I was switching from Time Warner Cable to DirecTV through Costco, so I called customer service to verify their package information.

Like others that reviewed here, the customer service rep that I dealt with was extremely rude, he kinda had an NYC accent lol

Yes, he answered my questions but kept insisting on having me sign-up over the phone instead of through Costco.com. He said that if I will still get the $50 Costco cash card, and he'll give me additional channels free for 3 months.

So he checked my credit and everything was good, and when he was about to finalize the order...there was "glitch" on his system that makes him unable to give me the free channels. I politely said I'll just do it through Costco, and he just went nuts!! I thanked him for his time and assistance, and he kept saying that I'm not welcome and to stop wasting his time....haha he went from ok and attentive to psycho in 2 seconds!!

Jeez if this is how DirecTV treats their potential customers, how would they treat you if you're a current customer and have service problems? So to wrap it up, STAY AWAY FROM DIRECTV!! If you do sign up with them, I hope you have better experience than me.

P.S. Don't waste your time asking for a Supervisor, they'll just transfer you to some Chinese customer service center, seriously.

DirecTV: 17 Reasons to Avoid It

For the past year, I've leased two high definition recorders and one standard def receiver and here's what I found:

1. Appointments are often either not kept, or when they are, are late. Phone calls are commonly not returned. Repeated attempts to resolve problems are futile. Some representatives are as pleasant as the Borg.

2. If DirecTV physically damages your audio video equipment on installation, they refuse all responsibility, refusing to pay for repair costs (after initially agreeing to do so and firing the installation tech). I'm out several hundred dollars in replacement costs for equipment the tech physically damaged.

3. Incomplete satellite dish installations, such as failing to replace an air vent screen thus allowing birds to nest inside your house, may occur. Expect black handprints on your walls.

4. Promised credits never materialize on the bill.

5. None of the equipment is guaranteed beyond 90 days; your choice is to either pay for an ongoing monthly service plan or the full cost of the repairs/replacements/dish realignments.

6. All too frequently the receiver must be reinitialized using the reset button; this takes 10 to 20 minutes, so if you are intending to watch a program, you're out of luck.

7. The remote is not ergonomically designed, with the buttons being unlit, very stiff and difficult to use for anyone with a joint disorder (and if you don't have one to begin with, you may by the time you've finished using this remote). Unless you hold the remote number keys down just the right amount of time, either the number will not register or it will be repeated (e.g., pressing channel 2 may result in channel 22). However, pressing and holding the up or down arrow key buttons does not result in cycling through a menu; instead you must press repeatedly to arrive at your selection. Response to commands is very slow. Unlike other remotes, this one is not at all forgiving if you do not point it directly at the receiver and TV. (Although one is located directly above the other, they may or may not turn on/off simultaneously.) It is white and dirties easily. On the plus side, the rubberized back keeps the remote from slipping around.

8. Only one channel is available from local stations that broadcast multiple channels. For example, the local PBS station broadcasts one hi-def channel and three standard definition channels, but only the former is available.

9. The audio and video are not always in sync; sometimes resetting the unit helps, sometimes not.

10. Changing channels is not instantaneous, in fact, not even close, taking 4-11 seconds.

11. Sometimes when the DVR requires resetting, previously recorded programs are not available.

12. Although you "purchase" the DVRs at $200 each when initiating service, you don't really own them and must return them to DirecTV or be charged once again for them.

13. Attempting to record only the new episodes of a series does not work if the same episode appears later in the day or the next day. The DVR will record multiple copies of the same show, unnecessarily using hard disk space.

14. At times, there is no reception when it is snowing; perhaps this is a problem with Dish TV, as well.

15. Unrequested pay-per-view program/movies sometimes appear on your list of recordings. DirecTV says these are “suggestions” despite the fact I’ve never used their pay-per-view service and certainly wouldn’t choose something such as “Monsters versus Aliens.” Be careful you don’t inadvertently click the wrong button or you’ll be charged for it. DirecTV says there is no way to keep these “suggestions” from appearing on your list of recordings.

16. They nickel and dime you to death with extra charges (e.g., more than one receiver, HD reception, equipment maintenance). The ultimate charge is far more than the advertised cost.

17. They bill for premium channels not ordered and then state since the channels were available reversal of the charges is not possible.


*** DirecTV is quite possibly the worst cable/satellite provider on the planet. In summary, if you don't mind shoddy & poorly designed equipment, missed appointments, and unethical behavior, you'll probably be delighted with DirecTV (the picture truly is terrific). However, given the overall inferior quality of its equipment and practices, DreckTV might be a more accurate appellation for the company.

*** If you already have the misfortune of being a DirecTV customer/victim and experience similar problems, it might be useful to contact the Better Business Bureau and your state's Consumer Affairs Division in the Attorney General's office, describing their predatory practices. A review on other consumer sites such as Angie's List wouldn't hurt either.

it sounds like some of you might be interested in this lawsuit.

Class Action Lawsuit Against DirecTV Regarding "Leased Receiver" Fees Allowed to Proceed

Court denies DirecTV's Motion to Compel Arbitration thereby allowing putative class action that alleges DirecTV improperly assessed "Leased Receiver" fees and collected excessive "taxes" to move forward.

Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) October 31, 2009 -- In an order dated October 28, 2009, United States District Court Judge Charles A. Pannell, Jr. denied a motion by DirecTV to compel arbitration in the case of Jones v. DirecTV, Inc. (Case Number 1:09-CV-1036-CAP). The class action lawsuit claims that DirecTV and The DirecTV Group, which are headquartered in El Segundo, California, have improperly assessed monthly "Leased Receiver" fees upon customers who obtained their receiver from an authorized DirecTV dealer. Judge Pannell also denied DirecTV's motion to stay the case, thereby allowing the plaintiffs to proceed with discovery.

The lawsuit has been pursued on behalf of named plaintiff Andrea Jones, one of DirecTV's over 18 million subscribers. According to the terms of DirecTV's contract with customers such as Ms. Jones, a lease fee in the amount of $4.99 per month is assessed for each DirecTV receiver being used by the customer. According to the contract, however, customers are supposed to receive a $4.99 monthly credit to their account for the first (primary) receiver. Ms. Jones' lawsuit alleges that DirecTV has failed to provide the monthly credit according to the terms of the contract.

In addition, the Complaint alleges that DirecTV also improperly charged its customers sales tax on these improper "Leased Receiver" fees. The suit claims that DirecTV also collects excessive amounts of sales tax on the leasing fees by charging customers for taxes on the credited amount and collecting a greater percentage rate of tax than allowed under state law. The plaintiffs allege that DirecTV is liable for all damages that have resulted from its conduct. Moreover, the Complaint seeks injunctive relief to prevent DirecTV from continuing to assess these improper charges.

DirecTV responded to the lawsuit by moving the Court to compel arbitration in accordance with DirecTV's customer agreement. Had this motion been granted, the case would have been removed from the judicial system and litigated in a forum more favorable to DirecTV. Enforcement of the arbitration provision of the customer agreement also would have prevented the pursuit of the case as a class action on behalf of all of the customers harmed. Judge Pannell found that the class action waiver contained within the customer agreement rendered the arbitration clause substantively unconscionable and therefore unenforceable.

The putative class action lawsuit has been filed by Atlanta attorneys E. Adam Webb and G. Franklin Lemond, Jr. of Webb, Klase & Lemond, LLC. The case is pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this press release, please contact the firm via e-mail at contact (at) webbllc (dot) com or by calling G. Franklin Lemond, Jr. directly at (770) 444-9325.

If you read all the negative statements you will realize its the people who always complaint to try to get free stuff and when they finally get it they are mad because they have a new agreement. If they would stop being so damn lazy and making them selves the victum they might get some where in life but until then we will have to use them as stepping stones to our satisfaction. Man, the law of attractions sure does work and work well!

I agree with most of the reviews. AVOID THIS COMPANY. I am mailing in a payment for an invoice I received for $300.00. I am VERY UPSET about making this payment. I was a customer who never paid one payment late. I had to call them a couple of times because the box they gave me broke. They NEVER told me that everytime you call to activate a box your contract renews itself. BUNCH OF LIERS AND DECEITFUL PEOPLE. They are charging me for their crapy boxes that never worked. I am NEVER going to use this company again and I am on a mission to tell all of my friends, family and as many people as I can of how much this company cheats and lies to their customers.

BE CAREFUL AND DO NOT PURCHASE ANY SERVICES FROM THIS COMPANY.

Avoid DirecTV like the plague. Early this year, my wife and I cancelled DirecTV. Several months later, we suddenly received a $370.17 bill for service and equipment we no longer use! We had switched to Verizon FIOS, but were still getting billed!

Their customer service is horrible. They wouldn't even respond to our complaint, and instead, just moved us on to their Collections company. We were loyal customers who paid our bills on time. We didn't deserve their treatment.

I'm a full time RV'er and love my DirecTV! I travel the countryside with my Winegard RoadTrip satellite tv antenna and have excellent reception everywhere in the country. Love my DirecTV!

I have had the most frustrating 2 hour back and forth with DirecTVs many incoherent, rude and unfriendly customer service, rebate, billing and retention team. Customer lifetime value boils down to how quickly you can con the customer.

Here are the details
- July 18: Installation
- Aug 12: Called to question why my bill was so high and got the answer that the rebate is being processed and it will take another 6-8 weeks to process
- Oct 19 (today): Called to cancel premium subscription and questioned my rebate. Found out that they have no record of my rebate and since it is over 90 days they can do nothing. If i have reference number then they could do something but nothing since i have no record. So I am out of luck since they had a glitch
- I talked to customer service which apologized and gave me the number for the rebate dept (877-286-4808). Mentioned that this happens once in a while and they will take care of it he then even escalated it so that someone senior can get back to me with the resolution.
- I got the same answer at Rebate dept. escalated it to Rebate mgr Jody (Badge 2039).. they cant do anything and i need to talk to customer service.
- Frustrated for being shuffled between departments that dont talk to each other -- I got Jody to 3 way call in customer service.
- Victor (Badge 5727009) got on the phone and repeated the same thing.
- It then got escalated to Lori, customer service manager. Who again repeated the same thing
- Finally at my wits end, I asked to to get my DirecTVcanceled and then got transfered to the retention team
- Annette (badge id 100300729) on the retention team repeated the same thing. I am out of luck as they have no record of my submitting the rebate form online. So the best she can do is give me a $10 credit for 6 months. If i cancel i have to pay a $200 cancellation fee.


NET-NET: DirecTV has a great customer loyalty program. They have stuck to the old ways of finding ways to screw the customer. Make it really really hard to get rebates. I wonder why they dont implement similar systems for charging money (ex: PPV and other items). They get reflected before you hit "yes" on your dial.

Frankly I accepted better from DirecTV.

Dissapointed
Manu

I am an installer for DTV Home Services. I have read alot of comments on this page most of which were negative. First off, Damage claims are bad, wanting everything for free is bad. Just exactly why do you think you bill goes up all the time. It is hard on alot of houses I go to, I try to do everything perfect and the drill bit slips to the side a little and makes a nik in the entertainment center. Customer submits a damage claim for a full replacement for that center. Now multiply that by thousands of customers making damage calims for stupid little nik's, well your bill goes up to cover the cost. The average install costs DirecTV $750 to put in your house, it takes a little over 2 years to start making a profit on that (thus a 2 year contract). When they just give you crap for free it is more loss. If you own a buisness and you start loosing money what do you have to do, (common this is a no brainer), you raise your prices duh.

You can avoid a contract if you pay around $750 for the install.
DTV = 2 year contract period, pro-rated fee = $20 for every month that is left in contract if you cancel.

You want a bunch of custom crap done on your house by the low paid installer, DTV looses money for excess time because you get it for free (in alot of areas), more cost more bill.
Installers loose money the instant they are stuck on a house for to long.

I personally want to be a very good tech for my customers. On the other hand I don't make a living be a perfect tech. I have to pay a huge house payment, I have bills, I need groceries, so it is a choice between your perfect install or being able to financially make it. DTV HSP does not pay crap to installers and we have to do custom junk for free. Yay I almost went into backruptcy by being the perfect tech. Now I will not do anything custom to easly, I will fight you tooth and nail about it. I usto care, but now I don't because despite my previous best efforts and perfect installs I still got screwed by my customers and DTV.
The only thing I will say now on my installs is that the dish will be installed right, it will be grounded, and you will have the right wire in your rooms. After that I am not really interested in what you think because I still need to pay my bills to.
WE do not enjoy being late to any job, it will instantly crap out are day. If we have a small delay in the morning it cascades through the whole day and BAM!! home after 15 hours of work.

So you want to know why so many installs suck, it is easy, Dish or DTV does not care about the installers and so the installers don't care about you. If we do good things for you, it means nothing at the work place and make the bills hard to pay.

In an installers world, money is the game, not service, not you, flat out money. Greety I know but with all the little games from both side of the puzzle it is just how it is.
You might be amazed what an installer might do for you with a tip being involved, hey we need money.

As for contracts, READ THE DAMN THINGS, they are actually rather clear on what will happen. NEVER do anything AUTOPAYMENT, that is just stupid.
The dish points are satellites that are 23500 miles in space in the southern sky usualy between 30 to 45deg elevation. If you don't have that clear view that is how it is, these are NOT RF antennas and will not point through objects.

Most of the billing issues you have are normally your damn fault because you are either dumb or you don't read things like you should because you are mentally lazy.

Thus be the world of corporations, always a cascading pile of crap that roles down to the employee then you the customer.
Go work in a call center, it sucks badly, if you do that you will fully understand why the service somehow always sucks with companies.
You want good service then stop calling with every dumb question in the book and learn to read things. No call center rep likes there phone ringing like a crazy mofo all days of the week.

What I have said here applies to any company really, everything is by numbers in a corporation not by individual. If there is to much of something then it gets changed.

P.S. - If I made spelling or grammer errors, I don't care, I did not proof read because I should be sleeping and I typed to much to read back to my self at this time of night.

boy do I miss Direct TV. We switched to Dish to save money. I've had many of the same problems as listed below, but you really don't know poor customer service, a horrifically bad DVR user interface or a long list of serious and unsolvable technical problems until you go to Dish Network.

Just signed up and going on the 3rd day of waiting for installation!!

1st day - Appt for tech to come between 12 and 4pm. Never shows up!! When we call to find out what happened, they say the tech called us and nobody answered so they go to the next job. B.S.! If someone had called it would have shown on our cell phones "missed call". Liars!

2nd day - Appt for 8am to 12p. 11 am we decide to find out what is going on. They say they will contact the tech and someone will call us back in 20 to 30 min. Did we get a call back??? No! We call again at 12:15pm and complain. "We will find out and someone will call you back in 20-30 min." Someone actually returns a call! Yay! "The tech is running late and will be there in an hour." Grrrr....ok. An hour and 20 min pass... We call AGAIN!!! "someone will call you in 20 to 30 min to give you an ETA." Get a call back - "Oh, the tech will be there in about 30 min."

He finally shows up but "installation can take up to 4 hrs". We have to go to work and we can't stay. Somewhere in the conversation with the tech "Oh, honestly it could take up to 6 hours to install..." What!?!

Call again and set up an appt for attempt #3. Not impressed with customer service. Tomorrow I am not hopeful that they will show up for their appt....

Directv is false advertising. I recently signed up for a $44.95 a month plan, which has turned into a $70 a month plan. In order to get your rebate you have to apply for it online, and they will make sure your account doesn't qualify. Customer service is terrible, no one can help with rebates and the so called "manager" I spoke with was a huge bitch to me. DO NOT sign up for the service, and if you do plan on paying an extra $25-$30 bucks a month for it.

I had a combined bill with Quest, and while Quest was always wonderful, prompt and polite, I cannot say the same for DirecTV. Apparently, I had signed up for a 24 month contract when the lease for my apartment was only 12 months. Had this been verbalized to me, I would have declined the contract.

When my lease was up, I canceled my contract - which I thought was to both companies - and made sure all of my payments were current. I even received a check because I had overpaid them!

A few weeks later, there was a $700 dollar charge made to my bank account from DirecTV. They claimed it was for 2 months of unpaid service (at $170 a month - WHAT?? I never paid over $105 for combined service!), a cancellation fee of $180 and the rest in equipment fees. The supervisor was extraordinarily rude and told me I "owed" it to DirecTV, even after overpaying them several months ago? Well, everything I paid several months ago seems to have gone up in smoke because they can't find paperwork anywhere.

I returned the equipment and am still awaiting my credit. Every time I call them, they are rude, pushy and act as if I'm wasting their time. I will tell everyone I know how terrible this company is. They are crooks!

Everytime I get off the phone with customer service I am ticked off. I bought their protection plan, it doesn't cover "customer caused" problems. Just about anything they want to list can qualify as "customer caused".

If you buy your receiver at a retail store it is still leased, and you have to return it to DirecTV when you cancel your service. I bought my receiver from a private party four years ago, they tell me unless I can prove that I have to return it or be charged for it.

Their service technicians tell me my service on my internet is just lousy, and I need to live with it. This company stinks!

I had Directv for a year and a half. I wanted to upgrade to an HD-DVR after getting a new TV. Online the cost was $199 for the new box. I called and asked if they could do anything to lower the price, they said no. I called cable, got a better deal...Free HD-DVR. I called to cancel service with Directv. I was transferred to customer retention. They offered me a free HD-DVR to stay and a $20 credit on my bill for 6 months. I accepted that deal. The next day I received my confirmation email. It said I was to get a regular HD receiver for free and a second for $100. I called to straighten out the situation. The person told me there was no way I was offered that deal. I asked them to check the recorded conversation, they refused. They insisted I misunderstood what I was offered. That operator offered to drop the price by $50. I then canceled and told them cable would give me the HD-DVR for free.

A week later I received an email and letter asking for my business back. And guess what was offered...a free HD DVR. I called and asked why I couldn't get this when I asked. I was told offers change daily. It must have been magic that the offer "changed" the next week. I have since received 5 emails and 2 letters asking for my service back. I feel I was only important to Directv only after I stopped paying them. I have since filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

DirectTV is one the worst companies I've ever dealt with. They signed me up for NFL season ticket without my permission or request. I called to ask them to remove it and they refused which can only be considered stealing. This company stole approximately $300 from me.

They are more expensive than the competition. It's just a fact.

The service itself is inferior - If the weather is bad you will not be watching TV. It just the limitation of the satellite technology.

Customer service is terrible. Random charges. Long wait times. When we scheduled installation the technician didn't show up the first day. Then didn't bring a latter tall enough for our roof on the reschedule. Then drilled a hole in the side of our house that was large and very visible. Then filled it in terribly with silicone.

Please take your business elsewhere!

As long as you don't give them your credit card # and check your bill every month then you should be ok! I have had my share of problems believe me but they have always  taken care of it but remember they dont have my card #.  I think its time to use their Promotion 100.00 dollars toward your bill and 100.00 toward your friends bill! Please; let me be your friend. All you have to do is give them my account #  when you order not after. If you do this for me I will give you a direct phone # to customer service. That alone worth its weight in gold. Lets help each other!   Please call me for numbers you need John Philips (706)878-9280 or email drywalljohn@yahoo.com I could sure use the help.  Thank you!!!

After almost 14 years of trouble free happy commitment with DirecTv, I have had enough!
in the last two months, they have gone from first to worst. After a five day unexplained outage of service and promises of better service and some credit for our trouble, it happened again this morning! Five hours later, no service..... Dish Network is on their way out for my install tomorrow :)

Is there anyone who knows how to run a company anymore?

Indiana

If I could rate a negative I certainly would. This company is the worst there is. Customer service is non-existent. They automatically sign you up for lengthly service contracts without your knowledge, sneek agreements into your billing and then say you agreed to it and will take money out of any account they have on record without your authroization. They are extremely unethical. I feel a little better in knowing that in my job, I visit Homeowner associations and I've been able to share my DirecTV experience with these communities preventing hundreds from experiencing the deceptive practices of this company!

i've been a directv customer for quite a while and they have always followed through with what they say they will and as long as i read and understand my contract, they make it worth my while to stay with the company.

Directv Blows! I wish I could give Directv no stars, but this doesn't let me. My service dropped on Thursday, September 3rd. Directv couldn't get a service person to my home until Saturday the 12th. He spent about 45 minutes and found several issues with the installation, which was only done last December. I had service on Saturday. However, today, Monday the 14th, I, once again, have no service. It is virtually impossible to get a human being on the telephone; their phone tree is insane. I am stuck with a contract until December, 2010. Do yourself a favor if you're thinking about Directv--DON'T DO IT!!

Now I can't watch HistoryHd or ScienceHd because there's an error code 771. I get all the other channels with the occasional digital hick-ups but according to dtv my dish is out of alignment. Well guess what, now they want me to pay them $70 to have someone re align the dish. The dish is in the exact spot the installer put it and there isn't a tree or anything else even remotely close to it. It's bolted into the top of my roof through my roof shingles. It doesn't rain here much in Phoenix, AZ, so I haven't noticed it water is leaking into my attic. I guess after I'm finally done with them once my contranct is up, i'll have to call out a roofer to patch up the holes.

Don't give DIRECTV your credit card number! I cancelled my service with them, and was supposed to be charged $80 early cancellatiion fee, but they charged me $252 instead. It's been 2 months now, and I am still trying to get my money back. Very poor customer service. Every time you get a different person, and they tell you different stories.

HORRIBLE communication!!!! I cancelled my account w/ Time Warner cable and switched to DirecTV. They told me they would be at my apartment between 8 am and noon. When they finally showed up at 3:45 pm (nearly 4 hours after the latest they said they would be here), the serviceman immediately looked at my balcony and said that it was impossible to put a satellite on it because it doesn't face south!! I asked the person on the phone repeatedly whether DirecTV would be compatible with my apartment, and they assured me it would. Never was it mentioned that my balcony needed to face south. Now I have cancelled my cable package and wasted a full day waiting for a service that I can't have. WARNING: IF YOUR APARTMENT BALCONY DOESN'T FACE SOUTH, YOU CAN'T USE DIRECTV (something they fail to tell you when they're taking your money!!!)

Stay Away! Bait and switch! Very very bad customer service!. As soon as you sign the contract you are nothing to them. I didn't think there were still companies in business who treated their customers so badly. I asked for 2 HD receivers but only got one. They said that since they sent me an order confirmation and I didn't catch the mistake it was too bad and would now cost $165.00 to fix. What!!! I finally got a supervisor on the phone and she agreed to knock off $50. OK cool so what is the new total? She says $205.00. What!! It was $165 before you took the $50 off. She says oh, I'm sorry but the other girl didn't add it up right. After that I just hung up before I busted a blood vessel or something. I submitted a complaint on the web site but never heard back. To top it off I went online and I can get an HD receiver delivered and installed for $165 just like the first girl said. So to sum it all up: There was a bait and switch and when I called to rectify it a supervisor lied and tried to bait and switch me again. After the contract is up I’m out. Please, for your own peace of mind do not get DirecTV!

A DirecTV installer punched holes on my roof and mounted the satellite antenna. After mounting the dish, he told me that he could not get a good signal and left the dish on my roof.

It is a big eyesore, of course.

I called directv customer service and they told me that it is my responsibility to take it down. They would not do anything for us to remove their dish.

DirecTV customer service sucks like hell.

Directv is the only US TV provider that doesn't have the Versus (sports) channel. After your first year is up they DOUBLE your rates. I've been with them for 3 years and will switch as soon as AT&T U-Verse is available. They also have THE worst customer service I've ever dealt with......

Service no good!
Receivers are junk!
Had 3 receivers in less than 2 years all bad!
Price is to high!
Will quit them when 24 months is up!

copy of letter I just sent to Direct TV: I was told that this would be a free service call by the Customer Retention Departartment. Why am I seeing this on my bill! You say I'm getting something then switching the terms or make me jump through an additional hoop before recieving the service (e.g. reduced monthly bill with initial sign-up, "free" movie offers and now service calls apparently). I insist that you immmediatly credit the service fee for fixing a dish that was never installed properly in the first place!!!! I am so tired of crooked corporate tactics of bait and switch marketing. I have many regrets in my decision to change from DISH sattelite service to yours, when this contract is over I have little doubt that I will pull the plug on DIRECT_TV and return to the user friendly DISH service. signed a very unhappy Direct TV customer.

copy of letter I just sent to Direct TV: I was told that this would be a free service call by the Customer Retention Departartment. Why am I seeing this on my bill! You say I'm getting something then switching the terms or make me jump through an additional hoop before recieving the service (e.g. reduced monthly bill with initial sign-up, "free" movie offers and now service calls apparently). I insist that you immmediatly credit the service fee for fixing a dish that was never installed properly in the first place!!!! I am so tired of crooked corporate tactics of bait and switch marketing. I have many regrets in my decision to change from DISH sattelite service to yours, when this contract is over I have little doubt that I will pull the plug on DIRECT_TV and return to the user friendly DISH service. signed a very unhappy Direct TV customer.

I feel as though I have been scammed. When I called to order service I made it clear I was going to use a referal to get the discount. The customer service rep. was very nice and explained everything I needed to do to get it. Well almost, when I called a few days after installation, I was told I was supposed to call on the day of installation. Because I didnt call on the day of installation I could not get the referal discount. Now remember, this was just a few days after the start of service. I wasnt happy but I just blew it off.
Two months later, along with the bill ,I received a coupon for a free PPV movie. I ordered a movie and sent in the coupon. They did not and still have not honored it. I sent an Email to customer service and they replied with "call customer service". I called customer service and got nowhere.
I blew the first incicdent off, but now I am seeing a pattern of offering discounts to order services and then not honoring the discounts. I encourage everyone who has been cheated by Directv to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I am.

Worst programming ever! Horrible customer service. And if you are any sort of sports fan...you are better off getting regular cable, or even a converter box and no cable at all! Otherwise, you will be left with 1 game (if you are lucky), while your friends at other companies get about 5 games.

Weaknesses:
customer service
search engines
ease of navigating server
sports programming is pretty much non-existent!

I only gave it a one start, because I am obligated and negatives are not available.

Not worth my time to talk about this pathetic company - stay away!, minus 10 stars.


Yep, It's Me!

Directv is awesome. I had it for about 5 years and loved it. I now work for them I hate to see all the Directv bashing on here. A lot of customers neglect to read the whole advertisement or their customer agreements and somehow that is our fault? Take the time to review what you are getting, ask if there is anything extra you need to do to get the promotional price (like fill out a rebate) don't sign anything the installer asks you to until you read THE WHOLE THING. There is a sentance stating you read and agree to all terms and conditions so READ AND UNDERSTAND them, make life a little easier for both sides.

If you are considering Directv in the area where you have cable or Verizon Fios, it is not recommended.
First, they made you pay for the harware (Dish/Receiver) and yet you still DO NOT own it. After spending 2-3 hundred for the equipment at Best Buy/Costco, at the end of day when you cancel their service, you will still have to return "their" equipment ?! Do not know about what you think, but I think it is ridiculous. Why is it I have to pay for the equipment and then I have to return it?
I called and asked them and was told that it is basically a type of "lease"... ok.. but I still have to pay the "rent" with extra receiver I added to the line (I purchase these as well)!!
That is not the worse... keep reading on the best is yet to come... Since the equipment "belongs" to them, is it going to be them to maintain it? In other word, if the equipment breaks down, are they going to replace it for free? Nope... you are on your own!!! I do not know what is going to happen when we return a malfunction equipment to them... They will probably charge you for "breaking it".... But wait! There is more... last week, their service somehow was not working. We could not view any of their channels (we do not really know what was happenning on their ends) we called them up that they told me to schedule a technician to come over and take a look. We did but 2 days later, their service was back online (we did nothing) and out of courtesy, we call them to cancel the appointment to save their time as we thought the technician was going to come out and check our equipment for free. Good thing we called to cancel as the service was NOT free and cost $49.95 BUT THE REP did NEVER mention that when suggesting a techinician to come out. They even suggested to have the technician coming out regardless. I would think this tech was either ignorant or had followed the company direction to mislead their customers to add a few extra bucks on the company bottom line. The company should be forbidden to do business in the US until they get their acts together and have a better business process to serve US customers.
Anyhow, if you are new and think of Directv. I have no good word for this company. The program is good but Cable and Fios offer the exact same programming. They may be a bit more expensive but Directv is not much cheaper as far as total cost is taken into consideration.

Our story is too long, and lucky for us, we reached the 18-month anniversary of our contract. Time does heal all wounds, because we have already been able to forget the horrible service and reception we received from this national company!??? We now have Cox cable and we are sooo much happier. If you live near any trees, don't get DirecTV!!

Sincerely,

ARB2

Deception!! I've only had Directv for a month and already I am so flustered!!

Don't get me wrong, i love the channels I PAY for and don't mind paying a hundred and so dollars for movie movies movies and channels i don't even know what to do with...that's not the problem!

Installation, other than black handprints was fine...I live in the boonies and understand how he could get lost...that's still not the problem!

The problem...the follow up to ordering my services. When i first called to order services, they ran my credit and said i would have to pay a two hundred and something dollar deposit...ugh...he then asked if there was someone elses credit i could use (can we say potentially condoning identity theft)...so i opted my dad's BUT ONLY after i repeatedly asked - even if the credit is ran in my father's name, the account and billing would stay under my name, the service rep assured me this and that it would only be ran to determine the deposit. I verified this time and time again throughout the ordering process...

Next...like i said, i live in the boonies and i know i do not receive mail at my home, therefore, I have to have my mail sent to my father and mother's address...so again, i verified that they had the correct mailing address.

Only one month later....still haven't received a bill so i call to make sure that they had my mailing address down correct...of course NO they did not and come to find out the account is in my father's name and there would be no way to transfer the account out of his name and SS# to mine. After explaining to the gal what had happen there was no resolution to this maddness...

In after expressing my frustrations to my mother she informed me that there is a 2 year contract that i somewhere agreed to and that it'd be $20 for every month that i cancelled on, running total $460 plus the $150 bucks i owe immediatly because I yet to receive my bill...and yes the amount that i ended up getting billed is no where near the advertised amounts!!! The rebate will be processed 6-8 weeks after i submit the rebate offer...lol...well after the deal is over....

yeah the small print really bites you in the ass with these guys....i don't mind paying for it, satellite is my only option, cable isn't offered where i live....but i do mind being lied to, manipulated into a deceitful contract or agreement, etc! Do NOT believe anything that these reps tell you...it is just their unethical job!

I know this is just the beginning to a very unhealthy relationship!! It's like battered customer syndrome...it's the only thing i can do so i'm going to have to try to make it work....totally not looking forward to this!!!!

The most unprofessional staff ever. They always play with their billing so that somehow you are always paying more. NOW they automatically signed me up for another 2 years and there is nothing they can do about it. STAY AWAY!!!!! I wouldnt even give ONE star.

Service sucks, if its drizzling outside the signal goes out.

Buyer Beware! We signed up last year for a promotional package(CHOICE) of 29.99 Month for one year, and were absolutely assured that when we suspended the service after 6 months at our vacation place in New Hampshire, the same promo would be good for the remaining 6months when we started up again this May. I gave our Master CArd number for the purpose of DircecTV checking our credit-worthiness, but always paid by check. We gave NO authorization to charge against our account. Our first bill this MAY had a basic charge of 59.99, and DirecTv denied that the promotion would extend after the winter service was suspended. They offered first a $50 rebate, then, on the next call a $ 150.00 rebate! I said that our original agreement was for a basic @29.99/mo. for 12 mo. and I would discontinue service if this wasn't honored. They then proceeded to charge a $250 fee against my Mastercard, for early termination of the contract. No matter that they didn't honor their agreement!
To top it off! This week, we received 2 phone calls from a sales representative who said that we were "old and valued customers" and we could sign up to DIrecTv for a $34.99 basic package for 12 months! Very interesting, I said, and would that continue if we suspended service for the winter? The first rep. put me on hold and checked with her supervisor - absolutely!, the answer came back. The second rep didn't have to check, and assured me the offer was good even with a break in service. Is this a scam, do you think?

Stay away from DirecTV! All I can say is damn the NFL! if it wasn't for the NFL sunday ticket I would have stayed with COX cable. My experience has been absolutely gut wrenching with DirecTV since I made the switch last week. Lets see, where to begin?

Part 1: The Call

OK It all started when I made that call last week to DirecTV to compare rates with COX, I asked the rep to price me DirecTV's best package with all of the premiums so that I could compare to COX's rates, the price was within a few dollars of what I was already paying so I told the rep that I thought I would just stay with COX, he then asked me If I like football to which I replied "Hell ya!" well, he says that he will give me the NFL Sunday ticket for free if I will sign up today! (I had been thinking about getting the NFL sunday ticket for a number of years) so I said OK, I will switch. The rep asks me when I would want it installed, I said "whenever" he said how about this week? I said that I was kinda busy this week, how about next week? he says, well I can have some guys out there friday to install it, it would be a good idea to go ahead and get it installed now incase they are too busy the next week so I said OK.

Part 2: The Installation

The guys show up Friday afternoon to get me hooked up, before they begin I tell them that I am going to have to leave for a couple of hours but my wife will be home so I walk them through a few things. Number 1. I had all of the rooms in my home wired with (2) coax cables each (1) RG59 and (1) RG6 (one for cable and one for satellite) I showed them the junction box outside where they could simply connect the satellite to the proper cables in each room and be done with it, simple! apparently not! I came home to find the guys packing up, I said goodbye. Well, later that evening I noticed that my broadband internet no longer worked (provided by COX) so I proceeded to troubleshoot the problem,.................................one thing led to another and I found myself in the attic, well guess what these A holes had CUT every coax cable in my attic and left them in a huge pile!!!!! why??? called DirecTV to complain, was told that these guys are contractors and DirecTV was not responsible and that I needed to contact the contractors. That is a problem seeing as I do not have a number to call these guys and DirecTV said that they could not give me a contact number.........is this really happening?...WTF!

Part 3: FREE NFL SUNDAY TICKET!!

OK, My DirecTV is installed on Friday.......Saturday, I get a letter in the mail from DirecTV thanking me for choosing them and to please review my order to make sure it is correct before the install takes place, If there are errors in my order etc. I need to call them before the installation takes place. Well guess what? I am charged for the NFL sunday ticket....that little lying SOB! I call DirecTV to get this worked out and I am told that the NFL sunday ticket is not free and that I must have misunderstood....NO i do not think so! It was not a misunderstanding! I was actually calling from my office at work and had 2 other people in my office at the time and I repeated the reps statement that the NFL sunday ticket was free numerous times to him and both people that were in my office easily recall this being said because I was sooo excited about getting something for free! I guess the sales reps can say anything they want to make a sale! what about the little statement at the beginning that "this call is recorded"? well, that is probably a lie too.

Part 4: ON DEMAND

Here we go, wife wants to watch a few back episodes of Rescue Me, so how does this ON Demand work? I mess with it, nothing....come to find out the receiver must be hooked up to the internet for on demand to work, maybe I should have thought of this...but I believe the installation guys should have explained this to me and actually hooked this up for me, I mean I would consider this to be part of the service that I am paying for, wouldnt you? well it isnt apparently, you have to buy more equipment from DirecTV for this to work and hook it up yourself. So after spending the entire weekend in my attic crawling around running CAT5 cable to each of my receivers I am connected to the internet! another 24 hours for the channels to download and I have ON Demand, ...kind of! I still do not have any of the actual ON Demand channels like, the premiums, FX etc. etc. I have spent over 2 hours on the phone with DirecTV reps trying to figure this problem and have gotten NO WHERE! The reps are not trained at all, they have NO idea how anything DirecTV related works all they can do is read what the script on their monitors show!! unbelievable experience!! I have been hungup on (disconnected is what the reps like to call it) I have been shuffled around to every department in the call center....THIS IS so frustrating!!!!!!! You have to watch a 5 minute video on using ON DEMAND before you can actually access it, which I did and what is really sad is after watching this 5 minute video I new more about ON DEMAND than the reps did!!!! they didnt even Know the correct channel numbers for the on demand channels! is this possible???? how can their customer service reps be this poorly trained?? who is running the show at DirecTV???? are you a freaking idiot???: my god!

Part 5:

I could go on and on about this experience but I am tired of typing and reliving this experience which is far from being over.....one more small note, when the installation guys hook up your equipment and are getting ready to split and you ask "do you have a list of channels or something you can leave me?" you will have a good idea of what you are in for when they answer, "No..you will have to go on the internet and print one off" Please do yourself a favor.......stay away from DirecTV!! NFL Sunday Ticket is not worth it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TOTAL CRAP!

i just got off the phone with a supervisor at Directv who has informed me that a problem recording hd channels on their dvr is a common problem, one of which i have had for months. They tell me they will do nothing for me except report it to the engineers. the have no cure for the problem. they will not reimburse me, there is no upgrade that i can pay for. meanwhile, i have a "protection plan" that seemingly is not protecting me against this kind of problem. so in essence. i have an hd box which costs more. but if i want to record a program, i cannot record it in hd and watch it later. i am paying for a service that is not working and they do not know at all when it will work. they cannot fix it and don't know when it will ever be fixed.
very bad customer service. nothing offered to me to help the dilemma and technology has surpassed them apparently! they are still better then the old Adelphia, but that is gone and now Time Warner has taken its place. Good luck finding a company that cares!

IS THERE NO STAR IN HERE AT ALL??? BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT THEY DESERVE. VERY BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE, ALL LIARS. I WAS TOLD MY CONTRACT ENDED AND NOW THAT I HAVE RETURNED ALL THE EQUIPMENTS TO THEM AND SIGNED UP FOR A NEW CABLE COMPANY BECAUSE OF THEY'RE BAD SIGNALS AND CUSTOMER SERVICE, THEY ARE NOW CHARGING ME OF AN "EARLY CANCELLATION FEE" BECAUSE THEY HAD TO REPLACE THE ORIGINAL RECEIVER WHICH WAS NOT WORKING AND THE TECHNICIAN HAD TO REPLACE IT BECAUSE HE WAS NOT ABLE TO FIX IT, AND NOW THEY ARE SAYING THAT BECAUSE OF THAT REPLACEMENT THEY HAD TO RENEW MY CONTRACT FOR ANOTHER 2 YEARS!!!!! WHICH I WAS NEVER INFORMED OF AND ON THE DAY I CALLED TO ASK FOR A KIT TO SEND ALL THE EQUIPMENT, THE REP DID NOT MENTION ANYTHING ABOUT EARLY CANCELLATION FEE!!!! CLEARLY, DIRECTV IS LOSING ALOT OF MONEY BECAUSE OF THEIR BAD SERVICE, THAT NOW BECAUSE I DIDNT RENEW THE CONTRACT WITH THEM THEY ARE CLAIMING THAT I HAVE 2 MORE YEARS WITH THEM AND THAT THEY WILL BE CHARGING ME!!! DO NOT SIGN UP FOR DIRECTV UNLESS YOU LIKE TALKING TO STUPID UNEDUCATED NOT TRUSTWORTHY PEOPLE OF DIRECTV!

Directv is the most pathetic satellite tv service. Customer service representative are not well educated of the product and the services. They say something and do something else. They billed me for service call when I already had credit protection plan, because the technician made a mistake on the paperwork about the service which had been performed. In short, I am posting this review to let other people aware of the consequences if they ever think of switching to Directv cuz its not WORTH IT. Their customer service is so poor and they mislead innocent people and make money out of it. If you love your money then never ever THINK about DIRECTV. I am paying the price for it:((

I have had directv for over 5 years, and I just realized they have been overcharging me $5 a month for an additional receiver that I have never owned. Go Figure?? When I called them they refused to provide me with a flat out refund. Instead they offered to give me a credit over the next 12 months of $10/mos. They also offered an alternative where theywould waive one months bill, but if I disconnected my service they would reverse the bill waiver. I told them forget it, and to disconnect my service. Although it is my fault I did not catch the mistake (and trust me I am cheap) I think their customer service was poor. In addition everytime we have a storm or it rains I don't get any signal because it is always searching for the signal. For my $115/month I am going elsewhere.

I have been a DIRECTV customer for about 6 years. I switched from Comcast cable because I was tired of the constant outages and terrible customer service.

The original install wasn't a great experience. The tech was ok, but left without activating the service. He left a phone number for me to call to activate the service. DirecTV had computer problems that prevented me from activating the service for about 2 days.

About 3 years later I got the HD package and HD DVR. The DVR was awful, locked up frequently and took 5 minutes to reboot. Eventually through firmware upgrades the HD DVR has become reliable. It is pretty easy to use, but isn't as easy as a Tivo. It is disappointing that you cannot use an HD Tivo with DirecTV. I've read that Tivo and DirecTV are working on a new partnership, we'll have to see what happens.

The tech that installed the new dish for the HD service left a big mess, and that pissed me off.

As far as the picture quality and reception, I would say it is excellent. I have never had any weather related problems. I live in CA, so we don't get much snow, etc., but I've never experienced problems during rain storms.

The customer service is about what you might expect... ok to good. After a certain number of years they do give you a different customer service number to call which seems to get you to a person much more quickly then the number listed on the bill or web site.

I think that the service is a bit expensive when you start adding HD and premium channels, so you need to know what you package will actually cost after any promotional period ends. It really depends on how much TV you watch and how many channels you get as to whether or not it will be a good value for you.

They do give you little "anniversary gifts" like a free movie or a free premium channel for a month. It's not much, but it's something.

I have never had any billing issues. From reading some of the reviews here, I may be in the minority here. The only issue I've had is that I'm annoyed when they raise the rates.

So, I'm rating them good, because of the installation issues and ok customer service. The part that matters to me, the picture and reception are great. I'm sure that it probably depends on a number of factors like your location, etc. but for me it's been very reliable.

I just wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone for sharing their stories. It is because of this site that I have decided NOT to even bother with Directv. I started doing my homework a few days ago and the reviews are overwhelmingly negative, not to mention that after speaking with DTV over the phone (just to get information) I was more confused than when I started (oh and they pressure you to give your SSN over the phone so they can do a "credit check" - I wasn't aware that a credit check is now a requirement to answer my freakin questions!!!) I have to say that I was already pissed at them after that phone call and I'm not even a customer yet..I can only imagine how bad it is once you're locked in. So, thanks again for sparing me all of the headaches and hardship you all have gone through. I will absolutely not be giving them my money! Cable service just shouldn't be this difficult!!!

After several bad experiences with DirecTV customer service, I finally had enough, and cancelled my service. The most frustrating part is, I liked the actual TV service- the lineup was good, the quality was good, the DVR was reliable and easy to use. They have a good product, but they screw it all up by having horrible customer service and extremely customer-unfriendly policies.

1. They promised on their website and on the phone that I would get free HD for 12 months. First 3 bills had a 10.00 charge for HD on them. Had to spend time arguing with them to get them to put the free service on the account. The free service that THEY OFFERED ME IN THE FIRST PLACE.

2. One month, they just randomly added a "Free Trial" of Showtime to my account. I never asked for, nor did I authorize ANY premium movie services to be added to my account. WHen I called them and requested they remove the "free" Showtime, the rep I spoke with absolutely refused to do so! He said "You will have to call back in a few months and get it taken off after the free trial is over." Excuse me? Who is the customer here???

3. I was pressured by a DirecTV premise technician to sign up for the protection plan. He stood in my living room and stated to my face that there was NO OBLIGATION and I could cancel ANYTIME. A few months later, when I canceled the protection plan, I was hit with a $10.00 cancellation fee, which DirecTV customer service very adamantly refused to adjust, even though their tech lied to me to trick me into taking the service in the first place. They seemed to think it was okay to lie to a customer, and that I should just pay the cancellation fee.

After all that, DirecTV lost my business forever. It shouldn't have been that difficult! Here's how they could have handled the situation better:

1. Deliver what you promise, without making a customer jump through hoops.
2. Do NOT try to trick customers by adding unsolicited "free trials" of premium services and then refusing to remove them when requested.
3. DO NOT LIE TO YOUR CUSTOMERS. It is never okay to intentionally mislead or outright lie to a customer, as your premises tech did to me. Further, when something like this does happen, FIX IT. A charge that occurs due to a deceptive employee is not an opportunity to make money, it is an error that must be immediately and fully corrected. Do not attempt to negotiate over something like this.

I will never, ever do business with these people again. I will warn everyone I know to avoid this company. They ruin their otherwise good product with deceptive practices and unnecessary cancellation fees.

Just wanted to say, that I found this web site while researching Satellite TV providers - looking for the best etc. I read the review from luvloveluv. I have yet to have to interact with anyone from direct TV's call center, but I really LOVED her comments and wish more people would stick up for themselves. I worked for the government for 28 years processing disability claims. I had to abide by rules as well, and unfortunately, received numerous, countless insults and accusations simply because I was doing my job. I HATE dealing with the public - which I too am a part of. People can be so incredibly hateful and ugly when they don't get their way, and usually find it appropriate to lash out at whomever they can regardless of what the facts are. Good for you luvloveluv. Let em have it and if they don't like it, tell them to shove it!

Directv are nothing but liars, we had directv about 5 years ago and they were ok at first, then we started getting extra charges on our bill, and they would not explain them. I canceled and a year ago I got directv for my daughter, and she has had nothing but trouble with them from the start. ( I thought I would give them another chance). The service was ok, it was the billing that was the problem. They were adding extra charges and she had to move, so I had to cancel the service. They charged a big amount of money to cancel. I know a lot of other people who has had a LOT of trouble with directv. I will never use there service ever again. I would think they would treat there customers better so there wouldnt be so many bad reviews on Directv, but I guess they don't care about customer service.

By far the worst experience of my life! I was a new customer and signed up for the Family Package, well day of installation I turned on the TV only to find that the channels I was told I was getting were NOT THERE. So, I called and was promised the low rate of 34.99 for the next package up. A week later I get my bill, 65.00! I called to be informed that because I upgraded I was no longer eligible for the low rate! I have been battling with this MORONS for the past month! Don't ever expect what they tell you! The "reps", as they call themselves, are all obnoxious. They have yet to actually help me! Just don't do it. Go Comcast, I grew up with them, they weren't perfect, but they got stuff done!