Not a good start for DirecTV!

[sNEIRBO]

The install on Tuesday went GREAT. The Tech was a great guy, I even helped him out a little bit running some of the wires while he worked on installing the dish, and wiring the multiswitch.

Then . . .

Wednesday I found out the HD DVR wasn't working properly. While recoding I would lose all remote functions. After the recording was done, I couldn't play anything that was recorded. When I did a reset, I then lost all of the recordings . . . not much of a DVR at this point. I called to talk to Tech Support - they suggested reformatting the hard drive, except she wasn't sure how to explain to me how to do it, so after 30 minutes of frustration she decides to schedule an appointment for Friday afternoon to have an installer come in an look at the receiver.

I take a 1/2 day Vacation on Friday afternoon, the Tech was supposed to be there between noon - 4:00 pm. At 5:00 pm he still hadn't shown. I call DirecTV, they don't know where he is, or when he'll be here. I tell them I have to leave, they end up giving me a $100 missed appointment credit - she tells me that gives me about a $30 credit on my bill, so throw away the first bill when I get it. Then she reschedules the appointment for Monday afternoon.

Saturday morning I wake up, start surfing and find the instructions on how to reformat the HD DVR. I do that. Then set up all of my timers again. Test fire a recording - same thing. No remote functions. I have to reset the receiver when the recording is done, at which time it erases all recordings and timers. I call DirecTV Tech Support, the guy I talk to says the receiver needs to be replaced, he will FedEx one, should be here Tuesday. So, I cancel the Monday afternoon appointment.

Saturday afternoon, I get my first bill. Despite me telling them to NOT auto charge my bill, they auto charged my bill on Wednesday. I literally run to my computer, check my online banking account, and sure enough, because they auto charged when they weren't authorized I overdrafted 4 charges (including their charge) for a total of $152 in overdraft fees. I immediately call DirecTV and talk to billing. They don't know why the first bill auto-charged because it clearly said on my account to send a bill. I ask them how they're going to handle the over-drafts that they caused, and she says "we're sorry, but it's not our fault you didn't have enough money in your account to cover the charges" I asked to talk to a supervisor or manager, and she told me they had better things to do than talk to me, when I insisted I be transferred, she hung up on me! NICE!

I call back and ask if it's possible to cancel my service. I tell the CSR I talked to everything that's gone on in the last couple of days, she's dumbfounded. Then she proceeds to tell me that since I'm past my 3 day "test period" if I want to cancel now I'd have to pay $460 to get out of my contract. I asked her about the possibility of a credit to at least cover the overdrafts from my bank, she says she can't do that. I hang up frustrated again.

So at this point, I have an HD DVR that hasn't recorded a single thing I can watch since last Tuesday.
They gave me a $100 credit on Friday, then cost me $152 on Saturday - net loss of $52 to me!

Is this typical service out of DirecTV?? Or am I just hitting a run of bad luck??

[DCFSCAZARES]

I hear your frustration buddy...but, you need to keep yourself on check.. It appears that you lost your cool and collective mind in this situation. Call again and politely request to speak to retention Department and nicely address the situation with them. By barking, you will not get anywhere....trust me on this..The CSR will listen more and show more empathy when you are nice; they are willing to go the extra mile to help you when you are nice.

[Skins Fan]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I feel your anxiety because I have been in that place with *D myself. I have experienced good times and bad over 12 years being a customer. I feel customer svc and technical support will and is improving. Changes at the top relating to both those departments may be a step in the right direction. I know it is hard right now but take a deep breath and work on one problem at a time. Don't try to triple team the issues, just one play at a time (like the Skins will do today) and things will be working for you in no time. Start by talking to your bank and explain the situation. I have never had my bank not take off an overdraft charge when I called and explained the situation. Hope to hear good news from you in the coming week.

[sNEIRBO]

I hear your frustration buddy...but, you need to keep yourself on check.. It appears that you lost your cool and collective mind in this situation. Call again and politely request to speak to retention Department and nicely address the situation with them. By barking, you will not get anywhere....trust me on this..The CSR will listen more and show more empathy when you are nice; they are willing to go the extra mile to help you when you are nice.

I never once lost my cool! I'm right there with you - more flies with honey, less with vinegar, but the most with BS . . . I'm in Sales, I can spread the BS to get results. Unfortunately I was spreading, but they weren't doing anything for me.

[aphoward]

Just call them back, and when you get to the automated system say "cancel", and that will transfer you to Retention. Ask to speak to a supervisor there (they are always much more helpful), and explain the entire situation. You should be getting hella credits for shenanigans like this. If they already admitted to you that it was their fault for the overdrafts, you just need to talk to the right person.

[cbeckner80]

I hear your frustration buddy...but, you need to keep yourself on check.. It appears that you lost your cool and collective mind in this situation. Call again and politely request to speak to retention Department and nicely address the situation with them. By barking, you will not get anywhere....trust me on this..The CSR will listen more and show more empathy when you are nice; they are willing to go the extra mile to help you when you are nice.

I don't see anyplace that he lost is "cool". I think he handled it great.

On your problem, I'm not a lawyer but I have been in contracts for MANY years, and so far I don't see where you've had a delivery of a satisfactory product, so I believe in most states you should be able to cancel your agreement. No delivery, no contract completion, irregardless of their three day cancellation policy. Look into it.

[semmimmes]

Well, I guess this doesn't help you out much, but I appreciate hearing about your experience. As someone who is getting ready to establish service and considering the various satellite providers, I definitely don't look forward to becoming a customer if I can expect to be treated like this. I know that you have to expect a certain amount of problems with any large company, but I get very frustrated when they aren't willing to take responsibility and address the issue.

Does anybody have any more stories on whether these problems are more prevalent with a specific provider?

[tooloud10]

Just call them back, and when you get to the automated system say "cancel", and that will transfer you to Retention. Ask to speak to a supervisor there (they are always much more helpful), and explain the entire situation. You should be getting hella credits for shenanigans like this. If they already admitted to you that it was their fault for the overdrafts, you just need to talk to the right person.

Supervisor? Every time (three or four times) I've requested to speak to a retention supervisor, I've been told that there's not one there or that it's not possible to speak to a supervisor on the phone. I KNOW I'm not the only one that's been fed that line.

[marcmec]

I ask them how they're going to handle the over-drafts that they caused, and she says "we're sorry, but it's not our fault you didn't have enough money in your account to cover the charges" I asked to talk to a supervisor or manager, and she told me they had better things to do than talk to me, when I insisted I be transferred, she hung up on me! NICE!

I had a CSR hang up on me once. I called them right back and immediately asked for a supervisor, who was very courteous and told me that a CSR hang-up is grounds for immediate dismissal. Unfortunately they couldn't tell which CSR had taken my last call, just the location of the call center. So that's the problem, these CSR's are just working in call centers making minimum wage I would imagine. They don't really give a crap about us or wether we cancel our service or not. And some of them know that their incompetence can't be traced for one reason or another.
Call back and ask for a supervisor or the "retention" department, and see what they can do for you. Oh, and get the person's name... :lol:

[jtn]

It's a good policy to remain calm and collective even if you know your being given lip service from an incompetent customer service individual. If you know they can't help insist on retention or a manager.

Don't shoot the messenger it not always their fault.

[K4SMX]

DirecTV has an excellent product, and you were right to order it in the first place. That said, there are a number of pitfalls, two of which you fell into right off the bat. So if you'd still like to proceed, I can make a couple of points:

On your original new install you received a defective HR20. There are unfortunately too many of them out there. You would have been very happy with a working one, and none of the subsequent "bad stuff" would've ever happened. Since this is a new install, your installer, when he did finally make his appearance, would have brought you most likely another brand new HR20, which was your best result, since the one's D* sends you by FedEx are all refurb's. So your best option is to call up, say "Cancel" to get right to Retension and explain that you will be returning the one they Fedex'd you unopened and to credit your account upon receipt. Then ask them to set up a service call to have your HR20 replaced by the original installer under the new install warranty, who should set it up and activate it for you. You are not guaranteed to get a brand new receiver, but you usually will. Be sure to write down the model and serial number of your broken HR20 and get the installer to sign for the fact that he is picking it up.

The $300 charge will remain on your bill until they get one back. Be sure to either "refuse" the FedEx delivery on Tuesday and get the original tracking number, or if it's delivered in your absence and you re-ship it to also get the tracking number.

D* should not have advised you they would be billing you separately for the receiver, if you in fact had advised them that you were on "auto pay." I don't believe their system works like that. A lot of us have been aggravated by their procedures on "auto pay" accounts, but logically they have the right to charge your account until they get the extra receiver back. The biggest problem from my point-of-view is that they don't credit your account on a timely basis, and I can prove that.

Make sure before the installer leaves that you receive signal strengths in the mid-80's to 90's on all the satellites except 99(b), which doesn't apply to you in Detroit, and that you can record and play back something. Let the installer deal with D* re: de-activating the old receiver and activating the new receiver, activating DVR service, etc. Make sure you receive all the channels your are supposed to receive, including HD locals on 103(a). You want to pay particular attention to the 103(b) full signal strength grid to make sure you're getting mid-80's to 90's on all 16 tp's, because that's where all the new HD channels are located. Make him show you. Otherwise you don't know if your dish is well-aligned.

Finally, you can go to the bank and seek mercy. Most people set up automatic overdraft protection to their credit card to prevent these returned check charges.

I believe you will be happy with DirecTV's product, once you get over this initial, unfortunate experience. I'm no "fan boy." The HR20's are still somewhat problematic as are the HD locals. That said, if there were a better product available, I would be posting there and not here.

[crpeck]

For what it's worth, I've run into issues trying to get my installation date set, after them "unscheduling me" 3 times I went the email route. The first message back will be a form letter, just reply to that indicating that you have no desire to spend any more time on the phone, then write in detail the issues you are having. They will either take care of it & email you back, or at least give you another number with a PIN to call back with.
email address is simply: directvcustomercare@directv.com

[sNEIRBO]

To add insult to injury . . . I got the "how are we doing?" call from DirecTV this evening while making dinner! :nono:

I politely told the CSR what was going on with the auto-charge and he said "I can tell you that happens a lot - people tell them no, and they do it anyways for the first month". I asked him what he thought I should do about the overdrafts and he said to call the Billing Department back during the week, during regular business hours. He thought I more than likely just talked to a CSR on Saturday, NOT someone in Billing. He thought they should have some way of submitting a form for the overdrafts refunds. That makes sense, I didn't really think about them not having people who work in the Billing Department there on the weekend. I'll give it another shot tomorrow morning. If they balk at refunding the money, I'll go throw myself on the mercy of the Bank. :(

How scared should I be about the receiver they're sending me on Tuesday??
Should I really refuse shipment / request a new one be delivered by a Tech??
If so, after I get off the phone with Billing tomorrow, I'll ask to talk to Tech Support to straighten that out.

At least I got my old friend TiVo fired up and working again in my bedroom - she's even making calls using my AT&T CallVantage now! I LOVE TiVo . . . she's never let me down . . . not like those fancy HD DVRs have! :lol:

[aphoward]

FYI, there is no way in hell you are responsible for the charges, so if somehow D* refuses you the refund, you need to escalate it as far as possible. If they find some way to refuse you all the way to the top, you still do not have to pay these charges. You just need to go to your bank and say that this charge was not authorized by you, and they will be forced to pursue it with D* themselves.

[joe diamond]

There was a time when you would call the local retailer that sold and installed the equipment and he would come around with a replacement.

Now that we have MSPs and HSPs and need to call a CSR to invent fire and the wheel I wonder how things got this efficient?

Joe

[satwood]

Hey Everybody,

I like the company and the technology but I am dismayed that the customer service continues to be this poor in at least some cases. As long as new subscribers continue to join this forum with bad stories and the rest of us continue to say things like "Yeah, happened to me, here's what you need to do..." the problem is not being fixed! At some point, corporate ethics and fair trade sense needs to dominate. Yes, it may be a statistically small number of subscribers with serious complaints, but a system that does not allow these complaints to be immediately dispatched is a bad system. Everytime we call a call center with an unresolved issue, we cost D* money. Everytime a bad service story is told, it costs D* a potential new customer. The bottom line is that despite the many great things they are doing, fixing the service end of the business is not one of them right now.

I know I'll get criticisms for this post but that is my opinion. I ran my own service group for a number of years and never would have considered tolerating these levels of problems being reported. I' not trying to bash anyone, just weighing in with my 2 cents.

Cheers
Steve

[CT_Wiebe]

I agree with Steve (satwood). For the most part, I've had good luck with DirecTV service. However, I currently have a new HR20 that doesn't seem to work.

I tried calling the "Service Dept" yesterday (Sunday - weekend calls are a bad idea) and spent an hour on the phone - with no solution. I had to really keep my cool since the guy on the phone was getting frustrated and seemed to be losing his cool. The CSR, I talked to, did schedule a Service Appointment for next Wednesday (a lot sooner than I expected). I hope it's the same company that came out on the 14th - that tech was real knowledgeable and tweaked my dish so that I could get the new HD channels (the dish was not correctly aligned when first installed).

[Stuart Sweet]

The big question is, what will happen with your replacement receiver. I wouldn't refuse shipment, even if it's a refurb it could still work flawlessly. It sounds like you're having a larger-than-normal set of teething pains but hopefully they will be over soon.

[sNEIRBO]

The big question is, what will happen with your replacement receiver. I wouldn't refuse shipment, even if it's a refurb it could still work flawlessly. It sounds like you're having a larger-than-normal set of teething pains but hopefully they will be over soon.

Thanks! I hope the problems end soon as well.

I've been down this road with "refurbs" in the past. My DISH Net ViP622 had to be replaced because of bad hard drive. I'm sure the replacement was a refurb, but I never had a problem with it.

I suppose if I get a replacement HR20 from DirecTV and it's faulty, they would replace that as well . . . and so on, and so on . . . until I get one that works the way it is supposed to.

It's just a little disappointing to have this HD DVR hooked up, and it's not functioning as a DVR, only as a DirecTV receiver. Does DirecTV owe me any credits for having a DVR that doesn't DVR for the first 7 days of service?

BTW - I called DirecTV this morning, and talked to the Billing Department. They gave me a fax number for DirecTV "Corporate Offices". They told me to get a copy of the overdrafts from the Bank, and write a letter explaining what happened - then fax those along with a copy of my bill to that number. Within 10 days, they make a determination and will contact me with the result. They were not certain if they decided in my favor if they would send a check to me, or issue a credit to my bill. Something tells me a credit is easier / cheaper for them . . . anyone care to place a wager??

[sNEIRBO]

So I take ANOTHER Vacation Day today so I can be home to sign for the HD DVR replacement when it shows up from FedEX - since I know FedEX will NOT deliver without a signature. DirecTV sent the WRONG DVR. They sent a replacement SD DVR NOT an HD DVR! I refused delivery on the receiver, took down the tracking number and called DirecTV right away.

The Tech Support CSR says "yup, we sent the wrong receiver" then proceeds to tell me that in order to get the HD DVR replaced, they need a Tech to come out and physical check that the HD DVR needs to be replaced - ANOTHER Vacation Day lost. if that Tech decides it should be replaced, then they will ship a replacement - so I'll have to take ANOTHER Vacation Day to sit around and wait for FedEX to deliver the DVR.

That would be 4 & 1/2 days in total -
1 day for the install
1/2 day for the service call they missed last Friday
1 day today waiting for the wrong receiver to be delivered
1 day for a tech to come out to look at the HD DVR
1 day to wait for the right receiver to be delivered.
And when I expressed my dismay of this to the Tech Support CSR all he could say is "Yeah, I guess that is a lot of days off . . . "

At which point I asked to speak to a Supervisor . . . and I've been on hold for 20 minutes waiting for that . . . expect another update to this saga later this afternoon.

8 days without an HD DVR and I'm paying THEM for this wonderful service!?!?!?

Update on the Overdrafts - I went the Bank yesterday afternoon to get the info I need for the overdrafts. The bank said since the mistake was DirecTVs, they would not waive the overdrafts, but they would pursue DirecTV for the refund themselves. That will take 5 - 10 days, but the bank was confident that they will get the money from DirecTV. I guess I'd rather have a big bank chasing DirecTV for this money instead of me . . .

[SirDave]

I feel your pain. After 2 appointments of installers without the correct equipment ( 1st no dish, 2nd no 40 foot ladder), I called DirecTV service.

I was so fed up with them I also called Cablevision Sales at the same time because I had decided I was going to switch.
The unbelievable part is that DirecTV answered first, only 43 minutes later!!!!
I figured if Cablevision Sales was gonna take longer than DirecTV Service, I'll stick with DirecTV. :D

So now I'm a proud owner of a mostly functional HR20 (occasional 'partials') and a H10 hooked up to a MCE2005 PC that freezes (and requires a red button restart) whenever my wife wants to listen to XM. :)
I get 96+ signals in good weather, lost signals during any rain denser than a drizzle.

Still the best choice though. Boggles my mind what we are willing to pay for.
Can you believe, Service is faster than Sales.....
Your loss, Cablevision!

[sNEIRBO]

The Update: while waiting on hold to talk to a Supervisor the CSR comes back on the line at about the 30 minute mark and says "Are you still there?", when I respond YES, I'm then disconnected! NICE!

I call back, ask for Tech Support, then ask the CSR for a Supervisor - disconnected AGAIN! Yeah, I'm happy!

I calm down, go meditate for a couple of minutes, and call back. I ask for a Supervisor, this CSR asks what's going on. I explain the whole sorted fiasco and the reasons for my current state of discontent. He says "I feel for you, but to be honest a Supervisor isn't going to do a damned thing for you. You've got the Protection Plan, I can connect you to them, they'll get you the right receiver. Or I can put you on hold for 30 minutes waiting for a Supervisor who's just going to do the same thing." I say send me to the Protection Plan department and . . . who sees it coming . . . I GET DISCONNECTED AGAIN!!! DAMMIT!

I calm down . . . again . . . call back . . . again . . . this time I ask for Protection Plan. I get connected right away to a very delightful woman named Jody. I explain the whole sorted fiasco to Jody, who says "Can we try to force a software download first before we send out a new receiver?" "Sure" I say. We do the RESET 0 2 4 6 8 procedure - 20 minutes later, I've got 18a on the HD DVR and . . . NO MORE RECORDING PROBLEMS!!! All the receiver needed was a software download to fix the problems!

8 days of no DVR! :nono2:
8 days dealing with DirecTVs WORTHLESS CSRs! :confused:
8 days of nearly pulling all of my hair out of my head over this frustration! :mad:
And the Protection Plan department solved the issue - NOT TECH SUPPORT! :nono:

[Milominderbinder2]

The install on Tuesday went GREAT...
I think that is when you actually had your problems...

First, let me say I am sorry for your experience.

We compiled notes from a thousand success and horror stories into a set of tips and guides:
● Ordering Tips (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=839938#post839938)
● Installation Guide (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=67769)

In particular, you would have known how to test HD, locals, and DVR functions before you sign that all were correct. You would have known to get a fresh download.

You would have known why to avoid an afternoon appointment (as you saw).

You could have watched your order being placed as she typed it and known instantly what it would say.

For instructions on how to reformat a drive and 133 other tips you would have had the:
134 Undocumented HD DVR PLUS Tips & Tricks (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=747592)

Finally if you hang up on a CSR from any company, they know that they need to document their actions carefully for CYA when you call back.

Someone pointed out a few weeks ago that they used these same checklists when they set up gas, phone, DSL, and electric service at their new house. These concepts apply any time you are having contractors do installations.

Again, sorry for your experience. Hopefully your story can help others.

- Craig

[sNEIRBO]

Finally if you hang up on a CSR from any company, they know that they need to document their actions carefully for CYA when you call back.



Thanks for the info - albeit a little too late to do me any good!

BTW - I never hung up on any of DirecTV's CSRs. I never lost my cool, I always remained very calm when dealing with them. I re-read what I had originally written and can understand that you would think I slammed down the phone out of disgust when I said "I hang up frustrated again" - what I should have said was "the call ended without any satisfaction". That call actually ended very civilly with the CSR telling me there wasn't anything else she could do to help.

[coacho]

sNeirbo. Sounds like you handled yourself much better than they treated you. I have been with D* for about 10 years and I hate to call them or change anything. They seem to be able to charge you or us for a service they can not provide and then let you live with the frustration.

Sometimes you just cant win and your only hope is to salvage something you can live with.

[sNEIRBO]

The Bank e-mailed me this afternoon - they got the charges and overdraft fees back from DirecTV. The money is already in my account. That little mistake cost DirecTV $342 in overdraft fees!

So everything is settled, I sit back to enjoy some Entertainment this afternoon and . . . my HDTV dies!!! I'm NOT kidding! Thankfully I got the 4 year protection plan from BB when I bought it. They're coming out tomorrow to check out the set to see what's going on . . . I need a drink!