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 Review by aztr0 
member for 5.5 years, 493 visits, last login: 6 days ago
lodged 1.5 years ago
 Brooklyn,Kings,NY
 Contract price not specified.  "When it works." "When it doesn't work due to weather AND when not due to weather." "They want your money, they don't care about customer satisfaction."
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I signed up for the Choice Package with 150 Channels, the regional sports package and also the Chinese package. I had 3 regular receivers and 1 HD receiver. I remember I had to pay for my HD receiver a couple years back even though the promotion stated free HD receiver. When I called them about why they charged me, they didn't give me a good answer, and pretty much said deal with it, because you have already paid and we can't refund you. Okay, call me stupid I guess, I got tricked. After a while, I would say a year into it, I would start losing signals on a perfectly good day/night. During the basketball season, MSG was not working, and after a while, the signal lost became very frequent. I finally gave DirecTV a call and told them the issue. Before the representative did anything, he told me that I was going to be charged the tech service fee of $49.95, but since I was a long time customer they will waive it. And how I should get the insurance. I said no, because if your service requires that I have to constantly call you to fix, then your company has a big problem.
The tech came and immediately knows the problem. He told me, that this thing in the satellite or the satellite itself will do this as time passes. So I'll have to get tech service again when it happens in another year. At this point I was mad, because of what he told me. But since the service was fixed for now, I didn't want to bother with DirecTV's customer service for a while. In comes, the next year, my receivers for my other rooms were old, and the remotes were not operational. I gave DirecTV a call, and asked them politely and nicely, whether the company can do anything about upgrading my receivers and/or replace my remotes. The rep tells me, unfortunately, they cannot do that. I will have to pay the price (I forgot how much) to replace them myself. I will note this, the rep did not give me any credit option to help me pay for some of the money, "because I was a valuable, long time customer." I kept my composure and told the rep I was going to have to think about whether I want to stay with the service any longer and hung up.
A couple months after, the losing signal on a good day/night issue occurred again, and I called for service. The rep told me they can't waive the fee, and the best they can do is take off $25 of the fee (this was after 2 calls, the first rep told me no fee waive at all, not even the $25). So I said okay, come and fix it. The tech came and fixed the thing. Then a couple months after, I noticed the problem is coming back again and I'm fuming, because I knew what the answers I was going to get from the customer service and I told them, it hasn't even been a year since the last service, you're going to charge me for having another tech to come over, when it obviously is your service issue? I ended that conversation and started to look for alternatives. In comes a mailing from Optimum about the triple play costing $69.95 a year. Since I already had Optimum, I knew what kind of customer service I was going to have. So I made the call to cancel DirecTV.
It was quite a funny call, I told them I was leaving the service. The rep asked why, I told the rep about all these issues that I had, and the fact that my remotes and receivers are all old and just not working properly due to age/use. The rep tells me that, DirecTV will be able to offer me credit up to $175 dollars for equipment replacement or something like that. So I was like WTF? I was told DirecTV can't do anything about crediting my equipment and I'll have to pay full amount from my pocket. Anyways, I was sick of this company by now. I was a loyal customer for many years and this is how they treat me. I'm sure people will ask, why I didn't leave earlier. I was hamstrung by my parents, since they like to watch the Chinese package that only DirecTV offered. It has gotten to that point where I just don't want to deal with DirecTV anymore and if my parents can't watch what they want, then tough luck, they'll have to settle with the Chinese channels from Optimum, since the triple play order has been placed.
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Review by magicrat
member for 1.5 years, 0 visits, last login: 1.5 years ago
updated 1.5 years ago
- Freehold,Monmouth,NJ
- Contract price not specified.
- "1080p (but at additional cost), 3d content"
- "Service, support, pretty much every interaction I've ever had with them, 1.5 inches of snow and no TV"
- "Proceed with caution"
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I recently switched from Cablevision Optimum because I was unhappy with
channel selection (no 3d content, no NFL network, past contract problems
with major networks). I had used DirecTV in the past while living in AZ.
With the sales/gimicks/offers that DirecTV recently made available, I
finally decided to switch. Regretting my decision - experience so far has been disappointing.
They were unable to provide the equipment I ordered... dealing with a Standard DVR as a second receiver seemed to throw
a monkey wrench into the entire operation. At least a dozen calls led to
nothing but unkept promises, misinformation, and wasted time. Inconsistent information by uninformed and
incapable service reps across the board. Took over a month to finally get
what I ordered properly installed.
October 29 - the historic snowfall on the east coast. About 1.5 inches of
snow on the ground in Central Jersey, and no TV service. Seemed to come back online sometime overnight, but very worried about the next snow storm. Standard response is to go clean the satellite dish that they mounted on the top of your house.
I head from others
in NJ that DirecTV was not good, but I didn't heed the warnings. I really want to like my DirecTV service. NFL ticket is great, HD channels as well, picture quality is solid. But seems at every turn, another unhappy experience.
Proceed with caution.
Andy
in Freehold, NJ
Comments:
 | | The snow isn't their fault. Why don't you quit complaining and go out and adjust the dish? | |
| |  UnKownThe Underground Network
join:2002-09-08
Orlando, FL | Re: The snow isn't their fault. while not their fault, its a critical downfall of an aging line of sight technology. it's something that needs to be expected with this type of technology, and almost all wireless technology is subject to certain interference. | |
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Reviews:
 ·DIRECTV
| DirecTV Our household had DirecTV for about 3 years here in Alpharetta, GA. After a rough start with the (contract) installer being very unprofessional, we enjoyed our service. The variety of content was good, and the 1080p was great! After upgrading a tv to 3D plasma, DirecTV's 3D content was excellent!
Our problem was loss of signal during almost any precipitation event of slightly less than moderate and above. Anytime along the path of "line of sight" that this precipitation occurred we would experience poor or no signal. If you live in areas prone to moderate or better intensity precipitation you will unfortunately have a strong chance of signal loss. Just as the worst weather (tornadoes and severe thunderstorms here) arrives, your DirecTV leaves... | |
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Review by tbrown
member for 1.5 years, 0 visits, last login: 1.5 years ago
lodged 1.5 years ago
- Lincoln,Lancaster,NE
- Contract price not specified.
- "Terrible!"
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Not only did they continue to raise there prices, they didn't even tell me they were going to until I got my bill. The connection would be interrupted if it was even sprinkling outside. Their customer service sucks. It took me 2 and 1/2 months to get a refund.
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Review by GalinMcMahon
member for 1.6 years, 0 visits, last login: 1.6 years ago
lodged 1.6 years ago
- The Dalles,Wasco,OR
- Contract price not specified.
- "Good advertisements"
- ""Whole home" DVR, audio quality, customer service"
- "Dish Network was so much better"
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We recently switched to Directv because Dish wouldn't upgrade us to HD for free even if we signed a new contract. We got the $29 whole home DVR plus HD package which of course became the $59 package after they added all of their fees.
Initially we were displeased with the way the DVR would record. If you told it to only record first run (new) episodes of a show, it would just record all instances that the DVR hasn't seen before. Our Dish DVR didn't do that. A couple calls to tech finally got us the answer, "That shouldn't be happening." It is still happening.
Another problem with our DVR is that when you press the jump forward button, it will freeze for about 3 seconds then fast forward 30 seconds. Dish would actually jump so you'd be through 30 seconds of commercials as fast as you press the button. With DirecTV you have to actually watch all commercials albeit in fast forward.
The latest DVR problem was just noticed yesterday. We pay extra for "Whole House" DVR which is apparently a new feature they have that Dish gave us for free. But with DirecTV's version, whole house DVR is actually only 'Whole House partial DVR.' You can not pause live shows from your non-DVR receiver. You can not see what shows are scheduled to record or set the priorities on your non-DVR receiver. Yet they still call it 'Whole House' and charge extra. I spoke to a "supervisor" about this and all he could say, and I quote, is "We are not Dish Network." Well, he also said that I was stuck with my contract for another 22 months of course.
Aside from our DVR issues, we're also seeing quality issues. The HD video is just good. I'd had Dish HD a few years ago with a lower quality TV and the picture was fantastic. Also, the audio on the locals is choppy and will sometimes cut out for seconds at a time. That would be annoying with a free service but it is downright unacceptable for an expensive paid service.
Their customer service is, as can be expected, a joke. Their call center is not likely in the U.S. because I rarely get on the phone with a person I can understand. But it doesn't really matter if you can understand what they're saying because their training is so limited that you will be passed around until they find someone who is authorized to tell you that, no, "They are not Dish Network. Sorry, have a nice day."
Needless to say I will leave DirecTV as soon as my contract is up if I can't find a way out of it (i.e. false advertising...it is not "Whole" house.)
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Review by glimerman
member for 2.3 years, 0 visits, last login: 2.3 years ago
lodged 2.3 years ago
- Alpharetta,Fulton,GA
- Contract price not specified.
- "very bad"
- "directtv scam"
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I recently decided to switch from Dishnetwork to Directv as to be qualified for new promotional deals from current Dish provider. So checked promotions on line and I called Directv. Sales person on the phone promised the best deal in universe, their premiere package-285 channels , free premium movie channels for first 3 month, ability to watch all of my recorded programs on all 3 TVs in the house. It was discussed that I am going to receive 3 HD receivers. When I asked how much I’m going to pay each month during the contract I was told $50 a month for first 3 months and then $100 for next 21 months, with a promise of an email explaining everything in detail. Email showed full price for package with no discount, so called back and asked for explanation… Oh yes, they told me that I have to apply for rebates online to get the deal, so I did and once again requested an email with the confirmation of the price promised. On my numerous calls neither the person on the phone nor the salesman could give me consistent figures for the contract (RED FLAG), but all promised my three HD receivers. Finally after threatening them with a cancelation, person on the phone admitted that for the second year of my contract I will be paying full price of $134 (RED FLAG). I was willing to agree to this pricing due to a better equipment and ability to watch prerecorded programming an all 3 TVs. When the installer showed up, I discussed the details of my contract with him and my main question, the ability to watch prerecorded programming on all 3 TVs. Imagine my surprise when he told me NO! Of cause NOT, in order to have that option you MUST have 3 HD receivers not two HD and one regular receiver as they had it in my order. But note that it was the only reason that I still was going to go with DirecTV after they lied to me about the contract price!!! Well that is what NOT in my order he says…So after a couple of hours on the phone with various Directv representatives, I found out that in order for me to have that particular option- to be able to watch my prerecorded programming on all TVs, I must upgrade to a third HD receiver for another $100.
These people are scam artists, they will not give written contract under any circumstances before the installation. DIRECTV had pursued and solicited me until they have my signed contact, after that getting through to the customer service to discuss the problem was virtually impossible. Their customer service is lousy!!!! I had to talk to 5 different custeromer service representatives just to cancel my order! Most of my 30/40 minutes calls were either disconnected or transferred to other department where I had to repeat my “live” story all over again. Do not sigh up with them or at least NOT until you get a written contract detailing the pricing and technology (how many receivers, type of receivers, etc.). TERRIBLE SERVICE~ I would NOT recommend Directv to anyone unless you want to spend the rest of your TV-watching life in misery.
Comments:
| | Internet service? Do you have internet through Direct TV? I know they partner with DSL providers sometimes. | |
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Review by DirecTVSUCKS
member for 2.4 years, 0 visits, last login: 2.4 years ago
lodged 2.4 years ago
- Export,Westmoreland,PA
- Contract price not specified.
- "THEY MAKE THE MAFIA LOOK LIKE KINDERGARTEN!"
- "THEY MAKE THE MAFIA LOOK LIKE KINDERGARTEN!"
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THEY MAKE THE MAFIA LOOK LIKE KINDERGARTEN!
In 08/2010, I purchased a package through AAA that would include DirecTV for my TV and Windstream for my landline and internet.
The Windstream part is still not functioning properly.
Although the package was set up through DirecTV, they send separate bills and hold themselves completely blameless both for any lack of service their "partner" provides, and for any lies their own DirecTV employees tell you over the phone.
I was told my rebate was for my "bundle-that's-not-bundled". I did not submit my rebate over the internet UNTIL I HAD SEMI-FUNCTIONING INTERNET. DirecTV will not honor my rebate.
They pass me around to wrong departments over the phone, until they either hang up on me or promise to have a manager call back. Which is invariably a lie. I have sat on the phone with DirecTV for hours, repeatedly. I am refused contact to anyone at DirecTV who has the authority to correct their endless bungling.
Comments:
| | Hang on a second You bought Windstream through AAA but this is somehow the fault of DirecTV? Then you held on to your rebate until it expired and are surprised that you can't still use it. Does that sum it up? | |
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Review by (hidden by request)
(review was emailed from domain bellagioresort.com)
lodged 2.6 years ago
- New York,New York,NY
- Contract price not specified.
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My husband and I have been going through difficult times. We had a bill
coming up for Direct TV that I knew would put us over-drawn in our bank
account. I called them a week before the bill was due and told them I
could pay it the week after. I was then informed that they could not put
a stop payment on an automatic withdrawal. This I found confusing seeing
as how every other automatic bill pay I had could be stopped. I then
called my bank and put a stop payment on the payment. IT CAME OUT
ANYWAYS! I called the bank again and was informed that they removed the
money from my Debit card so there would be no way to stop it....Is this
not illegal? I thought companies could not remove money from a debt card
without the customers ok.....I did NOT give the ok! When I called DTV
back and confronted them about this I was told there was no way to get
the money back even though they made us over-drawn! But I was offered a
credit to my account. I am sorry but I can not feed my family with a
television credit! I am discussed and shocked with this company's lack
of understanding during these tough times. Honestly, this company is the
ONLY company who has been unwilling to work with us during our difficult
time. They have made it very clear that they don't care about their
customers and will take money from their empty pockets. Shame on Direct
TV!!!!!! SHAME!!!!!!!!
Comments:
|  PhoenixDown-- Wants FIOSPremium
join:2003-06-08
Fresh Meadows, NY
kudos:1 | Its automatic for a reason you would have to stop automatic payment all together I think
--
~ Insert a Funny Sig Here ~ | |
|  justinAustralian
join:1999-05-28
New York, NY
kudos:7 | Difficult times " emailed from domain bellagioresort.com"
So, not financially difficult times! | |
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Review by jcricket4
member for 2.7 years, 1 visits, last login: 2.7 years ago
updated 2.7 years ago
- Chico,Butte,CA
- Contract price not specified.
- "Good reception"
- "DirecTV doesn't honor promotions, Can't get 90% of channels (which are subscruiption only)"
- "Better than cable, but try Dish instead"
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I signed up during the Free-HD-for-Life promotion. I signed up for Auto Bill Pay, rebate forms, then made several calls to customer service to find out why they weren't honoring the Free-HD-for-Life.
They made up clauses that weren't in my contract.
I sent them copies of the contract, but they just said "So sue us." The lawyer costs more than the $120/year they are stealing from me.
Since my father was the launch co-ordinator for Hughes satellites (and DirecTV uses Hughes satellites), this type of company dishonesty is disappointing.
Cable providers such as Comcast are even worse, but perhaps Dish is better?
Oh yes, even though there are hundreds of channels, most are subscription only. I spent hours removing the channels that weren't available to me (using the remote control) so they wouldn't appear on my channel guide.
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Review by mgschwendtne
member for 4.3 years, 34 visits, last login: 205 days ago
lodged 3.3 years ago
- Allentown,Lehigh,PA
- Contract price not specified.
- "Hardware, interface, picture quality"
- "no longer tops in HD, pricing"
- "too spendy when compared to dish"
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I have had directv for 3 years, I think the picture quality is excellent on HD and SD. The menu's and graphic interfaces are easier to navigate than dish. When they had their HD roll out 2 years they were the king of HD, now it appears they have started to slip adding HD channels that I want to watch. Their pricing is higher than the competition after the 1st years of your contract. Their video on demand is easier to navigate and has more choices than dish. They could be a bit more competitive if they offered a decent package between family and choice
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Review by tobyn
member for 11.7 years, 26 visits, last login: 3.4 years ago
updated 3.4 years ago
- New York,New York,NY
- Contract price not specified.
- "It worked for about 30 minutes"
- "The entire rest of the time"
- "Most expensive 30 minutes of TV ever"
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I moved into one of the large apartment buildings in NYC's financial district. I was happily surprised to find out I could get internet service from my previous provider (who I won't name because this isn't about them), but I had to go elsewhere for TV. It was between DirecTV and the cable company that served the building, so I flipped a coin and chose DirecTV.
I called up their installer that handled service to my building, and got a basic package. I don't really care too much about TV, but Thanksgiving was coming up and I was going to have family in town who would want to watch the parade, football games, etc. Fortunately they were able to send somebody out Wednesday morning to set things up.
The installer was prompt, I assume I was his first appointment of the day, and he showed up right at the beginning of my install window, which was nice. The install took a bit longer than I expected considering the dish is already on the roof and the whole building is wired up already, but the picture was crystal clear when the guy left, so I can't say anything bad about the process. I was enjoying channel surfing for the first time in a couple weeks, thought the DVR UI was nice, and was generally pleased with myself for picking DirecTV.
That's when the trouble started.
A couple of my relatives decided to watch an On Demand movie. Shortly after the beginning of said movie, the picture started getting blocky artifacts and the sound clicked, popped, and periodically cut out. I figured it was just the movie, so we switched it back to TV. Sadly, it was the same there. Many channels wouldn't come in at all, and those that would were completely unwatchable due to the artifacts, sound problems, and an occasional switch of the picture or sound (or even both) to a completely different channel.
I tried to contact the installer, but they hadn't left a card or any other piece of paper and their website was down (it was down for well over a day, but appears to be back now). Concerned about a scam (even though they didn't have any of my personal or financial info since setup was free), I went to DirecTV's website and tried to sign up for my account there. They didn't see me as a customer. Great.
Concerned that I had somehow fell for something, I called DirecTV directly trying to get to the bottom of the issue. Of course, before I could talk to someone I had to go through 10 minutes of automated troubleshooting. This process tries to reset your box, which (in my case at least) takes longer than the robot is willing to hold, so don't bother doing it, because if you wait until it's done the robot will simply declare that you've used too much of its valuable time and hang up on you (once it says it's doing this, there's no way to stop it, and there's no warning, so seriously don't bother).
Some time later I got to a very polite and upbeat CSR with virtually no hold time. After explaining what happened, and that I wasn't sure if I had run into some criminals acting like a third party installer (I told her the company name and everything; this bit of info is important later...), I was both happy and a little disturbed to find out that "everything was fine" as far as they were concerned and I was a customer in their system (one that apparently their website couldn't look up for some reason) with the right service package and everything. The nice lady on the other end of the phone offered to help me resolve my online account woes, but I figured we could wait until the TV was working first since scheduling my DVR remotely wasn't exactly top priority.
After reassuring me that this was a very common problem that she could resolve easily, she ran me through the basic reset process for the box which was listed in the troubleshooting steps in the manual that came with it. I had already done this, and it took about 10 minutes, but I complied and the results were as expected: no change. She reactivated things on her end a couple times, with no change either. That was pretty much the end of her ability, so she scheduled a service call for the day after Thanksgiving (Sweet! No football or parade! Thanks DirecTV! Fortunately my building has a lounge with cable...).
On the day of the service call, I received a call from their technician stating that I was in a multiple-dwelling unit building (which I had told them) and that a third party contractor (whose name I had already given them) had to handle all of the installation and service issues. I told the guy fine, and not to come, and since he had no solution for me other than to call the company I couldn't reach, I decided I should cancel my service.
Upon calling to cancel my service, I was told the operator could get in touch with my contractor. Too little, too late. I was not offered any sort of compensation (other than not being forced to pay for the service I already "used" -- THANKS!) for the hassle, so I told them to put the cancellation through. At that point I was informed that I would be charged $200+ because I had agreed to the service for 12 months, which is of course a complete scam since I never actually got to use the service, but I figured it was par for the course at that point and I remembered reading something like that in the fine print so I didn't press the issue. Rest assured I'll deal with that when the bill comes.
So here I am. Four days after ordering DirecTV I am: without television, slightly embarrassed that my family spent the holiday floating between my apartment and the building lounge, waiting on an empty box and a bill for $200.
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