was replaced with the R15 unit. After that one bombed out after 9 months in my home it had to be replaced. I told the CSR the R15 units have had bad reviews on service & reliability and could I have a replacement that had a better track record. As I said before, he said he could not guarantee that and another R15 unit, which is the one here now that died after 3 weeks, was mailed out to me.

My parents have the H2X, I do not know the exact number my dad's vision is bad, and they have not had any problems with it. I also like how that unit is set up with its guides and search tools.

You are correct, some of the older H series were not that great either and the R series has NEVER been very good.
The HR20 was very good, I still use a few the HR21-23 were not that great, even though they were NEWER, but not better, the H/HR 24's on the other hand are VERY GOOD, the best D* has delivered to this point.

Sounds like you have already made the call to cancel, it's too bad you didn't get in the forum sooner as we very well may have been able to direct you to the proper people.

 

[grydlok]

Thanks for the help. I am going to take my chances with the FiOS DVR service and equipment. Like I said before, I know folks with that service/equipment and they are singing its praises. I would have stuck it out with DTV, but the rank condescension and outright inept handling I received was totally uncalled for. As stated, I am a 12+ year customer. Never been late and even keep my bill paid in advance. And this is the service I get for my hard earned cash. I think not.

Good luck i kept my FIOS TV for one year, after the constant billing error and HDDVRS dying, I just switched back to D.

 

[grydlok]

My mistake. New guy here. I obvioucsly was not speaking to him when I called DTV because from the posts I read by him on this board, he is well schooled in the knowledge of the biz.

If you where really serious about staying and all you needed was a new DVR I could have made the phone call for you. That is/was my office before I got hurt.

 

[raoul5788]

If he u0pgraded to a new recvr a year and a half ago, he would be.

He went from a Tivo to a R15

His post says his TIVO went on the fritz. That shouldn't trigger a new commitment.

 

[dishcomm]

So what do you want us to do is my question. If all the tech are busy we cant bump one customer to suit your needs.

What do we tell the other customer well sir sorry we had to cancle your appointment because someone else feels they are more important.

I am sorry you have to wait and we can even credit time with out service but there nothign we can do about have a book tech schedule.

A common refrain.
This is why one should always go with a local retailer for all their satellite needs.
Local retailers are far more responsive than going thru corporate.
Customers must realize there are so many hours in a day, so many resources available.
Most folks are understanding. Some are so TV focused, they lose all concept of reality when they discover they cannot watch tv.
These people are the " I want it now and I want it for free" crowd.
In my experience I have had days where I am slammed. No room for anything to go worng. Well, inevitably a job will take an inordinate amount of time and I woud call the remainder of my custys for the day. Most are understanding if they are informed their job will be rescheduled. Some are not. It is what it is.
All we can do is the possible and the impossible will simply have to go another day.

 

[rjruby]

Does a tech have to be dispatched to swap out the receiver?

Won't DirecTV ship a replacement unit directly to the customer with pre-paid return postage for the defective unit?

Dish did that for me when by 211 went belly-up last year.

 

[cfb]

Sounds like there were three problems here.

1 - A series of bad equipment or perhaps an environmental issue (bad power, voltage on the ground). Since things did work in his environment previously, that suggests poor quality control on the hardware he was shipped. I dont think thats the customers fault.

2 - Cant get a tech out to perform service for a week? Maybe today but he doesnt show up? Nobody can say exactly when or make a commitment? You can certainly argue a lack of manpower to address the customers needs in a timely manner, but that has a lot more to do with how the service provider is staffing to handle their normal and reasonable out of band service load. Also not the customers fault. I think a customer has a right to at least get a firm commitment to be serviced, and more than a day or two isnt very reasonable. If thats not grokable, how about this: "I'm sorry directv, my electric and gas bills were higher than I expected and I dont have enough money in my checking account to pay my directv bill this month, since I already paid the other bills and yours came in last. Clearly you'll have no issue with my not making sure I had enough money saved and worked enough hours to pay all of my bills, no matter how much they might have turned out to be, right? Oh, and I also cant tell you exactly when I can pay. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe the next day. I cant commit though. What? You dont like that? Come on! Its only tv and what do you expect, I'm doing the best I can!!!" Yeah, that'd fly like a lead balloon.

3 - Customer communication. The two most important things in dealing with a customer is that the customer feels they're important to the vendor and that there is enough communication and information to eliminate doubt or confusion. These are the two keys to any and all types of relationships, yet they're the least honored. When you tell a customer that has had serial equipment failure (which is your fault) that you cant send someone out for a week (because you're improperly staffed), you're telling them that they arent that important. When you mismanage your business such that you cant commit to sending someone out for at least several days and your only fallback is the old "Hey, its only tv!!" excuse, with the implication that there is something wrong with the customer if they cant be without it for a week while you tell them nothing, you create doubt. When you say you might show up and dont, you create confusion.

What does a customer do when they feel unimportant, confused and filled with doubt and a little resentment? Right...they arent going to be your customer anymore.

 

[dishcomm]

Sounds like there were three problems here.

1 - A series of bad equipment or perhaps an environmental issue (bad power, voltage on the ground). Since things did work in his environment previously, that suggests poor quality control on the hardware he was shipped. I dont think thats the customers fault.

2 - Cant get a tech out to perform service for a week? Maybe today but he doesnt show up? Nobody can say exactly when or make a commitment? You can certainly argue a lack of manpower to address the customers needs in a timely manner, but that has a lot more to do with how the service provider is staffing to handle their normal and reasonable out of band service load. Also not the customers fault. I think a customer has a right to at least get a firm commitment to be serviced, and more than a day or two isnt very reasonable. If thats not grokable, how about this: "I'm sorry directv, my electric and gas bills were higher than I expected and I dont have enough money in my checking account to pay my directv bill this month, since I already paid the other bills and yours came in last. Clearly you'll have no issue with my not making sure I had enough money saved and worked enough hours to pay all of my bills, no matter how much they might have turned out to be, right? Oh, and I also cant tell you exactly when I can pay. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe the next day. I cant commit though. What? You dont like that? Come on! Its only tv and what do you expect, I'm doing the best I can!!!" Yeah, that'd fly like a lead balloon.

3 - Customer communication. The two most important things in dealing with a customer is that the customer feels they're important to the vendor and that there is enough communication and information to eliminate doubt or confusion. These are the two keys to any and all types of relationships, yet they're the least honored. When you tell a customer that has had serial equipment failure (which is your fault) that you cant send someone out for a week (because you're improperly staffed), you're telling them that they arent that important. When you mismanage your business such that you cant commit to sending someone out for at least several days and your only fallback is the old "Hey, its only tv!!" excuse, with the implication that there is something wrong with the customer if they cant be without it for a week while you tell them nothing, you create doubt. When you say you might show up and dont, you create confusion.

What does a customer do when they feel unimportant, confused and filled with doubt and a little resentment? Right...they arent going to be your customer anymore.

ok...Gonna go right ot your number two..
I think a week out on service calls is too long. However, in this business there is not enough revenue inflow to keep people on staff, buy vehicles and absorb the overhead to have instant resonse to service calls all the time. That is especially true when business is slow. A compnay cannot afford to keep peole on staff when the work isn't there. All these firms can do is staff up and hope for the best. Customers must realize that if they want next day or same day service, the cost of their tv will have to go up dramatically. There's no free lunch. The money has to come from somewhere. I think your comment about the utility companies is out of bounds. One has nothing to do with the other. BTW pay tv is a luxury. Utilities are a necessity. Public utilities are under far greater scrutiny and government regulation. Pay tv is deregulated.

I agree that the communication between tech and customer must be priority number one. Too often, I have heard that complaint from customers. "The last guy never showed up". Or " the last guy was three hours late and never called". Each is inexcusable. If were king of the satellite world for a day I would institute a rule that states " no call, no shows are grounds for instant termination of employment". There is nothing more frustrating that being made to wait with no idea how long and no communication from the perosn one is waiting on.

There is no excuse to not set an appointment and honor that appointment with conditions. And there are few. ONe major condition that must be understood is that world is an imperfect place. Things go wrong all the time.
For example a tech could show up at a job that takes hm thre or four times the amount of time . The rest of his customers must wait. Why? because everyone else in that shop is most likely slammed as well. And staffing is a simplification.
Workloads are ususally inconsistent. So staffing issues are probelmatic. A compnay cannot keep more people in their employ than they need to fulfill the workload for an average day. So when there is the occasional insane day, techs are loaded up and told "good luck." It's a crazy system. And a catch 22. Everyone would like to be staffed to capacity all the time. The cost of labor prohibits this.

I think there are two main gripes among pay tv customers. One is the call center people either are foreign and are difficult to understand or the CSR's do not have enough technical knowledge to assist the customer on the phine. The second is the lack of communication between field personnel and customer.
Eliminate these and I believe we would never see a thred like this.

 

[s2emgill]

ok...Gonna go right ot your number two..
I think a week out on service calls is too long. However, in this business there is not enough revenue inflow to keep people on staff, buy vehicles and absorb the overhead to have instant resonse to service calls all the time. That is especially true when business is slow. A compnay cannot afford to keep peole on staff when the work isn't there. All these firms can do is staff up and hope for the best. Customers must realize that if they want next day or same day service, the cost of their tv will have to go up dramatically. There's no free lunch. The money has to come from somewhere. I think your comment about the utility companies is out of bounds. One has nothing to do with the other. BTW pay tv is a luxury. Utilities are a necessity. Public utilities are under far greater scrutiny and government regulation. Pay tv is deregulated.

I agree that the communication between tech and customer must be priority number one. Too often, I have heard that complaint from customers. "The last guy never showed up". Or " the last guy was three hours late and never called". Each is inexcusable. If were king of the satellite world for a day I would institute a rule that states " no call, no shows are grounds for instant termination of employment". There is nothing more frustrating that being made to wait with no idea how long and no communication from the perosn one is waiting on.

There is no excuse to not set an appointment and honor that appointment with conditions. And there are few. ONe major condition that must be understood is that world is an imperfect place. Things go wrong all the time.
For example a tech could show up at a job that takes hm thre or four times the amount of time . The rest of his customers must wait. Why? because everyone else in that shop is most likely slammed as well. And staffing is a simplification.
Workloads are ususally inconsistent. So staffing issues are probelmatic. A compnay cannot keep more people in their employ than they need to fulfill the workload for an average day. So when there is the occasional insane day, techs are loaded up and told "good luck." It's a crazy system. And a catch 22. Everyone would like to be staffed to capacity all the time. The cost of labor prohibits this.

I think there are two main gripes among pay tv customers. One is the call center people either are foreign and are difficult to understand or the CSR's do not have enough technical knowledge to assist the customer on the phine. The second is the lack of communication between field personnel and customer.
Eliminate these and I believe we would never see a thred like this.

Look dude,
I have no problem with service techs. I think I stated that prevoisly. My problem is with the CSR's I spoke with, the supervisor of said CSR's and a manager of the group. I only got stonewalling and "there's nothing more we can do" comments from them. As I said before prior to 1.5 years ago, I never had a problem with equipment or customer service like this. If I had an issue and a tech needed to come out, the longest amount of time between the call and the tech was 2 days. And if I could not wait that long, I could get a number from the CSR for a local retailer that was in my area and give them a call. Yeah, its only TV, but I am paying for that TV, paying for that protection plan and paying the lease on what is now commonly known as shoddy equipment. All I asked for was an earlier time that I could be fitted in or direct me to a local office that handled my area. I got neither. I never spoke to a field tech because I was never given a number to a field tech. I was trapped in CSR purgatory and given no options of escape. Other than to wait an entire week and, perhaps, be given another shoddy R15 model for my home.

You are trying to make this out to me having an issue with the guys driving around in the vans doing the legwork. Nothing could be further from the truth.

A year and a half ago when my Tivo model died, I put in a call to DTV. They sent a tech out a week later. The tech showed up on a Saturday with no receiver. The order he was given was for a satellite realigning. He had no receivers on the van because I was his last appointment. Not his fault, it was the fault of the CSR that typed up the order. Another appointment had to be scheduled. Five days later, another tech shows up with the receiver. Cuts the box open pulls it out, plugs it up and it does not work (R15 model) The only thing it would do is have the record light come on. Ok, he has to leave because this is the only receiver he has on the van. He comes back after an hour does the same thing and that box is a dud. He has no other receivers on the van or in the office. Another appointment has to be made. I am going on 2.5 weeks now with no DVR or DTV service. I am irrate and literally threaten the CSR and his supervisor over the phone because they are telling me it will be another week before a tech can come to my home with another receiver. A third tech is sent to my home the next day and connects the R15 model that lasted for 9 months. And here I am today

None of this is the fault of the service techs. This is all due to DTV's inept CSR's & there refusal to recognize that some of their equipment is faulty and needs to be taken out of the customer stream.

 

[dishcomm]

Look dude,
I have no problem with service techs. I think I stated that prevoisly. My problem is with the CSR's I spoke with, the supervisor of said CSR's and a manager of the group. I only got stonewalling and "there's nothing more we can do" comments from them. As I said before prior to 1.5 years ago, I never had a problem with equipment or customer service like this. If I had an issue and a tech needed to come out, the longest amount of time between the call and the tech was 2 days. And if I could not wait that long, I could get a number from the CSR for a local retailer that was in my area and give them a call. Yeah, its only TV, but I am paying for that TV, paying for that protection plan and paying the lease on what is now commonly known as shoddy equipment. All I asked for was an earlier time that I could be fitted in or direct me to a local office that handled my area. I got neither. I never spoke to a field tech because I was never given a number to a field tech. I was trapped in CSR purgatory and given no options of escape. Other than to wait an entire week and, perhaps, be given another shoddy R15 model for my home.

You are trying to make this out to me having an issue with the guys driving around in the vans doing the legwork. Nothing could be further from the truth.

A year and a half ago when my Tivo model died, I put in a call to DTV. They sent a tech out a week later. The tech showed up on a Saturday with no receiver. The order he was given was for a satellite realigning. He had no receivers on the van because I was his last appointment. Not his fault, it was the fault of the CSR that typed up the order. Another appointment had to be scheduled. Five days later, another tech shows up with the receiver. Cuts the box open pulls it out, plugs it up and it does not work (R15 model) The only thing it would do is have the record light come on. Ok, he has to leave because this is the only receiver he has on the van. He comes back after an hour does the same thing and that box is a dud. He has no other receivers on the van or in the office. Another appointment has to be made. I am going on 2.5 weeks now with no DVR or DTV service. I am irrate and literally threaten the CSR and his supervisor over the phone because they are telling me it will be another week before a tech can come to my home with another receiver. A third tech is sent to my home the next day and connects the R15 model that lasted for 9 months. And here I am today

None of this is the fault of the service techs. This is all due to DTV's inept CSR's & there refusal to recognize that some of their equipment is faulty and needs to be taken out of the customer stream.

You mentioned more than once an issue with "staffing". To me that can mean only one thing. The number of available techs. The service calendars fill, the dispatchers assign the work based on the number of available techs (staff).
PLus, you stated waits for service visits over two days were unreasonable. Again, the guys in the trucks.
Now, I empathize with your CSR plight. However there are ways to move your problem up the flagpole. Yes you are paying for this and that. SO is every other one of the nearly 15 million D* customers. This is not to minimize the importance of getting your system working.

I have no idea why the techs that showed up had no replacement receiver( this is inexcusable as dispatcher notes are often incorrect) . WHy the next one had just one replacement. And why the last had two that were NG..This looks to me like poor management. All techs should leave their offices with adequate stock in order to cover most contingencies. Some offices have very poor warehouse managing and thus ration equipment. BAD.....
Look, you are getting poor customer service. No doubt.
It just looked to me like you were on the techs about this.

 

[grydlok]

Look dude,
I have no problem with service techs. I think I stated that prevoisly. My problem is with the CSR's I spoke with, the supervisor of said CSR's and a manager of the group. I only got stonewalling and "there's nothing more we can do" comments from them. As I said before prior to 1.5 years ago, I never had a problem with equipment or customer service like this. If I had an issue and a tech needed to come out, the longest amount of time between the call and the tech was 2 days. And if I could not wait that long, I could get a number from the CSR for a local retailer that was in my area and give them a call. Yeah, its only TV, but I am paying for that TV, paying for that protection plan and paying the lease on what is now commonly known as shoddy equipment. All I asked for was an earlier time that I could be fitted in or direct me to a local office that handled my area. I got neither. I never spoke to a field tech because I was never given a number to a field tech. I was trapped in CSR purgatory and given no options of escape. Other than to wait an entire week and, perhaps, be given another shoddy R15 model for my home.

You are trying to make this out to me having an issue with the guys driving around in the vans doing the legwork. Nothing could be further from the truth.

A year and a half ago when my Tivo model died, I put in a call to DTV. They sent a tech out a week later. The tech showed up on a Saturday with no receiver. The order he was given was for a satellite realigning. He had no receivers on the van because I was his last appointment. Not his fault, it was the fault of the CSR that typed up the order. Another appointment had to be scheduled. Five days later, another tech shows up with the receiver. Cuts the box open pulls it out, plugs it up and it does not work (R15 model) The only thing it would do is have the record light come on. Ok, he has to leave because this is the only receiver he has on the van. He comes back after an hour does the same thing and that box is a dud. He has no other receivers on the van or in the office. Another appointment has to be made. I am going on 2.5 weeks now with no DVR or DTV service. I am irrate and literally threaten the CSR and his supervisor over the phone because they are telling me it will be another week before a tech can come to my home with another receiver. A third tech is sent to my home the next day and connects the R15 model that lasted for 9 months. And here I am today

None of this is the fault of the service techs. This is all due to DTV's inept CSR's & there refusal to recognize that some of their equipment is faulty and needs to be taken out of the customer stream.

what? LMAO! and they want me to come back to that mess. All those R-15 probably where refurbs.

 

[grydlok]

You mentioned more than once an issue with "staffing". To me that can mean only one thing. The number of available techs. The service calendars fill, the dispatchers assign the work based on the number of available techs (staff).
PLus, you stated waits for service visits over two days were unreasonable. Again, the guys in the trucks.
Now, I empathize with your CSR plight. However there are ways to move your problem up the flagpole. Yes you are paying for this and that. SO is every other one of the nearly 15 million D* customers. This is not to minimize the importance of getting your system working.

I have no idea why the techs that showed up had no replacement receiver( this is inexcusable as dispatcher notes are often incorrect) . WHy the next one had just one replacement. And why the last had two that were NG..This looks to me like poor management. All techs should leave their offices with adequate stock in order to cover most contingencies. Some offices have very poor warehouse managing and thus ration equipment. BAD.....
Look, you are getting poor customer service. No doubt.
It just looked to me like you were on the techs about this.

I know why, the warehouse always rations off equipment. Also you don't want to carry more than you need or they will slap another job on you in a NY minute.

 

[cfb]

BTW pay tv is a luxury. Utilities are a necessity.

Rule #4: When the service provider thinks he can define the needs of his customers, he's going to lose a portion of them that dont agree with his assessment.

Cable tv is considered by almost everyone to be a "utility" and frankly I could do without trash pickup, natural gas and even electricity for a period of time and probably be less annoyed than if the tv was out. Water, maybe not. Yeah, I have a generator.

Satellite tv is just cable tv beamed from space to a trash can lid on my house.

In the meanwhile, if you're staffed too low to get to a customer with a persistent problem within 2 days, someone needs to work a little overtime and go over there in the evening.

I also fully realize that this system of directv paying contractors and independent 3rd parties to do installations and repair work is fundamentally not particularly viable and will induce these sorts of problems. The quality level and consistency from contractor to contractor is going to range wildly and you're going to put your business with that customer at risk on the basis of what some guy decides he will or wont do, or who thinks he can determine how important something is to his customers based on how he feels about it. You have a guy who stands to gain $50 by fulfilling a call vs almost no downside to ignoring it, vs directv who stands to lose $5-10k worth of monthly service from a customer over 5-10 years.

Directv does it this way because its cheaper and easier than trying to maintain their own network of service people, and because they can foist overtime and overhead costs onto someone else. That results in the contractors and directv both having problems with each other and the customer ending up in the middle. I'd suspect that a macroscopic analysis says that all of this crap ends up costing directv more overall than either running it themselves or paying more to the contractors.

Basically directv is putting itself at the mercy of their highest and lowest common denominator service crews. Because customers of both will visit this 'internet' thing and tell everyone about both. That'll result in many customers expecting the services of the former while fearing that they'll receive the latter.

Consistency of service is another crucial aspect of business. Its why McDonalds can make relatively crappy food and still be one of the largest restaurants in the world. Its because a big mac in taipei, omaha and dublin all taste pretty much exactly the same. You know what to expect and you get it. People like that.

I know I'm often critical of directv, but I think they warrant it. They have problems with customers canceling service before they can recoup their install/equipment costs so they implement a lease/ETF structure that Costco and Bestbuy employees cant adequately explain and which results in an "F" rating from the BBB. They hire a brazillion contractors to be the only face the customer probably ever sees to do all the work and the customer receives a high degree of variability in service levels and customer experiences, the worst of which probably result in the reason for those high cancellation situations. Then to try and patchwork over it, they'll inconsistently hand out credits to people who call in to complain, hoping to retain the business.