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No Longer Activating HR-24's (or any HD-DVR)??

21364 Views 194 Replies 37 Participants Last post by  CarlosOmnivore5757
Hi everybody, here's the background. A few years ago I upgraded to an HR-44 Genie. I did not want the Genie Clients that went with the Genie and kept my other two HR-24's. This setup, with 9 tuners for recording, has worked great for me. I've had a couple HR-24's fail and they were always replaced no problem and the new ones continued to work fine in my setup.

Last Thursday the HDD in the HR-24 in our bedroom died. Called support (I have the protection plan as well) and after going thru the teeth pulling of the L1 tech from God knows what country, reading from his script, I finally get a replacement approved. We were on vacation this week and got home today so I installed the replacement HR-24 and then went to activate it. I tried the automated system and got a "system error" so I had to call them.

I got to a human pretty quickly and he tried to activate the HR-24 and was having all kinds of problems and had to "call in the sales team". After about 15 minutes of them trying and not succeeding to activate the HR-24 the guy tells me that the sales team just said it's an old receiver and they are no longer activating them! I'm like you idiots just sent me an HR-24, why would you do that if you can't activate it?? He said they just found out about this policy. I said that I also still have an HR-24 in another room and that is working fine, and he tells me that that one may not working in the future.

He then tells me I have two choices. I can get a Genie or a Genie Mini. That's it? They don't have stand alone HD DVR's anymore? He says he'll send me a Genie. I told him I already have a Genie and as far as I know you can only have one Genie on your account. He tells me no, that's changed. I said Ok send me another Genie. A minute later he comes back and says you're right, you can only have one Genie...so now my ONLY choice is to get a mini. No I'm apparently stuck so I say fine and he says a Tech has to come out to install it and the earliest appointment is AUGUST 11th!!! Are you f*&^$%# kidding me? A MONTH wait??

Support has screwed up every aspect of this issue, from telling me the wrong order numbers, to giving me a FedEx tracking number when the replacement DVR actually came by UPS, to the reps not knowing a damn thing about what they're talking about and changing their stories.

I'm a long time D* customer, from back when you could actually install the systems yourself, and I'm also a System Administrator and computer nerd, lol, so I have a pretty good idea how things work. I knew it was going to suck when AT&T took over but they just seem to be getting worse at every turn. I know that there are a bunch of knowledgeable people here and I'd appreciate any thoughts or insight on this. Is this really a new policy about not activating HD DVR's anymore (I did see one thread on another board about a week or so ago where somebody had the same problem, but there was not much info)??

Ok, long rant over, like I said we just got back from vacation today and this was not what I wanted to deal with, lol. Any thoughts are much appreciated!

Doug
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Call the 844-822-3352 direct Tech Support number, at the prompt for which type of account, say ATT. They’ve helped me with everything in that past unless TPG changed things now. Explain everything briefly but thoroughly and demand that they activate the HR24 since they shipped it to you.
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Wow, it must be difficult for a company to be that incompetent. No wonder they are losing subscribers faster than anyone else.

At least that sets a low bar for what would constitute improvement under TPG's management.
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Update: Called the retention phone number provided by Jimmy57 (big thanks!)near the start of this thread. Spoke with a very nice gentleman named Gary, who sounded like he was based in the US. Explained it all to him and he was relaying to his supervisors.

They tried to ship me a mini but the system wouldn't do it. Has to be a tech install... Now for August 23. OK, it is what it is at this point.

His supervisors gave him a workaround so the mini order would not trigger a two year contract for me.

I currently have $35 a month promo off for another year. He gave me an additional $45 a month off for a year.

Free NFL Sunday Ticket for the upcoming season.

So another 19 days without our third TV. Hope this order doesn't get cancelled too! Lol

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I gave up. Retention and the "Welcome Back" crew are in opposition.
First, they refused to reactivate my account even though retention has it in their system, with all my DVR and receivers and RID's in the system. All they had to do was pair 3 access cards, and mail them, and they could have been making $123/mo and got full price for Sunday Ticket. But NOPE, Welcome Back says two year contract, have to use their Genie and two minis, have to have an installer come do it. Told them to KMA, and said I would be watching their subscriber base shrink until they were unemployed for lack of customers.

Never in my life have I seen a company that refused to accept $123 a month for pushing a couple keys on a keyboard and mailing one envelope.

So my attempt to get Sunday Ticket is a failure, and Ill have to settle for whatever games I can get with RedZone on Sunday, and the games on Monday and Thursday.

What was the point of that company buying 30% of a F'ed up company like ATT/DirecTV? If it isnt to shut down DirecTv and create a high end streaming service, they just wasted a LOT of money. I give DirecTv one year after Sunday Ticket drops off, and they will be bankrupt.
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Update: Called the retention phone number provided by
I currently have $35 a month promo off for another year. He gave me an additional $45 a month off for a year.
Free NFL Sunday Ticket for the upcoming season.
They give you the store, and wont even let me reactivate my account at full price. No wonder they are going broke.
They give you the store, and wont even let me reactivate my account at full price. No wonder they are going broke.
Definitely hit or miss depending on who you speak too. How long were you a customer? 20 years or so for me, plus they've been screwing up my replacement orders for the last month so maybe that helped with what I (finally) got.

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Definitely hit or miss depending on who you speak too. How long were you a customer? 20 years or so for me, plus they've been screwing up my replacement orders for the last month so maybe that helped with what I (finally) got.

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I started in 1994 ? with DirecTV and USSB, and turned off the account when ATT bought DirecTv. My account number is 0000057xx
Ok just got an email from AT&T saying Please Review your AT&T order details. I'm looking it over and it has the correct date for the tech and it shows my promo discounts... Then I see "your upcoming bill total"... $309!!!

They're charging me $199 for frigging mini?!?! I was never told there was a charge for it, plus I have the protection plan. Why the hell am I paying for anything?!

I'm leary to call them back and have them screw up my order yet again.

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LOL...what is the other $110 for? Clown College tuition?
LOL...what is the other $110 for? Clown College tuition?
Lol, that balance would be for my regular service.

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Ok just got an email from AT&T saying Please Review your AT&T order details. I'm looking it over and it has the correct date for the tech and it shows my promo discounts... Then I see "your upcoming bill total"... $309!!!

They're charging me $199 for frigging mini?!?! I was never told there was a charge for it, plus I have the protection plan. Why the hell am I paying for anything?!

I'm leary to call them back and have them screw up my order yet again.

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You get a free receiver, or upgrade every two years on the PP. What was your eligibility date for that?
They're charging me $199 for frigging mini?!?!............
This is showing on my DirecTV account right now, if I want to purchase one....

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You get a free receiver, or upgrade every two years on the PP. What was your eligibility date for that?
I called back, I was being charged because I was getting the mini with no contract. Had to agree to a contract to get it for free, which I did. The early termination fee isn't what it used to be, plus if I decide to bail sometimes the cable company offers buyouts, and the early term fee prorated every month. I'm still getting all the discounts I posted above. Just want this to be done with this already! Damn I miss the good old, "real" D* days. Great, US based support, stuff usually done right the first time.

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This is showing on my DirecTV account right now, if I want to purchase one....

View attachment 31606
Thank you for the info. I'm just done ya know? Every interaction with them is an opportunity for them to screw up. Thankfully calling the retention number has been pretty good for me, at least the people I'm dealing with seem to be in the US and understand what I'm explaining to them, lol.

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This is showing on my DirecTV account right now, if I want to purchase one....

View attachment 31606
I just called the Retention number about the 44. The CSR I spoke to gave up and sent me to "Tech Support". The tech I talked to is replacing the 44 with a 54. He told me they are not sending 44s out anymore, only 54s. No mini and no commitment. No 4K. Just a straight swap. I'll believe this when I see it. This is too good to be true. And I know they'll send me a 54 that won't have an eSATA port. That "tech" had no idea what an eSATA port is. Nothing like a well-trained "tech".

Rich
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Thank you for the info. I'm just done ya know? Every interaction with them is an opportunity for them to screw up. Thankfully calling the retention number has been pretty good for me, at least the people I'm dealing with seem to be in the US and understand what I'm explaining to them, lol.

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I think I just went down the same rabbit hole you're suffering thru.

Rich
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I just called the Retention number about the 44. The CSR I spoke to gave up and sent me to "Tech Support". The tech I talked to is replacing the 44 with a 54. He told me they are not sending 44s out anymore, only 54s. No mini and no commitment. No 4K. Just a straight swap. I'll believe this when I see it. This is too good to be true. And I know they'll send me a 54 that won't have an eSATA port. That "tech" had no idea what an eSATA port is. Nothing like a well-trained "tech".

Rich
Did you ask for a 4k "upgrade" or 4K to be active on your account?
The early termination fee isn't what it used to be
What is it? Say, for 12 months? I guess I could sign up for it, get free Sunday Ticket, then cancel after 12 months when they jack the price up. Might be cheaper than paying for Sunday Ticket full price like I was planning on.
What is it? Say, for 12 months? I guess I could sign up for it, get free Sunday Ticket, then cancel after 12 months when they jack the price up. Might be cheaper than paying for Sunday Ticket full price like I was planning on.
20 bucks a month
20 bucks a month
Yep, then gets prorated minus $20 a month for each month you continue on the contract.

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