# Multiple R-15 Issues: Another Update



## jcfolk (Jun 16, 2006)

Summary of situation to date: Subscribed March w/ 2 new R-15s. One died in mid-May, and since then I've received FIVE "refurbished" replacements....ALL of which have failed. Last week after haggling and hassling with D* customer service forever, I got an agreement from them to send me a NEW R-15.

Today: The new receiver arrived today....only it wasn't an R-15.....it was an R-10. Not what I wanted and not what I was told to expect.

Called customer support and got told that they would send me what they wanted, not what I wanted. Got transferred to "customer retention" and talked to a snotty person named Leena who had NO interest in retaining me as a customer. I asked for the number for the Office of the President, and she claimed she didn't have it. Offered to give me an address.

Hung up, cooled off....this was around 5:30 PM EDT.

Looked on the forum for the number (thank you HDImpatient!) and found it. 888-237-8327. Called at 9:30 PM EDT expecting to leave a message and instead talked to a very nice lady named Shannon. After summarizing the situation to her, she immediately offered to give me a $100 credit on my account so I could go down to Best Buy and pick up a new R-15. (As of right now---9:53 PM---the credit is already on my account.)

I accepted and told her that I had already asked to be able to do this at least 3 or 4 times and was told no every time. She apologized for that (they always apologize, but it's usually apologizing because they won't do what you request) and after a few more details with access cards and return boxes I was done. Ten minutes on the phone and I was done and got exactly what I wanted.

Guess what number I'll be calling if I have any problems in the future?


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## Wolffpack (Jul 29, 2003)

jcfolk,

Did the R10 you received come in w new DTV style box with all the colors outside or a box?


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## jcfolk (Jun 16, 2006)

Wolffpack said:


> jcfolk,
> 
> Did the R10 you received come in w new DTV style box with all the colors outside or a box?


Colorful orange and white box. Has TIVO logo in the corner. Says "DIRECTV DVR".

The refurbished R-15s came in a plainer blue and white box IIRC. (And I should recall, having received so many!)


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## pentium101 (Nov 19, 2005)

jcfolk said:


> Summary of situation to date: Subscribed March w/ 2 new R-15s. One died in mid-May, and since then I've received FIVE "refurbished" replacements....ALL of which have failed. Last week after haggling and hassling with D* customer service forever, I got an agreement from them to send me a NEW R-15.


Wow, 5 refurb units!!

I think that you are the current record holder here who has the most replaced units. I'm very surprised that D* would have even went through with that many exchanges before offering another solution. :eek2:


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## walters (Nov 18, 2005)

pentium101 said:


> Wow, 5 refurb units!!
> 
> I think that you are the current record holder here who has the most replaced units. I'm very surprised that D* would have even went through with that many exchanges before offering another solution. :eek2:


They did. They tried to give him something that would work, but he declined


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## jcfolk (Jun 16, 2006)

walters said:


> They did. They tried to give him something that would work, but he declined


True...sort of. But considering that they told me I would receive an R-15, and also considering that my wife and I don't want to have to deal with learning another system/remote/menu options etc.... and ALSO considering that I had been through a wringer with customer service over and over and over again....I wasn't really in the mood to just meekly roll over and accept what they gave me.


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## walters (Nov 18, 2005)

jcfolk said:


> True...sort of. But considering that they told me I would receive an R-15, and also considering that my wife and I don't want to have to deal with learning another system/remote/menu options etc.... and ALSO considering that I had been through a wringer with customer service over and over and over again....I wasn't really in the mood to just meekly roll over and accept what they gave me.


Fair enough. Just a stupid joke at R15's (not your) expense.


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## jcfolk (Jun 16, 2006)

pentium101 said:


> Wow, 5 refurb units!!
> 
> I think that you are the current record holder here who has the most replaced units. I'm very surprised that D* would have even went through with that many exchanges before offering another solution. :eek2:


Not a record that I hope to break...and wouldn't wish that on anyone else either.

I saw another post (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=59764) where Wolffpack asked the question about why R10s were getting shipped out instead of refurbished R15s. Seems we have evidence of at least two occurrences.....my experience and also 69RoadRunner's......

Customer service rep yesterday tried to talk me into keeping the R10....told me how great it was and that many people preferred it.

Hmmmmm, indeed.


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

I've seen a couple of comments that D* is sending out R10's.

The big question is why? Is it because the R15 is simply not available (back ordered from manufacturer's), or is it because they have decided to sit on them until the problems really are fixed?

Enquiring minds want to know - anybody have an answer?

Carl


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## walters (Nov 18, 2005)

Well, most of the Circuit City and Best Buy around here have R15s in stock, for whatever that is worth.


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## jcfolk (Jun 16, 2006)

walters said:


> Well, most of the Circuit City and Best Buy around here have R15s in stock, for whatever that is worth.


And that's where I'm headed right after work today---Best Buy. I hope that a new one will work for me.

You would think----and I've said this before----if D* sent me FIVE bad refurbished units that:

A) there's a serious problem with the quality control wherever they're having these units re-worked, and
B) it's got to be costing them buckets of money


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## mikewolf13 (Jan 31, 2006)

jcfolk said:


> True...sort of. But considering that they told me I would receive an R-15, and also considering that my wife and I don't want to have to deal with learning another system/remote/menu options etc.... and ALSO considering that I had been through a wringer with customer service over and over and over again....I wasn't really in the mood to just meekly roll over and accept what they gave me.


Yeah! I went to a hotel and unpacked and they called the room and offered to upgrade me to a penthouse suite...i was so annoyed..i paid for a standard room and by god they are gonna give it to me!!!! Besides, who would want to pack again?

Just make sure you get to keep the R10...I have a feeling come Septemebr you may want to try it out.....


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## jcfolk (Jun 16, 2006)

mikewolf13 said:


> Yeah! I went to a hotel and unpacked and they called the room and offered to upgrade me to a penthouse suite...i was so annoyed..i paid for a standard room and by god they are gonna give it to me!!!! Besides, who would want to pack again?
> 
> Just make sure you get to keep the R10...I have a feeling come Septemebr you may want to try it out.....


I think your analogy is backwards. I was expecting the penthouse suite and got the standard room with no compensation for the downgrade.

Unfortunately for me so far, in the penthouse suite the lights flicker on and off, there's no hot water in the shower, and the toilet's backed up.


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## mtchamp (Nov 24, 2005)

I was in Best Buy last week and counted 4 returned R15's and two new ones. Not a good sign. I still have my Lifetimed DirecTiVos and standalones and won't risk an R15 and 2 more years. My contract is over and waiting to see what the TiVo Series3 will be like and what Comcast and Verizon will do in my area.


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## sriram (Apr 4, 2006)

heh... almost the same story here.

First R15 that the installer brought had a defective 2nd tuner. Got my second unit (a refurb) which worked fine for about a week, then would freeze/crash constantly after making a little screeching second (bad hd I assume). Got my third unit which worked for less than a week. Fourth unit lasted about a month, then same problem. Talked to the CSRs and told them I wanted a new unit. She said no problem and that she would send me a R10, which I received today. Works fine so far (it came in a colorful box which says DirecTV DVR with a little tivo logo on the bottom right).

I think I preferred the R15 interface a bit more than the R10, but I guess I gotta settle for whatever works.

DirecTV refurbishing process is definitely broken.


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## Bobman (Jan 3, 2006)

sriram said:


> DirecTV refurbishing process is definitely broken.


No different than Dell. My friend bought an "outlet" Dell PC that was Dell certified refurbished. It came and the combined CD/DVD burner was not even connected, the bios setting did not have the HyperThread and some other major setting turned on.

When he opened the case, the CD/DVD connector AND power connector were nicely tucked away and not shaken loose during shiping like Dell tried to tell him. He was wondering why it was so slow, it was a decent model, then he checked the bios and found critical settings not right.

I know a few others similiar things happened to.


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## TheTooleMan (Apr 9, 2006)

Dell, DirecTV, etc - it doesn't matter which company it is. Consumers must demand good service and make these companies pay when they don't deliver it! :box: 

The evidence is mounting, like the stacks of returned R15's at Circuit City and Best Buy, that this DVR is a piece of crap. I congratulate jcfolk and everyone else who refuses to roll over and accept crappy service and products! Eventually our efforts will pay off with improved service and a DVR that works without all these headaches. It may take a while for a giant like DirecTV (which is owned by the evil Rupert Murdoch) to notice us ants stinging his toes, but eventually the message will get through when the line item "loss due to defective products" starts to stand out on their balance sheets.

:soapbox:


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## qwerty (Feb 19, 2006)

TheTooleMan said:


> (which is owned by the evil Rupert Murdoch)


Why is Mudoch evil?


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## mikewolf13 (Jan 31, 2006)

jcfolk said:


> I think your analogy is backwards. I was expecting the penthouse suite and got the standard room with no compensation for the downgrade.
> 
> Unfortunately for me so far, in the penthouse suite the lights flicker on and off, there's no hot water in the shower, and the toilet's backed up. [/QUOTE
> 
> ...


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## jcfolk (Jun 16, 2006)

TheTooleMan said:


> Dell, DirecTV, etc - it doesn't matter which company it is. Consumers must demand good service and make these companies pay when they don't deliver it! :box:
> 
> The evidence is mounting, like the stacks of returned R15's at Circuit City and Best Buy, that this DVR is a piece of crap. I congratulate jcfolk and everyone else who refuses to roll over and accept crappy service and products! Eventually our efforts will pay off with improved service and a DVR that works without all these headaches. It may take a while for a giant like DirecTV (which is owned by the evil Rupert Murdoch) to notice us ants stinging his toes, but eventually the message will get through when the line item "loss due to defective products" starts to stand out on their balance sheets.
> 
> :soapbox:


Thanks for the compliment; I've never been accused of being shy and not letting people know when I think something is wrong!

I picked up my new R-15 yesterday, activated it, and so far, so good. (Of course that's what the guy said on the way down when he jumped off the skyscraper..."So far, so good!.....So far, so good!"

I think the R-15 has a lot of potential. I really like the features, the functionality, and the picture quality. With a few system tweaks and (much) better reliability it could be a fantastic product.

Now as far as D* customer service goes.....my experience has really been hit or miss. Some of the reps are nice, patient, knowledgeable and others are just the opposite. These people are PAID to be nice; you can't have a bad day while trying to make customers happy.

I don't think D* or Rupert Murdoch or anyone else is necessarily evil.  If they were, they picked the wrong business to be in. Treat your customers badly and they'll go elsewhere....and I know 'cause I left cable for that reason. I agree with you though that eventually the message will get through if they don't improve.

Advice for anyone calling D* with an issue with the R-15 or anything else: It doesn't help to lose your temper. It DOES help to be patient, and it does help to know what you are talking about. If you are in the right, then stick to your guns. Write down the names and times, and what's discussed and agreed to when you call. Don't take "no" for an answer. Ask to talk to a supervisor, and insist on it, even though it may take some time. Ask to talk to customer retention. If you have to (and I eventually did) call the Office of the President. Be polite, be consistent, be persistent, and you will get results.

Good luck.


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## jcfolk (Jun 16, 2006)

mikewolf13 said:


> jcfolk said:
> 
> 
> > <snip>
> ...


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## mikewolf13 (Jan 31, 2006)

jcfolk said:


> mikewolf13 said:
> 
> 
> > Two quick questions....when was this? And why didn't you get one from the local big box electronics place?
> ...


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## jcfolk (Jun 16, 2006)

mikewolf13 said:


> It was in early Dec. , Shortly after the release.


Okay...was just curious. Thanks.


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## TheTooleMan (Apr 9, 2006)

jcfolk said:


> Looked on the forum for the number (thank you HDImpatient!) and found it. *888-237-8327*. Called at 9:30 PM EDT expecting to leave a message and instead talked to a very nice lady named Shannon.
> 
> Guess what number I'll be calling if I have any problems in the future?


No poop! I called that number just now because my bill did not show the extra month of free movies I was granted after my pain and suffering with the R15. The woman answered the phone with, "DirecTV, Office of the President."

For a moment, even I was impressed. And yes, Virginia, I did get my extra month back.


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## TheTooleMan (Apr 9, 2006)

qwerty said:


> Why is Mudoch evil?


Rent the DVD "Outfoxed" and you'll see why. (Murdoch owns Fox News, too, in case you didn't know.)

Let's don't diverge onto a political tangent here. I've said enough already.


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## AnonomissX (Jun 29, 2006)

BTW...its a new product....less then a year old. I had 4 tivos in the house (    ) and out of self defense ( I just now quit working for the call center in Las Vegas for Directv) I got an R15 installed in my room.

I ... think I like it! And after the initial onslaught of some problems, not eveyone was unhappy, no more than any other receiver Directv has out there in the customer base. New subscribers who never used a tivo handle it fine...I am one of the tivo users who at first was like "Whine! this ISN"T my Tivo!"...but the box has it's own charms, and now the 30 second slip....heaven. no phone line nags either 

~Melodie~ Aka AnonomissX


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## walters (Nov 18, 2005)

AnonomissX said:


> BTW...its a new product....less then a year old.


Based on a six-year-old software platform.


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