Don't Do DirecTV -- I'm Mad As Hell and I ain't Gonna Take It Anymore

It's a little after noon and snowing a really fine, grainy, first snowfall outside. I take full responsibility for the impending storm as I have a gig in Bloomer with the Allways Trucking company Christmas party.

I have to leave momentarily to meet the Kimster for lunch at Mancino's, so I won't get much done on this until I get back.
I am going on a rant about Directv so that others may know exactly how the customer gets treated these days and to let you know that you may want to consider Dish TV as an alternative.

I had Directv installed in late summer, early autumn -- I'm not about to look it up -- and the damn receiver hasn't been working correctly from day one.

Being a newcomer to digital HDTV however, I wasn't certain if I was being paranoid or if possibly I was doing something wrong. At any rate, the digital picture would suddenly dissolve into crumbling pixels, then disappear for an instant, then reappear.

Other times, I would be watching and the picture would just disappear entirely. I read through the manuals and it said to push the reset bitton, so I did. After several minutes of reloading (and losing track of the plot of the movie I had been attempting to watch at the time) the picture would come back. So much for that movie. Blockbuster would have been cheaper -- I am paying $61.39 (middle tier -- no pemiium movie channels, but NFL Network) a month and getting screwed in return. That's a lotta rentals!

True story: I had a bunch of the guys over for the Packer/Dallas game. Made it throough the whole game without signal problems but then during the Favre interview after the game, boom! I lose my picture nd by the time I'm re-booted, it's too late to know to what extent Brett is injured!

Another true story: If the signal had gone out during the game? I'd been in the car driving to Directv headquarters in Colorado with a frickin' high powered rifle and a pipe bomb, just in case I got there while they were closed!

So over time, after asking others who have Directv, I found out that they never have trouble with their picture doing what mine does, so this week I called my installer, after keeping diligent records of mishaps for a week. He came out and announced that if I had to keep resetting, even when the weather was clear, then I had a faulty receiver.

--gotta go to lunch --

I'm back from skating near the mall with idiots who every year forget how to drive during the first snowfall. No harm, no foul.

Where was I? Oh, yeh -- "even when the weather is clear". did you know that during storms or excessive cloud cover you can lose your damn satellite signal entirely? They don't tell you that when they are installing -- oddly enough.

My next step in the ongoing Directv saga was to attempt to contact Directv by telephone and being told that I would be on hold most of the day so I should go the web site, which I did, and typed in the following message to the tech:


Name: Lawrence Heagle
Status:
[Account Number: ]
[Phone Number: 715-834-8815]
Email Address: lheagle@larryheagle.com
[Topic Selected: Equipment]

Details: I have had recurrng problems with my receiver since its installation, including disintegration of picture, total loss of picture, loss of sound. I just spoke with Roger Wood my installer. He recommends that the receiver be replaced but since it has been more than 90 days since installation he said it is necessay to contact you directly.Each time I have encountered the above problems, pushing the reset button gives me a temporary fix, but as I say, it keeps happening.Please send me a new receiver.
Roger leads me to understand that once I get a replacement I ship the faulty receiver to you.This has been most frustrating and disappointing and I know you will want to help me.

To that, I got this reply:

Dear Mr. Heagle,

Thanks for writing. I'm sorry to hear about the technical problem you are experiencing with your receiver. However, we are limited to what we can troubleshoot by e-mail, but we want to ensure your system is up and running again as quickly as possible. Our Technical Support agents are trained to walk you through a number of troubleshooting steps which are too difficult to try to talk through over email. Please call our technical support center at 1-800-531-5000 and select the option for technical assistance. Also, you may find some helpful information at the DIRECTV Technical Help forums. Just visit http://forums.directv.com/pe/index.jsp to find answers to your questions.

By the way, I see that you have a H-20 HD receiver. As you may know already to make sure that you continue to receive all of our HD programming - including new HD programming we’re launching later this year - you will need to make sure that a B-band converter is connected to each Satellite-In port on your DIRECTV H20 receiver. The B Band Converter came in the carton with your receiver and if you had professional installation, it is most likely already connected.

For instructions on how to check for B Band Converter connection or to order one, go to directv.com/bbc.

We appreciate your patience and hope we're able to fix the problem quickly.

Thanks again for writing and stay tuned to directv.com for the latest news and updates about our services.

Sincerely,

Danilo M.

To which I replied:

Dan:

Obviously you did not read my first e mail thoroughly so I am sending it again. Please note that in capital letters I have highlighted what you obviously overlooked: MY INSTALLER, AN AUTHORIZED DIRECTV DEALER, TOLD ME TO REQUEST A NEW RECEIVER AS THE ONE I HAVE IS FAULTY.

I sent this e mail along with some comments that I was not about to call technical support for two reasons: 1. My installer has verified that I need a new receiver and 2. Because of that, I am not about to spend my day "on hold" trying to reach tech support and "Danilo" --what the hell kind of name is "Danilo" -- obviously outsourcing at its best -- this person is not from Dubuque -- basically telling them the same thing and further telling them that if the new receiver isn't sent before my next billing period, I m no longer paying my bill, thank you very much.

I also went on a diatribe about how companies have a responsibility to take care of their customers and if not, I would do everything in my power to make certain anyone I know who asks how I like Directv will be told that Directv doesn't really give a shit about service (although I don't think I used the shit word).

I also included copies of the letter sent to Directv to my installer and to the billing department of Directv, highlighting in yellow the part about no longer paying my bill.

So, if you are reading this, think twice about installing Directv. Check out Dish TV first.

Do you get the feeling I am just a bit pissed??

I will let you know how this develops!


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