After several encounters with a comapny named " HALSTEAD COMMUNICATIONS ", an approved installer for DIRECTV, I have to say that they are about the absolute worst company to deal with.
All three of my dealings with HALSTEAD involved equipment upgrades for DIRECTV equipment, and on each occassion, Halstead did not arrive as scheduled to perform the required service. This involved me having to make numerous telephone call to Directv, and on each occassion, but one, I was unable to to get a resolution to my problem.
My most recent experience with HALSTEAD occurred on Tuesday, July 10 when I took advantage of a DVR upgrade that was being offered to me. Arrangments were made for a professional (ha ha) installation of the DVR, despite my protests that based on prior experiences with HALSTEAD, I asked that the DVR be shipped to me. DIRECTV advised me that could not ship the unit, and that professional installation was required because of unit had two separate tuners. I explained to the CSR of DIRECTV that you could still use the unit with a single connection, and that it was my intention to only use a single tuner. I nevertheless had to concede to the install. Needless to say, my suspicions proved correct when we had received a phone call from the HALSTEAD installer advising us that he would be arriving later than the scheduled appointment but would be at my home no later than 8PM. At 8:30PM I telephoned DIRECTV to complain about the company (again), and threatened to terminate my service with them because of their poor choice in approved installation companies. The CSR had even attempted to call HALSTEAD, but their offices were closed for the evening.
The following day, I waiting unil 11:30AM, before calling DIRECTV again to complain that we have not received a telephone call from HALSTEAD advising us of a new time for the install. The young lady who I spoke to advised me that according to her records, I had rescheduled the appointment for July 16. I explained to her that I did not concede to a new appointment and suggested that since it was HALSTEAD who did not arrive as scheduled, I should have scheduled as a priority install because of their "no show". The CSR placed a phone call to HALSTEAD and placed me in a conference call with one of their supervisors, who would not honor my request.
In conclusion, I cancelled the install and my insurance coverage with DIRECTV explaining to the CSR that if I ever did have a problem I did not want to deal with HALSTEAD ever again.
What I found during my search for Halstead Communications is that there are numerous complaints about HALSTEAD and that DIRECTV is well aware of these complaints and has not done anything to address them.
Richard Baum
Glendale NY
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