So I have DirectTV. The main reason for that is that the town I live in has a horrible cable company that has their contract. Oh sure, everyone else in my county has Comcast or one of the "big companies", but we're stuck with some Mom & Pop company that has reception that is right out of the late 70's on the UHF channel.
If your antenna is good that is. So I have to put up with the whole occasional "seeking signal" thing on my television when the weather is bad, but trust me....I can live with that in lieu of our cable company.
Of course, then there is dealing with DirectTV on the phone. Hence my latest post.
I called recently to make some deletions to my account---stuff I really didn't need.
(Hey, its the economy, okay?) So I'm talking on the phone to the account representative and she mentions something about my "HD upgrade". Uh, what HD upgrade?
Come to find out, the good folks at DirectTV had been charging me since MARCH of this year for HD reception that I...uh....didn't have. I told her that I would absolutely love to actually, ya know, HAVE something that I was paying for. She made the necessary adjustments (i.e., CREDITED my account) and we set up an appointment for the DirectTV guy to come out to my house and do what needed to be done. We made the appointment for a Sunday in the afternoon, which fit our schedule as we were going to be coming home that day from visiting my parents and that way I wouldn't have to take time off from work.
Okay, here's where the story takes off---stay with me.
The contractor was supposed to come between "12 & 5". I finally called DirectTV about 5:30 to find out if something had happened...if there had been a cancellation, whatever. She informed me that it was still on the schedule, but that since the guy was late, I would get a $100 credit to my account. Not bad. Finally, about 30 minutes later, I get a call from the guy telling me that he's heading over to my house. More or less.
He finally showed up around 6:15pm. He comes into the house and shows me the work order. Which is for everything but, you guessed it....the HD upgrade. Oh sure, he had a couple of new receivers for our rooms....but no HD upgrade. Which sort of aggravated me. So we called.....my good friends at DirectTV. And I told them what the problem was! And they asked to speak to the guy, and basically informed him that he had to go back to his home office and get the part--or have someone bring it to him. On a Sunday--at 6:30pm. Yeah, I don't think so lady. Especially since his home office was in Miami--another country removed from my house. So believe it or not, he actually gets into an arguement with the lady on the phone. And he hands me the phone and tells me with disgust:
"I don't wanna talk to her no more." (Add the heavy Spanish accent)
So I get back on the phone and the lady tells me that he HAS to do what she told him.
I told her, I don't really care who does what....I just want my freakin HD. (The one that I had been paying for, remember?) I then mentioned....and this is something that everyone reading this should always remember when ever dealing with DirectTV, because these are the magic words to remember.....are you ready?
"YOU KNOW, I'M CONSIDERING A RETURN TO MY CABLE COMPANY."
Holy crap, did that cause a change in attitude. She started reducing my fees left and right. And then she told me that the guy, the contractor, would go and make an appointment with his office to have my HD connected. I hung up, and the contractor told me that SHE would make the appointment, because he wasn't going to do it. It wasn't his job. Why does this happen to me?
Well, I waited a couple of days and no one called me to make an appointment. So, I called my good friends at DirectTV. You won't believe it. They had made the appointment already---they just didn't bother to tell me about it. Yeah boy.
So the appointment was scheduled a few weeks down the road....on a Tuesday morning. Yep, because NO ONE works on a Tuesday morning do they? Do they think I'm a stripper or something---that I have Tuesday mornings available?
So I change my appointment time to--(ducking my head)---a Sunday. But this one was in the morning. 8 to 12. And my appointment day comes....and its 11:45 and I haven't heard anything yet. You might appreciate why I would be concerned. So I call....my friends at DirectTV. As I'm expressing my concerns.....the guy calls....and I barely understand him (he's from Miami)...but I do get the part about his being 10 minutes away. And he arrives, right at noon (there goes another $100 discount!) and he's got my HD!! I'm so happyat this point, I don't even care when the one guy starts pointing at my dish and speaking rather excitedly in Spanish to the other guy. Then, the guy that can (barely) speak English says something rather amusing to me:
"He says we have to charge you $70 to mount the new dish."
You probably can imagine that this amused me. And I asked him...politely....exactly why was that? Especially since, ya know...I already had another one up there and figured that he would just put the new dish where the old one was.
"Uh, this bigger dish. Have to secure it with special bracket."
I thoughtfully mentioned that no one had bothered to mention this to me when I spoke too....my friends at DirectTV. And then he said....and I'm not joking:
"Well, its only $70."
I respectfully mentioned that I didn't have that on me in cash and asked him if he did.
(Confused look by the contractor)
Then I mentioned that I thought it was time for me to call....my friends at DirectTV.
Which of course meant another 2 or 3 minutes of pressing buttons on the phone until you, ya know, actually SPOKE to someone. (What is this...AOL?) Finally I got an account representative on the phone, mentioned the problem and was advised......
"He absolutely cannot charge you to mount the new dish. Positively."
I then handed the contractor the phone and asked him to speak to the representative.
And, for the 2nd time in less than a month, the contractor ended up handing me the phone and told me....
"I don't wanna talk to her no more."
So I get back on the phone....start talking to the rep....and the contractor asks if he can speak to me....so I hand the phone to my wife. So I walk outside and the guy tells me that the reason he "had to charge me $70" is that putting the new dish up the way the company wanted him too would mean having to nail the bracket to the wood on the side of the roof....or something like that. But, if I wanted him to put it up, he would do it....but that the company never wanted to tell anyone that his way was the best way because "they would lose customers" by telling them there was an extra fee. I told him to just putting the freakin dish up there.
So I go back into the house and my wife hands me the phone.....and I tell the account representative.....the one that the guy THOUGHT I had hung up with....what he had told me....including the bit about how the company didn't tell me about the extra $70 and all that. She had a nice laugh and then......more reductions in fees for my troubles!!! Woohoo! So the guy finishes up, and I'm finally hooked up with the HD that I was supposed to have 6 months ago.
Kim told me we got our DirectTV bill the other day.......$19.
I would like to thank.......my friends at DirectTV.
Later,
Jeff
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