Complaint Review: Directv Inc.

I think you need to get off of your high horse for a minute. What makes you think people just want stuff for free. We, as customers, are paying your company for a service, and your company is not fulfilling its part of that agreement. You will continue to take our money, every month, regardless of whether the service is working. So, by your logic, I should pay your company for the service, and then pay you again if that service stops working, through no fault of my own. As one of the techs stated, if the installation was done correctly the first time, the dish should never move, even in high winds. Why then, do I need to pay your company to come and fix a problem that the installer made? I will wait eagerly for your patronizing remark to this. 

I'm a technician for DirecTV Home Services, and one thing I know is that if the dish is mounted securely to a sturdy mounting structure (i.e. roof over the eave with appropriate bracing, pole cemented into the ground, non-penetrating mount, chimney mount, etc etc) that dish should not move at all. I've had customers that have been with Direct for well over 7-8 years that are in a high wind area and I'm at their house for their very first ODU realignment ever.

Also, the Slimline ODU (i.e. HD dish) requires a tedious setup procedure due to the narrow beamwidth of the signal being transmitted from the HD satellites (the beamwidth of the signal from the HD satellites is about 1/3 the width of the signal being transmitted from standard definition satellites), and the close proximity to DirecTVs main satellite, satellite 101*W. The dish has to be "dithered", which is a procedure that when done properly will aim the dish at the exact center of satellite 101*W. This is not a procedure that the customer can do themselves and requires the knowledge and tools of a DTV technician to pull it off.

Bottom line...I'd check the sturdiness of your ODU mounts. If you can shake the dish rather easily, it's not right and needs to be properly mounted and reinforced.

My husband gets on a ladder and moves the receiver. I monitor signal strength on the TV and yell outside to husband. This works great (and we also have the wretched Hughes internet via the same dish, so we have to align w/ 3 satellites), and saves lots of money after every windstorm.

I just read this report and the responses by Mommy Of Two, who is a customer service rep for DirecTV.

I have had DirecTV for about 13 years and have yet to have one service rep completely take care of a problem. Although we've had very few problems until the past five years, the times I've had to call DirecTV have been nightmares of long hold times, reps whose foreign accents are so thick I could not understand them, reps who give me stock answers over and over that have nothing to do with why I'm calling, reps who say they will "take care of" something and don't and when I call again about the unresolved problem I have to go over everything again and again even after explaining that I've been down that road umpteen times already, and reps who don't believe that we've already done all of the steps to check if our connection is bad and yes, the receiver is really the problem.

As I write this, we are still waiting on a "return pack" from DirecTV so that we can return an HD receiver they sent us that was defective. The rep said that she would send it right out and that was over two months ago. I could go on and on, but what I really want to know is when does "Mommy of Two" work and how can I ask for her next time I need to speak to a customer service rep? She sounds like an absolutely delightful person -- the kind of customer service rep that I'd love to do business with.

And, no, Mommy of Two, I didn't ask for something for nothing. The "free" receiver was part of an HD upgrade. We did receive a free service call for the upgrade and in the past for problems that were DirecTV's fault. So I think we'd get along fine.

Maggie

i also don't make $8 an hour honey, i make $11 an hour and i get free directv service and equipment. i love my job so you don't have to feel bad for me...but thank you. i have a working husband who makes enough to support our family and work there just because i wanted to work. i enjoy making customer's happy and solving their problems. i have more happy customers than i do upset ones when the call ends. i am actually top in my call center. i just get annoyed when they are always expecting something for nothing. they always want free this and free that and tend to be upset when they don't get it from me. take your free service call for example. you demanded to get it free when most people pay for it who don't get the protection plan. you should have had to pay. i don't feel you deserved the free service call. what makes your situation any better than anyone else's?

Someone from the office of the President called me today and they are refunding the $49.95 service fee, in addition to a $60 credit over 6 months.

Although I had to go through a great deal of trouble (emailing the CEO, filing a report here, filing BBB complaints, and emailing management.) They have made things right by correcting the billing error, and compensating me for my time.

I can say I am satisfied once again with Directv.

To those that feel slighted, all I can say is never give up!

Someone from the office of the President called me today and they are refunding the $49.95 service fee, in addition to a $60 credit over 6 months.

Although I had to go through a great deal of trouble (emailing the CEO, filing a report here, filing BBB complaints, and emailing management.) They have made things right by correcting the billing error, and compensating me for my time.

I can say I am satisfied once again with Directv.

To those that feel slighted, all I can say is never give up!

Someone from the office of the President called me today and they are refunding the $49.95 service fee, in addition to a $60 credit over 6 months.

Although I had to go through a great deal of trouble (emailing the CEO, filing a report here, filing BBB complaints, and emailing management.) They have made things right by correcting the billing error, and compensating me for my time.

I can say I am satisfied once again with Directv.

To those that feel slighted, all I can say is never give up!

Someone from the office of the President called me today and they are refunding the $49.95 service fee, in addition to a $60 credit over 6 months.

Although I had to go through a great deal of trouble (emailing the CEO, filing a report here, filing BBB complaints, and emailing management.) They have made things right by correcting the billing error, and compensating me for my time.

I can say I am satisfied once again with Directv.

To those that feel slighted, all I can say is never give up!

Did you even bother to read my report? The credit for for HD access was given to make up for the past 6 months that I did not have my HD signal. I did not misunderstand anything, as I said I confirmed it with her 3 times, by asking "There will be no charge for the service call correct?" And she said yes, that is correct.

The issue is not whether service calls should be free, the issue is this specific call which was promised to be free. The secondary issue is the terrible customer service from your company. Obviously you are a part of that, and I truly feel bad for you. It must be a bad life to work in a call center and make $8 an hour and work for a company with a terrible reputation.

I really do feel for you.

if you refuse to get the protection plan (which covers free service calls) you should have to pay for the service call. the agent likely gave you the $10 off your bill in credits to offset the cost of the service call and you likely misunderstood what they were saying. if you are offered the protection plan and you decline, you should have to pay for the service call. i get so tired of the way people are always wanting to get something for nothing. everyone always wants to get free stuff and feel that they are entitled to it b/c it's a "competitive" market. my advice? get the protection plan, it's well worth the $5.99 a month to get free service calls, replacement equipment, dish relocation, etc. it's much cheaper than paying for those things.