[beestea]

One of my two SD DirecTV Tivo's died recently and after doing the research and being out of contract with DirecTV I decided to give them a call to see if they had any offers they could make in exchange for signing back up for 2 years.

We got a very reasonable offer and decided to go forward with the upgrade installation. One of my main stipulations was that we wanted to be able to use both tuners on two new HR21 DVR's we would be getting, and indicated to customer service this would most likely require some sort of SWM install due to the size of the house and location of dish/distribution point/dvr's. They made note of this and said they would pass it along to the install department.

I knew that there was at least a 50/50 chance we would get the SWM Dish since my area is in Phase 1 of the national roll out, and we were going to be switching to two HR21's.

The two weeks that followed made me learn more about DirecTV and their installation contractors and internal processes then I ever wished to, or imagined I would learn.


Here are some of the highlights:

DirecTV is more than happy to do almost anything to keep you a satisfied customer but they seem to have no power over their installation contractors, in this case Mastech.

If you call enough you get to work with the DirecTV Retentions department -- the majority of which are great customer service agents.

If you call even more you will be routed to the Problem Resolution department -- again very great group of agents.

Mastech recently (this week?) implemented some new type of process where all work orders issued by DirecTV have to be verified/approved through a 3rd party (not part of DirecTV or Contracting company?) called Order Integrity. They will automatically add/remove things from DirecTV install work orders that they view as not being necessary. Neither DirecTV or Mastech has a way to contact this group directly.

DirecTV problem resolution agent mentioned that if installing a new line is listed on the work order that the Contracting company is required to run a new line inside the walls to where you will have the DVR located -- no limitations mentioned.

Mastech says that if the new cable run is over two stories that you must hire your own electrician to have the cable run.

DirecTV problem resolution quoted something off of one of their policies that stated, in the case that an install tech cannot run an additional line as needed that a SWM Dish would be approved even for an existing customer install.

Mastech did not care what DirecTV said and refused this.

Mastech *WILL NOT* bring you a SWM Slimline dish unless all of the prerequisites are met.... there is no flexibility on this no matter what DirecTV asks them to do. At one point the DirecTV problem resolution specialist was almost begging a Mastech Install manager to bend the rules for us and they would not do it. The requirements, as stated elsewhere are: 1. New Customer 2. 5 tuners (2 dual HD DVRs, 1 additional)

At any rate... I found it almost comical that the install contractors that DirecTV pay's seem to have all of the power in this relationship. I almost wonder if it is because the contractors are worried that once the SWM Slimline dish is in full production they won't be able to rack up a bunch of "not included" services on the bill to the customer (no offence to you honest installers that don't do this) But I have a friend that is a DirecTV installer for Mastech and he jokes all the time about getting extra money from DirecTV customers because they don't know what is supposed to be included and what isn't.

My story ends with us getting a half-rate install job, we will buy the SWM equipment ourselves, however I am left somewhat satisfied as the DirecTV customer service was totally on our side and helped get additional programming credits to help subsidize the cost of the SWM equipment we will need to buy out of pocket.

Advice to anyone trying to jump back into contract with similar expectations.... wait a while, or try Dish Networks for a year ( I think they have had this technology working for a while now) and then come back to DirecTV as a new customer if you choose so that you can actually get the equipment you need installed in order to enjoy dual tuners.

 

[EricJRW]

Good read... I thought my recent install was going to cost $99 when I was expecting it to be free. Why?

The work order did not have the 5 LNB dish to replace my 3 LNB. The work order did have two receivers, even though I was only upgrading one.

The tech was a) convinced I was going to have to pony up the $99 and b) that the work would have to be rescheduled ("That's just the way D* does it when a line items are added/deleted"). I did not have a problem with b), but I was mighty upset with a).

Fortunately a call to D* got things worked out. Dish was free (as it should be "when a customer is already an HD customer" - per the call) and the install was finished that day. I'm glad the tech did due diligence and followed up with D*, not just went with what he expected to be true.

All's well that ends well, though I had to loose one of my coax cables that runs through my wall for the second receiver. Lucky I had three already, 2 down (satellite and roof-top antenna) and one up (RF distribution for the rest of the house), otherwise it would have another $60 to have the cable run (though I would have done that myself, as I need to add a new distribution cable anyways).

 

[NYCEGUY01]

Work order integrity is nothing new . They have been around forever.
Thay can be contacted just not on the phone. The HSP or DTV has to submit any changes via e-mail and they are usually pretty dang fast about it. Sometimes not but the norm is pretty quick.
They are a department of DTV and not an outsider.

Csr's just cant modify workorders and when an HSP needs to modify one they send it a request and as long as it is within DTV guidlines they will modify it. The problem is that your request was not within the guidlines DTV has set so W.O. integrity automatically denied the request.

In cases like yours its a horrible setup but for most it works and actually works pretty good.

In the area I work in the swm's are pretty new. There are several customers that have found out about the new technology from places like here and other forums and want to have it installed. The same thing happens every time. The cust. orders what they want then the tech shows up with the old slimline and they arent happy. The customer reschedules and starts calling DTV and the csr's, retention etc.. try to get it done for them but there is no way for them to set it up and then we end up back out at the house with the same order we had the 1st time.

At least for now there is no way to correct these situations. Hopefully there will be soon.

 

[putty469]

I applaud you for knowing exactly what you wanted and needed. I know it didn't work out 100% with D*, but I hope you are able to get it all working. If not, this forum is a great resource.

 

[BattleZone]

Csr's just cant modify workorders and when an HSP needs to modify one they send it a request and as long as it is within DTV guidlines they will modify it. The problem is that your request was not within the guidlines DTV has set so W.O. integrity automatically denied the request.

In cases like yours its a horrible setup but for most it works and actually works pretty good.

In the area I work in the swm's are pretty new. There are several customers that have found out about the new technology from places like here and other forums and want to have it installed. The same thing happens every time. The cust. orders what they want then the tech shows up with the old slimline and they arent happy. The customer reschedules and starts calling DTV and the csr's, retention etc.. try to get it done for them but there is no way for them to set it up and then we end up back out at the house with the same order we had the 1st time.

At least for now there is no way to correct these situations. Hopefully there will be soon.

Exactly right.

DirecTV has very specific requirements for the use of those dishes, and set up their systems to PREVENT CSRs from end-running those requirements. The OP doesn't meet the requirements, and knows it, but wants it anyway. The CSRs want to help, but the systems are doing exactly what DirecTV management wants: enforcing the set requirements.

Now, keep in mind that SWM technology is brand new, and just being rolled out. Most roll-out programs have restrictions. As time goes on, and the roll-outs become nationwide, and production rates for the equipment increase, the restrictions gradually get relaxed. That's the normal way of things.

So, the OP has a couple of options:

- Get the upgrade with standard, non-SWM equipment
- Wait until SWM restrictions change to qualify him for their use
- Buy the SWM equipment, pay to have it installed, and work with DirecTV to get programming credits to compensate

Certainly, this isn't ideal for this customer, but DirecTV never officially made any promises to anyone about SWM, so it's not like they've done anything wrong. The OP wanted something that he doesn't qualify for under DirecTV's current rules, and shouldn't expect those rules to be changed right away. In time, they will almost certainly change, when DirecTV is ready.

 

[RobertE]

Just to add.

I believe that DirecTv will not pay/reimburse the HSP for any equipment not necessary for the install. The 6x16 switches, SWM8 & SWMLnb fall into those catagories.