# So dissapointed, again. Done after 11 years



## wrager (Mar 21, 2004)

So, thursday I called to upgrade to the whole house DVR. Was a little dissapointed that the fee went from $99 to $199, but whatever. I was charged $259.94 and given an appointment for today between 8 and noon.
At about 1:30, today we call to question the delay. Rep says you cancelled. Notes say "buyer's remorse." Huh. If true, why would we sit around and wait for 5 hours. Just the fact that we are calling to question the no show is evidence that we didn't cancel. Why don't they have the phone call recorded to prove it. Oh, it's just our fault according to the rep. Can't do anything more.

Well, my bill averages between $200 and 350 per month (2-3 movies per weekend). I'm sure AT&T will welcome our business and not blame the customer. I have put up with DirecTv's poor cust. service for too long. Rant over.


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## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

I'd raise a little hell with the install company. I'd also suggest a firm & polite email to [email protected] I can almost guarantee they'll fix this.


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

He doesn't want it fixed sigma, he's just saying goodbye.


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## davidatl14 (Mar 24, 2006)

I believe I'd give Ellen a try also.


He's got a legitimate problem that I'm sure they(Ellen's office) will try to address to his satisfaction.


Looks like he's been a member here since 2004 and his post count says it's his first post.

Outside of that if this is his first post he doesn't fall into the Well Populated "Chicken Little Club" that enjoys posting here.:lol:


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## joed32 (Jul 27, 2006)

spartanstew said:


> He doesn't want it fixed sigma, he's just saying goodbye.


His first post too, he should have said "hello" first and then "goodbye".


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## bixler (Oct 14, 2008)

He won't be back....(with another post or with Direct TV) :lol::lol:


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

Like just about everyone else, I will recommend NOT canceling your DirecTV, but rather SUSPENDING it, while you try Uverse, because chances are, you're going to come running back to DirecTV once you've experienced the wonderful world of AT&T television.

Seriously, a BIG percentage of our daily business is people switching BACK to satellite from Uverse...


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## carlsbad_bolt_fan (May 18, 2004)

OP just did a hit & run post. I doubt the OP said was even true. I mean, he did say that AT&T wouldn't "blame the customer". :lol:


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## RACJ2 (Aug 2, 2008)

carlsbad_bolt_fan said:


> OP just did a hit & run post. I doubt the OP said was even true. I mean, he did say that AT&T wouldn't "blame the customer". :lol:


No, he'll be back... you just have to wait 7 years. He joined in 2004 and that was his first post. So check back in March of 2018 for his reply.


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## mreposter (Jul 29, 2006)

The guy suffers a major disappointment with Directv service and people around here want to make fun of him. Brilliant.


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## dirtyblueshirt (Dec 7, 2008)

Wow, from DirecTV to AT&T... someone's due for a huge letdown...


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## SBI (Feb 20, 2004)

OK, who is this Ellen?! Shall I save this email address?


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## BKC (Dec 12, 2007)

mreposter said:


> The guy suffers a major disappointment with Directv service and people around here want to make fun of him. Brilliant.


It's ok to do that because there is almost 20K posts between three of them....


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## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

BKC said:


> It's ok to do that because there is almost 20K posts between three of them....


Who made fun of him?


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## larry55 (Jun 3, 2010)

i would think it over a few days and find out what happen.


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## xmetalx (Jun 3, 2009)

SBI said:


> OK, who is this Ellen?! Shall I save this email address?


She is the VP of Customer Care for DirecTV. Many posters here keep her email address as a last resort when calling customer service and retention doesn't get them where they want.. Sometimes it's warranted, sometimes it's not (IMO)


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## SBI (Feb 20, 2004)

xmetalx said:


> She is the VP of Customer Care for DirecTV. Many posters here keep her email address as a last resort when calling customer service and retention doesn't get them where they want.. Sometimes it's warranted, sometimes it's not (IMO)


Thanks. Added to address book


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## BKC (Dec 12, 2007)

sigma1914 said:


> Who made fun of him?


My math was off by about 7K


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

I totally smell a Dish Troll.

How the hell did he get to $300 a month for TV? From 2 - 3 movies a weekend? Maybe if all he is buying are porn movies where you pay like $20 an hour. If they were regular PPV movies, it'd only cost $72 extra per month.


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## drpjr (Nov 23, 2007)

TS did say "average between $200-$350" a month. A buck-fiftyish for service+ $75 for movies and a sports package will easily put him well within that range. I doubt a Dish troll would wait 6-7 years before dipping his toes in the waters over here.


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## Mark Walters (Sep 21, 2009)

wrager said:


> So, thursday I called to upgrade to the whole house DVR. Was a little dissapointed that the fee went from $99 to $199, but whatever. I was charged $259.94 and given an appointment for today between 8 and noon.
> At about 1:30, today we call to question the delay. Rep says you cancelled. Notes say "buyer's remorse." Huh. If true, why would we sit around and wait for 5 hours. Just the fact that we are calling to question the no show is evidence that we didn't cancel. Why don't they have the phone call recorded to prove it. Oh, it's just our fault according to the rep. Can't do anything more.
> 
> Well, my bill averages between $200 and 350 per month (2-3 movies per weekend). I'm sure AT&T will welcome our business and not blame the customer. I have put up with DirecTv's poor cust. service for too long. Rant over.


I'm more impressed that you've been a member of DBSTALK since 2004 and this is your first post.

:welcome_s

PS -- if you would of held out for one more week -- you would of gone SEVEN full years without a post!


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## Scott Kocourek (Jun 13, 2009)

If you all would like to address the topic GREAT, let's stay away from the name calling and the personal attacks.


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## Mark Walters (Sep 21, 2009)

SledgeHammer said:


> I totally smell a Dish Troll.
> 
> How the hell did he get to $300 a month for TV? From 2 - 3 movies a weekend? Maybe if all he is buying are porn movies where you pay like $20 an hour. If they were regular PPV movies, it'd only cost $72 extra per month.


Interesting analysis -- right to the porn. :lol: Maybe it's new PPV $25 movies that are currently in theaters. Has that started yet?


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## APB101 (Sep 1, 2010)

Is there a list somewhere of which celebrities are DirecTV customers? Curious, for the hell of it, because Ellen DeGeneres _could be_. We learned a few days ago, from a photograph, that Charlie Sheen is a subscriber. And we can, perhaps, count a number of those who did advertising commercials, the last decade, that almost sounded like testimonials.


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## Hoosier205 (Sep 3, 2007)

2-3 movies a week? Good lord! Try Netflix streaming & disc by mail instead.


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## xmetalx (Jun 3, 2009)

APB101 said:


> Is there a list somewhere of which celebrities are DirecTV customers? Curious, for the hell of it, because Ellen DeGeneres _could be_. We learned a few days ago, from a photograph, that Charlie Sheen is a subscriber. And we can, perhaps, count a number of those who did advertising commercials, the last decade, that almost sounded like testimonials.


Kinda a privacy thing I'd imagine. Not every celebrity wants to tell everyone what tv service they have, what cellphone provider they use, etc etc.

However, to add to the 'list', I do know that John Madden is a D* customer, and has been featured in at least a few interviews about his home DirecTV system (which is pretty crazy indeed!)


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## Xsabresx (Oct 8, 2007)

Aside from all of the other drama with Uverse, the OP might want to read this before jumping to them. (since it includes Uverse)

http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Exclusive-ATT-To-Impose-150GB-DSL-Cap-Overages-113149

_Broadband Reports was the first to learn, and has confirmed with AT&T, that the company will be implementing a new 150GB monthly usage cap for all DSL customers and a new 250 GB cap on all U-Verse users starting on May 2. From March 18 to March 31, AT&T users are going to be receiving notices informing them of the change in the company's terms of service. AT&T spokesman Seth Bloom confirmed the news to Broadband Reports after we initially contacted him last Friday concerning a leaked copy of the upcoming user notification. According to Bloom, the cap will involve overage charges. However, only users who consistently exceed the new caps will have to deal with these charges.

This is how it will work: only users who exceed the new usage cap three times -- across the life of your account, not per month -- will be forced to pay these new per byte overages. Overages will be $10 for every 50GB over the 150 GB or 250GB limit they travel.
_


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## loudo (Mar 24, 2005)

I have a feeling he is not telling the whole story. It is pretty easy to read between the lines of his post.


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## wrager (Mar 21, 2004)

loudo said:


> I have a feeling he is not telling the whole story. It is pretty easy to read between the lines of his post.


Some of you are REAL d*bags, that's for sure. I originally subscribed to DirecTV in 1995. I had to install all of the equipment myself. In 2000 I switched to Dish. Was very, very happy. But when I came back to Atlanta in '05, Dish did not have locals over sat. My location precluded OAB, so back to Direct it was, unfortunately. Over the 6 years there have been so many issues. Too numerous to go into here. I have 6 DVR's in my house with 8 kids (foster parent). So we do average between $2-350 per month. This month was $410.

I don't come here very often. I prefer to spend my time on AVS with a more knowledgeable group.

Hey Stew! MSU class of '84.


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## wrager (Mar 21, 2004)

carlsbad_bolt_fan said:


> OP just did a hit & run post. I doubt the OP said was even true. I mean, he did say that AT&T wouldn't "blame the customer". :lol:


Yea... I enrolled in '04 to do a hit and run in 2011.


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## dirtyblueshirt (Dec 7, 2008)

wrager said:


> Some of you are REAL d*bags, that's for sure.


I'm sorry you feel that way. Realize that people who tend to post those types of rants like you did, without seeking possible help from the community, can sometimes be trolls looking for attention. Why you chose to abandon ship instead of seeking help is beyond me, but that's your choice.

I noticed you mentioned you had 6 DVRs. How many of those are HD? Even if you can get AT&T to give you 2 DVRs, you can only watch and/or record a maximum of 4 HD streams with U-Verse, and you can only have 2 DVRs at all. Not to mention the compression they use makes the picture quality fairly awful.

I'm not saying you should stay with DirecTV, but I personally know AT&T employees that wouldn't even touch U-Verse. One even has Verizon FiOS.


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## wrager (Mar 21, 2004)

All are HD. Does that make a difference?

I think six years of tenacity is plenty. I hate giving up PQ, especially with a 120" theater screen, but at what point do customers say "enough is enough?" Do I continue to reward bad behavior with my hard earned money?

If I have to go back to sat, maybe I'll try Dish again. This whole situation sucks.


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

wrager said:


> S
> Hey Stew! MSU class of '84.


'87 Old Timer.


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## dirtyblueshirt (Dec 7, 2008)

wrager said:


> I think six years of tenacity is plenty. I hate giving up PQ, especially with a 120" theater screen, but at what point do customers say "enough is enough?" Do I continue to reward bad behavior with my hard earned money?
> 
> If I have to go back to sat, maybe I'll try Dish again. This whole situation sucks.


I don't understand what problems you had apart from the one customer service incident you provided. I would believe it's an easily remediated situation. You mention how much you spend monthly, but you didn't mention that as a point of contention, so we're left to assume that's not an issue to you, or is it?

You mention you have a 120" screen. I would emphatically recommend against U-Verse at this point, it'd look like a Hulu stream at that point, and you'll notice a lot of artifacting (there's a chance I made up that word, but it's still valid) and pixelation.


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## wrager (Mar 21, 2004)

dirtyblueshirt said:


> I don't understand what problems you had apart from the one customer service incident you provided. I would believe it's an easily remediated situation. You mention how much you spend monthly, but you didn't mention that as a point of contention, so we're left to assume that's not an issue to you, or is it?
> 
> You mention you have a 120" screen. I would emphatically recommend against U-Verse at this point, it'd look like a Hulu stream at that point, and you'll notice a lot of artifacting (there's a chance I made up that word, but it's still valid) and pixelation.


Aaron-
I do appeciate your earnest attempt to help. It's not the $$/month. There have been many issues over the past 6 years around equipment, original install, services, etc. Too many to get into. Ellen did help some.

I am really concerned about PQ in my theater. The one bright light is VUDU over PS3. I've never tried HULU, but Netflix is atrocious.

Thanks for the insights.


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## loudo (Mar 24, 2005)

wrager said:


> Some of you are REAL d*bags, that's for sure. I originally subscribed to DirecTV in 1995. I had to install all of the equipment myself. In 2000 I switched to Dish. Was very, very happy. But when I came back to Atlanta in '05, Dish did not have locals over sat. My location precluded OAB, so back to Direct it was, unfortunately. Over the 6 years there have been so many issues. Too numerous to go into here. I have 6 DVR's in my house with 8 kids (foster parent). So we do average between $2-350 per month. This month was $410.
> 
> I don't come here very often. I prefer to spend my time on AVS with a more knowledgeable group.
> 
> Hey Stew! MSU class of '84.


1st of all, because people post opinions or thoughts that you are not in agreement with doesn't make them a d*bag. If I offended you, I am sorry. You may have been a long time DirecTV customer, but when we someone that only has a couple of postings, posts a rant like yours, most of us consider it a troll. I once had a mix up on an install, at our summer home, and after a phone call they made up for it by upgrading from a receiver to a DVR and some free programing.

My comment was made because like several others have mentioned, I couldn't believe you would just jump ship without trying to resolve the issue. I have had issues with DirecTV, just as I did when I had cable, but have always been able to get them resolved, with a phone call.

If you think you have issues with DirecTV, wait until you get to AT&T. I have never seen such an unorganized operation as they have. We used to have Bellsouth and very rarely had problems. Since AT&T bought them out, we have had nothing but trouble. A friend told me they called his house selling U-Verse and come to find out, it hasn't even been installed in their neighborhood.

I hope what ever you choose to do, works out for you. But I would call and maybe you can get the issue resolved.


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## cohbraz (Nov 19, 2006)

wrager said:


> Aaron-
> I do appeciate your earnest attempt to help. It's not the $$/month. There have been many issues over the past 6 years around equipment, original install, services, etc. Too many to get into. Ellen did help some.
> 
> I am really concerned about PQ in my theater. The one bright light is VUDU over PS3. I've never tried HULU, but Netflix is atrocious.
> ...


I work with HD displays everyday. I can say, without a doubt, that Directv has the best PQ of any provider I have personally seen. That includes cable, Dish, and U-Verse.

It sounds like a lot of the problems you have encountered may be caused by the local installer company. An email to Ellen may be just the thing to help get this taken care of. Most companies want to know if there is a 3rd party that is negatively affecting their business.


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## DodgerKing (Apr 28, 2008)

I would be willing to bet it does not include FiOs


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

DodgerKing said:


> I would be willing to bet it does not include FiOs


You'd lose that bet with me.


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## AttiTech (Feb 21, 2011)

mreposter said:


> The guy suffers a major disappointment with Directv service and people around here want to make fun of him. Brilliant.


I can't think of anything more interesting to read while using my "poor customer service" on you unsuspecting D* customers! BEWARE! RAAAWER


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## benwa73 (Jan 7, 2007)

Buh Bye! Buh... Bye...


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## mluntz (Jul 13, 2006)

wrager said:


> I don't come here very often. I prefer to spend my time on AVS with a more knowledgeable group.


I usually don't participate in these meaningless conversations, but I must say I take offense to your comments, as I am sure a lot of other members here do!

I frequent AVS also, very knowledgeable people. Needless to say, I have recieved a lot of help from folks over here for the past couple of years, and it is very much appreciated.

It doesn't matter how much you think someone knows, it's the fact that you're trying to get help to answer a question. If you already knew the answer, you wouldn't ask the question!

Try to appreciate the effort, that's all!


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## TigersFanJJ (Feb 17, 2006)

wrager said:


> Aaron-
> I do appeciate your earnest attempt to help. It's not the $$/month. There have been many issues over the past 6 years around equipment, original install, services, etc. Too many to get into. Ellen did help some.
> 
> I am really concerned about PQ in my theater. The one bright light is VUDU over PS3. I've never tried HULU, but Netflix is atrocious.
> ...


If you are really concerned about the picture quality and the number of receivers you have, Uverse may not be the right choice for you.

As was stated earlier, Uverse limits you to the total number of streams that come into your house at a time. My home is 150ft from their vrad and the best they could give me was 3hd/1sd at a time. That didn't really bother me that much because I just kept the kids two tvs on the sd feeds.

What did bother me was the hd picture quality. Although it wasn't an overall bad picture, I did experience macroblocking during sporting events and the crowd scenes of concerts. Also, The picture would occasionally freeze for a few seconds. The best way I can describe it is how streaming video will freeze on a computer to buffer.

I will give it to them for their sd picture quality. It is the best I have seen compared to other providers. And their internet is great, too. I decided to keep their 24meg internet when I came back to Directv.


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## He Save Dave (Jun 6, 2006)

wrager said:


> I don't come here very often. I prefer to spend my time on AVS with a more knowledgeable group.


:lol: BURN!


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## Noresults (Aug 25, 2007)

I think wrager picked a good time to leave. As more people leave Direct TV Dish and cable maybee the operators will think better of their poor customer service.

All the blue ray players, xbox etc, computers are gaining access to tv. The end for Satellite TV is not far away.


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## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

Noresults said:


> I think wrager picked a good time to leave. As more people leave Direct TV Dish and cable maybee the operators will think better of their poor customer service.
> 
> All the blue ray players, xbox etc, computers are gaining access to tv. The end for Satellite TV is not far away.


Wanna bet? 2 words...bandwidth caps.


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## Athenian (Nov 16, 2005)

wrager said:


> Well, my bill averages between $200 and 350 per month (2-3 movies per weekend).


 So ask for retention and see what kind of concession they'll offer. You might end up with a WHDVR installation at no charge.


> I'm sure AT&T will welcome our business and not blame the customer. I have put up with DirecTv's poor cust. service for too long. Rant over.


I'm sure they will. Within a few weeks you'll be asking yourself whether getting poor performance was worth the switch. As others have suggested, suspend(rather than cancel) DirecTV if you want to try it out.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

Noresults said:


> I think wrager picked a good time to leave. As more people leave Direct TV Dish and cable maybee the operators will think better of their poor customer service.
> 
> All the blue ray players, xbox etc, computers are gaining access to tv. The end for Satellite TV is not far away.


Define "not far away." DIRECTV continues to grow customers. If there is ever an end to Satellite TV, it will be a long time from now .. I'd say 20 yrs. minimum.


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## Athenian (Nov 16, 2005)

wrager said:


> Aaron-
> I am really concerned about PQ in my theater.


I doubt you'll be happy with AT&T. The SD quality is better than DirecTV but the HD quality is not nearly as good. Get used to freezes too...I have no idea why they happen but they're very disconcerting.


> I have 6 DVR's in my house with 8 kids (foster parent).


You can have a maximum of 4 incoming streams with U-Verse and you _cannot_ add additional DVRs. The client boxes cannot pause or reverse either. Also, if you do that much recording, you will go crazy with the all the guide errors that result in partial recordings. In the past week, I've had 3 major guide failures. 
 On Monday we got the first hour of a 90-minute "American Experience.
On Tuesday, we got only the first half-hour of a one hour program.
 And over the weekend I discovered that a 2-movie had somehow been stretched to 3 hours: the first hour was a completely different movie! It wasn't a disaster for me but how about people who actually wanted the preceding movie?
 Guide errors are not a once-in-a-while occurence on U-Verse; they happen _all the time_. Tech support replaced my DVR the first time I complained about a 1 minute (yep 1 minute instead of 1 hour) recording and they wanted to replace again when I kept complaining. They don't even realize how much time and money they are wasting because of the bad guide. They are so fixated on the hardware that they can't fathom the actual source of the problems.

It's so bad that some of the regulars in the user forum advise checking your series setups every week to be sure that your program will be recorded. Yeah, sure. In fact, you might want to check out the U-Verse forums to see what awaits you.

There are a lot of other annoyances but the guide issues were too much so we decided to give up the AT&T promotion and un-suspend DirecTV service. Unfortunately, we've had two unproductive installer experiences but I intend to tough it out until we get what what we requested.


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## loudo (Mar 24, 2005)

Noresults said:


> I think wrager picked a good time to leave. As more people leave Direct TV Dish and cable maybee the operators will think better of their poor customer service.


Don't kid yourself, if you think you are going to get any better customer support at either DISH or Cable. Cable especially, you will know that once you have to wait and wait, on the phone, just to get someone to speak to you.



Noresults said:


> All the blue ray players, xbox etc, computers are gaining access to tv. The end for Satellite TV is not far away.


Is that why they are gaining more and more customers all the time, while some providers are loosing customers?
As technology changes, it could happen over a long period of time, but to say it is "not far away" is a little far fetched.


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