Chris says DirectTV inexplicably attached his dish to the building next door. When the neighbor took the device down, Chris asked DirecTV to re-install it — this time on the correct structure — but the company is balking.
He writes:
This leads us to several weeks ago when I was told by my management company my dish had been removed and was in their possession because it had been installed on the roof of the neighboring building, whose management company discovered it in the process of having some maintenance performed and was naturally upset at the situation. Let me repeat that for emphasis, my satellite dish, unbeknownst to me and certainly not under my instruction or authorization, had been incorrectly installed on the roof of the building next door. To paint the picture we’re talking about two four-story condo buildings roughly 6’ apart, whether or not the two roofs come together at any point I do not know, I have never ventured up there.I informed DirecTV customer service of this issue, in response to which they were very apologetic and offered to have the dish reinstalled correctly at no cost to me, credited my account for the charge and set up the appointment. Unfortunately I was unable to retrieve the dish from my management company and was forced to cancel the appointment. When canceling I explained the situation, again received apologies and understanding and was told to call and reschedule as soon as I had the dish.
Just over a week later I called to simply reschedule that appointment, the customer service rep agreed to have the reinstall performed at no charge and was attempting to set up an appointment time for me. Unfortunately because the issue had resulted in my repeated calls to customer service, I was told the policy was for the issue to be transferred to a “case specialist” who would handle this issue from here.
Herein lies the problem, the case specialist and supervisor I spoke with both refused to have my dish reinstalled at no charge, saying that was company policy and the various customer service reps who had agreed to do so and credited my account had done so in error and they were unwilling to do the same. Effectively the options I was given were pay $50 to have the dish put back up (which given the circumstances I refuse to do), or I’m SOL.
Do you have any advice for Chris on how to make the company treat him more directly?
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The neighbour should be suing DTV. Having a dish installed on a roof is just asking for leaks. When I was a satellite installer I would only do that as a last option, and only after informing the owner of the issues (Even using the “proper” install kits weren’t really going to perfectly prevent water entry, perhaps an actual roofer could figure out a way to do it properly, but I can tell you satellite installers can’t/won’t).
To me the achilles heel of satellite is that they have no viable high speed Internet offering (And no, DSL doesn’t count). Thus I am forced to un-bundle my services, getting Internet from one company, and TV from another. I pay full boat for all services, erasing any cost savings from getting the dish.
I could see charging the OP for new equipment, as he no longer possesses the satellite dish he intends to have re-installed. The fact that the management company removed, and apparently disposed of his dish sucks, but it’s not DirecTV’s fault, per se. That said, the dish was removed because it was installed on the wrong roof by a DirecTV installer so, to me, the smart move, from a customer-service standpoint, is to eat the $50 to get your paying customer back on-line.
Perhaps this time the OP should watch the installer do his thing. Make sure the dish gets installed on his roof this time, and not the neighbor’s roof.
Should they really be trying to screw over customers before their service gets started?
EECB but the OP should really consider alternatives to having satellite or cable TV if this is how they’re going to act before you even have your TV.
Just call the retention department, explain the issue and they should take care of it. I had a similar issue when they installed my dish. They did not put enough concreat in the base. After 2 weeks and 2 storms, it was loose and I was loosing my signal. I called in explained the issue. They first told me it would be a $50 charge. I balked at that and talked to a super. They came out and fixed it at no charge.
Much like when DirecTV came to install my dish and did so poorly so it wasnt working and when I asked them to come fix it, they wanted to charge me. I threatened to quit DirecTV and they then came and fixed it
Absolutely ridiculous