Dead H20-600, have PP & CS refuses replacement

[gibson.guitarman]

Last night, my H20-600 had the black screen/no audio issue, but the banner showed. I reset, it went into the sequential green/red/yellow thing forever. Called CS - (unplug, disconnect cable, wait, plug in, reconnect cable). Now it is completely dead except for the red status light visible through the vents. They talk about nothing wrong with your receiver & they are working on another download asap - but no dates. Asked for supervisor & got same story. So, when is there another download, and how can a receiver that doesn't even boot ever going to receive another download? I can't get anywhere other than "wait for another download", and my receiver is dead. Very poor CS and the protection plan doesn't work either. I'm very bummed.:(

[veryoldschool]

I would be too.
If it won't boot.. it's useless.
You might try unplugging it [AC] for an extended period of time. The H20 can stay in "never never land" longer than the other receivers. I'm left mine pulled over night and finally had it boot up.

[gibson.guitarman]

Thanks VOS, I'll give that a try!

[Earl Bonovich]

So you have the protection plan.... and they won't replace the unit?

[gibson.guitarman]

So you have the protection plan.... and they won't replace the unit?

Correct - they claim "there is nothing wrong with the hardware".

[litzdog911]

Correct - they claim "there is nothing wrong with the hardware".

Crazy. Call back again. Clearly the unit is defective. How can they say there's nothing wrong?

[RAD]

Did you call the 800 number listed on the protection plan agreement? I only ask since when my H20-600 bricked I called them and no problem getting a replacement.

[gibson.guitarman]

I left it unplugged for about 6 hours - still bricked.

After just talking with their 'technical' dept, they claim this is a known issue that was first logged on Mar. 5, and my probem was escallated to their Nashville team -still no date of expected fix. Prior to it bricking, I saw a new download happened on the 18th, which she noted in the escallation. This was an old H20-600 from '04, the newer that I have (also a -600) took the download without problem. They won't budge (despite my reminding them of the PP policy) since there are software 'bugs'. I should have saved my money from the protection plan and just bought a new box myself.:( :( :(

[fratwell]

I left it unplugged for about 6 hours - still bricked.

After just talking with their 'technical' dept, they claim this is a known issue that was first logged on Mar. 5, and my probem was escallated to their Nashville team -still no date of expected fix. Prior to it bricking, I saw a new download happened on the 18th, which she noted in the escallation. This was an old H20-600 from '04, the newer that I have (also a -600) took the download without problem. They won't budge (despite my reminding them of the PP policy) since there are software 'bugs'. I should have saved my money from the protection plan and just bought a new box myself.:( :( :(

With the unit plugged off, remove the access card, verify there is no dust or wipe it off, and insert the card back in and re-try the download.

[AlbertZeroK]

Just call back and say, it won't even light up now. Nothing is comming on at all.

When they still refuse, say "CANCEL" and talk with retention.

[gibson.guitarman]

I hadn't thought of the access card thing, but after wiping it off and plugging it back it to the AC, still dead, which I've told them numerous times. As far as the threat to cancel, I have 2 receivers that I am happy with, and I'm sure they'd love to cancel me to get the early termination fee. I suspect I just need to cancel the pp and consider it lost $, and buy another one. I'll keep nagging them for another week first, though, and I'll let you all know if the pp is a now a scam at that time. I'll reserve my opionion in the meantime.

[litzdog911]

I hadn't thought of the access card thing, but after wiping it off and plugging it back it to the AC, still dead, which I've told them numerous times. As far as the threat to cancel, I have 2 receivers that I am happy with, and I'm sure they'd love to cancel me to get the early termination fee. I suspect I just need to cancel the pp and consider it lost $, and buy another one. I'll keep nagging them for another week first, though, and I'll let you all know if the pp is a now a scam at that time. I'll reserve my opionion in the meantime.

It's not so much that you need to actually threaten to cancel. It's just that if you say "cancel" at the first voice prompt, you'll be connected with the retention department which typically has more knowledgable CSRs.

And, as suggested earlier, just tell them that the box has become TOTALLY unresponsive, so that it's clear that no amount of "software updates" can help it anymore.

[gibson.guitarman]

Thanks. I'll give that a try all next week. However, none of this should be necessary if they weren't trying to reneg on ther commitment.

[Supervolcano]

You didn't really answer one question from RAD.
Did you specifically call the Protection Plan's phone number?

1-888-667-7463

That's not the same phone number as the regular directv number.

[gibson.guitarman]

Yes I called that number the second time, I forgot to answer the question from RAD. My apologies on missing that. I've also been contacting them via their CS email from the website. I pretty much repeated what I said in my posts, and on my reply to them, I referred to my public posts and I also added:
"Please be assured I will make this issue as public as I possibly can - I am highly angered that you have chosen to NOT honor the protection plan agreement. It does not matter why it is a dead receiver - you were to replace it under the terms of the agreement that I paid for, and you are still charging me for having a dead receiver on the account, and simply refuse to resolve the matter."
Their reply: I'm so sorry to hear your frustration regarding the technical issue you are experiencing right now. I deeply apologize for the inconvenience caused. I just wanted to let you know that we received your email and I have forwarded it to a specialist who will research your email and follow up with you.
... the saga continues...

[gen2rx7]

I think you should call D* back and just tell them that the receiver is not powering up now and that you need a new receiver. I has worked in the past, and you won't have to go through the troubleshooting :D And since you have the PP you can even have a tech come out and set it up for you

[Satchaser]

Had the same problem with a H20-600 which went totally dead. I had previously received a replacement for a different H20 and they refused to send me another one due to frequency of requests. They did however schedule a tech visit (I am under the PP) and he replaced the H20 with a new H21-200.

See if you can schedule a Tech visit.

[gibson.guitarman]

Yes, that was made abundantly clear to every CS person I have spoken with and I have asked them each to rephase their response so that I can be assured of their answer. Their consistent response has been to the effect that their engineering team can bring the dead back to life, and that I should just wait whatever it takes (days, weeks, months, whatever) for that to happen. Thanks for the reply though, you all have been helpful and supportive. It is good to have a forum such as this to keep tabs on what the companies are trying to 'pull' once they have our business. Perhaps they aren't being upfrnot about the 'frequency' thing you mentioned, as they did replace my other -600 last fall (they rolled a truck out just so that he can say "yep - it's dead"), so I had to take off from work back then. PP still doesn't work like we are lead to believe. So, once you use the PP, they wait until they get enough of your money to make up what they 'spent' before they honor it again? What good is that???

[rudeney]

The official terms of the PP state that it covers, “Repairs necessary for the product to meet the manufacturer's written specifications.” I would say that not being able to receive and transmit a video signal to your TV would be a failure to meet those specs. I see no mention anywhere in the terms of the PP that exclude coverage for “software”:

http://directv.com/learn/pdf/DirecTV_service_contract_v4.pdf

[litzdog911]

Yes, that was made abundantly clear to every CS person I have spoken with and I have asked them each to rephase their response so that I can be assured of their answer. Their consistent response has been to the effect that their engineering team can bring the dead back to life, and that I should just wait whatever it takes (days, weeks, months, whatever) for that to happen. Thanks for the reply though, you all have been helpful and supportive. It is good to have a forum such as this to keep tabs on what the companies are trying to 'pull' once they have our business. Perhaps they aren't being upfrnot about the 'frequency' thing you mentioned, as they did replace my other -600 last fall (they rolled a truck out just so that he can say "yep - it's dead"), so I had to take off from work back then. PP still doesn't work like we are lead to believe. So, once you use the PP, they wait until they get enough of your money to make up what they 'spent' before they honor it again? What good is that???

Have you escalated this to a Customer Retention CSR or Supervisor? Your experience here is NOT typical. We very rarely see complaints here that DirecTV will not replace an obviously dead Receiver.

[gibson.guitarman]

Their latest response to me was that they would have a specialist look into the matter and contact me. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for now, but as a long-time D* customer, my recent experience is that the D* of today lacks the integrity of the prior years. Resolving matters via CS used to be like a walk in the park, now it resembles being forced down a dark alley at night full of thugs and prostitutes. This is not directed at the individuals working at low pay to earn a living, but rather the company that institutes the policies that they must abide by.

[gibson.guitarman]

Thanks all for the supportive replies and putting up with the rants. I just received a call as promised, and the guy was very apologetic for what had happened. His guess was that the CS people I spoke with were not aware of the distinction of not being able to boot and just having a problem with a feature, and that it took emails to resolve. He said that I will receive a replacement in 2-3 business days. :) The download that was to come will be performed, but he agreed that it would not be helpful in my situation.

So, thanks again all, the PP does work (but may take more effort than you think in some cases), and I will contiue to subscribe to it.

[litzdog911]

Glad to hear! Let us know how the replacement receiver works out.

[johnp37]

When you have absolutely tried everything to get your deck up and running again and nothing works, try this: tell the CSR " I turned the box on and and I saw wisps of smoke coming from the vents and a burning smell, is this normal?" Now if that doesn't trigger a replacement I don't know what will.

[litzdog911]

When you have absolutely tried everything to get your deck up and running again and nothing works, try this: tell the CSR " I turned the box on and and I saw wisps of smoke coming from the vents and a burning smell, is this normal?" Now if that doesn't trigger a replacement I don't know what will.

Hopefully gibson.guitarman won't have a next time :)

[Greg Alsobrook]

When you have absolutely tried everything to get your deck up and running again and nothing works, try this: tell the CSR " I turned the box on and and I saw wisps of smoke coming from the vents and a burning smell, is this normal?" Now if that doesn't trigger a replacement I don't know what will.

!rolling

[gibson.guitarman]

With the luck I was having, I'd have been told that another download is expected and that will clear the room of the burnt pc board smell also.

Anyway, the replacement came yesterday:) In retrospect, things went out of proportion in my mind, but OTOH, Technical Services should be atleast somewhat tech saavy when it comes to what constitutes a receiver that can receive the next download vs. dead.

A happy conclusion, none the less!

[veryoldschool]

With the luck I was having, I'd have been told that another download is expected and that will clear the room of the burnt pc board smell also.

Anyway, the replacement came yesterday:) In retrospect, things went out of proportion in my mind, but OTOH, Technical Services should be atleast somewhat tech saavy when it comes to what constitutes a receiver that can receive the next download vs. dead.

A happy conclusion, none the less!
But if they did, we'd have nothing to do here...:lol:

[MrD1234]

What does it mean to "lease" the box?

Doesn't Directv claim ownership of the box? If so then shouldn't they replace the unit regardless of a "protection" plan?

What does the "protection" plan cover? Shouldn't it only cover the dish now that the boxes are leased?

-MrD

[veryoldschool]

What does it mean to "lease" the box?

Doesn't Directv claim ownership of the box? If so then shouldn't they replace the unit regardless of a "protection" plan?

What does the "protection" plan cover? Shouldn't it only cover the dish now that the boxes are leased?

-MrD
This is the "general" thinking, as "the box" was to be covered by the lease plan when I first signed up for it.
The protection plan covers everything else from the remote to the dish [and box replacement without extending the programing commitment, plus shipping].

[gibson.guitarman]

Without the PP, I would guess that if they insist on sending out a tech to do the verify/replacement, you would have that charge, but I haven't heard one way or the other if that ever happens. In my situation, the H20 I had replaced was owned (but replaced with a lease, which doesn't matter to me since they don't work without being active anyways).