Had an issue with my HD signal, called and spoke with a nice technician trying to troubleshoot it, we could not figure it out so she said I needed a service call and would be charged. I declined the serivce call, and she told me if I got the protection plan that I could avoid the one time charge, and I declined that as well. She then told me she would schedule me a FREE service call as well as give me a $10 credit for 6 months to make up for my lack of signal. I even confirmed 2 or 3 times that the service call was to be FREE. I was satisfied at this point, and the tech who came to the house was great. The direction of the dish needed to be adjusted. I looked at my bill today and saw a $49.95 charge on it for the service call, I figured all I would need to do was call. NOPE. I spent 2 hours on the phone and was transferred around to different people who told me they could not do anything because there was nothing noted on my account about the free service call. I asked to speak to a supervisor or manager and they HUNG UP ON ME. I was being calm and trying to discuss the situation, I am a professional individual, and could dispute this with my creditcard company but I am worried it would turn into a collection and affect credit rating, simply not worth it for $50. I am a good customer and was truly horrified by thier treatment of me in this situation. I am going to escalate this in anyway I can, I have filed complaints with the local and national BBB, and will attempt to get the ear of someone with authority.

Danielle

Garner, North Carolina

U.S.A.

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11 Updates & Rebuttals

TheWizofOdd

RealCity,
Indiana,

Service Calls

#2General Comment

Mon, April 21, 2014

I think you need to get off of your high horse for a minute. What makes you think people just want stuff for free. We, as customers, are paying your company for a service, and your company is not fulfilling its part of that agreement. You will continue to take our money, every month, regardless of whether the service is working. So, by your logic, I should pay your company for the service, and then pay you again if that service stops working, through no fault of my own. As one of the techs stated, if the installation was done correctly the first time, the dish should never move, even in high winds. Why then, do I need to pay your company to come and fix a problem that the installer made? I will wait eagerly for your patronizing remark to this.

Dtvtechsrca

Rohnert Park,
California,
U.S.A.

ODU Realignment

#3UPDATE Employee

Mon, March 16, 2009

I'm a technician for DirecTV Home Services, and one thing I know is that if the dish is mounted securely to a sturdy mounting structure (i.e. roof over the eave with appropriate bracing, pole cemented into the ground, non-penetrating mount, chimney mount, etc etc) that dish should not move at all. I've had customers that have been with Direct for well over 7-8 years that are in a high wind area and I'm at their house for their very first ODU realignment ever. Also, the Slimline ODU (i.e. HD dish) requires a tedious setup procedure due to the narrow beamwidth of the signal being transmitted from the HD satellites (the beamwidth of the signal from the HD satellites is about 1/3 the width of the signal being transmitted from standard definition satellites), and the close proximity to DirecTVs main satellite, satellite 101*W. The dish has to be "dithered", which is a procedure that when done properly will aim the dish at the exact center of satellite 101*W. This is not a procedure that the customer can do themselves and requires the knowledge and tools of a DTV technician to pull it off. Bottom line...I'd check the sturdiness of your ODU mounts. If you can shake the dish rather easily, it's not right and needs to be properly mounted and reinforced.

Christina

Rixeyville,
Virginia,
U.S.A.

don't pay for realignment

#4Consumer Comment

Tue, January 27, 2009

My husband gets on a ladder and moves the receiver. I monitor signal strength on the TV and yell outside to husband. This works great (and we also have the wretched Hughes internet via the same dish, so we have to align w/ 3 satellites), and saves lots of money after every windstorm.

Maggie

Ashland,
Ohio,
U.S.A.

Mommy of 2 Where Are You?

#5Consumer Comment

Tue, January 27, 2009

I just read this report and the responses by Mommy Of Two, who is a customer service rep for DirecTV. I have had DirecTV for about 13 years and have yet to have one service rep completely take care of a problem. Although we've had very few problems until the past five years, the times I've had to call DirecTV have been nightmares of long hold times, reps whose foreign accents are so thick I could not understand them, reps who give me stock answers over and over that have nothing to do with why I'm calling, reps who say they will "take care of" something and don't and when I call again about the unresolved problem I have to go over everything again and again even after explaining that I've been down that road umpteen times already, and reps who don't believe that we've already done all of the steps to check if our connection is bad and yes, the receiver is really the problem. As I write this, we are still waiting on a "return pack" from DirecTV so that we can return an HD receiver they sent us that was defective. The rep said that she would send it right out and that was over two months ago. I could go on and on, but what I really want to know is when does "Mommy of Two" work and how can I ask for her next time I need to speak to a customer service rep? She sounds like an absolutely delightful person -- the kind of customer service rep that I'd love to do business with. And, no, Mommy of Two, I didn't ask for something for nothing. The "free" receiver was part of an HD upgrade. We did receive a free service call for the upgrade and in the past for problems that were DirecTV's fault. So I think we'd get along fine. Maggie

Mommy Of 2

Huntington,
West Virginia,
U.S.A.

i am a wonderful customer service agent

#6Consumer Comment

Tue, January 27, 2009

i also don't make $8 an hour honey, i make $11 an hour and i get free directv service and equipment. i love my job so you don't have to feel bad for me...but thank you. i have a working husband who makes enough to support our family and work there just because i wanted to work. i enjoy making customer's happy and solving their problems. i have more happy customers than i do upset ones when the call ends. i am actually top in my call center. i just get annoyed when they are always expecting something for nothing. they always want free this and free that and tend to be upset when they don't get it from me. take your free service call for example. you demanded to get it free when most people pay for it who don't get the protection plan. you should have had to pay. i don't feel you deserved the free service call. what makes your situation any better than anyone else's?

Danielle