D* Reneging on Offers?

[EricRobins]

I got a phone call from D* offering to swap my HR10 for a new HD-DVR at no charge. However, when I called to take advantage of the offer, I was told that since I already had 2 HR20's, I was not eligible.

What the *%$#)(%*$ is up with that!

The message on my machine said (something like) that since MLBEI was moving to mpeg4, my HD-TiVo would not be able to get the MLBEI Superfan channels, and in order to avoid that, I was eligible for the free swap. The (clueless) CSR had to go check and when she came back, told me that it would cost me $99!

Can they really make an offer and then rescind it like that?

Even a first year law student knows, OFFER AND ACCEPTANCE = LEGALLY ENFORCEABLE CONTRACT! An offer can only be rescinded BEFORE acceptance.

Houston (or shall I say El Segundo), we have a problem.

[houskamp]

just like a credit card invite..

[RobertE]

<--Buttons up his "fanboy" suit.

How did you get your other HR20s?

Were they done under an upgrade swap?

If so, how many times should they "swap" out the same box?

If not, then yes, they messed up somewhere.

[Pink Fairy]

Was going to ask the same thing.

[Earl Bonovich]

PM me with your account number, so I can forward it to the person responsible for the promotion

[EricRobins]

My issue is not that I should be able to swap out my HR10 multiple times, but the fact that I was offered a particular thing and when I called to take advantage of that offer, I was told I couldn't.

Hey, if I am not eligible, DON'T MAKE THE OFFER! I am not asking for anything special!

This type of thing is the EXACT reason I left cable, now 8 years ago. I felt lied to and mislead about pricing/programming/promotions.

DirecTV has an unhappy (longtime) customer. To be honest, I am not going to leave, but I wanted to warn the rest of DirecTV's customers.

[somekevinguy]

I think the cable/satellite industry like a lot of industries are adopting the airline model where every airline's service sucks so they can get away with it without losing their customers.

[cariera]

My issue is not that I should be able to swap out my HR10 multiple times, but the fact that I was offered a particular thing and when I called to take advantage of that offer, I was told I couldn't.

Hey, if I am not eligible, DON'T MAKE THE OFFER! I am not asking for anything special!

This type of thing is the EXACT reason I left cable, now 8 years ago. I felt lied to and mislead about pricing/programming/promotions.

DirecTV has an unhappy (longtime) customer. To be honest, I am not going to leave, but I wanted to warn the rest of DirecTV's customers.

Oh my goodness. Since you didn't answer the direct question of whether you have gotten a free swap previous, and you alluded to the fact that you should be able to swap out your HR10 multiple times, I will assume that you have gotten the HRxx for free in the past.

You felt lied to? If you previously were given a free, or low cost "swap" and Directv did it, why to you think you are entitled to swap that box out again?

Because you got an automated phone call? Well they are probably contacting everyone who has an HR10 active on their account with the same phone call.

Directv "swapped" out your box and allowed you to keep it. At the very least you have an extra 200 hr dvr.

When you leave, don't let the door hit ya, where the good lord split ya!:)

[GirkMonster]

I have been a DirecTV customer since 9/1996 and have never, ever threatened to switch to cable, Dish or otherwise cancel my service. I truly believe they have the superior product. I don't appreciate receiving direct mail targeted to new customers and offering them a better deal than what I get as a longtime customer with a solid payment history. I am a 'known quantity' and the new customer is a credit risk.

Once, I was curious enough to call and ask if I could be treated as well as a new customer under the circumstances. I was polite, courteous and explained the reason for my call to the front-line CSR in pleasant rational words. They treated me well and I was appreciative.

I also made it perfectly clear that I wasn't going to cancel my service, I just wanted to know if they could extend to me the offer that they sent me or similar. All this crap about people demanding free this or free that is getting tiresome.

Go back to cable if you're not happy. My local cable operator has five HD channels and gives them away for free (or so they say). They even advertise that they have over a hundred SHOWS a week in HD. Directv has more than that in a day.

[jackshakes]

I don't appreciate receiving direct mail targeted to new customers and offering them a better deal than what I get as a longtime customer with a solid payment history.

You get those too huh? I get a service offer letter from D* about every 2 weeks. I'm not talking about the mass mailings in with the coupon books (junk mail) ... I mean individual letters addressed to me specifically.

I always thought it funny since my exact name and address is also attached to my active account. Yet they send me new customer offers to switch to D*?

I thought about calling and trying to use it to get a better deal on my upgrade ... I don't generally get breaks though, and don't have the capacity to be rude or demanding to some random csr.

[EricRobins]

In response to the questions:

I did get both of my HR20's at some discounted price. Do I believe I am entitled to more discounts, no!

However, THEY CALLED ME! If the phone call said anything to the effect of:
1. Exclusions/restrictions apply;
2. Not all customers are eligible; or
3. Call for more information,

then I would understand.
However, this is not what happened.

These phone calls are very different then credit card invites. The reason: THE FINE PRINT!

There was no fine print in the phone call message.

I did get some response from "rborden", whoever that is:

"Since you just got 2 hd-dvr's for $99 + s&h in august you are not eligible for this, or any other, free offers right now. The call you recieved is automated and goes out to all customers who have an hr10-250 on their account, however only customers who do not have any mpeg4 recievers are eligible for the free swap."

(btw, this is not quite the truth. I got one for $99 and the second was $126 - yeah, I don't know where that came from- w/ a year of $10 off programming)

BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT THE MESSAGE SAID! And the fact that they did not filter to whom the offers were made should not be my problem. All I am asking is for them to do what they agreed to do!

We at least have deceptive advertising. I guess the next step is the NC Department of Justice - Consumer Protection Division.

[Earl Bonovich]

Can you take a deep breath for a moment....

I have forward your details onto the person that is involved with promotion.

As you flagged for the requirements to get the upgrade offer...
However, unless they did additional research to see if you already received an offer or something...

Or it could have just been a rep that didn't have all the details.

[rborden]

The free swap is only available to customers who do not currently have any mpeg4 equipment. Sometimes the automated system doesn't recognize that there is already mpeg4 equipment on the account.

[cforrest]

Well I have 1 HR20 (paid $19.95 for it) w/5lnb on my account & MLBEI, got the message on Friday. I called yesterday and scheduled to have another HR20/21 installed on 1/22 at no cost to me to replace my HR10 in my bedroom.

Kinda odd though, since my parent's account has not received anything that I am aware of & they have 3 HR10s on the account, also MLBEI sub. I doubt D* is going to swap those suckers out though. I have already purchased & installed 3 HR20/21s at full cost for them. I just moved the HR10s to outlets w/SD DVRs from the account in hopes of getting D* to replace those 3 HR10s. Not holding my breath though!

[mark_winn]

Does the "free" swap mean that the HR20 that replaces the HR10-250 is leased ? What if your HR10-250 was owned by you ?

[DishCSR]

Does the "free" swap mean that the HR20 that replaces the HR10-250 is leased ? What if your HR10-250 was owned by you ?

yes the mpeg 4 hd-dvr will be leased, but under the "swap" there is no 2 yr commit, and yes under the "swap" the tech will take your older mpeg 2 recvr , wether owned or leased...most csr's don't know this difference however, and also many times there is a 0.00 offer in our ordering system under " replacement". but the csrs don't look for that, they just go right for the "upgrade" section on the offers page of the ordering system...

I feel the op's pain with the automated system telling him he's eligible and then calling to find out he's really not....more than likely he either was eligible and the csr did not look at the "replacement" section as a i stated above, or the ordering system really didn't show a replacement offer to the rep b/c of the fact he did have active mpeg 4 equipment on the account already, either situation is possible.

Believe it or not , what our account management system shows and what the ordering system gives can be extremely inconsistent at times, and contradictory

[Satelliteracer]

Eric, I sent you an email.

First and foremost, I think folks are getting way to carried away here. There are over 20,000 agents answering phone calls and sometimes you might get one that doesn't read up on the latest offer, etc. It happens, these people are swamped and have to know a lot...there are tools out there to help them but sometimes they may miss something but they are human too. They can miss things from time to time with all that they are required to know.

It appears that is the case in this instance....unless you were already swapped out in which case there could be a data issue.

[rcraigiii]

Series of events for me ...

- Received automated call about the "free exchange offer for my H10 in correlation to MLB EI."

- When I called D* the rep said that I was not eligible since I already had 2 H20's. I said that D* called me and started this issue.

- She said there is nothing they could do so I asked to be transferred to retention. She said I can no longer just transfer you to retention without a reason (sounds like a Seinfeld episode or something). I said that for years my bill has consistently averaged $150/month and D* called me and is wasting my precious time while I return a call to them. She then said ok.

- Got over to retention and they said that I was due a free upgrade and immediately scheduled the appointment. (this was Sunday night).

- Today the installer finally got here (missed installation time window), and he exchanged my H10 for a H21. I was courteous and polite with him, which led him to also agreeing to replace my larger 5lnb dish with the newer slim line.

[sdicomp]

Oh my goodness. Since you didn't answer the direct question of whether you have gotten a free swap previous, and you alluded to the fact that you should be able to swap out your HR10 multiple times, I will assume that you have gotten the HRxx for free in the past.

You felt lied to? If you previously were given a free, or low cost "swap" and Directv did it, why to you think you are entitled to swap that box out again?

Because you got an automated phone call? Well they are probably contacting everyone who has an HR10 active on their account with the same phone call.

Directv "swapped" out your box and allowed you to keep it. At the very least you have an extra 200 hr dvr.

When you leave, don't let the door hit ya, where the good lord split ya!:)

now, now........................................:nono2:

[matsfan]

I had my old Sony HD300, which was owned not leased, replaced today with a H21 under the MLBEI promo. I kept the Sony box although have no use for it. DirecTV called me Friday night and said it was free and the tech said the same thing before I let him start. I have multiple HR2x boxes already so maybe the trigger is owned vs leased equipment?

[CJTE]

EricRobens,
I'm sorry that you were bothered with the phone call, and I understand that its frustrating. Because you already have MPEG4 equipment on your account, your MPEG2 equipment is not elligible to be swapped out.
Especially because the equipment was swapped out for a low/no cost deal.

Tha automated system did not recognize that you had MPEG4 equ on your account, only recognized the MPEG2 equ.

However, on the other hand, Earl has forwarded your information, so we appreciate you being patient as we all wait to find out what the resulting answer will be.

:)

[EricRobins]

At this point I don't expect too much.

[raz175]

EricRobens,
I'm sorry that you were bothered with the phone call, and I understand that its frustrating. Because you already have MPEG4 equipment on your account, your MPEG2 equipment is not elligible to be swapped out.
Especially because the equipment was swapped out for a low/no cost deal.

Tha automated system did not recognize that you had MPEG4 equ on your account, only recognized the MPEG2 equ.

However, on the other hand, Earl has forwarded your information, so we appreciate you being patient as we all wait to find out what the resulting answer will be.

:)
Not sure if your statement is entirely true. At least in my case, it's not. I have an HR20 (leased from D* at full price) and an HR21 (purchased from E-Bay dealer at reduced cost, but still a lease) and an HR10-250 which I have owned for years. I recently received an e-mail from D* stating that I can upgrade my receiver (for free) in order to receive the "New HD". When I called the number in the e-mail, the CSR looked at my account and made an appointment for an install. When I asked her about own vs lease since the HR10 was owned, she stated the new receiver would be a lease.

[matsfan]

EricRobens,
I'm sorry that you were bothered with the phone call, and I understand that its frustrating. Because you already have MPEG4 equipment on your account, your MPEG2 equipment is not elligible to be swapped out.
Especially because the equipment was swapped out for a low/no cost deal.

Tha automated system did not recognize that you had MPEG4 equ on your account, only recognized the MPEG2 equ.

However, on the other hand, Earl has forwarded your information, so we appreciate you being patient as we all wait to find out what the resulting answer will be.

:)

I had all mpeg-4 receivers with one exception and that one was swapped yesterday for free. They called and I called them back and verified. The tech also verified before performing the work so any surprises will be disappointing.

On my Activity Since Last Bill on-line there is a line item showing "Eligible: HD Equipment Swap - Charge $0.00 $0.00" on January 3, 2008. I just got off the phone with them because one of my other receivers lost HD as part of this process (the old one was the primary) but the others were still fine. As of now, my balance is normal and everything seems to be fine.