Posts about DirecTV

—>It was never in question whether David Spade or Chris Farley's family approved of this disturbing, Tommy Boy-based DirecTV ad, but just to put a fine point on things, Spade has come out to defend his choice in making the ill-advised tribute to his departed pal.  More Â»

Is anyone else skeeved out over the DirecTV ad? Based on the movie Tommy Boy, in which Chris Farley — who died in 1997 due to a drug overdose and heart complications — the spot shows Farley doing his famed Fat Guy in a Little Coat Dance as co-star David Spade re-dubs his character's dialogue.  More Â»

—>DirecTV was planning on charging several victims in the largest fire in recorded Los Angeles County history for the satellite TV receivers that burnt to cinders in their homes. "What I'd like to do is take a shovel full of ashes from my cabin and dump it on their desk. They can have their receivers back," Ken Gray told LAT.  More Â»

—>Here's a lovely story from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. A unnamed 75-year-old widow says AT&T called her to offer their new U-Verse service with bundled TV, Internet and phone. She signed up, only to receive a phone call letting her know that the TV service wasn't available in her area yet, but would she like to sign up with DirecTV instead? She agreed, but DirecTV started doublebilling her as soon as her service started. After a few months of the runaround from DirecTV she called to cancel.  More Â»

—>DirecTV and Versus Network — which shows NHL games — can't agree on terms, meaning hockey fans may be in danger of having their TV-unfriendly sport not showing up much on TV this season.  More Â»

—>A California Superior Court judge has just been given the go ahead to a class action lawsuit against DirecTV over their practice of charging early termination fees.  More Â»

—>DirecTV is on Twitter. Tell them your problems, or how awesome they are. Whichever comes to mind first.  More Â»

—>The FTC has announced that Comcast and DIRECTV, will be paying some fines for ignoring Do Not Call regulations. Ouch.  More Â»

—> Did the Pornbowl ruin your evening? Or does the NFL Sunday Ticket monopoly fill you with rage?  More Â»

—>Sorry, cable and FiOS subscribers — the NFL and DirecTV have extended their Sunday Ticket exclusivity agreement until 2014 — with DirecTV paying a whopping $4 billion for the rights.  More Â»

—>DirecTV agreed to let Anthony cancel his service without an early termination fee because his signal would randomly fade away without explanation. What DirecTV really meant though was that they would let Anthony cancel if he paid a final bill of $446.69. After speaking with two agents who agreed that the fee should have been waived, DirecTV reduced Anthony's bill to $445.42. A third agent told Anthony that he would need to negotiate any further deductions in writing with the dispute department...  More Â»

—>Pete likes DirecTV and really has no intention of leaving, but he noticed a fantastic "$250 deal" for new customers only in his copy of AAA magazine, so he called up DirecTV and asked what they could do for current customers. This simple phone call saved him over $120 a year.  More Â»

—>Reader Angel writes that a DirecTV installer in Oklahoma added a cable to her house, and subtracted $10 in quarters and a nine millimeter.  More Â»

—>Reader Jesse was having an awful time explaining a simple problem to DirecTV. Thankfully, the EECB (Executive Email Carpet Bomb) was just the thing.  More Â»

—>Here are some executive email addresses and phone numbers if you need to escalate an unresolved problem with DirecTV:  More Â»

—>Meet Brandon. He canceled DirecTV after less than 24 hours (the agreed upon time limit to avoid a fee, apparently), only to see that DirecTV debited $446.60 from his checking account.  More Â»

—>Yesterday we told you about a man who saved $238.92 per year on his Comcast bill by threatening to cancel and getting a discount to keep him around. Numerous readers chimed in in the comments with their tales of victory using the same method, tales of failure, and a few company employees shared their insider perspective. Ive rounded up the comments and sorted them by the aforementioned categories so you may learn from their tips and tricks to save on your cable bill. Some of the same tactics can be applied to other services, like cellphone or credit cards, as well...  More Â»

—>If you've ever wanted to see the rants from angry Consumerist tipsters brought to life by the woman who played Patrick Swayze in "Ghost," here ya go—although Sherri Shephard is actually a bit funnier, describing how the Time Warner CSR makes her go to an evil place. Seen here is Shephard letting out the evil because of the CSR who tells her, "Well my supervisor is going to say the same thing." Video clip below.  More Â»

—>While we're waiting on our video boys to harvest the clip of Whoopie's rant against DirecTV on The View this morning, here's a little reader-submitted DirecTV install nightmare to tide you over. Andy used to think DirecTV was pretty good, but his experience trying to get them to hook up an HD/DVR to his TV has felt him feeling like he is "going to explode, or destroy pieces of furniture."  More Â»

—>UPDATE: Here's the video.  More Â»

—>Mark had an impossible request for DirecTV: a one-line DVR and a SWM (Single Wire Multiline) Dish. Sure, it might seem like a normal work order, but the subcontracted installer, Bluegrass Satellite, couldn't secure permission to install the necessary components even after several three-way calls with DirectTV. One exasperated installer explained that Mark wasn't eligible to receive the equipment and gently told him: "[You] cannot have DirecTV and should stop trying."  More Â»

—>DirecTV customers are complaining that a software upgrade is shoving pay-per-view movies onto their DVR hard-drives, eating up disc-space and causing headaches. Tipster Buzwardo says, "I find it pretty darn annoying that DirecTV is sending me PPV content that I now have to make sure my kids don't play." More complaints can be found in the DirecTV Forums.  More Â»

—>21-year-old DirecTV installer Arthur Christian faces felony grand larceny charges after allegedly stealing $5,400 from a locked safe while working unsupervised in a customer's basement.  More Â»

—>It's hard to fit everything you need to do into an average day, but this ingenious DirecTV installer found a way to show up late to his appointments, take a break for lunch, and drop the kids off at the pool—all before 5pm! Now if only he'll remember to bring a ladder with him the next time so he can actually complete the installation.  More Â»

—>Reader Mike reports he got screwed buying a used TiVo off eBay. It turned out 1) It would need a new $20 access card for DirecTV to activate it and 2) DirecTV wouldn't authorize sending a new access card because the box was linked to a defaulted account. The lesson Mike says he learned is that, "If anyone plans on buying any used DirectTV equipment make sure you call DirectTV with the Serial Number and RID number off the unit BEFORE you purchase it to make sure it's not coming from a defaulted account. If not, you chance buying an electronic brick." This is true when buying other used electronic service items with service contracts linked to them, like cellphones.  More Â»

—>Reader Mark ordered DirecTV and waited patently for the installer. And waited. And rescheduled. And waited. Luckily, Mark knew that he might want to order DirecTV in the future, and he'd made a note of CEO Chase Carey's email address when we posted it.   More Â»

—>Want to convince people you offer as much HD as DirecTV without, you know, having to actually do it? Add 22 HD channels, issue a press release bragging about it, then yank 15 of your older channels while the press isn't looking. That's what Dish Network did according to TVPredictions.com:  More Â»

—>DirecTV is a lying pack of liars. They told Ian that if he moved to a place where he couldn't use his dish, then they would let him out of contract without early termination fee (ETF). Well guess what? He moved to a place without a balcony or roof access. Double guess what: Now DirecTV says he has to pay an ETF and they say there's no record of all those reps telling him that, and that that's not part of their policy. Triple guess what: Ian called up DirecTV sales and recorded their sales rep telling him that they DO let you out of contract if you move to a new place where you can't use DirecTV. Are DirecTV retention reps just not versed on company policy, or are they a pack of scumbags? I dunno, but you know what they say, never trust a company run by a man in a mustache. Ian's audio recording and letter to the CEO of DirecTV is inside...  More Â»

—>Reader "phillipe23" wants cable service, but because of his rural location it will cost him $9,060. He already has satellite, but his reception is very spotty. It seems that when the bad weather rolls in his service goes out. Clinging to the the hope that cable could be the answer to his problems, he contacted Time Warner for some relief. So what did the ever-sympathetic cable giant have to say? phillipe23's letter, and our advice, inside...  More Â»

—>Matt's mom, a longtime Qwest customer, called up the company to switch her long distance over from AT&T. The CSR suggested she switch over to a bundled package that would save her $11 a month and offer faster Internet connection speeds. What the CSR didn't mention was that the new package required a 2-year commitment, that it wouldn't work with her current DSL modem, and that it actually came out to about $3 more per month.   More Â»

—>William writes to tell us about an asinine DirecTV contractor who demanded a tip before starting work. The contractor was dispatched by Halstead Communications, DirecTV's unfortunate installer of choice in New York. After being denied an entrance tip, the contractor noticed an easily movable table blocking his way and declared to his partner, "I can't work like this, let's get the fuck out of here."  More Â»

On a normal day, losing some cable channels for a couple of hours would be an inconvenience. On a day like today, some might use words unfit for publishing. You see, today was the first game of the Red Sox and A's seasons, played in Japan. The game started at 6AM EST, and plenty of die hard baseball fans rose early to watch... nothing. Comcast gave me a $2 credit for my troubles. There's nothing like a $2 credit to make me feel valued as a customer.  More Â»

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—>Here is a story that first came to our attention a few months ago, but that we haven't posted because it just keeps getting worse. Reader Chuck emailed us in January to let us know that his Executive Email Carpet Bomb failed to penetrate the mustachioed walls of DirecTV's headquarters. Which is surprising, considering DirecTV let Chuck's dog escape, signed him up for a service agreement without telling him, refused to provide proof of the agreement to Chuck or his credit card company, and billed Chuck for the amount he recovered after a chargeback. Full story, and an opportunity to leave mustache jokes in the comments, inside.  More Â»

—> Brooks is a DirecTV customer, and he wrote in to warn other DirecTV customers to watch out for a shady "Protection Plan" the company signed him up for against his permission:

• I was not told anything about a "standard policy" to sign me up for the protection plan upon having warranty work done.
• I specifically declined to sign up when pitched on the idea.
• I was signed up anyways.
• I received the letter stating that there would be no charge.
• They attempted to charge a cancellation fee for canceling a plan I never agreed to.
• I had to waste time and energy to haggle to get the charges off, when it really should have been a simple fix.

—>A DirecTV CSR claimed that reader Mark changed his installation by following troubleshooting instructions to unplug and reconnect his box, and now owed $79.95. Mark, who paid $6 per month for DirecTV's protection plan, refused to pay the fee and asked to cancel to his service.  More Â»

—>We do hate it when our advice turns out to be crappy. Daniel, the guy who switched his receiver only to find that he was stuck with a new 2 year contract, was told by the CEO's office that he was, as they say, sh*t out of luck.  More Â»

—>I've had DirecTV for 8 years and was happy until 2 weeks ago. I purchased a new HD receiver at Best Buy on a whim to upgrade my sturdy old DirecTivo. I got home and called DirecTV to tell them of the switch. The Rep (Mone ID#413435) took the numbers on the new box and TV and told me that my new HD receiver should start working in a few minutes. That's all she said.   More Â»

—>DirecTV is jacking up rates by 4% as of February 27 and is reminding newly disgruntled customers that DirecTV still ranks higher than cable according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Most customers can expect a $3-$5 increase, but don't count on award-winning customer service.  More Â»

—>Lots of companies are pushing deals for their bundled internet, tv and phone plans, but which are best? Consumer Reports surveyed its readers and here's how they ranked the service providers:  More Â»

—> In April of 2006, Deborah replaced her daughter's DirecTV receiver. When the technician was installing the line to her daughter's bedroom, he accidentally shoved his foot through the Deborah's ceiling.  More Â»

—>"I was one of the majority when it came to being fed up with Comcast. However, unlike most, I never had any of the customer service nightmares so often reported on consumer sites. My dissatisfaction with Comcast was purely based on what I felt was unfair pricing.  More Â»