DirecTV, buh-bye

March 31st, 2008 · 15 Comments · The Homefront

As you may recall I had an ever so slight problem with DirecTV the morning of the 25th.

I finally got around to calling them today and the total they were willing to do for me and my aggravation (and my time since I was on the phone with them for 25 flippin’ minutes) was a credit of less than $2.00. $2.00! I know that others got a more substantial credit, so I am not quite sure what it was about my interation that was worth so little, but needless to say $2.00 wasn’t making me jump for joy. I was actually more upset about that little sign of good will and customer satisfaction than I was with the service interruption on the 25th.

My next call was to Comcast.

Comcast will be here on Thursday to hook up tv. We already have our internet through them, so it’s sort of the devil we don’t entirely know, but we will save a bit for next 12 months with a new customer special. Monthly savings that are not life changing (and after the year are nonexistent), but we will have on-demand which the kids will like, and I am sure I’ll get benefit from too. And one of the boxes will be a HD DVR. We had DVR with DirecTV, but no HD. I was actually going to get two HD boxes, but the extra cost didn’t seem worth it.

Nice going DirecTV.

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Tags: cable·DirecTV

15 responses so far ↓

1 Rick Astley // Mar 31, 2008 at 11:00 am

Remember that episode of Seinfeld, when Elaine was shopping for hirachis at Putumayo? And she was so put off by the service that she went across town and dropped all kinds of coin at Cinco de Mayo out of spite?

She then finds out the rude owner of the first store also owns the second.

What if the cable companies and dish companies are in bed too? I wouldn’t be surprised…

Maybe your safest response would have been to just pick up a pair of rabbit ears at Radio Shack.

Rick Astley’s last blog post..Welcome to The Jungle
2 freehold // Mar 31, 2008 at 11:05 am

Wow. I’m surprised DTV didn’t do more for you. Good luck with cable. As we all know, DTV and Comcast (along with Verizon, Cablevision, ect, ect…) are pure evil. Simple as that.
3 BusyDad // Mar 31, 2008 at 11:08 am

$2? That’s more insulting than just telling you “oh well, tough luck.” Stick it to ‘em PG.

BusyDad’s last blog post..Sure, If You Want to Get Technical…
4 PG // Mar 31, 2008 at 11:40 am

@rick - I do indeed recall that episode. Just wait until I have Kramer take all their silica packs! Oh, and a HD antenna was discussed at one point. But we need that NESN!

@freehold - y,isb! I know that I am not running to the guy in the white hat.

@ BD - yup, it really was the straw. nothing would have been better.

@ jason - thanks, nice to see some new faces!
5 Big sister // Mar 31, 2008 at 12:21 pm

Out of the frying pan into the fire. Comcast was out in some parts on Opening Morning too!! But, what are the alternatives?? NONE.
6 PG // Mar 31, 2008 at 12:25 pm

well spotted sis, but with comcast, I will have Hi-Def (for less money) and Hi-Def was not out anywhere last week. So…. (crossing fingers)…
7 Russ // Mar 31, 2008 at 12:53 pm

DishNetwork my man! I’ve had them for seven years and have been very happy.

I just upgraded to HD with them and their hd receiver will control two tvs (or one tv with pip). So I’ve gone from a two receiver house to a single receiver (getting dinged for the extra receiver always annoyed me). It also had a dvr that works on both tvs (also very nice).

Down here MASN (what I imagine is the mid-atlantic version of NESN) is not on cable, only satellite.

Russ’s last blog post..Everyone is home by Russ
8 Joe // Mar 31, 2008 at 2:30 pm

Good luck with Comcast. That’s what I have, it works fine, although we don’t have HD, our neighbors do and their service is with comcast and it delivers a good picture as far as my untrained eye can tell.
9 Stephen // Mar 31, 2008 at 3:13 pm

Hey buddy, ‘Jason’ is a spambot. I get those messages all the time; the email addresses bounce. Sorry for the trouble with DTV; I’ve been thinking about Dish, but we won’t do anything until our housing situation changes. I’m not happy with Comcast’s pricing, but On Demand is (usually) quite cool.

Stephen’s last blog post..Good morning.
10 PG // Mar 31, 2008 at 3:25 pm

thanks for the tip stephen. marked as such.
11 Sherri // Mar 31, 2008 at 11:45 pm

I dropped Directv also and went with AT&T only to find out that when my receiver stopped working and had to be replaced, Directv started my contract all over without my knowledge and I am facing a $225 fee for early cancelation. So, if something happens to the equipment and is replaced they got you! I was told I had a contract with them, but they did not have one with me. Thought contracts were between 2 parties. So, beware of underhanded dealings of Directv.
12 Seatown Squids // Apr 1, 2008 at 1:39 am

I have a Comcastic HD DVR, since you have/had tivo, you’re gonna need to be a bit forgiving of the UI. Its no where near as easy as tivo and for some things, it a huge pita. But, being able to record TWO HD channels at once and watching a 3rd previously recorded show is very cool. Be sure you get a 3416 box and not the 3412. The 3416 has a 160 GB drive and the 3412 is only 120.

Comcast recently released a box w/tivo in Boston, but I haven’t heard many good things about it yet. I can hit you with some links to the avsforum that will give you more info than you can handle if you want.
13 Rick Astley // Apr 1, 2008 at 5:19 am

“Son, I don’t understand a word you just said.”

Rick Astley’s last blog post..Lonely Shoe
14 Angie // Apr 1, 2008 at 12:53 pm

Hilarious. We are thinking of switching to DirectTV after similar experiences with Comcast. I have been on the phone with Comcast several times and my shortest wait has been 20 minutes. I was on for 34:58 the other day. I loathe Comcast thus far. Just goes to show that service is gone once they have you as a customer no matter who it is. My hubby and I talk all the time that if his business treated his cusomters this way, they would be out of business. Why do service industries get away with this?

Angie’s last blog post..Thirteen Daily Phrases
15 Pocklock // Apr 2, 2008 at 10:12 pm

I just wrote a similar blog post, but I blasted Charter cable for blacking out the game last night. Even though I live in the in-between state, it still sucks that CT is New England and NESN is no where on the radar of our cable provider.

Frustrated a tad…

Anyway, sharing your pain!

Pocklock’s last blog post..Blackout