# My quest to get an HR44



## JohnF (Mar 31, 2007)

A few weeks ago I called DirecTV to ask about the new protection plan. I was told at the time that I was eligible for a new Genie for $49 installation fee with no additional charge. I had them place the order and then posted a thread in this forum to get some opinions. I got very good responses including private messages advising meet to wait until I could get an HR44 not available at the time. Prior to coming out the installer called me and confirmed he did not have an HR44. I advised him that I wanted to hold off. Later a representative from home services dispatch called me and suggested canceling the order. She said I could reorder at a future time, get the same deal, and request the HR44.

A few days ago after hearing it was available and in my area I called DirecTV to place the order again. Things are turning out well, but my experience was comical and I thought I would share it.

I called customer service and was told the HR44 is not available in my area. I told her that I heard it was and please check again. She checked again and this time said it was available. But I was not eligible for any promotion because I had canceled the previous order and the system would not allow me to have any further promotions. She told me my options were to pay full price or go out and buy it from a retail store. I told her that I understood she could only do what her system was allowing her to do but that I would like to escalate the situation. She said that was fine and asked me exactly how I wanted to escalate. I told her I wasn't familiar with the escalation process or options but I suggested she transfer me to a supervisor as a first step.

I spoke with a supervisor who was also friendly but could not offer any other options. I told him a couple of options I had that came to mind were either canceling or calling another call center. I told him I had Verizon Fios internet and they were anxious for me to get their TV service, but that I was hesitant to make a move after being with DirecTV for so long. He was friendly, said he understood and would hate to lose me as a customer but he could cancel my account immediately if that's what I wanted him to do. He did not offer to transfer me to a customer retention group. I told him I would try calling a different call center that my experience in the past different call centers had different stories. He agreed that was a reasonable option to try.

I immediately called again but took a menu option indicating I had equipment problems so I would not talk with customer service. I knew protection plan people generally seem to have more information. I did talk to someone there and he explained that they don't deal with upgrades to a specific model in his department so he wouldn't be able to help me and also could not do anything to ensure I would get an HR44. But he said he could transfer me to someone who could help me. I asked you're not transferring me back to customer service are you? He laughed and said no I will transfer you to someone who can actually help you.

I was transferred to to a case management agent. I explained the situation and she agreed I should not be denied that promotion given the circumstances. She told me that she would like to take a day to work the situation and agreed to call me back at a set time the following day. She called back as promised and said that they were able to resolve my situation but it took a lot of the work at their end. She had on the line a representative from customer retention and both of them working together were able to restore the promotion I had been offered. They said their system did not give them specific information as to which model Genie was in inventory where the installer worked, but that I could check with them and reschedule once they had the HR44 in stock. The installer from the previous order gave me his cell phone number and told me I could call him at any time just to make sure they had worked I wanted before he would come out and install.

I have the installation scheduled for April 2. I talked to the installer today. He did not yet have the unit in stock. I will check back the day before and reschedule if necessary. The key is not to cancel the order but reschedule the existing order.

I had such a good experience with the case management and customer retention folks that I got their employee numbers and sent a very complementary message to DirecTV. I got a personalized response thanking me and ensuring that the management in both their areas would be advised. I have a PIN assigned from case management if I need further assistance. I've learned two lessons. First, there are competent people who work at DirecTV. Second, it's hard getting in touch with them and you usually have to deal with customer service first.


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## Ed Campbell (Feb 17, 2006)

My experience has generally been the same. Especially the folks in retention.


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## mrfatboy (Jan 21, 2007)

Same thing happened to me with trying to get the hr44. Howevever, when I called back they just reinstated the order. No muss no fuss. I now have them scheduled for April 1. Hopefully I won't be fooled again. But this time I will just reschedule if there is not an hr44 on the truck.


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## mrfatboy (Jan 21, 2007)

No HR44's in San Diego yet.  My install has been rescheduled for another 2 weeks.


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## Shogunz (Sep 16, 2007)

JohnF said:


> A few weeks ago I called DirecTV to ask about the new protection plan. I was told at the time that I was eligible for a new Genie for $49 installation fee with no additional charge. I had them place the order and then posted a thread in this forum to get some opinions. I got very good responses including private messages advising meet to wait until I could get an HR44 not available at the time. Prior to coming out the installer called me and confirmed he did not have an HR44. I advised him that I wanted to hold off. Later a representative from home services dispatch called me and suggested canceling the order. She said I could reorder at a future time, get the same deal, and request the HR44.
> 
> A few days ago after hearing it was available and in my area I called DirecTV to place the order again. Things are turning out well, but my experience was comical and I thought I would share it.
> 
> ...


What city in SoCal are you in John F? I'm in the Santa Clarita Valley and wondering how close the HR44's are to me.


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## JohnF (Mar 31, 2007)

Shogunz said:


> What city in SoCal are you in John F? I'm in the Santa Clarita Valley and wondering how close the HR44's are to me.


Just to follow up the PMs, I'm in LA County, South Bay just south of LAX. I was told the Los Angeles area is part of this roll-out so you should get them as soon as I do. But as of yesterday, the warehouse that the installers use still does not have them. I rescheduled my installation for next week and will check with the installer the day before, and reschedule again if they still don't have them.

BTW - nice bike. I have a GSX-R1000.


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## Lugnut (Feb 11, 2013)

The "suggestions" to cancel the order and place a new one sounds about right. Apparently it looks bad on the installers if they have installs with multiple reschedules.


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## bpratt (Nov 24, 2005)

Lugnut said:


> The "suggestions" to cancel the order and place a new one sounds about right. Apparently it looks bad on the installers if they have installs with multiple reschedules.


If D* gives you a good deal on a Genie and you cancel the order, you probably won't be able to get the same deal when you place a new one. If you reschedule, the deal remains.


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## Lugnut (Feb 11, 2013)

bpratt said:


> If D* gives you a good deal on a Genie and you cancel the order, you probably won't be able to get the same deal when you place a new one. If you reschedule, the deal remains.


Not always. It does happen occasionally as the system is sometimes tempermental that way.


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## JohnF (Mar 31, 2007)

bpratt said:


> If D* gives you a good deal on a Genie and you cancel the order, you probably won't be able to get the same deal when you place a new one. If you reschedule, the deal remains.


That was my experience. After placing the new order, the deal was not available. Case Management and Retention had to manually give me credits to equal the original deal. Also, Case Management told me I could reschedule an indefinite number of times.


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## dishinitout (Jan 4, 2013)

LA is a test market but due to the size of the market not every office in the market is getting the 44s in the test phase. If your local doesn't have them now you may need to wait till it goes national.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

dishinitout;3206106 said:


> LA is a test market but due to the size of the market not every office in the market is getting the 44s in the test phase. If your local doesn't have them now you may need to wait till it goes national.


which could be a couple of months if DirecTV follows the same schedule when they released the HR34


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## Brubear (Nov 14, 2008)

JohnF said:


> That was my experience. After placing the new order, the deal was not available. Case Management and Retention had to manually give me credits to equal the original deal. Also, Case Management told me I could reschedule an indefinite number of times.


I have seen the local office cancel an order that sat for too long due to multiple reschedules so that it was not sitting on their books


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## JohnF (Mar 31, 2007)

Brubear said:


> I have seen the local office cancel an order that sat for too long due to multiple reschedules so that it was not sitting on their books


I guess anything is possible but it is hard to imagine a local office unilaterally, without customer involvement, canceling an order, especially if it can delete a promotion that was provided. I suppose it would get their attention if an order is cancelled the day of installation, but otherwise, I wouldn't think the order would get their attention.


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## Brubear (Nov 14, 2008)

JohnF said:


> I guess anything is possible but it is hard to imagine a local office unilaterally, without customer involvement, canceling an order, especially if it can delete a promotion that was provided. I suppose it would get their attention if an order is cancelled the day of installation, but otherwise, I wouldn't think the order would get their attention.


I have had a unique opportunity to interact with local service providers and have seen quite a bit. They have some leeway in how they deal with customers and frankly they have to. I have seen them refuse to service a customer, permanently. I will leave it to your imagination as to the reasons they did so.


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## kaminar (Mar 25, 2012)

JohnF said:


> I guess anything is possible but it is hard to imagine a local office unilaterally, without customer involvement, canceling an order, especially if it can delete a promotion that was provided. I suppose it would get their attention if an order is cancelled the day of installation, but otherwise, I wouldn't think the order would get their attention.


The local office (installations) can only cancel the install..if the original order sits in the system with "cancelled" install status beyond the 30 day date, it expires permanently, and cannot be rescheduled. A new order must be placed from scratch. Keep that in mind if considering current promotions. When they expire, they really expire and there is no going back. No use asking for a supervisor, a manager or the President to turn back time when the fault is not theirs.

-=K=-


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## JohnF (Mar 31, 2007)

kaminar said:


> The local office (installations) can only cancel the install..if the original order sits in the system with "cancelled" install status beyond the 30 day date, it expires permanently, and cannot be rescheduled. A new order must be placed from scratch. Keep that in mind if considering current promotions. When they expire, they really expire and there is no going back. No use asking for a supervisor, a manager or the President to turn back time when the fault is not theirs.
> 
> -=K=-


I don't think that conflicts with what case management told me. Specifically that the installation could be rescheduled any number of times. In this case, it would not be in a "cancel install status". Agree? In any event, I would not try and inconvenience the local office by rescheduling on the date of install.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

Brubear said:


> I have seen the local office cancel an order that sat for too long due to multiple reschedules so that it was not sitting on their books


^^^^this is true^^^^^


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

kaminar said:


> The local office (installations) can only cancel the install.


a local office, HSP, can cancel an install order on the "dime" if they choose to. of course, there MUST be a reason and it must be noted on the customers account. A repetitive rescheduling customer may qualify to have his/her order cancel as a "change of mind" or "buyer remorse" as every reschedule affects the office's matrix (numbers)


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## polo2268 (Jun 14, 2013)

I called and wrote emails. I hate the h34. I asked for the hr44 but was told no. I can't request a specific model. I hate the delay on the little boxes that connect to the genie. Sometime they take at least a minute befor I can see anything. I'm located in North Jersey 
I emailed the the head of customer service and still got no Hr44.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

I called and wrote emails. I hate the h34. I asked for the hr44 but was told no. I can't request a specific model. I hate the delay on the little boxes that connect to the genie. Sometime they take at least a minute befor I can see anything. I'm located in North Jersey 
I emailed the the head of customer service and still got no Hr44.


Because they are not available in your market yet.


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## wingrider01 (Sep 9, 2005)

there is always Solid Signal for a specific model


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