Goodbye DirecTV

[awfulhorrid]

I took off yesterday so a tech could come by and fix the dish. I was told he'd be there between 12:00 and 16:00. OK, I know perfectly well that the 'window' is a wild estimate at best, but I think there are limits.



At 16:30 I called DirecTV customer service who said that according to the file he was "on his way." (Really? He knows he has to go up on the roof, right? In the dark? With snow and ice?)

At 18:00 I called TimeWarner and checked on adding digital cable to my current service of internet only. It's about the same price as my 'current' TV service ... and we can get all the channels we want, with the DVR. Yeah, let's go with that. Next Thursday it is, then ...

At 18:10 I called DirecTV and cancelled my service with them. No, I will not be paying a cancellation fee: I'm cancelling due to your failure to provide reasonable service. If you wish to press the matter, I do happen to know a good laywer.

At 19:00 I recived a call from the scheduled tech telling me he was on his way. (Three hours late? On a four hour window? You have got to be kidding me ...) Don't bother, I cancelled the service about an hour ago.

At 19:45 I received another call, this time from the tech's supervisor telling me that his tech said I wanted to cancel the call and would rescheduling for tomorrow be good? I informed him in no uncertain terms that I did not cancel the service call, but rather the entire service and that this little stunt was pretty much the final straw in my experiences with DirecTV. He did apologize, but I mean really, what else could he do?



So goodbye DirecTV, hello Digial Cable. Let's see if this is any better ...

Comments

[merseine.livejournal.com]

How about this? I'll make a WoW character called "DirecTV" and take it into the PVP zone... would that help?

As a side question - who does your phone service?

[awfulhorrid.livejournal.com]

Wait, you're playing WoW now?

Phone service is through Voynage. That comes across the internet cable which is through TimeWarner. I haven't really had any problems with them, believe it or not.

[merseine.livejournal.com]

No, no... not playing WoW... sorry for the tease.

Maybe rileybear67 would let me borrow her hubby's account for the excercise? :)

[awfulhorrid.livejournal.com]

Well, I'd have to reactivate my account ... Although really, if we're going to beat on each other, I have much better ideas, though.

[merseine.livejournal.com]

And as for phone service... doesn't ANYone (except that spawn of Satan, AT&T)do a good, standard land line that's worth getting? I mean, with any VOIP phone, when your power is out, so is your phone. Idiotic way of doing things, imho.

[awfulhorrid.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that part is annoying. Then again if you've got a cell phone for a backup, you're fine.

[isolde-deely.livejournal.com]

get the battery backup. also most cable companies right now are offering phone. Charter has a deal for 14.99 for a year

[rileybear67.livejournal.com]

That reminds me I need to pick up a couple tapes so I can transfer the stuff I am saving for you.

*snugs*
Sorry about the bad time, I hope to see you soon.
And C, if memory serves - Woof has Vonage.

[awfulhorrid.livejournal.com]

Yay! Thank you very much!

Oh and although the waiting around for nothing was kind of bad, it wasn't a complete waste of a day. I moved some furniture into place, brought in a table from the garage, and had a great time watching the squirrels and lots of birds out in the backyard.

[cmerun12.livejournal.com]

We have digital cable tv. So far, we haven't had any real complaints with them.

[awfulhorrid.livejournal.com]

That makes me hopeful, thanks.

[bratty-lil-fae.livejournal.com]

I have time warner for digital cable and internet and I have no complaints, the only time we have problems is when drunk idiots on the east side of milwaukee ram their cars full force into important boxes that carry the internets to the houses.

Which unfortunately happens more than it should :P

but that's not time warners fault.

The only other problem we had was we thought the internet was failing in massive ways, then realized it was our router dieing that was failing us in massive ways

[awfulhorrid.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've been pretty happy with them as an ISP. Last night was the first time I've seen any significant outage from them and I've been using them for several years. (I suspect it was weather related, again not something they can really do much about except fix it after it happens.)

No, can't hold them responsible for a failing router!

[bratty-lil-fae.livejournal.com]

And even when we do have issues, 99.9% of the time it's with the internet, only once in 3 years have we lost TV, or some reason the drunk drivers always fuck up my WoWness not my "Say Yes to the Dress"ness

Can't force myself to Comcast

[bit-boy.livejournal.com]

I'll freely agree that AT&T is not a paragon of all that is goodness and light in the universe, but I flatly refuse to do Comcast as an ISP unless and until they stop blocking port 80 inbound. If I want to be able to set up a web server in my basement, I should be able to do it.

I kept making that point to Comcast as they were harassing me trying to get me to go to their "Triple Play" service. It kept not sinking in.

Then, while Comcast wasn't bad for regular TV, they've got maybe 1/3 of the HD channels around here that I'm getting through Dish Network. I'll confess that I moderately miss the "OnDemand" feature, but Dish Network is in the process of implementing that as well (via broadband internet connection).

[grabstein-69.livejournal.com]

We've DTV at work, too. It sucks elephant testicles through a stir stick.
Which server are you on?

[awfulhorrid.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, of everyone to which I've described our problems with DTV I have yet to have anyone say "Oh really? Gee, we've never had problems with them." To a person, everyone has had nothing but complaints -- many the exact same complaints we have.

Er ... server for what, exactly? :) (I'm not playing WoW anymore and really only dabbling with City of Heroes.)

[anthony-lion.livejournal.com]

I recently ordered cable TV from a local company, and they gave me a day and time that the techie would come by...

Then, an evening a few days before the scheduled appointment, someone rang the doorbell...
It was the techie. He had a call in the neighbourhood and remembered that he had an assignment nearby. So he checked his list, saw that there was light in the windows, and could he set me up with the cable now?

He also gave me his cell-phone number, in case there were a problem, I wanted to order internet connection, extra channels or anything.