Weird customer service

I was having pixelation on my non-OTA HD channels so I called customer service to see what could be the problem. Oddly, the pixelation seemed to occur during instant replays on sports channels but not during regular play. The customer service person told me they reactivated my account and if that didn't help to call back. That didn't help at all so I called back. The CSR didn't know what the problem could be and told me to reset my box and call back if the problem didn't go away. So I did that and called back. Next they told me I could either schedule a $79 service call or sign up for the protection plan and have someone come out to fix my problem. I told them I wanted the third option of just canceling my HD package. But then I was told that if I did that I would have to get an SD box since an HD package was required to have the HD box. That made me mad because the reason I went with DirecTV 2 yrs ago was so that I could have an HD box and pick up OTA channels without an HD package. The CSR told me there was nothing they could do about it so I told them I would cancel my service. When I was switched to another person to cancel they told me they didn't want me to cancel and would schedule a service call for free to fix my problem. I said OK. So, the service person comes while I am at work. My wife calls me at work and tells me we have a new black box because the old one was faulty. I asked her the model and she told me H23. So, I called up DirecTV and told them I need a box that gives me OTA since some of my DirecTV does not have some of my local channels in HD. The CSR told me that with the new box I couldn't get OTA. I told her that the reason I went with DirecTV was because I could pick up my local HD channels OTA without having an HD package. She told me that I had HD channels already. I asked her if I had PBS or WB and she said no. Finally I got tired of talking to her and asked to talk to someone else. She said everyone else would tell me the same thing. So I told her that unless someone figures something out so I can get all my local HD channels like I did before they "fixed" my problem I was just going to cancel the whole service. So, I got transfered again to another person. I explained my problem and was told that they would send me an AM21 box or something like that for free so I could get my HD OTA channels. I said OK.

In the end, I got what I wanted. But why does DirecTV jerk you around so much to begin with? If I had just went with what they said, I would have paid $79 for them to replace my defective H20 with an H23 and would have lost a couple local HD channels. And even if I didn't fight some more I would have had to pay an additional $50 for the AM21 box to receive those channels. That comes to a total of $149 just for them to fix their crappy equipment to the same level of service I had before.

Bottom line, if you have problems and you don't think it is your fault then don't cave in. Make them pay for it and make them fix it to your satisfaction.