Hope For A New Day....

Dish Drama Part II:

Okay, here’s the latest. Being who I am – of course – I have received HIGHEST LEVEL assistance from an un-named person from DirecTV’s CORPORATE offices in California.

Yes, it’s good to be me, with a nationally syndicated radio show to bitch about things on.

So I’ve got a new install date for the week after Christmas (actually the DAY after! How ‘bout that!) and I am going to be able to KEEP my legacy HD10-250 receivers with TiVO.

As I told my DTV “guardian angel”, I do NOT want to mess up what already DOES work with my service, so keeping these units is essential. She said, generally speaking, they are letting customers keep these units when upgrading. This was NOT, however, the deal I mentioned in my previous post. Let’s hope there’s no showdown.

A key question I had was this: “Do the new HD20/HD21 receivers allow for OVER THE AIR reception of HD signals?” Way back when the HD20 was rolled out (over a year ago) I purchased it eagerly only to find out that the “feature” to allow over-the-air (OTA) reception was “turned off”. In other words, the submenus showed OTA capability, but it was “ghosted” off and un-selectable.

In typical DTV run-around fashion, calling their tech support to ask about WHEN exactly they might send a “patch” to “turn on” this feature, produced a bunch of people who basically thought you were speaking Chinese.

Huh?

So I returned the unit, and forgot about it.

Now I’ve been told – and who knows if THIS is actually true or not, I guess I’ll find out – that the HR20 unit IS capable of OTA signals, but the “newer” HR21 unit IS NOT! How ‘bout THAT for progress, kids!

Sounds like DirecTV is eager to stop letting you and I snatch those sweet uncompressed network HD feeds for free, and thus have to purchase them from DirecTV. Would be nice if they just were honest about it, but hey, what did we expect.

So I have requested an HR20 unit, not the newer HR21. We’ll see if my installer has it, or knows anything about it. Again, this was set up via the highest levels of the company, for a known VIP, but I’m going to keep my expectations at the lowest possible levels.

NOW…. Here’s some good stories from you folks! Thanks for chiming in! And Happy Holidays!

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Hi Steve,

I read your column about DTV today and have some info that might prove helpful.

Prior to getting my 5-LNB installed in August, I was on http://www.dbstalk.com quite a bit researching the HR20 HD receiver w/DVR. I got some great information, including a sweet deal on my upgrade to the new equipment that I hadn't known about, and wouldn't have known about without checking this forum. I essentially got the new receiver with install for $20.

Below is a link to some FAQs from the site that should prove helpful, and I'll say in general the site is a tremendous help. There are some people on it that work directly with DirecTV by acting as beta testers, and often ask the forum members for input on problems if there appears to be something widespread so those details can be reported back to DTV. And prior to the new HD channel rollout, there was information about test channels to use to verify you were getting the new HD transmissions.

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=67769

All in all, it's a great site, and hopefully you'll find it useful.

Dave
Chicago, IL

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Czabe -

I loved my Direct TV. My story goes like this. The time I had the system installed the installed showed up past the schedule time and he forgot the HD satellite that I wanted he brought an old one. He left to go get another dish from installer working down the street. I then went back to work because I did not want to wait around all day.

To make a long story short I called and complained about all this confusion and the local install company said they could not get in touch with him because he forgot his cell phone that day. They were looking for him to fire him. I went back to my house at the end of the day and found him installing the satellite dish and I had to tell him to call his office because he was FIRED. I was the one who told him he lost his job.

True story.

I miss the local whether channel from cable and our local cable company shows most of the Hornet games.

KZ - Charlotte

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Steve,

Long time fan, listen to you on B&B whenever I can. Read your blog about the Direct TV upgrade. Several of my friends and I just went through the upgrade. A couple of things right off the bat, Good for you getting a free DVR and new dish. Only after a missed appointment did I get $100 credit. I was able to talk them down on the original price of the DVR initially, so with the credit the DVR was free.

A friend of mine purchased his DVR from Best Buy so that he didn’t get hassled with Direct TV with their BS that they are out of stock and have to wait several months for a new DVR. Anyway, they did the ol’ the tech is running late, so on and so forth. He ended up rescheduling his appointment and bitched at DTV, they credited him the $300 bucks for the DVR he already bought and gave him a year of free HD programming.

I also read about your multiple viewing options (off-air, DTV, etc.) Good for you. I also have an off-air antenna for local viewing. I ran into a problem with the new DVR with the antenna though. I was using a Diplexer for running the coax for the off-air antenna so that I am not running 3 lines of coax through the wall. Well it appears that the diplexer doesn’t have enough bandwidth capabilities and will not allow all of the new HD channels to run though it. Long story short, ended up pulling the diplexers and had to run that 3rd line of coax after all. Now the DVR will not record off air programming unless the unit is turned on. Contacted DTV and go nowhere. Just thought I let you know in case you run into the same problem.

About installing the dish yourself, I wouldn’t recommend it. The new dish has the ability to be dialed in a lot more accurately than the old one and now they tech uses a little gadget to dial it in. No more walkie talkies trying to see how high you can get signal strength.

Keep up the good work and Merry Christmas.

KM
Port Washington, WI

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Hey Czabe,

I paid the extra for DTV installation through Fairfax Antenna and the money is well worth it. They are the experts and contract for all the higher end A/V places around here in DC. It wasn't actually too much, but I will be calling them again after I upgraded to the 5 lnb or lmb or whatever the hell the dish is called. Of course DTV screwed that up too.

Tim

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Czabe,

I think I might have to blame you for the last 3 frustrating hours trying to get my HD DirecTV receiver/dish upgraded. Read your blog this morning and it reminded me of something I’ve put off the last few months… calling DirecTV and getting the install of a new 5 LNB dish scheduled with the new HD DVR receiver (I have the old TIVO HD DirecTV receiver).

1) So, I call this morning to get something scheduled. Things are going great until she notifies me that it will cost $299. I tell her that it should be free as I’m not the one wanting to upgrade and DirecTV is forcing me to replace my dish and receiver (i.e. turning off support at some point for the MPEG-2 support for my old TIVO HD receiver). After a bit of “I’ve been a DirectTV customer for the last 10+ years”, she says “okay it is free, give me a second to enter some things in the computer and we can schedule it”. Five seconds later I hear a busy signal and am disconnected….

2) I then place another call and explain to the new guy that someone was just scheduling me up for an upgrade (free of charge) and we got disconnected. He is sorry about that and can certainly help me. Unfortunately his “help” is going to cost me $299. He says he cannot schedule this for free and $299 is the charge. I then reply with “can you transfer me to retention/cancellation”.

3) Few minutes later, I speak to a nice young lady from the cancellation department. I recap for her my last two calls and she says they can credit the $299 and can schedule an upgrade for free (minus a $19.95 handling charge). A this point I figure $20 is fine, so she enters me in the system and then looks at dates for an installation appointment. I’m very happy when she comes back with Wed, Dec 26. I pick a morning slot (figuring that the install guy will be late and still have the afternoon to get it done) and she gives me a confirmation number.

I’m now happy – new dish, new receiver and an install date the day after Christmas for $20.

4) Half hour later, I decide to check my account online just to confirm that they got it right. My order is in the system, but the install date is showing Wed, Jan 2 instead of Wed, Dec 26.

5) I call back and I get the computer operator. After cycling through a bunch of menus on the phone, I am able to “reschedule” my appointment back to the original Dec 26 date.

6) Just for kicks, I call back and check to confirm my appointment – yes, it’s now saying I am confirmed for Dec 26. I check the website, but it still shows Jan 2. I figure maybe it just needs a few minutes to refresh my account.

7) Half hour later, I check the website again and it is now showing my appointment as “cancelled”. I call back and the lady looks in the computer and says that I cancelled my appointment.

I retrace the past events and she informs me it must be the local install company that decided to cancel it. After having the Seinfeld conversation about “her not understanding what a reservation is” and what does the “confirmation number” really mean, she says that she can reschedule it for Dec 27 since Dec 26 is now all booked up.

Frustrated and at this point just wanting to be done with it, I schedule Dec 27 for the new “confirmed install date”.

Now I’m scared to go back to the website and check if they have the right date. I probably should just call and schedule multiple installs for the month of January – that way, when the install company does not show up on Dec 27, they are more than likely at least to hit one of the other dates in January. If it wasn’t for the NFL Sunday Ticket, Comcast would be my next call…

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Hey Czabe --

I've been listening to your Directv saga with pure
empathy....funny you're going through this now, as we ourselves just
completed a month-long drama from hell of our own with same-said
satellite goons. Before I go on, let me first say we've had Directv
for 7 years, and have loved it fully -- they've always taken great
care of us, and we've bragged about them to friends (so much so some
of them have joined up as well). Their customer service has always
been, in our experience, unparalleled. Until now. I shall chronicle
here....please bear with me.

We called at the end of October to get the new HD DVR receiver and
dish....after some negotiating, got it for free, as you did. The
install was to happen a week later, November 6th. The guy shows up
that day -- just barely within the 4-hour window -- clearly
unprepared and clueless as to how to do the job in front of him. He
says the new dish won't work where the current dish is, and nowhere
else on our roof will work because of the neighbor's tree....he'd
have to put it on a post out in the garden. Fine, I say, but then he
says he doesn't have the equipment to do that.

So he says, reschedule the install, tell them the problem, should be done in about a week. We call the next day, the best they can give us is THREE WEEKS. While this seems ridiculous, we grudgingly accept
it....so tempers are getting short, but we're rolling with it. (I'm
editing out other minor hiccups with the whole process as we go --
I'm just giving you the meat of the story here.)

The fateful day finally arrives, and so much for that 8-12
window....dispatcher calls and says it will be 11:00, which then
becomes 1:00, which then becomes
"not-sure-I'll-call-you-when-I-know-more."

I had nothing else going that day, so while I'm further ticked, it's not the end of the world....I am a patient woman. :-) While I'm waiting for him, I check our account on-line and notice they've charged us the $300 that was supposedly waived 4 weeks prior. I call, go through 2 CSRs and one "supervisor" (who wasn't very apologetic) who claimed they had no record of that, blah blah....after discussions getting to the "I'm-now-raising-my-voice-because-I'm-losing-my-patience" point, she
finally waives it.

We were a week late in paying our bill that month, and she asked about it -- I told her I was planning on paying it when my husband gets paid in 6 days, and I promised to pay on-line that day....she said no problem.

SO, the installer FINALLY shows up at 4-friggin-15!!!! Imagine Tommy
Chong after an all-nighter....great guy, very nice, but WOW. I told
him what the other installer had said -- he went up there and said
the other guy was a moron, he could get it up where the other dish
was with no problem. So now I'm further pissed this
could've/should've been done 3 weeks ago.

But, he's great, does his job, gets it up there. He apologizes repeatedly for being over 4 hours late -- they scheduled him for FOUR installations inside that 8-12 window!! I'm no techie, but even I know that ain't never gonna happen. So now he's calling back to the mother ship to get the service turned on....he's on hold for -- no lie -- 20 minutes. He kept hanging up after 5 minutes, calling back -- he said that had been happening all day.

Now I must set up the back story for you....this was Thursday,
November 29, the fateful day of the Packers-Cowboys monster on the
NFL Network. Though we live here in Packer country, my husband is a
BIG Cowboys fan....this game had been circled in flaming red on the
calendar for months. As the game approached, his excitement was
unable to be contained -- he was positively giddy, especially at the
prospect of having our first ever HD game be that one. As the day
wore on and the install kept getting bumped back, you can only
imagine his state of mind when he came home from work 45 minutes to
kickoff, and the guy's still sitting on our couch, on the phone, on
hold with no end in sight. Um, yeah....

The installer finally gets through (now 30 minutes to kickoff), only
to hear they won't turn the service on until we pay the past due. He
hands me the phone, I explain I already spoke to some "supervisor"
that morning who said there would be no problem with paying the next
week -- they say they have no record of that conversation, who I
spoke with, and there's nothing they can do. Pay now, or no
service. So I'm really starting to lose my cool and I don't wanna
take this whole nightmare out on this poor CSR, so I (as calmly as I
can) ask for another "supervisor." Jason answers the phone -- and
yes, I will never forget his name, because he had attitude from the
moment he dryly and sarcastically says, "Can I help you?" I go on to
explain everything that's gone wrong with this install for a span
that now stretches a month, and ask him, politely, after 7 years of
loyal service on our part, if he can give us one week. Not only does
he flatly say no, he's downright rude about it. Before my voice
reaches shrill levels, I give the phone to my husband who's been
dying to get in on this. (It's now 15 minutes to kickoff.) Jason is
equally rude to my husband, so he says we've had it, we're just gonna
cancel our service outright -- rather than try to calm my husband
down or send us to the "retention" department, Jason transfers him in
mid-sentence (effectively hanging up on him!) to the "disconnect" department.

By now, the two of us have completely lost our cool and are just
pissed off enough to leave Directv and give up the Lord Football and
MLB packages we get. Thankfully, my husband gets someone calm,
helpful and rational finally, who listens to the whole saga and
realizes -- get this -- not only did the "supervisor" I spoke to in
the morning NOT credit back that $300 she said she did, we'd paid
part of it ALREADY! The first moron (4 weeks ago) had broken it down
into 3 payments (rather than waiving it like he said), one of which
we'd already made....once this guy straightened it out, we weren't
late, we had a CREDIT!!!! He very nicely turned on our service, and
all was right with the world....we sat down to our first glorious HD
football game exactly one minute before kickoff. We were both so
fried from the experience, we almost weren't able to get full
enjoyment of the Cowboys victory....the HD is spectacular though, no question.

Here endeth the diatribe....what sucks about this is exactly what you
said. We are HUGE sports fans, and because of the NFL and MLB
packages (and the NFL and Big Ten Networks, both of which cable
doesn't have), we will keep bending over and taking it from Directv
again and again. Either someone new is in charge and doesn't care
about customer service the way they used to, or they've realized
their dominance over any and all alternatives and just don't care
period, because they know we'll stay anyway. Either way -- Directv,
50, customers, zip.

Here's hoping your saga has a quasi-happy ending as well....I admire
your stubbornness and willingness to wait for a satisfactory
resolution, and anxiously await the next chapter. Good luck, and
give 'em a shot for the rest of us while you're at it as well!

Happy friggin holidays.

C.C.
Appleton, WI

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Steve,

I finally switched to DTV this October after being fed up with lack of
HD Programs on TWC. Why pay $4000 for the TV to only watch 10 HD
channels, I needed more. I called DTV for the "free install" for 3 tv's.

The two ass clowns they sent out to my house spent approximately two
hours trying to figure out the easiest way to tap into my excisting
lines insted of just running two new lines. I told them I wanted the DVR upstairs in the bedroom where currently only 1 TWC line ran to.

They informed me that it would cost an additional $120 to install because they had to go into the attic and drop the second line down. Im not cheap, but clearly they were not interested in doing the job, and I
wasn't going to line their own pockets on some bogus charge. I watched
them hook up the High Def box to my TV, and they used an old length of
coaxial to connect to my HDTV. I said "shouldn't you be using the HDMI
cable to do that?" they said, "no, the picture is actually _better_ with
the cable". At that point I hurried them out of my house and completed
the installation myself.

Enjoy the Bowl games on your set-up and I look forward to hearing you on
B&B in the new year.

-Russ

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Your blog about DTV, unbelievable! Sounds just like my experience. When I moved into my house in Chantilly (1995) I wanted nothing to do with cable so I installed the dish myself, did the same compass thing, put on the signal strength meter volume as high as I could so I could hear it from the roof and aligned it perfectly. When DTV started offering HD I went and bought an RCA 38" tube (about 275 lbs.) with built in DTV tuner (helped sell it to the wife since I didn't have to spring for the extra tuner) and was happy as shit with the 4 or 5 HD channels. Admit it, you would watch any show, no matter how mundane, on HD Net or Discovery HD Theater for hours just to see that gorgeous picture. SWEET. Paid the extra $10 a month happily. Then NFL Sunday Ticket, MLB Extra Innings. As someone from Seattle there was nothing better and to have the Sunday Ticket in HD, orgasm. Then the fun began. Opening week, the second year of NFLST I turn to the HD channel for the Seattle game and I get the dreaded "You are not subscribed to this channel" message. I'm on the phone in 2 seconds, waited the obligatory 20 minutes, got the ear of a human, and proceded to reem this poor, heavily accented, representative a new one. "The free preview is over, you now have to pay for that service", he said. NFL Super Fan they called it. I flipped! I threatened, yelled, cursed. "Do you realize I will cancel my account!" "Do you know how long I've been with you!" I wish I could have said "Do you know who I am, do you realize who you are messing with!?" You know me. I am not prone to losing my cool. This drove me over the edge. But as we all know, in this situation, we are all nobodies. I slammed the phone down and then, of course, realized that NFL Sunday Ticket is exclusive to DTV. Shit. And once you have seen football in HD you will never go back. The had me by the nuts and were cranking for all it was worth.

My lovely wife then stepped in. She called DTV and in much gentler tones than I could have mustered, and I will argue did what only a woman can do, not only got me another "free preview" year of Super Fan but also 6 months of free premium channel content (I just had to sign up to pay for Super Fan for the next year). Deal. Drop to one knee, renew wedding vows on the spot and fast forward to this year.

I just upgraded to the 5 LNB for the new HD content. Got the new HD20-700 HD DVR (shiny, black hotness), and a new Philips 47" LCD 1080p TV. Bliss. No problem with the installation other than the fact they sent a 67 year old guy to do the job by himself. I think it was only a week between order and install. The kids and I were watching him through the skylights try to put up the dish and connect the cables. The second time he almost dropped the dish through the skylight I hustled up the ladder and helped him out. Would have been nice to have one of those portable signal meters on me when I installed the first dish. No cable problems and he set up the receiver fine. Then it happened again!

I turned to HD Movies (channel 78) the other day and got that f***in message "You are not subscribed..." In horror I turned to Universal HD (channel 74, the channel the first 2 days of the Masters in on) same message. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE F*****IN S****in ME! I WILL GO POSTAL ON SOMEONES ASS FOR THIS!! Picked up the phone, went through the verbal BS you have to do now and, what do you know, one of the pre-recorded messages before you can get to a human was "If you are calling because you cannot receive some HD channels you used to get is because the free preview is over." BULLS**T. You are NOT going to pull that on me again. I have been paying for your measley 4 HD channels for years and now your going to take them away in order to charge me more to get them back. NO F****IN WAY. I will reach into this phone and pull your balls through this line and feed them to my goldfish, you blankety, blank, blank, etc. etc. Unfortunately, as sometimes happens, when you are ready to go to the mat like a mixed martial arts middleweight, the representative just said, "Sorry, we will have your channels back on immediately." Crap, so much for a knock-down, TKO. All channels back and working, NFL, and MLB in glorious HD and all is well. So far.....

BM
Chantilly, VA

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Steve,

I already have written with a long diatribe about my most recent DirectTv intstall blues but reading your blog had me fondly reminisicing about my first foray into the glory that is DirectTv.

I believe it was 1997 the fall before I was going to be married. It sounds like I basically had a Milwaukee version of your Chicago apartment. It was a townhouse that had two nice sized rooms upstairs one for sleeping and one that I used as an office as well (if you consider a room with a desk and computer primarily used for researching betting lines an office).

Downstairs was a relatively spacious living room with adjoining kitchen and deck off the back which was perfect for any bachelor entertaining needs.

I am a diehard Charger fan living in Wisconsin and my fiance had heard about some new system that offered every single out of market NFL game. In hindsight I figured she told me about it so that I didn't spend all of our wedding money on Sunday's down at Luke's Sports Spectacular watching football, swilling beer and inhaling chicken wings.

I bought the dish and asked my landlord for permission to put it up. He looked at me like I was from Mars when I said I wanted to put up a satelitte dish on the side of the townhouse. He was under the impression that it was one of the full size ones that used to be around. After I explained the size he was more simpathetic but still said no. It took a thorough review of my lease and a nasty letter from my attorney brother in law for him to relent.

All that was left was the installation. I garnered the services of my soon to be father in law and over a case of beer and the better part of a Saturday we installed the dish, in a snow storm, utilizing a cut in half barrel, a 1/4 bag of cement and a 4 x 4 wood pole. It was mind numbing work getting that satelitte lined up just perfect for optimal reception.

I will never forget the overwhelming feeling of joy and elation as a sat in my own recliner, sipping my store bought Miller Lite in the comfort of my home watching Stan Humphries launch bombs to Tony Martin and leading the 4-12 Chargers to another glorious last place season with me enjoying every minute of it.

Nick

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Czabe,

Proud owner of a DirecTV dish since 1994, here... moved with them three times. You're gonna love the new dish! While I can still tell a difference between over-the-air HD and dish-HD, to my eye there was a noticeable improvement in HD quality (I think it has something to do with channels being spread over more satellites making for a less-compressed feed). Also, don’t knock Big 10 Network in HD! I got my upgrade just before Labor Day so I would be set for football; the very first weekend they delivered Michigan-App State . Not too bad!

Some free advice for all: whenever you've been slighted by the service team, or are getting hit with a fee you feel is undeserved, play the loyalty card and look for an acceptable alternative path, like “free” programming. For whatever reason, the CS Reps don’t have a lot of latitude on a lot of the fees, but they can give away programming without even talking to a Supervisor. As an example, I’m just completing my 5th season of Sunday Ticket and my 3rd with the (HD) SuperFan add-on. Long story short, I got Sunday Ticket for free once and haven’t paid for the SuperFan ($100 value) upgrade a single time. This was not extra stuff tossed-in, BTW, but services I was absolutely going to pay for anyway.

As long as you makes a strong case for why you’ve been slighted, and remain flexible on how they can make it up to you, there shouldn’t be any problem getting reimbursed for your troubles.

Happy Holidays,
Chris in Orlando (via Milwaukee and Madison )

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Steve-

I've particularly enjoyed your DirecTV rants over the past few days,
as two days ago I canceled the exact same upgrade that you're
attempting to receive. I'll spare you the problems that led to my
cancellation of the upgrade, but I thought you might enjoy the story
of my initial installation last August:

My installer came promptly at 8am (for some reason, DirecTV is always,
if nothing else, prompt for me). Nice enough guy, but brutal
installation process. He was at my place for nearly five hours,
wiring just three rooms and asking me questions like "Do you think
it's possible to drill through this wall?" After he misaligned the
holes in my living room wall for the two lines coming into my HD-DVR
box, nearly drilling into my heating element, he placed a crooked
switch-plate cover over his handiwork (repeatedly saying to me "'I'm
sorry--that looks really bad.") and hooked things up.

Then he called to activate my new box. This took a few attempts, as
he was twice hung up on by customer service reps when he noted that I
did not want the NFL Ticket (apparently the reps got some sort of
bonus for each subscription, and didn't want to deal with unprofitable
activations). As he waited on the line to finalize things, we chatted
a bit and he told me that he had worked a few random jobs after
finishing some time in the Navy, but that this one was the worst. He
then noted that he had actually just decided that he would be quitting
at the end of the day (probably a good thing for everyone involved).
We both had a laugh, and he went on his way. Later that day I called
DirecTV to set up a service call, since only one of the two lines into
my HD-DVR box was working properly. Two service calls later (the
first guy who came claimed he was unfamiliar with my particular
equipment--you know, the same equipment that they were installing in
everyone's homes at the time), I was up and running.

I will say this, though--DirecTV has always been polite and punctual
with me, if not always competent. And sadly, that's more than I can
say for my local cable company.

Chris

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While I also have had some issues with Direct TV, I am currently still willing to be committed to them. I currently just went through moving my service to a new house (due to divorce, not choice to move but that is another story). At the old house, I had upgraded to the 5 LNB dish and the new HD-DVR last summer and was receiving all the HD channels including the locals in HD. The only drawback was that I still had a 480i – 54” “HD-Ready” TV.

Of course with the separation, I gladly let the ex have the TV so I could go buy a 61” – 1080p DLP for the new place. I called DTV on Monday and got an appointment to move the following Sunday morning (Great I thought, get the hook up in time to watch the days NFL fare in glorious 1080I). Of course the tech showed up at the very end of the 8=12 window they gave me, no problem though, might miss kickoff, but should be ok for the late games and the night game. Then the disappointment.

The tech tells me that because of the neighbors trees, the 5 LNB dish would not receive the 2 new satellites. There was a 3 LNB HD dish on the roof from the previous owner that he could hook up but it would be a waste to hook up the 5 LNB. Unfortunately, the local channels and most of the new HD’s are on the 2 new birds. So much for my Sunday NFL HD Fest. There is a over the air antenna on the roof that is going to be my weekend project to hook up to the TV (I too installed my first DTV Dish myself and have run the extra cable to have the 2 sat input to the DVR) so I will get the HD locals, but I am kind of bummed that I am missing out on the other HD’s (especially since they are showing many of the NHL Center ice games in HD now)
My question I have for you since I can not get an answer from DTV is what HD Channels do you currently get on your 3 LNB dish? The only ones that are coming through for me are the original group on channels 70-80 (not including the PPV’s which I havnt checked yet) including ESPN, Deuce, TNT, HDNET, & HBO East. I am not getting any of the new simulcast channels ( USA ,FX,A&E etc.) or the extra HBO & Starz channels. Is that your case as well or do I need to call DTV and complain.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Czabe,

I love my DirecTV and my wife, not necessarily in that order. Here is a DirecTV story of true love for both.

I too have been a loyal DirecTV customer since 1995 when a half vacation day from work for a missed cable appointment pushed me into their loving and open arms. I too was a 28 yr old single guy living in Chicago , and I have many cherished memories of Sunday Ticket afternoons with a condo full of buddies.

Fast forward to present day. I’ve moved from Chicago to Carmel , Indiana . As a Bears fan living in Indy I took the money I would have spent on going to the Superbowl and bought 2 HDTV’s for my basement, a 46 inch Sharp Aquos up front and a 32 Inch Aquos in the back behind my bar. It is a sweet set up, RZC on one, the game I want to watch on another. I waited until the channels caught up to upgrade my dish. I too had the HDTV antenna installed for over the air, the picture is better and a solid back-up plan during inclement weather.

I had an opposite experience you did with the upgrade. I made an appointment on a Wed for the following Thursday as between my wife and I we coordinated who could be there. Lo and behold they showed up the next day instead of a week later, and would have done it then, but we had to leave. A quick call to reschedule and they were back in several days and everything was installed and programmed before I was home from work.

It was a magical upgrade, however it required a move of the dish from a reachable location on the first story of my house, to a perch on the 2nd story behind my chimney. Which brings us to last weekend’s Saturday night / Sunday AM ice storm.

While watching some NHL Centre Ice and the lousy NFL Saturday night game I started noticing some of my higher channels searching for satellite. Not good, but having been a long time customer, these things usually resolve themselves as the weather breaks. Wake up Sunday AM, right to the satellite, nothing in the bedroom, some channels in the kitchen and family room, as well as on both TV’s downstairs, but not what I’m going to need on an NFL Sunday. I suit up to go snow blow (after last year nice upgrade to a 5 HP Snapper from the old Toro, but I digress) and of course a peek at the dish.

She’s iced up good. I come and attempt a reboot of the least critical TV, the kitchen, and nothing. I blow a call into DirecTV. I’m an A customer, right to a live person who says, “Can you brush off the dish or get some warm water on it for the ice to melt?” I got a good size ladder, but not really what I need to get up there, but I’ll try I say.

I’m not particularly handy and I go 250+. I’m not going up on the roof on a good day, let alone on a day with snow and ice up there. The hoses are away for the winter but….. what if… I got one of those sprayers you pump, like to kill weeds, and what if… I put hot water in there and got on a ladder and sprayed it? That just might work I say to myself.

Off to Home Depot in the snow and ice and 30 mile an hour winds to get what I need. I buy the last pump for $10 and on the way out see a $3 gallon of windshield de-icing fluid, not the wimpy blue stuff the heavy duty orange stuff. That mixed with the hot water will surely get the job done I think. Home, kids to brunch with Santa, then home. The NFL clock is ticking so back to the task at hand. Assemble and fill the sprayer, good stream, nice distance, should work. Set up the ladder in the snow, climb up as safely as I can go being out there solo, and spray. The wind is taking it and I am just like maybe a foot away. If only I were taller. Wait. My wife is taller. I head in and kindly ask my wife to help. She’s a sports fan and thankfully agrees. So my wife suits up and heads out with me. She makes the climb up as I hold the ladder like a gentleman. She starts spraying and playing the wind like Phil Dawson, and magnificently starts to hit the dish. I’m screaming with joy and rooting her on and we start to see some melting. Now she’s into it and she says, “You think I could reach it with a hockey stick to speed this up?” So I go to the garage for one and remember I have a telescoping painting pole that I use to hang x-mas lights. I bring that bad boy out, she goes back up the ladder and a few whacks later we are ice free and back in business for the rest of the afternoon on HD Sunday ticket.
True love, it is a wonderful thing.

Happy Holidays, Tim

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Czabe,

Just read your blog on your travails with DirecTV… Let me tell you my own horror story with their “professional” installers…
Let me preface this by saying that I am a 9 yr DirecTV guy, who has no less than 3 boxes running, and am a multiple (NHL, and MLB) sports pack subscriber…

Back in Sept I took advantage of a special to have a shiny new HR-20 installed in my 9 month old house. It took 3 calls to customer service and various negotiating tactics, such as switching to Dish or Comcast, to get the satellite overlords to give an HR 20 for low, low, price of 149.99… After I told them to ship it, I was told “we need to have an installer put that in”, hmm lets see connect HDMI, cable, and plug in… Sounds like a challenge. Fine, let them install. Soonest they can install, 4 weeks out. Fine, no hurry I have an H20, and an R15 (SD DVR). Install date comes around and my wife covers the install window, and they show up w/ 1 hr left in the window. Guy tells my wife that he’s not allowed to touch anything. She tells him OK, just move the R15 to another room, also on his work order, and she’ll prep the area. So what does the tech do, he LEAVES the premises having done nothing. After 3 hours of calls to his boss and DirecTV, he comes back, installs only the HR20, and only hooks up 1 tuner. More calls by me, yelling screaming and cursing gets another tech to come to “pull” the other line into basement as they want to drill a hole in the floor, or charge 100 more for a “custom install.” Needless to say I finished the install myself, rather than have Tweedle-Dum cut holes in my new house.

Needless to say I learned the following:
Lowest bidder wins.
I am more competent than most install techs.
If you want it done right, do it yourself.

FYI: The new Ka/Ku dish is a little more complex than the single LNB dish, or the 3 LNB. It requires moving in Alt/Az. And tilt. You can do it yourself, just takes a bit more tweaking (and possibly a signal meter) to get it locked it. The dish has 4 outputs that can be multiplexed using a switch (Zinwell WB68 4 in/8 out). If you are moving into new construction I highly advise 2 lines per location, and a structured panel. Otherwise, you may end up with the tech drilling holes in the floors, and cutting holes in walls, etc.

Love the blog, and the morning Drive, and Sports Reporters!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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Hey Steve,

I have a pretty decent Direct TV story for you. After they missed two appointments, they sent some of their "professional" installers. (which are really nothing more than private contractors tasked by Direct TV).

Anyway, the two guys that came to my house, one installed and kept me busy, while the other one yanked one of my checking account checks out of my office and subsequently passed it along to someone who wiped my account out. Luckily my bank agreed that check fraud had in fact occurred and reimbursed me, so now it's their problem.

Philly PD is investigating but w/ the more serious issues they have to deal with, i.e. Philly cops currently being "hunted" by the criminals, I'm sure I won't hear anything for about a year. The place where the check was cashed was in North Philly, same area from hence my installers came. Fun times

Time Line:
July 3rd- 11am, they arrive (3 hours late) install Direct TV wonderfully, take checking account check.

July 3rd- 3pm, an "E***** Gordon", deposits my check for the EXACT amount of my checking account balance. (my bank thinks she had a friend/teller pull my account balance before she wrote in the amount, so they're looking into that).
July 4th- Enjoy my holiday

July 5th- Log in to my online account, see I have a negative balance, lose my mind.

Just because the accounts closed now and it doesn't matter, I've attached a PDF of the actual check. Hard part is I LOVE my Direct TV now, but we clearly didn't start our relationship on the right foot. Enjoy!!!

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Czabe,

Just got my new HR-21 receiver last night! Sleek shiny black receiver that matches my TV nicely. So far the HD picture looks great! Lets hope this was the solution. Next time you call the nice folks at direct tv ask for the HR-21. Who wouldnt want the latest upgrade? Tell them Beyonce sent you.

-Todd

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I have Dish Network, which I have been enjoying on SD televisions for several years now. After years of lobbying my wife, she finally agreed to let me upgrade our two primary televisions to 50" plasmas. A coup unto itself, I was thrilled when she told me that this holiday miracle also included the green light to upgrade to HD.

Now late November, I ran out and bought the televisions as fast as I could so that my wife did not have a chance to change her mind, and called the local service provider to schedule an upgrade. I was disappointed when the provider's enthusiasm did not match mine. It took several, agonizing days to get my calls returned. When I did finally get a call returned, I was told that the provider had to check with the installer to get a date. More time passes. The first date I was offered was a 4-hour block on a Tuesday and in the middle of the day. No can do. More time passes.

Now well into December, I get another call, this time scheduling for a Saturday afternoon. Perfect...until the installer called me Saturday afternoon to tell me that he would not come. It seems that he did not want to install the new HD dish in the snow. This struck me as odd since I live in Wisconsin and it snows here every winter. I figured he must be joking since the peak time to upgrade to HD is winter, given the holidays and the Super Bowl. But he was not joking. My appointment time came and went.

I sit here today, well over a month after I bought TWO 50" plasma tv's, still watching those babies in SD. Like you, I am waiting for SOMEONE to call me and re-schedule.

Side note: I called Dish Network's customer care number to complain about the delay. To make things right, they offered me $20. So let me understand, I spent over $5000 on televisions, another $600 on delivery and installation, another $500 on basic accessories to make the system work right (not to mention the HD receiver, upconvert DVD player, new sound package, etc.), and for having to have my system short circuited by laziness and ineptitude, that's worth $20?? I am not a happy camper.

Lex
Milwaukee

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Czabe,

I'll keep this one pretty short.

We started out with Dish Network in 1997 when we moved to our new home in Waukesha. We called the cable dorks and they told us we were out of luck in our brand new subdivision, maybe in 18 month. My wife hung up the phone with them, picked up her keys and said "get in the car, we're going to buy a dish." God how I love that woman.

Anyway, on moving day to the new pad we put up a wood 4x4 using a couple of 2x4's screwed to it for supports and then clamped the dish to it - TA DA! Instant dish. When they jerked us around 2 years later on equipment we bailed and went to DirectTV and haven't looked back.

That house was on a sloped lot and I was able to build a deck out back about 6 foot off the ground. I mounted the dish UNDER the deck and never had a problem with snow coverage, hornet's nests or anything else. Rain fade was fewer and farther between, too. Plus if facilitates the annual ritual of coating the dish with RainX - the snow and crap just slides right off.

Our new home has the dish mounted on a poll right next to the gas meter (No sir, you're NOT going to drill holes in my new home without my pernission). I'm going to paint it AND the gas meter the same color as the house. You'll never see it.

Enjoy the new pad, Gov.

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Steve,

As a loyal B&B and Steve Czaban fan I have been following along with your Direct TV issues in regards to upgrading to the 5 LNB setup. First I have a bit of advice in regards to the monkeys missing your appointment. This recently happened to me and after much screaming I discovered that Direct TV has an ”automatic” policy in regards to missed appointments. I put that in air quotes because you have to request this supposed automatic policy. Direct TV gives a $100 credit for any missed appointment, even if they show up 1 minute after the time frame provided or if they call to let you know they are running late.

So that sounds good, but don’t accept it. I was able to argue them up to $100 and 2 free months of my current service (5 TVs, 2 DVRs, 1 HDTV DVR, Full HD Package).

Now that I have given you the important info, I want to warn you about the 5 LNB system. First off I must say that the HD lineup is spectacular….but that’s where the good ends. First, it took 3 separate appointments for the monkeys here to get the dish set up correctly….it is apparently far touchier than the 3 LNB system. And there is nothing better than a Direct TV installer who you have to go out and hold the ladder for because HE IS AFRAID OF HEIGHTS!!!
Second, and most annoying, the system is having huge audio/video syncing problems when using the new HD-DVR. There is nothing more annoying than hearing someone say something and then watching the mouth move two seconds later. It’s like watching a bad Godzilla movie all the time. The worst part is that Direct TV denies that there is any problem despite the directv.com forums being jammed with complaints about the same problem.

And lastly is an issue I know you have been a victim of in the past. SNOW AND ICING OF THE DISH!!! Apparently thanks to a slight additional curve they designed into the bottom of the new dish, the dish is much more prone to snow collection and icing. I had my old dish for 4 years and never had a problem. This year since getting the new dish I have had ice and snow problems 6 times. I have now resorted to using a Super Soaker filled with sidewalk de-icing solution in order to clean off my dish 25 feet in the air.

Let me know if you have any questions, and keep up the good fight.

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Czabe, just thought I’d share my fight w/ DIRECTV. After explaining I was going to switch to dish network the rep gave me a great deal including the unit all the premiums free for 6 months the HD service free for a year and a reduced monthly rate locked in for two yrs.
Made the move from 3-LNB to 5-LNB unit the install and appointment time were spot on. They even called 30 min. before arrival.

Everything was awesome until my picture would go dark for 3-5 seconds for no reason, after 2 unit replacements and another technician going thru everything from roof dish to lines in my house it was finally diagnosed by a tech over the phone 3 weeks later.

The issue is my TV. WHAT? It seems DIRECTV has an issue with the software on the HD DVR in has a glitch that occurs with my 50” Samsung LCD. This only is an issue w/Samsung TV’s. The glitch can only be fixed by not using the HDMI cable for sound. It does fix the problem and the picture is awesome but not having digital audio is a little disappointing. After numerous complaints they have no solution and suggest I contact Samsung.

Am I happy I made the switch, yes. Did I get a great deal that I’m happy with, Yes. I wish I had a TV other than Samsung only for the sound issue the picture on the TV is awesome.

Good Luck and remember they need numbers and don’t want to lose customers.

Merry Christmas

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Czabe,

I've had DTV for about 5 years, and have had numerous nightmares of my own. It seems like every time DTV comes out with a new service (Tivo, HD), it requires a new dish. I started out with a single LNB dish which they installed on my deck. When Tivo came out, they told me it would require a 3 LNB dish. The installer came out and just swapped-out the single LNB unit on my deck with the 3 LNB unit.

Before he left, I noticed that a lot of channels weren't coming in, and he said "it just takes a few hours for them to work." A few hours passed, and of course, the channels didn't just suddenly start working. The next technician came out and realized that a backyard tree was blocking the angle of some of the LNBs on the new dish, and that the dish would have to me moved to the roof. He said "Man, that other guy knew what he was doing. He just didn't feel like climbing up on the roof." So I had to take another 4 hours off from work because the first Ass-Hat was too lazy to do his job correctly.

Of course, when I got my first HDTV and wanted to upgrade, they told me that it would require the new 5 LNB dish. That seemed to go smoothly, but later I realized that all of the local HD channels would freeze and pixelate often, making them unwatchable. I read some posts from other DTV users on an online forum and realized that a lot of other people in the Baltimore area were having the same issues, but DTV would not acknowledge that there was a problem and did nothing to fix it. I ended up hiring someone to install an off-air antenna (at my own expense) so that I could get the locals in HD.

Last month, I saw the advertisement stating that DTV now had 85 HD channels. I giddily picked up the remote and surfed to these new channels, only to realize that most of them weren't coming in. I called tech support, and they made me jump through all of the requisite hoops (check the signal strength, power down the receiver, etc) before they finally agreed to send a technician out. They gave me a window of 1 - 6 PM on a Saturday afternoon, and of course, the guy didn't show up until 6:30.

By then it was too dark for him to climb on the roof, so he just looked at the multiplexer that routed the wires throughout my house and realized that I had a diplexer on one line (which allowed me to send a DTV signal and an off-air antenna signal on the same line) and theorized that this what was causing my problem, stating that I would need a new multiplexer. I tried to squash his theory by arguing that I had a non-diplexed line going to another HDTV in my house that was having the same issues as the diplexed line. He insisted that he was right, and told me that he'd be back at 8 AM on Monday with the new multiplexer. He didn't show until 10:30, and when he finally arrived he told me that the multiplexers were "out of stock."

He said that while he was here he would remove the diplexers to see if that solved the problem, and he started fidgeting with my current multiplexer, unhooking cables and such, and then he asked me where my dish was located. I told him it was on the rear roof, and he when he glanced up at it he said "oh yeah, you have the old 5 LNB dish.

There's a newer one. THAT'S your problem." So, it looks like he was full of shit on the whole diplexer thing, like I initially suspected. He started re-hooking the cables on my multiplexer and said that he would be back in a few days with the new 5 LNB dish. After he left, I immediately hopped in the car and drove to work, already 3 hours behind for the day. When I got home later that night and turned on the TV I realized that my HD locals from the off-air antenna weren't coming in anymore. Sure enough, the Nozzle had crossed the lines when he re-hooked the cables, so I had to undo his handiwork myself (in the dark) so that I wouldn't miss "My Name is Earl" and "The Office" that night.

Why do I put up with all of this crap? So that I can watch my beloved Eagles lose in heartbreaking fashion week after week on the Sunday Ticket. They've got me by the balls, and there's nothing that I can do about it.

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Steve,

I, too, have a love hate thing with DTV. I love the ticket, hate the substandard and subcontracted "technicians" they hire. Having recently upgraded to the 5-LNB, "slimline" (side bar: Slim like my soon to be mother in law) , dish myself, I can tell you I have that fuzzy feeling that I have the Top-O-Line offering. I have the Premier package with the Ticket and Superfan so I am in heaven with my programming choices.

Plenty of HD content for me to marvel over and my fiance to look at and tell me "I don't see the difference." That 5-LNB runs into the HR-21-700 which feeds via HDMI to my 50" Pioneer Plasma. Then, that fuzzy feeling has me reachin' for the Pepto! I'm on my second HR21 due to numerous supposedly software related issues. So I schedule a tech appointment and Pablo or some other non-English speaking individual calls to confirm. My window of opportunity was 8-12, I wait until 10 after noon, just like college.

No sign of DTV.

Now they tell me the problem may be in the cabling they ran from the dish to my receiver. Unacceptable. Sunday Ticket keeps me paying my $124 a month tithe to the Bishops of Football and they simply continue to drop the proverbial ball. Now, two weeks later I have yet to hear from DTV about a new appointment or Pablo who left a message saying he would try to stop back "mañana". This weekend I will follow in the footsteps of the early satellite pilgrims and run new cable from the dish to the box.

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Dear Czabe,

I would love to share my dtv story with you and anyone who will listen. We called dtv to get up and going again after a move. They told us we would have to wait 5 WEEKS to get hooked up! Not feeling confident enough to install it myself, I agreed to wait. I spent the next 5 weeks at bars and friends houses, to the "joy" of my wife, to get my sports fix. The magical day came. They would arrive between noon and four. My wife used half a day of valuable vacation to be there. She gets a call at about 9:30 a.m. from the installer.

He's at our house waiting. My wife tells him she can't be home 'til noon, when the appt. was scheduled for. He informs her that if no one can be there in an hour he will move on and we will have to reschedule. Mad as hell, my wife immediately calls dtv where they inform her that, "yes, this is correct." When she asks about rescheduling they tell her the earliest they could be back would be in 4 f 'ing weeks! We immediately cacelled our account and called Dish and have been with them since.Even after sending several angry e-mails we never got more than the standard " we really value your business" garbage.

Sincerly,
Eric, Brownsville, Wi.

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Czabe,

I certainly feel your pain and then some on the screwing you are taking from DTV. I have been a DishNet customer for almost three years. At the end of October, I finally decided to make the HD move. I went to CC and picked up a sweet, 42-inch Panasonic Plasma HDTV (with the anti-glare screen, which is awesome and highly recommended for any plasma). I called the next day to schedule my upgrade. Since I was a new HD customer, I was eligible for free HD for six months.

The earliest they could get me in was December 8th. Well, on Monday, November 26th, the dispatcher for the installers called me and said they would be in the area on Wednesday the 28th and wanted to know if I would like them to install then. I obviously agreed and set it up for 5 pm. They wanted to do it "around noon", but since I was going to be at work, that time was not an option. Well, as I was sitting at my desk on Tuesday, I decided that Wednesday would be a great time to use a personal day. I cleared it with my boss and rushed home to call the dispatcher. I told her my name and address she confirmed my 5 pm time.

I told her that I decided to take Wednesday off, so they could come as early as they wanted as I would be here all day. She said that was great as it would help them out a lot to do it earlier. She said she was sending the message to the installer "right now" to let him know to arrive as early as he wanted. Well Czabe, wanna guess when he arrived? Not 9 am. Not noon. Not 3pm. Try 5:40 pm, in the dark and a driving wind/rain storm. Well, this guy was a trooper! He gets up on my porch roof, puts some sort of new attachment on my existing dish, then comes inside and hooks me up. High marks to this guy!

I can only assume that as a man, he understood the importance of this transaction for me and storm or not, he was going to make it happen. By the way - he said he never got the message. He said he wished he had because he was in my area at 10 am and would have done it then!

You may think that is the end of the saga, but it gets much better. I just received my first bill since the upgrade and it is all f***** up.

As I said - I am supposed to get free HD for six months, as well as free HBO & Skinemax for three months. My bill says otherwise. I was billed $82 extra for part of last month and all of next month for the stuff that should be free! So I, like you, said unacceptable and called them. I don't know what DTV is like but the Dish call center must be in India or Pakistan or something because almost every time I call I get a rep who can barely speak English. Again - unacceptable. Is it too much to ask to hire people can CLEARLY speak and understand the English language, especially since the overwhelming majority of their customers speak English?

Well, even though I had a difficult time understanding her she was very polite and helpful.. After many minutes on hold, she said that there was some sort of "malfunction" in calculating my bill and there would be a credit for that amount on my account in 4-5 days. I am certain I will be calling back when I don't see the credit posted in 4-5 days. Let me say this about Dish: their customer service may suck, but the equipment is solid. My upgrade was to the new Vip 722 HD/DVR and it is awesome! One receiver controls 2 TVs (one HD, one SD), and it is whisper quiet! I think it records something like 50 hours of HD content and 200 hours of SD. Very nice!

Czabe, here is the worst part of my story. Although I can now enjoy a myriad of HD content (watching my Pittsburgh Penguins in HD is amazing, as is all football and a few other shows I would never have dreamed of watching before I had HD, such as Animal Planet) I can not enjoy the many fine HD offerings, sports or otherwise, from Fox, NBC, ABC, or CBS. Know why? Because since I live in good old 15-years behind the times Erie, PA, the local affiliates don't offer ANY HD programming. In fact, it is so pathetic here that the local CBS affiliate just did a news story last week, patting themselves on the back as being the first local station to upgrade to digital programming!

Wow - way to go losers!

It is almost 2008 and you are the first station in town to upgrade from analog to digital - awesome! Isn't that kind of like getting a job at the Humane Society when the only other candidate interviewed was Michael Vick? And Czabe, I have tried every angle I could think of to get those networks in HD. I asked if I could pay extra for those networks from another city. I looked into telling Dish I moved to Pittsburgh so they would switch my locals, and they said they would.

I was pumped until I found out they would have to get me a larger dish to locate the satellite that carries the Pittsburgh locals. I even sent an e-mail to DTV. I figured that since DTV does not offer the Erie locals (yes, you heard me right) I would be able to get them from another city. No dice. I received a reply the next day explaining that I could do that - only if I can't get my locals with an antennae. So, unless I move, I am S.O.L. So I can sympathize with your plight - a little. At least you will get to see the NFL playoffs, Super Bowl, major bowl games, March Madness, the MLB playoffs and World Series, 30 Rock and other fine shows in HD. Oh well, I always have the Pens and Animal Planet!

Brian
Erie, PA

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I did mine myself about 10 years ago, too. My question to you is: Do you really want some $12/hr installer monkey that drives around all day, with ladders and a "perfect cover" vehicle, casing your house?

a) Do it yourself.
b) Hire a certified electrician...they probably make as much as you ;)
c) Find a recommended old-timer handyman to do it and hang on to his card forever (having a good doctor, lawyer, and handyman goes a long way toward sleeping well)

My guess is DirecTV is forcing the free install to protect themselves from lawsuits from people falling off the roof AND if it's a "permanent" install to their specs it won't be done half-a$$ (screwed into window sills, etc)...thus the next homeowner will keep the set-up and be another DirecTV customer.

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AND NOW, YOUR PIC O' THE DAY!!!