Directv
Four Tech Visits, Missed Promo Period and Coupon Book Dispute

I signed up with Direct TV in Aug. 2008 after moving to NH, because the hardware was already present in the household. They installed within a day. Soon after the tech left, our TV stopped working. I called and they said it would be three weeks before a tech could come and fix it. A tech showed up for five minutes, left, and the issue was the same. Another three-week wait. Another tech. Same issue. Another three-week wait. Finally, in late Nov., a fourth tech noticed there was a crack in our satellite. No one else bothered looking. Our TV now works.

I have logged around 10 hours with customer support on the phone. I have been assigned to a "case manager" who never contacts me. They credit me for time without service, but I am upset that I missed my promo period. Four separate people told me to call back in Jan. and that they would give me free Premier at that time to make up for the lost promo period. When I called, they told me this was not possible. They did give me free movies for two months instead, and I agreed.

During this time my DVR service shut off periodically, several times, requiring more time on the phone with customer service. During one of these calls, my husband asked to redeem a coupon book we have. It was mailed to us by Direct TV at the time of activation, called "Our gift to you," with 12 coupons for various channels. The agent thought we were making the book up and forced us to read him the entire coupon book twice. Finally he redeemed the coupon.

A week later a very mean agent called and told me we were not allowed to use the coupon book and we "never should have gotten it." So now they have sent us a coupon book and redeemed it, but they are "taking it back." I said, just cancel it and credit the account. He said, "I will cancel it but I am not crediting the account." So he is charging me for the channel and charging a cancellation fee. I asked to talk to a supervisor, and he refused. I asked to talk to customer retention, and he refused. Then I asked to cancel Direct TV, and he refused.

By this time he was so mean that I was crying and could not bring myself to call back and spend another ten hours on the phone. This is now on separate occasions that I was given a price for a service and then the price was withdrawn, including an entire coupon booklet. Poor customer service is one thing, but I see this as bait and switch: advertise something, sell it to me, then charge a different price.

Company: Directv
Country: USA

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