DirecTV: Poor communication skills for a communications co.

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  • daflyboys
    Banned
    • May 2003
    • 18238

    #1

    DirecTV: Poor communication skills for a communications co.

    Word to the wise. When you're dealing with DirecTV, make sure YOU ask the right questions, because they're not going to tell you all the answers/options.

    Several months ago, I took advantage of their intro offer/NFL Sunday ticket deal. It was nice. For just a little more per month than I was already paying for my cable portion of my package, I could get the Sunday Ticket, every channel they had (for 4 mths), a digital recorder and a portable DVD player. Everything was going along just swimmingly until...... I wanted to cancel this past week as DTV does not carry Comcast out of Philly and that means no Phillies games via that channel. Unbeknowst to me (cause no one in the DTV world made it beknownst to me) I would have to pay a penalty because I had, somewhere along the line, "agreed" to a two-year contract since I had one of their specialty services (i.e., the digital recorder). Hmmm, it seems that the chipper sales rep. on the phone didn't quite mention a little area of the website where there is this adjunct agreements/contracts/legal section. And even then, it is on an extraneous agreement, not the main one (btw, the HD subscribers will tell you the same, I'm sure).

    Now I'm not the brightest bulb in the box, but I'm am pretty sure that IF the sales rep. would have said something about a 2 year commitment, I would have had strong hesitations to do this service. I mainly only wanted the NFL package. I received the NFL package as I paid for the NFL package. Now I'm being told that because I'm committed until Aug. of '08 (due to the digital recorder) I would have to pay a pro-rated penalty of $200. Yeah. Right. Bite me. I told the "supervisor" that I would need to call back as I wanted to get some counsel on this. I was given some special number and a PIN number....this was only about a week and a half ago.

    Today, I call and the PIN number is not active/invalid. Wha? However, the pleasant computer voice tells me my choices, one of which is that I can suspend my account and hold off on payments until a later designated time up to 6 mths. So, in other words, a pre-recorded option did more for me than a "supervisor" who heard my situation/request.

    The moral of the story: if you're deal with DirecTV, ask the right questions. My understanding from doing a little consumer reports online reading is that they tend to withhold certain tidbits of information.
    Last edited by daflyboys; 04-16-2007, 06:13 PM.
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