Direct TV
New customer with service installed 8-30-08.
Installer of the service installed cable under house and did not bring it out the hole that asked him to. Instead of bringing it out the hole in the back of the house ran the cable thru the air conditioner hole on the side of the house. When I said something about it he refused to go back under the house to move the cable. He said water was all under the house. I had to go under the house to re route the cable. In doing so I noticed that the plastic that covers the ground under the house had been moved all around and I had to go under the house the next day to fix the plastic. I checked out what he was talking about water and the only water was condensation on the water pipe coming from the well.

The installer installed a poll to mount the satellite dish on which I paid $75.00. The installer told me it would cost $130.00 to bury the cable. I told him I was not paying that. So I wound up burying the cable myself. Later I found out from Direct TV that the price of burying the cable was included in the $75.00 cost I had paid to install the satellite dish.

After the install and the installer had left, I noticed a problem with a high hum noise on the TV and a roll shadow rolling up the picture continuously. I called Direct TV about this and they shipped me another receiver and remote.

Two days after the install it rained for about 15-20 minutes and I lost Direct TV service for over one hour. I have since noticed that every time it rains I lose service and cannot watch TV. This is inappropriate and is either due to the fact that Direct TV is using too small a dish or the alignment of the dish is off. As a longtime satellite builder and engineer it is my belief that this is due to the fact of cutting corners and using too small a dish to adequately capture the footprint of the satellites thus not providing a strong enough signal.

Upon receiving the replacement receiver and remote, I noticed that the original receiver that was installed on NEW service was a rebuilt receiver. I shipped the original receiver back to Direct TV the day I installed the replacement receiver. You should not receive rebuilt equipment when signing up as a new customer.

Then I noticed the replacement remote could not be programmed to control the television. I then called Direct TV some six different times about the remote being defective as it would not control any of the 6 TVs in our home. Every time I called I was told by first line support they would replace the remote but when transferred to second line support they would tell me they don’t replace a remote if it does not control the TV. This issue here is the first remote did control the TV.

On the first call about the remote not working I was informed that I had not paid all of my bill. Direct TV had billed me something like $1.50 for a replacement receiver from the time they shipped it to me until they received the old receiver back. Direct TV should not be billing you for replacement equipment. Direct TV then told me they would credit my account with a $5.00 credit for a few months. I have not received a bill to know if this is correct yet.

After talking to a friend they told me to call back and ask to speak to a supervisor.

On 9-3-08 I called Direct TV again and first line support told me they wound replace the remote. Then he transferred me to second line support and they again refused to replace the remote. At this point I again asked to speak to a supervisor. The supervisor then agreed to replace the remote. Direct TV would bill me $15.00 for the replacement remote and then credit me $15.00 for the remote.

It was after the service had been installed by one of the Direct TV service people I had called that the receiver and remote only had a 90 day warranty. I questioned this and asked why was this not disclosed to me when I signed up. This is inappropriate as my understanding is that Direct TV owns the equipment and therefore my feeling is that they are responsible for the equipment as long someone has service with them. It is not my equipment so they should be responsible for replacement or fixing it to work. If I had purchased the equipment I would then be responsible after the warranty period had expired. I was told by Direct TV before I signed up for service that the equipment was owned by Direct TV. I believe this is totally inappropriate for any company that owns the equipment to require the customer to pay to fix their equipment when it breaks down. If I damage the equipment then, yes I should be responsible. All other companies that build satellite receivers provide a minimum of one year warranty and some even provide two year warranty when you purchase the receive. The case with Direct TV is that the customer is not purchasing the equipment as it belongs to Direct TV.

My first 30 some days experience with Direct TV has been anything but pleasant. Direct TV has some of the worst customer service I have ever encountered from any company.

Around the first week in November I called Direct TV because none of the credits were appearing on my bill. DT told me this was due to the billing cycle. During this call I also inquired about why I and the friend that referred me to Direct TV were not receiving the $10 per month credit for 5 months that Direct TV advertises and that I had registered for shortly after getting Direct TV. I was advised that we were not eligible for this credit because I activated Direct TV thru Verizon. Nowhere in the commercial does it say that you are not eligible for the friend’s referral credit of $50 each if you go through Verizon. Also, Direct TV told me I was eligible when I called them and gave them the friends name and information that referred me to Direct TV.

In January 2009 I called Direct TV to complain about the bad quality of the picture I am receiving. Direct TV told me there was nothing that could be done other than send my complaint up to someone higher than technical support. I asked if someone would get back to me about the bad quality of the picture. Direct TV told me no one would call back. The bad quality of the picture is due to squeezing to many channels into one transponder and the size of the Direct TV dish being to small.

Now in 2009 they are not giving me the credits every month I was to get on my bill.

It appears that no matter how bad the Direct TV service is they expect you to pay a canceling fee.

Remunerations:
1. I should have received a full credit for the pole install plus some other remuneration for having to go under the house and move the cable, fix the plastic and bury the cable.
2. Replace the dish with a larger one that captures more of the satellites footprint and signal so it does not lose the signal every time it rains.
3. Change policy of billing customers for replacement equipment when shipping replacement equipment from time shipped to time defective equipment is returned. In other words Direct TV is billing you for the defective equipment and also for the replacement equipment while it is in transit and then billing for the same during the return transit. So the customer is being billed for two pieces of equipment during this time. I can see billing after 30 days if equipment is not returned.
4. Change policy of billing for service when equipment is defective and waiting for replacement equipment. I was billed for service during the entire time. Nothing was credited to my account for the service outage period.
5. Change policy of billing customers for equipment failure that is not the customers fault.
6. Properly train installers on the install procedures and cost of the install.
7. Change policy refusing to replace defective remotes.
8. Discontinue policy of providing rebuilt equipment to new subscribers.
9. Pay the referral fee to those that signup using a friends recommendation to get Direct TV.
10. Reduce the number of channels being sent on each transponder and increase the size of the dish to improve signal quality.
11. Discontinue charging customers a canceling fee when they want to cancel service for bad service.
12. Setup mean of contacting the customer that complains about service when the telephone support moves the issue you the line to someone else.