Any experience with DirectTV?

[Skytrooper]

I had DirecTV for over ten years. I just cancelled it in January to cut down on costs. I never had trouble with it. Yes, occasionally, if the weather was real bad it got distorted, but that was very rare. I also had no problems with their Customer service, which I only needed 3 or 4 times in ten years. They replaced equipment for free, never tacked on the additional extra charge for equipment. They were always pleasant and helpful over the telephone. I would go back to them first, if I was going to at all.

I enjoy my OTA television...I mean it is free, you gotta love that. I get 29 channels. I do not watch much tv anymore, about 2-3 hours a week.

[cairns]

Had them ten plus. Recently renegotiated rates that were half what Verizon offered- and that was at Verizon's introductory rates (that would have expired in a year). Switched from Comcast which was the absolute pits. Very occasionally have issues with storms but they're pretty bad storms.

Overall quite satisfied.

[asphaltgambler]

We have DirecTV - we are happy with it overall. Best choice for where we live and other services offered. We have their DVR (whole home) and rarely do we ever loose the signal.

Cost tho................................keeps climbing. So my wife and I just switch the account back and forth individually. When she has the account as 'new' customer - she asks for all the incentives trying to squeeze them for the cheapest bill. But there's a catch - it is usually for a year or less. When it goes full price is when she cancels the service. Then I call as 'new' customer - lather-rinse-repeat.

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by asphaltgambler

We have DirecTV - we are happy with it overall. Best choice for where we live and other services offered. We have their DVR (whole home) and rarely do we ever loose the signal.

Cost tho................................keeps climbing. So my wife and I just switch the account back and forth individually. When she has the account as 'new' customer - she asks for all the incentives trying to squeeze them for the cheapest bill. But there's a catch - it is usually for a year or less. When it goes full price is when she cancels the service. Then I call as 'new' customer - lather-rinse-repeat.

I don't have the time or patience to play that game. How they don't catch on to that - since I'm assuming it's at the same service address - is beyond me.

[mattdavis11]

It was very difficult to get through to them to cancel service. I remember calling several times to cancel and was put on hold for better than 45 minutes. Finally, I called to upgrade my package and got right through, then told the rep to cancel the service.

That wasn't a very pleasurable experience.

I got even for them wasting my time though. After I had canceled the service, they still wouldn't remove the signal from my property. Those were the days.

[asphaltgambler]

widebody911 - they spend large amounts of cash on obtaining new customers - very little to retain existing ones. We actually have it down to a science now........and yes we can't believe they don't catch on with same address and last names

[cashflyer]

I started with DirecTV in 1996, just two years after it launched. I maintained service until July of this year, at which time I dropped them and went to free antenna service only.

What prompted me to cancel after this long was that my receiver quit working at the end of June. After almost 3 weeks of not being able to get a technician out, I finally just called and cancelled my service.

Now I have an extra $100 in my pocket each month.

[mattdavis11]

ATT doesn't provide a very good service, freezes, black outs, sound but no picture, etc... I call when a promotion is about to expire to cancel based on quality of service. They send out a gift card and reduce the inflated rate a little more each time.

They sent a rep to the n'hood a few months ago, and I told him I was a customer and that the service had been horrible lately. He informed me that they had been upgrading to fiber optic, to which I replied I'd rather have the twisted pairs of copper.

He gave me the direct number to customer retention. I continue to retain their service, for now.

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by mattdavis11

ATT doesn't provide a very good service, freezes, black outs, sound but no picture, etc...

We've actually had good service with AT&T (knock on wood). When we first signed up, it was horrible. They'd fix it, and it would be fine for a day or so, and then it would crap out again. Turns out there was a bad wire pair, and the techs were just passing the bad pair around. When a customer would complain, they'd switch him to a good pair and someone would get the bad one. Eventually they replaced the whole cable. I don't know the technical details, but they had a dozen trucks out and were doing something on all of the poles. The service has been great since (knock on wood)

Our only beef is the constantly increasing price; our frog is getting boiled.

[HiBeam]

I've had DTV for over 10 yrs. and just recently rec'd a new free DVR that records 5 programs at once at half price for the 1st year. They gave me the NFL ticket free of charge.
I have zero complaints w/them. When it rains hard, the pictured is sometimes pixelated (sp).
The good news is that there are other services.

ps I also own their stock.

[mattdavis11]

Originally Posted by widebody911

When we first signed up, it was horrible. They'd fix it, and it would be fine for a day or so, and then it would crap out again. Turns out there was a bad wire pair, and the techs were just passing the bad pair around. When a customer would complain, they'd switch him to a good pair and someone would get the bad one. Eventually they replaced the whole cable. I don't know the technical details, but they had a dozen trucks out and were doing something on all of the poles.

Our lines are buried. It's not going to get better until they replace the lines to every home. An ant bed can cause problems. It's nothing I didn't expect, but they aren't going to fix it either. It's cost prohibitive.

I've had all the other local services but dish. I did like DTV until they destroyed my equipment. They ruined a perfectly good smart card, and I had to fix it.

[Don Ro]

Have had Direct HD for years and years...no problemo!
Oh, maybe their annual fee increase that's far beyond reason.

[cairns]

You can negotiate the fee with them. Be nice about it. My line was that I've been a customer for ten years and you'll treat a newbie better....why lose a good customer. I evidently got a good one because she looked for everything they could give us and more......I didn't "threaten" to leave (they could care less) but told them I don't want to leave but the rates keep going up how much I appreciate them could you help us etc.

In my area the customer service has been most excellent- I have the cell of the guy who does our area but I've always tipped him well.

[Don Ro]

Had the same experience last year...called to ask about the increased fee and the operator said something like, "You've been w/us for years, I'm going to drop your monthly fee by $10 for a year."

[fred cook]

We have used them for tv services for quite a few years. Very happy with the service. Not long ago I called them to get two receiver boxes replaced that were damaged during an electrical storm. They replaced the boxes, the tech noticed that I had an older satellite dish and replaced that as well. Cost? No charge! Yes, we will lose the picture if a very heavy cloud goes over, but that usually only lasts for a very few minutes. Not really a problem. I use fairly basic services and add their GamePlan option for college football each year. Plenty of channels to choose from! So far, have not rented any movies from them (ok, I'm cheap!).

[KFC911]

I dropped DTV a couple of years ago after having them for probably 12+. I'm not a big TV watcher, and get my sports fix (B-ball and college/pro football) over the air now. I had a pretty minimal package and just got tired of the fee creep over time for channels I didn't watch. I do miss the DVR (recording) feature, but not THAT much. I remember that it took over 30 minutes on the phone to get it disconnected...I don't think they want ya to do that . No regrets.,,

[5String43]

We've had Direct for a decade now and have been quite satisfied with it. Except for the cost, that is. There's got to be a less expensive way to do this. Recently got them to reduce our cost by about a third, but still!

[cantdrv55]

I've tried the big three - AT&T, Dish and DirecTV. Still have DirecTV and where I live, East SF Bay Area, it seems to provide the best package and customer experience. They all pretty much use independent contractors to sell and install. I got the Costco deal which was a bargain compared to Dish plus the installer was very thorough and punctual. I think Dish has better picture quality but that's splitting hairs.

[widebody911]

I called and tried to cancel. The phone rep tried really hard to get me not to cancel, extolling the virtues of their service, yada yada yada and in the end he was having "technical issues" and couldn't execute the cancellation. I had my wife call a few minutes later and she got them to cancel it.

Now she's annoyed with me because she won't be able to have the Charger game on during the party she has scheduled for the 29th

[campbellcj]

We have had DirecTV for many years and have been quite happy overall. They are expensive but I don't know comparatively how their prices relate to other options anymore. My biggest gripe is they make it easy as pie to sign up for new services but it is damn near impossible to change or cancel anything. I recently dropped HBO and the kid on the other end just would not stop trying to read me his script. Also, when they bailed on TiVo their own line of DVR's sucked. The current equipment is somewhat better and I see they now offer some TiVo boxes again so I may make a receiver change soon.