Complaint Review: Direct TV

The first sign of trouble was a bunch of lines showing up on the picture. "The TV must be getting ready to quit, it's 4 years old", I told the wife. A week later, the system would kick out the signal ( code 771 ), when watching the HD channels. I called customer service and they said to re-boot the box by pushing in the little red button. Takes about 5 minutes to re-boot. This might happen once or twice a week. It went on for about a month. The picture quality was getting a little worse at this time. I live in SW Florida and this was happening on a clear and sunny day.

Soon the "Lost Signal" (code 771) was happening every ten minutes. Remember, I have to re-boot the box to get the signal back. That taking 5 minutes meant my HD channels were useless and I called customer service again. Now I'm keeping a log on the calls. The woman on the other end for the next 5 calls is trying to teach me how to "check all the connections", replace the little black box ( "We've had problems with the silver one's.") that goes into the HD receiver. Now the lines in the picture are getting aggressive on all channels and I resort to paying for the HD I'm not getting. Within a week, all the channels are code red (Lost signal) and I'm getting nowhere with customer service. I'd rather have a tooth pulled than go through their automated phone service.

After 3 weeks (I don't know why I put up with it that long?) of getting nowhere, I asked the golden question. "When are you going to send a repairman out here to fix my problem?" The reply was, "You'll have to hire a repairman , at you're cost to fix your proble." I informed the little lady that I lease this equipment from Direct TV and they should foot the bill. Again the reply was negative, "No, you are mistaken. We don't lease the equipment." I bid her a good-day and go to look up my bill from them. Right there in black and white, $ 4.95 for HD.

Needing more pain, I called the customer service number again and was told, "No, that's a charge for the service, not the equipment." "But the bill says HD Receiver lease? And what about a warranty of the eqipment. I've only had the service for 6 months?", waiting for a good answer. Never got one, '" No, you'll have to take care of your problem."

Not seeing much a a future with Direct TV, I called the local cable people and made the switch. Funny thing happened. All those ugly lines in the picture went away and the picture was the clearest I've ever seen. When I called Direct TV to cancel my service, I got a surprise, when asked why I was replacing them. "Well, we send someone out right away to fix your problem." I informed them it was a little too late and asked them to come get their equipment and remove the dish from my roof. "We will send you the pre-paid box to ship the receivers back, you'll have to pay someone to remove the dish, we don't do that." This is when the Irsh kicked in and they hung up on me (I don't blame them for that.)

Now I'm sending emails to their customer service ( I have them on file). They informed me that they would charge me $400 a receiver, if I didn't send them back immediately. Now I remember my check card I had on file with them for movie rentals. I went to the bank and canceled that card. Too late, they hit me with a $186 early cancelation fee. I had the bank resend that charge (we're still working on that, with little hope). But at least they can't hit me again.

I learned after informing them that, "I'm putting your (mine, who knows?) equipment on eBay and would they like to bid on it ( paid by money order only, your credit isn't good with me ) that I found out from an angry little man that no one would be able to use the equipment, that I sold it to. Wanted to hit them back, I sent the two equipment boxes back to them, empty. Then I emailed them, saying I made a mistake and would they please send me two more boxes. I'm wondering how long I can keep doing this before they catch on.

I own a service business working on yachts. If I had attempted to treat a customer like they have me, I would be out of business in a week. I just don't see how they can get away with being total assholes.

Ron
Naples, Florida
U.S.A.

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