Oprah had story yesterday about a 75 year old lady who took a hammer to a Comcast customer service rep's computer and phone because she was dissatisfied with the costumer service. At least you refrained from physical assault.
Doc, I do not understand why you were so upset? While you were waiting you could just watch your Hi-Def DVR.....oh wait...I missed that part...never mind.
Thank you for your kind words folks. A good portion of that was written while I was sitting there waiting on the tech to show up so it shows my venom. The only thing I changed was the spelling errors.
I wonder if they are going to hire someone to replace the "DVR Lady" ?
Direct TV is harder to get nowadays due to global warming.
February 1, 2008 at 9:44 AM
Anonymous said...
Doc, my usual M.O. is along the lines of 'you get more bees with honey than vinegar'. Unfortunately, in some cases, the squeaky wheel gets the grease and you gotta do what you gotta do and get ugly with 'em!
...and believe me, Cablevision has driven me to the very same point of insanity! I can swap stories similar to yours. ...and now, whenever you s/w any Cablevision rep, there's a survey you can complete before you hang up the phone to rate that particular rep's service and knowledge. I try to be fair, but I definitely grade on a downward curve b/c I'm afraid they'll think they actually do a good job overall just b/c one person may actually "seem" to know what they're talking about!
Jay - If that Satellite dish, TV or DVR has some sort of technical difficulties about kick off time of the Super Bowl then the will be a minor nuclear explosion in the greater Charlotte NC area.. Probably about the effect of a dirty bomb.
See the silver lining...here my zen like voice of reason....you have your hdtv hooked up and will enjoy the Superbowl... I on the other hand will be hoping the weather doesn't rattle my antenna so bad that all goes fuzzy.
I need to buy an HD TV yet this year, than and only then will we be looking for a satellite company, or hoping cable starts coming this far, anyone know about the AT&T service I am seeing advertised????
That surprises me, Shane - Dave and I have had great luck with DirecTV since moving to New Orleans. :)
February 5, 2008 at 12:14 AM
[Image] Direct TV needs to be drawn and quartered. These lowlife scum sucking headache inducing vermin have the worst customer service and lack of internal communication of any company I have ever seen in my entire life.
Let me tell you a story:
Last week I purchase their $200 Hi-Def DVR (that the cable company gives you for free) ahead of my TV because I knew that I had to schedule installation of a new satellite dish. I scheduled the installation for this past Monday morning between 8-12. My wife took off from work to make sure she could be here for the install. So I get a call at 7 am from Mark saying that the DVR didn't come in and could I reschedule? Sure I said but this time I want a specific time because you are now inconveniencing me... Oh Sir we will have someone there at 8 am on Wednesday. It will only take 30-45 minutes and we will have you all set to go. With that information in mind I decided to take and hour or two off from work and my wife and I sent out invitations to about 30-40 people telling them to come and see the Super Bowl this Sunday on our new Hi-Def TV.
Wednesday morning gets here and no truck at 8 am. No problem probably got stuck in traffic. Once it got to be 9:15 I gave the tech Mark a call. He acted surprised that no one was here to install and said he would call me "right back". OK I am still not mad. Things happen right?
It gets to be 10 am and no return call. I call Mark back and get his voicemail. He is screening his calls. So I call Direct TV customer service. They say that my appointment is with an outfit called MasTec an independent contractor and it is for between 8-12. NOT what I was told by Mark. So I now call MasTec and after being on hold for 15 minutes I get a supervisor named Ken. Ken apologises for Mark telling me something wrong and tells me he will call the right tech and then he will call me right back. By now it's 10:30. I hear nothing until 11:30 when the tech, Paul who is supposed to be doing my install today calls me to tell me that he does not have a DVR for me and I will have to call DirecTV to reschedule. WHAT ??? WHAT??? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND? I just sat here for almost 4 hours for this? No Sir you are coming to my house and there will be HDTV here TODAY !!!
I call MasTec back and finally track down the supervisor Ken and of course he is oblivious. What? Why would anyone say that to me? Let me see if I can find a DVR for you and give you a call back. Uh Sir you are the first person who told me earlier today that you would call me back but has not. 2 questions for you Ken? First, if you have no DVRs (including the one I paid $200 for a WEEK ago) then why didn't you tell me that to begin with and second why on earth do your techs keeping re-scheduling people to sit around and wait for these non-existent DVRs on SUPER BOWL week? I explained to him in no uncertain terms that there would be no re-schedule and my house would have HDTV today. It's bought and paid for and we have sat around TWICE waiting for this to be installed and now we have 40 people coming in 4 days to watch the biggest football game of the year. There will be no reschedule as today is already shot you will be here today. He is going to "see what he can do"
I then wait around until about 12:15 and get a call from Chris who claims to be the "real" supervisor. Chris informs me that he has located the last DVR and cancelled my second tech Paul and now is going to send Greg right over. I tell him where I live and he promises that Greg will be there within the hour depending on traffic. Greg then gives me a call to say that he has a stop to make but has my equipment and will call me when he is en route from that stop to get my address.
I sit around until 1:45 waiting for Greg to call beck because I stupidly forgot to get his number but he finally calls to say that he is now en route. I ask from where. Hwy 51 in Charlotte a good hours drive from my home in Kannapolis even with a little traffic. At this point after having dealt with 3 techs, 2 supervisors, and 3 cust service people just today all to get something done that has been promised to me twice I have had it. But since Greg promises that he is coming with my DVR I don't holler at him.
Greg finally gets there about 4 pm due in part to his GPS not leading him to my house properly and in the course of putting up my new dish he cuts out my cable internet access... I am about to scream. Could this get any worse? Maybe. It turns out from my conversation with Greg that the main reason that all of this happened with the missing DVRs is that MasTec fired the "DVR Lady" who orders such things so that the techs have them to install in customer's homes. When did they fire the DVR Lady? Oh a couple of weeks ago...has anyone been hired to replace the DVR lady? Nope. When did I actually have HDTV at my house available for viewing? 6:45 pm more than 10 hours after this was promised to me. Why was Greg the one who ended up coming to do my install? Because he is apprently MasTec's version of Mariano Rivera who comes in to finish the job when the customer is heated up... I say this because Greg is from New York and is a big Yankee fan.Here is the moral to all of this and it stinks to say this because I generally consider myself pretty easy going but the moral of this story is that you have to hollar and hollar long and loud and to many people in order for companies not to take advantage of you and give you what you paid for and they promised to begin with. Oh and to steal a line from something Mt. Cat once told me.... I wouldn't recommend DirectTV to a stray dog. -Doc
21 Comments
Close this window Jump to comment formOprah had story yesterday about a 75 year old lady who took a hammer to a Comcast customer service rep's computer and phone because she was dissatisfied with the costumer service. At least you refrained from physical assault.
February 1, 2008 at 5:42 AM
Direct TV is a crapshoot because they use contractors. We've been extremely pleased with our service, but I've heard far more stories like yours.
I'm just wondering when it was that the customer - the person who PAYS the salaries of these companies - became something to be "managed."
February 1, 2008 at 7:14 AM
I've learned to order directly and do most of the work myself. They have a good product and shitty distribution system.
You should have called, the tech was over my way and I could have whooped his ass for you.
Have I answered all you questions today? I hate it when they say that.
Enjoy the HD. I'll be watching the game on standard definition down in paradise.
February 1, 2008 at 7:29 AM
Doc, I do not understand why you were so upset? While you were waiting you could just watch your Hi-Def DVR.....oh wait...I missed that part...never mind.
February 1, 2008 at 7:34 AM
Thank you for your kind words folks. A good portion of that was written while I was sitting there waiting on the tech to show up so it shows my venom. The only thing I changed was the spelling errors.
I wonder if they are going to hire someone to replace the "DVR Lady" ?
February 1, 2008 at 8:08 AM
Customer Service...A lost art. Cheers!!
February 1, 2008 at 9:14 AM
I've heard many horror stories from people who have Direct TV.
Usually those stores center around having technical problems just as the Super Bowl is kicking off.
hahaha ;-)
February 1, 2008 at 9:22 AM
Wow what a pain in the ass. I'm glad it's done and overwith for you!
February 1, 2008 at 9:29 AM
Direct TV is harder to get nowadays due to global warming.
February 1, 2008 at 9:44 AM
Doc, my usual M.O. is along the lines of 'you get more bees with honey than vinegar'. Unfortunately, in some cases, the squeaky wheel gets the grease and you gotta do what you gotta do and get ugly with 'em!
...and believe me, Cablevision has driven me to the very same point of insanity! I can swap stories similar to yours. ...and now, whenever you s/w any Cablevision rep, there's a survey you can complete before you hang up the phone to rate that particular rep's service and knowledge. I try to be fair, but I definitely grade on a downward curve b/c I'm afraid they'll think they actually do a good job overall just b/c one person may actually "seem" to know what they're talking about!
February 1, 2008 at 9:44 AM
Mt. Cat...LOL! TGIF!!!!!!!!!
February 1, 2008 at 9:44 AM
Jay - If that Satellite dish, TV or DVR has some sort of technical difficulties about kick off time of the Super Bowl then the will be a minor nuclear explosion in the greater Charlotte NC area.. Probably about the effect of a dirty bomb.
February 1, 2008 at 10:03 AM
Leap O' - I hope those 2 bit chiselers send me a customer service survey!!
Leighann - I should have sicced you on them.. you could have straightened them out.
February 1, 2008 at 10:26 AM
Squeaky wheel might, get some grease, a screaming wheel gets repaired!
February 1, 2008 at 11:11 AM
How frustrating!
February 1, 2008 at 12:05 PM
Dude, I should tell you my Home Depot story...
I wouldn't recommend them to Direct Cable.
Seriously...
February 1, 2008 at 12:30 PM
See the silver lining...here my zen like voice of reason....you have your hdtv hooked up and will enjoy the Superbowl...
I on the other hand will be hoping the weather doesn't rattle my antenna so bad that all goes fuzzy.
I need to buy an HD TV yet this year, than and only then will we be looking for a satellite company, or hoping cable starts coming this far, anyone know about the AT&T service I am seeing advertised????
February 1, 2008 at 2:23 PM
I can only imagine how irritating and MEAN you sounded that day..;-)
I bet you took it out to everyone around you!
February 1, 2008 at 3:58 PM
Hey, at least we got to see more of Hillary last night. Man, HD makes her look ROUGH!
February 1, 2008 at 4:04 PM
You should sick Josette on their asses!!
February 1, 2008 at 4:45 PM
That surprises me, Shane - Dave and I have had great luck with DirecTV since moving to New Orleans. :)
February 5, 2008 at 12:14 AM