Last Monday DC had a little snow. Accent on a little. It was pretty. On some grassy areas there was a small amount of accumulation. This gives you the weather conditions for what happened next with DirecTV.
I came home from work. Turned on the TV. I wasn’t able to get all of the stations. I got a blank screen with a message saying searching for satellite signal. I was able to watch a little TV. Then the screen froze. Suddenly I couldn’t get any station to come in.
There was still a very small amount of snow coming down. But not much. I thought I would try and reset the receiver and maybe I could get the signal back that way. I hit the reset button and it starts. But when it gets to the part where it is accessing the station line up I get the searching for signal. I try to reset again. The same thing happens.
Now the fun really began. I called DirecTV for help.
It actually didn’t take all that long to get someone on the phone. The conversation started with me explaining the type of weather we had. As described above it wasn’t all that bad. The women from DirecTV asked if the dish was covered in snow. I said it was on the roof so I couldn’t see it but I added I doubted if there was much snow on it since we didn’t have much snow.
We then went through a series of tests to see if the receiver was properly connected. Then we ran the reset again. And received the same searching for satellite signal. The woman said well the problem could be the “bad” weather in DC. (Yes all that snow and that thick cloud cover that sure would be a good reason to loose the satellite signal.)
The upshot was that a technician would be dispatched to “fix” the problem. Before I could find out what day someone would be out I had to decide on two for lack of a better way of putting it payment options. The first was a monthly $6 fee which would cover any problems I would have with the receiver or dish or whatever. The other was a $50 one time fee. Actually it was a visit fee if there were any other problems found they would be extra.
I opted for the $50 fee. All of the times conflicted with when my friends were going to be here for their visit. So I said I’d call back. About an hour or so later I tried the TV again and everything was up and working.
I’m working on what to replace DirecTV with. I’d hope to do Verizon. Hoping that FIOS would be available in my area. No such luck. The areas that don’t have FIOS, Verizon partners with DirecTV. Well so much for that. There is the possibility of Comcast but I’m not a huge a fan of them either. I will continue to look into getting something else.
Hopefully in the next few months DirecTV will be a thing of the past.
Showing posts with label DirecTV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DirecTV. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Monday, October 12, 2009
Not So Direct TV
It started before I went to Springfield. All of a sudden I would loose the picture getting an error saying the satellite single has been lost. It was what you usually got when there was bad weather. I would press the reset button and after a few minutes I would get the picture back and everything would be fine. I didn’t pay too much attention to it. But it seemed to be happening more and more often.
I made sure Stuart knew about it when he took care of Sam.
When I got back it just continued to get worse. I also had the receiver not recognize the card. I called DirecTV and they talked me through what to do to get the card back working. I also tole them the problems I’d been having. They said it might have something to do with the card and to see what happened.
The signal continued to drop. I called into DirecTV again. The thing is when you call in it takes a very long time to actually get to a real person. The automated voice goes through a whole bunch of things you should do. Make sure your connections are not loose. Make sure there are no tree branches blocking the dish which would be very interesting considering I live a row house with no trees of any kind around. Finally get to a person. I tell them my problem. We got through a whole bunch of things. Disconnect the wires and screw them back in which I did. Then I’m asked if I can see the dish. I say no it’s on the roof and I don’t have any way of getting up there. I’m told the reset should take care of the problem but if it doesn’t to call back and they’d make arrangements to have someone come out and check things out.
The problem only got worse. I was lucky if I got 20 minutes of watching in before it the signal dropped. I called from work where I was told I needed to be home to run some sort of test on the receiver. I said it would have been nice if I’d been told that the last time I called in. When I got home I decided I was too tired to call (I’d been out to the Kalb report more about that later). The next morning I had a picture the entire time I had it on.
Finally on Tuesday I got the call in. Again it took more than five minutes to finally reach a person. So we performed this test. It tests the signal. It seemed to be fine. I was then told to make sure the connections were fine and was it possible to follow the cable to the dish to see if anything was wrong with the cable. I said the dish was on the roof and I didn’t have a ladder to get up there. The women said well we wouldn’t want you climbing on the roof. So I got an appointment for Sunday between 8-12.
After I got off the phone, I was struck by something. If I’d been able to follow the cable how would I have know if something was wrong with. Unless the cable wasn’t connected to the dish how would I be able to tell if the connect was correct. It didn’t make that much sense to me.
By this time I was getting about 5 minutes of viewing in before it would go out. So I was like oh no I don’t want to see if the Ravens drive down the field and win the game against the Patriots of gee I really didn’t want to see the last scene of Brothers and Sisters. I just kind of stopped watching TV.
Sunday came. Thankfully the guy didn’t arrive at 8 am. I got a call around 9 from him saying he would be there in an hour or hour and a half. Then about 10 minutes later I received an automated call asking if the new time would work for me. I said yes although it really wasn’t a new time.
The guy arrived when he said he would. He checked things out and tested the signal and looked at the box on the outside of the house. In the end he replaced the receiver and ran a new cable from the box to the receiver. The other cable had a connector on it and he thought that could cause a problem. Around 11:30 I had a working signal and except for a problem in the middle of the Redskins game (which was a problem Fox was having broadcasting the game) everything’s been fine.
I made sure Stuart knew about it when he took care of Sam.
When I got back it just continued to get worse. I also had the receiver not recognize the card. I called DirecTV and they talked me through what to do to get the card back working. I also tole them the problems I’d been having. They said it might have something to do with the card and to see what happened.
The signal continued to drop. I called into DirecTV again. The thing is when you call in it takes a very long time to actually get to a real person. The automated voice goes through a whole bunch of things you should do. Make sure your connections are not loose. Make sure there are no tree branches blocking the dish which would be very interesting considering I live a row house with no trees of any kind around. Finally get to a person. I tell them my problem. We got through a whole bunch of things. Disconnect the wires and screw them back in which I did. Then I’m asked if I can see the dish. I say no it’s on the roof and I don’t have any way of getting up there. I’m told the reset should take care of the problem but if it doesn’t to call back and they’d make arrangements to have someone come out and check things out.
The problem only got worse. I was lucky if I got 20 minutes of watching in before it the signal dropped. I called from work where I was told I needed to be home to run some sort of test on the receiver. I said it would have been nice if I’d been told that the last time I called in. When I got home I decided I was too tired to call (I’d been out to the Kalb report more about that later). The next morning I had a picture the entire time I had it on.
Finally on Tuesday I got the call in. Again it took more than five minutes to finally reach a person. So we performed this test. It tests the signal. It seemed to be fine. I was then told to make sure the connections were fine and was it possible to follow the cable to the dish to see if anything was wrong with the cable. I said the dish was on the roof and I didn’t have a ladder to get up there. The women said well we wouldn’t want you climbing on the roof. So I got an appointment for Sunday between 8-12.
After I got off the phone, I was struck by something. If I’d been able to follow the cable how would I have know if something was wrong with. Unless the cable wasn’t connected to the dish how would I be able to tell if the connect was correct. It didn’t make that much sense to me.
By this time I was getting about 5 minutes of viewing in before it would go out. So I was like oh no I don’t want to see if the Ravens drive down the field and win the game against the Patriots of gee I really didn’t want to see the last scene of Brothers and Sisters. I just kind of stopped watching TV.
Sunday came. Thankfully the guy didn’t arrive at 8 am. I got a call around 9 from him saying he would be there in an hour or hour and a half. Then about 10 minutes later I received an automated call asking if the new time would work for me. I said yes although it really wasn’t a new time.
The guy arrived when he said he would. He checked things out and tested the signal and looked at the box on the outside of the house. In the end he replaced the receiver and ran a new cable from the box to the receiver. The other cable had a connector on it and he thought that could cause a problem. Around 11:30 I had a working signal and except for a problem in the middle of the Redskins game (which was a problem Fox was having broadcasting the game) everything’s been fine.
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Not So Direct TV
I had an interesting interaction with them over the weekend. Actually it was Sunday. I’d been having some problems with the remote that I use. In part because it is so old and also I was pretty sure the batteries needed to be changed.
Finally, Sunday morning it gave out. I decided to change the batteries and hope that would fix the problem. Easier said than done. The first battery came out fine. The second one was another matter entirely. I couldn’t get it to budge. Finally I had to take a kitchen knife and pry the thing out. I figured that I’d probably wrecked the thing but thought to put in new batteries anyway. I was right it did not work.
Luckily, at least I thought at the time, I had a spare remote. About the only thing I could do with it was change the station. So I accessed the menu and attempted to program the remote. There were six different codes. I could get none of them to work.
I called DirecTV trying to get some help. The first guy I talked to was not very helpful. Here’s an example. He asked me to read him the model number of the remote so he could look it up. But he failed to tell me where I would find the number. I had to ask. The bottom line from this guy was I could spend $15 to get another remote sent to me or a technician could come out and program the remote for $50. I said thanks but no thanks.
I thought about what the guy had said and decided to call back with a couple of additional questions. This person from DirecTV was a little better. When she asked me which remote I had she told be where to find the number in the upper left hand corner. We did the same thing with the codes to no avail. She questioned if this remote had come with my HD receiver because usually a different model comes with an HD receiver. The bottom line couldn’t get the thing to work.
But I also learned this. DirecTV could not guarantee that the remote (if they sent me a new one) sent me would work with the my TV. They could not guarantee that if someone came out that they could get the remote to work with the my TV. Seems that they should guarantee that they would give you a remote that would work with your TV. Otherwise how does on put this it makes no sense to keep DirecTV.
The women agreed to send me another remote. She said she would credit my account $5 for three months so it wouldn’t cost me anything. She said it would come FedEx and take three or four business days. Well I got the thing yesterday. I followed the instructions sent with the remote. First two codes didn’t work. But in the third time lucky of third times the charm code three worked.
At least now I have a remote that works.
Finally, Sunday morning it gave out. I decided to change the batteries and hope that would fix the problem. Easier said than done. The first battery came out fine. The second one was another matter entirely. I couldn’t get it to budge. Finally I had to take a kitchen knife and pry the thing out. I figured that I’d probably wrecked the thing but thought to put in new batteries anyway. I was right it did not work.
Luckily, at least I thought at the time, I had a spare remote. About the only thing I could do with it was change the station. So I accessed the menu and attempted to program the remote. There were six different codes. I could get none of them to work.
I called DirecTV trying to get some help. The first guy I talked to was not very helpful. Here’s an example. He asked me to read him the model number of the remote so he could look it up. But he failed to tell me where I would find the number. I had to ask. The bottom line from this guy was I could spend $15 to get another remote sent to me or a technician could come out and program the remote for $50. I said thanks but no thanks.
I thought about what the guy had said and decided to call back with a couple of additional questions. This person from DirecTV was a little better. When she asked me which remote I had she told be where to find the number in the upper left hand corner. We did the same thing with the codes to no avail. She questioned if this remote had come with my HD receiver because usually a different model comes with an HD receiver. The bottom line couldn’t get the thing to work.
But I also learned this. DirecTV could not guarantee that the remote (if they sent me a new one) sent me would work with the my TV. They could not guarantee that if someone came out that they could get the remote to work with the my TV. Seems that they should guarantee that they would give you a remote that would work with your TV. Otherwise how does on put this it makes no sense to keep DirecTV.
The women agreed to send me another remote. She said she would credit my account $5 for three months so it wouldn’t cost me anything. She said it would come FedEx and take three or four business days. Well I got the thing yesterday. I followed the instructions sent with the remote. First two codes didn’t work. But in the third time lucky of third times the charm code three worked.
At least now I have a remote that works.
Monday, February 19, 2007
HDTV great, DirecTV not so great
I am still amazed at the quality of the picture with HDTV. Fantastic! I just wish there were more stations broadcasting in HD.You really notice the quality of the picture at sporting events. Not so much the close ups of the players but the wider shots. I’m watching a lot of basketball and the shots of the full court you can really make out individual people in the stands. Also crystal clear is the shot from the top of the basket when a guy is shooting free throws. Some of the movies I’ve watched on HBO make you feel like you’re in a movie theater.
Too bad DirecTV isn’t up to the same standards. I got the bill on Saturday. On the bill I was charged for leasing 3 receivers and a pro-rated charge for HD service. When HD receiver was installed the old receiver was left behind. This was just an oversight on the installers part. I hadn’t gotten around to finding out how to return it. However, the HD receiver I bought at Best Buy and so I shouldn’t have been paying any sort of lease fee.
Now to the HD charge. I’d been told that my first year of HD service would be free. I was told that on no less than three times.
I decided to call DirecTV. They have a really annoying automated answering system. I was finally able to get through to someone. I explained my problems with the bill. She then put me on hold so that she could review the account. Well she never came back on-line. I was on hold for about another five minutes and then I was disconnected.
So I called again. I get through again and explain again the problem with the bill. So he brings up my account information. He then asks when the HD receiver was installed because under the station plan I have I should get 4 months free. I’m thinking to myself why do I need to tell the guy when the HD service was installed when he has the account information on his screen. He said he would send me some FedEx form so that I could return the receiver. He was also able to give me a $40 credit toward HD service but would not be able to give me the HD service free for a year. In order for that to happen I would have to talk to someone else.
On to another person. Had to explain everything again. In the end she was able to give me a $10 credit. I would still have the HD charge show up on the bill but then I would get a $10 credit. In the end I was able to get everything I wanted but it took almost an hour to do it..
Like I said HDTV great; DirecTV needs some improvement.
Too bad DirecTV isn’t up to the same standards. I got the bill on Saturday. On the bill I was charged for leasing 3 receivers and a pro-rated charge for HD service. When HD receiver was installed the old receiver was left behind. This was just an oversight on the installers part. I hadn’t gotten around to finding out how to return it. However, the HD receiver I bought at Best Buy and so I shouldn’t have been paying any sort of lease fee.
Now to the HD charge. I’d been told that my first year of HD service would be free. I was told that on no less than three times.
I decided to call DirecTV. They have a really annoying automated answering system. I was finally able to get through to someone. I explained my problems with the bill. She then put me on hold so that she could review the account. Well she never came back on-line. I was on hold for about another five minutes and then I was disconnected.
So I called again. I get through again and explain again the problem with the bill. So he brings up my account information. He then asks when the HD receiver was installed because under the station plan I have I should get 4 months free. I’m thinking to myself why do I need to tell the guy when the HD service was installed when he has the account information on his screen. He said he would send me some FedEx form so that I could return the receiver. He was also able to give me a $40 credit toward HD service but would not be able to give me the HD service free for a year. In order for that to happen I would have to talk to someone else.
On to another person. Had to explain everything again. In the end she was able to give me a $10 credit. I would still have the HD charge show up on the bill but then I would get a $10 credit. In the end I was able to get everything I wanted but it took almost an hour to do it..
Like I said HDTV great; DirecTV needs some improvement.
Friday, January 19, 2007
No show
DirecTV was a no show. They called at 3:45 and said that someone would be over between 6:30-7:30. I asked how they were going to work on the roof (they have to upgrade this dish so I can get an HD signal). The woman said there would be no problem with that. Of course there was no problem because the guy never showed up. To top it off no one could be bothered to call me and tell that no one was going to show up.
I have to say I'm less than impressed with this. I was told when I signed up the upgrade in service that someone in three days would be calling me back to set up an appointment. Four days later I got an automated call from DirecTV saying that I hadn't called to set up an appointment for my service. Well of course I hadn't called because silly me I'd been told I was going to be contacted.
My next appointment is for next Saturday. I could have had an earlier one. I said to the guy I've already taken time off work and I can't do it again especially if no one is going to show up. I took the early time 8-12. I figure that way maybe be 3 or 4 someone will show up to do the upgrade. I'm hoping to get a customer service survey when this is all done. I'm looking forward to giving them a piece of my mind. The only upshot is that I did get $100 credit but I'd much rather be looking at HDTV.
This should have been easier to do. Then again why should it be easy when it can be hard.
I have to say I'm less than impressed with this. I was told when I signed up the upgrade in service that someone in three days would be calling me back to set up an appointment. Four days later I got an automated call from DirecTV saying that I hadn't called to set up an appointment for my service. Well of course I hadn't called because silly me I'd been told I was going to be contacted.
My next appointment is for next Saturday. I could have had an earlier one. I said to the guy I've already taken time off work and I can't do it again especially if no one is going to show up. I took the early time 8-12. I figure that way maybe be 3 or 4 someone will show up to do the upgrade. I'm hoping to get a customer service survey when this is all done. I'm looking forward to giving them a piece of my mind. The only upshot is that I did get $100 credit but I'd much rather be looking at HDTV.
This should have been easier to do. Then again why should it be easy when it can be hard.
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