Fun with Directv

[hemsteadc]

..

 

Edited September 30, 2022 by hemsteadc

[NDBirdman]

well, .. to you too!!  Yea, my fun with the tools, they refused to fix their broken junk, wanted to upsell me and lock me in for 2 more years.  I told them to get their crap off my property and never come back.  I DO NOT miss them on freaking bit!

[hemsteadc]

11 hours ago, NDBirdman said:

 I DO NOT miss them on freaking bit!

My original post was a bit my fault, but, since then, I'm finding trying to discontinue their service can be a nightmare.  You have to call, sometimes several times, because when they transfer you to someone who can actually disconnect you, the call is dropped.  And I think every single person they have working the phones is from India,  or they are IN India.  I have a heck of a time understanding them.

I've gone full streaming with my new Starlink antenna, and I find I rarely watch DTV at all.  

Edited October 1, 2022 by hemsteadc

[whj469]

And they are owned by ATT!

[NDBirdman]

14 minutes ago, whj469 said:

And they are owned by ATT!

I noticed after they took over Directtv, the service went to haides.  I waited until we had fiber optic ran to our house, shortly after the DVR took a dump.  They sent a guy to replace it but he showed an attitude and I showed him the door, made him take the broken junk with him.  I've known a few ppl that had AT&T cell phones, they all switched over to another company.  We stream just about everything we watch for free or on the cheap, when WE want to watch it.

[NDBirdman]

4 hours ago, hemsteadc said:

 I'm finding trying to discontinue their service can be a nightmare.  You have to call, sometimes several times, because when they transfer you to someone who can actually disconnect you, the call is dropped.  And I think every single person they have working the phones is from India,  or they are IN India.  I have a heck of a time understanding them.

I'm very hard of hearing, my hearing aids help but I still can't understand ppl on the phone.  Being from other countries makes it really hard for me.  I had a service guy come out to .... help.... all he did was piss me off.  I was not kind to him as he left about his company.

[hemsteadc]

1 hour ago, NDBirdman said:

I still can't understand ppl on the phone.  

I absolutely hate having to do business on the phone with anyone.. it's old school, it's a fallible human, and yes, I too have trouble understanding people - especially women and anyone with any kind of foreign accent.  I watch a lot of Youtube and if the voiceover is an English woman I have to turn on closed captions or just quit watching. Next in line  would be the sing-song Indian speakers.

Anyway, it looks like my DTV has not been disconnected yet, so I suppose I get to look forward to having to call them AGAIN, and beg them to turn it off.  I have the employee's name and badge number who was supposed to take care of it, so that's some comfort. ( He was black - even harder to understand with poor pronunciation and diction) In situations like this I feel like just letting it stay connected and refusing to pay the bill.  I'm old enough to not give a damn about my credit rating. 

This is why I love doing business with Amazon.  Returns are easy, no talking on the phone, no explaining yourself to anyone about reasons for returns, whereas DTV wanted to know why I was disconnecting after all these years and tried to talk me out of it.  It's none of your damn business!

 

 

Edited October 1, 2022 by hemsteadc

[Chalkie]

17 hours ago, hemsteadc said:

I absolutely hate having to do business on the phone with anyone.. it's old school, it's a fallible human, and yes, I too have trouble understanding people - especially women and anyone with any kind of foreign accent.

Do you have an AT&T store near you? They also can help with DirecTv stuff. 

[palmeris]

We got dtv for our s&b in 1996, first thing that was installed on our new home.  

Just canceled last month.  I called,  went through the phone system , spoke to 2 humans with the last giving a final offer of 69.00a month if we stayed. No thanks.

At the end we were told to take all the equipment, power supplies,  remotes that are listed on our account number to either ups or FedEx .

They record all the serial numbers, tag it with your dtv account number,  and give you a receipt.  Bye bye dtv.

We took photos of everything we took to FedEx.  On the final payment memo to dtv indicated cancel service, final payment equipment returned. 

 

[fpmtngal]

I called yesterday to cancel my DTV account.  I talked to one person who said she had marked my account as canceled, said that I would continue to receive service until my month was up - no special offers.  Then she said I would receive a letter about what I would or would not have to return.  My address is Texas and I’m in Arizona, so I asked if I could have them send the letter to me here - she said that I’ll receive an email 24-48 hours after the phone call.  I’ll be interested in seeing if I do get the email, and also what they want to do about what I have to send back.

46 minutes ago, palmeris said:

We got dtv for our s&b in 1996, first thing that was installed on our new home.  

Just canceled last month.  I called,  went through the phone system , spoke to 2 humans with the last giving a final offer of 69.00a month if we stayed. No thanks.

At the end we were told to take all the equipment, power supplies,  remotes that are listed on our account number to either ups or FedEx .

They record all the serial numbers, tag it with your dtv account number,  and give you a receipt.  Bye bye dtv.

We took photos of everything we took to FedEx.  On the final payment memo to dtv indicated cancel service, final payment equipment returned. 

 

When I sold the house 3 years ago, they wanted the receiver I was getting rid of along with the card that was in it - the two to be sent back separately.  At that time they sent me a box with a return label so I could send it back.

I sure hope it is going to be as easy as taking the equipment to either UPS or FedEx, like you did.  I don’t want to have an empty box sent from Texas to me here in Arizona.

[hemsteadc]

5 hours ago, palmeris said:

At the end we were told to take all the equipment, power supplies,  remotes that are listed on our account number to either ups or FedEx .

I'm supposed to return 2 receivers, nothing said about remotes or anything else.  Sounds easy.. just take them to any UPS or Fedex and give them the account number and they do the rest.  We'll see.  

Just this morning I got a couple emails that my equipment had been received !  Funny thing... I haven't sent anything and it IS my equipment.  Yikes. I think this is the first time in 30 years I have ever gotten an email that wasn't intended for me.  Does this mean I just get to keep the receivers?

Edited October 2, 2022 by hemsteadc

[hemsteadc]

I knew this would happen.. supposed to be disconnected yesterday.  It is not.  Text lady assured me it was cancelled.  we'll see

Edited October 2, 2022 by hemsteadc

[travelinbob]

I cringe at the thought of talking to Direct. I had them for many, many years but toward the end for a couple years it was just not fun anymore talking to them. We we left a region I had to call them to change locations so i could get local channels. First thing I did when we left fulltiming was to switch to Dish Network. I'm more than happy with Dish. Dish is far superior with their equipment and services. After the first 2 years I recieved my first " non discounted " bill. I called and they switched me back to my original monthly billing for another 2 years after signing up for another 2 years with them.

Hate Direct and love Dish Network.

 

[fpmtngal]

My experience talking to DTV has been mixed, sometimes it has been dreadful but recently I’ve talked to people who have been helpful.  When I sold the house then DTV stopped the grandfather DNS about 3 years ago, I called and was directed to the right person to set up a mobile account (for more money).  And the person I talked to on Saturday was pleasant, easy to understand and (possibly) helpful.  She said it would take 24-48 hours to get the email telling me what I need to return and how to do that - I haven’t yet received it.  I didn’t think to ask if it would be business days or not - I’ll give it to tomorrow before I call back.

[palmeris]

So in today mail I received a letter from DTV stating they have received my cancelation request and not to worry about returning the equipment, but requesting that I recycle it.  requests to take equipment to a 100% green compliant re-cycle center or visit www.directv.com/recycle for step by step instructions.

Also gives a QR code to scan if I want to keep my Direct TV service and the 800.550.7580 number to call to learn more 

[fpmtngal]

1 hour ago, palmeris said:

So in today mail I received a letter from DTV stating they have received my cancelation request and not to worry about returning the equipment, but requesting that I recycle it.  requests to take equipment to a 100% green compliant re-cycle center or visit www.directv.com/recycle for step by step instructions.

Also gives a QR code to scan if I want to keep my Direct TV service and the 800.550.7580 number to call to learn more 

You called a month ago and just now got your letter?  What were your receivers?  That worries me - did you get an email about it all before the letter?  I’m going to be between addresses off and on, and really want to figure it out sooner.

I’m guessing they won’t want my old receiver back (at least 10 years old, I think).

[docj]

When we returned our DTV equipment ~3 years ago we were told to take the receivers to a nearby FedEx shipping location where we saw an enormous pile of returned receivers.  It didn't appear as if FedEx was taking any care to prevent them from being damaged; they were piled at least 10-20 high.  Maybe DTV decided it wasn't worth the pretense of acting as if the hardware was going to get reused.

[hemsteadc]

4 hours ago, palmeris said:

So in today mail I received a letter from DTV stating they have received my cancelation request and not to worry about returning the equipment, but requesting that I recycle it.

So strange.  As my previous post said, they sent me email saying they'd received my equipment which I have not sent.  A letter?  Really?  They've called 3 times today, I haven't answered, my VM is full (on purpose).  I wonder what they want....

[palmeris]

3 hours ago, fpmtngal said:

You called a month ago and just now got your letter?  What were your receivers?  That worries me - did you get an email about it all before the letter?  I’m going to be between addresses off and on, and really want to figure it out sooner.

I’m guessing they won’t want my old receiver back (at least 10 years old, I think).

Had 2 dvr, 2 of the genies and 1 non dvr receiver so 5 units all together...when we called they said just take to Fed ex which we did which was several weeks ago, dont know why they now sent the letter. Also not sure where they went from fed ex but from the sounds of their website seems likely they sent it to recycle center..... and that they will send you a return box for anything they want back....some of my stuff was pretty old so it would make sense....

[palmeris]

12 minutes ago, hemsteadc said:

So strange.  As my previous post said, they sent me email saying they'd received my equipment which I have not sent.  A letter?  Really?  They've called 3 times today, I haven't answered, my VM is full (on purpose).  I wonder what they want....

yup, good old fashioned snail mail usps letter....they are calling becasue they want to speak with you....

[hemsteadc]

41 minutes ago, palmeris said:

..they are calling becasue they want to speak with you....

I guess they don't understand email or texting.  Must be sales.

Edited October 3, 2022 by hemsteadc

[fpmtngal]

Reading this thread is really interesting to me, since I’m a bit on pins and needles about my cancellation.  A continuing story, isn’t it?  Still waiting on a promised email…

[HMFunk]

Also a former DTV and AT&T customer.

Found cell phone service at half the price of AT&T, and will never go back to them.

When we terminated our DTV service at our S&B, they sent packaging for all their stuff.  So I packed it and took a photo of the tracking number for reference.  Sent it off by USPS, and received delivery confirmation of its receipt to their PA address.  They never acknowledged receiving it even though I showed them the photo of the package and tracking number and the receipt of delivery to them from the USPS.  They threatened to send me to collection for the approx. $85 value (their number) of the stuff I sent back to them.  I just ignored their threats and will never be their customer again!  When they send me mailings to get me to sign up again, I just use it to light campfires.  Does that job well!

I don't believe that I'm the only one with that kind of story........

Travel Free!

[hemsteadc]

So now I'm getting deluged with phone calls from DTV to try to keep me.

I don't want that, but I would like answers to a couple questions: Why is my receiver taking so long to respond to finding the signal?  and Am I supposed to return the equipment or not? 

The people who call me know nothing, and don't even offer to find someone who does.  They don't even understand you can watch recorded shows without having to be hooked up to the dish.

Edited October 5, 2022 by hemsteadc

[fpmtngal]

Your account must have been more interesting to them than mine - I haven’t received any calls from them.  And I still haven’t received an email from them about whether they want my single receiver back.  Now I’m beginning to wonder if the person who I talked to really did put in my disconnect.