Direct Tv or Cable

[roadman]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

yeah they do the rate increases every Feb, its getting expensive

We've been a customer since 1999. Total choice programming was 29.99 at the time and they stayed with that for awhile.

The main reason why we went to satellite is because cable bills were rising on a yearly basis. Now, I think all parties are raising it on a yearly basis.

I think it's mostly these long drawn out contract negotiation rates that are now being passed onto the consumer.

[bigbob]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

We've been a customer since 1999. Total choice programming was 29.99 at the time and they stayed with that for awhile.

The main reason why we went to satellite is because cable bills were rising on a yearly basis. Now, I think all parties are raising it on a yearly basis.

I think it's mostly these long drawn out contract negotiation rates that are now being passed onto the consumer.

It is.

Whenever I worked for them, the television companies wanted ridiculous amounts of money that DirecTV just wasn't willing to give up. Whenever the channels would be taken off, customers were called in and complain because it was one of their favorite channels. When enough people complained, DirecTV would fold.

Thus, the increase of billing is the result of that.

[roadman]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

It is.

Whenever I worked for them, the television companies wanted ridiculous amounts of money that DirecTV just wasn't willing to give up. Whenever the channels would be taken off, customers were called in and complain because it was one of their favorite channels. When enough people complained, DirecTV would fold.

Thus, the increase of billing is the result of that.

Agreed, and I posted a letter to the CEO and VP of Customer Service.

If anyone else would like to chime in, I'll leave the emails below, at least our voices can be heard, and as Bob said above, it's the direct result of television providers.

[email protected] (CEO)
[email protected] (Emma)

Here is my response from the consumer advocate department, pretty much same ole, same ole.

Price adjustments are never easy for any business to implement and we understand your concerns, especially in today’s economy. DIRECTV will continue to absorb much of the price increases implemented by our programming providers, while still investing in the quality of your viewing experience; however, periodically, a small portion may need to be passed on to our customers. We are proud to keep our increases to a minimum and, despite rising programming costs over the years, we've managed to keep our prices competitive while still offering the best programming and most innovative technology options available.

We appreciate your continued business and value your comments during this adjustment.

[p_rushing]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

Just called today and got them to upgrade me to the HR34 (Genie) for free. Its been a long time since I've gotten any equipment and I'm out of contract. So I'll have 7 tuners with 2 receivers . No more having to manage a spreadsheet with what programs are recorded on which DVR and managing the 50 series limit on each.

[bigbob]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

Man, every time I get my DirecTV bill, I miss like hell working for them.

[SuperBowlNachos]

How big of a discount was it?

[p_rushing]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

How big of a discount was it?

$299 for box and install (although all they have to do is plug the box in), they wouldn't ship it to me

[bigbob]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

How big of a discount was it?

And in case you were asking me..

We got the Premeir Package, Sunday Ticket, League Pass, Center Ice and Extra Innings for..

The price of your extra boxes and the protection plan of you wanted it.

So, my bill was $18 a month.

[Splitter77]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

And in case you were asking me..

We got the Premeir Package, Sunday Ticket, League Pass, Center Ice and Extra Innings for..

The price of your extra boxes and the protection plan of you wanted it.

So, my bill was $18 a month.

thats sweet
when i lived in my cable companies service area. we only got free cable and premiums (centre ice and on demand movies half off)
free internet(i so miss that) and phone was like 10 bucks. We also were allowed one free hd dvr , but any additional were 10 bucks.

I think my bill was like 30 bucks.

[bigbob]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

thats sweet
when i lived in my cable companies service area. we only got free cable and premiums (centre ice and on demand movies half off)
free internet(i so miss that) and phone was like 10 bucks. We also were allowed one free hd dvr , but any additional were 10 bucks.

I think my bill was like 30 bucks.

They'd give us one free HD DVR and up to four free HD receivers. The normal installation that all customers are given the option of. The biggest difference was we owned our receivers, so if we left the job, we could keep them or sell them.

They treated you really well.

[roadman]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

Directv is here now.

Interesting, the 1999 analog dish was installed about 5 ft away from electrical lines. The new HD dish is about 5 ft away from the old dish. Also, a field supervisor showed up. Never seen that before. He explained to me that it's now against code to be less than 10 feet away and all his techs follow code.

[p_rushing]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

Directv is here now.

Interesting, the 1999 analog dish was installed about 5 ft away from electrical lines. The new HD dish is about 5 ft away from the old dish. Also, a field supervisor showed up. Never seen that before. He explained to me that it's now against code to be less than 10 feet away and all his techs follow code.

May or may not be true, but yes they are supposed to follow code. The installers can make up whatever they want to make an install easier and most customers are clueless. Their best line is "line of sight" issues when they see that an install will take a long time. Its because they usually aren't paid by hour and only by install.

[roadman]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

They did give me the Cinema On Demand, too.

We'll see how that plays out. Free you tube and Pandora's box, plus movies and tv series.

[chilli311]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

I'm sorely tempted to cut Cable and just go with an HD antenna.

Do it. We did it two years ago, and couldn't be happier. $10 antenna from Home Depot gets us about 30 channels including all the local ones. $16 a month for Hulu Plus and Netflix is the way to go.

[LowerWolf]

Re: Direct Tv or Cable

Bought two antennas tonight (one for each TV) but the picture sometimes drops out. Any advice on the best setup so I don't have to constantly mess with the rabbit ears?