View Full Version : 2nd time is a charm -- bye-bye DirecTV
Installer came out again today. Now it's not just $105 for a "custom install" like they said Friday, but suddenly it's $210. After getting in quite a shouting match, I sent them away.
Called DirecTV and they hung up on me. Called again and they promised a call back to resolve. While awaiting the call back, I called Dish Network and scheduled a new install on Wednesday. Talk about night and day difference in price, service, etc.
I've been with DirecTV for 11 years. You'd think they'd work a little harder to keep a customer. This was the last straw.
cnmsales
02-26-07, 12:10 PM
LOL, of course there is a night and day difference, you ain't a customer till they come out and you sign the paperwork. Lets see how big the difference is once your in there boat. By any means good luck and I hope you get something you feel is worth paying for.
Installer came out again today. Now it's not just $105 for a "custom install" like they said Friday, but suddenly it's $210. After getting in quite a shouting match, I sent them away.
Called DirecTV and they hung up on me. Called again and they promised a call back to resolve. While awaiting the call back, I called Dish Network and scheduled a new install on Wednesday. Talk about night and day difference in price, service, etc.
I've been with DirecTV for 11 years. You'd think they'd work a little harder to keep a customer. This was the last straw.
For some reason I find this hard to beleive..
For someone thats been with 11 years,..
Most installs or upgrades are mostly free..
Good luck with Dish..:icon_dumm
bonscott87
02-26-07, 12:15 PM
Hope you don't have the same problem someone else did when they called Dish. Installer showed up the next day....same installer that showed up for DirecTV. :(
I don't know what the charge is for in your case but anything other then standard install is a custom install. Any fishing of cables, any outlets, more then 125 feet per cable run, etc. are all considered "custom" install. I don't believe Dish does this either in their free installation. But you might get lucky.
Good luck!
well Dish Network folks say they can use the existing wiring that's already in the walls. The issue was DirecTV receiver/dish requiring 4 solid-copper RG6 cables while the Dish [claims] does not require more than 2, and does not require solid copper.
We'll see. However I definitely feel a lot better about Dish right now than I do about DirecTV. It really seems that DirecTV is a very different company now than they were 6 years ago, or 10 years ago.
bonscott87
02-26-07, 01:57 PM
Hmmm, oh well. Suprised the DirecTV installer would even know or care. Most just slap the dish up and use whatever cables are there.
Good luck!
heh. well the first guy (last Thurs) knew it required new wiring, thus the extra $105. The guy today (the first guy's supervisor) was in the mood to short cut everything and intended fully to "just slap a dish up and use whatever cables are there". I am Jack's extreme lack of confidence.
Now I am having to duke it out with DirecTV regarding the programming commitment. Man what a pain. They keep adding reasons why I should give them the boot. I don't know if Dish is any better, but they certainly could not be any worse. You'd think they'd actually have to [completely] install and enable the new equipment in order to subject me to a 2-year programming commitment, right?
liverpool
02-26-07, 02:25 PM
Chancer :mad:
Installer came out again today. Now it's not just $105 for a "custom install" like they said Friday, but suddenly it's $210. After getting in quite a shouting match, I sent them away.
Called DirecTV and they hung up on me. Called again and they promised a call back to resolve. While awaiting the call back, I called Dish Network and scheduled a new install on Wednesday. Talk about night and day difference in price, service, etc.
I've been with DirecTV for 11 years. You'd think they'd work a little harder to keep a customer. This was the last straw.
I too, was a long time D "A" customer. After getting jerked around by 8 csr's after they cancelled by HD DVR upgrade, I called E and they had a tech out two days later. I got their top package with HD and the HD DVR. Couldn't be happier. The HD DVR has worked flawlessly. After I wrote a letter to the Pres.of D, I get a call from someone in corporate trying to appease me. Told me they would do anything to fix my problems with D. When I told him I already upped with E, he said he was extremely sorry and hoped I would come back when my 18 month commitment is up. FAT CAHNCE>
I contend it's a terrible business plan for DirecTV to use a third-party, sub-contracted installer. My customer relationship is with DirecTV, not Mastec. When the installer gets here and says whatever, I have to pay this or that, and I say, hey I'm going to call DirecTV and sort this out, they say "well you know I don't work for DirecTV". And therein lies the problem.
Dish network *claims* to employ their own installers directly. We'll see when they get here, Wednesday.
Did I mention, I called Dish today (Monday) and have an appointment for Wednesday morning for the install. Within 30 minutes the locall installer office called me to confirm all of the details of the install. Very slick. They are running a clinic on customer service so far.
islesfan
02-26-07, 04:45 PM
For some reason I find this hard to beleive..
For someone thats been with 11 years,..
Most installs or upgrades are mostly free..
Good luck with Dish..:icon_dumm
No, its the other way around. The longer you're with them, the more you pay. I've also been with D* since '95, and I had to pay $320 for my HR20 installed.
Well, they had some things they tried to do to meet my needs but ultimately the tools they needed were just not in the tool box. Mostly they are suffering the same thing that plagues a lot of big impersonal companies. The people answering the phones are given no authority or training to deal with customer issues other than a small menu of options, which are wholly inadequate to solve some problems. That's the main thing that has driven me away from DirecTV. Once I started to have issues I needed help with, suddenly they lost all interest in customer service and just stone-walled, told me they couldn't do this or that, and just said "I apologize for ..... , sir, but ..." and then went on to explain how they didn't have any ability to do a dang thing. I told them I want them to quit apologizing and do something. That, they can't do. So you know what? I don't want to keep doing business with a company with that customer service attitude.
Slump Buster
02-26-07, 08:22 PM
No, its the other way around. The longer you're with them, the more you pay. I've also been with D* since '95, and I had to pay $320 for my HR20 installed.
You're talking to the wrong people. Customer retention gave it to me for $100 along with other discounts.
Sharkie_Fan
02-26-07, 08:39 PM
Well, they had some things they tried to do to meet my needs but ultimately the tools they needed were just not in the tool box. Mostly they are suffering the same thing that plagues a lot of big impersonal companies. The people answering the phones are given no authority or training to deal with customer issues other than a small menu of options, which are wholly inadequate to solve some problems. That's the main thing that has driven me away from DirecTV. Once I started to have issues I needed help with, suddenly they lost all interest in customer service and just stone-walled, told me they couldn't do this or that, and just said "I apologize for ..... , sir, but ..." and then went on to explain how they didn't have any ability to do a dang thing. I told them I want them to quit apologizing and do something. That, they can't do. So you know what? I don't want to keep doing business with a company with that customer service attitude.
I haven't been with DISH for years, but my uncle is still a DISH customer, after a short stint with D*. His reason for going to D*? He had a problem that the DISH CSRs were unequipped to deal with, and he got jerked around by CSR after CSR until he finally got to a "supervisor" (so she claimed). When he told her his complaints she basically said "I have the same complaints and I've taken them to management time and time again and they don't let us do xxx".
After my uncle switched to D*, he got a letter from DISH saying "We really want you back, we'd like to do this and give you that, etc, etc". Basically everything he wanted in the first place to fix his problems, so he paid the ETF to D* and switched back to DISH.
All that to say that the grass isn't always greener on the other side... YMMV, but thought I'd throw out the other side of the coin for you...
well like I say, it can't be worse. And last night the HR20 (which now only gets HD on OTA because they never put in my new dish) did the black screen thing on all channels while recording '24' when I paused it, I had to RBR the box before I could watch it (fortunately it didn't delete). The big strike that Dish doesn't have against it is this buggy HD DVR. Let's just say I'm tired of DirecTV's current problems, and I'm ready to give the competition a chance to do better.
1. DirecTV's DVR is known to be very buggy and on the very first recording I did, it broke
2. DirecTV has 1-month + installation wait times and complicated install process
3. DirecTV has proven to me time and again that their customer service dept. is incompetent.
I already know that #1 & 2 are not true for Dish. I have yet to see how they do on #3.
well FWIW I just called Dish to ask about some options with my order and they managed to screw up my order, deleted the original one and delayed the install by one day. So, maybe their customer service isn't much better than DirecTV but at least their margin for error is way better. They mess me up completely and it only costs one day :)
lotaguts
02-27-07, 10:38 AM
DirecTV and Dish can afford to lose customers based on how many subscribers they have and new subscribers. They will do what they can to keep your business to a certain point but when you call a Rep in one of there campus sized call centers who's on the clock for $10/hr you really think she cares if you insist on cancelling your service. If you dont keep or buy there service its on to the next guy who will.
For a while I was with both Dish and D; long story. Neither have very good CSRs. I left Dish (not with them very long, about 2 years) because of the stacker police. Wait until a "special" area of Dish calls you and DEMANDS you verify your equipment by reading the time coded data in the sys info. If you fail the test by calling back, putting them on hold, talking to anyone else during the call, taking too long, etc, your service will be summarily canceled. Yeah it's that bad. I understand the need to check for stacking but not this way. Dish CSRs have been much worse than D. I have had issues with both.
I did like the programming better with Dish (they offer a la carte adult programming etc.), but D HAD superior equipment. The Dish PVR was horrible.
Anyway, good luck with Dish, I under your frustration with D "installers" it took 6 visits to get the AT9 almost correct.:nono2:
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