DirecTV
18 Months of Receiver Reboots and Lost Reception, Fee Threat

For the last 18 months our satellite receivers have given us one problem after another, and every one of them, 100%, traces back to the receivers DirecTV designed in-house. We called customer service to complain once more. (We have been loyal customers, and for over ten years every payment was made on time.)

After holding for over 30 minutes, we finally reached a representative. We told her that the last 18 months have been awful, with poor reception, broken features, reboots, lost signal, and a DVR that fails. Her answer was that they are working to fix the problems as soon as they can.

I am a senior design engineer, so I understand well the design flaws in DirecTV's own receiver models. Those units should never have been sold to the public. They behave like Alpha or BETA hardware full of defects that customers should never have to put up with. When the rep asked if there was anything else, I asked for a supervisor or manager. She kept me waiting 6 minutes, then came back to say no supervisors were free and that customer service managers never speak with customers.

I asked for her details so I could cite them in a formal complaint, but all she would give me was 'my name is KAT.' Her advice for my problem was to send DirecTV a letter. I said we wanted to cancel, and she answered that an Early Termination fee would apply, since the NEW equipment had been in our home only 18 months of a 24 month contract. She added that we would be charged for the equipment as well if it was not returned. So they are extorting us into paying for a broken, glitchy, troublesome system under a contract that basically makes you give up your personal rights and liberties. They even threaten to damage your credit rating if you decide to fight DirecTV.

I went on to look into it further and found the DirecTV technical bulletin board, where hundreds of people describe problems. On DBSTalk.com I saw the same thing, with many, many complaints about these newly designed DirecTV boxes. A search for DirecTV complaints turned up hundreds more.

I would truly love to launch a CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT targeting DirecTV. Having read so many complaints, it is plain that this began when DirecTV dropped all the other third-party receiver manufacturers and moved to its own generic proprietary models. Customers have served as the lab rats testing them and are STILL expected to pay.

Company: DirecTV
Country: USA
State: California
City: El Segundo
Address: 2250 East Imperial Hwy
Phone: 3105355000

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