# Directv is not organized enough to be proactive



## bnglbill (Nov 29, 2006)

I received a call from Directv on Friday 9/12 telling me that my box reported a problem with signal strength and that they wanted to send a technician out for free. I said Ok and scheduled it for Monday 9/15. I got a call on Sunday afternoon from the tech saying he was on his way. I said it is supposed to be on Monday but I'm here so ok. He got to the house and asked what problems I was having. I explained that I really wasn't having problems but that directv called me and said my signals were low. He said ok well, since you are not having any problems, there's nothing I can do and he left. About 15 minutes later, his dispatcher called me and asked if I wanted to cancel the call. I said, I don't know, directv called me and said I have a problem with my signals. She argued with me and said that could not have happened but she will check with directv and get back to me. What a joke this has been and I fully expect to have a charge for this on my next bill to.

Being proactive is great, if you are organized enough to do it right and Directv is NOT! :nono2:


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## davring (Jan 13, 2007)

Once they get their problems fixed with their sub-contractors, which I understand they are working hard to do, most of these lack of coordination issues should decrease. I too, had one of those calls but declined service as I knew I had no problems.


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## CJTE (Sep 18, 2007)

If you cancel the call, you wont get charged, and since the tech has already been there and left, it shouldn't be a big deal. If you don't cancel the call, I would be calling DirecTV immediately to ensure that you aren't being charged.


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## bnglbill (Nov 29, 2006)

I just got off of the phone with a csr, they told me that Directv does not call people and schedule appointments. I confirmed that I was not being charged for anything. She said there was a service call scheduled for a weak signal but that I would not be charged for it. She doesn't believe that I didn't call and schedule this...

What A Joke!!!:nono:


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## diggerg56 (Sep 26, 2007)

Guess all of us that have gotten calls like this just imagined them then....Another clueless CSR, what a surprise.


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## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

The problems with the sub-contractors, I can understand... but the uninformed CSRs, there is no excuse for...


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## CJTE (Sep 18, 2007)

AirRocker said:


> The problems with the sub-contractors, I can understand... but the uninformed CSRs, there is no excuse for...


How big is your company 

There are approx 300 CSRs per center, just for DirecTV. Some have many, many more (like Oklahoma and Colorado), some have a bit less.

So, a couple thousand people, spread across the states, mexico, and phillipines.
Not all of them are DirecTV centers, some are outsourced (Convergys, etc).
Getting the info spread out isnt as simple as a couple team meetings. The info slowly trinkles down the grapevines, AND, not everyone pays attention either. Be it the manager for one of the outsourced centers not passing the word on, or one of the CSRs not listening/late that day/what-not when the Supervisor tells everyone.


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## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

CJTE said:


> How big is your company
> 
> There are approx 300 CSRs per center, just for DirecTV. Some have many, many more (like Oklahoma and Colorado), some have a bit less.
> 
> ...


My company has about 500 employees and uses a neat little tool called email...  If something important needs to be made known to every employee, it can be done with two clicks of the mouse...

And as far as the outsourcing goes... that's for another thead...


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## rahlquist (Jul 24, 2007)

bnglbill said:


> I received a call from Directv on Friday 9/12 telling me that my box reported a problem with signal strength and that they wanted to send a technician out for free. I said Ok and scheduled it for Monday 9/15. I got a call on Sunday afternoon from the tech saying he was on his way. I said it is supposed to be on Monday but I'm here so ok. He got to the house and asked what problems I was having. I explained that I really wasn't having problems but that directv called me and said my signals were low. He said ok well, since you are not having any problems, there's nothing I can do and he left. About 15 minutes later, his dispatcher called me and asked if I wanted to cancel the call. I said, I don't know, directv called me and said I have a problem with my signals. She argued with me and said that could not have happened but she will check with directv and get back to me. What a joke this has been and I fully expect to have a charge for this on my next bill to.
> 
> Being proactive is great, if you are organized enough to do it right and Directv is NOT! :nono2:


OK D* did send the guy if you weren't articulate enough to explain that the signals needed to be addressed why is it D*'s fault?

Yes D* like any big company needs to work on its internal communications. The company I work for is every bit as geographically diverse as D* is. Even if the CEO sends an email out that has a subject of 
*URGENT Management Bonus Program*
There is no guarantee in any large company it will be read.


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## urnote96 (Jun 22, 2004)

bnglbill said:


> I received a call from Directv on Friday 9/12 telling me that my box reported a problem with signal strength and that they wanted to send a technician out for free. I said Ok and scheduled it for Monday 9/15. I got a call on Sunday afternoon from the tech saying he was on his way. I said it is supposed to be on Monday but I'm here so ok. He got to the house and asked what problems I was having. I explained that I really wasn't having problems but that directv called me and said my signals were low. He said ok well, since you are not having any problems, there's nothing I can do and he left. About 15 minutes later, his dispatcher called me and asked if I wanted to cancel the call. I said, I don't know, directv called me and said I have a problem with my signals. She argued with me and said that could not have happened but she will check with directv and get back to me. What a joke this has been and I fully expect to have a charge for this on my next bill to.
> 
> Being proactive is great, if you are organized enough to do it right and Directv is NOT! :nono2:


how long ago did you have this Install or UPGRADE done, you could be the Installation Verification auto generating the SERVICE HEALTH service call.


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## Newshawk (Sep 3, 2004)

AirRocker said:


> My company has about 500 employees and uses a neat little tool called email...  If something important needs to be made known to every employee, it can be done with two clicks of the mouse...


If DirecTV is like the two cable companies I've worked for (Adelphia and Comcra...er, Comcast) then the lowest level employees have no e-mail access. That would be reserved for supervisors and above.


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## barryb (Aug 27, 2007)

I think its cool that they just automatically do this.

Of course I would have had the service tech look at my system as they obviously noted there could have been an issue.

In my world this is rock star customer service, and by all means I would have had the guy check things out.


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## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

bnglbill said:


> I just got off of the phone with a csr, they told me that Directv does not call people and schedule appointments. I confirmed that I was not being charged for anything. She said there was a service call scheduled for a weak signal but that I would not be charged for it. She doesn't believe that I didn't call and schedule this...
> What A Joke!!!:nono:


There is a very simple solution to this, and it doesn't involve anything sophisticated or relying on every employee to read every e-mail received. All the need to do is enforce the policy that all CSR's are to make notes about every call. I would assume their computer system has the ability for CSR's to make notes. Do that, and then train CSR's to look at the notes when helping a customer and this would not have happened. If the second CSR was not aware of the proactive calls, it might have seemed odd, but at least there would be some evidence that it happened instead of treating the customer like an idiot.


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

rudeney said:


> There is a very simple solution to this, and it doesn't involve anything sophisticated or relying on every employee to read every e-mail received. All the need to do is enforce the policy that all CSR's are to make notes about every call. I would assume their computer system has the ability for CSR's to make notes. Do that, and then train CSR's to look at the notes when helping a customer and this would not have happened. If the second CSR was not aware of the proactive calls, it might have seemed odd, but at least there would be some evidence that it happened instead of treating the customer like an idiot.


Indeed this is the simplest and most logical solution. All DIRECTV systems need to be integrated so there is a record of when the company contacted the customer and when the customer contacted the company, and actions on both types of calls need to be documented. It's so obvious it goes unsaid, but I'm glad you said it ...


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

bnglbill said:


> I just got off of the phone with a csr, they told me that Directv does not call people and schedule appointments. I confirmed that I was not being charged for anything. She said there was a service call scheduled for a weak signal but that I would not be charged for it. She doesn't believe that I didn't call and schedule this...
> 
> What A Joke!!!:nono:


DIRECTV does make proactive calls. I've mentioned it here in this forum on more than one occasion myself and I know others have mentioned having great success with this as well.

If I had a tech come out, I would have had him check the signal strengths and see what is going on. What is happening is that your receiving is letting DIRECTV know that it is having problems .. DIRECTV is then calling you to let you know .. So, while DIRECTV may not know exactly what the problem is, something is going on.

Think of it as a tune-up .. The tech should have at least done some rudimentary diagnostics.


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## Incog-Neato (Apr 21, 2006)

Do supes actually "tell" them or are they just required to read it online with all the training updates?



CJTE said:


> How big is your company
> 
> There are approx 300 CSRs per center, just for DirecTV. Some have many, many more (like Oklahoma and Colorado), some have a bit less.
> 
> ...


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## Incog-Neato (Apr 21, 2006)

HAHA .... getting reps to note accounts is an excersize in futility in most callcenters.


rudeney said:


> There is a very simple solution to this, and it doesn't involve anything sophisticated or relying on every employee to read every e-mail received. All the need to do is enforce the policy that all CSR's are to make notes about every call. I would assume their computer system has the ability for CSR's to make notes. Do that, and then train CSR's to look at the notes when helping a customer and this would not have happened. If the second CSR was not aware of the proactive calls, it might have seemed odd, but at least there would be some evidence that it happened instead of treating the customer like an idiot.


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## bnglbill (Nov 29, 2006)

urnote96 said:


> how long ago did you have this Install or UPGRADE done, you could be the Installation Verification auto generating the SERVICE HEALTH service call.


No, the install was at least a year and a half ago.


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## bnglbill (Nov 29, 2006)

rahlquist said:


> OK D* did send the guy if you weren't articulate enough to explain that the signals needed to be addressed why is it D*'s fault?
> 
> Yes D* like any big company needs to work on its internal communications. The company I work for is every bit as geographically diverse as D* is. Even if the CEO sends an email out that has a subject of
> *URGENT Management Bonus Program*
> There is no guarantee in any large company it will be read.


I haven't had a problem, Directv called me and told me there was a problem with some of my signals and they wanted to send a technician to address that, this is what I told the technician when he came to my house. He asked what problems I was having and I told him none which is the truth so you tell me how this is my fault.


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## cwaters (Feb 9, 2008)

So you're telling me that you think it's ok for your *X Million* customers to receive everything from slightly inaccurate information to completely made-up BS because it's "hard to get the correct information out"? Calling DirecTV is a *Joke*! The very idea that everyone who has called them enough times knows that you can just call right back and get a different answer should be horrifying to the management. The number of times I've called and been told something that I knew for a fact was made-up on the spot... I'd never do business with them if the cable company wasn't the only real alternative.



CJTE said:


> How big is your company
> 
> There are approx 300 CSRs per center, just for DirecTV. Some have many, many more (like Oklahoma and Colorado), some have a bit less.
> 
> ...


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

bnglbill said:


> I explained that I really wasn't having problems but that directv called me and said my signals were low.





rahlquist said:


> OK D* did send the guy if you weren't articulate enough to explain that the signals needed to be addressed why is it D*'s fault?


Seems articulate enough to me.

Just my .02. /steve


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## rahlquist (Jul 24, 2007)

bnglbill said:


> I haven't had a problem, Directv called me and told me there was a problem with some of my signals and they wanted to send a technician to address that, this is what I told the technician when he came to my house. He asked what problems I was having and I told him none which is the truth so you tell me how this is my fault.


Well you were pretty quick to lay the blame on D*. Look the outcome here could have been much better thats for sure. D* was watching out for you, they saw the potential for a future issue, maybe its only several transponders that you have a low signal on only affecting 10 channels, so you haven't been on one of those particular channels during a rainy day. Maybe the signal problem could be from a bolt vibrating loose, or maybe what they saw was the start of the failing of an LNB, I dont know.

They tried to send someone and get it taken care of now. Logistically it was not a smooth move. They dont have everyone on the same page on this one yet, but I bet if you polled Every D* employee and every D* contractor be it billing, installer, or CSR you would find that at least 30% dont even know Tivo has been announced to be coming back. Thats not an excuse, just a fact of a large company. Now considering we are seeing wait times of up to 5 weeks to get an installer out at peoples homes perhaps you should have asked the Tech to take a look and re peak the dish anyway. Now hopefully mid winter if there is a huge demand for dish realignments you dont wind up on a waiting list. Maybe the tech should have said hmm lets take a quick look. His time was booked, he should have at the very least inspected your setup.

Not saying its anyone's fault it was a general flub all around, lets just hope in 3 months you're not here upset because you cant get your ESPN because the signal keeps just dropping below whats needed.


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

rahlquist said:


> Well you were pretty quick to lay the blame on D*.


But that was an accurate assessment on the OP's part, and also doesn't justify the OP being called inarticulate. DIRECTV didn't have it's act together, the OP stayed home to wait for a tech based on an appointment DIRECTV decided to make because DIRECTV detected low signals. The tech arrived, asked what was wrong. The OP explained why DIRECTV decided to send the tech and the OP said that he could not see problems though. The tech left. The OP tried to confirm there would be no charge for the call and the CSR had no clue what was going on. None of this is the OP's fault, the confusion lies on DIRECTV's side. It's pretty clear-cut to me...


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## bnglbill (Nov 29, 2006)

rahlquist said:


> Not saying its anyone's fault it was a general flub all around, .


I'm sorry but I disagree completely. I take no fault in this, Directv called and and set this whole thing up, as a customer I should expect that the tech will come to the door and know exactly what is going on and how to test and or correct it. What if I wasn't there and my girlfriend was, she doesn't know how to do anything with the HR20 but change the channels and use the guide, would it be expected that she should tell this tech what he needs to do.

I posted this with the intent of bringing attention to these situations and hopefully help Directv improve their service, Not get into a pissing battle but your ridiculous statements have gotten under my skin.


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

rahlquist said:


> Well you were pretty quick to lay the blame on D*.


As opposed to whom?

It's not the OP's fault that the tech decided not to even look at the dish to verify the information D* detected.


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## rahlquist (Jul 24, 2007)

bnglbill said:


> I'm sorry but I disagree completely. I take no fault in this, Directv called and and set this whole thing up, as a customer I should expect that the tech will come to the door and know exactly what is going on and how to test and or correct it. What if I wasn't there and my girlfriend was, she doesn't know how to do anything with the HR20 but change the channels and use the guide, would it be expected that she should tell this tech what he needs to do.
> 
> I posted this with the intent of bringing attention to these situations and hopefully help Directv improve their service, Not get into a pissing battle but your ridiculous statements have gotten under my skin.


And you couldn't have said to the tech....

"Since D* thinks there is a problem with the signal strength, would you mind at least checking them?"


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## bnglbill (Nov 29, 2006)

rahlquist said:


> And you couldn't have said to the tech....
> 
> "Since D* thinks there is a problem with the signal strength, would you mind at least checking them?"


Yes and when I go to Burgerking and order a burger, I should tell them to cook it too.


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## DarinC (Aug 31, 2004)

CJTE said:


> > Originally Posted by AirRocker
> > The problems with the sub-contractors, I can understand... but the uninformed CSRs, there is no excuse for...
> 
> 
> ...


I'm not sure I get your point. Are you suggesting that because DirecTV is a big company, that it's ok for the CSRs to be uninformed? If they don't know something, they should put someone on hold and find the information, not simply deny that their company ever calls customers when the boxes report bad signals. I know that just from reading these forums. If DirecTV can't disseminate information internally to their own employees as well as a 3rd party can to the general public, then their systems need some work. Isn't the primary role of a CSR to be the point of contact for the customer? Shouldn't having a general understanding of the way they do business, and where to get further info, be the most important factors for a CSR?


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## DarinC (Aug 31, 2004)

rahlquist said:


> And you couldn't have said to the tech....
> 
> "Since D* thinks there is a problem with the signal strength, would you mind at least checking them?"


The tech is representing DirecTV. To the customer's eyes, they ARE DirecTV. If the OP already told the tech that DirecTV sheduled the visit due to signal strength, shouldn't the tech have put that logical next step together on his own? If once he's told why the visit was scheduled, the tech then says there's nothing he can do, why is it the customer's responsibility to question the tech's response? This could have just as easily been some "little old lady" who doesn't understand any of it. Why do so many here try to protect DirecTV and put the blame back on the customer, when it seems so clear that the screw-up is on DirecTV's end?


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

bnglbill said:


> Yes and when I go to Burgerking and order a burger, I should tell them to cook it too.


Classic.


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## Spanky_Partain (Dec 7, 2006)

AirRocker said:


> My company has about 500 employees and uses a neat little tool called email...  If something important needs to be made known to every employee, it can be done with two clicks of the mouse...
> 
> And as far as the outsourcing goes... that's for another thead...


This is an excellent idea! I think every company should use this in their daily practice of conducting business.


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## rahlquist (Jul 24, 2007)

bnglbill said:


> Yes and when I go to Burgerking and order a burger, I should tell them to cook it too.


I am sorry youre 100% correct. By your methods...

"Hello Mr. Smith, this is your physicians office, we just got test results back from your physical, we got some odd results and want you to speak with an oncologist, we took the liberty of making you an appointment."

Next day at oncologist office;

"Hello Mr. Smith and what seems to be the problem?"

"I dont know, my physician said they got test results back and wanted me to see you."

"Have you been having any health issues?"

"Not that I know of?"

"Ok, Go home Mr. Smith."

Yeah in the above scenario much like your D* signal strength experience, "You got it your way" (just like at BK!) 

A modicum of effort in any of the above scenarios will ensure you get a better outcome. Just my 2 cents.


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

rahlquist said:


> I am sorry youre 100% correct. By your methods...
> 
> "Hello Mr. Smith, this is your physicians office, we just got test results back from your physical, we got some odd results and want you to speak with an oncologist, we took the liberty of making you an appointment."
> 
> ...


Thank you for finally agreeing that DIRECTV is at fault. It's clear in the above scenario that the person saying "go home" is incorrect, much like the tech who left the OP's home was at fault. Or did you want the OP to hold the tech hostage because DIRECTV requested the appointment? This whole thing is getting bizarre ...


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## spartanstew (Nov 16, 2005)

rahlquist said:


> I am sorry youre 100% correct. By your methods...
> 
> "Hello Mr. Smith, this is your physicians office, we just got test results back from your physical, we got some odd results and want you to speak with an oncologist, we took the liberty of making you an appointment."
> 
> ...


Dude, you're starting to get ridiculous now. In your little "example" the customer said exactly what was going on. The difference is that the oncologist would never say "OK. Go hom Mr. Smith". He would say "Well, lets go over these test results I just received from your doctor regarding XXXX".

If the doctor did say "OK. go home Mr. Smith", obviously that oncologist wouldn't know what the heck he was doing (or had poor communication with the other doctor), just like D* in this case.

Your example proves everyone elses point and diminishes yours.


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## jims (Jan 5, 2008)

Doug Brott said:


> DIRECTV does make proactive calls. I've mentioned it here in this forum on more than one occasion myself and I know others have mentioned having great success with this as well.
> 
> If I had a tech come out, I would have had him check the signal strengths and see what is going on. What is happening is that your receiving is letting DIRECTV know that it is having problems .. DIRECTV is then calling you to let you know .. So, while DIRECTV may not know exactly what the problem is, something is going on.
> 
> Think of it as a tune-up .. The tech should have at least done some rudimentary diagnostics.


Doug - I am sorry that I might have been rude when I posted to your other thread but I had a different experience. It might have originally been scheduled as a valid tune-up - but my wife called immediately back with the intent on verifying that the service call would be free. She talked to first level CSR and then to a Technical Rep and was told 2 things. 1) If they kept the appointment we would be charged and 2) we could sign-up for the warrenty program and it would be only $59 instead of $80. That is why I got so mad when I posted to your other thread. BTW - I think as a general rule if anyone calls up and states that they will provide a service for free that it is appropriate to call back and validate it is on the up and up. I also think that it is important to record somewhere the time you were called / called and who made the statements from which department. My wife doesn't always collect that part of it though.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

jims said:


> Doug - I am sorry that I might have been rude when I posted to your other thread but I had a different experience. It might have originally been scheduled as a valid tune-up - but my wife called immediately back with the intent on verifying that the service call would be free. She talked to first level CSR and then to a Technical Rep and was told 2 things. 1) If they kept the appointment we would be charged and 2) we could sign-up for the warrenty program and it would be only $59 instead of $80. That is why I got so mad when I posted to your other thread. BTW - I think as a general rule if anyone calls up and states that they will provide a service for free that it is appropriate to call back and validate it is on the up and up. I also think that it is important to record somewhere the time you were called / called and who made the statements from which department. My wife doesn't always collect that part of it though.


No worries .. I'm not sure if there is a charge followed by a credit to your account for these service calls. That might be the case.


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## Jish (Jul 27, 2007)

All the back and forth aside, I am just surprised that DirecTV can tell how our signals are and then call you - I never knew this was possible. 

I think, since mine was installed last October, that my signal strengths on 99 & 103 are low (since when it rains locals and HD only go out - no outage on 101-110-119 channels unless the rain is really hard). My signals on 101-110-119 are in the mid to upper 90s but on 99 & 103 they are upper 70s-low 80s with only 1 transponder being 98 so I can't tell what is good or not good - nor have I received a call from D* to come to adjust.


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## Athlon646464 (Feb 23, 2007)

rahlquist said:


> And you couldn't have said to the tech....
> 
> "Since D* thinks there is a problem with the signal strength, would you mind at least checking them?"


It seems you are suggesting a 'customer' training program rather than a 'tech' training program. Ridiculous.

IMHO, that tech and his supervisor should be working at BK, except for the fact I don't like my burgers uncooked.........

:up_to_som


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

Jish said:


> All the back and forth aside, I am just surprised that DirecTV can tell how our signals are and then call you - I never knew this was possible.


It requires that your DVR be connected to the internet. The DVRs send snapshots to DIRECTV that includes signal strengths, and apparently the results are analyzed and if patterns are detected, DIRECTV tries to be proactive about it and tweak the dish or replace equipment as warranted to get the strengths back up to where they should be for your geographic region.


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## DarinC (Aug 31, 2004)

Jish said:


> All the back and forth aside, I am just surprised that DirecTV can tell how our signals are and then call you


The most surprising part is they can do all this while having no idea they can and do do this. :grin:


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## Athlon646464 (Feb 23, 2007)

DarinC said:


> The most surprising part is they can do all this while having no idea they can and do do this. :grin:


Sounds like they sure do do do this..........

:lol:


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## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

Incog-Neato said:


> HAHA .... getting reps to note accounts is an excersize in futility in most callcenters.


Getting them to do it is not hard - you make it a condition of employment. The first offense is a one-day suspension with no pay. The second is termination for cause. The only difficult part is whether or not there is a way to monitor it. I've used some very sophisticated software that integrates with the phone system to actually log an instance of a customer contact and it can't be closed without notes. Even the least sophisticated systems I've used have the ability to go back and query customer account records touched by a CSR without notes. If D*'s software doesn't at least log each instance of a CSR pulling up a customer's account, then they have a big SOX issue.


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## jhart05 (Aug 14, 2008)

How do we really know for sure the original call about singal strength actually came from D*?

Maybe it's a third party scam. They call you up, send someone out, and you get a bill in the mail a month later, not from D*, for this "service".


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## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

Athlon646464 said:


> Sounds like they sure do do do this..........
> 
> :lol:


:lol: :lol: :lol: Oh, that was great!

Seriously, though, I am guessing that there are different groups handling this and that has created the problem. I'm sure it's an automated system that is identifying the receivers with poor signals. At that point, all that needs to be done is to place a call to the customer to schedule an appointment. Anyone with some basic phone and computer keyboard skills should be able to handle this. They might even outsource that function.

So, if it's not regular CSR's making the outgoing calls, when the customer calls in to "verify" the CSR will have no clue. Of course it would make sense to train or inform the CSR's of this new program, and even to have notes placed in the customer's account records of it, but they can't even figure out how to train the CSR's to follow the rules on commitment extensions, so I figure this is a hopeless cause, too.

And the sad reality of all this is that D* continues to be very profitable and customers continue to sign-up and keep their service, so there is no incentive to make it any better.


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## Jish (Jul 27, 2007)

Drew2k said:


> It requires that your DVR be connected to the internet. The DVRs send snapshots to DIRECTV that includes signal strengths, and apparently the results are analyzed and if patterns are detected, DIRECTV tries to be proactive about it and tweak the dish or replace equipment as warranted to get the strengths back up to where they should be for your geographic region.


Now that is very interesting - Thank You.

So then, how do I find out what the strengths "should be" for my area - I have checked daily the lyngsat site just to see which sat the Johnstown locals was put on to check that particular sat in my receiver, but as of this date I haven't found Jtown-Altoona on 99 or 103 yet.


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## dmurphy (Sep 28, 2006)

Incog-Neato said:


> HAHA .... getting reps to note accounts is an excersize in futility in most callcenters.


There should be direct integration between the call center systems and the ACD phone system.

When a call comes into a rep, the account should be auto-notated with the date/time of the call and the answering rep's ID, at a minimum.

If the account is not notated correctly, it is very easy to see who did not do the notation, and therefore, requires additional training.

CTI is part of any call center's technology - there's no reason you can't have it auto-notate accounts.


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## scrybigtv (Jan 25, 2008)

rahlquist said:


> Well you were pretty quick to lay the blame on D*.


What the heck kind of statement is that? Are you implying that the OP is somehow to blame?


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## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

jhart05 said:


> How do we really know for sure the original call about singal strength actually came from D*?
> 
> Maybe it's a third party scam. They call you up, send someone out, and you get a bill in the mail a month later, not from D*, for this "service".


While it is certainly possible that a scammer could make such a call, D*'s "proactive" program is very real and has been verified.


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## 2dogz (Jun 14, 2008)

The point where D*'s proactive service call was SNAFU'd was the moment that OP opened his door and tech asked "What's the problem?" The dispatch trouble ticket should have stated the reason for the dispatch, and tasked the tech to fix or replace whatever the cause. Without a problem description it's a real crap shoot that the tech will have what he may need to rectify the issue (DVR, LNB, multiswitch, etc.) on his truck.

Similar thing happened to me two weeks ago. Having odd behavior from HR20, the CSR seemed to fall through his troubleshooting flow chart (he hadn't a clue) and then his only solution is a truckroll. The tech, a good guy, arrives on time and asks "What seems to be the problem?" Solution was replace the HR20. Last one he had on the truck and this was at 2PM. I was lucky. But it fell on me to explain and demonstrate the issue, not the CSR's write up that he had spent 45 minutes on the call troubleshooting.

There is a disconnect, a failure to communicate in the technical support/repair service process.


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## rustynails (Apr 24, 2008)

rudeney said:


> Getting them to do it is not hard - you make it a condition of employment. The first offense is a one-day suspension with no pay. The second is termination for cause. The only difficult part is whether or not there is a way to monitor it. I've used some very sophisticated software that integrates with the phone system to actually log an instance of a customer contact and it can't be closed without notes. Even the least sophisticated systems I've used have the ability to go back and query customer account records touched by a CSR without notes. If D*'s software doesn't at least log each instance of a CSR pulling up a customer's account, then they have a big SOX issue.


Well, just look at the software that is on my HR21! It is causing my system to be so slow and no dlb. So I don't see that D not having the right software for the CSR is anything strange!
By the way the customer did nothing wrong!


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## paulman182 (Aug 4, 2006)

Drew2k said:


> It requires that your DVR be connected to the internet. The DVRs send snapshots to DIRECTV that includes signal strengths, and apparently the results are analyzed and if patterns are detected, DIRECTV tries to be proactive about it and tweak the dish or replace equipment as warranted to get the strengths back up to where they should be for your geographic region.


I have read on this forum that some have gotten the call with only a phone line connected, no internet. Is this not true?


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## bnglbill (Nov 29, 2006)

I got a call, last night, from the company who sent the 1st tech out. They have rescheduled for Wednesday and are going to send a senior tech out. On the phone, she asked me what problems I was having and if they were resolved yet so I explained the whole thing again and thats when she got quiet for a minute then said, "I guess I'll send a senior tech". We'll see what happens...


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## bnglbill (Nov 29, 2006)

bnglbill said:


> I got a call, last night, from the company who sent the 1st tech out. They have rescheduled for Wednesday and are going to send a senior tech out. On the phone, she asked me what problems I was having and if they were resolved yet so I explained the whole thing again and thats when she got quiet for a minute then said, "I guess I'll send a senior tech". We'll see what happens...


So two techs show up this morning, I tell them the whole story. They look at the signals and tell me the guy at Directv who called me (even though they didn't believe Directv actually called me) Doesn't know what he is talking about, the signal strengths lokk fine to them...


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## DarinC (Aug 31, 2004)

I just don't understand how it can be so difficult for anyone to see that DirecTV initiated the service call. They don't keep track of who made the request? EVERY service company wants to get compensated for their service... how can they charge someone if they don't keep a record of the request? If they DO show that DirecTV made the appointment, then DirecTV should have similar records to indicate what happened on their end to initiate the request.


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## Upstream (Jul 4, 2006)

Bill -- Obviously this is your fault.

You should have asked the techs to ... uhmm ... test the ... uhmm ... I mean call the ... uhmm ... something or other.


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## rahlquist (Jul 24, 2007)

bnglbill said:


> So two techs show up this morning, I tell them the whole story. They look at the signals and tell me the guy at Directv who called me (even though they didn't believe Directv actually called me) Doesn't know what he is talking about, the signal strengths lokk fine to them...


Bill, our previous disagreement aside, are any of your non spot signals below 70? Have there been any storms in your area immediately (like 2-3 days) preceding your call from D*? I understand the techs POV, that they measure the signal to within a certain spec, but D* sure isn't in the habit of compensating an installer for making a service call for no good reason?

I mean if D* is looking for someones signal to drop below 70 or 60, should they look for a trend of that rather than simply an occurrence of that? Mods? Anyone know the criteria?


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## bnglbill (Nov 29, 2006)

rahlquist said:


> Bill, our previous disagreement aside, are any of your non spot signals below 70? Have there been any storms in your area immediately (like 2-3 days) preceding your call from D*? I understand the techs POV, that they measure the signal to within a certain spec, but D* sure isn't in the habit of compensating an installer for making a service call for no good reason?
> 
> I mean if D* is looking for someones signal to drop below 70 or 60, should they look for a trend of that rather than simply an occurrence of that? Mods? Anyone know the criteria?


I'm not real good at knowing which transponders are which but the guy who called seemed to be interested in the high 60's and low 70's on one of the 103's. The tech's today looked at them when I said that and sure enough 103c was the low one but they said that "103c isn't used in my area, the c stands for Central".


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## rahlquist (Jul 24, 2007)

bnglbill said:


> I'm not real good at knowing which transponders are which but the guy who called seemed to be interested in the high 60's and low 70's on one of the 103's. The tech's today looked at them when I said that and sure enough 103c was the low one but they said that "103c isn't used in my area, the c stands for Central".


Hmm makes sense I think. Perhaps D* needs to better cross ref the signals against what available in a customers package before bothering them? Hopefully this doesn't turn into a trend where D* calls you every week wanting to send someone out.


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## paulman182 (Aug 4, 2006)

bnglbill said:


> I'm not real good at knowing which transponders are which but the guy who called seemed to be interested in the high 60's and low 70's on one of the 103's. The tech's today looked at them when I said that and sure enough 103c was the low one but they said that "103c isn't used in my area, the c stands for Central".


C stands for CONUS, which means the signals cover the continental US.

All the new HD comes from 103c.

The local tech sure blew that one.


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## DarinC (Aug 31, 2004)

Though it seems strange that at 60 posts, this hasn't been addressed yet, but what exactly _are_ your 103c signal strengths? If they are all indeed high 60s to low 70s in clear weather, then you will likely have rain fade on those HD channels much sooner than you should. It's a shame that it's so difficult to get a tech to realize that and address it. :nono:


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## bnglbill (Nov 29, 2006)

paulman182 said:


> C stands for CONUS, which means the signals cover the continental US.
> 
> All the new HD comes from 103c.
> 
> The local tech sure blew that one.


Yeah, it seems like the only person in this whole situation who really knows what is going on is the guy from Directv who called me and set up the service call. It's a shame because Directv really set out to be proactive and help me but their crappy system of csr's and outsourced techs broke down and now as far as I'm concerned Directv has egg on their face and I will not soon forget this rediculos situation. I can only hope that Directv follows this up with one of those, how was your service experience , phone calls.

"All the new HD comes from 103c." Does this mean the new stuff that is coming? Are there channels active now from 103C?


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## kocuba (Dec 29, 2006)

Had a tech 1 1/2 months ago out to work on reception issues. Tried telling me that #'s in the 60's were OK. Thanks to DBSTalk I knew better and told him as such. Suggested he needed to tweak the dish. He didn't think so. After checking all connections and replacing the ones at he ground block and still getting the same results. He finally climbed the ladder and tweaked the dish. And guyess what... The signals magically jumped up to the upper 80's well into the 90's. Not sure if it was lack of knowledge or just plain laziness, but I shouldn't have to tell him his job.

Bill, was he able to tell you that "c" stood for central with a straight face? And this was suppose to be a Senior Tech? I can not believe you are having this much greif and aggrevation for something that you didn't even initiate. I could possibly understand the techs not knowing about DirecTV being proactive and calling you, but not knowing or properly relaying to you what "c" stands for and believing that signals strengths in the 60s is acceptable is totally NOT acceptable.

If it were me, I'd be calling the company back, talking to a manager and asking him if HE knows what the "c" stands for in 103c and if he thinks your strengths are OK. Then I'd point him back here and ask him to share the site with his employees so that they can get a little bit of knowledge. Cause they are apparently not give it to them at work. But then again that's just me.

Good luck with getting this straightened out.


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## kocuba (Dec 29, 2006)

bnglbill said:


> "All the new HD comes from 103c." Does this mean the new stuff that is coming? Are there channels active now from 103C?


You are currently getting a large number of channels from 103c. Some of these channels have been up for close to a year now.


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## bnglbill (Nov 29, 2006)

kocuba said:


> You are currently getting a large number of channels from 103c. Some of these channels have been up for close to a year now.


Yeah, I had a feeling about this and I asked him about the new HD and he said it comes from 99. Unfortunately, I was rushed because I had to leave work to meet him so I didn't get a chance to check with my sources the great people here at DBStalk). This sucks, I've been a Directv customer since 1996 and I have put up with a lot, dismissing it as growing pains and such but this one has really got me ticked off at Directv. You can't even imagine how aggravated I am with this whole mess!


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## rahlquist (Jul 24, 2007)

bnglbill said:


> Yeah, I had a feeling about this and I asked him about the new HD and he said it comes from 99. Unfortunately, I was rushed because I had to leave work to meet him so I didn't get a chance to check with my sources the great people here at DBStalk). This sucks, I've been a Directv customer since 1996 and I have put up with a lot, dismissing it as growing pains and such but this one has really got me ticked off at Directv. You can't even imagine how aggravated I am with this whole mess!


prolly time for this;

Email this person with all the details of your situation...

VP of Custopmer Service
email... Ellen Filipiak at [email protected]


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## lander215 (May 1, 2008)

FWIW...I emailed Ellen at 1:00pm today with a billing issue...got a phone call from her office at 2:07pm with an apology and an assurance that the issue was resolved and that they would try to expedite my refund check.

(Long story short, canceled my account but due to the reasons was assured by CSR there would be no fees. Next two bills (emailed) reflected the fact that nothing was owed...then last week got a past due letter for $264 worth of ETF's minus refunds owed...Ellen's office confirmed there should never have been any ETF, apologized for the automated billing system and was taking care of my account right away.)

Edit to add: Just got a call back...she forgot they had to back out any discounts I'd received so I actually owed $8 and change...but she zeroed the account which is really all I wanted in the first place.


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## bnglbill (Nov 29, 2006)

99c
(1-8) 71 83 65 82 70 79 62 80
(9-16) 69 79 62 80 71 80

99s
(1-8) 70 58 59 83 0 56 
(9-16) 82 0
(17-24) 0 42 0 0 0 0 85 91

103s
(1-8) 0 58 0 0 0 59
(9-16) 79 95
(17-24) 0 30 93 97 0 0 80 93

103c
(1-8) 77 86 73 82 73 82 72 83
(9-16) 74 81 73 81 76 82

101 is all 90+
110 is all 90+
119 is all 90 +


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## rahlquist (Jul 24, 2007)

Ok I am not a tech but that to me is begging for a repeak.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=1191863&postcount=2

That shows what channels are affected by the lowis 99c and 103c readings.


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## bnglbill (Nov 29, 2006)

rahlquist said:


> Ok I am not a tech


That's ok, neither were the morons that Mastec sent out here twice now. I just got a call from them from an automated survey system so they should be calling me back when they review my answers.


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## rahlquist (Jul 24, 2007)

bnglbill said:


> That's ok, neither were the morons that Mastec sent out here twice now. I just got a call from them from an automated survey system so they should be calling me back when they review my answers.


I hate to laugh but I love to nail them on those post call surveys so :lol:

Is your dish hard to get at or anything? Could that be why they are flaking so hard?


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## bnglbill (Nov 29, 2006)

rahlquist said:


> I hate to laugh but I love to nail them on those post call surveys so :lol:
> 
> Is your dish hard to get at or anything? Could that be why they are flaking so hard?


Not at all, it's on a pole in the back yard, it's extremely easy access, in fact, it couldn't be easier.


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## Jish (Jul 27, 2007)

I am really not that far from you and our numbers are not similar at all - that is why I wish someone would tell us what, approximately, the numbers should be near. I still have not been able to find out (via Lyngsat) just which sat they put the Johnstown locals. Also, when looking at my variety of numbers, the several 90s would indicate to me the dish is aimed properly - or am I wrong in that assumption? Like my 99 & 95 on 99s 17 & 18 - and you had 0 and 42 - could this be the Johnstown locals and only my area gets this big of a reading - then again, that would not explain why I loose signal during rain on HD & new locals but not on the SD channels (unless very heavy) which are all in the mid to upper 90s from 101. And on 103c - my odds are a lot higher than the evens which is reversed from yours, but even so yours are much closer in strength.

99c
(1-8) 86 76 85 76 83 75 83 77
(9-16) 82 74 83 77 83 75

99s
(1-8) 11 51 15 79 0 63
(9-16) 91 0
(17-24) 99 95 0 0 0 0 91 82

103s
(1-8) 29 92 0 0 34 95
(9-16) 37 56
(17-24) 0 56 74 51 61 0 0 0 

103c
(1-8) 80 48 77 49 77 48 75 49
(9-16) 74 48 74 49 73 46

Same as yours on 101 110 & 119


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## Tideman (Oct 12, 2006)

Exact same thing happened to me a month ago. They called me with the same problem, sent a tech but did not tell him what he was comming for. I explained to him exactly what happened an what DTV said the problem was. His response was if I was gettting all my channels there was nothing for him to do. He would not even look at the signal strength just said if it was not right you would not be getting all your channels. The he left.

called customer service and they did not know why a tech had called me only that a service call had been scheduled.


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## JLucPicard (Apr 27, 2004)

Jish,

For the 99s and 103s, the 90's you're getting on 99s are probably your locals and anything else doesn't matter. The ones you're getting signals on are probably just bleed over from an nearby area. So your locals should look OK.

Mid to upper 70s are OK, but those are likely the ones you'd first have trouble with in bad weather. 80s and 90s are not too bad. The even transponders on 103c are a definite problem, though. Anything dropping below 60-ish is not great and when you get below 50-ish, you likely will not get any signal to the box at all. This is definitely a problem. Whether its the dish-aiming, I'm not exactly sure given that the odds seem a little more reasonable.

If your cables, etc. look ok, then I would see if you can get the dish alignment checked.

Most well aimed dishes are going to pretty much get 80s to 90s across the board for the beams you should be getting (again, you may get some lower readings on spots that have nothing to do with your area and it's not a problem). If you have predominantly 80s and 90s and a few 70ish, I wouldn't worry about it.

Your readings on 103c definitely indicate some type of problem, though.


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## rahlquist (Jul 24, 2007)

bnglbill said:


> Not at all, it's on a pole in the back yard, it's extremely easy access, in fact, it couldn't be easier.


Wow. Well the way I see it so far D* is out for 2 or 3 service calls to your location and the 'techs' have done nothing to even attempt to make it better. I'd email the person I mentioned earlier. You deserve some compensation for your wasted them and the 'techs' need some retraining that their 'if it works dont fix it' attitude is improper. No pride in workmanship anymore.

Those 'techs' need to understand a point they cant seem to get yet, this is a new program by D* and they will be on many calls like this. Unless they plan on purposely ticking off every D* customer who has low signals in the area they need to get on the ball and at least attempt to do their job. They were sent to try to fix something wrong and shouldn't be second guessing why they are there, but simply trying to rectify it.

D* really needs to get the frickin word out on this program and that the 'techs' need to address the situation, not just show up at the residence, scratch themselves and look at the customer like they are crazy. We saw over in the HD DVR forum that in less than 12 hours after someone spotted the HR23 model mentioned on a D* web page that they could correct it and take it down, they have no EXCUSE for their techs to be rolling out uninformed at this point IMHO.


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## Jish (Jul 27, 2007)

Thank You - doesn't the occasional 90 reading on both 99 & 103 mean the dish is aimed properly to begin with, that there is another problem with the low numbers on the 103c evens - is there some connection I can switch (multiswitch?) to see if the numbers flipflop?



JLucPicard said:


> Jish,
> 
> For the 99s and 103s, the 90's you're getting on 99s are probably your locals and anything else doesn't matter. The ones you're getting signals on are probably just bleed over from an nearby area. So your locals should look OK.
> 
> ...


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## JLucPicard (Apr 27, 2004)

I'm going to defer to some who are a lot better at these things than I am, but you can switch cables around, etc., and see what happens. And as I alluded to, if you have any loose connections or damaged cables, those are the first things to take care of. I would have thought if you have a bad cable or faulty switch that was causing your 103s evens to be low that the evens on the other sats would also be low. That's why I was thinking it was dish aiming.

Basically, the dish reflects the signals coming from five orbital slots onto the LNB assembly. The dishes are precisely designed so if they are aimed properly it will focus all of those signals onto the LNB assembly in such a way that there is adequate signal reception from all five slots. It is possible to point the dish in a way that one or several of the beam positions are adequately reflected while still missing on some slots. In that case, the dish needs to be adjusted to pick up all five slots with enough strength to function properly. That's what I'm thinking your situation is right now. Yes, you are getting adequate signals for much of the signals, but it's still not quite right if you're not getting all of them.


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## DishCSR (Jan 14, 2004)

DarinC said:


> I just don't understand how it can be so difficult for anyone to see that DirecTV initiated the service call. They don't keep track of who made the request? EVERY service company wants to get compensated for their service... how can they charge someone if they don't keep a record of the request? If they DO show that DirecTV made the appointment, then DirecTV should have similar records to indicate what happened on their end to initiate the request.


lol , this is dtv we're talking about,,,the mis-communication is rampant. More than likely there are notes on the account, but in a place that very few csr's (probably 1% or less,) know about, and also in a place that only csr's can see, not the install company. The notes are more than likely in the "system notes" part of the software not the "general notes" part. and even then, only that a call was made to the customer would be visible, not what the problem was..or the result of that call, like a service call being setup...believe it or not this is the way dtv operates....lol and why i'm so glad I don't work there anymore, because I was one of the very few who knew all these things.


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## rudeney (May 28, 2007)

Tideman said:


> Exact same thing happened to me a month ago. They called me with the same problem, sent a tech but did not tell him what he was comming for. I explained to him exactly what happened an what DTV said the problem was. His response was if I was gettting all my channels there was nothing for him to do. He would not even look at the signal strength just said if it was not right you would not be getting all your channels. The he left.
> 
> called customer service and they did not know why a tech had called me only that a service call had been scheduled.


I'd have called D* back and claimed the tech never showed for the service appointment. I believe they credit you $100 for that (and I assume they charge it back to the HSP).


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## ChrisPC (Jun 17, 2003)

D* also called me and said I had low signal. They then set up an appointment to realign my dish. The tech showed up a few hours early, and I wasn't even at home. My wife was there, and told me he was coming, but he was gone by the time I got home for lunch. Apparently, he only stayed 20 minutes and my 99/103 signal didn't go up at all, still in the 70s. I called D* later that day and they had no idea what I was saying. Today, we had a sudden downpour and all my HD channels went out. I guess I'll have to fix it myself.


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## bnglbill (Nov 29, 2006)

Good morning,



I would like to start off by telling you that I have been a customer, for the most part since 1996 or so and I have, for the most part, been happy with my service.



I’ll make this as brief as I can, I was surprised to get a call from a gentleman from Directv on Friday 9/12 telling me that my box has been reporting a problem with signal strength and that they wanted to send a technician out for free. I said Ok and scheduled it for Monday 9/15. I got a call on Sunday afternoon from the tech saying he was on his way. I said it is supposed to be on Monday but I'm here so ok. He got to the house and asked what problems I was having. I explained that I really wasn't having problems except for when it is cloudy or raining but that Directv called me and said my signals were low. He said ok well, since you are not having any problems right now, there's nothing I can do and he left. About 15 minutes later, his dispatcher called me and asked if I wanted to cancel the call. I said, I don't know, directv called me and said I have a problem with my signals, but that I only have problems when it is cloudy or raining. She argued with me and said that could not have happened because Directv does not initiate service calls but she will check with Directv and get back to me.



Meanwhile, I called Directv and spoke to a Woman who told me the same thing, Directv does not initiate these types of calls but she did confirm that there was a service call on my account and that I was not being charged for it.



On Monday, 9/15 I got a call from the company (Mastec) who sent the 1st tech out. They rescheduled for Wednesday, 9/17 and said that they were going to send a senior tech out. On the phone, she asked me what problems I was having and if they were resolved yet so I explained the whole thing again and that’s when she got quiet for a minute then said, "I guess I'll send a senior tech". 



On Wednesday, two Techs showed up and I explained the problem, they looked at my signals and I made sure to point out the ones on 103c and 103s because I had since done some research and found that these signals are very important and that my numbers (103s (1-8) 0 58 0 0 0 59 (9-16) 79 95 (17-24) 0 30 93 97 0 0 80 93) (103c (1-8) 77 86 73 82 73 82 72 83 (9-16) 74 81 73 81 76 82) were too low and are probably causing the problems. They told me that if someone from Directv had really called me, they didn’t know what they were talking about and that in my area, the 103s and 103c are not used at all, they said the c stands for central and is only used in the central states. They refused to do anything and left the house about 5 minutes after they arrived.



Later that night I received a call from an automated system (from Mastec) asking me to answer some questions about my service call satisfaction. I answered all of them negatively. The next day, I received a call from a person at Mastec asking me if the problem was resolved and if I was satisfied. I told them the problem was not resolved and I explained how unprofessional all of the techs were. They asked me if I would like to have the techs come back out and I told them I would except nothing less than a supervisor coming out and I explained what I had learned about the transponders in my area. The person told me that he had to do some research and get back to me. Needless to say, I still have the problem and no one has gotten back to me.



I am very disappointed with Directv, I think it’s great to be proactive but you need to have everyone onboard, it just seems like no one knows what the other is doing and this makes for poor customer service in the long run.



I am writing to you this morning to express my dissatisfaction with Directv and also to ask you where to go from here, I would really like to get this problem resolved ASAP but I seem to be caught in this endless circle of people who have no idea what is going on. Thank you.



My signals are listed below…



99c
(1-8) 71 83 65 82 70 79 62 80
(9-16) 69 79 62 80 71 80

99s
(1-8) 70 58 59 83 0 56 
(9-16) 82 0
(17-24) 0 42 0 0 0 0 85 91

103s
(1-8) 0 58 0 0 0 59
(9-16) 79 95
(17-24) 0 30 93 97 0 0 80 93

103c
(1-8) 77 86 73 82 73 82 72 83
(9-16) 74 81 73 81 76 82

101 is all 90+
110 is all 90+
119 is all 90 +


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## rahlquist (Jul 24, 2007)

bnglbill,

Excellent email. Please keep us informed! And please if you speak to anyone on Ellen's office emphasize that they really need to get the field techs and CSR's notified of this!


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## bnglbill (Nov 29, 2006)

Now this is getting very interesting....

I received a call in regards to my email from a very nice lady. She stated that directv does not have a way of monitoring signals, "that she knows of" but that she does belive that my signals on 103 are low. She is going to send out a lead tech on Wednesday.

Nothing like being made to feel like a fool because the company called you and no one at the company believes that they called you.


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## rahlquist (Jul 24, 2007)

bnglbill said:


> Now this is getting very interesting....
> 
> I received a call in regards to my email from a very nice lady. She stated that directv does not have a way of monitoring signals, "that she knows of" but that she does belive that my signals on 103 are low. She is going to send out a lead tech on Wednesday.
> 
> Nothing like being made to feel like a fool because the company called you and no one at the company believes that they called you.


Uhh WOW..... the VP of customer Service (and/or her department) doesn't know about these calls yet! D* really needs to work on this internal communication. Maybe they should run some commercials?

Doug or Stuart, is this surprising to you? With your contacts maybe you can get someone at D* to start a snowball rolling?


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## Greg Alsobrook (Apr 2, 2007)

bnglbill said:


> Now this is getting very interesting....
> 
> I received a call in regards to my email from a very nice lady.* She stated that directv does not have a way of monitoring signals, "that she knows of" *but that she does belive that my signals on 103 are low. She is going to send out a lead tech on Wednesday.
> 
> Nothing like being made to feel like a fool because the company called you and no one at the company believes that they called you.


Sad.... Just sad.... :nono2:


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## Jish (Jul 27, 2007)

I contacted DirecTV on Thursday concerning my posted low even channel signal strength on 103c (Thank You JLuc) - first the CSR said they had no way of "seeing" what our signal strengths were - second he said one of my receivers was being recalled (H20) and they were replacing it with a H21 (which I received Saturday) and third - yes my strengths were not very good on the even channels and he wanted to send a tech out on Sunday but I wasn't available (not expecting a Sunday appointment would even be an option) and that a tech would be sent out Tues 9/23. All in all the call was answered on the first ring, which surprised me, and he was extremely helpful and courteous - no complaints from me.


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## rahlquist (Jul 24, 2007)

Jish said:


> I contacted DirecTV on Thursday concerning my posted low even channel signal strength on 103c (Thank You JLuc) - first the CSR said they had no way of "seeing" what our signal strengths were


To the best of my knowledge this is true. They cant look up your readings. From what I seem to surmise a certain group at D* gets a notification when your receiver phones home with a bad signal. They then act on it by calling and setting up an appointment. As seen it appears that at least some of D* isnt even aware of this new program.


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## paulman182 (Aug 4, 2006)

rahlquist said:


> To the best of my knowledge this is true. They cant look up your readings. From what I seem to surmise a certain group at D* gets a notification when your receiver phones home with a bad signal. They then act on it by calling and setting up an appointment. As seen it appears that at least some of D* isnt even aware of this new program.


I would assume that they can send a command thru the satellite that will make the receiver phone in, but I have no idea who in the hierarchy can do this or how to contact them.


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## Jish (Jul 27, 2007)

Tech arrived on time yesterday - looked at my strengths on TV screen - went to dish - hooked up a signal box - made a couple of adjustments with a wrench then said - check your signals - every single "active" signal is now in the mid to upper 90's with several 100's - he informed me he thought it wasn't properly adjusted when it was installed last year.



Jish said:


> I contacted DirecTV on Thursday concerning my posted low even channel signal strength on 103c (Thank You JLuc) - first the CSR said they had no way of "seeing" what our signal strengths were - second he said one of my receivers was being recalled (H20) and they were replacing it with a H21 (which I received Saturday) and third - yes my strengths were not very good on the even channels and he wanted to send a tech out on Sunday but I wasn't available (not expecting a Sunday appointment would even be an option) and that a tech would be sent out Tues 9/23. All in all the call was answered on the first ring, which surprised me, and he was extremely helpful and courteous - no complaints from me.


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## bnglbill (Nov 29, 2006)

Jish said:


> Tech arrived on time yesterday - looked at my strengths on TV screen - went to dish - hooked up a signal box - made a couple of adjustments with a wrench then said - check your signals - every single "active" signal is now in the mid to upper 90's with several 100's - he informed me he thought it wasn't properly adjusted when it was installed last year.


My appointment is this morning, hopefully it goes as well as yours...


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## Jish (Jul 27, 2007)

I was/am very pleased - after seeing all those 103c 70s & 40s and now everything on 101-110-119-99-103 that is supposed to be an active transponder near 100 makes me wish for rain - ha! Hope yours goes as well too, he didn't have to move the dish or anything - just took a socket wrench to the rear of the dish, adjusted, listened for beeps from his signal box - a little more wrench and then voila!!



bnglbill said:


> My appointment is this morning, hopefully it goes as well as yours...


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## bnglbill (Nov 29, 2006)

FINALLY!!! A tech that knows what he is doing and isn't lazy as heck. He looked at the numbers, went out to the dish for about 10 minutes to peak it and now my lowest signal all around is 94. 
So if we are to go by these numbers, 1 in 4 techs knows what he is doing.


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## rahlquist (Jul 24, 2007)

bnglbill said:


> FINALLY!!! A tech that knows what he is doing and isn't lazy as heck. He looked at the numbers, went out to the dish for about 10 minutes to peak it and now my lowest signal all around is 94.
> So if we are to go by these numbers, 1 in 4 techs knows what he is doing.


Congrats Bill. I am sorry it took 2 weeks 4 techs and one VP email to get the work you didnt even request done. Thats just horrible.


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## ChrisPC (Jun 17, 2003)

bnglbill said:


> FINALLY!!! A tech that knows what he is doing and isn't lazy as heck. He looked at the numbers, went out to the dish for about 10 minutes to peak it and now my lowest signal all around is 94.
> So if we are to go by these numbers, 1 in 4 techs knows what he is doing.


No such luck for me. I haven't even gotten a call back from the installer. I just emailed the customer service address that other people have had luck with. Hopefully, this will fix it.


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## kjthomas626 (Sep 26, 2008)

Can you all tell me how you are able to see those numbers? We just had service installed yesterday and I don't remember anyone telling us how to check our signal strength levels?

Thanks


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## Shades228 (Mar 18, 2008)

Depends on what receiver you have for the menu options. You can check your user manual and it will tell you how to check signal strength.


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## Bill Broderick (Aug 25, 2006)

I got a similar call from DirecTV last night. After telling me that one of my HD DVR's had reported a problem and asking if I had noticed any issues recently (I told him that I had lost the signal on one tuner twice since the beginning of September, both times fixed by a Red Button Reset), he had me go to Channel 480 and tell him what it said. Then he had me look at the Satellite signal strength for both tuners on 3 of the satellites. My signal strengths were all high (between high 80's & 100), which prompted him to say that it appears that the dish is aligned correctly.

He then said that he wanted to send a tech out to find out what the problem is. They're coming tomorrow afternoon. Unless it turns out that one of the tuner happens to lose a signal while the tech is there, I have a feeling that I'm just going to be wasting my time, waiting for a tech to show up, tomorrow, with no hope of the tech doing anything.


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## ChrisPC (Jun 17, 2003)

Another tech came out today, and he did it right. He replaced the whole dish, and tightened everything. Now I'm getting 90+ on every satellite!


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## Bill Broderick (Aug 25, 2006)

As expected, the tech showed up, asked what the problem is and, when I told him that DirecTV had called me and said that the DVR had reported a problem and that they wanted to schedule a service call, he was shocked. He came downstairs, checked my signal strength and said "You've got a 98 signal strength in the rain. What do they expect me to do?"

I told him that I had lost one of the tuners twice this past month, which I fixed by a RBR and he said that even if the problem were happening while he was there, that's what he would do to fix it. So, he doesn't know what DirecTV expects him to do. He ended up calling his company to cancel the service call.

We both agreed that, if the DVR's are going to report problems back to DirecTV, they need to be more specific as to what the problem is. Otherwise, scheduling a service call is just a waste of time for both the customer and service tech.


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## rmnelson75 (Sep 24, 2006)

Just adding to this thread. I received a call today on 10/7 stating that they "saw" my main HD receiver was experiencing low signal strength and outages. This was indeed happening last week due to all the rain we had. The person on the phone said they received the data via my ethernet connection. I had many numbers in the 60s, so lets hope they can come out and tweak my dish. My dish is within arms length so I can usually go out and adjust myself after a bad storm.


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## ChrisPC (Jun 17, 2003)

Well, we finally got a big rain again; it's been raining all day. We had a really heavy downpour, so I checked it then.

99: 50-60
103: 55-65
101: 80-90
119: 75-85
110: 60-70

This was at the worst point; it's been higher the rest of the day. Needless to say, no pixelation and no dropouts all day.


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## Shades228 (Mar 18, 2008)

You should no longer be told by a csr that "We don't know what you're talking about?", or "We don't have a way to check that." If you do it means that person didn't do what they should be doing.

However at this time there is no way for the agent on the phone to see if you did or didn't get a call or why. So they won't be able to give you any specifics.


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## bnglbill (Nov 29, 2006)

I got my bill today and would you believe, they added the service plan to my account, charged me for that and also charged me 20 dollars for a service call. I spent an hour on the phone before I figured out exactly what they did and I managed to get the protection plan taken off and got credited for the call and the plan charge.

How do they get away with doing this stuff! This is totally ridiculous.


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## bnglbill (Nov 29, 2006)

Good morning,



I just wanted to follow up with you this morning and let you know that the problem was resolved by the last tech re-aiming the satellite. That’s the good news, the bad news and something that has me extremely aggravated (and contemplating my options) is that I got my bill yesterday and not only did I get charged for a service call, someone also added the service plan to my bill (without my knowledge) so I was charged a monthly fee for that as well. I can’t believe what I have gone through with this, this is totally unacceptable.



After about an hour on the phone yesterday, I think I have gotten the billing problem resolved but the problem is, you never know if you can trust the person that you are speaking with so I will not know for sure until I receive my next bill. Needless to say, I am very disgusted with DirecTv at this time. I don’t think I will ever be able to take anyone at DirecTv for their word again.


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## rahlquist (Jul 24, 2007)

bnglbill said:


> After about an hour on the phone yesterday, I think I have gotten the billing problem resolved but the problem is, you never know if you can trust the person that you are speaking with so I will not know for sure until I receive my next bill. Needless to say, I am very disgusted with DirecTv at this time. I don't think I will ever be able to take anyone at DirecTv for their word again.


Bill,

Have you contacted the VP's office again. I would.


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## bnglbill (Nov 29, 2006)

rahlquist said:


> Bill,
> 
> Have you contacted the VP's office again. I would.


Yes, the above post (104) was sent to her as an email...


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## Steve (Aug 22, 2006)

bnglbill said:


> After about an hour on the phone yesterday, I think I have gotten the billing problem resolved but the problem is, you never know if you can trust the person that you are speaking with so I will not know for sure until I receive my next bill. Needless to say, I am very disgusted with DirecTv at this time. I don't think I will ever be able to take anyone at DirecTv for their word again.


You should be able to see "activity since last bill" by logging onto your DirecTV.com account. /steve


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## bnglbill (Nov 29, 2006)

Steve said:


> You should be able to see "activity since last bill" by logging onto your DirecTV.com account. /steve


Yeah, but the problem is that I get billed through Verizon so my billing is never accurate on directv.com.


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## JLucPicard (Apr 27, 2004)

I'm glad you mentioned that about the billing through Verizon. I've been contemplating bundling my DirecTV with Qwest, but I don't think the discount is worth me not being able to review my billing information on-line like I can now.

I would also beware of them nailing you with a $10 cancellation charge for them cancelling the PP.


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