DIRECTV Review

Overall 3.20 of 5 view all 260 reviews

arow97
Shawnee, OK

Too many hoops just for TV service.

Open-minded, a comparison shopper, Budget-Conscious, appreciative of good service, willing to pay for quality, value conscious, not rich, expecting good, fair service

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Pros

Price Comparable to Cable

Cons

Constant Problems, HORRIBLE customer service

NOV

2007

My husband and I just canceled our DirecTV service because we were completely dissatisfied with their service!

First of all, the only reason we signed up with DirecTV was because they offered a packaged deal with Earthlink internet and it was difficult for us to get high speed internet in our location. We were assured Earthlink was available to us. It was not until AFTER we signed up, installation was completed, and no internet was connected that we contacted DirecTV again and were told that we could not have Earthlink internet at our current address, a question we had already asked. But, because we were already signed up, we would suffer a high early-cancellation fee for disconnecting DirecTV service.

We used it for six months. I will have to admit, their reception was fairly good and I loved the features of the DVR as opposed to the Tivo (in most regards).

However, after six months, our DVR Receiver fried. The over-the-phone technical support was useless because someone on the other end of the phone cannot see my DVR or the cables connected to it and tell me what's wrong. I am not an un-intelligent person, I had already tried the quick fixes, pushing the re-set button, removing the access card, etc., before calling and the tech support could offer no other solution. Rather than sending a REAL technician, we were sent a new receiver as a quick fix. The fix was not so quick, as the new receiver did the same thing after only four days.

At this point, my husband and I were done jumping through hoops and dealing with customer service. We decided to cancel. However, because our contract had not run out, we were told we would be charged the early-cancellation fee. We were also told protesting the charge would be useless because we did not allow DirecTV ample opportunity to fix the problem, by denying a technician to come the SECOND time our DVR died. I would have welcomed one the first time but by the second time, they were simply losing a customer.

We are going to contest the charge, but even that process is not an easy one, as they only accept claims in writing. I suspect this is to deter anyone from actually following through on a complaint.

Overall, it's not worth the trouble. Do not buy DirecTV. If the price is attractive to you, Dish Network is cheaper. I have not used their service, so I cannot say how it fares, but I can say DirecTV is not worth any customer's time or money.