DIRECTV Customer Service

User Reviews, Ratings and Comments

DIRECTV customer service is ranked #232 out of the 1023 companies that have a CustomerServiceScoreboard.com rating with an overall score of 44.23 out of a possible 200 based upon 3155 ratings. This score rates DIRECTV customer service and customer support as Disappointing.

NEGATIVE Comments

2,744 Negative Comments out of 3,155 Total Comments is 86.97%.

POSITIVE Comments

411 Positive Comments out of 3,155 Total Comments is 13.03%.

Issue Resolution

Reachability

Cancellation

Friendliness

Product Knowledge

Disappointing Overall Customer Service Rating

  • DIRECTV

    Customer Service Scoreboard

    • 44.23 Overall Rating
      (out of 200 possible)
    • 2,744 negative comments (86.97%)
    • 411 positive comments (13.03%)
    • 26 employee comments
    • Attribute Ratings
      (out of 10 possible)
    • 2.4 Issue Resolution
    • 3.4 Reachability
    • 2.0 Cancellation
    • 4.1 Friendliness
    • 3.7 Product Knowledge

Add your review!

Posted by CNoteViking100


After having been a customer with Direct TV for many years, I am very disappointed with the service. In the years that I have been with Direct TV, I have never been late on a bill nor have I missed a payment. Many times, I would notice bill increases and have to contact customer services and find out what changed. They would tell me that a movie channel or package had been added to my account. This is where I would remind them that it was not ordered on my end because I had a password in place to prevent anyone from my household from ordering with the remote, and this password was never given out as I learned early on about not safeguarding my account when a relative had ordered numerous adult movies with the press of a button on the remote control. My direct tv account had to be watched because it would continue to happen in spite of the security measures. Finally, I decided to part ways with Direct TV and it wasn't because I was offered a better deal if I changed over to Spectrum. They too are guilty of deceptive practices. They are by far the most deceptive company in this multi million dollar monopoly. The customer is just a number and nobody is valued for their customer loyalty. If you don't like their practices....simply write a complaint after this one. It will be added to the hundreds that have posted here, maybe even thousands. When I cancelled my subscription to Direct TV, the representative didn't even bother to ask my why. She didn't say Thank You for the thousands of dollars that I have given them for the years I have been a loyal customer. This is the typical response to their customers. We need them more than they need us. We customers should stand together and demand accountability from these multi million dollar companies who fleece everyone. My fire stick will suffice for now and I may not get as many channels as I used to... but we American's rely too much on television for entertainment. We hardly communicate with one another as it is due to our cell phones and social media. Cell phones are the new parents and that is scary,

Posted by Anonymous


You stink

Posted by Anonymous


Absolutely infuriated I have missed so many Sunday Night Football games and cannot get NBC channel!!! I am cancelling Direct Tv after being a long time customer and switching to cable!! I'm DONE!!

Posted by Anonymous


We lost NBC of course Directtv blames the carrier. I say not true. Look at it this way. I don't know the exact numbers but just for demonstration let's say they charge you $20 to carry a channel. Of that $10 goes to the across carrier Directtv keeps $10. Now they take off the channel continue to charge you the $20, blame the carrier, and keep it all. Multiply that by the number of customers and that's a huge profit.

Posted by Anonymous


South East Texas Direct TV customers are in shock that we have lost channels but are still charged the same amount. We are so hoping Spectrum is coming to our area (which we hear) and all can cancel Direct TV. Direct TV should be proud - you now have become the worst satellite system to have. Direct TV employees - congratulate management when your out of a job...l

Posted by Annie Oakley


I emailed the content below several times. Spent hours on the phone & chat! They intentionally want to wear you out. They know that that are on their way out of business. Horrible customer service and reviews. They will have No customer Retention and eventually go bankrupt. Therefore they do not care about the customer. They just want to suck in as much money as possible before the inevitable happens!
FULL CIRCLE!

To Directv:
YOU HAVE NO INTEGRITY
I was scammed by a person named Gabriel ( Slick Retailer)
I am older, and after I realized what it happened, I canceled with Direct TV immediately I never gave written consent for anything!
You sent me over 20 emails trying to get me to agree to this I've kept every one of them as reference of you being over aggressive & harassing me! I did not respond to any of them. I did not agree to anything! You are wanting to charge me $480 For having equipment from Nov 15th to Nov 22 (7days)
Everyone is on the other side of a situation at some point in life. I cannot believe a company would not be better to their customers. If you have any hopes of retention with customers, then drastic change is necessary! These actions by you are a sign of lack of integrity and worst customer representation I ever experienced! This is purely unethical business practices!

Posted by greg


It has been over a year that FOX has been blacked out here. I have been unable to see events like the world series football games etc. I want the service that I overpay for to be reinstated!!!

Posted by DTR9020


A scammer called telling me they have an upgrade to high definition equipment I told him I didn't need it what I have is working fine. His deal was we will send all the new equipment and you send back the equipment you have now. the catch was I send them 299.95 and we will receive 40.00 off per month that is too good to be a true rite 960.00 back over time. To my surprise new equipment arrived with postage paid box to send the old back we hooked iup the new box Direct TV set it up to work. I still have my 299.95 so I called Direct TV and asked them if this was a scam they assured me that it was not so I sent the check to Direct TV. They held it for 25 days before cashing it with no discount on my bill. I called them and now they tell me it is a scam and they will not give any discount. How did a scammer send me new equipment and hook it up I talked to many at Direct YV before I sent the check and after. Direct TV is a heartless down and dirty company. I think the scam came within the company. They were just too knowledgeable and knew all the ropes. I don't trust any of them. Time to move on they don't need my 160.00 per month

Posted by Rick


I spent 2.5 hours on hold with customer service last night before giving up. So I went into a nearby ATT store this morning hoping they could help and was told it was an hour wait before they could talk to me. Pretty poor

Posted by Anonymous


Direct TV is the absolute worst! I have been dealing with an issue for well over a year. I will be watching TV and it flashes one of many messages and I either have to turn it off or it goes off on it's on. It can take anywhere from 10 minutes to 40 minutes to come back on.
Multiple, multiple calls were made, aside from it taking a ridiculous amount of time to finally get through, most times I couldn't understand the person and their answer for everything was sending a signal which obviously never worked. They also suggested the "press the red button on the side" or "unplug it and then plug it back in" my favorite was when they suggested unplugging it from the surge protector and plugging it directly into the wall, I guess it's different electricity. Also obvious is that the representative is reading from a script, so frustrating. They finally after months sent someone out, he barely came in the house and said it was an outside issue, fixed whatever he thought it was without telling or explaining it to me and left. 5 minutes after he left it continued to do it. Next it was "it must be the box, they sent a new box, I guess they can't even come and do that for you. The box has been replaced and it still continues to do it. They are a useless company that does not stand behind what they have sold you, and they certainly don't care about their customers.

Posted by Anonymous


I want my football back or I'm dropping you

Posted by Yuccalab


Get off your ass and negotiate the deal so I can get the sports Ii payed for!

Posted by Anonymous


Looks like I'm going to have to cancel one of the reasons I have it is for football and
your dispute with Fox network or whoever is interfering with my football so if I can't watch it no need to have it

Posted by Anonymous


Please get back nbc!

Posted by Willard


Can't get CBS. Problem isn't with CBS, the problem is with Direct TV. Why won't you provide us with our local station? Received email from CBS explaining but from what I'm seeing, direct TV is the problem. I'm going to find someone local for direct TV and piss on them. You people needs pissing on. Rather get down on your ass but pissing on you best.

Posted by Jeffrey


Why are you not making progress in getting Nexstar back with my local channels FOX and ABC??? This is ridiculous, it's been over a year. I pay for local channels and only recieve half of them. This will be two missed football seasons. If you are not going to make a deal with Nextstar please let me know so I can drop Directv. I've been a loyal customer since early 90's. I am ready to change my service.

Posted by Arty Jane


What the hell is going on. We pay a stiff price for your service. Now no NewsNation. Could not watch the BMW Golf competition. And no NFL Ticket. Are you going to reduce your rates for reduced service❓Do you even care about your customers❓

Posted by Customer


I only watch ABC and now I can't and thank you for eliminating ABC and giving me a "One time credit of $10.00 It's been over two months without these channels. I've been looking into other services because direct TV obviously can't do what is right for their customers.

Posted by Sad consumer


Horrible. Greedy. No channel 4 for over a month and they do not care. They broke their contract but had no resolution to turn the channel back on.

Posted by Anonymous


Lousy service. STAY WITH DISH!!!!!!!
For example, for the past several weeks I have watched "Passengers" with Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence. Direct TV can't get the subtitles right. Whoever is responsible catches only half of the dialogue. It's the same on both my TVs--a Sharp wide-screen and a Sony Bravia. This Direct TV subtitles--their own.

Posted by Unknown


Always terrible customer service and technical service.

Now, once every four years Women's World Cup unavailable because of dispute. I paid for this and all they say is we apologize.

Planning on cancelling after 29 years. They just don't care about their customers.

Posted by Anonymous


Customer service is the worst in the industry. I have been a customer for 12 years. I called to cancel service as it has become prohibitively expensive. They did NOT cancel the serive as i requested and just charged me another month. On the phone for 40 minutes got me nowhere. I am now forced to contest the charge with my bank. Thanks for nothing DirecTV!

Posted by Anonymous


I am being charged for a wrestling tournament that we would never have ordered there is nobody in the home to make such an order except my husband and myself and we definitely did not order anything just got my bill today called immediately was told the dispute had to have occurred within 24 hours we had no way of knowing about the charge prior to receiving the bill we have been customers for years no resolution said it came from our remote

Posted by Anonymous


Your programing says that Sunday July 16 you were to show NASCAR. You have stupid Law and Order. What happened, this is outrageous.

Posted by Anonymous


I have been with direct TV since 2003. I've never had a problem with getting a technician to my house for service. The most I had to wait was maybe a few days but I called on July 11 for someone to come to my house cause my satellite dish and receiver are not working therefore I'm not getting any service. Well they told me that the earliest someone can come to my house is Aug 25! What the heck! That's over 1 1/2 months! I've never had a problem like this before. I'm not waiting over a month to get my TV service working again. I will just have to go to another service provider like Dish if I have too. Can't believe how Direct TV customer service has gotten especially with long time customers. Well sorry to say but good bye Direct TV hello to another provider.

Add your review!

Posted by Ladonna


We got an excellent person to come to our home, polite, explained everything to the line, I'm putting our review on here because we didn't get an email to the rating site

Posted by Abuela


I want to thank Christian
for his kindness and patience
we got disconnected do to nexpiration card.
It went very smoothly
we have our subscription back
Thanks to Christian..plus he speaks my language (Spanish)
that was a plus, and very convenient.
Thank you so much Christian
we really appreciate Your help..
He was very professional and very knowledgeable also.

Posted by Anonymous


I spoke with John today. We spent time trying to reset my HDMI. We were unable to fix the problem and a service person is coming to my house. John was superb. He was kind and professional. I'm sure you value him highly.

Posted by Janice


We love our serviceman, Josh, ft. Smith, ark. He always does an excellent job. He is professional and friendly. Every company should be so lucky to have him.
Janice Smith

Posted by Doris


Customer loyalty Vince a 10+. Kept my business and let me know of all stuff out there I didn't know about. He made me feel valued.

Posted by Anonymous


Recently had Steve who was a tech from Mastec. He was excellent, very knowledgeable, diagnosed the issue and fixed it properly. I am 7 days since the visit and have had no further problems. He also made us aware of discounts available on our account and helped us sign up for them. We were ready to change providers but his service helped DircTV maintain a long time customer.

Posted by Harry and Wanda Hill


We've been customers of DirecTV for over eight years. The most recent problem with our TV reception resulted in a call to the toll free where a nice person intercepted my wife's inbound request for help in regaining signal. The positive efforts of the person who tried to fix our situation was not successful.

This polite young lady stayed on line with my wife until a service call was placed and confirmed for a Technician to come to our house. Once the Tech made contact with us and scheduled the visit (8-14-17) the issue was corrected almost immediately "it sure seemed that way to us". He was very polite and helpful throughout the whole process and needs to be recognized by upper management for the speed, accuracy and painless process he led us through. That Technician's number He made us feel as though He and DirecTV care about us and the things we care about. Very impressed, builds a positive and credible image of DirecTV and it's reputation.

Completely satisfied customers - Harry and Wand Hill. 8-15-17

Posted by DANIEL J. DEBAULT


The Technician That Came Out Today Was Exemplary In Professional Abilities,courteous And Knowledgeable And Extremely Efficient...problems Solved Quickly...his Name Is Jimmie Mccool...id#64889...totally Impressed Happy Customer....daniel J. Debault ...

Posted by Anonymous


"Sid" was an amazing representive whom actually helped fix my problem. Big confusion deal and everything on our account was messed up but she fixed it smoothly. Sure hope that whoever she is gets recognized for the great customer service she provides!

Posted by Anonymous


Prompt, Professional, Courteous Service..... We Are Very Pleased Direct Tv Customers...again. Technician

Posted by Anonymous


Johathan Harris, Technicin was i my home on Friday feb.3, 2017. He solved my problem. He was very thorough and made sure he knew what the problem was and made all the corrections. He was the installer of my Direct TV about a year ago. He was brand new on the job but worked with his supervisor to get things done right. He has learned a lot during this last year and I would consider hims a valued employee. Thanks for training him and for continuing to send him my way when I have troubles.

Posted by talked on the phone with a gentl


I would like to say I had a great experience talking to and receiving the best customer service I have received from any company in a while. I would like to thank customer service MR. very much for his professional attitude his intelligent ideas, saving me money, getting me channels, showing me specials that were offered and that direc tv had available that best met my interests. If I had a daughter I would hope she could grow up to meet the young man I spoke to who was very personable, great sense of humor, and all qualities you would hope to have in all seriousness form a customer service rep. PLEASE consider customer service number, am I hope I am leaving this on the correct page. phone number of JOSH TALLEY, in case anyone needs clarification about this post. In all seriousness, had it not been for this man, I may not still be with Direct Tv. He handled the multi facsitied the situation very well under undue distress on my part. As is such, Please consider giving the young man a raise, if not please tell me if he is available to work for whatever the raise would be as Wendell from EPB is my uncle and he always needs good reps. thanks direct tv and thanks customer service rep

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Posted by smallfrie


the installer was really great. he staid here until the problems that was going on with the customer service and the paper work that he need to do that was wrong. he stayed until it was all figured out and he was able to finish the job right like it was suppose to be. his name was John Lupoli working out of the Syracure base for MasterTec he is from the Dolgeville center. the technician #52635. i rate him a 10 and if i could it would be more. he cares about his customers. he stayed on the phone with the customer service for over a hour one time and also have one of the customer service people hang up on to him because they did not want to here what he needed done until he finally got someone to listen to him. So i would give him a great rating.

Posted by Big Daddy


I think that everything is about the money. Why can't we choose our own program??? It is no dought that i will be dropping my service some. No so Happy Customer.

Posted by Anonymous


James from Greensboro,NC service our equipment today.

He was outstanding and went above and beyond what we expected.

Please give this person a raise and the credit he deserves.

Thank you

Posted by Ravenspinner


Direct TV is a mixed bag of service

Getting through their customer service line to an actual rep takes a saints patience. They make sure to bog you down with multiple VR requests. It's annoying. ASK them for specific dates if you make the mistake of accepting a FREE trial. I cancelled my free trial 4 days early and was charged a $9 fee that I did eventually after 4 calls get removed. They informed me that you cannot cancel even a day early or set up ahead of time for it to be cancelled on a particular date. I've had no trouble with the account retention office.. those people can go off script, are very friendly and know how to treat you like a person. And the service & installation guy we've had was really great, on time, very respectful of our carpeting (it was raining on and off) and showed us how to use the system and made sure it was set up right in both rooms even though we didn't have a tv fully set up in the room yet. Bottom line: BE VERY careful about your dates of service and free trials and their customer service virtual voice system is a horrible maze of garbage and frustration.

Posted by Anonymous


Technician Chris Wolfe

Wolfe finally corrected my TV properly. Since Feb 2016 have had a number of black outs, incorrect start-ups, programming stops - had to start-up again, etc.

Thanking

Posted by Anonymous


As a relatively new customer to Direct TV I, was frustrated discovering Direct TV offered various at home boxes to utilize with your TV at home When technician , Walter #121999 came to the house to make sure my new box was hooked up correctly and could not have done anything more to help me. Bill ,technician went above and beyond making sure I could operate the remote to its fullest extent ,utilizing all the services included with the box I received today Older individuals like me really need angels like those two technicians to make home visits. Not hurrying , going out of their way making sure, giving me time to write down, allowing me to use the remote thus, actually setting up programs I could record to watch when I WANT to or later at, a better time for me. I AM SO GREATFUL ,it is no longer necessary for me to scroll through a million add programs with everything from bowel cleansers to carpet cleaners or PLAYBOY programs to find/see news updates or documentaries on subjects of interest to me. Thank-you Direct TV ,Walter #121999 and Bill #56704 for your efforts in making actually watching TV the enjoyable experience it should be !! Last but ,not least they left me a guide which actually pictured my remote ,explained various tasks the colors achieved if pushed [never had a book before].

Posted by CTilley


FINALLY! I've been searching for a place to send some comments since Sept. 7th. On Sept 9th, I got in touch with a DIRECTV rep named Randy who said he would send me a form so I could mail a letter regarding a DIRECTV employee, but I never received it. My review is regarding Paul, employee #101008553. When I called DIRECTV on Sept. 7th,I was not sure whether or not I was going to keep your service. Paul was the perfect person to answer my call. He was very attentive and actually "heard" what I was saying! Other words I would use to describe him include but are not limited to: patient, empathetic, competent, understanding, and his professionalism was superb! Over the years I have dealt w/DIRECTV reps who were very nice, others who were not so nice; but none have been as helpful as Paul. I really cannot say enough nice things about the help he provided me. I hope your company strives to hire employees with the same characteristics as Paul, and I certainly hope you appreciate the job he is doing for you!

Posted by Anonymous


very satisfied with my installer. Arrived within the scheduled time. Can't complain.

Posted by Debcar55


On 9/25/16 we were fortunate enough to have Rashid as our technician to have Directv installed into our home. Rashid was professional, articulate and very informative. He is a true asset to your company. Regards, Debbie Mitchell

Posted by Anonymous


Technician (James) came to our house today regarding 771 error code on most channels, all the premium channels. He was extremely professional, was able to pinpoint the problem and resolve all issues.



I have to say, however, that we seem to have more problems with our Direct TV since being acquired by ATT

Posted by CONNIE


I Had A Lot Of Trouble Redeeming My Gift Card For Switching To Direct Tv. After 12 Hours On The Phone Or Hold Countless Agents That Had No Idea How To Help Me I Finally Reached Jose (in Active Sales) Agent #268047 - He Was Very Nice And Understanding To My Problem And Assured Me That He Was Going To Help Me. He Found The Problem And Escaluated My Issue To A Higher Source. On A Saturday Within 7 Day Steven Agent # 518036 Called Me And Totally Fixed My Issue. I Just Received My Gift Card In The Mail And I Am So Happy That These 2 Men Took The Time To Listen And Help Me. Your Bosses Should Be Proud. Both Of Your Customer Service Skills Went Well Above And Beyond. Thank You So Very Much!

Posted by Susan Frost


On 8/18/16, after 2 pm eastern time, I had a very positive experience with a Direct TV customer service rep who took care of my problem within minutes. I also received an email confirmation of activity on my account within seconds after speaking with her. I would like to give the highest rating to LaTonya
Thank you

Submit your comment

Posted by Customer who is tired of wasting


Here is what Direct TV thinks about its customers from the mouth of their employees. Its is mostly the customers fault. While I sit here for over a week with my Direct TV seizing up every 5 minutes. After spending hours on the phone with them. It like they feel I have some control over their programs seizing up. But remember DO GET UPSET, because they only read from a script and we are suppose to be understanding of that while they take our money and give us crapping service, WE NEED TO BE POLITE AND SWEET TO THEM. We cannot show our frustrations because it might hurt their feelings. Read below straight from their employees mouth and see how it is the customers fault that DIRECT TV SERVICE SUCKS AND THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE IS SO MUCH WORSE. CUSTOMER BEWARE--NO MATTER WHAT YOU ARE TO BLAME!!!!!



Posted by Anonymous





9/18/13 10:35PM



for all the customers out there who took their time to rant about how bad customer service DirecTV have, well, you might as well take time to read this post from one of the employees and reconsider your "rant" if its really that "reasonable" before you post your comment.







****repost*****







Direct TV � Well, since what I am about to say is probably confidential and proprietary, then I will not post my name or the center for which I work. I am a former supervisor from an outsourced call center that took DTV calls, and currently I am a technical agent at one of DTV'scall centers. I have spent some time reading the posts here and elsewhere, and while there are some valid complaints (we would be remiss if we assumed that a company of DTV's size was completely without fault). However, more often than not, the issues posted on-line are due to confusion and ignorance of fine print policy, as well as industry standards.



First, one of the most common complaints that I hear about is regarding the "invisible" contracts. While I can sympathize to a point, more often than not the anger regarding these contracts is misplaced, as the customer agreement clearly outlines the policy, (this policy is available in its entirety on Directv.com, and I would highly recommend that all customers or prospects read the ENTIRE document BEFORE you sign up. This should be standard practice anyways...). Most customers are not aware (again, at their own fault), of the fact that the receivers that they "purchase" are not theirs to keep but are, in fact, leased. This includes the receivers acquire from Best Buy or other authorized retailers. The prices are exactly the same (around $199 for a HDDVR) regardless of whether one leases from Best Buy or directly from Directv. The fact is, the cost of a receiver (anyone who has bought a receiver can attest to this fact) is much higher than the one time lease fee, closer to $350-$500 for a HDDVR. We do not charge a monthly fee for a lease for any receiver. We do, however, charge a mirroring fee, regardless of owned or leased, for every receiver past the first one. That fee is $5 per extra receiver. The advantage of leasing equipment is that we can reduce our costs, and therefore replace your busted receiver for free instead of making you purchase another one. However, because of the fact that we live in an age of limited accountability, it is impossible for us to determine if a receiver is faulty due to a malfunciton or an intended cattle prod (yes, it happens FREQUENTLY). Even so, we still cover the replacement receiver, but we think its perfectly reasonable to ask that you cover the shipping. After all, our property was working fine when we sent it to you, and we aren't making you pay for the damages. The downside to this lease is that it DOES carry a 24 month agreement, and this is how we can discount the cost as far as we do. This is not just DTV, but many other companies do this as well. The cell phone industry is a perfect example, and anyone who has tried to cancel their cell phone service early will tell you, this is a common practice in today's economy. Welcome to America. Remember the adage: let the buyer beware. Read the fine print like Mommy and Daddy told you to...



Again and again, I hear complaints about the protection plan. $5.99 seems like alot, until you get a clearer picture of the situation. Again, we are not the only company with such a plan available for our customers. A broadband CABLE provider in my area charges $2.99, and again this is an optional plan. I have had many different providers in the past, and this is commonplace in this industry. Time and again, when I inform our customers that it will cost $49.95 for a service call, I get the same complaint: "You mean to tell me that you are going to charge me for fixing your equipment?". What they don't understand is that the ONLY equipment that we own are the LEASED receivers and that EVERYTHING ELSE BELONGS TO THE ACCOUNT HOLDER. Let this sink in for a moment. That's right, the FREE dish, with the FREE LNBs, and the FREE multiswitch (or the much more expensive SWiM equipment) and the FREE cabling, all installed for free, more often than not, belongs to you. It is now part of your home, and again we cannot be held responsible for customer negligence, or even the chance thereof. While MOST customers are very honest, it is still unwise for us to cover the cost of repairs to a system that no longer belongs to us. We do, however, provide a 90 warranty, so if ANYTHING happens to your system in those 90 days then PLEASE CALL US. The protection plan covers service calls (UNLESS the issue is customer caused. Again, NOT OUR FAULT), the shipping on receivers (just in case) and even the remote. That's right, if YOUR remote breaks, then you must pay to replace it unless you have the protection plan in place. This is not a deceptive practice, but instead another OPTION for our customers. If you have the balls to go without the protection plan, then don't whine when YOUR equipment fails.



Alas, most of the postings here reflect the same tune over and again. Poor customer service. I have customers try to bully me on a daily basis. What customers must understand is that this is not a problem exclusive to DTV, but instead inherent to call centers in general. I have been in customer service for a significant portion of my career, and as any customer service agent can attest, the customer is NOT always right (GASP!!!). There, I said it. the cat's out of the bag, and now we can start setting things right. Most customer service agents will agree that the customer is not always right, but their job is to tell the customer that they are wrong while making them believe that they are, in fact, right. The idea of a never faulty customer comes from a marketing campaign from many years ago, and now our whining populace of consumers think that they are entitled to anything that they want. Guess what, if you try to bully an agent, they won't hang up (we have ways of making you THINK that we have), but you will make things harder for yourself. Once again, this idea is not exclusive to DTV, but to MOST companies in the world. The fact is that DTV has switched their primary metrics for their call center agents. Outsourced call centers enforce Average Handle Time (the length of the call, measured in seconds) as the primary metric by which to measure the performance of their agents. This is because the more calls that they can take, the more money they can make. The downside is that the customer service goes out the window and the agent is only looking for a quick fix to get you off their phone. As a result, a simple issue might be mishandled at the hands of an inexperienced agent, only to be further bungled down the road until the problem takes much longer to straighten out than it should. By the way, call centers in general experience extemely high attrition (mostly due to abusive customers) and therefore it is difficult for ANY company to retain their employees. A direct result of this inherent problem is that more often than not, the agent with which you are speaking is inexperienced and scared to death of you. I was long ago, but no more. A while back, DTVs focus was first call resolution. This means that you would call in and get the results that you were entitled to, but since it took longer to solve an issue you would have to actually wait on hold longer, and this would make people more angry (making it harder for us to HELP you) and therefore, upset customers would complain about this. So, sometime ago, (not sure when) DTVs focus shifted from first call resolution to AHT. As a result, we can get to you faster, but then again, customer service goes out the window. The simple fact is DTV, as well as EVERY OTHER CALL CENTER FOR WHICH I HAVE EVER WORKED, uses on-line references to tell us what to do and say. Yes, that's right. We use scripts. Be thankful if you get an agent that disregards these stupid scripts and actually tried to focus on fixing your problem. The reason that many customers feel that they are getting a resolution forced down their throat that doesn't make senseis because that is actually the case, more often than not. The fact is, our quality department will penalize us for NOT running through their stupid scripts. I won't go into details, but the on-line reference that we use is sub-par at best, and this drives up our AHT as we have a difficult time just FINDING the issue in our tools to resolve it for you. Again, experience is key here, as tenured agents are hard to retain and hard to come by. DTV is a great company for which to work, but the customers make this job unbearable.



The fact is that since day one, DTV has set itself apart (at least, for me it has) by focusing on customer satisfaction. We even have a several hour course that we are required to complete during training on customer care and how to interact with customers. As you walk through the center, you see posters, banners, and messages everywhere, all screaming the same thing: The customer is the MOST important part of our company, and customer satisfaction is the most important thing to our company. When the customer comes first, the customer will last, they say. Our QA department focuses on only 2 aspects of the call: relationship (how the agent will affect the business relationship with the customer) and resolution (whether the solution was appropriate for the customer). ANY thing that could POSSIBLY negatively affect ourrelationship with the customer is marked against us. Don't get me wrong, just because you THINK that you are right doesn't mean that we are going to throw credits at you just to satisfy you. This would negatively affect our relationship. The fact remains, no matter what we do, no matter how much we care (and we do...by the way), we are just not going to make most people happy. FYI: going back to the service call issue, it costs us more than DOUBLE to send out a tech to repair YOUR equipment. About a year and a half ago, we even DROPPED the cost of our SCs from $79.95 to $49.95, JUST TO MAKE YOU HAPPY. Based on the posts herein and elsewhere, even this is not enough.



As far as the rebates, I have no idea. I do know that one of the biggest obstacles to our billing agents is the ignorance of our customers regarding our billing policy. Most customers believe that we bill re-actively, for the previous month. I don't think so. Instead, we bill for the upcoming month. For example, if your bill is generated, say, on the 4th of the month, then the bill you are paying is from that day until then next 4th. This means that you are paying for the upcoming month, not the previous month. Therefore, if you ever lose your services midmonth (such as when YOU don't pay your bill) then you get a partial credit to cover the difference, because we aren't going to charge you for service if you are cut off. However, the downside is that when your services are cut back on, your going to regain the remaining charges to cover your precious TV until your next bill. Since you probably didn't pay this difference, then it is simply tacked on to your next bill, where your next month of service is being charged there as well. Do you have any idea how hard it is to calm down a customer that just doesn't understand this? Do you even have the slightest idea how hard it is to educate the customer on this (industry wide) pratice AND get them to pay their bill AND get them to like it? All in under 10 minutes? No wonder attrition is so high in call centers.



FYI: when you call, asking for a supervisor is a BAD idea. Its not a matter of authority, its the simple fact that supervisors are not accountable for AHT and will NOT budge on the policies. Also, more often than not your not even talking to the supervisor, but instead a more tenured agent standing in while the supervisor is busy. No offence, but customers have threatened our lives, screamed obscenities, cursed our mothers, and been EXTREMELY abusive. Why in hell would we care if you get your tv on at that point? If you want results, respect the agent (NOT just DTV, but customer service agents EVERYWHERE), be nice, firm, and polite. Respect their primary metrics (AHT, Quality, and CSAT) and they will do ANYTHING THAT THEY CAN FOR YOU. We will beg our supervisors to give you credits, we will provide special offers that are available to all customers (we don't provide them to abusive idiots, quality be damned) and will go out of our way (even risking AHT in the process) just to make you happy if you are polite and courteous. Trust me, people who get yelled at for a living will bend over backwards for the nice people in this world. Trying to bully an agent, especially when its YOUR FAULT is going to tie up the phone lines and make your life even worse. Guess what, the reason you were on hold for so long is because some jerk was arguing a lost cause with an agent for 40 mins and then the supervisor, all because he thought that he was always right instead of paying his bill, or letting the agent help him fix his system.



As always, read the fine print on the agreement before you sign the dotted line. Yes, we retain credit card information on file, because we are trusting you with hundreds, maybe thousands, of dollars worth of equipment and we are going to retain ANY information given. That means addresses, phone numbers, names, social security (we NEVER ask for SSN when troubleshooting systems) and credit/ debit card information. That way, JUST IN CASE someone DOES rip us off (HAPPENS EVERY DAY, FYI...) we have some means of recovering our losses. Welcome to America, where this is practiced every day with most companies in the country, and even the planet. As always, I would advise you to research your business partners (TV providers, cell phone companies, etc...). This should go without saying. However, considering the current economic crisis, it really doesn't surprise me that customers have no f*cking clue what they are doing when they sign up. You have been warned.

DTVEMPLOYE

Posted by Anonymous


Customers are the dumbest people cant read very condescending and are beligerent. It's illegal and a crime prosecutable by law to threaten and harass anyone anywhere and you should be in jail. We aren't going to hold your hand because you are illiterate that's is your problem. Adulls that are mature and responsible handle life responsibly. Besides you have no right to judge others you don't have that right. I know I constantly fix mistakes as an employee who does their job with pride. It's no wonder why you get this kind of service when you are abusive. Believe me we don't get paid enough to be your free therapist.

Posted by Anonymous


As a customer service rep for several years with Directv. I do have to state that calling and verbally abusing an employee is highly illegal. We should press charges for the ptsd it caused from years of verbal abuse. Grow up read your bill, and if you can't read or write you should not have service with any company. People need to be held accountable for all their actions. Furthermore, TV is not a necessity it's a luxury. If you can't afford it disconnect it. Quit playing I'm the victim everyone has trials and tribulations. Adults deal with it responsibly and move on.

Posted by Anonymous


as an employee I often want to quit, customers express how they feel and I sympathize with that , how ever we are here to HELP it is why you call, but by time they go through the automation system and such their mad at us, we deal with their anger and .customers want to talk to a supervisor the min they call, without even giving us a chance or showing any kindness toward us. we have high stats to meet so constant pressure of meeting company's expectations, and dealing with the mean customers , a customer don't see that they are being mean to someone trying to help they see that they are mad about what they are dealing with so we get bad surveys, the company is no better with us as employees I have a family and many times I want to quit and can't I have been left crying by customers and supervisors because of customers, we all need a job but I stress so bad having to clock in just in fear of not reaching the company high expectation of us and or how the customer will treat us, many people quit, the stress is bad,

Posted by Love people


I work for DirecTV as customer rep. I LOVE CUSTOMER SERVICE. BEEN WORKING it FOR 20YEARS. I hate getting cursed out, yelled at, talked to aggressively, and just being handled roughly. I do not cursed, fight, yell in my private life outside of work. I cry every single month, because I can only do so much by policy. Then get lower scores for so many supervisor calls. Sometimes my heart hurt on real aggressive calls. Sometimes i feel shape pain in my heart. Never had it happen before taking calls for DirecTV.I shake on some calls. The customer has no idea. I am a petite young lady. Won't squash a grape in a food fight. I get in my 96 honda & cry. I feel the dirty on the ground after work. After being yelled & cursed out. Right when they get on phone.I only have a computer in call center with tons of stuff to go by per the company. I know the customers are not mad at me. It is DirecTV. Why is it I get blamed for some mistake made? Before I even start working for DirecTV. I don't think I will ever do customer service again. Things have changed since 2006. There are some Customer Reps try. PLEASE TAKE EASY. Some reps are just a college student working their way through school. They just ppl doing what is told. They can only do so much. Some reps take it to heart. It hurts physically. That no one can see.

Posted by Anonymous


for all the customers out there who took their time to rant about how bad customer service DirecTV have, well, you might as well take time to read this post from one of the employees and reconsider your "rant" if its really that "reasonable" before you post your comment.



****repost*****



Direct TV — Well, since what I am about to say is probably confidential and proprietary, then I will not post my name or the center for which I work. I am a former supervisor from an outsourced call center that took DTV calls, and currently I am a technical agent at one of DTV'scall centers. I have spent some time reading the posts here and elsewhere, and while there are some valid complaints (we would be remiss if we assumed that a company of DTV's size was completely without fault). However, more often than not, the issues posted on-line are due to confusion and ignorance of fine print policy, as well as industry standards.

First, one of the most common complaints that I hear about is regarding the "invisible" contracts. While I can sympathize to a point, more often than not the anger regarding these contracts is misplaced, as the customer agreement clearly outlines the policy, (this policy is available in its entirety on Directv.com, and I would highly recommend that all customers or prospects read the ENTIRE document BEFORE you sign up. This should be standard practice anyways...). Most customers are not aware (again, at their own fault), of the fact that the receivers that they "purchase" are not theirs to keep but are, in fact, leased. This includes the receivers acquire from Best Buy or other authorized retailers. The prices are exactly the same (around $199 for a HDDVR) regardless of whether one leases from Best Buy or directly from Directv. The fact is, the cost of a receiver (anyone who has bought a receiver can attest to this fact) is much higher than the one time lease fee, closer to $350-$500 for a HDDVR. We do not charge a monthly fee for a lease for any receiver. We do, however, charge a mirroring fee, regardless of owned or leased, for every receiver past the first one. That fee is $5 per extra receiver. The advantage of leasing equipment is that we can reduce our costs, and therefore replace your busted receiver for free instead of making you purchase another one. However, because of the fact that we live in an age of limited accountability, it is impossible for us to determine if a receiver is faulty due to a malfunciton or an intended cattle prod (yes, it happens FREQUENTLY). Even so, we still cover the replacement receiver, but we think its perfectly reasonable to ask that you cover the shipping. After all, our property was working fine when we sent it to you, and we aren't making you pay for the damages. The downside to this lease is that it DOES carry a 24 month agreement, and this is how we can discount the cost as far as we do. This is not just DTV, but many other companies do this as well. The cell phone industry is a perfect example, and anyone who has tried to cancel their cell phone service early will tell you, this is a common practice in today's economy. Welcome to America. Remember the adage: let the buyer beware. Read the fine print like Mommy and Daddy told you to...

Again and again, I hear complaints about the protection plan. $5.99 seems like alot, until you get a clearer picture of the situation. Again, we are not the only company with such a plan available for our customers. A broadband CABLE provider in my area charges $2.99, and again this is an optional plan. I have had many different providers in the past, and this is commonplace in this industry. Time and again, when I inform our customers that it will cost $49.95 for a service call, I get the same complaint: "You mean to tell me that you are going to charge me for fixing your equipment?". What they don't understand is that the ONLY equipment that we own are the LEASED receivers and that EVERYTHING ELSE BELONGS TO THE ACCOUNT HOLDER. Let this sink in for a moment. That's right, the FREE dish, with the FREE LNBs, and the FREE multiswitch (or the much more expensive SWiM equipment) and the FREE cabling, all installed for free, more often than not, belongs to you. It is now part of your home, and again we cannot be held responsible for customer negligence, or even the chance thereof. While MOST customers are very honest, it is still unwise for us to cover the cost of repairs to a system that no longer belongs to us. We do, however, provide a 90 warranty, so if ANYTHING happens to your system in those 90 days then PLEASE CALL US. The protection plan covers service calls (UNLESS the issue is customer caused. Again, NOT OUR FAULT), the shipping on receivers (just in case) and even the remote. That's right, if YOUR remote breaks, then you must pay to replace it unless you have the protection plan in place. This is not a deceptive practice, but instead another OPTION for our customers. If you have the balls to go without the protection plan, then don't whine when YOUR equipment fails.

Alas, most of the postings here reflect the same tune over and again. Poor customer service. I have customers try to bully me on a daily basis. What customers must understand is that this is not a problem exclusive to DTV, but instead inherent to call centers in general. I have been in customer service for a significant portion of my career, and as any customer service agent can attest, the customer is NOT always right (GASP!!!). There, I said it. the cat's out of the bag, and now we can start setting things right. Most customer service agents will agree that the customer is not always right, but their job is to tell the customer that they are wrong while making them believe that they are, in fact, right. The idea of a never faulty customer comes from a marketing campaign from many years ago, and now our whining populace of consumers think that they are entitled to anything that they want. Guess what, if you try to bully an agent, they won't hang up (we have ways of making you THINK that we have), but you will make things harder for yourself. Once again, this idea is not exclusive to DTV, but to MOST companies in the world. The fact is that DTV has switched their primary metrics for their call center agents. Outsourced call centers enforce Average Handle Time (the length of the call, measured in seconds) as the primary metric by which to measure the performance of their agents. This is because the more calls that they can take, the more money they can make. The downside is that the customer service goes out the window and the agent is only looking for a quick fix to get you off their phone. As a result, a simple issue might be mishandled at the hands of an inexperienced agent, only to be further bungled down the road until the problem takes much longer to straighten out than it should. By the way, call centers in general experience extemely high attrition (mostly due to abusive customers) and therefore it is difficult for ANY company to retain their employees. A direct result of this inherent problem is that more often than not, the agent with which you are speaking is inexperienced and scared to death of you. I was long ago, but no more. A while back, DTVs focus was first call resolution. This means that you would call in and get the results that you were entitled to, but since it took longer to solve an issue you would have to actually wait on hold longer, and this would make people more angry (making it harder for us to HELP you) and therefore, upset customers would complain about this. So, sometime ago, (not sure when) DTVs focus shifted from first call resolution to AHT. As a result, we can get to you faster, but then again, customer service goes out the window. The simple fact is DTV, as well as EVERY OTHER CALL CENTER FOR WHICH I HAVE EVER WORKED, uses on-line references to tell us what to do and say. Yes, that's right. We use scripts. Be thankful if you get an agent that disregards these stupid scripts and actually tried to focus on fixing your problem. The reason that many customers feel that they are getting a resolution forced down their throat that doesn't make senseis because that is actually the case, more often than not. The fact is, our quality department will penalize us for NOT running through their stupid scripts. I won't go into details, but the on-line reference that we use is sub-par at best, and this drives up our AHT as we have a difficult time just FINDING the issue in our tools to resolve it for you. Again, experience is key here, as tenured agents are hard to retain and hard to come by. DTV is a great company for which to work, but the customers make this job unbearable.

The fact is that since day one, DTV has set itself apart (at least, for me it has) by focusing on customer satisfaction. We even have a several hour course that we are required to complete during training on customer care and how to interact with customers. As you walk through the center, you see posters, banners, and messages everywhere, all screaming the same thing: The customer is the MOST important part of our company, and customer satisfaction is the most important thing to our company. When the customer comes first, the customer will last, they say. Our QA department focuses on only 2 aspects of the call: relationship (how the agent will affect the business relationship with the customer) and resolution (whether the solution was appropriate for the customer). ANY thing that could POSSIBLY negatively affect ourrelationship with the customer is marked against us. Don't get me wrong, just because you THINK that you are right doesn't mean that we are going to throw credits at you just to satisfy you. This would negatively affect our relationship. The fact remains, no matter what we do, no matter how much we care (and we do...by the way), we are just not going to make most people happy. FYI: going back to the service call issue, it costs us more than DOUBLE to send out a tech to repair YOUR equipment. About a year and a half ago, we even DROPPED the cost of our SCs from $79.95 to $49.95, JUST TO MAKE YOU HAPPY. Based on the posts herein and elsewhere, even this is not enough.

As far as the rebates, I have no idea. I do know that one of the biggest obstacles to our billing agents is the ignorance of our customers regarding our billing policy. Most customers believe that we bill re-actively, for the previous month. I don't think so. Instead, we bill for the upcoming month. For example, if your bill is generated, say, on the 4th of the month, then the bill you are paying is from that day until then next 4th. This means that you are paying for the upcoming month, not the previous month. Therefore, if you ever lose your services midmonth (such as when YOU don't pay your bill) then you get a partial credit to cover the difference, because we aren't going to charge you for service if you are cut off. However, the downside is that when your services are cut back on, your going to regain the remaining charges to cover your precious TV until your next bill. Since you probably didn't pay this difference, then it is simply tacked on to your next bill, where your next month of service is being charged there as well. Do you have any idea how hard it is to calm down a customer that just doesn't understand this? Do you even have the slightest idea how hard it is to educate the customer on this (industry wide) pratice AND get them to pay their bill AND get them to like it? All in under 10 minutes? No wonder attrition is so high in call centers.

FYI: when you call, asking for a supervisor is a BAD idea. Its not a matter of authority, its the simple fact that supervisors are not accountable for AHT and will NOT budge on the policies. Also, more often than not your not even talking to the supervisor, but instead a more tenured agent standing in while the supervisor is busy. No offence, but customers have threatened our lives, screamed obscenities, cursed our mothers, and been EXTREMELY abusive. Why in hell would we care if you get your tv on at that point? If you want results, respect the agent (NOT just DTV, but customer service agents EVERYWHERE), be nice, firm, and polite. Respect their primary metrics (AHT, Quality, and CSAT) and they will do ANYTHING THAT THEY CAN FOR YOU. We will beg our supervisors to give you credits, we will provide special offers that are available to all customers (we don't provide them to abusive idiots, quality be damned) and will go out of our way (even risking AHT in the process) just to make you happy if you are polite and courteous. Trust me, people who get yelled at for a living will bend over backwards for the nice people in this world. Trying to bully an agent, especially when its YOUR FAULT is going to tie up the phone lines and make your life even worse. Guess what, the reason you were on hold for so long is because some jerk was arguing a lost cause with an agent for 40 mins and then the supervisor, all because he thought that he was always right instead of paying his bill, or letting the agent help him fix his system.

As always, read the fine print on the agreement before you sign the dotted line. Yes, we retain credit card information on file, because we are trusting you with hundreds, maybe thousands, of dollars worth of equipment and we are going to retain ANY information given. That means addresses, phone numbers, names, social security (we NEVER ask for SSN when troubleshooting systems) and credit/ debit card information. That way, JUST IN CASE someone DOES rip us off (HAPPENS EVERY DAY, FYI...) we have some means of recovering our losses. Welcome to America, where this is practiced every day with most companies in the country, and even the planet. As always, I would advise you to research your business partners (TV providers, cell phone companies, etc...). This should go without saying. However, considering the current economic crisis, it really doesn't surprise me that customers have no f*cking clue what they are doing when they sign up. You have been warned.
DTVEMPLOYEE 4/7/10 2:28PM

Posted by AT&T U-VERSE


I Am A Uverse Tech Support Rep. One Of Your Genius Representatives Told A Customer To Go Call U-verse For Direct Tv Issues Because Apparently Our Uverse Modem Is Affecting Your Direct Tv Reciever. Ridiculous! I Did My Troubleshooting And Of Course It Did Absolutelty Nothing! I Told The Customer "lets Go Call Direct Tv, We'll Have A Word With Them" I Reached A Tech Support Rep. I Explain What Happened, He Goes And Tells Me "oh I Hate It When People Blame Other Companies" Then Hangs Up What The Actual F*ck Was That!? What Are You Guys Doing Over There!? Good I Thing I Stayed On The Line And Now I'm Calling Direct Tv Again Waiting On A Stupid Voice System I Should Not Even Go Through.

I Call Again And Your Rep Keeps Pushing The Issue Back To Att Uverse. Look Our Ip Address Works, Our Dns Servers Are Fine Everything Else Is Fine And Matching Otherwise The Customers Laptop Wouldnt Even Be Able To Connect To The Internet. Now What Does That Say? You Have An Equipment Problem! A Direct Tv Equipment Problem! Now I'm Giving Credit Because Your Reps. And Even A Supervisor! Wont Give Credit For A Problem Thats Not Caused By Us. My Credit Wont Even Go To The Direct Tv Bill, It Goes To The U-verse Bill.

I'm A Rep. Not A Customer But Never In My Life Did I Think I'd Be Commenting Here Too. Jeez I Dont Even Live In The Same Country And I Dont Like Direct Tv Already. Stop Passing Your Customer Service Problems Onto Other Service Providers! Show Some Damn Work Ethic!

Yours Truly,
Att U-verse

Posted by Lost Wages


My name is Vaughn Johnson I previously worked as a installation tech in the Shreveport market for you thru CC Link ( Daniel Norris, Toyia Shufflin and Peggy Alexander ) are the listed advisors.


My issue is Not BEING PAID for my services, as you know this is a on-going issue with contractor that fall short on finances so the take it out on the little guy.


I had noticed that CC LINK was paying other tech and when it came to me being paid I was giving the run-around about my pay so of course this will cause anyone to be aware and not give 100% effort on any task.


I was told by Daniel Norris mutable occasions that he will pay me from his pay check and not the ones of CC Link and when it was time to be paid I was asked to wait till his personal paycheck cleared from the bank before I can get paid a proportion of my money this was over 45 days and per him he didn't pay me my proportion because I didn't call him for it, and on the day before Memorial day I was to get a full 2 week pay check I was paid not nothing and was advised by Daniel Norris that I need to come back in 90 days in order to be paid.


Not sure if this is DIRECTV or Multiband standard practice and will like for you to further look into this issue and get back to me asap .


Thanks

Posted by Anonymous


Direct tv is horrible. I was told that I would get a $10.00 discount per month and instead was given a $10.00 increase on my monthly bill. Money sucking is what direct tv is all about. Beware.

Posted by jonnyb25


I used to work for DisgracefulTV and let me tell everyone that with the new age, we no longer have to take the crap that is offered to us and on top of that we shouldnt. There is an exiting new world of SMART Tvs that offer apps like hulu plus and vudu and youtube and many more. All you need is a smart tv with apps or a Roku Box that can be purchased at walmart for about $40 bucks and if you have internet which basicaly everyone does, you can stream all your favorite shows for free or for a small fee of like 8 dollars on hulu pluss. DTV should be ashaimed of themselves for the hardship they are bringing people and will eventualy be so threatened by Internet tv that they fall off the map like they should and go bankrupt like they should i have a plan to scam the sh+t out of them easily without getting caught till i get every dime back. I can file with my bank to get every penny back then trick DTV into renewing my contrack and make a full payment at a later date. Wait for my money to return back to the bank,cansle my card i gave them,start banking with anew bank and then keep thier sh*t or sell it instead of returning it. Then when they try to send it to collections i disbute it and come up with some story about how someone stole my information and used it to get services. Its realy not that hard to screw them back. And thats just one way to do it there are alot of different ways one can get justice.Good Luck!

Posted by Anonymous


Here are some VERY IMPORTANT things you need to know about DTV (from a former and disgruntled employee):

The most important thing you need to know is when you start services with DTV and you order your equipment the credit or debit card you use will be kept on file until you use another one for ordering equipment. If you cancel your services with DTV before the end of your contract or don't return equipment that card WILL BE CHARGED. It is in your contract and is also part of the disclosure agreement they read to you when you order new equipment, therefore there is very little you can do about it.

The price you are quoted or see in an advertisement is ALWAYS the price AFTER REBATES.If you sign up for service with DTV make sure you submit your rebate BEFORE your service is installed; otherwise, it can take up to 8 weeks before your rebate is applied. This means that the first couple of months you will be paying full price for services, which is a lot, unless you submit that rebate. Also, if you don't get all of the receivers you were supposed to or decide you want a DVR instead of a standard you have to call in within 2 WEEKS after you begin services to get the additional or to replace the receiver for free, otherwise you will have to pay. There will be a $50 upgrade fee, and you'll have to pay anywhere from $69-$199 for the receiver. Oh, and by the way, you aren't purchasing the receiver...you will still have to pay a lease fee each month. If you want to purchase one out-right it will cost up to $500 for that.

All of those advertisements you see for low rates are for new customers only. DTV WILL NOT HONOR those rates for existing customers no matter how long you have been a customer or whether you pay on time each month or not. If you call into DTV looking for a lower rate the CSR may have a couple of options for you like a $5-$20 bill credit for 6-12 months or a free service for 3 months. These options DO depend on how long you have been with DTV, how much money they get out of you each month, and whether you are a customer who pays their bills on time. Take as many of those credits as you can but stay away from the free services.

The CSR you get first is usually just a peon who has very little in the way of promotional deals and credits. If you REALLY want to get some good deals tell them you want to cancel your services. The CSR is instructed to immediately transfer you to the Customer Retention Group where those agents are supposed to offer you discounts and credits to convince you to stay. However, if you haven't been with DTV for very long or you have a history of not paying your bill on time they may not have much they can offer you either; especially if you are still under contract.

If you take 3 months of a service like Showtime free you better make sure you cancel it before the 3 months is up because it will automatically start charging you. That is ALWAYS how it works. These deals are presented in the hopes that you forget to cancel. A CSR will offer you these deals simply because it is available to her and she has a sales quota to fulfill. When you call in to cancel the CSR will tell you she will have to transfer you to another department to have that service removed. That is the Premium Save Team and their job is to convince you to keep it. If you absolutely don't want it and don't want to hear a sales pitch tell them immediately that you want to cancel it and don't want to hear a pitch. It will get you off of the phone faster.

If you take a sports subscription like NFL Sunday Ticket you're stuck with it. They will not cancel it but you might be able to get a discount on it if you complain enough about the price or about the fact that new customers get it for free. If you are a new customer or an existing customer and you don't want it to automatically start next season make sure you cancel AUTO RENEW; otherwise they will automatically start charging you at the beginning of the next season and once again you will be stuck with it. Also, don't take the NFL ST if you are going to use it to be able to watch YOUR home team while you travel because that is not how it works. NFL ST is mostly for people who live somewhere like Dallas but are Redskins fans and want to watch the games that they normally wouldn't be able to see unless they were in the Washington area.

Often DTV has to "negotiate" with providers like FOX (remember last year?). If this happens and you lose those channels there isn't a thing you can do about it. It's not a "breech of contract" because it states in your contract that prices and programming is subject to change. You can call in an complain about it all you want to but it will do no good other than MAYBE getting you a $5 off for 3 months credit. They won't let you out of your contract over it.

Lastly, ANY TIME you order or upgrade a new receiver it begins a new contract with DTV. It is a 1 year contract for standard receivers and a 2 year contract for HD, standard DVR, and HD DVR. The only exception to this is if you are replacing a defective receiver and you do it through the Technical Department; usually that won't extend your contract. Make sure you listen carefully when they read any disclosures because this stuff is supposed to be stated to you. Also, unless you are a perfect customer (meaning you always pay on time and carry quite a few of the services they offer) you will rarely get equipment for free after you initially sign up; unless your contract has expired. They will offer free equipment to rope you into a new contract once yours has expired.

Stay away from Directv, or any company that requires a 2 year contract from you. Those companies have a high customer turnover rate, hence the reason they have to make you contract with them. satellite is only good for people that live in areas where they can't get cable. Most of the time cable is better.

Posted by Anonymous


Hello i am a directv tech employee, just want to let you customers know that we really feel your pain, because we feel it to when we have to tell you negative thing but first let me give yall an inside look at how our operations work

1. we get graded on all of our calls, by different metrics how long we are on the call, how long we are in aftere call, how many techs we send out, how many credits we give out, so you can see we have alot already on our plate

2 we also get graded on how many offers we offer, yes we do have to offer every customer things at the end of each call so if we talk really fast at the end then we are trying to get everything in so we can get a good grade

3 we can only give a certain amount of credit out to customer if we give too much we get flagged

4 we do have to do every step in our scripts so we do understand that you probably did the steps but our calls are monitored and we are not allowed to skip steps trust me it does get annoying for us too

5 there are certain problems that allow us to either send a tech out or replace the reciever so when it may seem like the most common sense thing to do is to send a tech out we cant because the script tells us to just send a reciever so we HAVE to do this or this will count on our graded calls as us avoiding the script

6 we are NOT supposed to offer a supervisor off the bat. We have to wait till you ask for one. Suprised yet?

7 As you probably know Directv loves to find a way to save money, so they increase the price every year


So as you can see this is just a portion of what we have to obide by, if we had a choice there would be alot we would do diffrernt but we are constrained to what our guidelines say plus every call is monitored so our supervisors know what we do and say, oh and by the way here is a big secret. when you ask for a supervisor you acutally don speak with a real supervisor you speak with what we call program specialists which are used to take calls all day to mad customers that act like supervisors and they could be in a diiferent center in another state

The real supervisors in our building that we work at dont take any calls, they just grade our calls so they wouldnt be any help to you because they dont know anything anyway.


So this is the life i live every day customer.

Posted by Anonymous


Hello i am a directv tech employee, just want to let you customers know that we really feel your pain, because we feel it to when we have to tell you negative thing but first let me give yall an inside look at how our operations work

1. we get graded on all of our calls, by different metrics how long we are on the call, how long we are in aftere call, how many techs we send out, how many credits we give out, so you can see we have alot already on our plate

2 we also get graded on how many offers we offer, yes we do have to offer every customer things at the end of each call so if we talk really fast at the end then we are trying to get everything in so we can get a good grade

3 we can only give a certain amount of credit out to customer if we give too much we get flagged

4 we do have to do every step in our scripts so we do understand that you probably did the steps but our calls are monitored and we are not allowed to skip steps trust me it does get annoying for us too

5 there are certain problems that allow us to either send a tech out or replace the reciever so when it may seem like the most common sense thing to do is to send a tech out we cant because the script tells us to just send a reciever so we HAVE to do this or this will count on our graded calls as us avoiding the script

6 we are NOT supposed to offer a supervisor off the bat. We have to wait till you ask for one. Suprised yet?

7 As you probably know Directv loves to find a way to save money, so they increase the price every year


So as you can see this is just a portion of what we have to obide by, if we had a choice there would be alot we would do diffrernt but we are constrained to what our guidelines say plus every call is monitored so our supervisors know what we do and say, oh and by the way here is a big secret. when you ask for a supervisor you acutally don speak with a real supervisor you speak with what we call program specialists which are used to take calls all day to mad customers that act like supervisors and they could be in a diiferent center in another state

The real supervisors in our building that we work at dont take any calls, they just grade our calls so they wouldnt be any help to you because they dont know anything anyway.


So this is the life i live every day customer.

Posted by Anonymous


I have been an employee with DirecTv for about a year now in the customer retention department. As I read most of the stories on this website, I am very shocked to hear so many negative experiences! I figured I would share a few tips and tricks with you all regarding your DirecTv accounts. First of all, each account is different because there is a "heart" value which gives us as customer service reps a guideline on what we can do for you. The heart value on your account is determined by a couple of things such as how you manage the account with your payment history, the base package you subscribe to, and how much credit your account has been given in the past 12 months. A new customer is a zero heart customer until the account is at least 10 months old which means they are not eligible for any promotional discounts on equipment upgrades or recurring credits outside of the rebate and equipment they are offered at the point of sale. If the tech comes to your home with incorrect equipment do not let him install just simply refuse the order and give us a call, we will then modify the order so that it will save a lot of frustration and heartache in the future. 1 heart customers are ones that aren't really up to par on their bills, so if your account goes into level 1 disconnect more than once a year, or you have received numerous 20 dollar base package discounts for 6 months, you are not eligible for any recurring discounts or equipment upgrades in order to change that you should have at least 6 months of good payment history. All other customers range from 2 hearts to 5 hearts the more you have, the more we will be able to do for you. So, keep in mind if your neighbor tells you they called DirecTv and got 30 dollars off of their bill for a year the same discount might not be available for you.
If you are thinking of cancelling your service but want to see what's available before you decide to switch, please ask to speak with the cancellation department. I can't tell you all how many calls I take per day from customers that I could have saved from cancelling if the other departments would have transferred them over because they could not offer what the customer wanted but retention could have.
For all the loyal customers out there, we really do appreciate you. I understand how it could seem that new customers get everything under the sun, but honestly when it comes down to us trying to save a new customer versus a loyal one we have more ammo to keep you guys, where all we can do with a newbie is offer free showtime for 3 months.

Posted by anon


well i just left for a job that pays better 2 days ago, but worked for DTV for a little over a year as a programing specialist. but here is a list of things all customers should know

1. Directv promotions (with 2 exceptions) do NOT auto remove themselves THIS INCLUDES the 3 months free of HBO Starz Showtime and Cinemax just like ANYTHING ELSE that any monthly fee based business offers free does

2. if something has been on your bill more than 60 days and you are just starting to dispute it forget it, customer agreement and back of bill both state you have 60 days to dispute a charge

3. ALL tv providers dont give SUBSTANTIALLY better discounts for new subscribers, i dont care if you were Directv's first customer you are better off picking 3-4 providers and switching once a year because you will get better promotions.

4. yes we do expect you to read your bill

5. if you havent submitted your rebates(new customer) within 90 days you violated the terms and conditions of your new customer discount

6. keep in mind when you are claiming that you didn't have terms and conditions (things rolling to cost and NFLST renewing on you) that you are dealing with an agent who has heard that all day when it is true maybe 1 time in 1000 its not our fault if Americans as a people tune out for leagize even if it is simple leagalize

7 don't call in demanding a refund for a package that you "never knew you had" and had called in 7-8 times to ask what channel a specific game was going to be on unless you want the agent say he will look into it, mute the microphone, laugh at you, find any agents not on the phone, get them to laugh at you, talk to their supervisor, get their supervisor to laugh at you, then come back and tell you that there is a maximum of 60 days to dispute a charge on your bill and that we cant due anything about it, then depending on how much integrity you dont have repeat the process with our supervisor

Posted by bradbrad426


I am a in house tech for directsat I think cus should read the hole lease agreement online iv never leased a car with out reading the lease agreement I see all these post about ditectv not being true to there ward some of that is true but not all of it they send u a confermed e-mail if u don't have e-mail that's just crazy if your moving and don't have your internet hooked up and don't have a smart phone u can always go to the library they have free internet as a tech we get in trouble ever time u call in and no agian if u read your contract in it standard install dose not include wall fishing for free we get paid a flat rate to do the job and running wires where were not putting a direct is also not standard installation I'm sure u people don't go to work for free so we don't ether but we do try to put cus sat first i love some cus and get to meet some very cool people I like my job but u always have that cus who wants all the extra stuff but dose not want to pay

Posted by MNcontractor


I currently work as a contractor for DTV they have mandated that every tech has to sell the protection plan to 30% of every job they do. They dont care how and have even encourage lying. Saying and I qoute " I don't care what you say but you have to sell it 30% of the time". The protection plan is a nothing but a scam if your install is done right you will not have any problems for 5-10 years and thats a Diretv statistic. This company straight up robs people andmake the techs do the dirty work so they can say it wasn't us. If they get 10 million people to sign up for this thats $5.99 a month times that by 12 months now minus the people that actually used it, which by the way would be do to improper installion or faulty DTV equipment so still DTV fault for the problem but they make the customer pay for it. Well lets just say that DTV is collecting a TON of money selling insurance on a system they put in and should be held accountable for. Do you see the massive scam they are running now. If I could I would tell all DTV customer to stop getting the Protection plan many people have had for years and never used so many millions being flushed down the drain. Then DTV tells you they have to increase prices why blah blah blah, lets hold the accountable they are making money hand over fist with scam after scam on customer. You dont own the equipment but if it breaks you have to pay for it??? In what world does that make sense? Anyway theres my rant! take it or leave it!

Posted by dtvgirlforever


i use to work with dtv but, its not the company i got tired of but with the customers who dont understand that we at dtv are willing to help but we also need our customers to be resposible so we guys have to work hand in hand. about the pay per views, if there is no lock on your remotes, if kids will play with it, they can add movies without knowing it, so might as well set up password. i dont believe in saying that "customer is always right" bec customers are not right all the time, they just want to be treated right by the company, but again... we are all consumers, and so we have to be RESPONSIBLE CONSUMERS.
working as a call center is not as easy at it may look like, physically we are tired but if you get 80 calls a day a 79 will yell at you and will curse you personally, and one customer who will respect and will work with us to work with the problem with brighten up our days.... but its not easy... we are all humans, we all get tired at times, we all want to help our customers no matter what, but we appreciate it if customers will respect us as well like human being. its true that customers are the reason why we have job, but we are not working to be treated like we not human. we are working in this kind of joob, we are professionals as well thats why the company is paying us bec we deserve it.

Posted by SateliteSatan


I used to work for Directv in the Dispatch center in which the "FSA" and "Save team" also operate out of. Basically, if you call customer service and say that you are going to cancel your services, they are supposed to transfer you to the "save team" which are people who only make $11 an hour, and can only offer you a month of free service if your initial installation was done within 90 days. Also, they can at times try to upschedule a service appointment which is referred to as "force in's" but when I was there many of the supervisors in the field would not allow any more force in's.
Essentially if you are having service issues call customer service and demand to speak to a save team person, they generally will be able to setup a service appointment for you quicker than the automated system.
The save team has limited pull though, they can only offer faster appointments and a month of free credit (if within 90 days of installation). Directv hates to lose customers, but they really do not care if you have been with them for a long time, they only count on new installations which are "free" but do not include: pole mounting, burrying the wires, "wall fishing" cables (which means hiding cables inside the wall panels), and if you have an apartment or a situation where you cannot bolt the dish on you have to get a stack of cinder blocks with the dish mounted to it because Directv no longer offers tripods or other alternate mounting methods and you will pay out of pocket for this mounting option.
Altogether I would recomend U-verse, unless your a sports fan and then Directv has the best programming if you can overlook all of the other BS.
Hope this helps somebody.

Posted by studipa


1) Every new customer coming to DTV MUST sign a TWO year agreement.

2) If your credit rating is not good you will be paying a deposit fee for every receiver up to $ 300.00

3) If you plan to cancel or terminate your contract early, it will cost 20.00 for every incomplete month do the math.

4) If you gave the agent your credit card at the initial sale, expect your card to be charged should you cancel or terminate your services early....they will not reimburse you for overdraft fees so don't ask. 5) All prices are subject to change at any time even if you are in a contract agreement, that's right it will NEVER go down.

6) You do not need a phone line to get dTV do not let anyone tell you otherwise.

7) After service starts you have 24 hours to cancel the service beyond that you are stuck in a contract for 24 months.

8) At any point you plan to upgrade your equipment to a DVR or HDDVR, understand you are renewing your contract for an additional 24 months.

9) If your equipment is faulty(you didn't break it), and a tech comes out to replace it and you active that receiver, you are renewing your contract for another 24 months.

10) If opt out of the protection plan, and a tech comes out to fix anything expect a charge anywhere between 45-100.00.

11 If you EVER purchase DTV equipment from Bestbuy/Sam'sClub/Costco, might as well buy it from DTV. These are DTV vendors, so yes you are signing a 24 month agreement by purchasing these equipment and yes the equipment MUST BE RETURNED TO DTV.
12. DTV on demand feature requires, an hddvr and broadband cable.
13. DTV's DVR only record/pause/rewind on ONE TV. Remember that
14. If your account is canceled you have 15-20 days top, to return dtv's equipment or else your credit card will be charged for not returning the equipment.

Posted by ram sassin


1) Every new customer coming to DTV MUST sign a TWO year agreement.

2) If your credit rating is not good you will be paying a deposit fee for every receiver up to $ 300.00

3) If you plan to cancel or terminate your contract early, it will cost 20.00 for every incomplete month do the math.

4) If you gave the agent your credit card at the initial sale, expect your card to be charged should you cancel or terminate your services early....they will not reimburse you for overdraft fees so don't ask. 5) All prices are subject to change at any time even if you are in a contract agreement, that's right it will NEVER go down.

6) You do not need a phone line to get dTV do not let anyone tell you otherwise.

7) After service starts you have 24 hours to cancel the service beyond that you are stuck in a contract for 24 months.

8) At any point you plan to upgrade your equipment to a DVR or HDDVR, understand you are renewing your contract for an additional 24 months.

9) If your equipment is faulty(you didn't break it), and a tech comes out to replace it and you active that receiver, you are renewing your contract for another 24 months.

10) If opt out of the protection plan, and a tech comes out to fix anything expect a charge anywhere between 45-100.00.

11 If you EVER purchase DTV equipment from Bestbuy/Sam'sClub/Costco, might as well buy it from DTV. These are DTV vendors, so yes you are signing a 24 month agreement by purchasing these equipment and yes the equipment MUST BE RETURNED TO DTV.
12. DTV on demand feature requires, an hddvr and broadband cable.
13. DTV's DVR only record/pause/rewind on ONE TV. Remember that
14. If your account is canceled you have 15-20 days top, to return dtv's equipment or else your credit card will be charged for not returning the equipment.

Posted by support helper


First of all I work for the tech support side of directv. I will give you all a bunch of insite as to how customer service and tech support works. First when you call us just hit 0 a bunch of times or say representative and you will get someone on the phone. Now I cant say which department you will get and it may not be the right one. So you may be transfered. When you get to tech support if thats who you need please stay calm as we are just receiving your call and have no clue whats going on. Once we know the situation and read over the notes left on your account we can help you. Always get the person name and id number and date and time you spoke with that person. Second, if you want a service call but dont want to ts with us just say something like its all tvs in the home and nothing is blocking the dish and my dish is on the roof and I cant get up there. That will trigger an auto service call as long as you dont have bad weather in your area. Now if its a box you seek to replace. Just say it refuses to turn on and go along with the so called trouble shooting for a few minutes and still say no it wont come on and that will trigger a replacement for you. If you want a new remote then just say the buttons are worn so much you cant see the numbers or the battery comparemnt is broken off due to wear and tear. This again will require no ts what so ever. Now that you know the steps to get what you want please stop yelling and screaming at us as we are rquired to keep our calls under 10 min from beginnig to end. The longer you keep us on the phone we start to get snippy. Have a great day!

Posted by DirecTV CSR


It is so sad to see these comments from some of these customers. I work in a DirecTV call center, no one knows the HALF of what we go through. We understand our purpose there and it is to help you, if there is an issue, we are there to assist you with getting to the bottom of your problem. Customer service representatives understand how important your got damn tv is to you!!! If you would calm down and let us know what is wrong and let us assist you there would not be any problem with the customer service. As soon as we pick up the line, all you hear is yelling. All of our calls are monitored so we do get scored very tediously on our calls. If we hang up on a customer, we will get fired. Anyone can view what is going on on the computer at any time, they can tell if a customer was hung up on intentionally. More than likely, that person lost their job if it did happen. Please consider other reasons the phone may have disconnected before you jump to conclusions. I'm pretty sure in this economy not only you are having problems paying your bills, but surely we are too. So we need our jobs and do our best to help you. You don't understand what it feels like to be called out of your name and yelled out and cussed at multiple times in day. Keep in mind, while i'm being as nice as possible and really trying to help you. Yes, i understand that Directv does have some practices that they should change, but the CSR's cannot change DirecTV's policy. We are billing/customer service representatives, who are here to address your issues. Why get mad and call me names just because you did not pay your bill and your tv was disconnected?? Just pay the bill or if you know you can't afford it...why do you have it in the first place??? Also, these Directv ads that you all call misleading, you guys need to learn how to be good consumers. Read all information...including the small print on the bottom of the add. DUMBASSES!!! Just because you failed to be a good consumer, did not ask all necessary questions about your agreement or services, or even read your agreement (which is on the back of EVERY BILL), don't get mad at us for something you didn't realize. I mean c'mon!! I never even knew that people act the way they do about television until I started working for DirecTV. I mean c'mon is it really that serious?? This is a problem and is why society is the way it is today. All you do is order dirty movies all day and cry and complain over TV!! Read a book, exercise, organize your finances, maybe read all of the information that was given to you when you signed up for services so that you won't find any "hidden charges" on your damn bill!! Everything is right in front of you, if you don't understand something, that is what customer service is hear for!! Bear with us, please take into consideration of our feelings and what we go through constantly through the day. This job is not as easy as some of you may think...you would just have to try it out for yourself. Seriously, please be more considerate. This would not only make the world a better place, but it would also affect any conversations you have with a Directv CSR. It does not make any sense how I can feel so sad and hurt, just because someone forgot to pay their bill and they yelled at me and cussed at me so bad. Or if someone was typing there password onto directv's website but in all CAPS, then call in to cuss me out and call me a joker, because had his CAPS lock on...I'm sorry it's just so much. I just wish we could all get along. We have to work together, in the end, we are here to help you and address your concerns, give us a chance sometimes. You all make it hard for us sometimes. Maybe we shoul switch shoes for a day...you will be soooo surprised. You think you, but you have no idea. smh...

Posted by Michael


I actually work in a directv call center as a supervisor. Most all calls are due to customer ignorance, we explain all terms, conditions, commencements,and fee's that would or could be charged before and during the initial set up and confirmation e-mail sent out before you get your directv set up. We do try all that is possible to help resolve issues, but most times we are limited to what we can fix or explain to the customer that they have crated themselves or just couldn't comprehend. There are time's where i myself will say that fellow employe's are total idiots but don't single out a whole company because of the stupidity of a few. Just as i would not say all are customers are idiots because of the few that are. I personaly don't find it right. Thank you for your time if you have gotten to read this far. :)

Posted by Anonymous


I work for Directv and yes mistakes are made but in every mistakes are made. I have been subjected to death threats, called names that I did not know existed. My children's lives have been threatened. I have had to stay on the phone for over 45 minutes while I was repeatedly cursed with vulgar names. Wake up, read a a contract, we do not promote any thing that the customer is unaware of. Most people do not read the fine print. Get a magnifying glass, but most of all it is television. After I am cursed repeatedly I wonder how does this person treat his neighbor. The customer services representatives do not deserve the vulgarity that is bestowed on them. I have worked for many businesses and I can honestly say the customers of Directv are the meanest people in the world. It amazes me that after you curse me call my children name tell me to die that then you want a credit.

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