[fluffybear]

After 14 years of service with DirecTV, my time as a customer may be coming to a close.

Briefly, DirecTV came out on July 10th to relocate a dish and failed to peak the Ka signals. Even though I mentioned something at the time to the tech, he kept insisting that HD comes from only 119 and that 99 and 103 are for internal use. As soon as left, I spoke with someone from Mastech who promised someone would be out the next day to make things right. No one showed up! I phoned and was told the first available appointment was August 1st. August 1st rolls around and I'm stood up again. I phone DirecTV and am told my appointment was moved to August 7. I explained I was out of town on August 7 and they rescheduled me for August 12 from 12 to 4, The tech shows up at our house at nearly 8:00pm and apologizes he can not do anything but it is now raining (started around 7:30) and does not work in the rain (regardless how light it is). He said before leaving, he would see to it I was made a VIP case and someone would be out tomorrow. Anyway, I just received a call from Mastech telling me the next available appointment is September 6th.

All this great HD and the only time we can enjoy it is when it is clear outside. The littlest bit of cloud cover and we lose signal. We can watch everything in SD as the core Ku satellites were peaked. Just the Ka satellites are the problem. I do not have the necessary ladder to fix the issue myself (The dish is on top of a 3 story house) nor does my wife want me going up that high.

So, after 14 years with DirecTV, the wife is seriously pushing me to call Comcast. They offer everything she wants including the international channels she likes. Even DISH could be out here this week if I wanted to go with them.
What happened to DirecTV? There was a time when customer satisfaction was actually a priority but today, they don't keep appointments, refuse to communicate with their customers and think giving someone a $100 credit is enough to make up for all the lies and broken promises. I just hope I can keep my wife from making that call and telling DirecTV where to stuff their services

 

[ke3ju]

Sounds more like Mastech is the problem, not DirecTV.

 

[Smthkd]

What he said!!!


Directv has always had problems with MasterTech. Call D* and ask for customer retention and explain to them whats happening and they will act quickly!

 

[NYSmoker]

In this case Mastec is Directv. If you hire a contractor they represent you to your customer.

 

[fluffybear]

Sounds more like Mastech is the problem, not DirecTV.

However, DirecTV has contracted Mastec to do the work and ultimately that makes it a DirecTV problem.

 

[DarinC]

How disappointing. I thought this might be today's version of the Playboy thread.

 

[MIAMI1683]

After 14 years of service with DirecTV, my time as a customer may be coming to a close.

Briefly, DirecTV came out on July 10th to relocate a dish and failed to peak the Ka signals. Even though I mentioned something at the time to the tech, he kept insisting that HD comes from only 119 and that 99 and 103 are for internal use. As soon as left, I spoke with someone from Mastech who promised someone would be out the next day to make things right. No one showed up! I phoned and was told the first available appointment was August 1st. August 1st rolls around and I'm stood up again. I phone DirecTV and am told my appointment was moved to August 7. I explained I was out of town on August 7 and they rescheduled me for August 12 from 12 to 4, The tech shows up at our house at nearly 8:00pm and apologizes he can not do anything but it is now raining (started around 7:30) and does not work in the rain (regardless how light it is). He said before leaving, he would see to it I was made a VIP case and someone would be out tomorrow. Anyway, I just received a call from Mastech telling me the next available appointment is September 6th.

All this great HD and the only time we can enjoy it is when it is clear outside. The littlest bit of cloud cover and we lose signal. We can watch everything in SD as the core Ku satellites were peaked. Just the Ka satellites are the problem. I do not have the necessary ladder to fix the issue myself (The dish is on top of a 3 story house) nor does my wife want me going up that high.

So, after 14 years with DirecTV, the wife is seriously pushing me to call Comcast. They offer everything she wants including the international channels she likes. Even DISH could be out here this week if I wanted to go with them.
What happened to DirecTV? There was a time when customer satisfaction was actually a priority but today, they don't keep appointments, refuse to communicate with their customers and think giving someone a $100 credit is enough to make up for all the lies and broken promises. I just hope I can keep my wife from making that call and telling DirecTV where to stuff their services

If you look up MASTEC on google. You can find thier company information. I found the VP of Sat. installs here in Florida. I e-mailed him when I first moved back to Florida. My dish was way out too. HE called me and sent a TECH the next day. They ditherd my dish 3 times that day. Moved it over about 5 feet. Now I never get rain fade. Be persistant with Mastec...at the same time call retention about the issue too.

 

[ke3ju]

How disappointing. I thought this might be today's version of the Playboy thread.

!rolling

 

[Upstream]

Fluffybear -- If you decide to switch to Comcast, make sure that you tell them that you are switching from DirecTV to Comcast. They often offer additional new customer incentives for people switching from satellite.

 

[RunnerFL]

Sounds more like Mastech is the problem, not DirecTV.

Agreed. Don't let your wife blame DirecTV for something they don't have control over. This is 100% a Mastec issue and DirecTV should not lose a subscriber because of it. I'm sure if you call and explain politely to DirecTV what's been happening they'll do something to help ease the pain. Their norm is $10 off per month for a year.

 

[RunnerFL]

However, DirecTV has contracted Mastec to do the work and ultimately that makes it a DirecTV problem.

I have to disagree on this one.

I had an install issue with Mastec myself. I personally heard a DirecTV Supervisor tell a Mastec Manager to do something and the Mastec Manager told the DirecTV Supervisor to "take a long walk on a short bridge".

 

[robdec]

Im sorry but this is 100% Directv's problem. I am paying Directv to get a Job done. Its not my problem who they hire to do it, its theirs !

 

[Steve Robertson]

Retention will take care of this problem and make sure you get a supervisor why waste time with front line csr

Good luck as I have done this a few times with great results and lots of free things

 

[gquiring]

I just went through a realignment and the way it finally got fixed was a friend came over and realigned my dish because the D* installers are downright stupid/lazy.

Same issue, no 99 signal and the installer said the best he could get was 45%. My friend got 89% with no special equipment, we just used the HR20 meters, the whole thing maybe took 15 minutes. Why can't the installers do this?

 

[wojo23323]

Same stuff happens to my mother in law and me. They miss appts, don't call etc... Then we call DirecTV and they don't have a record of any appt. Service is not good in my book.

 

[fluffybear]

Agreed. Don't let your wife blame DirecTV for something they don't have control over. This is 100% a Mastec issue and DirecTV should not lose a subscriber because of it. I'm sure if you call and explain politely to DirecTV what's been happening they'll do something to help ease the pain. Their norm is $10 off per month for a year.

I called retention and they transferred me to someone in Professional Installation and after explaining everything (without the threat of going to dish or cable) said the best he could do is August 24th. I told him Id id not think that date was acceptable and after 14 years was seriously thinking of going to cable who could be here as early as tomorrow. His answer kind of shocked me, "We are sorry to lose you as customer, please hold the line for cancellation support".
I spoke with retention and they also said that August 24th was the best he could do. I explained how that was not acceptable and how this has already gone on for a month and then he offered me an appointment for tomorrow from 8 to 12. We will see if they keep this one.

The wife doesn't really blame DirecTV itself but since Mastec works for them, DirecTV is going to get the blunt of her anger. She has also given me an ultimatum, this either gets fixed by Sunday night or she will be calling Comcast on Monday.

 

[Steve Robertson]

Fluffybear,

I sent you a PM check it out

 

[Stuart Sweet]

Situations like these are unfortunately too common. Even having it happen once is too common. I suspect this is why DIRECTV has bought up other installation companies, and personally I hope they take all installation in-house. Not everyone has the commitment to quality that they do.

I know how frustrating it must be to wait several weeks for an installation tech. I would simply suggest that when the tech does show up, if everything is not to your satisfaction, get DIRECTV on the phone right then and there and do not let that tech leave until you are satisfied.

 

[RAD]

Glad to see you got an appt for tomorrow, hopefully they'll get it fixed. I agree this is a DirecTV problem, don't care if Mastec caused it or not, you don't call Mastec for service, you call DirecTV. You don't pay Mastec for service, you pay DirecTV. It's up to DirecTV to get Mastec service up to the proper level or get another install company.

 

[DarinC]

I personally heard a DirecTV Supervisor tell a Mastec Manager to do something and the Mastec Manager told the DirecTV Supervisor to "take a long walk on a short bridge".

So DirecTV got into a bad contract. Or they're too cheap to pay for a better company. Or Mastech really went downhill after securing the DirecTV contract. Or something else. But NONE of these shift the blame to the customer. Doesn't matter what business you're in. Hiring subcontractors doesn't take your responsibility to the customer away. You either find a way to get the issue resolved, or you risk losing the customer.

Personally, I miss the days when you bought a receiver and dish, and put it all up yourself. I understand the need to have the service available for those who don't want to do it. But why they want to insist that you let these buffoons do your installs/upgrades is beyond me. Every time I've had one out, I spend most of my time trying to figure out how to convince them to do as little as possible and leave the rest to me.