DirecTV - Any Complaints? (appointed, HOA, credit) - Northern Virginia - Virginia (VA) - City-Data Forum

Workin_Hard · 05-11-2009, 06:01 PM

I called DirecTV late Wednesday to have some previously subscribed to channels turned back on. While I was talking to them, I asked about having my older DVR upgraded. I said "Since I'm a long-time customer who's looking at cable options, what can you do to keep me?" The CSR laughed at my phrasing and said they could upgrade me at no charge and upgrade my dish at the same time. The other HD DVR I recently bought at Costco cost me near $400, so I was glad to get the upgrade for free. The tech arrived Sunday morning, swapped out the dish, removed my now-uneeded OTA antenna, and tightened and realigned everything on the roof. I read and signed all the paperwork and am a happy user.

Later, I was checking online and see about a gazillion complaints about DTV. Reading some of them, the problem seems to be that subscribers are unhappy after-the-fact about the 2 year contract and early termination fees, or are displeased with the customer service. I figure either they didn't read what they were signing, or are bitter about complying with the contract which they agreed to to get the service in the first place. There were a lot of complaints about billing problems also.

What's been the experience here? If you are a DTV user, are you happy with the service and/or the contractor(s) who did the install? If not, is it a DTV problem or with the local installers?

ajzjmsmom · 05-11-2009, 06:26 PM

Don't live in NOVA but do have DirecTv, and I only have one complaint, other than the fact they raised their prices. We recently moved to another house, so they came out to install the dish and told me our DVR was no longer compatible with the new dish. Told me they would be sending me the box to ship the now outdated receiver back. This was in Feb and I have been on the phone with them every month since then attempting to get my box sent. I get this month's bill and there is a $200 charge for the old receiver, seems noone bothered to mention to me the many times I called to complain that they had shipped the box to our old address. Supposedly a box will be here by Thursday and then in 3 to 5 days they will credit that $200 back. Kinda of irritating that they have no "record" of my phone calls but thankfully I do. So we will see if Fedex delivers my box this week. And the only other big complaint is getting a customer service rep who speaks proper English, of course this is not the only company that has this issue so I guess I shouldn't be whiny. We will see if we keep it next year when we relocate to NOVA, our contract ends in Nov '09. Other than these few things, they have very few outages, they have all the stations we like and they gave us free movie channels for the 3 months after we moved.

Oh had to edit to add, that the first installers at our other house were horrible, 2 hours late and did a crappy job wiring everything, but the guy who installed it in this house was early, did the job very efficiently and did it on a Sunday.

VRE332 · 05-13-2009, 07:36 AM

Some DirecTV contractor came out to "try" to install my system, and were some guys who could not speak a word of English with a 40' ladder on their truck. They also were going to plop 4 holes into my roof (and void my home warranty)..because they said the trees were in the way of the HD satellite. Good thing I asked them to leave.

My house is also pre-wired coax, so I was told on the phone that 2 HD recievers would be able to run thru 1 coax cable, then a powered switch would need to be installed in my basement. When the installer came out he gave me a different story saying he would need to run 4 wires directly into my basement.

So forget satellites altogether, I went back to Crapcast and go to Hulu.com to watch old episodes.

The Dissenter · 05-13-2009, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Workin_Hard

I called DirecTV late Wednesday to have some previously subscribed to channels turned back on. While I was talking to them, I asked about having my older DVR upgraded. I said "Since I'm a long-time customer who's looking at cable options, what can you do to keep me?" The CSR laughed at my phrasing and said they could upgrade me at no charge and upgrade my dish at the same time. The other HD DVR I recently bought at Costco cost me near $400, so I was glad to get the upgrade for free. The tech arrived Sunday morning, swapped out the dish, removed my now-uneeded OTA antenna, and tightened and realigned everything on the roof. I read and signed all the paperwork and am a happy user.

Later, I was checking online and see about a gazillion complaints about DTV. Reading some of them, the problem seems to be that subscribers are unhappy after-the-fact about the 2 year contract and early termination fees, or are displeased with the customer service. I figure either they didn't read what they were signing, or are bitter about complying with the contract which they agreed to to get the service in the first place. There were a lot of complaints about billing problems also.

What's been the experience here? If you are a DTV user, are you happy with the service and/or the contractor(s) who did the install? If not, is it a DTV problem or with the local installers?

I had DirecTV in Southern VA and here briefly in NoVA. I had a overall satisfactory experience with them. The only reason i dont have it now (and got stuck with Comcast) is that my unit faces the wrong way. I'll likely try them again when i move to Kentucky.

horseplayer · 05-13-2009, 10:13 AM

The antennae belongs out of sight, on the roof. The installers will try to put it down low, because they don't want to get up on the roof, but you have to insist. You should not be able to see it from the street in most cases. It looks real trailer park if you can.

Actually, DISH is the cheapest alternative but Direct is good, too. If the COX guy hadn't hooked my cable up for free while he was installing my internet and phone, I would be using DISH.

Workin_Hard · 05-13-2009, 10:37 AM

Our neighborhood has nice houses, all around 4000 sq ft or better, brick or stone fronts - no siding. Dishes are common and generally not a problem. I have two dishes on the front corner, but the install is really clean with no hanging or exposed wiring visible. It's all concealed in and behind the downspouts. They did a great job keeping it as unobtrusive as possible. There are a few sloppy installs in the neighborhood with wires run from the roof peak down the middle of the roof, but the HOA is trying to get that addressed. I have the switch in the basement to combine everything before it goes into the network panel and from there out to the rest of the house.

What I really want is FIOS.

statecollege · 05-13-2009, 07:45 PM

We had DTV in the past with nothing significant to complain about. At the time it became a better alternative to the local cable company. We lost reception briefly for perhaps LT 5 time annually--mostly in summer T-storms. A significant snow accumulation on the dish would also knock out reception. My dish was on the ground, so snow was easy to brush off. Later Verizon came in with fiber optic cable, and we bought bundled TV-internet-phone service from it.

Denton56 · 05-13-2009, 10:51 PM

I love it! No complaints, great installers who spent many hours here and did everything right. I called to get more channels and ended up paying less for more. It's been great.

RW333 · 05-20-2009, 03:27 PM

I've been a DirecTV customer for about 12 years, through three different houses, each with multiple receivers and fairly complex installation issues and have never had a complaint. They have a "preferred customer" telephone number (though I suspect they tell that to everyone), but I've only had two or three technical questions over the years, each quickly resolved (resetting receivers that had be unplugged for months, etc.)

ranmic · 06-06-2009, 04:24 PM

I used to be with Cox cable in VA for the longest time and I hated their service and customer service with a passion. Verizon came to town and I took their FIOS service and loved it......clear, HD was awesome and Internet speeds were blazing.

I moved to NH and FIOS was not an option, so I chose DTV over the local Comcast (still had to use them for internet). The reason I chose DTV is for the sports and all I can say is I have not been disappointed at all. The customer service is great the couple of times I called and the clarity and HD have been awesome too. I can only say DTV and FIOS offer the best HD I have seen (have not seen Dish). The normal cable provides are terrible from all I have seen an experienced.

We had a big ice storm here this past winter and the cool part was even with power out for a week, I had the TV and Sat running off of the generator and we were on the only family in the neighborhood with tv that week.......it was sweet.

So, long story short, I am very happy and would not switch back to cable even if it was free.