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ChrisWyso
08-01-06, 10:11 AM
I recently had an extremely frustrating (who hasn't, really) situation with the R-15.

The R-15 is in the basement and all it's really used for right now is my crap like IRL & CART racing, WWE, Mythbusters, Dallas SWAT, etc. It's really still working to "prove itself" down there.

So I went to check on it with all the word on 10C8 coming out. Well, it was sitting there like a wounded duck. Here were the symptoms:

1) Pressing the Power button, the unit took 30~40 seconds to even power on.
2) Once the image would come up, the entire machine was highjacked by the channel banner, and I had NO functions until it cleared.
3) Somewhere along the line, it completely lost ALL of my season passes/prioritizer entries.
4) I had ZERO DVR functionality.
5) Items in the MyVOD were corrupt. I had a "folder" that had no text on it, and when I opened it, it listed 3 IRL races BUT the descriptions on them were for "Dog the Bounty Hunter" episodes.

So I hit my "That's It!" point at 12:30am this morning and called DirecTV. When they did answer (about 10 minutes on hold with their SCREAMING audio advertising) I said plainly, "I have no DVR functionality on this R-15". He then asked if I received any messages, which I had not. He then immediately transferred me to the next level of support.

Once I got the the elevated level support, they tried the usual "press the red reset button" routine to no effect.

He put me on hold for about 3 minutes and when he came back he said we were going to re-format the HD. So he had me do the (now famous) record-down arrow on the black screen. After formatting, the system literally sprung to life. Powered on fast, channel banner cleared, and all DVR functions were restored.

I'm glad that the thing is running again. It wasn't a big deal to lose what was recorded, but I'll tell you, if this WAS in the primary viewing spot, this would not have gone over well. The wife would have been pissed, and I would have too. While I was on the phone with the tech, he was making small talk while we were waiting for the HD to format & reboot and he asked, "How's your other DVR working?" To which I answered, "Flawless. The R-10 is flawless." He didn't say anything after that.

-Chris

Bobman
08-01-06, 10:43 AM
Kinda reminds me of the horror story I had with the R-15. Shame really as it was working fine for weeks except recording dups and a few other small problems. Since then I made the R-10 my main unit and dont think the R-15 will be going back for a long time.

whynot83706
08-01-06, 11:00 AM
Overall, is DTV customer support good or bad?

Earl Bonovich
08-01-06, 11:02 AM
Overall..........

Probably would be considered good... but it is far from perfect.

ChrisWyso
08-02-06, 11:07 AM
Overall, is DTV customer support good or bad?

Overall, I'd say probably good, the few times I've had to call. Although I wish that they had a system or "flag" in place where when people like us ("powerusers") would call, we wouldn't get forced into the stock script on troubleshooting. Most of us here, when faced with a problem, have already unplugged/reset the unit (at minimum), usually multiple times, before even calling in. I'd like my account flagged somehow that says when I tell them that I've already unplugged/reset the unit, trust me, I have, and we move forward, instead of them saying, "Well let's try it one more time." We're not your average consumers here.

What'da say Earl, it's just one more field in their database? Easy, right? :grin:

Earl Bonovich
08-02-06, 11:16 AM
What'da say Earl, it's just one more field in their database? Easy, right? :grin:

You would think so... :)

ChrisWyso
08-08-06, 11:12 PM
Well I have to say that between the time I had to do the re-format until now, the machine has been running surprisingly well. It's very responsive to the remote (even using thru IR repeaters) and has been doing a good job. Granted I only have like 3 season passes (re)set-up, and there's just a couple of things in the MyVOD list, but it's like a new machine. BTW, I have (finally) received 10C8 in this time frame too.

-Chris