[armie]

I recently lost my hd receiver in a storm. I have a very good surge protector, so I don't know what happened. Anyway, I called about it, and thought this would be a good time for me to upgrade to a hddvr. Not only do I have to wait for about 5 weeks for someone to come, but they made 2 different appointments. One for the troubleshooting and one for the upgrade. I live alone. That means, I will lose at least 8 hours of work combined waiting around for them to show up. I've been with them for about 5 years in good standing. Is this normal dtv customer service? I talked to 3 different csr's. I am not a happy camper.

 

[dcowboy7]

Is this normal dtv customer service?

if u live on pluto.

 

[kevinwmsn]

Around the start of NFL football season is a busy time for installers. Being you already got an hd receiver, they should be able to at least send you a replacement box.

 

[BattleZone]

Iowa is one of the places where DirecTV recently bought out the local HSP and is in the process of changing a lot of things around. That alone has caused a lot of chaos, lost installers, and pushed-back work orders.

To add to that, there have been several significant pieces of new dish equipment released recently that requires up-training for everyone, AND it is the start of football season, which means a ton of HD upgrades are happening.

Add that all together and you get 5 week leadtimes. That sucks, but look at it this way: DirecTV has to have a pretty good product in order to build up a 5 week backlog...

 

[Grentz]

It is a very busy season right now, so the queue is quite full.

Sadly there is not too much you can do, but you might try calling back in a few days to see if anything has opened up as that does sometimes happen.

 

[mcbw]

It is a very busy season right now, so the queue is quite full.

Sadly there is not too much you can do, but you might try calling back in a few days to see if anything has opened up as that does sometimes happen.

You are not alone in having to wait a while for an installation.

I requested an additional HDDVR on August 24. They were willing to ship the HDDVR to me, but I want them to install it in an area that would be a bit of a hassle for me. My installation date is September 16. I have called four times already to see if there were any cancellations. No luck so far. They have politely told me to feel free to continue calling back every few days.

 

[Grentz]

You can also check online under your account, sometimes is a bit quicker than having to call in if you already have an account established

 

[joe diamond]

When techs see how little they get for the work involved in upgrades they hit the road. The army is hiring and so in the big M.

Joe

 

[PhatHD]

My friends have to wait till 2nd week in Oct for a tech to install a HD DVR. DTV tech initially installed last week a R22-100 and said it was HD ready and just call DTV when the new HD flatscreen is installed and they would turn on the HD feature. Wellll now DTV says the HR22-100 is not HD capable and they need another HD DVR model installed and asked for 200 bucks. However I have read the R22-100 is HD capable.

 

[iceturkee]

i know service calls in my area are having quick turnaround times. i called thursday about a problem and they were going to send a tech friday afternoon.

 

[gen2rx7]

When techs see how little they get for the work involved in upgrades they hit the road.

It all depends on who you work for

 

[BattleZone]

My friends have to wait till 2nd week in Oct for a tech to install a HD DVR. DTV tech initially installed last week a R22-100 and said it was HD ready and just call DTV when the new HD flatscreen is installed and they would turn on the HD feature. Wellll now DTV says the HR22-100 is not HD capable and they need another HD DVR model installed and asked for 200 bucks. However I have read the R22-100 is HD capable.

R22 is MPEG 4 capable, but not HD capable (in a few areas, SD locals are broadcast using MPEG 4 compression).

For HD, you need an HR-2x series DVR.

The big mistake was that your friends didn't order HD to begin with, and didn't wait until AFTER they had their new HDTV installed, which is always strongly recommended. Now they have to pay $200 for an HD upgrade.

 

[kevred9]

Connect Television is servicing Iowa now. (And not very well, in my opinion)

Techs are supposedly working 7 days a week/16+ hours per day. (4 install appointments + 4 repair appointments per tech per day.)

Or at least that is what the 2 techs that were recently out here said...

 

[homebase]

You're not alone. 21 days to get a guy out in my area to perform a DVR upgrade. Last year in late August, it was 5 days.

Yeah, the football season has the installers very busy.

 

[sundude90]

I would call the again. Maybe they are Sub Contracting them out. If so, contact the company. I had a problem like that once and I contacted Technical Support because Directv Customer Service was to stupid.

At Directv NEVER speak to Customer Service, always speak to Technical Support!!!

 

[Dolly]

It is a very busy time for Techs right now. We just had one at our house on the 4th. He knew around football time they were busy, but he said there seemed to be more than that. I told him about all D*'s recent deals on receivers and he said no wonder they were so busy. By the way the Tech had been called over to where I live in W.Va. because he was from Cincy, OH. So the Technical Field people are honestly trying their best to move people around and get things done as quickly as possible. Our Tech was happy he was ahead of his schedule. And our stop didn't take him much time because it was just one bad connector. The guy was very nice and since he was ahead of schedule I bet he got some more calls added to his work load.