Bye to DirectTV

[b33tl3]

Well DirectTV lost another customer due to installers. I have been a customer since 2000 and have never had an issue with them. In December I signed up for an HDDVR and had to wait until January 25th for installation. On January 25th an installer came out in a DirectTV van and looked at everything. He said he really thought that the new dish should be mounted higher on the house and he didn’t have a tall enough ladder. The install was rescheduled for today, they were supposed to send out a 2 man crew with a 40 foot ladder. Finally a guy shows up in a lowered full size truck and he was dressed like a bum. He looked around and said he couldn’t do the install because it would take too much cable ( HD dish needs 4 cables) but I could pay him for the extra cable. I told him he could run the new cables in the basement anther way. Well then he decided he didn’t have the correct mulitswitch. I told him he needed to go get it or have someone deliver it since this needed to be installed today. He called his supervisor for the 5th time and finally said that they only get $40 for install and this was just too much work. I told him I wanted his supervisors name and phone number that I was calling DirectTv and filing a complaint. He left then came back 5 minutes later saying they would do the install because they didn’t want to get in trouble. I said fine and got on the phone with DirecTV. He got his ladder off the truck and when to the side of the house. Guess what his ladder was too short to install the dish in the correct place. He wanted to install the dish where the old one is. I told him NO that was not an option. He left again and after I finally got a hold of a someone at DirectTV they got someone form the install company on the phone. A supervisor was supposed to call me from the install company 2 hours ago. Guess what no call. I will be seeing Adelphia out here next week.
The hard part is going to be canceling with DirectTv. I have to reup for 2 years to get the HDDVR and it was never installed but I am sure I am going to have issues.

[Staszek]

That just sucks sorry to hear that man.

I have always installed all the dishes and cables myself for every house I have been in and never had any problems.

After reading of all the horror stories I see on here it looks like that is the only way to do it if you want it done right, which is absolutely ridiculous.

Although I blame the installer for part of it, when I just had my HR20 put in end of last year and had them come out to peak the new dish I installed the guy was telling me had 6 more installs that day (and I was already his 3rd one of the day) and it was about 12-1 when he was at my house. I cant imagine having to do 8-9 installs in a day that is way to many to get the jobs done correctly.

[saxon2000]

OUCH ! It's a real shame. I know there are good installers out there as some post here, but they seem to be hard to find. I must admit, $40 is not enough to load a truck and drive out to an install, let alone actually do anything. D* needs to take the blame for this.

[bonscott87]

Sorry to here that bud. This is why I do all my own installation. It's done *my* way and it's done right. When I got my HR20 installed with the dish upgrade I actually had the installer come out (was the only way I could get the free dish upgrade) and all he had to do was put together and install the dish. I ran any new cable, installed the new switch and setup the receiver while he did that. He was still there over an hour but was very thankful for all the work he didn't have to do. Plus he was real cool and professional (amazingly). I think in our area at least this installer would actually do a good job on an install.

[mrhoads]

After waiting since early November and Paying for two HD DVR boxes in early December I have finally decided to change to DISH. I have been a customer since 1998. I got an installation date of January 3, 2007. No one showed and no one called. Then after many many calls and email's I got an Installation date of January 31st. Because I was getting two DVR's I was given two different order numbers. Makes perfect sense to me. At about 07:00 PM on January 30th I got a call from the installers making sure someone would be home tomorrow. At 08:30 AM on January 31st I got a call from the installer saying they could not install because they did not have the box and did not know when they would. I called Directv and they basically said over and over "things happen". I was also told that I could not order two boxes. I could only order one every 12 months. I called Customer Retension to see if they could do anything and they were just rude and transfered me to installation. I give up!!!!!!! :mad:

[b33tl3]

Yea I hate to change but I don't have a choice. Cable was jsut easier for the same price with the discounts they gave me. I work in a very big company so I emailed out my experiece to one of our mailing lists. I was not teh only one that had these issues. It looks like people are leaving both SAT companies left and right due to customer service and the leasing upgrading policies.

[Paul Secic]

After waiting since early November and Paying for two HD DVR boxes in early December I have finally decided to change to DISH. I have been a customer since 1998. I got an installation date of January 3, 2007. No one showed and no one called. Then after many many calls and email's I got an Installation date of January 31st. Because I was getting two DVR's I was given two different order numbers. Makes perfect sense to me. At about 07:00 PM on January 30th I got a call from the installers making sure someone would be home tomorrow. At 08:30 AM on January 31st I got a call from the installer saying they could not install because they did not have the box and did not know when they would. I called Directv and they basically said over and over "things happen". I was also told that I could not order two boxes. I could only order one every 12 months. I called Customer Retension to see if they could do anything and they were just rude and transfered me to installation. I give up!!!!!!! :mad:
Welcome to Dish. They have 41 HD channels now. They just added A&E HD & Current HD.

[stevesmith5678]

I called Directv last Sat night to cancel my service to see if I could get a better deal on the HD upgrade. I just got a big Mitsubishi dlp and wanted the full upgrade to HD. They made me a good deal to stay. I told them I needed the upgrade done by next week end for the Super Bowl. The CSR said the she couldn't schedule anything right then because the scheduling dept was closed but someone would call me within 72 hours to make the appointment. After 72 hours of no call I called them up and they said they are way backed up in my area and gave me an install date of April 10 (2 1/2 months!). I told them to put me down for the date but I would probably switch to DISH way before then.

[islesfan]

Sounds like my neoghbor's installer. Mine was great, but I recommended D* to my neighbor when they got HD TV, and they had the installer form hell. It was embarassing, and on top of that, D* backed out of the $50 bonus I was supposed to get for getting a new subscriber! ("Sorry, the installer called the wrong number, no you cannot do anything about that now, no the paper in your hand means nothing, OK, I'll transfer you to someone who can help you..." then I get the standard voice mail message about refering a friend, then I press the number to talk to someone, and I get dumped back to the 1800DIRECTV line, so I hung up.)

[islesfan]

Welcome to Dish. They have 41 HD channels now. They just added A&E HD & Current HD.

Current is still on the air? No one watches it in SD!

[SDizzle]

Well DirectTV lost another customer due to installers. I have been a customer since 2000 and have never had an issue with them. In December I signed up for an HDDVR and had to wait until January 25th for installation. On January 25th an installer came out in a DirectTV van and looked at everything. He said he really thought that the new dish should be mounted higher on the house and he didn’t have a tall enough ladder. The install was rescheduled for today, they were supposed to send out a 2 man crew with a 40 foot ladder. Finally a guy shows up in a lowered full size truck and he was dressed like a bum. He looked around and said he couldn’t do the install because it would take too much cable ( HD dish needs 4 cables) but I could pay him for the extra cable. I told him he could run the new cables in the basement anther way. Well then he decided he didn’t have the correct mulitswitch. I told him he needed to go get it or have someone deliver it since this needed to be installed today. He called his supervisor for the 5th time and finally said that they only get $40 for install and this was just too much work. I told him I wanted his supervisors name and phone number that I was calling DirectTv and filing a complaint. He left then came back 5 minutes later saying they would do the install because they didn’t want to get in trouble. I said fine and got on the phone with DirecTV. He got his ladder off the truck and when to the side of the house. Guess what his ladder was too short to install the dish in the correct place. He wanted to install the dish where the old one is. I told him NO that was not an option. He left again and after I finally got a hold of a someone at DirectTV they got someone form the install company on the phone. A supervisor was supposed to call me from the install company 2 hours ago. Guess what no call. I will be seeing Adelphia out here next week.
The hard part is going to be canceling with DirectTv. I have to reup for 2 years to get the HDDVR and it was never installed but I am sure I am going to have issues.


You know, it is so unfortunate that both sat companies put the responsibility of installs in the hands of independant companies. It seems more often than not, they just don't want to work:nono2: I have had 2 different friends deal with D* Ironwood installers who plain and simple didn't want to work those days and had some lame excuse as to why they couldn't do their job:mad: One buddy of mine was switching from E*, where he has always hated their customer service. Well, the final straw for E* was based on their install when he upgraded to their new 2 room DVR. The installer did a crappy job, and didn't put the weatherproof gromets on the diplexor, so, it failed, thus leaving one box useless! When he called E*, they told him "oh well, we warranty installs for 30 days, and you don't have our protection plan, so you'll have to pay for the repair". Well, when Ironwood came out, the day before New Year's Eve, the guy was in a D* van, clean cut, we thought "cool"......WRONG! The clean cut guy didn't want to work on New Year's weekend. We found a local guy that came out the next morning, and took care of business:D He was in an older beat up explorer, in grubby clothes......but he wanted to work on New Year's Eve DAY. Crapcast has bad pic quality, always raises prices, but at least they have company employed installers!! It is rare that they have to contract out to independants (at least in my area), but when they do, it is for a limited time.

Sorry to hear about your troubles, but, I do understand:mad:

[TigersFanJJ]

The hard part is going to be canceling with DirectTv. I have to reup for 2 years to get the HDDVR and it was never installed but I am sure I am going to have issues.

I don't think you get re-upped on your commitment until they install and activate the new receiver.

[bobnielsen]

Current is still on the air? No one watches it in SD!

I hoped it would be bankrupt by now and Directv would bring back Newsworld International.

[Newshawk]

Welcome to Dish. They have 41 HD channels now. They just added A&E HD & Current HD.

Umm, guess again. Current is not in HD, and E* only had 30 HD channels up til today, so the count is only 31.

[JoeKerr]

I'm really close to pulling the plug myself for the same reasons (see my thread "5LNB install on balcony") for my equally frustrating experience.

When is D* going to figure out this sub-contracting isn't working? My god, what they have put people through in terms of lost time and frustration. You can't get mad at the installers, they are being paid nothing and are not properly trained. D* has a lot to learn about customer service. They need to control the whole deployment and have managers follow up to make sure the customer is happy. Unfortunately, they are becoming yet another monopoly when it comes to exclusive sports broadcasting (like EI and ST), so they will have little pressure to change. They are just like the cable cabal.

Well DirectTV lost another customer due to installers. I have been a customer since 2000 and have never had an issue with them. In December I signed up for an HDDVR and had to wait until January 25th for installation. On January 25th an installer came out in a DirectTV van and looked at everything. He said he really thought that the new dish should be mounted higher on the house and he didn’t have a tall enough ladder. The install was rescheduled for today, they were supposed to send out a 2 man crew with a 40 foot ladder. Finally a guy shows up in a lowered full size truck and he was dressed like a bum. He looked around and said he couldn’t do the install because it would take too much cable ( HD dish needs 4 cables) but I could pay him for the extra cable. I told him he could run the new cables in the basement anther way. Well then he decided he didn’t have the correct mulitswitch. I told him he needed to go get it or have someone deliver it since this needed to be installed today. He called his supervisor for the 5th time and finally said that they only get $40 for install and this was just too much work. I told him I wanted his supervisors name and phone number that I was calling DirectTv and filing a complaint. He left then came back 5 minutes later saying they would do the install because they didn’t want to get in trouble. I said fine and got on the phone with DirecTV. He got his ladder off the truck and when to the side of the house. Guess what his ladder was too short to install the dish in the correct place. He wanted to install the dish where the old one is. I told him NO that was not an option. He left again and after I finally got a hold of a someone at DirectTV they got someone form the install company on the phone. A supervisor was supposed to call me from the install company 2 hours ago. Guess what no call. I will be seeing Adelphia out here next week.
The hard part is going to be canceling with DirectTv. I have to reup for 2 years to get the HDDVR and it was never installed but I am sure I am going to have issues.

[mrhoads]

When you figure that you are paying them every month and new subscribers aren't paying untill they get service it makes perfect sense that they do all new customers before any upgrades. If they loose a few in the process so what. Then they hire people and put them on the phone that don't know anything. Had I have quit last November I probably could sign up now and get all new free equipment and get them to install it.

[finaldiet]

I ordered 2 HR20's last week and install for Feb.17. I was going to put 2 inch pole in ground but when I talked to son-in-law, he said his installer wouldn't put it on roof and instead he put, his own, pole in ground. I'll wait to see if I get same installer because SIL lives 3 blocks from me. BTW, I payed $99 for both HR20's with a $100 rebate. Includes new dish,etc.

[ralphfurley]

Something similar happened to my parents. I "googled" DIRECTV and EL SEGUNDO...got the corp HQ direct number and asked for MR CAREY'S office. They took my info and someone called back within an hour.

In the end, my parents and I each received free HR20 and KaKu...both installed by local head tech. 3(!) superviors came out to watch my parent's install.

At least let someone at D* know your situation. They will care. Adelphia will never care if their installer screws up

[Newshawk]

Adelphia will never care if their installer screws up
Especccially since they are no more. It's either Time-Warner or Comcast... what a Hobson's choice!

[rcoleman111]

You can get mixed results with installers, even in the same service area. The first installer who came out to upgrade my dish for HD didn't want to bother with moving the dish to the roof - he just ignored me when I mentioned it and mounted it in the same location at ground level where the old dish was located. After he left, I discovered I wasn't getting all of the HD channels because a pine tree was blocking the line of sight to one of the satellites. I had no problem getting DTV to send out another installer, who did a much better job. He spent close to 2 hours climbing up on a tall ladder, removing my old dish from when I had Dish Network, and installing the new DTV elliptical dish. And he never complained that DTV wasn't paying him enough money to do it.

It's easy to get fed up with this kind of nonsense and switch providers, but you can run into problems with either Dish Network or your cable company. Cable may sound tempting, but how will you feel a year from now when DTV is offering a bunch of your favorite channels in HD and you are stuck watching them in SD? Or if you want the sports packages and can't get them?

[D-Bamatech]

Well DirectTV lost another customer due to installers. I have been a customer since 2000 and have never had an issue with them. In December I signed up for an HDDVR and had to wait until January 25th for installation. On January 25th an installer came out in a DirectTV van and looked at everything. He said he really thought that the new dish should be mounted higher on the house and he didn’t have a tall enough ladder. The install was rescheduled for today, they were supposed to send out a 2 man crew with a 40 foot ladder. Finally a guy shows up in a lowered full size truck and he was dressed like a bum. He looked around and said he couldn’t do the install because it would take too much cable ( HD dish needs 4 cables) but I could pay him for the extra cable. I told him he could run the new cables in the basement anther way. Well then he decided he didn’t have the correct mulitswitch. I told him he needed to go get it or have someone deliver it since this needed to be installed today. He called his supervisor for the 5th time and finally said that they only get $40 for install and this was just too much work. I told him I wanted his supervisors name and phone number that I was calling DirectTv and filing a complaint. He left then came back 5 minutes later saying they would do the install because they didn’t want to get in trouble. I said fine and got on the phone with DirecTV. He got his ladder off the truck and when to the side of the house. Guess what his ladder was too short to install the dish in the correct place. He wanted to install the dish where the old one is. I told him NO that was not an option. He left again and after I finally got a hold of a someone at DirectTV they got someone form the install company on the phone. A supervisor was supposed to call me from the install company 2 hours ago. Guess what no call. I will be seeing Adelphia out here next week.
The hard part is going to be canceling with DirectTv. I have to reup for 2 years to get the HDDVR and it was never installed but I am sure I am going to have issues.

40$ huh? well down here the subs are paying as low as 35/15 for upgrades.

Thus this is why you see "drive offs" if the job is extensive. They'll LOOSE money doing the job and come up w/ exuses on why it cant be done.
(tangible to me and highly common)

Now ya see why the tech force is nothing but left over ex-restraunt workers.
(They got a raise form Micky d's).
Depending on which Hsp it is in the white vans, some hrly , some piece wk by the job these pay numbers CAn get worse too.(believe it or not)

The sub contractors of the HSP's buy their OWN materials and by the time a harder extensive job is complete.. They just Paid out of their own pocket to install your systems due to the cost of materials. Some are under charge back policies that Make them do it anyway regardless of lost monies to complete the task, or the 25$ they lost in the install multiplies to 100$ in charge back fees if the job is not done.
= forced and implied tyranny and in no way shape or form considered a sub contractor by Federal Law in many cases but an actual employee according to the govt guidelines and seekable for reprecustions through the use of a IRS ss-8 form.

*FACTS!*